Cherwell - 7th week Hilary 2021

Friday, 5th March 2021 | Vol.293 No.5 | 7th week

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Friday, 5th March 2021

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A century of independence since 1920

COLLEGES ANNOUNCE VACATION POLICIES

Charlie Hancock Following the unveiling of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown in England on February 22nd, Oxford University announced that restrictions in place over the vacation between Hilary and Trinity terms would mean that students currently living in Oxford “should not move from your [their] term-time address, unless you [they] have a legal exemption to do so”.

In December, students had been allowed to leave their termtime addresses for the Christmas vacation.

However, this exemption to travel restrictions does not apply for the Easter vacation.

The news that students would typically

not be able to return home over the vacation if they were in residence at the University over the Hilary term was met with alarm by students on social media, many of whom returned to live in college for academic or welfare reasons which would affect their ability to study remotely from home during the term.

In emails seen by Cherwell, colleges have outlined their policies for students who are resident in college at the end of Hilary term.

In line with government guidance, students who wish to return home for the vacation may do so provided they have an exemption under government guidance.

Hertford College told their students that they “need to remain” in

TOP STORIES Homelessness in city halved since 2019 | 3 Wheatsheaf closes doors | 4 Netflix to close city centre for filming | 6 Uni and citizens collaborate on polar bear study | 6

ALSO INSIDE Science & Tech: Migraines | 7 Music: Put your record on | 9 Features: “Because I shall write the history” | 12 Sport: Olympics: looking ahead to 2021 | 14

College accommodation unless they “feel you [they] have an exemption from the national restrictions”. Students who remain in college accommodation will not need to request vacation accommodation at the end of Hilary as they usually would.

Mansfield said they “assumed” that anyone living in on or off-site College accommodation would remain there “for the durations of the Easter vacation”.

The College added they felt the guidance “places the onus on the student” to decide whether they are eligible to leave over the vacation or if

they should remain.

Keble, Magdalen and St Hugh’s also said that it was up to students to decide whether government guidance would allow them to return home. St Hugh’s added: “College is not in a position to provide a ruling on whether a student is able to return home”.

Guidance from the government provides examples of

“reasonable excuses” to travel, which include work, meeting others for care purposes, and “essential activities” such as accessing shops. There are also “further reasonable excuses.” Guidance from the NPCC outlines that: “The Regulations allow people to move house. This means that individuals can move between households.

Continued on Page 2.

UNIVERSITY DELAYS FOUNDATION YEAR ROLLOUT Issy Kenney-Herbert Oxford University has delayed the implementation of “Foundation Oxford”, which will offer students with high academic potential a place on a one-year, pre-degree course.

This initiative is based on the Foundation Year programme that has already been in place at Lady Margaret Hall since 2016.

The University announced its plans to launch “Foundation Oxford” in 2019, with the timeline for the uni-wide Foundation Year to be in place by 2022. However, Oxford University has since said this will be delayed until 2023.

The initial announcement stated this programme “will be offered to state school

students from less advantaged areas and who have also experienced personnel disadvantage or a severely disrupted education.

Eligible students could include refugees, children in care or those who are themselves carers or estranged from their families...

Those who pass the course will then Continued on Page 3.

News | Friday, 5th March 2021

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WHAT’S INSIDE LEADER Defining Hygge NEWS Homelessness in Oxford almost halved Wheatsheaf closes its doors SCIENCE & TECH Clubhouse: the new and excusive social network COMMENT A look into anti-lockdown locals An inside glance into US school shooting drills Space exploration in developing countries FEATURES National Trust: a reexamination of history SPORT Australian Open round-up

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But this should be a genuine move.”

Cherwell approached Jon Heath, a partner at Levin’s Law, to explain how the exceptions could apply to students.

“Ideally, students would be able to rely on one or more named exceptions [from the guidance], because this is more certain than hoping that a police officer (who may decide to issue a fixed penalty notice) or magistrates’ court will accept an unspecified excuse as reasonable.”

He added: “Students who suffer from mental illnesses such as depression may be able to rely on the exception ‘to avoid injury or illness or to escape a risk of harm’, though we think the authorities will be particularly alert to the risk of abuse of this exception. We would not recommend that students rely on it unless they have a documented history of illness, and it would be advisable to obtain a supportive doctor’s note.”

Students also raised concerns about having to pay residency fees over

innamon buns, ‘Hygge, n. and adj., is off to relax, and it does Sarah Lund’s a quality of cosiness indeed involve warmth, knitted jumper, and comfortable food, and friends. The and beardy conviviality that ‘warmth’ is usually men - three things that engenders a feeling of supplied by candles spring to mind upon any contentment or well- (yep, get that old vanilla mention of Denmark. A being; contentment cupcake Yankee Candle fourth is undoubtedly from simple pleasures, from 2014 out), and the ‘food’ ‘hygge’ but what is “Hygge is about being comfy is usually it?

‘Hygge,’ and cosy, taking time off to h o m e m a d e D a n i s h pronounced relax, and it does indeed goods. ‘hoo-gah,’ hit involve warmth, food, and baked Now, before the world in friends.

I go into any a big way in further detail recent years, about Danish much to the surprise of such as warmth, food, myself and the rest of friends, etc.’

After baking, I’d like to issue the Danes. taking a brief moment a formal warning to any It still makes me to enjoy the beautiful full or part-time lactose chuckle to think that a alliteration of ‘cosiness intolerants amongst us: book entitled The Little and comfortable beware. Danish baking Book of Hygge: Danish conviviality’ - I mean involves a lot of butter Secrets to Happy Living wow, just wow - and - like a lot, a lot - no became an international maybe or maybe not seriously, an absolute bestseller with over doing a quick google f*** tonne (we even one million copies sold to find out what have a phrase, ‘det er worldwide. But what ‘conviviality’ means smørret der gør’et,’ that does this elusive term (yes, I am a second roughly translates as mean? year English student), ‘it’s the butter that does Being an English I concluded that the it’) - but it is so f***ing student, I, of course, definition is pretty good. Cinnamon buns, boller went straight to the much spot on. ‘Hygge’ fastelavns OED for a definition is about being cozy and (basically cream filled - *clears throat* - comfy, taking some time cinnamon buns without

the vacation. According to policies seen by Cherwell, most colleges are charging rent at normal rates, albeit with various forms of financial assistance available.

For example, Mansfield has reduced vacation rent from £17.38 per night to £8.69. Some students have been granted free vacation residence from the Senior Tutor, and finalists have access to 10 days of free residence.

Mr Heath told Cherwell: “returning home for the vacation in order to avoid such extra charges is likely to amount to a reasonable excuse, particularly given the precarious state of most students’ finances. We [Levin’s Law] emphasise that this is only our opinion and will remain so unless or until a case comes before the courts, so students should be mindful of the risk that a police officer or a court may reach a different conclusion.” Mr Heath added that although colleges at Oxford did not have the power to force students to stay, they could penalise students who left using their own

internal disciplinary procedures.

“Colleges and universities invariably have broad powers to discipline students for conduct which, while lawful, is undesirable in their eyes…We would like all universities and colleges to commit to not disciplining students for breaches of coronavirus restrictions if the student would have a sound defence in law to a criminal charge or can show that they believed in good faith that they had such a defence, even if that proves to be mistaken.”

Levin’s Law has offered to “correspond with the colleges free of charge on behalf of any affected students” Current guidance from the University states that students should remain in their University accommodation unless an exemption applies. The University guidance continues: “It is possible that the guidance may change around 29 March, as part of the next stage of the Government’s easing of restrictions. If this is the case, we will inform you as soon as we can.”

Leader DEFINING HYGGE LIV FUGGER the cinnamon topped with icing and Haribo - sounds odd but would highly, highly recommend), and Hindbaersnitter (the most delicious thing you will ever eat) to name but a few. While

is spending time with loved ones that really, truly defines it. So grab some candles (if you’re back in Oxford, only, of course, if your college accommodation allows it…), something sweet, and your nearest loved

“I would like to issue a formal warning to any lactose intolerants: Danish baking involves a f*** tonne of butter.” candles and sweet treats are important to hygge, nothing is more essential than friends and family. It

one (whether this be a bottle of wine or, in my case, a reluctant golden retriever), and enjoy a bit of hygge.

Friday, 5th March 2021 | News Continued from Page 1. progress to undergraduate study at Oxford.”

Once the initiative is up and running, it is expected that the programme will support up to 50 students every year across selected subjects.

Cambridge University also announced a new foundation year program for students, with up to 50 Foundation Year students to arrive in the programme’s first intakein October 2022.

Alan Rusbridger, Principal of LMH said to Cherwell: “We’re naturally disappointed that the start of Foundation Oxford has

slipped a year. This programme builds on the pioneering work at LMH, which itself is based on 20 years of experience at Trinity College Dublin.

“It’s heartening that Cambridge University will launch its own Foundation year scheme in 2022 and we have given them all the help we can. We are also reassured by Oxford’s promise that it is still determined to launch Foundation Oxford in 2023. We are currently recruiting a 6th cohort for the continuing LMH programme - and very much hope to continue our own scheme through

3 to 2023.”

This programme was announced alongside the access initiative Opportunity Oxford that helps to prepare UK offer holders from under-represented backgrounds for successful student careers through an “academic bridging programme which supports them in their transition from school or college to our university.”

David Lammy, the MP who has been a prominent critic of Oxbridge admissions for disadvantaged students, said the new foundation

year was “a major step forward” when the scheme was initially announced in 2019.

He continued: “These changes continue to allow Oxford’s 38 autonomous colleges enormous discretion over how seriously to take access. For true systemic change to be achieved, admissions should be centralised and contextual data should be used at every stage in the admissions process.”

When the programme was announced, the university’s vicechancellor Louise Richardson told the

Guardian that the scheme was “a hugely exciting initiative.

“The whole university and just about everyone in it has come in behind this and that doesn’t often happen here. That speaks to how strongly we all feel about this,” she added.

“If you look at our data it’s very clear that the numbers are low and the pace is slow. I think we felt a certain impatience.

“There’s a huge commitment across the university to do more on this and there’s a sense that the pace at which we were realising this ambition was too slow.”

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Homelessness in Oxford almost halved since 2019 Sasha Mills Homelessness in Oxfordshire has nearly halved since 2019 due to the Oxfordshire County Council’s response to a government directive urging councils to get ‘everyone in’ due to the pandemic. This comes as Oxfordshire County Council commits to a new ‘housing-led’ approach to homelessness, the first of its kind in the country.

Local councils across the county have estimated that 45 people are currently experiencing rough sleeping, a 46% decrease from the 2019 estimate of 83 people.

Three quarters of this figure are people in Oxford, and the Oxford City Council have estimated that 23 people are currently sleeping rough in the city, down from the estimate of 62 from 2019. West Oxfordshire is the only area in the county believed to have experienced an increase in rough sleepers.

The ‘everyone in’ policy directs local councils to offer everyone sleeping rough accommodation throughout the

pandemic, with additional support for moving into longterm housing and continued outreach efforts for those that refuse accommodation.

Nuffield College has turned some of their unused properties into long-term housing for homeless people, in collaboration with the charity Aspire Oxford.

The scheme, which was annunced last month, will see residents housed in the college’s Becket Street accommodation for two years, making use of the properties which have stood empty for eighteen months.

The housing has been refurbished and aim to give new residents a “sense of owndership” by giving them autonomy to decorate their own rooms, unlike much rental accommomdation.

Nuffield College told Cherwell: “We were very pleased to support Aspire Oxford’s Becket St Project by enabling some of the College’s unused properties to be used and improved by them on a temporary basis while we think about and put in place plans for their longer-

term future.”

Oxfordshire’s move to a housing-led approach to homelessness policy comes after the publication of a study last November in collaboration with the charity Crisis. A housing-led approach, according to Crisis, aims to “move people into their own homes as quickly as possible and provide them with the support they need to make it work.” This approach minimises time spent in temporary housing before moving

into a more permanent home.

The Cabinet paper, which passed the 24th of February, put forward a move to the housingled approach suggested

by Crisis, prioritising the provision of accommodation in the county. The provisional funding for the housing scheme puts the cost at 3.14M per year, a significant increase from the current figure of £846,600.

The scheme will formally begin in Spring of next year.

Mike Rowley, the Oxford City Council cabinet member for affordable housing and housing the homeless, said: “The ‘everyone in’ approach gave homeless people a breathing space and in many cases the bit of stability they needed to make successful plans to move on. We need to continue this approach and we’re working closely with our neighbouring councils, Oxfordshire County Council, the NHS and Crisis to make this a reality.”

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News | Friday, 5th March 2021

“Oxford rock heritage” live music venue to be converted into student flats Jill Cushen The Wheatsheaf, one of Oxford’s last music venues, is set to close amid plans to convert the space into student flats.

An application has been submitted to Oxford City Council by the owner of the pub and music venue, Glen de Unger, seeking permission to convert the first and second floors into nine student rooms with a shared kitchen and common area.

The closure of The Wheatsheaf has been

described as a “devastating” loss to Oxford’s entertainment landscape and the city itself.

The announcement has caused music fans to rally together to ensure that the venue remains open, arguing the applicant’s referral to the venue as “a function space” downplays its importance.

The 150-capacity venue was established in 2000 and has been located off the High Street music venue since then. The Wheatsheaf is the last grassroots venue in the city after

The Cellar closed in 2019 due to a rent hike. Over the past two decades, it has hosted acts such as Supergrass, Foals and Stornoway. It also houses Oxford’s only jazz club, The Spin.

The application now has over 1,050 public comments from people objecting to the plans and outlining the benefits of the venue remaining open. The deadline for determining the outcome of the application is April 13.

A ‘Save the Sheaf’ Facebook group has been set up to raise awareness

of the potential closure and has attracted over 1,900 members, urging people to oppose the application by submitting objections. Greg Brown, one of the group’s admins, wrote that “the planning application and accompanying viability assessment submitted by the development company do not go far enough to explain fully the circumstances and parties involved, and furthermore, seek to circumnavigate them”.

Brown was interviewed

by BBC Oxford on Tuesday, discussing the

Vacant shops across Oxfordshire to be revitalised in 2021 Yihang Fang Oxford City Council is teaming up with social enterprise Makespace to launch the ‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire...’ project, which aims to transform vacant retail units in high streets across the county into independent shops, cultural venues, creative studios and co-working space. The project will provide affordable premises to accommodate more than 100 organisations, which will create or secure at least 300 jobs across Oxfordshire.

The City Council has worked with the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) to develop the project on behalf of Oxfordshire’s other district councils - namely the Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire district councils. The £1.9 million of funding was acquired from the Government’s Getting Building Fund.

Makespace, which has been commissioned to run the project, has also formed a consortium with other local organisations, including Wild

Property, Transition

by Design, Fusion Arts, Aspire Oxfordshire and Independent Oxford.

Prior to this project, Makespace has also worked on transforming vacant buildings across Oxfordshire into business and community spaces, such as the Makespace Oxford workspace in Aristotle Lane and Open House in Little Clarendon Street.

The project also aims to encourage a more circular and inclusive economy in Oxfordshire, such as by providing the units at an affordable rent, engaging with local residents to ensure their needs are met, and giving priority to organisations that pay the Oxford Living Wage.

The project will also use the fit-out to upgrade the energy efficiency of properties, and giving priority to organisations that will take on work placements, traineeships or apprenticeships. An aim of the project is to provide at least 35 young people with apprenticeships, traineeships or work experience placements.

Moreover, commu-

nity organisations and creative industries that are unable to pay, but able to deliver unique benefits to their local communities, could benefit from the project by receiving rent-free space.

According to data published by the City Council, footfall in Oxford city centre has fallen by 62.3% in July (from 3.1 million in 2019 to 1.2 million in 2020), and by 46.5% in August (from 2.7 million to 1.4 million), as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council, said: “This project will make it easier for entrepreneurs to open businesses, create hundreds of jobs, and give residents more reasons to visit their local town and city centres. “It is an extremely exciting project that will transform high streets across Oxfordshire for years to come, and I am delighted that we have been able to work with such a wide array of fantastic local organisations to help make it happen,” she added.

