The Oxford Student - Week 7 Trinity 2022 by The Oxford Student

Friday 10 June 2022

Comment

Matt Holland on the tragic futility of seeking gun control in the US.

TT22, Vol. 4

News

Entertainment

More political machinations. Check OxYou Plus (p. 26) for a nice surprise!

Another edition, another review of a student production. This time: Carrie!

The

OXFORD STUDENT peachment or internal disciplinary procedures. A motion of impeachment is debated in the chamber after impeachment motions are initiated by any ordinary member. In 2019 the President at the time, Brendan McGrath, resigned before a motion of impeachment could be debated in the chamber. A motion of impeachment had received the required number of signatures on the society’s noticeboard. However, McGrath resigned before it could be debated in the chamber. McGrath’s resignation was triggered by multiple resignations in the wake of a blind student being dragged from the chamber by security.

CHAOS IN UNION CHAMBER: Mass Walkout over ‘Bully’ President Image credits: Jason Chau

ver forty students walked out of the Oxford Union Chamber in protest of alleged bullying and suppression by the President Michael Akolade Ayodeji at the Union debate on June 2nd, Thursday. Earlier, a standing member of the Oxford Union Committee publicly ex-

The Elected Member, Joe Murray, Pembroke College, asked a series of questions that accused the President of “consistently [dismissing] the opinions of female members of committee” and “bullying members of [his] committee”. He concluded by asking: “Do you think in light of these matters you should resign?”

Jason Chau and Andrew Wang pressed discontent at the President’s decision to withdraw their paper speech. Paper speeches are speeches given by members of the Oxford Union Committee in the historic Thursday debates. Disha Hegde alleged she had been given less than 24 hours of notice that she would no longer be speaking, after making arrangements for family and friends to watch.

COLUMNS: Dan ‘The Man’ Harrison On Empathy

Each term, members of the Committee have the opportunity to make a paper speech in the highly-attended Thursday Debates. The motion of the debate in whcih Hegde was scheduled to speak at was ‘This House Believes The Raj Lives On’. A notice was also given that two members of the committee would pose

Associate Editor and News Reporter

questions to the President focusing on the treatment of Hegde and the committee in general. These questions are understood to have meant to take place prior to the Thursday Debate. Under the society’s rules the President, a sitting officer, can be removed only under a motion of im-

Magdalen JCR President and Treasurer Face Individual Votes of No Confidence

On Monday June 6th at 5:30pm, the Magdalen JCR discussed both a Motion for the Removal of the President of the JCR, and a Motion for the Removal of the Treasurer from the JCR. The email announcing this General Meeting, sent to members of the Magdalen JCR by the Vice President notes that “in line with section 62.2c, a number of Members equal to at least five percent

by Dominic Enright

Associate Editor

of the total number of Members have, by notice in writing to the Vice-President, requested that a resolution to remove a Committee Member or Officer be proposed to a General Meeting”. The email then continues that “such a Read more on page 5

Notably, the Librarian, Charlie Mackintosh from New College, considered to be second in seniority to the President, also submitted questions in the Public Business Meeting. The submitted questions focus on the withdrawal of the paper speech but also asked whether it is true that the President had “reduced [other] female members of committee to tears on several occasions.” In a post made to Facebook before

Read more on page 4

“

I am bringing this to the chamber, as a public business meeting, because too many in the Union do not feel heard. I am doing this on behalf of them. Accountability is crucial in any student society. Elected Member of the Secretary’s Committee, Joe Murray

2 | Editorial

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

TRINITY TERM 2022 EDITORIAL TEAM EDITORS IN CHIEF Dania Kamal Aryf & Elias Formaggia ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jason Chau CREATIVE DIRECTOR Andrew Wang

DEPUTY EDITORS Agatha Gutierrez Echenique, Anna Davidson, Chris Collins, Dominic Enright, Jen Jackson, Madi Hopper, Marietta Kosma, Matt Holland, Yii-Jen Deng NEWS Dominic Enright, Jessica Kaye, Shivanii Arun, Adi Kesaia Toganivalu, Efan Owen, Eve Thomas, Harrison Gates, Tim Green COMMENT Daniel Kovacs, Shivanii Arun, Tom Elliott, Kylah Jacobs, Harrison Gates, Samuel Kenny PROFILE Elsie Clark, Maya Szaniecki, Ciaron Tobin, Kylah Jacobs, Samuel King FEATURES Maya Szaniecki, Eve Thomas, Ciaron Tobin, Duoya Li IDENTITY Anmol Kejriwal, Srishti Kochar PINK Jessica Kaye, Kiki Wrece ENTERTAINMENT Joe Wald, Kian Moghaddas, Eve Thomas, Duoya Li FOOD & DRINK Lydia Fontes, Oscar Smith, Jasmine Wilkinson GREEN Katie Hulett, Yexuan Zhu SCITECH Emily Hudson, Yexuan Zhu SPORT Ayomilekan Adegunwa, Joe Sharp, Dominic Enright, Joe Wald OXYOU Milo Dennison, Susie Barrows, Jonah Poulard, Adi Kesaia Toganivalu COLUMNISTS Anvee Bhutani, Blane Aitchison, Cicely Hunt, Daniel Harrison, Nadia Awad, Poppy Atkinson Gibson DIRECTORS OF STRATEGY Alex Foster & Andrew Wang SOCIAL MEDIA & PUBLICITY Eleanor Warrington

@theoxfordstudent

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e’ve finally made it, the last print edition of the term. Editing the OxStu for TT22 has been a blast: we’ve had a bunch of great articles, built a great team, and had a moderate amount of fun along the way. It’s truly been a pleasure to work alongside such a competent group of individuals who truly care about the publication and working the best we can to produce (hopefully?) engaging content for everyone. A lot of progress has been made at the paper this term, and I can’t wait to see how next term’s editorial teambuilds on this as we continue the OxStu renaissance. I can’t feign the sentiment that I will miss 5am lay ins, or annoying Wordpress glitches,

s Trinity term gradually draws to an end, it’s time to reflect on the things that have happened to the paper this term. And A LOT has happened indeed. We had moments of pure joy, having broken more stories than at any time since I’ve been with the OxStu. From the closing of Benet’s to the drama at the Union, I’m incredibly proud that we were able to repeatedly and consistently provide urgent, objective and highquality reporting to our readers. We also had moments of sadness, having seen the mid-way departure of Dania from the EiC role and the fallout from important changes within the team. Despite the ups-and-downs, we’ve managed to recruit the best OxStu team so far, with incredibly

but I know I’ll miss the sense of community we’ve conjured at the paper this term and the delirious conversations had at unholy hours of the day in the lead up to the print editions. I’ve come out at the tail end of this term with a new respect for people who lead such busy lives; I have no idea how you guys do it. With the surplus time and energy I’ll have after I step down from Editorin-Chief, I’m excited to announce my return to being mediocre at my degree and reclining back into the vanilla recluse undergraduate life I had become used to. I really hope people appreciate the work the team put in here whilst juggling the commitments of degrees, relationships, and enjoying student life - if you fancy the challenge I highly recommend applying for next term’s editorial team. Having just interviewed a number of candidates for next year’s EIC role, I can assure that you’ll be under a a fine leadership.

Editor’s Picks

Features Sir Stephen Fry: The Long Road to Decolonise Oxford

Entertainment Total Annihilation and Teenage Angst - Carrie Review

Elias Formaggia,

The Queen’s College.

From the Editors dedicated and passionate journalists joining our ranks. I hope this streak continues, as we implement some drastic but crucial organisational reforms in order to provide even better journalism in the days to come. I truly believe OxStu is one of the friendliest and most welcoming student-run organisations on campus. The collaboration, the bantering, the late-night grinds and 5am laying-in. They have become some of the best memories I have at this university. I also want to give a massive thank you to those who have contributed to us, rooted for us and in some cases, gave their blood, sweat and tears to us. You are the ones that kept this paper going, and this final TT22 print edition is dedicated to you all. With all the news that’s happening (or about to happen) these days, this probably won’t be the last time you hear from us this term. But for now, enjoy the fantastic articles, the great weather, the fun company and the good vibes!

Jason Chau,

St Antony’s College.

@theoxstu

urprise, surprise. I’m back. I’ve been appointed interim Associate Editor so that we can fill the space on this page, but I am still quite honored. Unfortunately, there truly is nothing that can be said in an editorial that hasn’t been said already. I hope my editorial team already knows how much I appreciate them, so I’ll devote this space to something I care about just as much. My very brief, very amateur foray into journalism has only served to show me firsthand just how much the rich and powerful get away with. Our leaders have been fostered by corrupt systems from the bottom up that reward those who know how to play the game, who often have no bottom line and no principles. These are excellent players to be sure, but it’s so obvi-

Comment Disunted States: Why US Gun Control is Unthinkable

News Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Oxford Union

9 6

ous now that none of them know what they are playing for. So what if you become Prime Minister, if you don’t know what kind of world you want to live in? These are things that we all know, whether it’s at the front of our mind all the time, or something that gnaws away at our psyche. For many of us, it fuels a simmering, seething rage that we often cannot explain. I too feel this rage constantly, constantly, constantly. But journalism has provided me some respite. The best thing anyone has ever told me, as a journalist, is, “I hope I never see you again.” We as journalists have a duty to hold the powerful accountable, and the powerful should, rightfully, fear and loathe us, just as they loathe the truth. Dania always jokes that her goal is to be ‘shot by the CIA’ as a journalist. I think all journalists should aim for this untimely, but infinitely worthwhile, demise. To my fellow future victims of the CIA, thank you for another wonderful term, and I look forward to another!

Andrew Wang, St. Benet’s Hall.

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

editor@oxfordstudent.

Contents

Comment - p. 8

Profile - p. 14 Pink - p. 20

Entertainment - p. 22 OxYou - p. 25

OxYou Plus - p. 27 SciTech - p. 29

NEWS

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News - p. 3

Features - p. 11

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St. Benet’s Hall Buildings to be Vacated by October 2022 Dominic Enright Senior editor

Columns - p. 16 Identity - p. 21

Food & Drink - p. 24

Gen Z - p. 26

Green - p. 28 Sport - p. 32

t has been announced to members of St Benet’s Hall that the two St. Benet’s Hall buildings will be vacated by October 2022.

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News | 3

In an email to students on June 2nd, Thursday, the Academic Office of St Benet’s Hall has announced that “Following a meeting of the Ampleforth Abbey Trust (AAT) on Monday, the Chair of AAT has written to confirm the Trust’s plan to place the two properties on the open market. The Hall will vacate them before 7th October 2022.”

This year marks the centenary of when St. Benet’s Hall under Ampleforth Abbey bought its 38 St. Giles building, and its 11 Norham Gardens building was acquired in 2015. Both are owned by the Ampleforth Abbey Trust who put the buildings on the open market after the decision by the university not to renew the Hall’s license. The decision to vacate the buildings means that the Hall will be unable to use the properties

either as teaching space, office space or residency. While it does not confirm that there will be no St. Benet’s Hall next year, the announcement makes it unlikely that students can be enrolled in an institution without these provisions. In an email last week, the University Deputy Academic Registrar updated students that their Plan A is that “St Benet’s is able to remain open and continue teaching for one more academic year (2022-23)”, however this plan depends “on who buys the buildings from Ampleforth Abbey, and we have no news to share about the sale at the moment.” The suggestion requires that the buildings are bought by a bidder willing to lend them for a year, so that the Hall can perform the same functions for the remaining students. However, the lack of certainty about ownership means that in last week’s email it was announced that “the University has decided to start looking for

alternative college places for students (to come into effect from October 2022).”

Further in the email today, the Academic Office re-asserted that “as you all know, we are already working hard with the University to ensure that all students can be allocated to an appropriate College or Hall to continue their education at Oxford with as little disruption as possible, and with appropriate welfare support.” The decision today means that the buildings will definitely not be run by the St. Benet’s Hall Trust even if they are bought by another academic institution. The situation remains particularly uncertain for the students who have residency next year at the Hall, and the Academic Office was quick to assure that, “We guarantee that those students who had planned to be residents at St Giles next year will have accommodation.” The Oxford Student spoke to

the St. Benet’s Hall JCR President who said, “Nobody should make the mistake of believing that St Benet’s Hall closing is just a loss for its students, staff, and friends; it is a loss for the diversity in the collegiate system in general. It has been a pleasure to study at this institution and to be part of such a special and strong community. It is all the more devastating to hear this news.” “We now call on all colleges to provide room for students at St Benet’s who are anxious to integrate into a new college as soon as possible.”

“Benet’s students have been through enough already, so it is now the JCR’s priority to see that our needs and circumstances are accommodated for during the reallocation process. We also stand in solidarity with the staff at St Benet’s, who have always worked with incredible personal dedication so that students succeed, and who are now faced with losing their main source of income.”

4 | News

Cherie Blair visits Oxford University Samuel Kenny News reporter

n June1st, Wednesday, Cherie Blair visited the University as the guest speaker at a joint event by the Oxford University Labour Club, Oxford Law Society, Bar Society, Feminist Society, and the International Development Society. Cherie spoke in the Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke’s oak crafted room that seats up to 170 people. The auditorium was packed, with plenty hoping to see the wife of the former Prime Minister Tony Blair. In a statement from the Oxford University Labour Club Treasurer, the Club reported that they were ‘very lucky’ to be hosting Cherie Blair QC in 6th week. “We are incredible grateful for her taking time out of her busy schedule to speak to us about issues ranging from [Labour Leader Keir] Starmer’s leadership, feminism, human rights law, her favourite U.K. “first lady”, and what it’s like to experience elitist institutions from a working-class background. She spoke with refreshing honesty and is probably one of the most down to earth people to ever live in Downing Street.” Upon arrival in the auditorium, Mrs Blair was asked about the work of her foundation: the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. Cherie spoke about the empowerment of young women who wanted to or already were entrepreneurs, especially in lower income countries, saying that her foundation have done work in places like Vietnam and Palestine. The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women was established in 2008, partnering with global organisations to support female entrepreneurs in the developing world. The foundation’s mission statement declares that: “… our mission is to empower women to start, grow and sustain successful businesses, so they can redefine the future for themselves and their societies”. Mrs Blair told the audience that “The Foundation is one of my proudest achievements, in the way it has delivered for so many women, whose potentials are endless and with the help of the foundation have soared” During the event, Cherie Blair was then asked about

her time in law and the challenges that came with being a woman in law at the time. Cherie spoke about how during her pupillage she didn’t see a single woman speak in court and now that would be impossible and how today more women are entering the profession than men. Mrs Blair proudly noted how there are now over 400 women QC appointed since herself. She nonetheless argued that the numbers of female QCs pales in comparison to the thousands of male QC around – noting that there is more work that needs to be done to have an equal representation of men and women at the top of the legal profession. Cherie was also asked of her opinion about the current leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, and how she considered his leadership, as well as former leader of the Labour Party – and a prominent critic of Tony Blair’s New Labour government, Jeremy Corbyn. Cherie stated “I’ve known Keir Starmer for years, both of us being barristers and QC, I’ve also known Jeremy Corbyn for years, even being on the committee that decided his candidacy in Islington north in 1983, I voted against him (… she said with a chuckle)”. Ultimately, Mrs Blair emphasised that “Labour is better off now than it was in 2019 but there is a long way to go. The party is lacking a vision and needs big ideas around technology, education, and climate change”

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

CHAOS IN UNION CHAMBER: Mass Walkout Over ‘Bully’ President

Cont. from front page

Jason Chau, Andrew Wang, Ciaron Tobin and Anna Davidson Associate Editor, News Reporter, Deputy Section Editor and Deputy Editor ws Reporter

(cont.) the meeting, Hegde stated that “I won’t be speaking at the debate tonight” and “I’m upset and disappointed and feel like I’ve been treated awfully”. “While I do think the way I have been treated is symptomatic of a larger problem of the culture at the union, I won’t get on to that right now”. Following the incident, a notice was given that two members of the committee would pose questions to the President focusing on the treatment of Hegde and the committee in general. These questions are understood to have meant to take place prior to the Thursday Debate. When requested for comment before the meeting, an elected Member of the Secretary’s Committee, Joe Murray, Pembroke College said that “I am bringing this [issue up] in the chamber as a public business meeting, because too many in the Union do not feel heard. I am doing this on behalf of them. Accountability is crucial in any student society, and I seek to uphold that in the Union”. However, shortly after the public business meeting began at 8:30 PM and before any questions were posed about the treatment of Hegde, the President paused the meeting and proceeded to move directly on to the Thursday Debate. The meeting was adjourned as a member of the Oxford Un-

ion stood up in the chamber and moved the procedural motion “that private business be postponed.” The President passed this without a vote. At this point, a disagreement broke out in the chamber. Joe Murray stood up and shouted “On what grounds?” The President proceeded without acknowledging Murray. Disha Hegde herself then voiced her discontent: “You are suppressing the members’ right to speech.’ As the President attempted to control the chamber a member of the Oxford Union Committee shouted “You bully Committee!” The walkout seemed to follow growing discontent with the President, according to some protesters who spoke to The Oxford Student. “I walked out with Disha Hegde because I think it’s frankly ludicrous that her offer for paper speech was rescinded at the last minute by a bullying president,” said one member of the Union. Another member of the committee, who wished to remain anonymous,summarised their grievances to the Oxford Student: “If this happened three or four days ago, and there was enough advance warning given to Ms. Hegde, that would have been perfectly reasonable, because mistakes, bureaucratic or otherwise, do happen. It was sprung upon her [at] 1 a.m. of the same day, literally 15-16 hours before the actual thing [debate] happened. And I think that’s the basic problem, is that there was no advance warning… The fact that it was taken away from her [at the] last minute, when plans were already made, placed an undue burden upon her…I think that is so unfair and unprofessional.” Following the Thursday debate, the public business meeting resumed, with the Librarian Charlie Mackintosh from New College submitting questions to the President about the withdrawal of the paper speech. Mackintosh,

who is also second in seniority to the President in the Union hierarchy, also questioned Ayodeji on whether he had “reduced [other] female members of committee to tears on several occasions.” Upon the President’s response that he had worked very hard to make the Union inclusive, Mackintosh rebuked by saying ‘why did I have to sit and comfort a crying female member at 1 a.m. in the morning?’. The Elected Member, Joe Murray from Pembroke College also asked a series of questions that accused the President of “consistently [dismissing] the opinions of female members of committee” and “bullying members of [his] committee”. He concluded by asking: “Do you think in light of these matters you should resign?” Under the society’s rules the President, a sitting officer, can be removed only under a motion of impeachment or internal disciplinary procedures. A motion of impeachment is debated in the chamber after impeachment motions are initiated by any ordinary member. In 2019 the President at the time, Brendan McGrath, resigned before a motion of impeachment could be debated in the chamber. A motion of impeachment had received the required number of signatures on the society’s noticeboard. However, McGrath resigned before it could be debated in the chamber. McGrath’s resignation was triggered by multiple resignations in the wake of a blind student being dragged from the chamber by security. The public business meeting, which lasted into the wee hours of the morning, did not end with a resolution on the day. This was met with mixed reaction from those in attendance. When asked by the Oxford Student, one of the attendees expressed disapproval of the chaos displayed, but added that “work should be done to make the union a true place for debating, full stop.”