“Makespace Oxford is delighted to

be working with the city and district councils on this timely and groundbreaking programme,” commented Andy Edwards, Co-Director and Programme Coordinator of Makespace Oxford.

“The Meanwhile in Oxfordshire programme offers a crucial boost at a critical time to help local organisations countrywide to access space and be part of a movement to revive our urban centres and offer a positive new vision of the high street post-COVID that helps to build stronger local economies and stronger local communities.”

“The confirmation of such a significant

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group and the impact they hope to have on saving the music venue.

Editor of the music magazine Nightshift and former organiser of the multi-venue Oxford Punt festival, Ronan Munro, said, “It is absolutely devastating for this to happen”. He told the Oxford Mail that “people talk about heritage and culture but that doesn’t just mean old buildings, it’s about the places where things are created – and The Wheatsheaf is the last bastion of un-gentrified Oxford city centre.”

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project - that will have a positive impact and lead to a progressive transformation in how we make the most of our high streets – is excellent news. As the local enterprise partnership for Oxfordshire, we want to ensure our county benefits from a business environment that is fit-for-purpose, supporting dynamic economic growth, said Nigle Tipple, Chief Executive of OxLEP. “We were delighted to have secured this Getting Building Fund allocation for this project and we are sure it can be a real asset to Oxfordshire,” he added.

Image: Howard Stanbury/ Flickr/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Friday, 5th March 2021 | News

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Oxford study shows total deaths did not rise in China outside of Wuhan Daisy Aitchison Outside of the city of Wuhan, overall deaths did not increase in China during the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic, research by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Oxford University has shown.

The study has found that the small rise in deaths due to the disease was offset by the decline in mortality from other causes. Deaths from pneumonia declined by 47% and road traffic accidents by 23%, largely as a result of a national lockdown in China from January through to April.

However, the situation in Wuhan itself was very different, with the overall death rate up by 56%.

The combined effects of pneumonia and COVID-19 are being blamed

for the rise, although there were additional small increases in deaths from cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The study has also found that there were more excess deaths among men than women, and that mortality was higher in central areas and among the over 70s. There was a drop in hospital deaths, but a rise in mortality outside healthcare settings, which researchers have suggested highlights either difficulties or reluctance to access professional healthcare.

These findings highlight the importance of rapid, large scale actions to combat the pandemic, with the Chinese national lockdown proving effective in reducing both COVID and nonCOVID related deaths.

The senior author for the study at the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Professor Maigeng Zhou, said “The data showed that during these first three months of the COVID-19 outbreak, there were totally different situations in Wuhan city and in the rest of China. Within Wuhan city, there were also major differences in the severity of the outbreak between central and suburban districts.”

Dr Jiangmei Liu of the China CDC, added: “This was the first nationwide study in China to systematically examine the excess mortality during the COVID-19 outbreak, not only from pneumonia but also from a range of other conditions across different regions of China.”

Researchers examined data from the Chinese death registries from January to March 2020, as well as the Chinese Surveillance Point System, which represents over 20% of the entire population.

The new strain of coronavirus was first discovered in midDecember in Wuhan, China. It has since killed over 2.5 million globally, with over 100 million cases recorded.

The senior author for the study, Zhengming

City centre to close for Netflix filming Jill Cushen CW: mention of rape.

Areas of central Oxford will be closed later this month for the filming of the Netflix series Anatomy of a Scandal.

A notice was released

by Oxfordshire County Council earlier this week which informed residents of the closures of streets in the city centre on March 25th and 26th. Catte Street and New College Lane road will be closed from 6pm to 2am on the 25th. On March

26th from 2.30pm to 2am, Brasenose Lane, Catte Street, St Mary’s Passage and Radcliffe Square will be closed.

The six episode series will follow the storyline of the best-selling novel by Sarah Vaughan.

The author, who read English at Brasenose College, is also the executive producer of the Netflix adaptation. The novel tells the story of a scandal shrouded in privilege and intrigue among the British elite and the women caught

in its crossfires. The show, from the creator of Big Little Lies David E. Kelley, is directed by S.J. Clarkson, who has worked on Succession and Orange Is the New Black.

Netflix describe the show as “an insightful and suspenseful series about sexual consent and privilege set in London”. When James Whitehouse, a Westminster politician, is accused of raping his young reseacher and mistress his marriage and the lives of three women are changed immeasurably.

His wife Sophie, who James met while at Oxford, is determined to clear her husband’s name.

Meanwhile Kate, the prosecutor on the case, wants to make him pay for his crimes.

The charismatic politician is played by Rupert Friend, a native of Stonesfield, Oxfords-

hire and famed for his role as CIA operative Peter Quinn on Homeland. American-British actress Sienna Miller will star as society woman Sophie who is convinced of her husband’s innocence.

Kate, the ambitious and emotionally detached defence barrister, is played by Michelle Dockery who is best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley on Downton Abbey.

The first season of the show will be self-contained but the show’s producers hope to create an anthology style series and devote subsequent seasons to different scandals. It is expected that the show will premiere sometime in 2021 but a release date has not been announced.

New College Lange and Catte Street were also used as filming locations for The Crown.

Chen, Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health at Oxford University, said “It would appear that the lockdown and associated behavioural changes – such as wearing facemasks, increased hygiene, social distancing and restricted travel – actually had unintended additional health benefits beyond those of reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2.”

Image: Harald Groven/ Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0.

CITY A fake pub facade - The Eagle - was set up in front of the Hertford Bridge of Sighs for a scene in X-Men: First Class.

Oxford is a popular filming location. Films as varied as The Mummy, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and The Riot Club have used footage shot in Oxford while many films in the Harry Potter series shot parts in Oxford or sets inspired by the city‘s iconic architecture.

The city has also appeared on the small screen in the BBC/ HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials, and A Discovery of Witches.

The detective series Endeavour, a spin-off from Inspector Morse, has been recomissioned for an eighth series, which ITV hopes can be filmed in 2021.

Image: Tristan Surtel/ Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

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News | Friday, 5th March 2021

Winners of Oxford’s Beyond Boundaries anounced Flora Dyson Beyond Boundaries science-inspir ted schools’ art competition announced their winner this week.

The competition was developed to increase inclusion and visibility of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic scientists and mathematicians and involves students creating art based on the profiles of six BAME researchers from STEM departments at the University of Oxford.

There were 215 entries from school pupils in Oxfordshire.

Winners were selected from each year group, from 5-8 by a panel of judges. One of the winners was Bethany Atherton, whose entry drew from the profile of Acheampong

(Aché) Atta-Boateng and his research on bees and the pollination of cacao flowers.

Atherton said in a statement included in the University’s announcement: “Winning this feels absolutely amazing. I love to draw and spend most of my time doing this. To be able to include a strong message in my drawings that others will now see, makes it even more exciting. My grandparents keep bees and so Aché Atta-Boateng’s research about pollination jumped out at me, as this is a topic that is very close to my heart.”

Winners of this competition receive an opportunity to have their work displayed in the upcoming Beyond Boundaries exhibition

in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and are awarded £100. Runners up in each year category received £50.

The competition was noted in the university’s Diversity Awards 2020 for raising awareness of diversity in scientific research. Daisy Hung, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, MPLS Division, Oxford University, said: “It was a great opportunity for us to highlight the incredible researchers of colour in the Division and to show young people that they can be scientists too.”

Emmanuelle Dankwa, one of the researchers whose profiles were featured in the competition, also highlighted how she learnt from

the experience, saying: “Participating in Beyond Boundaries has not only helped me think more deeply about the ways in which I communicate my research to non-experts, but has also afforded me the wonderful privilege to share my story to

i n - spire a young person out there to as-

University and public collaborate on polar bear project Rochelle Moss Oxford University scientists are working alongside a group of Canadian researchers to involve citizen volunteers in a project which aims to examine polar bear behaviour.

Utilising 10 years worth of images volunteers will assess a series of photos which will reveal trends in polar bear behaviour.

The project is the first of its kind and hopes to broaden current knowledge on polar bear behaviour.

When the project began in 2011 the primary aim was to answer whether the creation of field camps had worked to attract or repel polar bears. The aims of the project have now expanded in scope and hope to answer important questions including: What drives polar bears to visit human infrastructure or activity?

Do observations of polar

bears change over time?

The project runs on Zooniverse, a platform for citizen science, hosting over 2 million volunteers who assist researchers in analysing and organising data. The Zooniverse website shows that there are currently 1358 volunteers supporting the research.

The Arctic Bears project asks these volunteers to study batches of photos alongside a field guide.

The volunteers provide the researchers with information on the number of bears or cubs, their genders, and multiple other factors. There are five trail cameras installed at three different field camps, as well as another eight located at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre.

These cameras have captured over 600 different polar bears. Whilst all the cameras are located in Wapusk National Park in northern Manitoba, the sites are almost 200

kilometres apart which ensures the data provides information on varying environments.

The unique approach taken by the Arctic Bears Project carries many benefits. The process is very efficient and without the support of volunteers the labour intensive work could take years for the researchers to complete.

Creating ‘citizen scientists’ also encourages active participation from those who would otherwise be detached from the process.

Individuals are able to become more involved as well as gain a greater understanding of the issues. Finally the process is non-invasive, meaning it is not stressful for the

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pire to careers in STEM.” Dr Rebecca Surender, University Advocate and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Equality and Diversity at Oxford University, said: “I am so delighted to see that this exciting project has provided another opportunity for Oxford to showcase its amazing and diverse range of research talent and to e n co u rage our local s c h o o l children to become excited about science.”

Entries to the competition can be viewed on the Beyond Bou nda r ies website.

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animals being studied.

One of the project’s most notable discoveries so far is capturing black bears, grizzly bears, and polar bears living together for the first time.

The cameras have also confirmed the pattern of polar bears moving from the sea to land in Summer and Autumn, when the ice melts.

Science and technology Friday, 5th March 2021 | Science & Tech

Migraines: they aren’t just headaches

Matilda and Victoria Gettins discuss what migraines feel like and their impact on academic and personal lives.

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ccording to the NHS, a migraine is usually identified by a moderate or severe throbbing pain on one side of the head. It is a complex condition with a wide variety of symptoms, including sensitivities to light or sound. It is a common health condition, with 1 in 5 women and 1 in 15 men affected in the UK. It is also a very disabling one: globally, migraine is ranked as the seventh most disabling disease among all diseases, being responsible for 2.9% of all years of life lost to disability.

The WHO classifies severe continuous migraine as among the most disabling illnesses, in the same level of disability as dementia, quadriplegia and active psychosis - rated higher even than blindness.

The financial burden of migraine on the UK economy is conservatively estimated at £3.42 billion per year. Yet research into migraines is the

least publicly funded of all neurological illnesses relative to the economic impact.

To better understand the condition and what it feels like, we interviewed four Oxford students to hear about their migraine experiences. Their answers show just how diverse each experience of migraine is, although they are of course not representative of the disease as a whole.

Migraine attacks are often split into four phases, classified as prodrome, aura, headache, and postrome.

However, there is not one “normal” migraine attack. Some people experience only one or a few of the phases, or experience overlap.

The prodrome, also known as the “preheadache” is the first phase of the attack. It can begin up to 48 hours before the others and often acts as a warning

Clubhouse: promises unfulfilled?

Johannes Moehrle explores the appeal and limitations of the new social network Clubhouse.

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he social network Clubhouse seems to be the newest addition to the big tech family of Silicon Valley. This platform launched in March 2020 has gained significant attention in the last few weeks, especially since Elon Musk and other celebrities started using it publicly. In the span of a few weeks, the verb “to clubhouse” became established and it wasn’t long before everyone wanted to join the party. So, what even is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is an app that harbours thousands of audioonly chat rooms (“the clubs”) where a variety of different topics are discussed, ranging from political debates to book clubs. It allows you to listen to discussions between prominent or not so prominent speakers, and even to contribute if you are invited “on stage” to share your thoughts. Equally, you can start your own “room” and invite speakers for a discussion and an

audience to listen to it.

However, one specificity of Clubhouse is that membership can only be obtained through an invitation from a current member.

Through this exclusivity, the app has gained some sort of prestige, which only makes it more attractive.

Launched during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Clubhouse was a good replacement for all conferences that were cancelled.

At its beginning, it was limited to a restricted number of users, mainly developers, journalists and investors living in California who were avidly scrutinising the big-tech landscape in search of new opportunities. It was not long before more people understood the unique attributes of this new platform; quickly “clubs” discussing any possible topic were created and started attracting the masses. Being an audio-only media, based on live discussions rather than on

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sign that an attack is coming.

The symptoms can be quite unusual – the most common ones are changes in energy levels (both hyperactivity or fatigue), changes in mood, sensitivity to either light or sound, neck pain and stomach issues such as constipation or diarrhea. Around 80 percent of migraine sufferers experience this phase.

The second phase is the aura, which manifests itself through a change in senses. It commonly lasts an hour and can overlap with the prodrome and the headache phase. Sight changes are the most common symptom; one of the students interviewed reports seeing “weird, fuzzy things” and losing sight in one eye. Seeing stars or blurred vision are also common. Other senses can be affected as well, with another student reporting numbness in their feet, as well as vertigo so bad they fell over. Others also experience changes in hearing such as tinnitus.

Around a quarter of migraine sufferers experience this phase.

Some only experience the aura without the other

phases, which is called a “silent headache”.

The third phase is perhaps the most well-known one, which is the migraine headache. It can last from 4 to 72 hours, and is generally characterised through a pulsing or throbbing pain in one side of the head. Although the level of pain varies, it can be severe, unbearable and completely debilitating, with over-the-counter medication like ibuprofen or paracetamol usually not being enough. “I remember thinking I was done for” was Rowan’s reponse, telling us that she had been unable to get a glass of water and had received codeine in the hospital at 12 years old.

Frequently, this is coupled with nausea and vomiting, as well as vertigo.

The final phase is the postdrome – aptly called a “migraine hangover” by the tracking app Migraine Buddy – in which many people feel drained and exhausted, although some report euphoric moods. “Being in that much pain is just exhausting”, Megan told us, while another student mentioned that she was in bed for two days after the headache.

Read the full article online on www.cherwell.org.

unidirectional communication, meant that ideas could be expressed and shared instinctively without any filters to groups of 5000 people. This is why it has quickly been adopted by prominent activists such as DeRay Mckesson, an important figure of the Black Lives Matter movement, who used it to reach his audience more directly and in a conversational manner.

Beneath these “clubs” which made the headlines, “rooms” on any possible topic (cooking, health, art, …) started to appear everywhere. However, it wasn’t until very recently that the world got caught up in the “clubhousing” craze. In the last month alone, it made the headlines several times for various reasons, both positive and negative. Many were taken aback when Elon Musk invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to go clubbing, and it was even more of a shock when the Kremlin deemed it to be an interesting proposal.

The possibility of direct and unfiltered communications however, has some dangerous downsides, and Clubhouse too has to face one of the internet’s greatest challenges: the spread of fake news and hateful speech.

SCIENCE SNIPPETS

Read the full article online at www.cherwell.org.

In

China,

A mysterious species of shadow snake

Clubhouse became a tiny (Emmochliophis fugleri) has been gap in inthe country’s “great spotted Ecuador after being absent firewall”, whererecord censors were from the scientific for 54 years. powerless and it thus allowed

The most efficient plastic bottles are 2.3L,

conversations whichrelativewere they have the greatest capacity to previously impossible the weight of thealmost plastic used.

In the US, ina 20% China.

It sparked instant shift to bottles 2.3L could reduce communication PET waste by ~9,000 tonnes between a year.

The same processors that were used in

people from the mainland and iMac computers in the late 1990s are Taiwan. questioned now being People used to run NASA’s Mars the authority of rover. the Chinese Perseverance Communist Party and Image Credit: Marcin Wichary/Wikimedia Commons concerns about the situation

Editorial | Friday, 5th March 2021

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Amelia Horn | Editor-in-Chief

M

y time at Cherwell has come to an end.

Not to get soppy, but I think first year me would be pretty proud of herself.

At that time, student journalism terrified me; everyone looked like they knew what they were doing, I didn’t understand what byline or nib was, and writing an article felt like submitting a thesis. It was so frustrating that when I finally worked up the courage to apply, in Trinity of my second year, I was about to go on my year abroad. A year later, in the middle of a global pandemic, about to start my final year, I applied again. And here I am, just finishing out my term as editor-in-chief. Technically, I’ve been on staff for three years, and watching Cherwell grow and improve has been a pleasure.

I’ve loved every single team I’ve worked with. I want to thank my TT19 team, for giving me confidence and for being patient with my inDesign skills. I have such fond memories of that term.

I want to thank the MT20 team, the ‘Chersterhood’, who welcomed me with open arms even though I was a random fourth year student they’d never met before. And of course, and most importantly, I want to thank the incredible HT21 team. It’s been a

EDITORIAL

tricky term, all virtual, and I’m gutted that we couldn’t all meet up properly and get to know one another. Yet seeing all your applications come in has made me so excited for next term. There are some fantastic budding journalists on staff who I know will make Cherwell better than ever.

I want to thank senior ed especially, for putting up with my passive aggressive messages and awkward staff meeting jokes. I want to thank Abi, for always taking my stress calls about news, Millie for her Instagram prowess, Jess for being lovely Jess, Calum for his inDesign expertise, Liv for always putting a smile on my face, and Trudy for questionable bucket hats and her commitment to Cher-cocktails.

Love you guys.

Finally, I want to thank Lucy, who I firmly believe is the best co-editor I could possibly ask for.

She’s put up with my tears, anger, frustration, excitement (and also my awkward staff meeting jokes.)

We’ve experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows together this term, and I have withdrawal if we don’t talk for seven hours. She’s one of the most talented and hardworking journalists I know, and I can’t wait to watch her succeed in this industry. Love you, LT, thanks for everything xx

M

Editor-in-Chief | Lucy Tansley

ichaelmas seems like a long time ago now, and yet it seems hard to view our current position looking at the term ahead after any differently to how we did back in September.

Even faced with the somewhat bleak prospect of finishing my degree without ever returning to the sweaty cave of Fever, however, I can’t help but feel a little more hopeful than before.

Not six months ago I was convinced we’d be wearing masks for the rest of our lives, but now this may seemingly not be the case.

Admittedly the fabled June 21st and the supposed onslaught of clubbing and festivals that may ensue seems perhaps too good to be true, but for now it is the light at the end of the tunnel. Rousing renditions of ‘Mr Brightside’ are waiting to greet us into summer, and I for one can’t wait.

Earlier than this, however, is the impending prospect of exams. The news that my exams would be taking place online felt like a scary prospect this time last year,

but now 12 weeks away from exam season, the fact that I don’t need to memorise Troilus & Criseyde is coming as something of a blessing. Rightly or wrongly (probably the latter), the university has removed the safety net that was in place for finalists last year; this creates uncertainty and doubt in this time of constant flux, and applying for post-graduation jobs when I don’t know what the next fortnight will hold becomes a seemingly meaningless exercise. After all the ups and downs of the last year, the lack of clarity within our degrees seems a remarkable lack of care for the detriment this year has had for students’ work environment and mental health.

Such concerns aside, however, I am determined to make sure that Trinity will be an enjoyable sendoff to my degree, whatever form it takes.

Hopefully this year, however strange, will be something to look back on with pride at what we overcame rather than regret.

Cherwell Hilary 2021 Editorial Team EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Amelia

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CUL CHER

Friday, 5th March 2021 | Vol.293 No.5 | 7th Week

CulCher | Friday, 5th March 2021

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INSIDE

CULCHER page 2 | Diarywriting page 3 | Winx: whitewashing and the wrong aesthetic THE SOURCE page 4-5 | Change and adaptation BOOKS page 6 | “If not; Winter”: fragments of Sappho STAGE page 7 | Fun Home and queer theatre FASHION page 8-9 | #y2k with Depop diamonds MUSIC page 10 | The magic of vinyl FILM page 11 | Dip your toe into Schitt’s Creek LIFE page 12-13 | Self-care: a capitalist conspiracy? page 14 | Internet dating FOOD page 15 | A love letter to chopsticks PROFILES page 16 | In conversation with Dame Hermione Lee

COVER ARTIST RACHEL JUNG I’m Rachel and I’m in second-year studying Classics at Merton. In lockdown last year I started making collages; I really like the way you can play with different textures and how physical the process is.

I keep all my paper in a box overflowing with leaflets, magazine cuttings and gift-wrap! For this collage, I was inspired

by Matisse’s piece ‘The Sheaf’, which is made up of cut-out leaf shapes. The clouds are cut from an old receipt and everything else is scrapbook paper I’ve had forever. I’m a big fan of the children’s book-y sun; I love giving everything a face.

“JOURNALS OR DIARIES?”: THE VALUE OF INWARD REFLECTION BY ELLIE-JAI WILLIAMS

T

here are plenty of examples of famous diaries that serve as invaluable eyewitness accounts of historically turbulent times, but what has given these diaries a lasting mark on culture is the way the authors mix detailed recordings of daily events with their own emotional response, blurring the boundary between diary and journal. As we find ourselves living through a time of turbulence and isolation, people have been drawn more than ever to the emotional value of journaling, recognising the value of introspection and mindful reflection in bringing clarity to a confusing reality.

An all-too-familiar problem with journaling is the need to actually make a sustained effort in order for it to be fruitful. (I recall all the times I’ve proudly stated I would keep a diary this year - only to abandon the notebook on January 23rd and find it dust-covered a few years later). Bombarded with examples of hugely profound and intimidatingly famous journals, we expect our own attempts to achieve the same thing with ease. We are disappointed to find our recording of what we had for breakfast and what we watched on telly with mum does not initially lead us to some profound emotional insight.

Persistence is therefore the key to keeping a journal - but in order to keep us motivated to write, we need a reason why we should persist. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is an account of living through turbulence and isolation, though this time fictional. Crusoe’s journal takes up a fair amount of pages; initially it is tedious to read, occupied with simple recordings of measures Crusoe takes to survive after finding himself shipwrecked on an uninhabited island.

His journal entry for 26th to the 30th of October is simply “I work’d very hard in carrying all my Goods to my new Habitation’, while December 25th says nothing but ‘Rain all Day”. However, after he has spent half a year journaling the content has shifted to focus on Crusoe’s inner reality and his thoughts about the world around him. He begins to ask: “What am I, and all the other Creatures, wild and tame, humane and brutal, whence are we?’ and ‘Sure we are all made by some secret Power, who form’d the Earth and Sea, and Air and Sky; and who is that?”. A journal that was initially born out of the need for a

coping mechanism eventually becomes an account of spiritual reflections that will subsequently shape the rest of Crusoe’s life.

Although fictional, Robinson Crusoe reflects how a key feature of journals is that they often move, organically, from what is happening around us to how we think about it. In this way, a diary can metamorphosize into a journal the longer we stick with it. Psychoanalyst Marion Milner provides a stunning portrayal of this in her book A Life of One’s Own where she takes the reader through her journals on a co-journey to discover what makes Milner happy.

However, much like Crusoe, Milner writes that the longer she sticks with journaling, the more her interests shift from “what to do with [her] life” to “how to look at it”. In other words, her work moves from a diary to a journal. Upon reading her journals in retrospect, Milner reveals how she now sees what she couldn’t at the time: that “the effort of recording [her] experiences was having an influence on their nature”. She shifts from only writing when she believed she had something interesting to say, to recording everyday interactions without any expectation of their insight. And when she releases these expectations, possibilities open up. Milner comes to realise from seemingly unassuming events profound truths about herself, such as her tendency to self-sabotage.

She is brutally honest in her writing; she does not write every day - in fact, some entries simply state that she is too tired to do anything at all. Nonetheless, she stuck with journaling, and it eventually transformed into a deeply moving published book that moves from the mundane to the unimaginable and profound.

I believe we can learn a lot from Crusoe and Milner’s approach to journaling: stick with it, record even things that seem mundane, then watch as an unassuming diary grows into a profound journal. And when you ask yourself why you’re sticking with it, think of the possibilities it could open. If the purpose of introspection is to introduce you to the person you’ll spend the rest of your life with, yourself, then journaling is a great start.

Artwork by Emma Hewlett.

Friday, 5th March 2021 | CulCher

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CULCHER EDITORIAL

WINX SAGA DOESN’T FLY

I

have to admit, I’d barely made it five minutes into Netflix’s Fate: The Winx Saga before I was repeatedly checking that little red time bar along the bottom and getting more and more annoyed that it seemed to be working at half-speed. It wasn’t: the show was just limp. Watching the seconds drag by provided a better adrenaline kick than the show itself. This was disappointing – I am quite a geek for coming-of-age films and high school TV shows, so I had been hoping for some angsty fairies doing angsty fairy things, preferably to a similarly angsty soundtrack. I hadn’t watched Winx Club, the original cartoon, but a quick Google brought up a series of brightly coloured images all showing a group of young fairies in avant-garde fairy fashion – clearly very different to the teen show I had been hoping for. But I could see why those at Netflix would’ve approved an adaption. Take a set of interesting characters and their interesting traits and rev up the hormones. Sounds great. But what we have been left with is something which has drained all the life out of the Groovy-Chick-With-Wings aesthetic of the cartoon, and is quite simply bland.

There are plenty of reasons why Fate: The Winx Saga is not a modern classic before you come to its aesthetic qualities.

As many have pointed out, the cast has been heavily whitewashed compared to the original, its side characters are stunningly dull, and you only appear to be given a subplot if you’re a white actor.

It isn’t doing anything to revolutionise cinematography, and it falls concerningly short of being ethnically and racially representative of the world it supposedly exists alongside. It is lacking any significant depth or substance and so episode one just trudges by. [...] The first issue is that the cast all look about twenty-seven.

But the bigger problem is that it is outrageously obsessed with teenage tropes. [...]

It is trying so desperately to be hip that it becomes lost in its own contemporaneity.

Whilst Winx Saga is tripping over itself to scream 2020s at us, some of the most successful teen-based Netflix shows – Stranger Things and Sex Education for example – are both doing the opposite.

Stranger Things is 1983 to its core, and Sex Education takes all the stuff we had in 2019, but makes it look like we’re watching

BY JOEL DUNGWORTH

a John Hughes film. Both these shows are fantastic visually, largely down to their retro aesthetics. 80s-isation appears to be a thing: a way of instantly making us aware of those canonical teen films of 40 years ago. Afterall, nothing says teenage quite like one of Molly Ringwald’s pink tops. Obviously, there are shows such as Skins which have successfully created a teenage aesthetic based on their own era, but I do believe that the crown rests with those puffy-sleeved dresses which have become the inescapable essence of any prom scene.

I love these films – I’ve watched The Breakfast Club more times than I am prepared to admit, and it’s the content of one of the three posters definitely not blutacked to my wall in college. The good ones are often described as ‘timeless’, but what is more striking is how they have retained their perenniality by infiltrating the very aesthetic of being teenaged, so much so that ‘coming-of-age’ appears impossible without some flannels and Doc Martens.

Shows that have embraced this seem to have thrived - and the same is true in music, with the likes of The 1975 producing albums which lead songwriter Matty Healy has specifically related to the films of John Hughes. It was the golden age of the teenage aesthetic, and we are reluctant to let it go. Winx Saga is a perfect example of a show haunted by this, as it throws a thousand references to the 21st century at a wall and hopes they stick –but they just don’t. And where it could seek to counter the lack of diversity that runs through so many of the classic 80s teen films, it shies away from the task, in a way that Sex Education rose to the challenge. The Brat Pack films have an adolescent honesty and fragility to them which is eternal, and a show such as Sex Education can recall all of this by blasting out The The or Talking Heads. That definitively teen film aesthetic connects it into something bigger, whilst its modernity allows it to correct some of the issues which undermine the classics.

Where the Winx Saga fidgets awkwardly with its contemporaneity, Sex Education evokes all that is immortal in Pretty In Pink and Sixteen Candles, but reminds us as it does so of the responsibility these comingof-age shows have to display the diversity of youth, and not just the angst.

Read the full article online at cherwell.org.

A big congrats on making it to the end of 7th week! I have a hatred of redemptive narratives that trivialise real struggle, but I also believe in giving gratitude where gratitude is due. With many of my hours no longer taken up with outings on the river or pub nights with friends, I’ve managed to meander into my fair share of online soirées. Most memorably, I’m proud to say I placed 4th in my college’s women’s welfare weekly Kahoot quiz, Guess the Cocktail, I relentlessly private message over the zoom chat in JCR meetings and I even attended a fantastic seminar on queerness and friendship hosted at ~the other place~. But one thing I am particularly grateful for this term is the opportunity to read, and I don’t mean for tutes. I began the term with big plans: Works of Love, The Second Sex, Being and Time, but found myself sucked into modern novels with personal narratives of the mundane. This week I’m reading Less, where failed novelist Arthur Less who is about to turn fifty unexpectedly goes on a whirlwind worldwide trip, reminiscing over all the roads not taken.

In Purple Hibiscus, 15-year-old Kambili learns how to negotiate between love and fear and Just Mercy (nonfiction) tracks a lawyer’s desperate attempts to free people unjustly imprisoned on death row.

Refreshingly different from the theorists on my reading list, none of these authors are trying to claim abstract truths but instead they write about individuals in named places and set times. Arthur Less sunburns easily and walks the streets of every city he visits wrapped up in a blanket of heartbreak. Kambili is desperate to visit her cousins’ house where there is not enough food on the ant covered table but plenty of laughter. After so much time spent in my own head, I’m grateful for the chance to dive into another’s and find that mundane does not mean boring. These characters have idiosyncrasies, spiralling worries and regenerative sources of joy, just as we all do. Novels can be a chance to practice empathy towards others going through difficult times, and with us now entering the twelfth month of the pandemic, maybe that practice will help us to not be too hard on ourselves too.

– Angela Eichhorst

WHAT’S ON Ashmolean One World Festival, Spring Fusion: 2.30–4pm, Sun 7th Mar 2021 Free online multi-faith storytelling, performance and craft.

Artwork by Gbenga Chesterman.

Modern Art Oxford, Between Making and Knowing Something: until 31st March Free online collage-like installation with pottery, photography and textiles by Mariana Castillo Deball.

Artwork by Gbenga Chesterman.

CulCher | Friday, 5th March 2021

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As the end of term draws near, The Source explores different experiences of change and adaptation.

E H SO T Be J Daniels

U RC E

Peel away my shame like burnt skin, Chip the crystals of hurt out of my heart, Put a faded hat on my head, and make sure it fits.

Chew on a piece of lavender, wink at a pretty girl.

Stretch and break out of the shackles that are Holding me to the earth; so long, resentment, Farewell, bitterness. And finally I draw the arrow Out from my heel – I pack up my baggage, Douse it in fuel and light a match.

Walk away with burning behind my back.

Vault off the ground and onto a horse, Tap its sides lightly with my spurs, click My tongue. Throat on fire from whiskey, Guitar slung over my back. Rodeo flares Wrapped around my legs and a check Shirt around my chest. Travelling into The sunset, a new cowboy ready to ride, Chewing on a piece of lavender, Working it round a smile.

5

Friday, 5th March 2021 | CulCher

Ghosts in the Attic Ellie-Jai Williams Nearing the 3pm slump. (The clock is always 2:52 when you glance at it). Taunting synchronicity, eternal afternoon.

Unpack-repack. That recurring dream you only ever have in your Home Bed. Packing a suitcase, frantic. Hands moving too slow, oppressive air. Viscous temporal soup. You miss the flight by a fraction of a second. Unpack. Back Home. .