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

Magdalen JCR President and Treasurer Face St Edmund Hall Individual Votes of No Confidence Principal joins the Cont. from front page

Dominic Enright Associate Editor

(cont) petition has been brought against the President”.

he House of Lords Appointments Commission has announced that the Principal of St Edmund Hall, Professor Katherine J. Willis CBE, is to be appointed to the House of Lords.

The email went on to state that Magdalen JCR believes that “the role of the JCR President is highly important to the functioning of the JCR, and if sufficient members are dissatisfied the motion shall be heard”. The following Special Motion that was up for discussion in the General Meeting is a Motion for the Removal of the Treasurer of the JCR, Julian Müller. It was detailed that Magdalen JCR notes that “the duties of the Treasurer as written in section 35 of the Constitution, and further duties imposed by the Committee and the Executive Committee, have not been consistently discharged”.

After learning that a Motion for Removal was being posed against him, Magdalen’s JCR President Daniel Dipper wrote to members of the JCR: “I write to you having received notification of a motion of no confidence in myself, to be discussed in the General Meeting on Monday. As President, my role is to represent all students, and I will continue to do so to the best of my abilities. It is crucial to respond to any concerns as a matter of urgency. I stand by my achievements and conduct in office. I am therefore making myself available over the next two days through open hours.”

Due to an especially high turnout, the General Meeting had to take place outside on the New Building’s lawn where crowds gathered to watch the Motions discussed. In the day building up to the General Meeting, rules for a ‘Magdalen JCR Impeachment

Lords

Night’ drinking game was posted to the JCR Facebook. Rules included drink when ‘a PPEist makes a speech’ and when ‘a top 40 BNOC speaks’. Magdalen JCR has become increasingly unorthodox in recent terms, with Daniel Dipper being opposed in his election by candidates which included a ‘JCR King’. With this candidate pledging to replace the JCR committee with a ‘JCR Court’. After over three hours of back and forth, the results were decided. The final votes for the Motion for the Removal of the President of the JCR stood at: Turnout: 145 For: 61 Against: 74 Spoiled, blank, void: 10

The Motion fails. The final votes for the Motion for the Removal of the Treasurer stood at: Turnout: 72 For: 35

Against: 34 Spoiled, blank, void: 3

The motion is amended to replace removal with censure.

When asked for comment by the Oxford Student, Dipper said, “the focus absolutely now should be on bringing the JCR community together, and ultimately driving forward an important reform agenda to ensure every Magdalen student has the best experience while they study and live here”, adding “ I am pleased to have retained the confidence of students in doing this, and look forward to working with other passionate members through the JCR to affect change.” “There is much work to do”, said the JCR President, “from reviewing support for estranged and suspended students, to reviewing the room ballot system, to continuing to ensure Magdalen is a safe place for everyone.”

The Oxford Student has requested comment from Julian Müller, but has not received a reply as of 2 a.m., June 9th.

Professor Willis became Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Oxford in 2010 and was elected Principal of St Edmund Hall in 2018. Educated at Southampton and Cambridge, she spent five years on secondment at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 2013 t o 2018. She has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Bergen in Norway.

Her research focuses on the long-term responses of ecosystems to changes in their environment. She has previously advised the Government on environmental and conservation issues, leading to her receipt of a CBE in 2018 for services to biodiversity and conservation. St Edmund Hall said in a statement that “the appointment recognises Professor Willis’ contribution to biodiversity science and to policy formulation in roles such as her membership of the Government’s Natural Capital Committee and in scrutiny of the scientific evidence base underpinning the Government’s 25-year environment plan.” Commenting on the appointment, Professor Robert Whittaker, the College’s Vice-Principal, added: “This is a deserved and exciting appointment, boosting the scientific expertise available in the House of Lords on issues of biodiversity, natural capital and environmental sustainability.

News | 5

Christopher Collins Deputy Editor

“I am delighted to offer congratulations to Professor Willis on behalf of the governing body of St Edmund Hall.” “a deserved and exciting appointment”

During her tenure as Principal, Professor Willis has attempted to make the College more sustainable through the adoption in 2019 of a 10-year environment strategy. The strategy committed the College to reducing its energy consumption by 5% over each five year period.

Professor Willis joins the House of Lords amid turbulent political times. She will sit as an independent non-party-political peer, one of 74 such crossbench peers to have been nominated by the House of Lords Appointment Commission since it was established in 2000. Her appointment is subject to formal approval by the Prime Minister and the Queen, and comes alongside the nomination of the leading women’s rights campaigner Shaista Gohir. She will be the fourth to serve as both an Oxford head of house and a member of the Lords. Baroness Royall, Principal of Somerville College, and Baroness Amos, Master of University College, both sit as Labour peers. Lord Mendoza, Provost of Oriel College, sits as a Conservative, as does Lord Patten, the Chancellor of the University. Image credits- Chris Collins

6 | News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Address Oxford Jason Chau

Associate Editor

kraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will make a virtual address to the University of Oxford on Friday 10th June at 16:30.

The address is jointly hosted by the Oxford University Ukrainian Society and the Oxford Union, and with the support of the Oxford University International Relations Society. In addition to Oxford, eight universities across the UK will also be co-hosting the live address as part of the new initiative the Ukrainian Student Union, which is supported by the Ukrainian Embassy in London. According to the event organisers, the event will be held in English with the support of a translator, and is expected to last for 1 hour 30 minutes (16:30-18:00 BST). Following his address, the Ukrainian war leader is also expected to answer questions from the Ukrainian Societies of the respective universities. The event’s Facebook and Eventbrite pages indicate that the virtual address is open to everyone to attend, but prior registration is required. Prior to this upcoming appearance, Zelensky had addressed the House of Commons in March this year, where he expressed gratitude to the UK for its support to Ukraine’s war effort and urged the British government to tighten sanctions on Russia.

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

“Certain races, given the same chances, do not do as well as other races.” - Malaysian PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Oxford Union Jason Chau and Andrew Wang Associate Editor and News Reporter

n a wide-ranging talk by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at the Oxford Union on Tuesday evening that covered Malaysian government corruption, climate change, and the Russia-Ukraine war, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia also addressed racebased policymaking. Malaysia’s ethnic divisions have long been a major cleavage driving policies and parties within the country’s political system. Tension between the country’s three main ethnic groups--Malays, Chinese, and Indian Malaysians--had boiled over into violence in the past. Today, Malaysia is known for racebased affirmative action policies, which give preferential treatment to the country’s majority Malay ethnic group in education, employment, housing, and finance. Former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has long been a proponent of this form of affirmative action, which he credits for reducing poverty and easing racial tensions. However, studies have criticised the actual impact of these policies on alleviating poverty, while others have criticised the racial discrimination against minority ethnic groups codified by these policies. Responding to a student’s question at the Union, ex-PM Mahathir addressed the debate around “moving from racial-based policies to need-based policies:” “There is an idea that we forget

about race, we just help the poor. Unfortunately, the result is not the same. Some poor people benefit from whatever opportunities they are given, but some other poor people cannot benefit because of other reasons or because of their culture. So we need to recognise the fact that certain races, given the same chance, will not do as well as other races. That is the story of humanity. Why do you think some countries are doing well, and some countries are not doing well?” The former PM elaborated on the benefits of preferential policies for Malays: “We would like to say that ‘let’s forget about race, let’s just concentrate on poverty.’ The result will not be the same. I have watched this over eight years--when Malaysia received an amount of people from other countries to live in Malaysia and work in Malaysia. These people were all poor, as poor as the Malaysians. But Malaysians did not

do so well because they don’t have the culture that enables them to make good progress.” Mahathir continued by saying that Chinese Malaysians, which comprise 25% of the country’s population and who he believes are “good with business”, need to help the Malays, the majority ethnic group, claiming that the differences in the two groups’ success are due to culture. “We need a just society with relatively equal outcomes. We need to balance it by giving better opportunities and chances to those who aren’t doing so well.” Other notable issues Dr Mahathir addressed included the RussiaUkraine war, after which he also criticised the hypocrisy of Western immunity from similar transgressions: “If we blame Russia for shooting down Malaysian planes, we should also blame the US for shooting down Iranian planes,” said Dr Mahathir, adding that while

the Russian insurgents are awaiting trial by international court, there is still no trial for American warships. “Justice should apply to everyone. Justice should apply to both our enemies and our friends.” At the same time, however, the former PM emphasised the need for peace and criticised foreign intervention. Using the example of Malaysian-Singaporean relations, he argued, “The main way of speaking to another country is through negotiation. We had problems with Singapore, but we did not go to war with them. We believe in not imposing our will to our neighbours.” Speaking on the issue of corruption in Malaysia, he alluded to the disgraced former PM and his successor Dato Najib Razak, claiming that when Najob took over “he declared that cash is king and to win support you need to bribe people. Now the whole country is corrupt.” He also argued that “to overcome corruption you need a good leader that is not corrupt”, adding that “during my time there was corruption, but it wasn’t as bad as now.” He concluded the talk by calling for more anti-corruption education to the Malaysian youth, saying that “you must make it clear to people that if you are corrupt, you’ve sinned. You go to hell.”

Image Credit: Marco Lembong

Tell us what YOU think about sports at Oxford!

Iffley Road Sports Survey Oxford SU, in consultation with the University of Oxford Sports Department, has produced a survey regarding Iffley Road Sports Facilities and sport in general at Oxford. We want to know what you think - whether sports is part of your everyday life or not! Scan the code below to fill it in: This track is a bit slippery…

I wish I could be more involved with sports!

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

Comment | 8

Comment

Editors: Daniel Kovacs, Shivanii Arun, Tom Elliott (deputy), Kylah Jacobs (deputy), Samuel Kenny (deputy) comment@oxfordstudent.com

9% Too Much?Harrison Gates

discusses recent inflation in the UK, and how it affects both university students and the general public.

Featured image credits: Geoff Livingston via Flickr

ith the dramatic rise in inflation across the country and the slow average pay increases causing a squeeze on the average homeowner, is the United Kingdom heading for a recession when we were set to become the fastest growing economy out of the G7 two years prior. With the added effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Ukrainian-Russian conflict and continued regional lockdowns still occurring in China all effecting the global supply chain is there anything the Government can do to help ease the burden on the British people and university students.But why should inflation Bread, beef, rice and chicken all increasing by around 15% in price.

worry the average pot noodle eating, bibliophile addict and party animal university student? Well ever since the Russia-Ukraine war started more than 104 days ago the price of oil and gas has skyrocketed to $119 a barrel, the highest it’s been since 2012. This has subsequently driven up the average price for your household bills as

the global market struggles to keep will increase to around 12% by this up with the demand and come to autumn and will not settle down terms with the situation at hand. by at least March of 2023. Breaking this down into exactly how much This has therefore caused prices more debt will be added and how to increase to around £700 more much you will have to pay back, than in January. Not only have after graduation if you earn under your gas and oil prices increased the threshold of £27,295 a year with dramatically but also the price of the current inflation rate expected food, growing from 3.5% in April by September expect to add anto 4.3% in March the highest since other £2,300 in interest every six 2012. This rise in inflation has also months. While if you find youreffected some of the most basic self earning around £50,000 a year commodities that every house- only expect to have £3,000 interest hold purchases such as bread, beef, added over six months. rice and chicken all increasing by If you earn under the around 15% in price which has threshold of £27,295 again put the strain on those most a year and with the vulnerable in our community. But where this rise in inflation current inflation will hurt the most for students is to rate then expect to be found in our lingering student add another £2,300 debt after graduation. Currently, in interest every six while students are in full-time study their interest rate is set at 3% months. above the RPI (Retail Price Index). According to the Bank of England, they predict inflation to increase Rent has also seen an increase to %10 by October, an astronomi- for students living both in halls cal number that will cause student and houses, St Catz has announced debt to skyrocket to new levels. an 11.8% escalation in rent for the next academic year, this being Other predictions have been from 2022-2023 meaning students made by the Institute for Fiscal will pay £1654 per term, rather Studies who claim that inflation than £1480 in the previous year.

For those not living in college the average rental prices grew by 2.5% in England in the last 12 months to April 2022, this represents the largest increase since January 2016.

always extraordinary amounts of money to be made. The chancellor has announced a Windfall Tax on Oil and Gas profits to help with the cost of living, this is estimated to raise £5 billion. But will this be “an insult to both the enough to help students?Currently, Queen and her decades of only half of students are employed unwavering service...”

Should we expect the soft hand of Rishi Sunak to break through the dark clouds forming over Britain and pull students out of this quicksand of debt. The short answer is no. It seems the government has almost pulled all the rabbits out of the hat and is unable to fix this situation with money and promises. The chancellor of the exchequer’s speech on the 26th of May 2022 says that “no government can solve every problem, particularly the complex and global challenge of inflation.” It seems like the Chancellor is just going to wait for this event to balance out over the coming months and use the already implemented policies to combat the rate of inflation. However, where there is economic uncertainty there are

Average total pay only grew to 5.4% while inflation has currently reached 9%.

while in a full-time study with an average weekly wage of £112.20. Those who need to work to afford University will see their hard earnt cash become worth less as the average total pay only grew to 5.4% while inflation has currently reached 9%. This inability to protect students in all corners will see students as some of the worst hit by this inflation. With the government silently shrinking the financial screw-on students, graduates and universities with their lack of support over the cost of living, rent increase and repayment structure should we be surprised that those in power who never had to pay tuition fees do not understand the situation facing us in now and in the future.