Grey skies greet your eyes in the morning, rain hitting the window. Washed out Friday/Saturday/ Sunday/Monday. Trip to the shop to get milk for Mum. You slip back into the paranoid notion that everyone must be staring at you. Leering, laughing. Back home, half-empty fridge shelves stare back at you apathetically. A bitter-meets-guilty, guilty-meets-angry feeling sits in your stomach, undigested, when you think of how you eat in The Other Place where The Other Half live.

You hide in your AirPods, perfume and fur just for a walk to the shop.

Imposter.

Sunken eyes of little girls outside Tesco. School shirt half in half out, one sock up one sock down.

Clinging to a rain-washed bear. The bear looks tired but compliant, no energy left to protest about the rough way he is held.

For a brief moment you feel that you-girl-bear connect, an unlikely triad formed on King Street.

United as allies avoiding the eyes of a fed-up mum. Eyes framed by half-moons. Limp ponytail, tired air.

You smile at the girl to show solidarity. She stares blankly back at you.

You’re sitting in a silent house. Hair unwashed, the musty smell of sleep still lingering in the afternoon. You think about the sound of your nan’s voice on the voicemail she left for your 20th birthday. Husky from all her years of smoking, but unchanged and as warm as ever. You and her in your alliance, when you were little and the world was smaller: swapping between school - nan’s house - dad’s house(s) - mum’s house(s). A world full of suitcases. Unpack-repack.

Change without progress.

Weekends with nan on the couch. EastEnders playing on the telly, reruns of the same show. You loved the coziness of it until one day it bored you - no one prepared you for that. Losing your favourite toys in the attic when you had to leave the house in a hurry.

In a dream you were small and in the attic with the toys, hidden behind them, scared. A lady was angrily tearing down the wall they’d formed, one by one. You thought please don’t find me please don’t find me, not yet not yet.

You think of the toys now laying abandoned on the attic floor, cast aside and dust-covered, unloved.

Roaming the dark spaces of the house(s) like ghosts.

You and nan walking back from the chippy arm-in-arm. (She always held you close, and tightly).

Sharing a cone of chips in the cold and laughing. That gorgeous sound of a little girl’s laughter. Salt rim on your lip, warm feeling in your belly, toothy eight-year-old smile.

She loved you fiercely and without reservation. You could see it in her eyes from the beginning.

Guilt rises in your stomach because you haven’t returned her call.

And that other recurring dream you have no matter where you are. You’re eight again.

Dark spiral staircase. Curious to know what’s at the bottom, you descend the stairs. Something terrible lies waiting but it will free you to know what. Sometimes a man is waiting for you, hidden face, leering smile. Sometimes he isn’t. But always a fraction of a second before your foot leaves the final stair, you change your mind and run back to the top, terrified.

Descend-ascend.

Where do I go when I run away?

Artwork by: Rachel Jung.

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

CulCher | Friday, 5th March 2021

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‘If not; Winter’ JESS CURRY DISCUSSES THE FIRST FEMALE POET IN THE WESTERN TRADITION AND HOW WE CAN POSSIBLY TRANSLATE HER.

T

ranslators can only work in approximates; the chasm between capabilities and cultures of different languages force constant compromise, in meter, sense and style.. But in ‘If not; Winter’, Carson faces a further chasm in communication -; the corpus of the poet hailed by contemporaries as ‘The Tenth Muse’ exists only in fragments.

Sappho, the poet in question, is undoubtedly one of the most important writers in history.

Mythologised and canonised almost as soon as she lived, she is credited with the invention of the plectron and pektis - the lyre and the pick to play it. She created the genre of intensely personal poetry and her words reverbed to shape work from the lyric poets of the Hellenistic world to the Roman wild child Catullus. She is also the first surviving female author of the Westen world. And yet - or likely because of the latter - her work was largely condemned to the scrap heap of history (literally; the 3% of her work that survived was found in

W

ith the vac approaching, many of us might be looking forward to enjoying some indulgent books outside of termly reading lists. But could we possibly balance intellectual enrichment and personal relaxation at once? The Books Section share their favourite classic reads that truly do not feel like work.

Their beautiful language and captivating stories make them thoroughly readable. We hope you can take time to peruse some of these during an Easter Vacation well-spent.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hess Irene, Books Editor Philosophical fiction has a reputation for dense prose and didacticism, so one would be forgiven for avoiding Siddhartha, a frequent entry on those questionable ‘Best Books’ lists. However, Hesse’s master-

an ancient Egyptian rubbish heap).

Faced with such slim remains, how do we engage with the voice which captivated the ancient world? Anne Carson presents a translation which on first glance looks more like ink scratches across a canvas. One page simply runs; Fragment 24D: ] ] ] ] ] ] in a thin voice ] Carson translates with loving care every trace of Sappho; this is a rendering of the single word which survives of one poem, aptly giving us the tiniest shadow of the original. Her use of space and brackets force us to read what we’ve lost as much as what remains.

Reading ‘If not; winter’ you begin to get a sense of Sappho’s voice, language and rhythm but this is ultimately a literary

BOOKS

exercise in expressing fragments, not a stab in the dark at poems we do not have. Having said that, some fragments, like 31, gives us almost a full poem; classicists will recognise this one from its Roman translation

by Catullus in our Texts and Contexts module.

In it w e see a hear t

clenching passion, the fire of which has in no way diminished over time, as Sappho falls apart with jealousy, seeing her lady love give attention to someone else.

Sappho’s Greek makes clear the gender of both the first person speaker and the object of her affection, but English has a reduced capacity to do so. ‘It seems that she knew and loved women as deeply as she did music,” Carson remarks in her introduction. “Can we leave

the matter there?” The answer should be no; Sappho’s explicit avowal of female love has been boulderised and explained away for generations. In Fragment 31, disappointingly, Carson makes a trade-off and leaves the gender of Sappho’s address unclear. Overall however, this volume is ultimately a crucial contribution to the field of Classics. We are not lacking in female classical voices because they didn’t exist, but because the following generations failed the field by not transmitting them.

Josephine Balmer published a collection of 16 extant female writers; all of whom are fragmentary. Reading what’s left is at points tantalising and frustrating, but ultimately incredibly important for our history as women and as people. Anne Carson, in translating and preserving my all time favourite line from Sappho and from any Classical writer, confirms its sentiment.

‘I do believe, that even in a time unlike our own Someone will remember who we are’ Image credit: Masur via Wikimedia Commons (CCBYSA 2.5)

Cherwell Recommends:

Classics outside the classroom

THE BOOKS SECTION SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE WELL-KNOWN READS. piece substitutes intellectual language with a free-flowing tale of self-discovery and enlightenment, brimming with vitality and lyricism. It is short and manageable, yet also deeply engaging and profoundly beautiful — a perfect way to check another item off your literary bucket list with relatively little effort and abundant returns.

Middlemarch by George Eliot Sofie, Books Editor I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I had never read George Eliot’s Middlemarch before coming to Oxford. Although I first encountered the mammoth

novel in class, it quickly became one of my all-time favorites.

While it was written 150 years ago, Middlemarch feels eternally relevant. The characters and conversations Eliot pens stem from the same concerns that modern readers face in their everyday lives: how to navigate a gendered society, achieve financial and moral success, and conceptualize one’s own self-identity. It is the epitome of a classic worth returning to outside of the tutorial room.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Jess, Deputy Editor

When I first met Austen in Eng Lit class, I was in my ‘I hate Taylor Swift’ feminist phase, not yet grown into my ‘actually I love Taylor Swift’ feminist phase - Pride and Prejudice was wasted on me. But I’ve come to understand how this much maligned classic deals insightfully with class and gender dynamics and more or less created the complex narrative technique of free indirect speech.

Besides this the arch and witty social commentary is an absolute joy to read. Austen might be making fun of her contemporaries, but she lets you in on the joke.

Friday, 5th March 2021 | CulCher

7

STAGE

‘FUN HOME’?

James Newbery explores the powerful and nuanced LGBTQ+ narrative behind the award-winning Broadway musical.

CW: homophobia, child abuse, suicide, sexual assault.

E

very time I listen to the Fun Home, written by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, it connects with me on the rawest level, leaving me both uplifted and emotionally devastated by the end.

The musical is adapted from Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir and is the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. It tells a true story about Bechdel’s closeted father killing himself due to his sexuality at roughly the same time Bechdel herself came out.

It doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs, yet the musical’s greatest strength is how it is always able to see the light in the darkness. Songs like ‘Come to the Fun Home’, performed by the child actors in the production, is a comic tour-deforce that cannot help but put a smile on your face.

In fact, Fun Home does something which happens so infrequently in terms of media representation of gay characters— it portrays comingout as ultimately a rewarding and positive experience. People who identify as LGBTQ+ need narratives that show us it does get better. We don’t need to live forever in shame; we will find love and acceptance, and it is often at the points in our lives when we are least expecting it.

The show’s masterpiece of a song, ‘Changing My Major’, best illustrates this. At this point in the show, Alison has just had her first sexual encounter. The song begins with witty lyrics before shifting into a different region altogether: ‘Am I falling into nothingness or flying into something so sublime?’. Indeed, the line is repeated later on in the show in Bruce’s song ‘Edges of the World’, just moments before he steps in front of the truck. While he cannot save himself from ‘falling into nothingness’, imagery of flying dominates the musical. The show opens with a child Alison flying her toy airplanes around the house and being lifted into the sky balancing on her father’s legs, singing ‘I want to fly airplane’. Alison’s queer identity for her, and indeed the audience, becomes ‘sublime’. She doesn’t

sink; she soars.

Fun Home contrasts Alison’s dad’s inability to accept himself and his resulting suicide with Alison’s coming out experience as something exciting that ultimately gives her a sense of meaning in life. Bruce’s shame is not only to do with the fact that he is gay— it is here where the nuance lies.

It is implied that he has sex with underage males. His ‘fall into nothingness’ is a mixture of his guilt about his sexual abuse of minors and his marital infidelity as well as his inability to accept his sexuality. The show doesn’t try to simplify the moral complexities of the issues it deals with.

Perhaps, the most upsetting part of the show is the scene in which Bruce forces his young daughter to wear a dress rather than the trousers she wants to wear to a children’s party. Bruce inflicts his pent-up years of shame and internalised homophobia onto his daughter. By trying to save her from being teased by other children, he actually damages her emotionally in ways that will take years for Alison to truly process. Internalised homophobia begins far earlier than most realise, at an age where many children don’t even know what being ‘gay’ actually is— all the more reason why LGBTQ-inclusive curriculums in primary schools are especially important.

I first listened to the musical at a low point in my own life.

Rewind back to May last year, we were all still learning how to cope with the demands of self-isolation. But what was weighing on my mind more was that I was still not out to my family. And I was very lucky: they’ve all been very accepting and supportive of me. Fun Home shows us that all families inevitably have secrets— and, arguably, this is why Fun Home is a universal story. Everyone can see something in Alison’s story, even if they personally don’t have to go through the process of coming out in their lifetime.

Read the article in full at cherwell.org.

REVIEWS/SHORTS

J

THE UNHEARD VOICE OF JANE ARDEN

ane Arden is an unfamiliar name in the theatre industry despite the fact that her career possesses all the hallmarks of a pioneering feminist writer and director.

Her writing credits include little-known plays such as The Party (1958) and Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven (1969), as well as films such as Separation (1968) and The Other Side of the Underneath (1972). Writing during the height of the women’s liberation movement, Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath was the only British feature film to be solely directed by a woman throughout the whole of the 1970s. It is curious, then, that Arden’s works should have been so unjustly forgotten.

Her writing is barbed and uncompromising, insisting that “any woman who has ‘made’ it in a man’s world— will be guilty— is from now on guilty of complicity and collaboration”. Feeling that the world was saturated by the rhetoric of patriarchy, Arden felt that women “have no language. The words of women have yet to be written”, consequently concluding that “we must destroy the language”.

And so, Arden’s works explode into a sensory cacophony of colourful projections, radio, ultraviolet light, giant vaginas

and soiled sanitary towels, medieval rituals, and rock music. Structured according to a dream-logic, Arden attempts to elucidate an interconnectivity between women’s restrictive social circumstances and their consequently crippled psyche.

As her works delved further into a female subjectivity and experimentalism, they were met with increasing perplexity by (male) reviewers. An article in The Times reviews Arden’s play A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches as “a tedious, visually wordless production” which “never adds up to any kind of real dramatic content”. However, it is notable that the article is keen to linger on the “notable burlesque of a strip style show by the statuesque Sheila Allen” (April 22, 1971).

Evidently the cultural awareness did not exist wherein her works could be fully appreciated.

Unfortunately, those of her plays which were recorded in the first place have since gone out of print.

However, BFI’s recent release of Arden’s films will hopefully spark a resurgence of interest in this compelling feminist creative.

Words by Nia Brown.

Image Credit: Marc Brenner.

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CulCher | Friday 5th March 2021

FASHION

Depop Photo Op:

#Y2K Edition

Models: Jess Curry & Rebeka Shipkolye Photographer: Laetitia Dewavrin

Friday, 5th March 2021 | CulCher

9

Where Winx went wrong...

T

here’s nothing like a remake

ments from fans debating their favour-

unashamedly feminine, with a crew of

to get fans of the original riled

ites and comparing iterations.

six active female protagonists forming

up. The upcoming Netflix se-

With this in mind, it’s not hard to see

the ‘club’– how many other shows at the

ries Fate: The Winx Saga, Saga, a

why fans of the original were not hap-

time could boast that? It was also huge-

live-action reimagining of kids’ cartoon

py about the Netflix remake. Not only

ly successful, rating top of its channel

Winx Club has been no exception.

is it divergent from the original series

in viewership almost everywhere it was

For those who did not have the pleasure

both in tone (now darkly lit and serious)

syndicated. 38.5 million people across

of watching Winx Club growing up, let me

and character (suddenly everyone is very

nine countries watched the series series in the

explain. Winx Club was the story of an en-

snarky), but it has also paid no atten-

first quarter of 2012 alone. And it wasn’t

semble of six fairies (Bloom, Stella, Flo-

tion to the fashion of the Winx. No one

just watched by girls, despite being tar-

ra, Techna, Musa, and Aisha). It followed

appears to transform or gain outfits of

geted at them. The gender mix of Winx

their trials and tribulations learning mag-

any kind. To quote the main character in

Club’s Club ’s audience was nearly equal across

ic at their fairy school and fighting ene-

the first episode of the remake, “I’m just

the first three seasons.

mies.

kinda bummed I didn’t see a single pair

Shows so bright, colourful, and most

Fashion was central to Winx Club and

of wings.” Me too, Bloom, me too. The

importantly feminine being popular

its appeal. The first sentence of the Nick-

viewers are eventually treated to a pair

among both girls and boys are rare. In

elodeon synopsis I found references ‘six

of CGI fire wings, but it read more Balrog

removing those features of their remake,

fashion-forward best friends’. Each char-

than Tinkerbell.

Netflix has done a disservice to the im-

acter had a signature colour and style

The characters’ iconic colour schemes

portant message of the original that

which matched her personality. It was

have been changed as well. Bloom is in-

women can both be ‘girly’ and strong,

also not only about vanity. Each new se-

explicably dressed in red instead of her

that being either does not require a re-

ries came with an outfit redesign, earned

usual light blue. The casting also leaves

jection of the other like we so often see

by the fairies as they became more power-

a lot to be desired. In addition to the

in ‘girl boss’ Hollywood characters.

ful in reward for a display of kindness or

very valid accusations of white washing,

I’m sure that Fate: The Winx Saga is

self-sacrifice.

with the exception of Stella, the actors

a perfectly acceptable generic action se-

Videos of the transformations of the

playing the fairies have entirely failed to

ries. But in ignoring the fashion of Winx

fairies from their ‘normal’ outfits into

capture the look and spirit of their pre-

Club, the creators did not even attempt

their Winx regalia have millions of views

decessors.

to understand what fans loved about the

on YouTube. It was the culmination of

This may seem like a fuss over noth-

original or what made it special. And if

every season, the bombastic transforma-

ing. Winx Club may appear to be just

the creators did not intend to capture

tion just in time to face the final villain. like any other kids’ cartoon about mag-

some of the spirit of Winx Club, then

Fans had strong opinions on these out-

ic: owing a large creative debt to Harry

why even call it Winx?

fits: have a look at the comment section

Potter among others. But in fact Winx

of any YouTube clip and you’ll see com-

Club was something different. It was so

Written by Millie Wood

Art by Emma Hewlett

CulCher | Friday, 5th March 2021

10

MUSIC

Shreya Banerjee discusses her lockdown vinyl affair

LIKE A RECORD BABY

T

here are so many harsh ways in which this respiratory pandemic has affected people, but one of its more minor impacts is that it has denied us the experience of skimming through reams of records in person. I’m at risk of sounding pretentious here, but with a pinch of self-awareness, I can say that music browsing is a hobby of mine. With its worn paper case, browning at the corners, a pre-loved vinyl invites its owner to remember that there are other people out there too – people who listen and love, smile and cry to the same songs as us.