9| Comment

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

Disunited States: Why gun control is

unthinkable in the US by Matthew HOLLAND

Content warning: school shootings, gun violence, suicide.

ow many readers remember the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Shootings and the subsequent student-led protest, March For Our Lives? Over 1.2 million people participated in the March, either in Washington or at one of the four hundred and fifty sister events which took place on 24th March 2018. This made it one of the most widely participated protests in US history, organised entirely by students who were frustrated at a system of neglect which had allowed seventeen of their schoolmates to be brutally murdered, even after decades of news headlines reading like something out of a dystopia. I remember the palpable sense of optimism which these protests inspired; an idealistic, naive, and innocent hope that a better, safer future was possible for the United States. A sad reminder of the death of that innocence, of that brighter future, came with the Robb Elementary School Shooting on May 24th, as nineteen children, all under the age of 11, and two teachers were killed by a gunman brandishing an AR-15, the same style of assault weapon that was used in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Shootings. While I may not be American, it is only human for me to feel utter pity for the victim’s families and sympathy for every parent that has the bravery to send their kids to school in the face of these tragedies. It also depresses me, and it should depress you, that the US is still so far away it seems from acting to stop these tragedies becoming regular, forgettable occurrences. What is even scarier to think about is, while the March For Our Lives campaign has been carried out to little success in our recent memory, longer campaigns have similarly gone ignored for

decades. My eldest brother was two years old and I was still a figment of my parent’s imagination in 1999 when the Columbine Massacre claimed the lives of thirteen students, including Daniel Mauser, whose father Tom has been running The Forgiveness Project which aims to lobby for comprehensive gun control reforms to prevent mass shootings. One cannot comprehend the courage it takes to come to terms with the death of your son while also organising a campaign to ensure his death was not meaningless. While there are clear political issues which en-

Organised entirely by students who were frustrated at a system of neglect which had allowed seventeen of their schoolmates to be brutally murdered... sure that reform is impossible and which entrench the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, what is even more remarkable is the culture which has arisen around guns which make them a political point of contention and therefore influence politicians to prevent reform. It is a populist tirade which stems much further than simply the populism of Trumpism and the modern Republican Party. In 1994, the assault weapons ban was voted in by Congress despite 64 Democrat and 131 Republican House Members and 2 Democrat and 36 Republican Senators voting against the ban. The ban was only a temporary measure however, lasting just 10 years before it expired and was not renewed. This is proof that this is not just an

issue of Democratic vs Republican, but one which is much more complicated by the influence of pro-gun rights lobbyists and a populist attempt to appeal to gun-owning constituents who see the issue as one of responsible gun ownership. However, while most calls for reform have tended to focus on assault weapons, including the recent demands of President Biden, these measures don’t go far enough to resolve the epidemic of gun violence which consumes the US. Frankly, a ban on these assault weapons is a ban exclusively on the instruments which are operated in the majority of school shootings, certainly something which can be seen as a compromise as opposed to a comprehensive measure. According to PewResearch data though, the majority of deaths caused by guns in the US are suicides, with 59% of deaths being caused by handguns while assault weapons account for just 3% of deaths. To only address 3% of a serious issue which blights a country is frankly a pathetic response, and shows that what Democrat and Republican politicians really want is not to address the problem comprehensively but to get rid of the headlines which highlight the problem.

is the duty of politicians to consider ways in which gun violence can be regulated, and this will not be solved simply by banning certain weapons and allowing others to remain deregulated. In a country where abortion and female reproductive rights are open to discussion like a political football to be kicked up and down a pitch, it is a digrace that guns aren’t open to those same discussions. And as history has shown, we’re unlikely to see the change that is necessary in the US. I have made a deliberate choice to omit the names of any of the shooters who committed these heinous crimes, which are reported by the media all too often.

What Democrat and Republican politicians really want is not to address the problem comprehensively but to get rid of the headlines which highlight the problem.

But out of respect to the victims I will now name the two teachers and nineteen children who died because of the callousness of politicians: Eva Mire“My eldest brother was les, 44, Irma Garcia, 48, Xavier Lopez, 10, Jose two years old and I was Flores, 10, Nevaeh Bravo, 10, Ellie Garcia, 9, Tess still a figment of my par- Mata, 10, Alexandria “Lexi” Rubio, 10, Jacklyn ent’s imagination in 1999 Cazares, 9, Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10, Jayce Luevawhen the Columbine Mas- nos, 10, Miranda Mathis, 11, Amerie Jo Garza, 10, sacre claimed the lives of Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, Layla Salazar, 10, Maite Rodriguez, 10, Annabell Rodriguez, 10, Eliahana thirteen students...” Cruz Torres, 10, Rojelio Torres, 10, Alithia Ramirez, 10, Uziyah Garcia, 10. I highly doubt that gun violence in the US would get as much coverage worldwide as it does if, instead of children being senselessly murdered, the Featured image credit: Jackson Lenier via statistics were exclusively dominated by suicides. It Wikimedia Commons

Comment | 10

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

On Oxonian Culture

Featured image credits: bez_uk via Flickr

Dan Harrison weighs the positives and negatives of our culture at this university, and ponders the avenues for reform....

Political society events such as Beer

& Bickering at the Oxford University Labour Club should not be denigrated for their strengths. We have heard the timeless criticism that debating events are merely forums where jumped up, buttoned up PPE studying wannabe Prime Ministers theorise about global problems that they have read about on their tutorial reading list. Such criticism depicts events such as Beer & Bickering and Spirited Discussions as closed shops full of self-righteous discussion, but these events and environments are not joyless or meaningless; they embody two things: Firstly, they represent a strength of Oxonian culture and secondly they illustrate what must change. The debating events demonstrate the value of freedom of thought, conscience, speech and debate. Vigorous, heated, emotive debate ensures, as John Stuart Mill wrote about in ‘On Liberty,’ that people will channel their convictions into words and language, instead of aggression or even worse, violence. It is imperative that people are regularly exposed to opposing views that will challenge

their framework of how they view the world. and safeguarded. Otherwise a barren intelThis encourages intellectual flexibility and lectual desert will emerge. humility. But what about change? If a view is not challenged, then surely it is not a view, but a dusty, The debating events are often dominated fusty, lifeless relic that belongs by the same speakers whose views others not in the arena of live discussion, can predict before they utter a single syllable. but in an old, forgotten museum. Many attendees are spectators, some keen to speak, but uncertain about how they and I have benefitted from members of my their views will be received. Fear must have household at Worcester countering my ar- no place in the debating culture or in the guments in favour of a wealth tax and our political societies at Oxford. duels have forced me back to the intellectual drawing board to examine my principles What Oxford needs is a and evidence. We’ve repeated this process new culture of openness. over inheritance tax, the monarchy, whether the Middletons are a middle-class or upper Openness to ideas, individuals and people middle-class family? And we’ve mulled over from outside Oxford. Here is one proposal, the biggest question of them all, are horror that for some of our biggest clubs and sociefilms any good? ties, apprentices from outside Oxford who may work in events management or media The debating events also provide students and journalism, could come, for a fixed time with an incredible opportunity to practice period to work for an organisation like the their ability to articulate their thoughts, to Oxford Union, Oxford Guild or one of the structure an argument orally and to com- student newspapers. There should be more municate persuasively. These are skills that student exchanges between universities. are invaluable in professional and political life. The market for debating events may be Oxford needs interaction not saturated and supply may outstrip demand, isolation. Openness, not opacity. but the debating culture must be cherished

This brings us to the Oxford Union. Recently, it has been inflamed with confusion, accusation, counter-allegation of wrongdoings. The Union is perceived by some at best to be a coalition of chaos and at worst, a corrupt coterie of narcissistic individuals. The first charge is harsh and the second is wrong and unwarranted. Both charges against the Union tend to be the product of easy, sweeping stereotypes, which are intellectual short-cuts; they allow you to circumvent critical engagement with your opponents’ arguments. The Oxford Union is an imperfect institution and reform is required. The same can be said for every Oxford institution. It is just that each institution must travel its own journey of reform. Institutions are imperfect, as corruption, nepotism, jobbery and incompetence tend to feature, because such institutions consist of human beings and the worst of human nature, as ever, can prevail. But surely the solution is not to shrug one’s shoulders and to look away, but to tirelessly fight for reform and progress within Oxford’s institutions. Oxonian culture requires reform,

but not revolution.

Change, not chaos.

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022 Editors: Anna Davidson, Marietta Kosma Deputy Editors: Ciaron Tobin, Maya Szaniecki features@oxfordstudent.com

Features

Features | 11

Sir Stephen Fry: The Long Promise to Decolonise Oxford

Anna Davidson and Ciaron Tobin

he Oxford Union’s endorsement of their Trinity 2022 motion ‘This House Would Repatriate Contested Artefacts’ is the latest iteration of a desire to decolonise which has been expressed among the university’s student body for some time; the motion passed easily with 250 ayes to only 52 noes. Similar motions have proliferated at the debating society for at least forty years. 2017 saw ‘This House Would Repatriate Artefacts Obtained Under Colonial Rule’, while 2015 had brought forth ‘This House Believes Britain Owes Reparations to Her Former Colonies’. This motion, particularly in the context of a history of sentiments demanding these changes, demonstrates a desire for reparations is not being met. Myself and Ciaron Tobin attended this debate, and afterwards had the opportunity to interview one of the most eminent speakers, Sir Stephen Fry, about Oxford’s responsibility to decolonise. The debate itself saw the Proposition claim the importance of original ownership, cultural-religious significance, and the colonial legacy of harm, against an Opposition who argued for a ‘universal education’ through museums. Speakers for the Proposition like Sandhya Das Thuraisingham, a PPE student at Queen’s, argued the significance of the intense coercion and violence used to extract many of the artefacts, while Steph Scholten, director of the Hunterian Museum questioned the whole debate, rephrasing to ‘when’ artefacts should be repatriated, not if. Chika Okeke-Agulu, Director of African Studies at Princeton University, spoke movingly of his birthplace in south-west Nigeria and his mother’s experiences of being present when items of huge local

significance were “systematically looted”, while Stephen Fry concluded by denouncing the arrogance and condescension of the entire debate, pointing out the example that only 1% of what the British museum own is on display. While the Opposition attempted to make the argument that retaining these objects was the only way to attain a truly ‘universal cultural education’, this was quickly refuted by OkekeAgulu, who offered the memorable statement “there is nothing universal about a universal museum,”. Having watched the debate, we proceeded to investigate the Proposition’s argument, and why they deemed it so important, through discussion with Stephen Fry. We first asked what the significance was of the debate being hosted at the Oxford Union - “what role does Oxford play in this debate?” Fry responded: “Well it’s ironic, in a way, because the paternalism and the notion of continued ‘superiority’ of Western culture and Western discourse and language and education, and ideas of how the world is made, and ideas of how politics should be, these are the things the debate questioned. And you might argue that the very epicentre of this is Oxford - it’s Oxford eating itself, to some extent. It’s Oxford recognising that if Oxford is to continue, properly, into the next century, it has to think very hard about what it means to be this centre of excellence. Is everything really centred on this little island because it gave us the industrial revolution and then the largest empire the world has ever seen? Even when we apologise for it, we say ‘oh gosh it was terrible, well at least we gave them cricket,’ and ‘can we trust them to have their own objects back - no, they’re all a

bit corrupt aren’t they?’ you know, these sorts of things. And it’s very easy to say it, we feel superior. This is what privilege means: it’s a kind of water we swim in - like fish, we don’t know we’re breathing it. But the rest of the world can see it, that’s the point. The British haven’t the faintest idea of what the rest of the world think of us, I think people believe that they think we’re rather splendid, we’re quirky, we’re grand, we’re eccentric, we’re imperial, and that they really like Godford Park or Downton Abbey - that’s not true. They see us as deceitful, they see us as in denial about what we’ve done to the world, and yet in spite of that I think they retain a sort of respect for some aspects of the democracy, the open society that Britain has fostered from the Enlightenment onward. And it’s now that we have to trade on that residue of respect, in order to do something better. We have to do something. Something which shows that we are part of the family of man, we’re not the father of the family of man.” “Following on from that - this recent news about Cambodian artefacts, is this the start of something new?” “This is a very extreme and extraordinary case, and I have to confess I wasn’t really aware of it. I knew that there were Cambodian holdings in the V & A museum, what I hasn’t realised what that they’d never been on display, and that they were just in boxes like the ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ - these crates, which, as the camera pulls back, just get more and more - and the V & A only shows a fraction of them. Some people are very cynical about their spiritual quality - ‘oh, they always claim it’s spiritual, don’t they?’ - but that’s only because we’re such

a materialist society, we can’t quite believe that other societies don’t have the same way of looking at the sun, the moon, the earth, the stars, life, love, death…all the things that we have a more scientific view on, and a more secular view, and when it’s religious it’s more a church of England or a catholic view, which is about the embodiment of power and bishops and popes. We don’t understand animism, for example, which is probably the largest religion on earth, but because it’s not an organised religion, it sees spirit and life everywhere and it values ancestors, and it sees life in representations. Famously, the Benin people didn’t take photographs, they didn’t like being photographed, and we used to mock it - ‘Oh, they think their soul is being stolen’ - well yes they do, and can’t you take responsibil-

ity for that? Don’t do it! There is so much we need to learn that is not being ‘woke’, it’s just being, if you like ‘awake’, in that sense. It’s about thinking harder than we’ve done before, and not trading on assumptions. And to me the obscenity is the not showing these Cambodian things - there’s such contempt in that: we want them, and then we’ll hide them. That’s just not acceptable, and it doesn’t matter what you can say.” Fry’s final conclusion mirrors a demand which has been seen for decades in Oxford, to little concrete result. Oxford continues to make statements about its desire to repatriate and decolonise, with a severe lack of practical change undertaken to meet it.

12 | Features

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

Lights, Community, Action:

In Conversation with the Ultimate Picture Palace

ast week I had the pleasure of being able to meet with Michaela Tuckwell and Tom Jowett to discuss Oxford’s only independent cinema The Ultimate Picture Palace, affectionately known to many as the UPP. The UPP has had a rich and colourful history. Since first opening its doors to the public under the name of The Oxford Picture Palace in February 1911 with a screening of ‘Broncho Billy’s’ The Bad Man and the Preacher, the cinema has been a part of the student community; perhaps most notably through their screenings of the Varsity boat races on the evening they took place. The Picture Palace would go on to enter a not-so brief hiatus when it closed in 1917, with its doors remaining shut for nearly 60 years until its reopening as the Penultimate Picture Palace in 1976. Since then, the cinema has become a cultural landmark of the city with a number of passionate regulars from both the local and student communities. Undoubtedly the main reason for the UPP being so dear to so many is its character and daring film choices. Whilst still being able to screen blockbuster hits, the majority of the films being shown are more fringe art house films which lack the mainstream commercial appeal that would be required for screening at the Odeon or Vue. The reason the UPP has been able to take this direction is due to their independence; something they are currently fighting to maintain.

On the 29th April, the UPP launched their to actually take a risk on a more unusual film… Lights, Community, Action campaign in which we’ve got an amazing audience who are really they aim to raise £312,575 in order to make inquisitive and daring”. the cinema a community-owned one, where it Many of the benefits of independence also can continue to be Oxford’s hub of independ- manifest off-screen: “I really love working ent cinema. The aim is to make up this sum with other independent businesses”. “Having through a large number of community shares, beers provided to us by Big Scary Monsters, available to anyone interested in investing and an independent beer shop across the road, and keeping the UPP alive. having membership deals with independent When asked what the goal of the campaign cafes like G&Ds.” is, Michaela, the UPP’s Executive Director, I’m personally a huge fan of the UPP. I’ve had said “the whole community share offer is a number of great experiences there, whether about preserving it be a hauntthe cinema”. “It’s ing screenan incredibly im- “It’s about having that freedom ing of Julia portant cinema Ducournau’s in the UK, but to actually take a risk on a more Titane or a especially to peowholesome ple in Oxford… if unusual film… we’ve got an amaz- classic showwe didn’t sell it to ing of Back to the community ing audience who are really in- the Future. then it could be So, despite taken over by a quisitive and daring” my dire ficommercial cinnancial situema, or end up ation, I had not even being a cinema at all”. “In making no hesitation in buying 30 shares in the UPP. the UPP a community cinema, we’d be mak- Everyone between the ages of 16-29, or those ing sure that we’re still showing a great range with an OX1, OX3, or OX4 postcode, have of films and that it remains very close to the the offer of a discounted minimum buy-in of community”. 30 shares for £30. Tom, the cinema’s Marketing & Events ManI still wanted to make sure that I was getting a ager, stressed the importance of the UPP’s good return on my investment, so asked what independence. “It’s about having that freedom the benefits of buying shares were. “Well, aside

ELIAS FORMAGGIA

from getting to own your own cinema and all the associated bragging rights, you get a say in the state of how your local independent cinema is run.” “You can also put yourself up for the Management Committee where you would be absolutely in charge of governance… helping to decide which audiences we want to develop, what kind of films we want to show, and the general business strategy of the cinema”. Michaela concluded with “ I think the main thing to just hammer home is that we’ve got a deadline, 1st of July”. “If for any of these reasons you want to get involved and own your own cinema, I’d be quick, because it’s been very popular”. Before Tom finally added “I think having an independent cinema in the town that you’re studying in is such a treat… to not have an independent cinema in the city would be a real kick in the teeth”. For anybody interested in buying community shares in the UPP, please visit the cinema’s website for more information on the benefits of investing and how to get involved. And, for any students who fancy a trip to Oxford’s only independent cinema, they offer a Five Pound Film Pass for anyone between the ages of 15-25. All this requires is providing a name and email address, and with this you can go to any of the UPP’s screenings for only a fiver.

Features | 13

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

A Student Abroad:

How to Stay Safe

re you heading abroad for an internship, research project, study abroad program or vacation this summer? Now that most countries have reopened their borders, everyone is eager to get back to travelling and exploring the world, whether that is for academic, work or leisure purposes!

Organising and preparing for an internship or study abroad can be stressful, but the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice has made it easy to understand what you need to do to prepare and be safe whilst abroad. Whether you have already organised your trip abroad or still thinking about your next destination, there are some general safe travel tips that you should be aware of:

1. Read the Entry Requirements and Travel Advice Before deciding on your chosen destination it is wise to check all the entry requirements to ensure that you meet the criteria, have the correct VISA and are aware of the local laws. Country specific entry requirements are explained clearly on the FCDO travel advice website. All you need to do is search on Google [‘Your destination’ FCDO travel advice]. It is helpful to sign up to get alerts to your email when the travel advice page is updated and changed. Make sure to read the country’s local laws and customs page on the FCDO travel website which will make you are more aware of how to be respectful and not get yourself into any trouble! For instance, did you know that it is illegal to feed the pigeons in Venice, it is an offence to wear any form of camouflage in Barbados and bringing chewing gum to Singapore is prohibited? 2. Purchase the right insurance The Foreign Office have easy to follow guidance on purchasing the appropriate travel insurance. Purchasing good travel insurance is just as important as your flights and accommodation. Getting the right insurance is necessary to ensure that you are covered abroad for any coronavirus related events, medical treatment, travel disruption and all your planned outdoor activities such as climbing, diving, or skiing. This means you can partake in water sports like swimming with turtles or riding on a jet ski abroad knowing that you are insured in case of any accidents or emergencies. If you’re travelling with expensive valuables such as your mobile phone, laptop or tablet, it is worth insuring these items to protect them if they are lost, stolen or damaged.

3. Vaccinations and Testing s we are still emerging out of a pandemic having the correct COVID documentation is necessary for travelling abroad. You can read more about your chosen destination’s specific testing entry requirements on the FCDO travel advice website. You might need proof of your COVID vaccinations, a negative COVID test result or completion of a passenger locator form. Each country has differing requirements which can change at any time; therefore, it might be helpful to keep checking the FCDO guidelines before travelling and sign up for email updates. It is crucial to check that you have all the necessary vaccinations for travelling to another country where you might need them such as rabies or yellow fever. Before travelling to Colombia, I met with my travel health clinic to check what vaccinations are necessary for my trip – you should do the same for your next destination!

4. Check your passport is valid here have been numerous stories in the news recently about people being denied boarding at the airport due to their passports being invalid. Don’t get caught out! Emergency travel documents (ETD) are very expensive (over £100), and some countries do not allow entry with ETD!! Most countries require six months left on your passport – it is best to check the date of your passport well in advance before travelling. Printing copies of your travel documentation, insurance, and passport could be helpful in the case that you lose these documents. Leaving photocopies of these documents at home with someone you trust like your family or friends, will be useful if your copies are lost or stolen. Whilst abroad, some hotels require your passport to confirm your identity and therefore, having a printed copy of your documents can be helpful in case you need to prove who you are (such as at checkpoints or bars).

5. Travel in a Group f you are travelling alone at any point, it might be helpful to download a personal safety app for your phone such as bSafe which has an SOS button that you use to call for help in an emergency. It is always much safer to travel in a group. If you are travelling in a group, make sure you always stick together, especially on a night out and if you do separate at any point make sure you contact each other regularly, whether that be via a phone call or Whatsapp group chat! Whilst abroad you might be in a situation where you need to contact someone in an emergency. Therefore, it is a good

idea to have an in-country contact number such as a relative or friend. It is also wise to know the contact number of the embassy in the country you are visiting. I would write these numbers down and also store them in the contacts of my phone. To add to this, instead of checking in with your family and friends every now and then, let them know your travel itinerary, flight and hotel information so they know where to find you in an emergency! Visit navigatingneedham.wordpress. com or @navigatingneedham on Instagram for more travel tips and guidance on how to stay safe abroad this summer! Image attribution: Heather Needham

HEATHER NEEDHAM

14 |Profile

Profile

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

of the week

Marietta Kosma talks to Matt Robyns-Landricombe, President of Right for Education Oxford

urrently studying Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, a National Champion public speaker, and now current President of Right for Education Oxford (R:Ed), a publication with a readership of almost 7 million across Sub-Saharan Africa and hundreds of millions of digital imprints, Matt Robyns-Landricombe has a bright future ahead of him. As a writer and an editor for R:Ed myself who has followed his work for some time, I feel lucky to have the opportunity to interview him. I start the conversation with Matt by asking him how he got involved with Right for Education. He tells me that he started out as a writer and a translator in Michaelmas 2021. Matt thought that this was an incredible opportunity for him to explore topics that he hadn’t really encountered that much in the past, and work for an organisation whose values aligned so well with his own. He then served as the Vice President during Hillary Term 2022, before being appointed as the President of R:Ed for Trinity Term 2022. Matt sees this as a unique opportunity to work with a talented international content team, allowing him to play an integral role in the training and foundation of new R:Ed chapters across Africa.

I then proceeded to ask Matt about his goals as R:Ed’s president. He answered that one of his goals is to optimize R:Ed’s organizational efficiency. We spoke about the challenges that can arise with freelancers working remotely in any kind of office or context creation hub, as it can be difficult to have a comprehensive view of what everyone is doing at all times, something which is particularly important when collaborative work is required. The collaboration between writers, editors, translators, and the central chapter in Ghana is no mean feat, and requires consistent monitoring and communication. Matt’s goal has been to create a detailed view of all operations and processes within the organization to ensure that the R:Ed’s output is timely and first-rate. Thus far this has been met with great success, and through the successful work of Matt and the Chief Translators - Nadia Najah Hassan and Jane Bentham

- R:Ed Oxford has now also become a translation hub for all R:Ed articles worldwide. In addition, Matt states that his focus is on driving the entrepreneurship and economic self-empowerment side of the organization, as R:Ed have a new focus on economic empowerment. He comments that there is incredible untapped business potential across Africa, and that R;Ed’s new goal as an organization is to become a platform for the next generation of entrepreneurs. This term, R;Ed Oxford have been able to launch their first ever financial literacy and entrepreneurship section, covering contemporary topics such as greenwashing as part of this process of looking to a better-informed future. As R:Ed expands, Matt is passionate about the new project he is undertaking: The R:Ed Network. The R:Ed Network is a network for volunteers across the globe; a platform for the multinational R:Ed team to share personal development tips, employment opportunities and business concepts. R:Ed is expanding at great pace, with new branches in Uganda and Nigeria being founded over the past month. R:Ed volunteers are a unique network of individuals across a variety of disciplines and specialisations. By tapping into the varying arsenals of experience that R:Ed volunteers have, the R:Ed Network can focus on facilitating the co-ordination of positive business projects in Africa that are beneficially tailored to local communities.

Matt proceeds to explain that it is very crucial that we are able to work together as people from completely diverse backgrounds. His positive attitude shone through as he stated that regardless of a person’s gender, sexuality, ability, education, socio-economic background or race, there is something very special and unique that each one of us can bring to the table. Nowadays, as we confront multiple crises on humanitarian and environmental levels, and we need modern solutions for the problems of the 21st century. For this, we need to put everyone in a position where they can share their creativity, insight, and ideas. It is important to ensure that there is a level playing field that enables everyone to contribute. In a great way, R:Ed

Deputy Editors: Anna Davidson, Marietta Kosma Kosma Section Editors: Ciaron Tobin, Maya Szaniecki, Elsie Clark oxstu.profile@gmail.com

helps us to strive towards this goal, empowering readers individuals and encouraging a love for learning and continuous self-development. Managing an editorial team of over 50 people while conceptualizing new global initiatives is not an easy task, even though Matt may make it seem like one. His work is inspiring as he continuously strives to bridge the information gap and to empower individuals worldwide. Matt is definitely a charismatic leader and I cannot wait to watch his future endeavours. Photo attribution: Matt RobynsLandricombe

“Nowadays, as we confront multiple crises on humanitarian and environmental levels, and we need modern solutions for the problems of the 21st century.

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The Oxford Student | Friday10 June 2022

Balliol Politics Don, Sudhir Hazareesingh:

Don’t De-Colonise the Curriculum, EXPAND It

“Hazareesingh is apprehensive about a discussion which passes judgement. He believes his task is to give a ‘fuller’, a ‘more proper picture’.”

eated opposite in a relaxed pose, Hazareesingh is flanked by shelves of leather-bound hard backs. Stacks of the London Review of Books and a poster for La Dernière Salve occupy the red-wine carpet in his college office. A Fellow of Balliol by 1990, he first experienced the college as a PPE student in the early 80s. He can recall a shorts-wearing and scruffy haired Boris Johnson asking him for help with his philosophy essay in the queue for hall. While Johnson arrived with a somewhat ornamental scholarship for Classics, Hazareesingh’s arrival to Balliol was facilitated by a Mauritian scholarship.

His landmark book, How the French Think, published in 2015, afforded him high praise. Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture, which followed in 2021, went on to win the Wolfson History Prize - a recognition which he describes as ‘thrilling’. The award, he says, is ‘not to be sneezed at’, considering the fact that it came with a prize of £40,000. The ground-breaking study repositions the Haitian Revolution within its appropriate context: the Age of Revolution. He argues its case against the French or American counterparts which often soak up most of the academic attention. At once democratic and republican, the book suggests, it is the most interesting of the revolutions and certainly the most comprehensive. Louverture, its

striking figurehead, falls into a tradition of charismatic leaders who dominate the early eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries, including, among others, Napoleon.

The work is engaged in taking an event about Black empowerment often limited to marginalia and putting it centre stage. But Hazareesingh remains steadfast that the study does not seek to de-colonise the curriculum. Such goals, for him, are ‘unnecessarily divisive’. Despite sympathy for the sentiment, the prefix de pertains to ‘subtraction’ and ‘taking things out’. Hazareesingh wants to ‘restore the centrality of an event in a way that people at the time saw it’. He tells me that our goal should be the ‘introduction of race and colonialism’ into academic discussions. As the conversation about Napoleon or Jefferson’s views on slavery awakes, Hazareesingh is apprehensive about a discussion which passes judgement. He believes his task is to give a ‘fuller’, a ‘more proper picture’. This conversation, which Hazareesingh thinks is already well underway in America, is ‘more problematic in Britain and France’. As a nation, we have the challenge of ‘judging ourselves as a colonial power’. Yet, he pauses before considering it a question of emotional difficulty. Rather, ‘how do you judge it in its fullness?’ He tells me: ‘it’s not about saying colonialism was bad although, on balance,

based on my own experience of growing up in Mauritius under British colonial rule, I think it was.’

The book adeptly outline’s Louverture’s trailblazing efforts to build a sense of black unity. We pivot towards the disunity which has come to define the current political landscape. Hazareesingh outlines the reasoning behind Louverture’s political philosophy: ‘black people have to be treated equally, because of their history as an enslaved people they are entitled to almost a special status’. It is a remarkably clear explanation of a political creed which fights for universal principles but for a particular group. The discussion which surrounded the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement last summer seemed to be wrestling with this issue. ‘All Lives Matter’ rebuttals failed to grasp what Hazareesingh observes as the need to consider a ‘special status’.

I turn our conversation towards the institution which has been at the heart of Hazareesingh’s professional life. He claims that Balliol’s self-image is unchanged, an ‘open, friendly, informal place’. I imagine there are some who would disagree and suggest the college’s distinguishing characteristic is still what H. H. Asquith described as ‘the tranquil consciousness of an effortless superiority’. Friendly or unfriendly, Hazareesingh’s poise before me is remarkable for its effortlessness.

When he arrived in 1981, the college had only just started to accept female undergraduates and he recalls the testimony of those from the first few cohorts, who said it was ‘frightful’. This introduction is part of a constantly evolving process; Hazareesingh suggests the major change to the undergraduate cohort taking place today is the increase in international students from what he terms ‘the global south’. Such a shift implicitly involves the question of admissions. The debate around Oxbridge acceptance is, for Hazareesingh, ‘heated for good reason’; ‘Secondary education here is very imbalanced,’ he says. He informs me that just before our conversation he had been glancing at the latest statistics for the college, which saw only 67% of the incoming first years arriving from state schools. Indeed, the recent weeks have seen calls from both sides of the aisle. Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, aims to continue a reduction in private school students. David Abulafia, a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, responded by saying that school names should be scratched from admissions information. When I press Hazareesingh about this exchange, he is somewhat aloof. He focuses on the ‘image’ which state-educated students across the country have of Oxbridge. He thinks more ac-

tion has to be taken to raise money and advertise scholarships, and make Oxford appear physically less alien and more familiar to students from diverse backgrounds. I ask him whether Balliol’s 67% should be 93%, considering that around 7% of UK students attend fee-paying schools. His voice hesitates over the first syllable of ‘yes’ before tackling the question. Oxford, he suggests, is still seen as ‘a bastion of a certain way of life and a certain type of privilege’. The specifics about the ‘way of life’ or ‘privilege’ are hazy. Actions which contribute towards Oxford being seen as this bastion include Oriel’s decisions surrounding the Rhodes statue, self-images of Oxford which ‘just don’t help’. ‘The structure of Oxford doesn’t help’, either. Although expressing enthusiasm about centralised admissions in principle, Hazareesingh still highly values his independence as a tutor when it comes to selecting PPEists for Balliol specifically.

As we walk back to the Balliol entrance, it is easy to imagine Hazareesingh as a first year back in 1981, walking through the quad, not yet aware of the glittering prizes which await him.

SAMUEL KING

16 | Columns

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

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With Poppy Atkinson-Gibson

efore I begin I must stress that no one was harmed in the making of this story. Well, no one that I’m connected to. Really, this is a story that you have to laugh about and tell the grandkids. Such a story begins on a cold and stormy night in the darkness that was my dissertation term. For those poor souls who have been subjected to such torturous treatment you know the feeling of waking up panic stricken, soaked in a sheen of sweat and panting heavily in the lower Glink where you have just been awoken from a nightmarish slumber by a librarian for snoring too loudly and disturbing the frightened freshers around you who have been crying and shivering in a corner from the realisation that they are staring directly into a future reflection of themselves. And so, having been rudely awoken from the best sleep I’d had in ages, I decided to get straight back to work and thus opened up my phone to be greeted by a date proposition by a one TJ. To cut a long story short, after trekking around several pubs in Oxford because there was no space, we had a lovely little date and saw each other sporadically for a while afterwards. However, tragedy struck. Just when I’d finally decided on what our children were going to be called and whether we should have underlit kitchen cabinets are backlit ones, he was enticed away like one of the Pied Piper’s victims

from Hamlin to the bright lights and bustling metropolis that is… Ipswich. Why I hear you asking? Well, I don’t want to brag but I was dating a man in STEM, and not just any man in STEM but a medical man. Okay so he wasn’t a doctor but really, judging from the oxloves, they’re overrated anyway. TJ was training to be a mental health nurse and apparently Ipswich was where it was at. And so we messaged but slowly the messages which had started as a gush, turned to a trickle before eventually drying up. Such a progression I did feel was not unlike an A Level Maths problem about calculating the speed of water leaking from a crack in a bathtub. Having not taken Maths passed GCSE I was left to conclude that it was all Greek to me and I didn’t know what the future held for me and TJ. It was increasingly looking like we might not have any kitchen cupboards at all. However, there is a twist in this tail. It is not merely one of love lost, and longing, it is not simply a tail of woe. It’s much more high octane than that. On Thursday, the day I had finished my exams (thank you in advance for the congratulations) TJ had asked me if I wanted to go for a drink and I had agreed because I was high on life and also none of my friends had finished and I felt like a third thumb, and he was back from Ipswich for a week to visit his family. However, he ghosted me. He went off grid, MIA, radio silent, deaf and dumb, if

you will. I was miffed. I schlepped home and binge watched the entirely of Heart stopper on Netflix, which I highly recommend, and snuggled down (PS shoutout to whoever ordered the Heartstopper graphic novel from the Bod closed stack, I saw it on the shelves last week. We all wish we were you). As I was snoozing away I received a missed call or two, well 8 to be exact, and some texts at 4.30am. I did not pick them up as I was in an exam induced coma and was simply dead to the world. At 6am, the doorbell rang and again I didn’t hear it, however my housemate Alistair did and padded down the stairs, rubbing his eyes and yawning (I imagine) and opened the door expecting it to be our other housemate Caleb who was on a might out and had probably forgotten his keys as usual. It was very much not. Stood on the doorstep was TJ, covered in blood and holding a ginger cat that lives on the street and features frequently on my Instagram. The two stood there like the spiderman meme, the third party being the cat of course. TJ asked if this was our cat to which Alistair replied it was not. TJ put the cat down and continued to stand on the doorstep in the breaking dawn light blinking. Alistair asked who he was and TJ replied: “Oh, I’m TJ. Who are you?” The conversation continued thus: “Ummm, I’m Alistair. Can I help you?” “Oh I’m here to see Poppy” “Right, ummm. It’s 6am.”