In an ordinary world, these are people you might meet at a concert and instantly feel connected to; but our experience of that category of friendship has all but disappeared since March 2020. It seems unlikely that this attraction of vinyl is something that can fill the void left by casual musical friendships, but it may contribute to its rocketing popularity right now.

But vinyl renaissance started long before the pandemic. After years of only hardcore enthusiasts keeping the industry alive, record players and vinyl are now sold in Urban Outfitters.

The industry has grown for thirteen consecutive years, from only 205k vinyl sales in the UK in 2007, to 4.8m in 2020. These statistics indicates vinyl’s re-emergence is not just something I’m imagining

in my relatively indie, Oxford bubble. It is especially impressive that the record industry stayed resilient through 2020, with sales increasing by a tenth on 2019’s figures despite the restrictions on the art of instore record shopping. Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive at the British Phonographic Industry has summarised this surge as demonstrative of “the timeless appeal of collectable physical formats alongside the seamless connectivity of streaming”, which rings true to my own relationship with records.

While I’m glad that we’re seeing a vinyl second coming, there can be no denying that the industry has morphed into something new in the last few decades. The fact that 40% of the 40 top selling EPs of 2020 were released more than a decade prior shows that nostalgia is crucial to sales. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is widely regarded as an essential piece in a record collection, so it’s no surprise that this flawless album was the #1 best-seller. The idea of some albums being essential to a record collection extends nostalgia into a sense that when you’re buying a record, you’re engaging in a tradition. A tradition of forking out for a physical symbol of your dedication to a band, of being cautious with it as you lower it onto the turntable, and of listening to the crackle and craft intently.

Admittedly, this experience is one that Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram are pretty familiar with. Yet, what does that show, other than that our generation loves to show off what we’re listening to?

Since March 2020, I’ve set foot in only one record store - the pretty small Vintage and Vinyl, in the coastal Kent town of Folkestone.

I was aware of how different this experience was to the first time I excitedly visited Rough Trade East. The sanitiser that coated my hands before entering Vintage and Vinyl was sticky. I was conscious of every fingerprint I might leave– a world away from thumbing through endless stacks of records in a preCOVID world. I noticed soon that there was a couple waiting outside the store - I was taking up precious space. Since I wasn’t planning to buy anything that afternoon, it seemed irresponsible to linger.

The pandemic has undoubtedly transformed our retail experience. Record stores around the world have committed to operating online stores and Discogs marketplaces, and even delivering by cycle. Nevertheless, I’m reassured by our pandemic love affair with vinyl that the importance of physicality cannot be diminished by the technology that surrounds us, or the circumstances we’re in.

Image credit: Milesoftrane.com

SPRING IN YOUR STEP Frank Milligan, Music Editor, compiles a playlist that’s sonically in bloom.

Find on Spotify @cherwellmusic.

Image Credits: Irma Puškarević, Man Alive! & Angular

NEW ORDER Age of Consent

LOU REED Perfect Day

BOARDS OF CANADA Dawn Chorus

Friday, 5th March 2021 | CulCher

11

FILM

S

chitt’s Creek is a show where the main character talks to her many, many wigs. It is a show which manages to make a storyline about bedwetting genuinely romantic. It is a show that’s set the record for most Emmy wins for a comedy in a single season. It is a show that you need to be watching right now.

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

Catherine O’Hara as matriarch Moira Rose is a revelation. Exhibit A: her eccentric accent, which is both a source of laughter and a subject of actual linguistic analyses.

Exhibit B: everything she says in that

accent, like her nuggets of parental wisdom (“Gossip is the devil’s telephone. Best to just hang up.”) and advice about posting nudes online (“Never! Never without good lighting!”).

More than anything, Schitt’s Creek is kind. It’s kind to its characters. As easy it would be to reduce the Roses to caricatures, they are portrayed as human (or at least, as trying their best to be human). They’re relatable (even despite the fact that David, a grown man, thinks that the minimum wage is $45/hour). But the joy of the show doesn’t come from watching the Roses do crazy things and thinking to yourself, “What planet are they from?!” It comes from watching the Roses do crazy things and make mistakes and learn to be kind to eachother, all while staying true to their eccentric selves. Like when Alexis shows up to her brother’s wedding in a wedding dress (“This is not a wedding dress! It’s a white full-length gown!”) and walks him down the aisle, which is simultaneously sweet and also borderline incestuous – a brand of funny that only Schitt’s Creek could pull off.

And the show is, I think, one of those rare gems that is more than just a comedy and is really, actually a WAY OF LIFE. And not

Artwork by Emma Hewlett.

DIP YOUR TOE INTO SCHITT’S CREEK

Mikeala Choo explains why Schitt’s Creek is not only a brilliant watch but also a ‘way of life’.

in the way that I tell myself The Office is to justify watching it for the millionth time. What Schitt’s Creek does better than any other show on television is make you look at the world with kinder eyes. It blesses us with David and Patrick, the couple at the heart of what is hands-down the best love story on television. And gives us a revolutionarily casual depiction of a community without homophobia. This depiction is meaningful because it doesn’t moralise – it shows us what life could be like. Dan Levy perfectly articulates the magic of this: “If you put something like that (homophobia) out of the equation, you’re saying that… shouldn’t exist.”

If you watch just one episode, it has to be Season 4, Episode 6: “Open Mic.” It starts with Moira finding her co-workers’ sonogram on her desk and responding as any mother/ long-time benign neglecter of her children would, by asking, “Who put a picture of a ghost on my desk?” More funny stuff is said and then we get to Patrick, who suggests hosting an open mic night, much to David’s horror. But when Patrick serenades David with Tina Turner’s “The Best”, you can see the mortification on David’s face melting into tenderness, and then David is tearing up and his mother Moira is tearing up and so are you. Schitt’s Creek will win you over. It is, quite simply, the best.

MUST SEE STREAMING: RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE UK

CLASSIC: THE TRUMAN SHOW

STUDENT FILM: ALL SOULS’ DAY

The stateside phenomenon has hit the UK in a The mother of all main-character- Maria Egieva’s dystopian comedy set in the near future pushes aspects of contemporary tidal wave of glitter and gumption. If you want syndromes, The Truman Show to know what’s going on in any conversation follows Truman as he discovers that bureaucracy to a degree of farce. Co-funded by the OUFF& Wolfson College. https:// over the next couple weeks, watch it. his life is a television programme. vimeo.com/450924949

12

LIFE

Life | Friday, 5th March 2021

Self care: a capitalist conspiracy?

Jill Cushen explores the sinister links between self-care and commodification.

I

n these turbulent times, self-care is more important than ever.B u t when the simple act of caring for oneself becomes intertwined with capitalist enterprise, spending time on the self also means spending money. We are inundated with adverts for self-care products on our social media feeds, and consumer culture has cultivated an association of self-care with beauty, wealth and commodities. Selfcare is no longer simple, or completely about the self.

The term ‘self-care’ dates back to antiquity, with legendary Greek philosopher Socrates credited as founding the movement; the notion of self-care underwent a major revival in the 1980s, but never before has the industry been worth so much both to the self and to companies’ pockets.

Lockdown has established self-care as a cultural phenomenon - according to IRI Worldwide, in 2020 the industry’s worth boomed to $450 billion, increasing from $10 billion in 2014. Research from The Body Shop found that in the UK, £3 billion a month is spent on our selfcare, an average of £49.20 per

person.

A capitalist society works in opposition with self-care. We are encouraged to work hard, often to the point of burnout, and spend more time working than relaxing, both of which make indulging in ‘calming’ products all the more necessary and desirable. Selfcare has become synonymous with the trope “treat yourself,” “you” being the wealthy consumer who can afford to spend £50 on a sandalwood candle. What originated as the simple deed of looking after ourselves emotionally and physically has been reduced to a commercialised act. An American survey conducted in 2019 by the Samueli Foundation underscored the importance of self-care, with 85% of physicians agreeing that practicing self-care is “very important” - but the research also found that 44% believed that self-care is only possible for those with enough time, whilst 35% believed it is only possible for those with enough money.

A google search of “selfcare products” churns out over 3 billion results, with many products labelled as “essential” - these range from

salted caramel chocolate to sauna blankets and £250 Egyptian cotton sheets. Selfcare is often misconstrued as something which must be Instagram-worthy: extravagant at-home spa evenings or multi-coloured bubble baths. But really, inner peace can be achieved without spending a penny - the only real cost of self-care is time.

Setting aside solid chunks of time for gardening, yoga, reading, meditation, or a bath is easier said than done, but air is cheap and allowing yourself to breath and your mind to focus is no harm. Either way, if it doesn’t work, at least you won’t be out of pocket!

To dismantle our skewed perception of self-care, we must reimagine what it means to care for ourselves.

It’s something we can do for ourselves, by ourselves, without designer candles and high thread count sheets.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t splurge on a pillow spray or a face mask- you just shouldn’t feel you have to. It’s a common misconception that self-care is all about being selfish. It’s not. Even the OED tells us that self-care as defined as “self-interested behaviour”

is “now rare” – and in an essay entitled Technologies of the Self, French philosopher Michel Foucault argued that looking after oneself is a kind of “vigilance”, and not a form of narcissism. But who’s to say that we shouldn’t be selfish now and then? If we don’t carve out time for ourselves, no one else will.

My idea of self-care (introduced to me by Elizabeth Gilbert in her novel Eat Pray Love) is inspired by the beautiful Italian phrase “dolce far niente”, which means ‘the sweetness of doing nothing’. This seems a strange concept for many of us in this world of hectic productivity, but a blissful ideal, if we could only achieve it. It’s actually the opposite of doing nothing- it’s the state of just being. There’s nothing more caring we could do for ourselves than to just be, free from stress and demands, and from the guilt of doing nothing at all. Investing in ourselves doesn’t have to be a financial transaction; but if the temptation of self-care consumerism becomes too much, do as the Italians do nothing.

Artwork by Rachel Jung.

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Friday, 5th March 2021 | Life

Jemima Lane Hertford Geography

Cherpse

How were you feeling before the date?

Nervous! Lockdown means I haven’t met anyone new in a little while so I was out of practice.

How were you feeling before the date?

Definitely nervous but excited to test out the webcam I had recently bought (and the date).

First impressions?

Home counties vibes. But she was pretty so I let it slide.

First impressions?

My date was nice! Super witty and easy to chat with.

Did it meet up to your expectations?

Above and beyond.

Did it meet up to your expectations?

I was nervous about awkward silences, but my date was chatty and funny, we even made a new zoom.

What was the highlight?

Finding out we both like the same alcohol.

What was the most embarassing moment?

Forgetting that Manchester existed after living in the North West for 5 years!

Jacob Christianson Univ Chemistry

What was the highlight?

Seeing her signed Wales Rugby poster.

What was the most embarassing moment?

I thought it was a good idea to mix vodka with some old fanta that I found in my bedroom.

Describe the date in 3 words: Exciting, drunk, funny Is a second date on the cards?

I’ll see what she says...

Describe the date in 3 words: Easy, fun, entertaining Is a second date on the cards?

Maybe when we’re back in Trinity...

Horoscopes...

PISCES

CANCER

19 Feb - 20 March

21 June - 22 July

Pisces, you beautiful terror. Somehow you’ve made it through Covid Hilary with a smile on your face, and the world is all the better for it. Keep spreading the lurve.

ARIES

21 March- 19 April Everyday feels like Groundhog Day when you’re watching the Bodleian Library Booking screen buffering at 10am again. It’s important to mix it up, Aries – go as wild as Boris will let you.

Grab some non-essentials at the supermarket, maybe even sit on a bench.

Yippee.

TAURUS 20 April - 20 May Write someone a letter! Anyone! A lover?

The council? Epistolary creativity will define your final two weeks of term, Taurus. In fact, why not delete Outlook?

Ask for that essay extension through a nice handwritten letter.

GEMINI 21 May- 20 June Feeling over Seventh Week, Gemini?

Your moon is in Mars, so treat yourself to a Mars Bar or something, you probably deserve it, but your stars are equivocating a bit.

Your blood is 90% Pukka Tea. Levels are dangerously high. Drink some PG Tips.

LEO 23 July - 22 August You may be a lion, Leo, but it’s imperative you look after your mane! This is not a shampoo ad. At most it’s celestial subliminal messaging.

VIRGO 23 August - 22 Sept Hope is on the horizon! Now is clearly not the time to commit to that slightly dubious dating choice, as summer and a million new prospects draws ever closer... I predict much flirting in pub gardens for you this summer 2021!

LIBRA 23 Sept - 23 Oct Your stars predict a quiet night in on 21st June.

SCORPIO 24 Oct - 21 Nov I know, an Oxford term is knackering.

Honestly, if you’re reading this, take it as a sign to have a well deserved nap!

You’ve earned it!

SAGITTARIUS 22 Nov - 21 Dec Remember who follows your Spotify account Sagittarius. I know you’re *really* enjoying that oddly specificity titled playlist but maybe switch to private listening mode? Your friends are worried about you.

CAPRICORN 22 Dec - 19 Jan My crystal ball is telling me your last essay will be your best yet, so really don’t stress! Your sentences will flow with an effortless grace, your punctuation will be show-stopping and you’ll truly end on a high!

AQUARIUS 20 Jan - 18 Feb You’ve been Very Online this term, Aquarius, and #mods twitter is starting to take a toll – you’re sick of hapax legomena and Herodotus. Sisyphus is kind of a 7thweek mood though.

Life | Friday, 5th March 2021

14

YOU’RE BREAKING UP! Ffion Kellegher reflects on her experiences in the socially-distanced dating scene.

D

ating has always been an awkward affair: nervous laughter, grasping at any passing detail to reignite the repartee, and uncertainty about whether you’ll ultimately find yourself embracing the momentary love of a stranger, or the faithfulness of two old friends – Ben and Jerry.

Now add to this a global pandemic, when physical contact is literally illegal.

Everyone is struggling to adjust, so it’s completely understandable that you might turn, post-existential crisis, to (online) dating as a source of comfort and confidence.

My first foray into Covid dating was with the help of trusty Tinder; I found Mr. Right after a lot of swiping, and we went on a socially-distanced walk complete with a Bridget-Jones style umbrella fiasco (on my part). One upside of the social distancing was that I avoided the hugor-not moment, which has always proved awkward for me. (To be honest, I really dig waving.) On the flipside, though, it was difficult to see his face properly with a mask, which was a little off-putting.

Ultimately, I waved him off and decided to give up Tinder for good. It’s just not my style.

Two weeks later, of course, I had redownloaded it, ready for my second episode of Covid courting via Zoom. This was handy – no wasted time commuting, dressing up, or planning, the chance to get to know someone without committing to a whole evening, and the security of familiar surroundings. The technological disadvantages are obvious, however –

who would have thought a hundred years ago that flirting would be, “sorry couldn’t quite hear you the WIFI’s terrible, could you say tha—oops sorry no you go… wait… hello? Oh god’. Not very romantic. Zoom does have one brilliant feature, though, a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free Card’ in the form of that big, delicious ‘Leave the Meeting’ button. After forty-five minutes, I hit it and escaped – he was a lovely boy, but again, not for me. Internet dating was proving to be rather a chore.

My third experience of Covid Tinderdating is still ongoing. Quite exciting, really! It started with a Zoom call, too, and though there was some regret on my part that we hadn’t discussed whether or not we were drinking, and a bit of weirdness with only one of us going for it, it was great. This time, I felt that the technology wasn’t a hindrance at all. It was actually really nice to get to know somebody’s personality purely through speech and visual display, and not having the often stressful element of physical proximity.

So all in all, Zoom definitely has some drawbacks – it puts a limitation on the possibilities of taking the date to completion, if you catch my meaning – but it’s not all bad. My experience of dating during ‘Doomsday’ has been pretty much just as embarrassing, agonising, uncomfortable and fun as it was before the pandemic. If you’re thinking of joining the dating scene then I wish you all the best! Also what’s your number? (kidding, obviously…)

Cherwell reaches out to students on their year abroad. This week, one student discusses their travels in...

W

H

ey!

Hope you’re well!

Are you aware of the upcoming election?

The Price is Right’s term is all but over, which readers have likely already learnt from zealous election spiels this week.

Though hacks are too busy firing messages similar to the one above into their friends’, lab partner’s, and “person once stood next to me in pret”’s inboxes, John Evelyn would like to take the time to wish The Price is Right a fond farewell. We could certainly have done worse.

John Evelyn has sensed anticipation since nominations closed, as The Runner Up prepares to shake off his time-worn nickname. Eponymous of the revered Old Man Bridge with the endurance to match, John Evelyn expects the plucky hopeful to take his clandestine inspirer’s advice and not count his chickens too soon. Indeed, John Evelyn thinks one challenger should forget the Union and establish a pyramid scheme given how successfully she has recruited supporters.

However, the victor will not be president until Michaelmas. The Late Etonian shall be handed the nuclear codes for Trinity next Friday. John Evelyn is excited to see what his term will hold. He wishes the extraordinary members every success, whoever they may become.

My time is up and I thank you for yours.

John Evelyn x

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

STUDENTS ABROAD hen it comes to heading out on a year abroad in 2021, the UK’s third lockdown has produced an unexpected and uninvited coincidence: staying home now seems to bear many of the characteristics that academia approved jet-setting once offered.

Students of previous years will be the first to tell you that they slipped all too easily into that slumped contortion in front of a childhood desk, or that trying to learn a language at home in preparation included more of your dad saying “dos cervezas por favor” instead of rigorous grammar revision. However, these well established realities have now infected other aspects of travel with their monotony. What was once an exciting scuffle of passport and visa at a foreign check in desk has been replaced with a slow, steady death march through Covid risk assessments, leaden visa applications and email correspondence with immigration officers.

Being lost in a faceless airport crowd was a lot more romantic when the crowd had faces.

The year abroad was always a fairly solitary exercise too, with months of planning, paperwork, visa applications and language exams undertaken largely alone. Such things

John Evelyn

have been a reality of the year abroad since it’s conception, but this year presented a new level of challenges and questions. Among them, and perhaps most importantly is that of who is responsible for arrangements? Obviously students must adopt a reasonable amount of responsibility for where they spend their time, and how studies are organised- after all they are the ones travelling, but when already complex processes have been made doubly harder should extra assistance not be provided? Resources are available but often fail to more than superficially address issues that arise, especially when every student has a very different experience of would-be identical processes. The buck cannot be left solely with the faculty however; they are trying their best in a difficult time with limited resources, suddenly shouldering a burden that has been subtly shifted onto language learners for years.

As one of the fortunate few Spanish students who succeeded in travelling

to a country outside of Europe (if briefly), I know all too well that a lot of the Covid risk assessments are an insurance box ticking exercise. They effectively functioned as a waiver, stating that I understood and took responsibility for the risks posed by my travelling, achieving very little and their completion being subject to no real quality assurance. This makes it all the more galling then, when the faculty insists they will not provide insurance to countries that may soon be on the red list, and students can therefore not travel to those areas. The red list currently includes most of the Spanish speaking world, with talks underway on whether or not the rest of it will be added. Those of us whose plans have been cancelled, rebooked and recancelled are left feeling as if there is no real resort for them.

In the past, dealing with such frustrations and obstacles was a formative experience, and dealing with it alone felt like a welcome dose of the real world. Covid has rendered it particularly sisyphean, with additional paperwork being just as responsible as the virus for rerouting flights to our bedrooms.

The shared experience of the year abroad is no longer independence and resourcefulness, but the navigation of a bureaucratic no man’s land.

15

Friday, 5th March 2021 | Life

FOOD

The Love Language of Chopsticks

Megan Chin on chopsticks: the history, the tricks, the love.

I

am not adept at fine dining.

Even after a couple of terms of formal meals in college (albeit curtailed by the pandemic), I still haven’t quite grasped how to neatly balance a pile of peas on the back of my fork, which is apparently the European style. There seems to be such a vast grammar of cutlery knowledge, from spoons to wine glasses to napkin arrangement.

Frankly, I think I’m much more accustomed to the simple language of chopsticks. Simple, however, is by no means straightforward. To me, the humble art of chopsticks conveys more than any elaborate silverware ever could.

My grandfather’s love language is to teach. One of my earliest memories is of him teaching me to use chopsticks, the proper way. “Only your first two fingers should be moving”, he tells me “and your two chopsticks must never cross”. He can use the chopsticks ambidextrously. He shows me chopstick tricks and we play chopstick wrestling (trying to pry a pea from the other person’s chopstick grip). In the

grasp of his skilful hands, there There is no need is no need for any other cutlery. for grand gesThere is no need for knives at tures, when the the table when even slippery simplest emonoodles can be sliced clean with tion of all can a pair of chopsticks. be expressed My grandmother’s love with a pair of language is food. In her hands, chopsticks. the wooden chopsticks are no There are all sorts of ways longer just cutlery, but a vehicle you can use a pair of chopsticks. of her concern: “Come, eat more. The custom of using chopsticks differs across I cooked this To me, the humble art cultures, across especially for you”. She of chopsticks conveys c o u n t r i e s , across teaches me more than any elaborate even households. But not to waste silverware ever could. wherever you food, to save. are, using chopThough she knows little of the origin of sticks takes practice, patience chopsticks, they were invented and perseverance. After more for this very reason — to scrape than fifty years of marriage, my the leftovers from the bottom of grandparents are still figuring it out, with every meal and every the cooking pot.

Leftovers do not exist, how- mouthful. Deciphering the code ever, in this household. For in of chopsticks takes work, and spite of all the nagging that she perhaps nobody is ever really gives my grandfather, when he an expert — but isn’t that the comes home from a long day’s beauty of it? That though our work, what really matters is how chopsticks may cross from time my grandmother gently places to time and we might drop the the best ingredients onto his food on the table, we can always plate with her chopsticks, and pick it up and try again.

Artwork by Rachel Jung. takes the remainders for herself.

“

I know which side my bread is buttered!

Isobel Sanders explores why butter is not just butter.

W

hy don’t we have salty butter?” my naive, eleven year old self asked my mother one day. Looks of consternation flew across the kitchen, my mother’s eyes pleading my father to answer this one. Because we just don’t, came the reply, hostile and no-nonsense, as though I was at risk of being instantly excommunicated for even thinking about salty butter.

Of course, I’m exaggerating, but it is an unavoidable fact that butter is not just butter! There is a web of social implications behind the pat sitting in the top shelf of your fridge door. That is, if you have but-

Foodspiration

Blog: Minimalistbaker.com Event: Fairtrade Fortnight Book: Fakeaway by Chris Bavin

ter at all, and not marge, a whole other bag of historical worms.

In the US, margarine production began in 1875 and was made from a primary product of beef fat, a far cry from today’s Flora or Stork.

Within ten years just under half of all states had laws restricting the sale of this dairy substitute. Why? It was economically damaging to the dairy industry. Cue bootlegged margarine passing between States.

The real butter question is to salt or not to salt? Nine years on from that unworldly query, I now realise that unsalted butter is one of those middle-class markers. In the past, salt was added to butter to preserve it. Butter is essentially churned cream. Those with more milk than they needed, the rich, had a constant supply of butter hence no need to salt it.

But that’s not it. The hidden reason is that the middle-classes are willing to pay for their unsalted privilege. Perhaps the answer lies

in how we use it? For the platonic toast, melted salty butter steals the show. However, when it comes to cooking with the stuff, the ready-salted nature takes away control.

Why am I musing this now?

I’m currently on my year abroad in France, where it’s a matter of geography. If you’re Breton or Normand, salty butter is your building block for everything. Everywhere else, it depends on personal taste.

So here not only am I free from expectations on the butter-front, but I’m also cut off from any subconscious cultural pull towards Tesco’s unsalted butter.

So yes, for now I’m singing the praises of salted butter. Perhaps I’ll be converted to olive oil once in Italy, the next step of my year abroad. But let’s see how long it takes me to be re-educated once back in Blighty.

Read the full article at cherwell.org.

/ recipe

Buttery Shallot & Mushroom Pasta Ingredients One shallot 100g mushrooms 20g salty butter 100g pasta Optional extras: Couple of sprigs of parsley, dill or red chilli flakes Lemon zest Salt (if you used unsalted butter) To top: Parmesan if you’re feeling cheesy (or vegetarian alternative) Black pepper Instructions Heat butter in a frying pan. Add chopped shallot and soften for around 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms chopped into fine slices.

Get a big saucepan of boiling water ready with a good pinch of salt. Add your pasta.

When the mushrooms are softened nicely and the pasta is nearly ready, add your extras to your pasta.

Transfer the pasta to the frying pan, not worrying if you transfer a bit of pasta water along with it. Serve, topped with a ground of pepper and a sprinkling of parmesan, if you would like.

The recipe can be made vegan by substituting the butter for a good glug of olive oil.

Go to @cherwelloxford or @greens_and_grains on Instagram for the recipe video.

16

Biography and me

Life | Friday, 5th March 2021

PROFILE

Overseeing the evolution of a genre Alex Haveron-Jones speaks to Dame Hermione Lee about her work in biography and the challenges created for the genre by the rise of the social internet.

D

ame Hermione is a British biographer, academic and literary critic, formerly President of Wolfson College, Oxford, and Goldsmiths’ Professor of English Literature at the University. A fellow of the British Academy and Royal Society of Literature, Lee has written numerous acclaimed biographies—most notably her 1996 biography of Virginia Woolf, some nine-hundred pages to which Lee dedicated five years of her career.

But is the biography dying? Lee thinks not—it has always been a ‘mongrel genre’, undergoing numerous adolescent shifts before finding its shape, and accepted as a respectable form only in the past few decades— with the help of Lee herself, who first included biographies on Oxford’s English syllabus, to some hesitance.

Biography owes much to Lee, who worked to credit the genre when she first began lifewriting in the late 80s. Her career having developed alongside the fluctuating genre since its relative infancy, I begin by asking what the role of biography is in a time where individual identity is uniquely sociopolitical: “Different kinds of people are being biographised now than they might have been before […} We are all becoming acutely aware of groups of people who haven’t been sufficiently written about in the past.” She pulls up a book from off-screen and holds it to the camera: this ‘extraordinary’ book which Lee recently read is a memoir by writer Ta-Nehisi Coates about the symbolism and realities of being Black in the US, called Between The World and Me. Lee says it was the recent Black Lives Matter protests which alerted her to the work.

This increasing advocacy for representation has extended to the literary sphere, Lee tells me.

More than before, biographies require a sympathetic rendering of a person’s life story, hence demand a writer who can understand their subject and the lived experience which defined them. “Supposing I set out to write a biography of Coates—it would be out of the question.

Out of the question, and for good reason […] I think the matching of writer and subject is having to be done more and more carefully.”

It goes without saying that the significance of identity is fundamental to biography.

Yet in an age of unique self-representation, where social media can be a tool of pretence and unchecked selfaggrandisement, will this casts a shadow on the biographies of coming years?

Unacademic as it feels to ask an Oxford don, could an individual’s Instagram posts or YouTube vlogs make for respectable study of a person’s life? “The crucial question for biography in the future is going to be how it is going to relate to the existence of social media, not least simply in the technical side—the way in which people communicate is much more by email, or on Facebook or WhatsApp now than it has been.” Richard Ovenden, the Bodley’s Librarian, recently published a book which discusses how our digital selves are becoming part of archives—how they’re edited and processed.

‘Techniques are evolving to deal with that, although there is, of course, the terrible problem of the huge amount of material for any biographer that this is going to raise.’ Speaking of her latest subject, the revered playwright Tom Stoppard, Lee knows very well that ‘there are a million texts to his friends and colleagues that I will not have seen. And in a way, one wouldn’t almost want to see them, because there would be just so much of that material.’

Texts about a new kitchen installation doesn’t make for the most interesting study. Perhaps that which is written by hand retains the most biographical protein.

Picking up another book—this one written by her step-daughter, Josie Barnard, a professor at De Montfort University—she reads a line: “It is necessary on social media to perform a version of the self, or even several versions of the self, all of which should ideally be authentic […] decide what kind of radical self you might like to present.”

The evident paradox of social media—namely Instagram—is the necessary tension between a sincerity of the self and the desire to impress, or to be “liked”. “A biographer’s job is always to work out the relationship between performance and some authentic inner self. I think what’s happening with social media is that it’s gettingmuch, much harder to tell the difference.”

There is something to be said of that feeling of

permanence, preserving a party or newly-curated outfit made from vintage shop treasures on your colour-coded profile. “It seems to me that any lived life— yours or mine—is partly private and interior. But it’s also partly aperformance.”

Confined to our houses, we have all been thinking more about the relationship between interior and exterior—of the world, of ourselves. Lee perceives a parallel between our collective response to the virus and the essence of life-writing: “When Covid began back in March and April, you heard a lot of people saying, “finally, the whole world is in the same boat.” For a while, one of the characteristics of this crisis seemed to be that we were all in it together. And as it continued, that became less and less true […] Biography is always poised between asking what it’s like to feel like other people and asking what it’s like to be special and different.”

Lee insists that she could only ever write literary biography. I ask if she could ever adventure with an artist or performer—”I’m very interested in them but I don’t think I have the equipment to write about them... What I want to do is work out how the life turned into this work. That’s really all I do. So, I would be no good writing about a mountaineer, or a mathematician, because I don’t understand—I wouldn’t have the first clue as to how everyday life gets turned into a product.”

But I wonder if the task of biography ever feels like mystery work? She insists that it’s grounded in the ‘source material’, which sounds a little less exciting than the scandalous whisperings I had been imagining.

Though she tells me there are always findings which

change her sense of the narrative: “When you start working on someone, I feel a kind of a sort of forcefield builds up so that things kind of come at you that you wouldn’t otherwise have found.

I remember very vividly finding a description of Edith Wharton on her deathbed in the few hours after she died […] which I found in the Bernard Berenson archive in Florence, in a sort of ramshackle collection.’

During the writing of her most recent biography, Stoppard suddenly gave Lee—a few years into the process—a collection of his letters written weekly to his mother between the 1940s and her death in 1996. Moreover, in the six years it took her to write the book, Stoppard inevitably continued writing—new plays, new productions… His writing of Leopoldstadt, the remarkable (autobiographical) story of a Jewish exile from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Singapore and then India, required a whole new chapter to be added. Lee describes this as an ‘extraordinary living circle’, the existence of her subject swirling about as she studied them.

I can see that it takes a particularly devoted academic mind for this sort of thing—I can’t imagine almost finishing a tutorial essay, only for the books to come to life and reveal whole new scenes or characters— shooting holes in my (already dubious) conclusions.

I ask how Lee anticipates biography’s development in years to come. She describes the increasingly outlandish approaches and ‘adventurous shapes’ taken, from a life of Shakespeare written as just one year of his life, or turning a life around and starting at the end, or even taking just one day in a person’s life. I get to thinking that, if anyone should have to write my life, I’d want them to take the sensible beginning-to-end approach—though remind myself that this is something I’ll never have to worry about.