TJ apparently checked his phone which was dead, frowned and made a small ‘oh’. Seeing TJ on the doorstep, covered in blood and clearly quite drunk, Alistair offered him some water and asked him to come in, ever a good Samaritan, at which point TJ ran up the stairs and entered my room, put his phone onto charge and took off his jeans. I was still very much asleep. However, as a brown belt in karate and thus essentially a ninja, I could feel a presence in my room which was probably helped by the fact that he crashed to the floor with a thud and a groan having got tangled in his jeans. My reaction? I awoke and screamed. I switched my fairy lights on which added unfortunately a lovely warm and cute ambience to a situation that was neither warm or cute. TJ replied with “oh hello”. I enquired as to why he was here and he filled me in. He had gone radio silent on me earlier because he had got into a fight at a pub and then gone off to a club where the antagonists also went to. Like the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet, the two rival gangs squared up and continued the fray. Unfortunately there was more done than simply biting their thumbs at each other and TJ had had to go to the hospital and then the police station. When asked where he needed depositing afterwards he had mixed up his own and my address and landed at number 35 rather than 68 where he had befriended a ginger cat that reminded him of me (how cute)

and then been let in. I was gobsmacked. I literally had no words, which I think was more linked to the fact that my brain was now simply a blob of grey mush in my cranium now exams had finished, but it also could have been because I had been broken into. I remained stunned into silence. TJ came over and kissed me on the cheek and then then climbed into bed and proceeded to spoon me, dropping off immediately to sleep and sniffling and snoring softly like a cat in the midday sun. At 7.30 TJ’s alarm went off and he groaned like a lawnmower starting up. I switched the alarm off. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me, clearly a little bit startled and I had an intense feeling he didn’t really know what had gone on. I regaled him with the story. He apologised profusely and asked me to go for coffee with him to make up. Weirdly, I said yes. I can’t quite explain why. I think my love of Wattpad smut and trashy romcoms have conditioned me to think this whole saga was entirely appropriate. My retelling of this story to friends has brought home that it probably wasn’t and I have some issues. However, we did indeed go for a coffee and all was well. After I had slurped up the last of my latte foam art and we were about to part ways, he said “I’ll see you soon?”, hugged me goodbye and trotted off. However, the soon has never come because I regret to inform that he has since ghosted me and I fear I may never see him again. I would like to allay audience fears however and confirm we have subsequently had a house meeting regarding security measures which include not letting strangers into the house and double locking the front door. So really a positive experience all round. Not to mention that it provided me with conversation starters in college for days which was very useful because having completed my degree I have since realised I don’t really have much to say.

The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this work have been altered to protect the identities of those involved. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

Columns Columns

Sub Fusc - An Oxford Spotter’s Guide

t’s exam season once again, and if you leave your college at the right time, you might just see swarms of stressedout exam-takers filling the streets and turning Oxford into The Walking Dead’s richer, more entitled, sub fusc-wearing cousin. With that said, because sub fusc is essentially a dress code, that means there are so many ways to approach it, so here are a few that I’ve recently spotted roaming Cornmarket Street with lifeless, glazedover eyes.

Full Glam Sub Fusc They walk into the Exam Schools with their best suit/skirt, a full face of makeup, cool sunglasses, and a perfectly ironed shirt. They’ve done everything in their power to ensure that they look as good for their exams as they will on their wedding day, if not better. They aren’t here to play games – their organisational skills are second to none and they’ve been highlighting their notes, making flashcards and re-watching lectures for months now. In fact, they probably have a scholar’s gown, and they want everyone to know about it. Last Minute Disaster Sub Fusc They run to the Exam Schools as fast as they can, having overslept after a poorlyjudged, Jaegerbomb-fuelled night at Park End, and everything’s a bit of a mess. They had to borrow their housemate’s gown, their shirt has the remains of yesterday’s lunch on it, and their hair makes it look like they secretly live in a wind tunnel, but at least they made it to their exam. They only need to pass, right? Sexy Sub Fusc They’re so over the stuffy Oxford traditions that they’ve decided to pull out the mini skirt and force their Hot Girl Trinity into existence one way or another. Their performance in the exam is absolutely

secondary to whether or not they get an OxLove written about them as they saunter to and from the exam schools, and if that doesn’t work, they’ll probably be at one of those Sub Fusc and Matriculation (S&M) Bops.

Sad Sub Fusc They sadly wipe away their tears (and perhaps snot) on the tails of their gown, their shirts stained with tears, and their mascara running down their face, probably all because they forgot a science-y formula or how to form the optative in Greek (whatever that is). If you see one of these, its best to look away so that they don’t die from further embarrassment.

Angry Sub Fusc After however many years of Oxford-related nonsense, they are no longer afraid to admit that they hate their degree. Every college has at least one, and you will always want to ask them why they don’t just change their course or rusticate to aid their sanity. Their gown is crumpled from being thrown on the floor and neglected, and as soon as they come out of the Exam Schools, they take it off immediately, feeling that the very fabric it’s made from is mocking their poor academic choices. Realistically, they probably aren’t even that bad at their course, they just want to go off to the pub, or back to bed. Trashed Sub Fusc They’ve finally completed your exams. Whether their finals are finished, or their prelims are polished off, they can be seen covered in foam, silly string, paint, eggs, confetti, and various other (hopefully biodegradable) debris. As soon as they’ve finished running away from the university staff who’ll attempt to give them a hefty £150 fine, they chuck it in the washing machine and run off to get absolutely hammered at Spoons.

elcome back to the final instalment of this column. This week has brought with it various activities. I had a week off university to mark the Dragon Boat Festival, which is marked by - surprise surprise - boat racing. The past couple of weeks have brought various challenges, so my friends and I decided we’d head down to southwest Taiwan to Chiayi, from which we took a bus up into the mountains to seek out the famed Guanziling hot springs for some much-needed R&R. I’ve been told on various occasions that all I seem to do is go on holiday during a year that, to most, looks like a 10-month long holiday rather than a year abroad. To this I have very little to respond to, because I think I deserve plenty of holidays. And also, you try dealing with torrential rain for three weeks straight and then tell me you don’t deserve a little steeping in the hot springs!

The Guanziling hot springs are particularly special because they are some of very few hot springs containing a specific mud type, which makes the water a dark, thick, silty grey. Over the two and a half days we were there, I took full advantage of the spa and its resources and did six face masks in two days, which probably ended up having adverse effects on my skin, but I justified it in the name of so-called ‘self-care’. I did plenty of toasting by the pool amidst searing sun and tropical thunderstorms, trying not to make eye contact with literally the biggest spider I have seen in my actual entire life – I’ve seen this particular species make a habit of setting up camp on the electricity wires. I also tested out one of those ponds where fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet, appropriately called the “Dr Fish nibbling pool”, an utterly novel experience. The trick is to try and enjoy the ticklish sensation and not look down, lest you catch sight of a particularly big fishy with mouth gaping open and its intentions fixed on taking a hefty chunk out of the sole of your foot. Having steeped to our hearts’ content, we returned to Taipei for a weekend of debauchery and, in my case, confronting chores such as cleaning my room and putting on a wash that I’d avoided. On Saturday night, my friend hosted a birthday party in a three-floor motel room complete with a hot tub, sauna, pool, shower room and

Columns | 17

karaoke. I’ve briefly mentioned the motel party moment in previous articles but it’s worth exploring the premise. Essentially, they’re mainly located out of the centre of Taipei in the outskirts of the city, but still very much in the metropolis. When you walk in past the gates, you’re faced with a corridor full of garage doors on the side. Just as you’re asking yourself whether it might be best to turn back and walk out of the situation alive, you find that the garage doors each open up to lavish rooms within. It’s an utterly befuddling experience, and one which I can only liken to Hannah Montana’s wardrobe moment. We partied there the whole night, the bravest of us staying up until 7am for breakfast the next morning.

As I write my final article for this column, I am now in my final month of my year abroad, which feels surreal and strange that in a few weeks I’ll be leaving Taiwan and will be back in the UK. I realise now how used to life here I have become. On reflection, it’s been easily the most challenging year of my life, and looking back at myself from 10 months ago, I find it hard to believe I left home so easily and readily. It felt like moving out properly for the first time, except everything was made doubly difficult by the fact that my course-mates and I had to do everything in Chinese. While adapting to a completely new way of life, which transformed our routines, living situations, food habits and university life, I would say the most important thing that kept our spirits up was our surprisingly unwavering sense of humour, which carried us through in even the direst of straits. Taiwan is often defined in foreign media by its relations with other countries, but it is obviously so much more than that. It is a country bestowed with great natural beauty and a dynamic and diverse culture. From the first day we arrived in Taipei we were welcomed, literally on the street, by pedestrians passing by, and wherever we have travelled we have always been greeted with friendliness. I will miss life here a lot and will always feel very appreciative of how exciting and transformative the time has been that I’ve spent here. Love to you always, Taiwan! Cc xx

18 | Columns

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

ssnnm muullooC C On

ur politics and our society are afflicted by an absence of something: empathy. Empathy is misunderstood as an emotion. It is not a fleeting, transient concern for somebody else’s welfare. It is not about feeling misery or melancholy for somebody’s misfortune. It is not even about identifying with somebody else’s beliefs or their cause. This is too passive to constitute empathy. Empathy is a far more lively and active emotion than it is given credit for. It requires entering a non-judgemental frame of mind and a decentering from your own egoism to imagine your peer’s experience and perspective. It requires a selfabnegation of ego and self-awareness. To comprehend your own emotions helps you to understand the experiences of others. The analogy we can use to understand about what empathy is, is that you should imagine yourself glancing in the mirror and not seeing yourself, but seeing a friend or family member or fellow citizen who is struggling and imagining what they are thinking and feeling and how this is influencing their behaviour. Empathy, although not named as such in the past, has long existed in the passage of time. Adam Smith published ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’ in 1759 and he wrote about the importance of fellow feeling and the challenge of trying to feel what others are experiencing. Empathetic accuracy will often be imperfect, but we must all

Empathy summon the will to try. Humans first develop empathy when they are two years old. It can be taught through role play, training in perspective taking and exercises in group problem solving. Close friendships and greater knowledge of others’ personalities and experiences can foster empathy. Something happens in our brains when we are empathetic. When empathy increases, the ‘trust hormone’ oxytocin increases and is released by the brain and as a result we are more likely to trust others. Also, if we perceive trustworthy behaviour directed towards us, our oxytocin levels increase. So empathy matters as it fosters trust and bonding between humans. It has also been proven that empathetic individuals are less likely to exhibit social prejudice and are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviour. Empathetic individuals are more likely to share, donate, co-operate and volunteer. Increasing the capacity for empathy in society can lead to peace and justice. Empathy is a foundation for peace, as understanding others’ emotions and

experiences can make negotiation and compromise more palatable and conflict less likely, as we will understand why our opponents approach a problem from another perspective. Empathy is a founda-

tion for justice, as we need to be able to understand others’ rights and when they have been violated, so we can protect them from the harsh, unrelenting winds of injustice. Forging an empathetic society will be a challenge given the intense competition in our market economy and the entrenched fear and chronic stress engulfing the lives of many. Stress wears away at the nervous system. Long-term stress can alter the brain at a biochemical level. Repeated stress, the kind that people often face when they are

With Dan Harrison trapped in poverty, reshapes the brain, as the stress hormone cortisol etches a chemical traumatic trace on the mind. Without the ability to turn off this fear response, humans are less able to distinguish threats from non-threats. Empathy becomes a great challenge when someone perceives threats everywhere and when insecurity and uncertainty mean that many in society can only afford to focus on survival. This is a great challenge that our society faces. Chronic stress and fear about the cost of living, insecure work, insufficient wages, uncertainty about security in retirement, anxiety about employment opportunities and fear about whether sickness will be treated plagues this land. And those who are fortunate enough to not be trapped in this chronic stress spiral will often blame individuals for their own predicaments and overlook the role of the external environment. This absence of empathy is epitomised by attitudes towards the unemployed. They are labelled as lazy, feckless, scroungers, exploiters of the welfare state and whilst it is true

that a small proportion will fraudulently claim benefit (in 2019-20 the rate of benefit fraud across all welfare expenditure was 1.4%), people often overlook the role that low self-esteem, mental health challenges, physical illness, skills deficits and geographical and occupational immobilities of labour play in causing unemployment. It is not only an empathetic society that must be forged, but also an empathetic leadership model. The current occupant of N.10 was admitted to an ICU unit at St Thomas’ Hospital on the 5th April 2020. Surely it would be expected that this experience would induce some empathy from the Prime Minister for what NHS staff and COVID patients were having to deal with. But instead he continues to enforce the chronic underfunding of the institution that helped save his life and he enabled industrial scale partying in N.10 so that it became the greatest law breaking property in the UK during the pandemic. This behaviour suggests a cold-bloodedness and disregard for others’ experiences that is chilling. In order to build an empathetic society, the norms and practices at the top of society must be empathetic ones. The behaviour of the leaders of educational institutions, political institutions and businesses must remember that for ‘everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required.’

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The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

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An ethic of communication in academic contexts Agatha Gutierrez Echenique (ed).

have been participating in an extended philosophy seminar which centres on ‘philosophy in an inclusive key.’ Given the scope of this seminar, it is unsurprising that much of our discussion pertains to issues of gender and sexuality What I want to do is take up, in this more informal, public sphere, a discussion concerning the blurring of boundaries between epistemological and ethical concerns that took place within the seminar. The reason why I’m choosing to do so is that the preliminary take-aways of such a discussion are crucial for developing an ethic of communication, particularly in academic contexts. My thoughts on the matter are in no way complete, but I hope that they are useful to whoever happens to read it. A way of getting into this conversation is by considering a stereotype in terms of the philosophical method. What philosophers do is question everything and anything: it’s all fair game in dialectics! Whatever assumptions or presuppositions your interlocutors may have, it is potentially permissible to bring these up for critical examination. This stereotype has its intuitive appeal: certainly one of the fathers of philosophy, Socrates, was famous for being the kind of person who didn’t shy away from taking shots at anything and everything, regardless of who the speaker was. But in another sense, this stereotype of philosophical dis-

course isn’t quite right in terms of characterising the nature of philosophical communication. It is the case that there exist certain subdivisions within philosophy itself. In particular, there exists a divide between metaphysics, ontology, and ethics. These subdivisions themselves can be understood as frameworks which we operate under. In considering questions of ethics, we are operating under certain constraints that make it possible to think about ethics, and sometimes we ignore possible questions having to do with metaphysics to do this kind of work. For example: in considering whether or not I have a right to acquire property, I take it for granted that I am, in fact, an existing thing that is capable of acquiring property – that I am not a brain in a vat being experimented on by an evil genius. Why these constraints? As in: why don’t I, when thinking about whether or not I have a right to acquire property, also think about whether I exist and can even acquire property? The answer is that it’s simply not possible to do these projects simultaneously. We are limited in our capacities to do complicated thinking, and an attempt to do everything at once will ultimately culminate in our doing some rather poor thinking. This suggests that the stereotype of philosophy is precisely that: a stereotype. It is, in theory, possible to question everything. But if we are having a discussion about ethics, it would, plausibly, be in-

appropriate to bring in questions of metaphysics in at least some cases. An objection to a theory of rights cannot be: well, how do you even know that people even exist? To bring this objection up would be an example of arguing in bad faith because you’re misunderstanding or misconstruing the scope or the purpose of the conversation to begin with. Don’t derail the conversation, we might cry!w This is probably most obvious in other disciplines that are not philosophy. If we are discussing history, we don’t bring in questions of whether in fact time is an actually existing thing. That’s not the scope of history. The existence (or not!) of time is the concern of other fields (physics or philosophy) despite the importance of the presupposition of time being a real thing in historical inquiry, generally. Insofar as one brings up the question of the reality of time, one is no longer engaging in history, but something else entirely. What does this suggest? Mainly: that there are right and wrong ways of engaging in academic communication. What determines whether a form of engagement is wrong or right is dependent on the aim of the communication in question. Of course: it may sometimes be necessary and appropriate to question the ways in which we understand the aims themselves. As in: sometimes we may consider an aim itself to be inappropriate. We can invoke Socrates here again. In

a study of erotics, wherein we are considering how love is a benefit to humans, Socrates would object to our settling the aim of erotics as ‘understanding the value of love’ without having already articulated what love is. To understand the value of something, it is methodologically prudent not to answer the question of its value first – because we don’t yet fully understand what we are in communication about. We should note a common feature in both of our examples: thinking about what counts as appropriate or inappropriate communication is highly contextual. Whether we take a contribution to be clarificatory, useful, in good faith, depends on the interaction of that contribution with the discourse itself and the people engaged in it, in conjunction with some preliminary goals that we seek to achieve in a discourse. There can be no abstract principles of right or wrong engagement, except perhaps the principle that: “It depends on the particulars of the conversation!” What I want to suggest is that being capable of doing this kind of highly contextual thinking in order to decide whether a form of communication would be appropriate or not is a skill, perhaps even a virtue. And it is a virtue which I think, particularly when we engage in complicated sets of interactions having to do with identity-based issues in academia, is crucial to our being able to even engage with each other.