Read the full article online.

9

Friday, 5th March 2021 | Comment

Wes Beckett On... the first night back at Bridge

“THERE IS NO PANDEMIC” Bethan Draycott visits Oxford’s anti-lockdown protest and speaks to some of the demonstraters.

T

he first thing you’d notice, approaching the University Parks on the 14thFebruary, would be a trail of red, heart-shaped balloons. By early afternoon, the Banksy-esque decorations were tied to bins, lampposts, clutched in the hands of children passing by. Like us, you might have thought it was someone’s heartfelt Valentine’s Day gesture. Until we heard accusing screams of “Russia!” and turned to see a small group of protestors, nose to nose with the police.

On paper, the Oxford Valentine’s Day demonstration was about one thing: what protestors believe to be violation of human rights taking place under UK lockdown. Some believe COVID-19 to be a hoax, others held signs asserting that “children’s mental health matters”, but all shared the opinion that lockdown is a direct attack on personal freedom. Just this week, this cry has been echoed at larger protests in Melbourne, Dublin, Birmingham, and Thessaloniki (to name a few). Here in Oxford, they were marching; and out of morbid curiosity, we followed.

We caught up with a demonstrator holding a balloon, proudly displaying replica military medals. With his consent, we recorded our first interview.

“There is no pandemic…there are no more people dying this year than any other year. I’m

not very clever, but there’s no flu deaths, there’s no pneumonia deaths….the same total of Covid deaths is what used to be flu and pneumonia. You haven’t got to be very brainy to see that they’ve just moved them.”

According to the Office for National Statistics, between January and August 2019, 17,432 people died from Influenza and Pneumonia (pre-COVID). For the same months in 2020, the figure was 14,013. The annual figures have oscillated over the previous decade, at almost 16,560 in 2010 and over 21,300 in 2018, so the 2020 statistic is not extraordinary. As of the 17th February 2021, there have been a total 129,498 UK deaths that can be attributed to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic; a vast number of lives lost that cannot be attributed to mere misdiagnoses.

When asked where the protest was headed, the man told us to “follow the sirens.”

There was relative calm at Bond Square, where the protestors had spread out. There were around 70 of them, and about 20 policemen, attempting to encourage social distancing (which was largely met with laughter from protestors). Children ran around playing. Their parents and grandparents, many over60, stood around unmasked. A few were shouting at the police while their children stood qui-

etly beside them; others were queueing for coffee.

“We do not consent to this,” one protestor shouted, apparently threatened with arrest, before joining his counterparts in the kiosk queue. He agreed to talk to us, but only after insisting that we remove our face masks (“unless you’re undercover police”). He told us this wasn’t the first time he’d faced potential arrest, having also been detained in London for “trying to educate [his] children”. He chose not to expand on this, because “you never know who might be listening”. I asked him if the children next to him were his. “These are my property, yes.”

His son’s sign read: “Did you know there’s chimpanzee virus in the Oxford vaccine?” He wasn’t strictly wrong: according to the University of Oxford, the ChAdOx1 vaccine is a chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector, which is “harmless”, and has been “genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans.” Nevertheless, every protestor we came across was resolutely anti-vaccine.

The 9-year-old boy explained, with surprising eloquence, that lockdown was “the biggest killer”, and a cover for human experiments. A woman nearby applauded and the child beamed.

He then pointed out that he was actually one minute older than his twin brother, “which makes

me boss”. He seemed like an authoritative source.

Everyone we spoke to, despite their differences, shared the collective sentiment that the government can no longer be trusted (a few expressed shame over having voted for Boris Johnson in 2019). “What we’re living under now is Communism”. However, it isn’t just the UK government being criticised by anti-lockdown campaigners, if the protests all over the world are anything to go by. “It’s any government that’s buying into this b******s”, as one protestor put.

Despite the balloons, none of them seemed sure why they had chosen Valentine’s Day, other than perhaps it was a conveniently timed weekend. “It was just the Sunday we decided on,” one mother said. “We’re here as parents and as people who are concerned about what the lockdown is doing to young people and children.”

So, for some Oxford locals, the day of love was a day of rebellion; a day of desperation. “It’s about freedom and liberty”, they told us repeatedly. Despite the confrontation between protestors and police, no public arrests were made. Eventually, everyone went back to their lives, taking their red balloons with them.

But the protestors assured us that, as long as the UK remains in lockdown, this won’t be their last word.

10

COMMENT

Comment | Friday, 5th March 2021

GUNS LAWS IN AMERICA ARE THE PROBEM - TRUST ME, I GREW UP THERE

Anvee Bhutani uses anecdotal experience to argue why gun reform is necessary.

W

CW: violence, school shootings. hen I tell people I’m from America, guns tend to get mentioned in an instant. I’ve often gotten casual remarks like “So you can just go over to Walmart and get an AK47, can’t you?” Or “Well at least we don’t have school shootings here.” I usually tend to laugh these off, but the reality is that when the exaggerations are stripped away, what remains is a grim - but accurate - picture of the state of affairs in America.

While growing up, school shooter drills were quite typical.

Our classroom procedure used to go something as follows: our principal would first make an impromptu announcement on the loudspeaker - “Code Red. I repeat this is a Code Red” - and we would promptly begin shutting off the lights, closing the curtains and locking the doors.

We would then take all our classroom desks and construct two mini-barricades: one by the doors to create a buffer in case a shooter was to enter the door, and the other in a corner of the classroom which was most out of the line of fire. We’d all then huddle in the corner behind this little barricade and our teacher would silence our whispering voices and muffled giggles as local police officers came to our school campus to make sure we were doing the drill correctly. As sad as it sounds, like clockwork, we repeated this procedure twice a year, every year.

But, for me, it was no sooner

than 2nd grade when a real situation necessitated putting what we had learned in our drills into action. Over 10 years later, the memory is still vivid in my head. There was an active shooter by our campus so my primary school and the local high school nearby were put on lockdown. I remember us working expediently through the drill procedure that we had so diligently practiced - the only difference being that this was no drill. We kept pestering our teacher, “Is this actually real?”

“Is there a shooter here?” “Are we going to die?” to which she didn’t reply, hoping not to provide us with false solace. As she kept us quiet, I remember some kids began to cry, and others were curled up in a ball trying to pray for a sliver of hope. I personally did neither. All I can remember is a sick sinking feeling in my stomach, as if this was how it was all going to end.

Yet around 3 hours later we got another announcement on the loudspeaker: the shooter had been caught by the police, his bag of guns was confiscated, and we were free to go home for the day. The magnitude of the situation only dawned on me a long while later: at the age of eight, I had experienced a school shooting. But despite the gravity of the event, I had this same experience again in 5th and 10th grade. When I hear from students from other countries that this is not something they have experienced, it baffles me.

Here, it is taken for granted that

every six-year-old child knows how to protect themselves in the case of a school shooting.

Current affairs looming in the news also put my experience into perspective. Last month, during the Capitol insurrection, a lot of people around the world, and around me, experienced shock and horror as Congress members recounted their traumatic experiences from being locked down in a holding area while the building was secured.

Though part of me felt empathy, it largely just reflected the “standard procedure” I grew up following. Crouching in a corner and holding your breath as you hear voices and sirens outside is the norm for me.

This past weekend, while most celebrated Valentine’s Day, the somber shadow of the third anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida where 17 were killed and another 17 were injured was still lurking. Since that tragedy, youth anti-gun activism has reached a new peak. The initial March for Our Lives protest took place in Washington DC on March 24, 2018 where nearly 1.2-2 million people attended similar events worldwide, making it one of the largest collective protests in modern history. Students staged walkouts at their schools across the nation and used their voices for a difference. In fact, schools in my own area took to the streets downtown with megaphones and poster boards as they marched towards city

hall to make themselves heard.

But even beyond anecdotal experience, gun violence is experienced and perceived as a bipartisan issue, even though ownership is right-wing heavy.

Pew Research Centre found in 2017 that 83% of US adults said they consider gun violence in the US a big problem -- including 50% who called it “a very big problem.” In 2018 it was found that students themselves even brought guns to school at least 392 times over the course of the year for various reasons, be it protecting themselves, wanting to gain respect or having the intention to harm. It is an undeniable fact that where gun laws are weaker there are more mass shootings.

Despite the lack of action as of yet, things are looking up on a legislative front. President Joe Biden onSunday called on Congress to institute “common sense gun law reforms,” including widespread firearm sales background checks and a ban on assault weapons, highlighting an “epidemic of gun violence” in the US on the third anniversary of the deadly Parkland school shooting. While it seems callous to say, I am optimistic that the recent Capitol insurrection will remind politicians why stricter gun control should be mandated. I am hopeful that both living through and recounting their traumatic experiences will remind them why such reform is necessary, not only for youth but for a generally safer society.

11

Friday, 5th March 2021 | Comment

THE NEXT GIANT LEAP: DEVELOPING NATIONS IN SPACE Harry Chapman argues for the investment of developing countries in lunar programmes.

O

n the 14th of December last year, a routine coronavirus briefing in Thailand became significantly less mundane when a Thai minister accidentally announced an ambitious plan to build, launch and operate a lunar orbiter within seven years. This was met with near-universal scorn from Thai people on social media as yet another of the ‘crazy’ policies by the kingdom’s hugely unpopular military led-government. The program itself was not meant to be announced until early this year, but more details have steadily been released before all was unveiled on January 13th.

With a budget of 3 billion baht (approximately £72 million, or $100 million), it aims to launch a craft massing 300kg, ferrying microsatellites to lunar orbit to carry out observations and gather data.

Some questioned the small budget and the fast timeframe.

Predictably though, most questioned the fundamental value of a lunar orbiter, a project already undertaken by other space programs, with the reasonable assumption that government funds should be spent on better things in a country with a bleak economic outlook.

There are arguably more merits to programs like these for developing nations than would be apparent at first glance.

Many lunar programs, such as the corresponding Luna programme of the Soviet Union, did cost far more than the allotted Thai budget, or than any nation short of a superpower could ever afford to spend on a program.

However, this is not the 1960s anymore, and more recent lunar lander programs, by India’s IRSO, and Israel’s ISA, are much more comparable in cost, with budgets around $100 million (the two programs took seven and eight years, respectively).

It is true that both countries have much more launch and manufacturing experience and a longer history of operations than most developing nations, but they also were building lunar landers, which are much

as a result of the direct and indirect employment, and the spinoff technologies and companies spawned by the advances in research of the program.

There are persuasive reasons for a program like this. These types of programs are ambitious. Only seven agencies have achieved lunar orbiters before. For both Israel and India, the success of their programs was much to the surprise of the rest of the world.

Developing nations simply have seldom attempted things like this before, but these programs would be a good chance to set up governmental, industrial, and academic infrastructure that would place them at the frontier of development in space.

One of the most important aspects which has been overlooked most in the commentary around space programs is the chance to stem the brain drain that plagues many developing nations. Space programs have always been inspirational and

“Space programs are great ways for governments to retain national talent and inspire more people to get into scientific fields.” more technically complicated (evident by the fact both landers crashed on their landing attempts).

The claims that developing nations have more important things to spend their money on also have some legitimacy, but for 130 nations, it would account for less than half a percent of government spending over seven years. For Thailand, India, and Israel, the relative or projected costs of their programs account for less than 0.02% of government spending over a seven-year timescale. Contrasted with the budget for the king of Thailand, Indian corporate tax cuts, or Israeli corruption scandals, it is a rounding error. However, the Apollo program has been estimated to have a return of investment of anywhere from $2 to the dollar, to $40 to the dollar

means that investment will stay in the country, and any profits will not be sucked up by foreign companies.

Lunar programs would be a great opportunity for any developing nation if handled well by their government, but many developing nations are beset with corruption scandals.

An additional obstacle to any developing nation is the lure of just buying services and products from western companies to further a theoretical lunar program, as many developing nations have done previously for terrestrial satellite projects.

Whilst this may be an attractive option, as it utilises western experience and established industry, it does not bring any of the development to the nation and may end up in the budget-overrun hell that too many western projects have ended up in recently. This would defeat the main point of the program: telecommunication infrastructure and earth observation data.

The case is clear for developing nations’ involvement in space exploration a n d programs like India’s, Israel’s, or Thailand’s are exciting. Such programs drive innovations in low budget space exploration and spread the budding space sector boom to more nations. Developing nations can also leverage the space sector as a tool for national investment in high-class research and development capabilities. The barrier to space is lessening and will continue to do so in the years to come, and developing nations should look to not get left behind.

“These programs would be a good chance to set up...infrastructure that would place them at the frontier of development in space.” are great ways for governments to retain national talent and inspire more people to get into scientific fields. Space programs are also great ways of creating national investments, as many space agencies are limited to citizens, and many companies founded in the expansion of a space sector are partially or fully government-owned. This

0.5%

$2-$40

19

Of government spending over seven years to fund lunar lander programmes in 130 nations.

Source: IMF

Range of investment returns to the dollar on the Apollo programme.

Source: YouGov poll

Different nationalities of ISS visitors.

Source: NASA website

Features | Friday, 5th March 2021

12

‘Because I shall write the history’ Anna Davidson explores how a re-evaluation of Britain’s historic properties has prompted uproar.

CW: violence, colonialism, racism.

B

y the time that Winston Churchill was gloating at the 1943 Tehran Conference that “history will judge us kindly...because I shall write the history,” Bengali children were eating grass, begging for the starchy water in which rice had been boiled, or being thrown into wells by their desperate parents to avoid them dying of starvation. This was the stark reality of the 1943 famine in Bengal, which killed up to 3 million people; many historians have pointed to the decisions of Churchill’s wartime cabinet as exacerbating the disaster, as they failed to heed multiple warnings that extensive exports from India could result in famine. Churchill

himself was quoted as blaming the famine on the fact Indians were “breeding like rabbits”, and that “the starvation of anyhow underfed Bengalis is less serious than that of sturdy Greeks.” This narrative blamed the starved people for their own starvation, and denied any responsibility of his own government in perpetuating this atrocity. Yet Churchill’s statement at Tehran is true; the influence of his version of history retains its hold today, as critics rail against the National Trust’s recent attempts to investigate the links of various properties with colonialism. These endeavours have been accused of ‘attacking Englishness’, of ‘smearing’ historical figures, and of ‘indoctrinating children’.

September 2020 saw the start

including statues of Hindu gods, weapons and ceremonial armour from India and East Asia, as well as a gold tiger’s head finial taken of the row, with the publication of from the throne of Tipu Sultan, the Trust’s ‘Connections between who had been murdered while Colonialism and Properties now defending his fort of Seringain the Care of the National Trust, patam – every Briton that took Including Links With Historic part in that siege was awarded a Slavery’ report, which head medal by the Governor-General curator Dr Sally-Anne Huxtable of India, the design showing “the says was compiled to acknowl- British Lion subduing the Tiger, edge the origins of many of the the emblem of Tippoo Sultan’s Trust’s properties in slavery and Government.” colonialism, as “only by honestly Controversy arose when, as and openly acknowledging and part of the Trust’s attempt to sharing those stories can we do “challenge the familiar, received justice to the true complexity of histories, which both exclude the past, present and future, and the vital role that people of colour have played in our national Such criticisms were story and overlook the cenarguably grounded in warped tral role that the oppresperspectives of British sion and violence of the imperialism. slave trade and the legacies of colonialism have played in the making of modern sometimes-uncomfortable role Britain”, Winston Churchill’s that Britain, and Britons, have former home, Chartwell, was inplayed in global history since cluded on the list of investigated the sixteenth century or even properties. Rudyard Kipling – the earlier.” The report revealed that creator of many wholesome Powis Castle in Wales, for exam- family favourites, such as ‘The ple, is imbricated in Robert Clive’s Man Who Would Be King’ where colonising and looting activities white British men become gods in India. Today the property still and kings of Kafiristan – had his holds around 1,000 items from family home ‘Bateman’s’ also inthe amalgamated collections cluded. This prompted a furious of Robert and his son Edward, response, as many rose to ‘defend’

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Friday, 5th March 2021 | Features

FEATURES

the former prime minister and author. The Daily Mail described the list as a “BLM-inspired list of shame” and Robert Clive as a man who merely “played a key role in Britain’s colonial dominance in India and … amassed a vast collection of Indian artefacts”.