We don’t, even in philosophy, really adhere to the stereotype that everything is open to questioning. So particularly when we are engaged in communication about what it is to be trans and what it is to be queer, I would suggest that we don’t try to dogmatically stick to this ideal. I think many people refuse to communicate effectively in a conversation about trans philosophy and refuse to cultivate a kind of virtue of communication and contextual thinking, and this refusal is done in bad faith. Discussion frameworks concerning the trans and queer experience have a primary aim of the clarification of a kind of lived experience. I would suggest that bringing in questions of whether that experience exists is to fail to do some contextual thinking and to fail in an ethic of communication because it derails a conversation in the same way that bringing up the evil genius derails an ethical conversation. There is a lot more that can be said. But I would encourage people to take seriously the idea that an ethic of communication requires this kind of contextual thinking and the virtue of being able to do it well. So before jumping into a conversation: one should think about its aims, and whether one’s contribution would, in fact, be a contribution in light of those aims and the people who engage in them. Image Credit: La Barque Bleue by Claude Monet via wikimedia.org.

Identity

Identity | 21

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022 Editors: Anmol Kejriwal, Srishti Kochar Deputy Editor: Madi Hopper identity@oxfordstudent.com

Differences, Delhi and Lady Danbury

Ayushi Agarwal on her experience of Adoja Andoh’s BAME-centric workshop

loved reading Enid Blyton as a child. The characters from Secret Seven and Famous Five lived rent-free in my head, and I often imagined myself solving mysteries, even where they didn’t exist. I wanted the kind of pleasant and long-awaited summers the books spoke of, where the characters took picnic baskets out into lush gardens and drank lemonade. Never mind that I always got a long summer - too much of it in fact growing up in Delhi. The kind of summer that burnt my skin, gave me a headache walking back from school, and made picnics an impossibility. I longed for the world that my beloved characters belonged to; a world that was different from my own.

I first set foot in UK when I was twenty-two. Slowly, I began to see the context for Enid Blyton’s stories. I too took picnic baskets to the gardens, spoke of the welcome warmth of summer, bought lemonade, and made no efforts to hide from the sun. But I also thought of home. Home where summer meant gorging on watermelon slices after playing at dusk, early enough that it wasn’t dark, late enough that the sun wasn’t beating directly down; where summer meant feeling the chill air of the watercooler that smelled like fresh hay against my skin; where summer meant mangoes

on the top of my grandfather’s terrace in Lucknow, far away from Delhi and homework (and parental supervision).

What does language bridge, and what does it leave out? Could the simple fact of being able to read English mean I was privileging stories and narratives from the English-speaking world at the cost of my own?

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was about to find some answers when I joined Adjoa Andoh’s workshop at St. Catz on 22nd May - the actress who gave one of the strongest performances of the Bridgerton series. I was thrilled to see her play Lady Danbury - a strong female character holding her own, guiding the other characters, prodding and participating in power play, often taking a difficult stance. In keeping with the characteristics of Lady Danbury, Adjoa spread the message that she would like to see strong BAME representation in the workshop group, and I was lucky to receive the sign-up form through the BAME chat of my college. Even though I knew in advance that BAME representation was encouraged, I was still struck, as the 100 or so participants formed a tight circle in a garden at St. Catz, by the proportion of the rep-

resentation. It was certainly the most BAME representation I had ever seen at an event at Oxford (of course, counting out events organised specifically for BAME students). I later reflected on why that struck me at all: what do I think is the appropriate level of representation? Have I been conditioned to believe that a certain minority threshold is enough? The day was to provide many such moments for reflection. “I am interested in widening the embrace, swinging the lens, find-

“The commonality was human experience and emotion. ”

ing a new way of looking at stories, finding different stories,” Adjoa declared to the group. She introduced us to a game, where the person in the middle of the circle would have to shout “anyone who…” followed by an activity or fact, and individuals who found it applicable to them had to run out of their spot and find a new one. What started off with regular, everyday references like “anyone who took a shower this morning” and “anyone who had a

late night yesterday” turned into deeper, more introspective ones like “anyone who has fallen out with their parents”. The switch to such vulnerability was quite quick and quite seamless. Adjoa, as she rounded off the activity, made us aware that there are many more stories that bind us – and make us similar – than different.

This emerged once again when several participants shared what they had written in response to a one-word prompt – “Home”. I wrote, obviously, about my dog (okay, among other things). But I was deeply touched by so many of the pieces I heard from people whose accent was different from mine, who looked very different from me, who were studying something very different from me. The commonality was human experience and emotion, ranging from upbeat and hopeful to nostalgic, yearning, regretful, confused, torn. As others spoke, I heard echoes of my own voice, too. Adjoa had selected short scenes from four texts for us to read from: Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherfucker with the Hat, Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet, and Kobina Sekyi’s The Blinkards. As a person from an underrepresented group, I was absolutely de-

lighted to see the diversity of the authors’ personal characteristics as well as the kind of stories the plays explored. When Adjoa told us that Sekyi’s play was one of the most popular ones in Ghana and her father’s favorite, yet virtually unheard of within the theatre circles in the UK, I couldn’t help but ponder about the similar fate of countless other authors. Just as I was thinking that, Adjoa mentioned “Which stories make it and which don’t? It is as if this work never existed….”

Why were the summer mangoes on my grandfather’s terrace any less of a story than the summer picnic baskets in the gardens described by Enid Blyton? I wondered, as I wandered back home after the workshop. Though I was enlivened by the similarity of human experience, resonant in the words that participants shared at the workshop, I was left with an even stronger sense that my own lived experiences had been diluted because the stories I read were not about me, or about people like me. Our hopes and aspirations are surely shaped by the characters that are represented in popular culture and stories so events like Adoja’s, where a platform is given to the need to widen the lens, are invaluable. We must do all we can to bring lost works back to existence.

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

22 | Entertainment

Total Annihilation & Teenage Angst:

Carrie Review Abigail Stevens

Enter tainment

CW – domestic abuse, violence Spoilers ahead!

eing seventeen is the worst, but at least your prom wasn’t smashed to pieces by a girl in a telekinetic rage. Founding Fellas Produc- tions recently brought Carrie to the Oxford Playhouse, this being a musical adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Directed by Ellie Cooper, Carrie was a sensational mix of upbeat musical numbers and moments of horror, all showing the turmoil of being young and figuring out where to go in life. King’s classic horror novel tells the story of Carrie White, a socially awkward teenage girl raised by a fanatically religious mother. One fateful prom night, the school bullies play a traumatizing prank on Carrie, and she unleashes supernatural destruction. Harriet Nokes starred as Carrie, bringing to life a shy teenager who tries to keep her head down, but is all the while brimming with anger and frustration towards her classmates, her mother, and her life. Nokes excelled in portraying Carrie’s complex persona; the audience saw the other side of the character the moment her first solo began with the song “Carrie”. Nokes’s powerful belting voice was perfect to depict the potential that Carrie is holding back. The show also starred Gianna Foster as Sue (played by Grace Olusola on alternate nights), who is ashamed of her part in bullying Carrie and sets out to make amends. There were some moments where Foster portrayed

Sue as confrontational where I thought it would’ve made more sense for her to be hesitant, yet she convincingly presented Sue’s moral dilemma. Grace de Souza was at home in the spotlight as Chris, the most popular girl in school and the main bully. Chris doesn’t have a lot of characteristics besides being mean, so the only way to play her is to bring lots of personality to the role and delight in her nastiness, which de Souza accomplished. Chris had one moment, during a reprise of “The World According to Chris”,

Margaret. Eleanor Dunlop’s portrayal was completely terrifying; she also has an incredibly strong voice that aided in creating a tyrannical character. In contrast to Carrie’s abusive mother is the gym teacher Ms. Gardener, who provides Carrie with friendly support. This is a character I did not expect to stand out in the show, but Beth Ranasinghe gave a spectacular performance as a funny, no-bullshit woman who is still happy to share life lessons with a younger girl. Luke Nixon and Peter Todd were both amaz-

where it seemed like she is slightly saddened by her own world view. The moment of self-doubt was completely subtextual, only made clear by slower music and de Souza’s superb acting. The three main teenage girls depict the internal conflict which comes with deciding what kind of woman they want to be: Carrie wants to put herself out there and stop hiding, Sue wants to be kinder, and Chris is resolved to be cruel so she will always be on top. Meanwhile, the adult woman who has always loomed large in Carrie is of course Carrie’s mother,

ing as the main male characters of the show: Sue’s kind boyfriend Tommy, who takes Carrie to prom as a favour to Sue, and Chris’s delinquent boyfriend Billy. The production was rounded out with a talented ensemble, with each person on stage giving the same effort as if they were the lead and developing a unique persona. Right from the beginning, the musical talent of the cast and orchestra, led by musical director Beth “Fitz” Fitzpatrick, hits the audience in the most wonderful way. During the first number (“In”), the cast annihilates the audience with powerful voices,

perfectly arranged harmonies, and impressive choreography. Choreographer Vanessa Silva created musical numbers which were fun to watch and let the actors show their characters’ personalities. The sets were deceptively simple; before the show began, when I was staring at a stage with a colourless staircase and balcony, my first impression was that it wasn’t going to do much to capture the tone of the show. However, added set pieces and amazing lighting design helped create several different locations. Brightly coloured lighting was used for the scenes with the students and extra decorations were added between acts for the prom sequence. Meanwhile, the scenes in Carrie’s house had minimal, dimmer lights to capture the dark and dreary home. The transitions between locations were smooth and flawless, using the ensemble cast to move things around while they were singing. As far as the costumes went, I guess the setting for the show could be anytime in the later 20th century, but the students’ clothes make it clear that this is the 21st, making it more relevant (and more terrifying) for today’s teenagers. Carrie was a technically and musically beautiful production with lots of teenage angst, against which I do not have a lot to critique. I could feel the same explosive energy coming from everyone on stage, because sometimes life is too much, and you just need to start smashing things. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday night and remind myself how glad I am that high school is over.

Image credits: Farida Davletshina and Alexandre Boucey via Unsplash

Entertainment | 23

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

“Whimsical soft-centred happy-all-the-way”: comfort reads to reach for Yii-Jen Deng

e both brought silly books to Oxford interviews, my friend and I, though I only remember hers – it was Milly-Molly-Mandy. The old book was in comic contrast with the masses of scribbled-over pages, the fat textbooks on economics, and the reader herself, streaking through political anecdotes in an exhilarated frenzy. I’d never read Milly-Molly-Mandy myself, but even the name alone made me smile; there is something about those old, much-loved books, which suggests comfort, like a hug. That was three years ago. As exam season wears on, hopefully such books can help to keep one sane. I will not be graduating this year, but I re-learnt during rustication the abiding power of a good book – personally my alternative when sertraline is too expensive, though it may not work for everyone. These are mostly classics, and therefore more findable in

libraries. Nostalgic books you read as a child are often the first that come to mind. Some work better than others. Neil Gaiman once observed that ‘Whatever I loved about Enid Blyton isn’t there when I go back as an adult’, which is quite true – it’s difficult not to notice details that age badly, such as Blyton’s portrayals of traveller people in Five Go Off in a Caravan. At the same time, she’s good at capturing the excitement of escape, whether it’s running away to live on an island or exploring lands atop the Faraway Tree. Perhaps her books are better in small doses. The Harry Potter series would be another obvious choice, but a children’s classic that deserves more readers is Dodie Smith’s The Starlight Barking, which is so wonderfully ridiculous – involving telepathic flying dogs, including a dalmatian called Cadpig who takes over Downing Street (perhaps

preferable to our current setup…). A sequel to her famous, Disneyfied novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, ‘The Starlight Barking’ offers an idiosyncratic adventure story with plenty of crazy magic. On the flip side, there’s apocalyptic fiction – John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids gives you giant walking plants that eat people. It’s absurd enough not to be frightening, and allows you to imagine yourself running away from allconsuming monsters in a way you never can with exams. There ought to be a category of simply ‘wholesome’ books with happy endings. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson is a fun 1930s fairytale-like novel, if Cinderella were a povertystricken governess, and her fairy godmother a nightclub singer with multiple lovers. Watson’s novel is sparkling comedy with a playful, sympathetic eye for eccentric characters. A quieter, but no less

endearing novel would be Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book – the perfect read for the long vac, with its pensive portrait of a child and her grandmother, passing a timeless summer on an island. It’s a book where nothing much happens and yet everything does; I wonder what you would make of it all. There’s something vital and transporting in books. The line – ‘Whimsical soft-centred happy-all-the-way-through novels’ – comes from UA Fanthorpe’s poem ‘A Minor Role’. It’s not one of my favourite poems, though the line stuck with me after studying it at A-level, with its suggestion of books as chocolates: ‘soft-centred’. The poem presents someone shuffling through the means of finding comfort when life seems rather foolish, and there’s a tone of self-deprecation amidst all the hyphens, a consciousness of frivolity. What can whimsical books do,

in the end? Why try to escape? But then we have that other implication of ‘soft-centred’, in the sense of carefully centring yourself, setting aside a space to breathe. If you need to breathe in an occult murder mystery in fairyland, go, there’s a book for it (see Hope Mirrlee’s Lud-in-the-Mist!). This may be an indulgence, but we all deserve the extra chocolate at times.

wide range of talented films, there have also been turbulences on the red carpet. This year’s official selection contains virtuoso cinematography as well as diversification of perspectives. Ruben Östlund wins his second Palme d’Or with Triangle of Sadness, a poignantly satirical comedy targeting the super-rich on a luxury cruise trip that goes wrong. With dark humour and awkward situations, social hierarchy is laid bare under the tropical sun. On the other hand, Close (directed by Lukas Dhont) wins the Grand Prix (joint with Stars

at Noon by Claire Denis) with a story of an intimate friendship between two young boys. Korean cinema also achieves great success: Park Chan-wook is awarded Best Director for Decision to Leave, a seemingly predictable plot of detective falling in love with suspect is treated with fresh energy, so that the female suspect liberates herself from the male gaze. Song Kang-ho has won Best Actor with his role in Broker, adaptation of an originally Japanese story about two men who set up a baby box and look for good buyers on the adoption black market. Given the political situation in Ukraine, the festival declared a clean cut from any member associated with the Russian government back in March, but this does not extend to the Russian cultural sphere, as the dissident director Kirill Serebrennikov brings Tchaikovsky’s Wife to the official selection, though not without controversy. On the other hand, the selection for Un Certain Regard includes Butterfly Vision, a Ukrainian film very much reflecting the current turmoil. The documentary Mariupol 2 also enters the festival, which is the best trib-

ute paid to its Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravičius, who was killed in April in Mariupol. Some Ukrainian filmmakers have protested against social media censorship on the red carpet, covering their faces with a sign for sensitive content, while a woman broke into the ceremony with blue and yellow paint to protest against rapes committed on Ukrainians. As a prestigious film festival, Cannes is associated with glamour and often perceived as far-removed from the rest of the world, but it has always been about cultural representation, from the very beginning: Cannes Film Festival was initially proposed in 1938 since the Venice Film Festival became visibly partial under fascist rule. There are many international voices telling their stories of struggle: the Iranian actress Zahra Amir Ebrahimi is awarded Best Actress for her role in Holy Spider, a film about the serial killings of sex workers in Mashhad; we witness Joyland, the first Pakistani film selected by Cannes Festival; Boy from Heaven portrays the Egyptian political and religious tensions; the winner of Prize of the 75th is Tori and Lokita, which features the life of two young refugees in Belgium. The highlights of Cannes 2022

cannot be listed in full. From Tom Cruise’s performance in Top Gun and Baz Luhrmann’s new film on Elvis, to the many film icons from the hosting country such as Marion Cotillard (Brother and Sister) and Léa Seydoux (Crimes of the Future), there is a lot to look out for in cinema. Of course, the films in the Cannes official selection are only the iceberg above water – there are so many more talents shining in the Cannes film market beyond what most people can see. If the first Tiktok short film competition did not have a smooth start, it nevertheless symbolises official recognition of a new trend, in an age where filmmaking ceases to be a privilege reserved for wealthy film companies. On the whole, Cannes 2022 has gathered a range of masterful and promising films, diverse but not for diversity’s sake, which transform the silver screen into multifaceted mirrors, reflecting the tears and joys of human life. There has never been a cultural bubble separate from current issues, and I hope that on top of pure artistic enjoyment, these films bridge people together and show that the charm of the seventh art lies in cultural communication. Image credits: Zhifei Zhou

Image credits: Jamie Street via Unsplash

A step up to heaven? Overview of Cannes Film Festival Duoya Li

he 75th Cannes Film Festival has returned this May with its pre-pandemic glamour, but the film industry as well as the world are never the same. The official poster is just as blue as the summer sky of the French Riviera: a tribute to The Truman Show, Jim Carrey climbs up a staircase amidst dreamy white clouds in the azure sky, hand reaching up to the large 75 – an important birthday for this international film festival born in the gloom of the war at this critical moment to speak for freedom and hope. While the festival has presented a

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

FOOD&DRINK

Food od & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink Food & Drink

24 | Food and Drink

Editors: Jasmine Wilkinson, Lydia Fontes Deputy Editor: Yii-Jen Deng food@oxfordstudent.com

Ball on a Budget

getting the most for your ticket Lydia Fontes

n this final Trinity issue of the Oxford Student, we’ll be discussing the Oxford ball. Trinity term in Oxford is ball season, with many balls being enjoyed earlier in the term and several still to come in the next two weeks or so. Balls come under a heavy price tag, most costing upwards of £100, some even surpassing £200. If you, like so many other students, have cleared out your bank account to pay for a ticket to your college ball, you could be forgiven for treating the evening like a challenge to make the most of every penny.

Remind yourself that a key part of getting your money’s worth is actually being able to remember the night There are many attractions offered at balls: live music plays all night, and there are photobooths, fairground rides, hair styling sessions, and similar experiences included in the price of the ticket. Taking place only once during each undergraduate’s degree, they are designed to be a night to remember. It is this, and trying to avoid crushing FOMO, which lures so many students into taking this financial risk in the first place. If your ball is yet to come and you’re beginning to wonder whether it will justify the hefty cost, rest

assured you can make up a good amount of the money on food and drink alone – you just need to stay focused. Almost every college ball will have an open bar; this often begins with a prosecco reception as you first walk in. The best strategy here is to start slow. Before the novelty of free fizz overwhelms you, take one (only one!) glass and sip demurely. Remind yourself that a key part of getting your money’s worth is actually being able to remember the night. Perhaps even take advantage of this stage of the night to get a few Instagrammable pictures to post the morning after. It is crucial that you join the slew of almost identical ball pictures posted by literally every member of your college. With classy prosecco in hand, do a quick round of the food stands to scope out what’s on offer. With food, the best approach is to abandon all semblance of ordinary mealtimes. Instead, eat little and often and make sure you sample from every stand. If your ball runs roughly from 7pm to 4am, you are going to need sustenance and most food stands will continue to serve into the early hours of the morning. If you’re drinking alcohol at your ball, it is highly advisable to locate any novelty drinks early in the night. Many balls offer things like alcoholic milkshakes, which are delicious and should not be missed but best drunk when sober

(or almost sober) to avoid risk of queasiness. The same goes for sugary cocktails – a recipe for disaster when overindulged in.

If your ball runs roughly from 7pm to 4am, you are going to need sustenance

As many of the balls left to come this term are commemoration balls, a word should be said on the dining tickets that these balls offer. These tickets carry an even heftier price-tag with the promise of a three or four course meal before the ball begins.

I must admit to ignorance on this front, having never attended a dining ball myself – but perhaps it is unlikely that any holders of one such ticket will have read past the first sentence of this article. If you hold a dining ticket for an upcoming commemoration ball and are looking to economise, fear not, all the advice in this piece will be invaluable to you too – perhaps you are the most in need. With these pieces of advice in mind, you are in the perfect position to make the most of you Oxford college ball experience and can have the maximum enjoyment with the minimum guilt. Image Credits: Bencherlite via Creative Commons, Nadya Filatova via Unsplash

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

Editors: Jen Jackson, Susie Barrows, Milo Dennison, Jonah Poulard

OXYOU

How (not) to get hacked Milo DENNISON

uddenly a slew of imperative verbs appears across your Facebook – it’s almost seventh week and the Union is back. Fresh from cancelling every third speaker event and a scandal because not everyone at the Union can think of good enough verbs, the Union now wants you to care about it again. For most of you, that means you’re about to discover a whole new group of ‘friends’ that you never knew you had. Hacking is pervasive at Oxford, and in the next week it’s more likely than not you’ll receive a message subtly or not so subtly begging for your vote. Never fear though, because OxYou is here to make sure you never get hacked again. When you first receive the message, you’re probably going to be confused for a minute or two. Someone you ran into once in freshers’ week will have sent you a text more gushing than anything your significant other has ever sent you, asking if you want to catch up in the next week. Your immediate reaction is going to be to ignore and block, but I beg you, don’t do it. You need to get it out of your head that Union members are ordinary people who deserve respect, and instead understand that any and all opportunities to mess around with them should be jumped upon. So, when you first get that message, instead of just leaving it, you need to reply. Not only does it save other poor souls from the same message, but it also gives you the opportunity to watch someone desperately try and pretend that you really truly are besties.

BEST OF Rordon Gamsay

After that, the name of the game is time wasting. You should be asking them to explain at least four times when you’re meant to vote (“So either Thursday or Saturday, but not Friday?”), at least seven times where you’re meant to vote (“I can do it in college? That’s perfect”), at least thirteen times how you’re meant to vote (“Do I stick a 3 by the name of the person I most want to win and a 1 by the person who should come last?”) and at least eighteen times who you’re meant to vote for (“I’m meant to vote for people on #DifferentImperativeVerb right?). By the time you’ve done that, they’ll be so invested in your vote that you can basically get anything you want out of them. Want to go to Knoops next week? Fancied a paid-for Spoons trip recently? Trying to tick another college off the formal hall challenge? All of these and far more can be accomplished by simply telling your Union friend that you’re not quite convinced that you should vote for them. This is also where you start to play them off against each other. Has one of them offered to take you to a formal? Because if so and if you play your cards right, you’re most of the way to securing an invitation to the Ivy for dinner. By the time it finally does get around to Friday, they should feel like they’ve been used and abused for everything they’ve got. Now, before I explain how to make sure you never get hacked again, it’s also worth including a side note about what to do if they do something silly. I include this because I once opened my phone to two identical hacking messages from the same person, only ad-

THE ROAST

RORDON’S ON THE PULL: THE MYSTERIOUS MR P. END

Rordon doesn’t usually talk about his love life, but his readers might be interested to know that he spent Hilary entangled in a passionate whirlwind relationship via text with a certain Rachel. Rordon felt himself to be in love, and the feeling seemed to be reciprocated – she had even told him she wanted to see him at a certain Oxford club tonight! – but alas, when the end of term came, she dropped off the face of the earth entirely. After spending the Easter vac sobbing listening to Red (Taylor’s Version) and sending her far too many drunk messages at 2am that sadly (or maybe fortunately) remained unread, Rordon is finally moving on from All Too Well (10 Minute Version) to beginning to relate more to Begin Again. What has caused this drastic change? The arrival of a new person in his DMs – a Mr P. End.

Having first received a text at the end of April in which he was tantalisingly wished a ‘great week’, Rordon tried not to get his hopes up too much, for fear of a repeat of the Rachel situation. But to his great surprise, Mr P. End seemingly can’t get enough of our favourite Roast writer, and slid in once more this week to alert him to the fact that club tickets for Week 8 are ‘selling quick!!!’. Rordon isn’t stupid – he knows this is a not-so-subtle hint to go out so that he can accidentally bump into Mr End on the cheese floor and dance the night away to the dulcet tones of ABBA’s Greatest Hits interspersed with ‘Come on, Eileen’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’. It looks like he’ll be having a Hot Girl Trinity after all.

WOW: RORDON MAKES FRIENDS

Once a term, Rordon suddenly goes through a spurt of popularity. Presumably because enough people have read Rordon’s Roasts by this point in the term, he suddenly finds himself swamped by people desperate to go out for a coffee with

dressed to different people – when I opened the actual messages, the one addressed to the wrong person had mysteriously disappeared. If any of your hacking friends are foolish enough to ever do anything like this, every other hack you know should hear about it, along with just about anyone else who will appreciate it. It’s dangerous to let hacks keep any dignity. So with that, we get on to landing the killer blow. You’ve wasted their time, taken them for everything they’ve got and with a bit of luck utterly embarrassed them, and now it’s Friday. Sometime around midday, you’ll get a message asking if they can walk you over to the Union to vote: it’s at this point you break the news to them that you’ve never been a Union member at all!

THE DEFINITIVE OXFORD CLUBBING QUIZ Elsie CLARK Uncertain as to which club night you should be going to this week? If you want the decision made for you, OxYou have devised this handy and 100% accurate quiz. Just tally up how many As, Bs, and Cs you pick and your results will be revealed at the end!

Pick a stranger to get off with: A) Man from Queen’s in a BoohooMAN hoody dancing awkwardly by the bar B) Girl who won’t stop asking you if you’re from Surrey too C) Girl in piercings and fishnets who pays for your Jagerbombs but also looks like she might hate you

him. People he’s never met before but who have 349 mutual friends on Facebook suddenly pop up on messenger with a little message that invariably involves far too many exclamation marks. Rordon’s only wish for this year is that they’ll stay friends past seventh week. The last few times it’s happened Rordon has been left feeling a little miffed; he went for a nice coffee, but then several of his new friends dragged him to a funny old building and made him stand in a queue and tick boxes before hurriedly disappearing. Rordon just can’t seem to hack it.

BREAKING: QUEEN STILL ALIVE AND STILL QUEEN

News has been spreading like wildfire across our university city this weekend that the Queen is, in fact, still alive, and, what’s more, still Queen. Students across Oxford have been left astounded by this discovery, which naturally calls for a four day national holiday and countless celebrations of our glorious monarchy that has never caused a single controversy. Although Oxford students will not be benefiting from this bank holiday,

OxYou | 25

What item is most likely to be found in your pocket when you go on a night out? A) 10000 Elf bars B) My baccie (rah) C) Poppers What do you most want to hear on the dancefloor? A) Come On Eileen B) Dance remix of ‘Shape of You’ by Ed Sheeran C) Doja Cat at 1.5x speed What are you wearing to the club? (If you’re a man, skip this question as you’re almost definitely wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans.) A) My biggest, stompiest trainers so I can trip into everyone on the dancefloor, and in the queue B) Urban Outfitters Josie top, Urban Outfitters cargo trousers (in white or khaki), Urban Outfitters crystal necklace (but I promise I bought it in Bali), Nike Air Forces, curtain bangs C) Leather, denim, and glitter – in whatever combination feels right More questions can be found online! If you got mostly As: go to ATIK/PARK END Sporting the best and also most embarrassing cheese floor in the OX postcode, Park End on a Wednesday should hit the spot for you. So long as you don’t mind smoking by a rancid set of bins, having access to toilets that flush, or being yelled at by some of the worst bouncers in the country, you’re sure to have a great night. Don’t trip going up the stairs with those VKs… If you got mostly Bs: go to BRIDGE You’re probably the kind of person who uses the word ‘vibey’ non-ironically, so head off to Bridge where I hear that adjective has been used to describe the vibrant smoking area. You probably don’t care too much for dancing, because the quality of music and dancefloors at Bridge definitely doesn’t cater to that need. Order a double vodka coke and the music is bound to sound lots better. If you got mostly Cs: go to PLUSH You must be an absolute animal to dedicate yourself to a night in Plush. In the smoky depths lies the hallowed cave of Tuesgays, a guaranteed good night if you don’t mind people vaping in your face, poppers, or the staff plying you with Jagerbombs. Prepare to get sweaty – but just don’t touch the walls…

as the university frowns upon taking any sort of a break (even one to celebrate something old and aggressively British), there have been numerous college festivities this week, in which more money is invested into free Union-Jackshaped chocolate than has ever been put towards students’ welfare. Rordon looks forward to the next time the country realises the Queen has been Queen for quite a long time.

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

26 | Gen Z

Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN

A Guide to the Types of Oxford Ball Dresses Jen JACKSON

rinity 2022, as you must by now be aware, is Ball Season. At this point it’s frankly getting ridiculous how many there have been; every weekend at this point seems to have about three, and having not snuck successfully into at least one is more surprising than the stories of those who managed two in a night. (If you haven’t, don’t give up, there’s a host of Commemoration balls coming up and the stakes on that are high. You may end up being tackled to the ground by security, but hey, it’s still a story, right?) Here’s a definitive list of the types of dresses you may find at an Oxford ball if you did manage to colour in your fake wristband correctly, or maybe actually just took the boring option and bought a ticket.

1 - The Classic

Either prepared months in advance for maximum class, or pulled frantically out of the back of a cupboard, this dress Does The Job. It’s not going to turn heads, but you’re also not going to fall out of it. You won’t remember the night by what you were wearing, but at least it won’t matter as much when you inevitably drop your burger down it/get a drink poured down you/tread it into the quad mud.

2 - I Don’t Care If It’s A Ball, There Are Cobbles

This is all about practicality. The dress may be stunning, but this person will be damned before they try to balance around all night with a pair of sticks on the bottom of their feet. Heels Be Gone, their Rad Cam photos feature Doc Martens or Vans, and they will smugly point out their shoe choice whenever someone from 3 starts to complain about their aching feet.

3 - I Don’t Care If There Are Cobbles, It’s A Ball

The exact opposite of 2 (who is (ironically) usually the best friend of this person), this person is Going To A Ball and they are going to dress like it. Who cares about whether you have feeling in your toes for one night when photos last forever? They can be seen hobbling from the Rad Cam to various colleges, normally about 10 feet away from the rest of their friends as they try to pick the safest path to tread along Oxford’s treacherous roads.

4 - It’s My Ball, You All Just Happen To Be Here

This is a Statement Piece. You’re talking main-character-romcom-denouement-Cinderella type of dress. It’s either very long (although people will step on your train all evening), very colourful, particularly wellsuited to whoever’s wearing it (think Kate Hudson’s yellow dress from How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days) or takes up a Lot of Space (read, puffy).

Done right, this is arguably the peak of ball dresses, as if you can manage to make someone who shelled out £150 feel like they just happen to be there, you’re doing something right.

5 - The Wedding Dress

White, long, either fluffy or sparkly or some adjective ending in a -y, it’s somewhat unclear whether this person knows exactly what event they’re actually at. They look more like they should be walking down the aisle than queuing for a barbecue pizza, and more like they should be reading their vows than requesting a song from the DJ, and watching them bop away at a silent disco you can’t help but wonder whether the turn of events of the night was a surprise to them.

6 - The Disaster

It’s unclear what this dress actually was at the beginning of the night; it could have been any of the above (but probably not 2, because let’s be honest, heels plus alcohol do massively increase the chance of mishaps) but it certainly isn’t anymore. Whether it was a fall, a food fight, a thoughtless dance neighbour or an unpleasant trip to the toilets; by 3am this dress has seen better days. Either you power through and after-party in a somewhat suspicious state, or it’s a quick change and on to a second offering that is almost definitely the safety-net that is the Classic. Image credits: Victoria_Art via Pixabay

GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G EDITORSEN Z GEN Z GEN BLANE AITCHISON Z GE JASMINE WILKINSON Z G JEN JACKSON Z GEN Z Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

OxYou Plus| 27

OxYou OxYou Plus Plus

Word Search:

Letter to the Editors:

Legal Note: Please drink responsibly. The Oxford Student does not take any responsibility for you finding excuses to indulge your alcoholism. We are aware that satire can often cause offense. For complaints, please contact 020 7219 4682. For image attribution, please contact oxstu.editor@gmail.com

Find the words in the set to the right:

BALLIOL BLUE BODELIAN BRIDGE HACK JERICHO OXFESS OXLOVE OXSTU PARKEND PRELIMS ROWING

Sudoku

Popularly known as Samurai Sudoku, Gattai-5, or Samurai, this puzzle is just like regular Sudoku, except you have to solve five overlapping Sudoku puzzles. Need I explain more? You know what you have to do. <3

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

28 | Green

Green Changing cockroach behaviours:

Editors: Agatha Gutierrez Echenique (senior); Katie Hulett, Yexuan Zhu (section). oxstu.green@gmail.com

The implications of human action

Agatha Gutierrez Echenique (ed).

n 1993, scientists at North Carolina State University made a strange discovery when considering the traits of the German cockroach. It appeared that these cockroaches had evolved in such a way as to reduce their disposition to glucose, a kind of sugar. What prompted this change in the behaviour of the German cockroach? Cockroach behaviour had evolved as a direct result of human activity. Insofar as people attempted to obliterate populations of cockroaches through the use of poison-laced sweet powders and liquids, this exerted a direct pressure on the genetic development of cockroaches as a species. Cockroaches with a sweettooth died at a higher rate than cockroaches who did not have this same affinity for glucose. So it came to be that cockroach behaviour – at a species level – was unintentionally selected in increasingly sugar-averse ways. This instance of artificial selection by itself indicates how human action can have profound effects in animal behaviour. But, in fact, the story of human impact does not end there. In May of 2022, a new study conducted by Dr. Ayako Wada-Katsumata and her colleagues at North Carolina State University reveals that this initial behavioural change has started to impact the sexual behaviour of the

cockroaches. Normally, the sexual concert of these cockroaches is as follows. When a male cockroach is wishes to engage sexually with a female cockroach, he scootches his posteriour towards the female cockroach and opens his wings. The male cockroach then secretes sugars and fats out of his tergal gland for the female to consume. As the female feeds, the male takes the opportunity to lock on to the female for the purposes of mating. But as we just indicated: cockroach behaviour has been artificially selected to be increasingly sugar-averse. Thus, what would have otherwise been a tempting meal offered by the male to the female cockroach becomes something decidedly unpalatable. That the female is less enticed by the male and spends less time feeding as a result means that the male has less time to lock on to the female. Consequently, female cockroaches who have been behaviourally affected in terms of their affinity for sugar are less likely to mate with male cockroaches generally. Of course, life finds a way. Glucose-averse male cockroaches are adapting to the female’s hasty retreat from an unpleasant meal by locking on to her faster. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the very chemical structure of the male’s offering to the female is

changing to account for her changing palate. What does this all mean, in terms of the population of cockroaches? Can we expect a dip in the population of what we consider to be vermin as the male must ‘catch up’ to the female’s changed affinity to sugar? As the new study from North Carolina State University indicates: it is difficult to say. Still, even in lieu of some of the uncertainty regarding the population statistics of cockroaches, there is still a kind of ecological lesson to be taken from this instance of unintentional selection. Namely: it is clear that human action continues to have a profound effect on the environment and on animal life. In fact, as time goes on, it appears as though human action becomes a more powerful principle of change. As a 2020 study indicates, despite the awareness that humans can and do effect behavioural change, the implications of such changes on an ecological level have not been sufficiently documented. Why not? Part of it stems from a difficulty of understanding the complex interconnections in food chains and food webs. We often think that we know precisely the ways in which animal and plant life, as well as how certain abiotic factors, interact to give a total account of the productivity of an

ecological scene. But in fact, it is only after-the-fact that we come to realise that we did not have a complete understanding of interactions amidst biotic and abiotic factors. Take, for example, a famous case of failed ecological manipulation: that of the cane toads in Australia. Cane toads were introduced to Australia in 1935 to get rid of a pest that was wreaking havoc on Australian sugarcane crops. The reason why such cane toads were introduced was on the assumption that cane toads would in fact eat such pests, and could therefore be integrated into the existing Australian food web. That is to say, there was an assumption that we understood the dynamics of the food web, so much so that we could afford to make edits or tweaks without any major consequences. But of course, by 1950, a veritable cane toad catastrophe was declared. The cane toad – having no natural predators within the Australian food web – proliferated at an insane rate. And they had no effect on the very pests that they were introduced to take care of. Australia, in other words, added another pest to its repertoire, and was forced to undertake aggressive methods of pesticide use to attempt to curb its original problem to begin with.