Anne Widdecombe announced she would be cancelling her membership because she was “tired of these sorts of woke games being played”, and historian Andrew Roberts wrote that “These ahistorical and highly prejudiced attacks on Churchill seem to be part of an attempt to strip Britain of a heroic narrative rooted in the most glorious moments of her past.” Current Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden similarly stated that the National Trust should focus on ‘preserving and protecting’, as its depiction of Churchill would “surprise and disappoint people.”

Yet it is essential to consider what the report itself actually said.

It only mentions Churchill twice: once to say “Churchill...served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1921 to 1922. He was Prime Minister during the devastating Bengal Famine of 1943, the British response to which has been heavily criticised. Churchill opposed the Government of India Act in 1935, which granted India a degree of self governance.” and again to mention his family home, writing “Chartwell was the family home of Sir Winston Churchill...Leading historians, such as Robert Rhodes James, comment that Churchill lived an ‘exceptionally long, complex, and controversial life’. He… helped to draft the Anglo-Irish Treaty at the time of the creation of the Irish Free State.” All of these statements are factually accurate – those criticising the report as ‘smearing’ ought to take it up with Churchill. Despite Tarnya Cooper, the Trust’s curatorial and collections director, stating that “We are not doing anything more than present the historical facts and data,” the National Trust’s attempt to simply avoid censorship is perceived as a threat by those who are more interested

in following the traditional heroic narrative of British imperialism, obscuring a reality of millions of deaths.

Such criticisms are arguably grounded in warped perspectives of British imperialism itself, epitomised by Andrew Roberts’ description of the British Empire as “overall a noble endeavour that for the vast majority of time brought great benefits for most of its native inhabitants” and points to “Britain’s mutually beneficial relationship with her colonies”.

The facts somewhat challenge this ‘mutually beneficial’ picture: Britain obtained £8 billion in cash and materials from India, whilst during the period of British occupation, India’s share of the world economy dropped from 23% to just over 3%; Britain demanded around £18 million in taxation per year from 1765-1815, while India got land taxes averaging 80-90% of the rental; British civil servants got their highest paid source of employment in India, which India had to fund. The sinister myth of mutual equal benefit is one long debunked – railways, a common example of a ‘benefit’ brought to India by the British, were designed to transport Indian exports predominantly to Britain (like the 70,000 tonnes of rice exported from India between January and July 1943, even as famine set in and victims subsisted on 400 calories a day from government-run relief centres). Railways in India were designed and built for British use and profit. The myth of the British Empire as a benevolent force is a dangerous, but persistent, falsehood – YouGov in 2019 reported that 32% of the British public thought that the empire was something to be proud of, rather than ashamed of; 33% thought it left colonies

FEATURES

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better off and 27% said they would points in Britain’s escalated ‘cullike it if Britain still had an empire. ture war’, more extensive research The debate was ignited again in will be hard-won. Nesrine Malik December and into January over points to how rightwing politics ‘Colonial Countryside: National benefit from such controversy “by Trust Houses Reinterpreted’, anfostering a sense of threat, a fanother National Trust project, this tasy that something profoundly time working with primary school pure and British is constantly at children to teach them about risk of extinction.” The issue of the various sites linked to colonial and National Trust’s desire to educate slave trade history. The children at remains embroiled in political Colmore Primary in Birmingham, conflicts over ‘British identity’, for example, despite the evidence wrote poems The National Trust which shows that about their is not ‘rewriting’ history, there is demand for findings at but rectifying a false the National Trust Charlecote narrative not only to continue Park in Warits educational projwickshire. One child wrote about ects, but to engage in even more a sword stolen during the first war thorough investigation. of Indian independence – “The The major question that arises sword is jewelled, the sword is from recent criticisms of The stolen, but from who? The answer National Trust, aside from ‘did is: the Indians. This strong sword anyone actually read the report?’ was used to fight for freedom, or ‘does anyone know what the the freedom sword, the freedom word ‘smear’ means?’ is this: how sword.” does a falsehood of glory, based on This educational focus of new the suffering of millions, match National Trust projects, despite with our current aspirations for suggestions to the contrary, is education, understanding and dione that is desired by the public: versity? It doesn’t, and shouldn’t. a recent poll by Policy Exchange As long as British identity rests on found that 76% of people thought the censorship of our own history the National Trust should be to uphold a false narrative built on doing more to educate visitors on subjugation, we are no better than histories of slavery and colonialthose who chant ‘Make America ism, and in 2020 a petition that Great Again’. British people can be the government should ‘Teach proud of the sacrifices they made Britain’s colonial past as part of in World War 2 to defeat fascism the UK’s compulsory curriculum’ (which they achieved alongside gathered 268,772 signatures.

2.5 million Indian soldiers, the Many have welcomed the Trust’s largest volunteer army in history) recent efforts, but argue that without turning a blind eye to they have not gone far enough Churchill’s role in imperialism, in addressing historical realities; and the vicious consequences Catherine Bennett has suggested that this inflicted. The National that “you could see this as a Trust is not ‘rewriting’ history, long-overdue and welcome rebalbut rectifying a false narrative ancing,” which “might perhaps based on notions of white, British have benefited from some more superiority. The Trust itself has detail,”. Yet as long a long way to go in its research, as these projects and uncovering the histories of remain its properties. But these projects flashmark an important first step toward a telling of British history in which Churchill is an impactful figure, but not its most privileged author.

Artwork by Rachel Jung.

Image credit: JR P via Flickr

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Sport | Friday, 5th March 2021

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SPORT

Olympic Games 2021

What’s in store?

Anvee Bhutani

T

CW: sexism here is worldwide anticipation presently as the cancelled 2020 Summer Olympics which were set for last year have been given the green light.

These Games were the first in the Olympics’ 125 year modern history that were cancelled due to the global health crisis. Japan has been living a fever dream as they were first forced to postpone before entirely scrapping their plans last year.

COVID-19 Naturally, the coronavirus pandemic has meant that unique provisions have to be in place to make the event COVID-19 secure. The difficulties remain high as the event, which involves tens of thousands of athletes, officials and journalists, is trying to go through. The committee announced that participating athletes would not be required to take the vaccine to compete this year, although they are encouraging the countries to vaccinate their athletes out

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of “respect for the Japanese people.” While the summer weather in Tokyo may reduce the growth rate of COVID-19, unless the country sees a drastic reduction from the peak of cases in January, the Olympics are set to be a major public health risk to locals in the city and the rest of the country. This means that more restrictions than usual might have to be in place. Yukihiko Nunomura, the vice director general of the organising committee, told a media briefing, “No shouting, no cheering. Please cheer by clapping your hands, and maintain an appropriate distance in case there is overcrowding.”

Sexism Row This Olympics remains unprecedented as well because of the sexism row that took place recently. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Minister Yoshiro Mori recently made remarks that female members of the Japanese Olympic Committee talk too much and after international outcry, he has recently resigned. “If we increase the number of female board members, we have to

Years since the inaugaral modern Olympic Games

make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying,” Mr Mori had said.

Not only did his comments trigger social media outrage, with the hashtag #Moriresign trending on Twitter, but also he was reprimanded by female members of his own family.

However, it can be argued that this scandal will be providing a bright future to the Olympics as a whole. The new Committee President, Seiko Hashimoto, has recently announced a new committee on gender equality. Ms. Hashimoto is a former Olympic medalist in speed skating who represents both a generational and gender shift for the committee. Her appointment is significant by virtue of the fact that Japan ranks 121st out of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap index, but comes as a much-welcomed shift. While some claim the appointment comes as pressure on the committee increased, Kikuko Okajima, the chair of the Women Empowerment League, a newly forming professional

4th

Great Britain’s position in the all-time summer Olympics medal table.

soccer league for women in Japan, commented “I’ve not seen this much movement or energy for gender equality in Japan for a long time.”

Games Prospects The prospects of each country also remains hotly monitored as the Olympics draw nearer.

This is usually predicted by The Olympic medal table, a list of country rankings not officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee. While it is unofficial, it ranks all nations by gold medals won. The basic premise remains that the United States have topped the medal table at 17 of the 27 Olympics they have competed at. Meanwhile, while Britain fared well in the early days of the Games, in recent years they’ve fallen off the track. Experts are also pushing this grim narrative with sports data company Gracenote, for example, calculating that Britain could see the biggest drop in medals of any nation from Rio four years ago. While this prediction came before the Olympics delay, it is forecasted that due to an inability to train, Britain might do even worse than this prediction. Nonetheless, young but up-and-coming athletes such as Freya Anderson and Sky Brown are expected to perform well.

Ultimately, whether or not the Olympics lives up to the hype they’ve created is yet to be determined, but the sheer fact that the games are continuing against all odds provides a much-needed thing to look forward to for this summer, and the equality changes it has ushered in also remain hopeful.

As for me, I’ll be sitting back, relaxing and watching some of the world’s finest compete this summer, as it’s unlikely we’ll have much else to do.

Image credit: Fred Waine

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All-time medal count for the 2021 host nation, Japan

Friday, 5th March 2021 | Sport

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Cherwell’s Australian Open Round-up Matthew Cogan

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his Australian Open was a disappointing one for British tennis fans. In the Men’s singles there were only two entrants, with Kyle Edmund injured and Andy Murray unable to travel. Those two entrants faced off in the first round, with Cameron Norrie overcoming an in-form, and higher ranked, Dan Evans. Norrie then won his second round match against a qualifier, before eventually being comfortably beaten by Nadal in the third round.

In the Women’s draw success was limited. Four British players were in this draw, but only Heather Watson was able to make it to the second round before being beaten. There was more success in the Men’s doubles for the Brits, with Joe Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram the defending champions.

They defeated another British favourite Jamie Murray on their way to the final but were eventually themselves defeated by the

ninth seeds, Dodig and Polasek.

There were some thrilling matches across the Men’s draws.

Novak Djokovic needed five sets to defeat Taylor Fritz in the third round, a match that during which he required medical attention and would later state if it had not been a Grand Slam, he would have pulled out of the tournament. Possibly the pick of the matches, however, was the third round match up between US Open champion Domonic Thiem, and Australian home favourite Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios led the match two sets to love, before a spirited fightback saw Thiem claim it in five, in a match that lasted almost three and a half hours. Eventually, at the end of the two weeks, it came down to a final between Djokovic and fourth seed Medvedev. Despite Djokovic’s much greater time spent on court over the tournament as a whole, he was easily able to defeat Medvedev in what looked like a routine victory to claim his 9th Australian Open title and 18th Grand Slam.

In the Women’s tournament,

SPORTS SHORTS

SPORTS TO RETURN IN TRINITY Mauricio Alencar The government recently announced that organised outdoor sports will return from the earliest date of 29th March. Details are yet to be released, per the university’s Sports Federation. It is most likely that Oxford’s sports clubs will be able to train and compete, and inter-collegiate matches will take place. Oxford University Sports Federation stressed that ‘each college may deal with the return to sport differently’.

Image credit: Steve Daniels via Wikimedia Commons

Serena Williams put up probably her best display in a Grand Slam in the last couple of years. She powered through the early rounds including a strong victory over the second seed Simona Halep, to be defeated eventually in the Semi-finals by Naomi Osaka.

Many other big names were also defeated early on in the competition, with defending champion Sofia Kenin succumbing in the second round with world number one, and Ashleigh Barty failing to move past the quarter finals.

This led to a final between Osaka

and the American Jennifer Brady, with Osaka prevailing to win her fourth Grand Slam title.

This year’s Australian Open was one that will be remembered only partly for the tennis, as it will be overshadowed by the pandemic as much else has been in the last year. It was, however, great to see some fans at times able to watch the tennis live, a great hope for what sport could look like again soon across the UK and the rest of the world.

Image credit: Peter Menzel via Flickr

Find more sports coverage online at cherwell.org/category/sport

TECHNOLOGY PLAGUES SPORT Mauricio Alencar Another weekend of sport meant another weekend of refereeing blunders. Premier League VAR proved to be controversial once again in Brighton’s home game against West Brom. Lee Mason, the on-field referee, first disallowed Dunk’s free-kick because he had not blown his whistle, only to backtrack against that decision and allow the goal… only for VAR to step in and disallow the goal. In rugby, England also lost thanks to some of the referee’s strange decisions.

Image credit: Homer Lopez on Unsplash

PUZZLES Put your brain to work to solve this week’s crossword!

Send completed puzzles to cherwelleditor@gmail.com for the chance to be featured in next week’s issue!

Puzzle by Kian Moghaddas Across 1. Fruit of a prickly shrub (10) 4. Exclamation when jumping (8) 5. Annoyed (5) 6. Run over the line in poetry (11) 8. Worry (7) 9. Octopus limb (8) 12. Bitter dispute (4) 13. In times past (4) 15. Empty within (6) 16. Same on two sides (8) 17. Task (6) 18. At start of a book (16) 21. Disney film or French dish (11) 22. Torn clothes (22) Down 1. Woodwind instrument associated with Scotland (7) 2. Area of rule (7) 3. Maritime hobby (8) 7. E.g., to pray (5) 10. Essential part of larger whole (7) 11. Madly in love (4,4,5) 14. Dies for a belief (6) 15. Frenzy (8) 19. There once was a man from Nantucket (8) 20. Remove (8) 23. Discover problem (8) 24. Operate vehicle (5)

In current circumstances, when students are more separated than ever, Cherwell has reached out to student newspapers across the world to hear more about student experiences globally. This week we hear from the University of Sydney, in Australia.

Editors of Honi Soit newspaper

W

hile COVID initially sent Honi into a spin, Australia’s successful containment of the virus has allowed our paper to return just as strong, if not stronger, than before.

Established in 1929, Honi Soit is Australia’s only remaining weekly student newspaper. It is currently staffed by a group of nine underpaid and overworked editors, supported by a group of volunteer writers, poets and artists from across the university community.

Clive James and Les Murray are

among its notable alumni. It has a long history of supporting radical causes, a tradition exemplified in 2020 - one of the most turbulent years on campus in recent decades.

A strict lockdown in late March 2020 emptied Sydney Uni of students. The print run was cut from 4000 down to a token amount.

The paper stayed active throughout lockdown, continuing to produce full editions, with necessarily increased online engagement.

Eventually, in August, for the start of Semester 2, students began re-

turning to campus, and Honi was able to gradually increase its print run.

Semester 2 of 2020 was a significant one for Honi. In the middle of a pandemic, the federal government introduced university reforms which doubled the cost of Humanities degrees. Protests which sprung up across campus were violently put down by NSW Police enforcing arbitrary COVID guidelines. Uni days turned into running battles between students and cops, with protestors attempting to creatively subvert COVID gathering restrictions. Honi brought to light numerous instances of police violence committed against students protesting for the right to affordable education.

One ongoing impact of the pandemic on Honi has been the reduction in multilingual writing. In previous years, Honi has hosted a vibrant multilingual section, with contributions particularly in Mandarin. The return of many of these students to their home countries

Cherwell | Independent since 1920

during the pandemic, and the present difficulty of returning to Australia has unfortunately seen this section wither.

In 2021, students have again returned to campus, and Honi has been able to restore its print circulation to just below pre-pandemic levels. However, the paper has faced other challenges. Having built up a significant social media following over the last number of years, Honi was kicked off Facebook two weeks ago, caught up in a dispute between the government and Facebook over proposed media laws. While undoubtedly a setback, Honi turned to other social media platforms to get its work out to students, and recently made a triumphant return to Facebook.

Despite the decline of student print media at other Australian universities, Honi continues to provide an important place for creativity, and a student voice on university, domestic, and international issues.

Honi soit qui mal y pense!