Before we give a little cheer at the thought of cockroaches having at least a little more difficulty in reproducing, we ought to stop and think about the interconnectedness of food webs. Who among us can state what the role of cockroaches, generally, is on a broader ecological landscape? I doubt that most of us could do this – much less indicate what the role of this specific kind of cockroach has in its ecological landscape. I imagine people might take issue with my commenting that – perhaps – we ought to tone down behaviours which tend to have such a drastic effect on animal patterns of living. For in the case of cockroaches, this would involve using less chemical pesticides and poisons. And insofar as we do that, people might protest, we are inviting the proliferation of a plague within our comfortable homes. I would suggest that our comfortable homes are dependent – in ways we may not fully realise – on a series of complex food web interactions, whether directly or indirectly. There are other ways of dealing with problems of pests that do not require aggressive methodologies that are likely to have uncontrollable, unintended, and difficult to measure effects on animal behaviours. Image Credit: Sarah Camp via flickr.com. Trail of ants courtesy of pngimg.com.

SciTech

SciTech | 29

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 June 2022

Pterrifying: Fantastic beasts in a f lash Yexuan ZHU

he old king - Dinosaurs Dinosaurs are the most canonical figures appearing in people’s heads when thinking about the pre-human past of the earth. Though none of us humans, perhaps luckily considering their destructive power, has the chance to meet these mysterious creatures in life, efforts never ceased to unveil their biology. Among palaeontologists, there remains a fundamental but controversial dispute - cold or warm, are dinosaurs’ blood? A recent fossil analysis has shifted the balance to the warm-blood hypothesis. The more scientific terms for warm-blooded and cold-blooded are endothermic and exothermic, respectively. Warm-blooded, or endothermic, animals can maintain a relatively constant body temperature and have higher metabolic rates. On the contrary, cold-blooded animals, such as reptiles, rely on the environment to maintain body temperature. As body temperature is crucial for a variety of physiological functions, warm-blooded organisms are less limited by their surroundings. Scientists have found a new marker of endothermy, the chemical outcomes of the higher metabolism, waste molecules that accumulate in dark patches in fossils. These patches are chemically stable, which makes them better markers than growth rings or isotopes used before. After examining the thigh bones of 55 species from ancient to modern, scientists conclude that dinosaurs are highly metabolically active and thus most of them are likely to be warm-blooded. They possibly had body temperatures similar to those of modern birds, around 42 degrees celsius. This discovery also challenges current views of the massive extinction of dinosaurs - many scientists attribute this to them being cold-blooded. Now palaeontologists may need to turn to other factors to decipher the disappearance of dinosaurs.

lying dinosaurs - Pterosaurs During the Jurassic period, territorial dinosaurs were not the only inhabitants of the earth. They were joined by their avian pals - pterosaurs. Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates able to fly on Earth, doing so by wing membranes supported by their fingers. Earlier this year, research confirmed that pterosaurs also had feathers as modern birds do, and even surprisingly had colourful plumage. Previous analysis of pterosaur fossils had limited soft tissue remains. As a result, scientists failed to reach a consensus over whether these creatures had real feathers with their characteristic organisation of fibres. In April, a team at University College Cork published their conclusions from a part of the skull of a pterosaur named Tupandactylus imperator, with soft tissue wellpreserved. They found filaments with branching structures similar to those of modern bird feathers. They also found melanosomes, cells that secrete pigments, of different morphologies. This is an indication that they produce different colours - usually spherical melanosomes generate warm colours, while the elongated ones generate dark colours. Just imagine, pterosaurs carried feathers and showed off their flamboyance in the Jurassic sky. Now the new question for scientists is the function of these feathers - as pterosaurs already had membranous wings, it is unlikely that the feathers serve the same function. Possible explanations propose that the feathers may be used for insulation or sexual attraction. Image credits: Jon Butterworth

eadbutting champions - Discokeryx xiezhi Giraffes have evolved long necks and small heads to forage leaves high up in the trees, but their ancient relatives that have been recently characterised, Discokeryx xiezhi, armoured their heads and necks for violent sexual competition. The first pieces of skull and neck vertebrae of D. xiezhi were discovered by palaeontologist Jin Meng in the Junggar Basin in China. All the bone fragments appear to be substantially thickened, with the skull exceeding an inch in thickness. For palaeontologists, to find out the purpose of having strong skulls and necks does not take a hard guess: male D. xiezhi would compete for mating opportunities by headbutting. This is not an uncommon fighting strategy among males, but D. xiezhi did adapt to this in an extreme way. Meng and his colleagues conclude that D. xiezhi had one of the most defensive and sophisticated heads and necks within the animal kingdom, even stronger than those of Pachycephalosaurs, dinosaurs known to be good at headbutting. Extreme adaptations to lifestyles seen in modern giraffes and their ancient relatives highlighted the role of sexual selection, on top of natural selection, in evolution. While the need for feeding selected giraffes with longer necks and D. xiezhi with harder skulls, females also made the same choices.

ur loyal friend - Dogs Dogs are descendants of wolves that were domesticated by humans around 15,000 to 30,000 years ago. Since then, they have been living with humans and helping us in various activities, for example, hunting and herding, as revealed by art depictions. Simultaneously, either by natural or artificial selection, dogs develop traits that adapt to their roles. A recent study surveyed domestic dog remains in eastern Adriatic sites spanning from the Neolithic era (around 8000 years ago) to the Bronze/Iron era (around 2000 years ago). Researchers found that the body weight of domestic dogs almost doubled during this period. Scientists relate this change in body size to the need for dogs to help defend livestock from the attack of larger animals, such as wolves and bears. The rationale is that body size is not as important if dogs only acted as hunting partners or food sources. In addition, isotope analysis of the dogs’ skeletons revealed that seasonal transhumance, or the seasonal movement of herdsmen, had already emerged during this period. Dogs with larger

New survey reveals evidence of urban society in the ancient Amazon Emily HUDSON

or the first time, scientists have identified mounds in the south-west of the Amazon basin as the sites of ancient urban settlements. This contradicts the oft-thought conjecture that civilisation was bought to the Amazon by European invaders, adding to a growing body of evidence for the existence of low-density, urban societies within the vast forest. Developed areas up to three times the size of Vatican city have been uncovered, thought to have been inhabited by the Carasabe people, who lived in the Bolivian Amazon between 500 and 1400AD. Why the civi-

lisation disappeared after 900 years remains a mystery, but what is truly monumental is the extent and complexity of the society they developed. Why now? The discovery is owed primarily to developments in a technology called lidar. This technique uses lasers to create a 3D map of terrain from above, which is especially useful in densely forested areas such as the Amazon basin, and allows scientists to survey an area without disturbing it. It is also far more efficient than sending people out on foot; lidar investigations of six sites in Honduras yielded results that, according to researchers, would

have taken 400 years to obtain by conventional means. The discoveries indicate a strong network of mounds and causeways, indicative of urban settlements. Researchers doing investigations in the 1990s also found graves, walls and platforms, so they knew that society had been present—but until this lidar survey, had no indication as to the extent of it. This discovery goes against the common notion that complex societies did not exist in the Amazon, though, as one researcher put it, “given that civilizations rose and thrived in other tropical areas, why shouldn’t something like that exist here?”

LGBTQ+

CAMPAIGN

HAPPY

I D R E P MONTH J U N E

events

2 0 2 2

schedule

fri 10th, 3-6pm Deed Poll (drop-in) workshop @ the SU

mon 13th, time tbc MP letter-writing workshop @ the SU

tue 14th, 6pm film screening of Pride (2014) @ the SU

Book Tickets Online 21 JUNE 2022 7:30PM - 9:30PM OXFORD TOWN HALL ST ALDATE'S

32 | Sport

Friday 10 June 2022 | The Oxford Student

Sport

Red Teams Season Reviews (and One in Blue): Arsenal, Man United, Liverpool, and Chelsea Joe Sharp, Will Neill, et. al.

ecently I have been trying to get into football. I’m aware that’s a strange sentence for a twenty-two year old man to write. It seems to me that there are two types of people: diehard football fans from cradle to grave, and people who couldn’t give less than a toss. My change of heart and sudden embrace of the sport has been spurred on by two things: frequent pub visits in the last couple of years to watch games where I have been bored stiff and the endless ineffable conversations, and a thinking that gaining some level of understanding might help my stout flow a bit more smoothly. The second change is the return of one footballer whose name meant something to me: Cristiano Ronaldo. I did, from the age of roughly between six and nine (essentially through social osmosis) follow footabll, and was a Manchester United supporter. The pinnacle of my footballing support was a fully kitted out Match Attax Wigan Athletic Album - not a particularly proud boast, but it’s something. But I distinctly remember Ronaldo and his divine-like goal-scoring power. The announcement of his return to his old club caused a social media explosion, even making stiff old fuddy-duddies like me relatively interested in the game. However, despite Ronaldo’s ‘teckers’ (a clause to a sentence I have never written before and shall endeavour never to again) he could not save Manchester United. This season Manchester United has been under the stewardship of two managers Ole Gonnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick; less visionary leaders pushing the club forward and more like Steadfast Captain Edward Smith of the RMS Titanic, boldly and unwaveringly directing his ship straight into a great ice-berg. The pinnacle games of this season have been the Manchester United-Liverpool confrontations. Once proud and challenging rivals, the weakened Mancunians have been reduced to the statute of a poor, bloody mouse being tossed around under the claws of the Scouser cat. * * * matter of days after Arsenal choked, bottled, bombed, chewed on, gagged, and vomited up the chance of a first run out in the Champions League since 2017, the club emailed to all its members a photo of Martin Ødegaard, Eddie Nketiah and Albert Sambi Lokonga posing widegrinned holding espresso cups with the sub-

ject heading “A coffee machine for just £1?”. I was bloody furious. There was not a whiff of recognition that, with our 2-0 defeat at Newcastle, we had (to use a favourite phrase of our beloved Prime Minister) spaffed our season up the wall and handed the goods to rivals Tottenham Hotspur. I don’t want a f***ing coffee machine, I want a half-decent No. 9, a full-back that isn’t made of porcelain and a fourth-place finish. Is that really so much to ask? Well, yes, it is. Last season, Arsenal finished 8th in the Premier League, racking up the fewest points since 1995/96, achieving their lowest league position since 1994/95, and failing to qualify for any European football. The club nonetheless expressed its commitment to manager Mikel Arteta, and after a strong transfer window (arrivals included Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and a permanent deal for Norwegian skipper Ødegaard from Real Madrid), the fanbase largely threw its weight behind him too. The club oscillated gently with the kind of hope born out of recognition that it had hit the bottom. And just as the curtain came up on the Gunners’ rise from the ashes, the team produced the worst start to a season in the top division in its history. The fortnight blends into a dazed melange of anger, upset, and pity, the result of which was three games played, zero points, no goals scored and nine conceded – squarely bottom of the table. Nine months on, Arsenal finished 5th. The fifth best team in England and Wales at our lowest ebb in three decades. At the same time Everton, who had failed to finish in the top half only 4 times since 2004, avoided relegation by one week and a whisker. A top-level Premier League side which attracts world-class managers and players was made to fight almost to expiry for their place in the division. The realisation hit me like a Granit Xhaka volley (retch): I am an ungrateful little shit. Suckled on Arsene Wenger’s velvety teat of liquid football and showered with goals, stars, and nineteen-straight top-four finishes since the womb, I have become supercilious and entitled, steeped in footballing self-importance without a jot of perspective and even less humility. I am everything I hate about Arsenal fans. My attitude, shared by thousands, breaks brilliant players and faithful managers, because no one can bear the weight of expectation that we put on them. For our in-

vestment of time, money and emotion we deserve transparency: about Aubameyang, about Özil, about dressing-room politics and the club’s ownership. I’m not expecting the fans to simply forgive. But hounding everyone out the door every five minutes does about as much good as setting fire to your own underwear. My enlightenment is futile, however, because I’m still angry and I’m still disappointed. Come 13th August, I won’t be skipping down the Holloway Road with my brand-new coffee machine and high hopes for a 2023 title challenge. But through gritted teeth I say congratulations, Arsenal, on a successful season. Maybe, with time, I’ll mean it. * * * ill Shankly once said, “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” Based on how I felt on the evening of the 28th of May, I can understand where he was coming from. Back when I was ten, I would have thought a season where Liverpool won both domestic cups, beat Man United 5-0 at Old Trafford and 4-0 at Anfield, and reached the Champions League final was only possible in my wildest dreams. However, the end of this season can only be remembered for promising much and delivering little. Klopp’s Liverpool have become the victims of their own success, and of course, victims of the increasing commercial takeover of football by oilrich governments intent on turning every league into PSG’s Ligue 1. With all the disappointment it is easy to forget how remarkable winning two trophies, playing every game possible, and only losing four times all season really is. Unfortunately, major trophies are the barometer of success. WIth world’s best player Sadio Mane set to leave in the summer, the biggest of this tragedy of this season has been that this squad have seemingly reached peak perormance, yet still fell a point short against City, and several world class saves short of the Champions League Trophy in Paris. Klopp and this squad will always have legendary status. Winning the title in 2020 and the UCL in 2019 made certain of that. But for a team which has been as consistently brilliant as Liverpool have over the last few years, two major trophies is

not enough. This was supposed to be the season in which Liverpool claimed their place in history amongst the all-time teams. Instead, it has been overshadowed by failure at the last minute, with Gerrard and Coutinho’s capitulation against City being a particularly heartbreaking end to a thrilling title race. Like Shankly before him, Klopp may one day have a statue outside Anfield, but for his status as a Premier League great, the next few seasons must bring serious silverware. * * * he stealth at Thorpe Park is the UK’s fastest theme park ride. In 1.8 seconds the ride accelerates to 130 km/h. After a steep vertical rise it reaches a peak height of 64 metres followed by an airtime hill - a brief sensation of weightlessness. Almost immediately, however, the train enters a magnet brake returning to the station nearly as quickly as it left. If Chelsea’s season was anything, it was the Stealth. A run of 5 games unbeaten to open the season - including a 2-0 win over Arsenal, 3-0 over Spurs and an impressive draw at Anfield with 10 men - saw Tuchel’s blues riding high at the top of the table. Though this was followed by a hollowing defeat at home to Manchester City, Chelsea topped the table by the start of December. It was all rosy. This was our airtime hill. This period epitomised this season for my club. A good few weeks or days of positive energy and results on the pitch bookended by suffocating disappointment. These period’s becoming increasingly shorter and their surrounding disappointment heightened as the season went ons. A 1-0 loss to City at home. A loss to West Ham away followed by Lukaku, our 100 million pound man - who seemingly desperately wanted to bring success to the club - stating his desire to leave only 5 months in. Then came Abramovich - a saga now so spelt out it does not need repeating, simply his name will suffice. Chelsea’s season was erratic and ‘Stealth’-like in every element - player’s performances, fan’s access to matches, the media’s portrayl of us - from great and mighty European champions to war criminals. So what is to come next season?

The Oxford Student - Week 7 Trinity 2022

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