The Oxford Student - Week 3 Trinity 2022 by The Oxford Student

TT22, Vol. 2

Friday 13 May 2022

OxYou

ChristChurch students face adversity for the first time in their lives...

Comment

Entertainment

West Papuan President visits Magdalen, and the heartless ignorance of the Rwanda deal.

A review of HBO’s new series The GIlded Age, and another review of another production of Much Ado ABout Nothing

The

OXFORD STUDENT

LMH PLEDGE TO END USE OF NDAS

Image credit: Richard Nias via Creative Commons

by Anna Davidson Senior Editor

F Professor Irene Tracey nominated as the next University of Oxford

Vice-Chancellor P rofessor Irene Tracey, currently Warden of Merton College, Oxford, has been nominated as the next Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. She replaces the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, in 2023. A renowned neuroscientist, Professor Tracey has led Merton College

since 2019 and is also currently Professor of Anaesthetic Neuroscience in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, a department she led for several years whilst holding a Statutory Chair. She is also President-elect of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).

Dominic Enright

Professor Tracey completed her undergraduate degree and doctorate at Merton College, Oxford, in biochemistry; her doctoral work focused on early use of magnetic resonance imaging methods to study disease mechanisms in humans under the supervision of Professor Sir George Radda.

Senior Editor

She then held a postdoctoral position at Harvard Medical School, working at the Martinos Centre for Biomedical Imaging, before returning to Oxford in 1997, when she became a founding member and then Director for ten years of hit

Afghanistan Society Protests Union’s Invitation of Hamdullah Mohib

n Oxford Afghanistan society member, Summia Tora, interrupted a talk given by Hamdullah Mohib, the former National Security Advisor of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, in protest at his answers to her questions. Mohib fled the country on August the 15th during the fall of Kabul, and has been living a lavish lifestyle as shown by a picture

by Dominic ENRIGHT

Senior Editor

of him driving a red Bentley car in London. Although this photo was taken 2 months before he fled, his appearances at distinguished talks have resulted in backlash from Afghanis. (cont.) Read more on page 3

ollowing a Times article published in April exposing Lady Margaret Hall for badly mishandling cases of sexual harassment, the college has pledged to never use Non-Disclosure Agreements again. The report, which described LMH as threatening an undergraduate with expulsion if she spoke out about the alleged assault she experienced and her subsequent experience of dealing with college while reporting it, sparked outrage.

“

facilitative role in the ongoing murder and genocide of thousands of Afghans and the crippling humanitarian crisis they are subject to

”

The Oxford Afghanistan Society, on Hamdullah Mohib

2 | Editorial

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

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

@theoxfordstudent

issuu.com/theoxfordstudent

is a labour of love that does not go unappreciated.

I am very exhausted as I type this out. It is nearly 5am and the sun is rising as I head back home from our makeshift office in Queen’s. I yearn for sleep. I have made the student journalist’s equivalent of the walk of shame after many long and intense hours throughout the night, battling to my wits' end with Adobe inDesign. I have several unfinished essays that I still need to hand in, and another tutorial to prepare for tomorrow. There is no glamourising any of this overwork and I am not one to mince my words. This university takes an intense toll on us all, but I find meaning and fulfillment in knowing that this newspaper we have all collectively worked on,

We have tried to create something clumsy and beautiful with this week’s print edition, and I think it is endearing to see how each of us continue to grow as writers, editors, Adobe inDesigners, and more importantly, as friends, over these long hours we spend stressing out about articles and newspaper pages that most people might not even read. But I cannot thank everyone enough for their meaningful contributions, especially to Elias, Jason and Andrew who neither have any articles published in this print edition but have definitely put in so much of their time and effort. I also owe our entire editorial team, and especially our Senior Editors, so much appreciation and gratitude. I joked to them that “if we actually did get paid, I would definitely give you guys a pay raise!”

Dania Kamal Aryf, Oriel College.

Editor’s Picks

Comment No one cares about the South Pacific

Entertainment Another review of another production of Much Ado About Nothing?

From the Editors

12 am lay ins are not uncommon for the OxStu. Finalising the details of the print edition always goes to the wire, but this week the march on to midnight in the SU feels far more victorious. The battleground consists of OxStu editors furiously fighting with InDesign whilst laying waste to Domino’s Mighty Meatys and a seemingly infinite supply of Monster. However, it could be a lot worse: having persuaded themselves that Park End will ‘actually be okay tonight’, hundreds of students are having a far shitter time just down the road. After successfully getting our print edition out for 1st week, with more time to organise ourselves and get the team together, this week we were able to focus a lot more on design and getting everyone up to speed on the tricky beast that is InDesign. As a huge fan of physical media, who worries about its demise in an increasingly digital world, I feel very strongly about continuing to produce a print edition of the paper. We’ve spent tens to hundreds of collective hours on this week’s edition, and hope you enjoy it. We’ll be back in print for 5th week with more great stories and even better design so look forward to seeing you then.

Elias Formaggia,

The Queen’s College.

@theoxstu

Green A Definitive Guide to Secondhand Clothes

SciTech Desalination on Demand

30 29

Once again, we’ve arrived at the time of the year with brilliant sunshine,riverflooding punters and a whirlwind of stories happening on campus. Week 3 means news, and what a week of news it’s been. We at OxStu are bringing you the latest and most explosive breaking news in our university, from the nomination of the new Vice-Chancellor to the protests at the Union against Hamdullah Mohib. We can’t wait to share our content with you, shining light on the highs, the lows, the drama and the hilarity of Oxford life. Of course, none of this is possible without our exceptional team of dedicated reporters and writers, who have invested hours and hours of passion and hard work to deliver this paper in your hands. I am so incredibly proud of each and every one of them, and collectively, this wonderful community we’ve assembled. Alas. The term continues. The work carries on. The OxStu ship beats on, with clarity, precision and pride.

Jason Chau,

St Anthony’s College. Editor's note: There are slight discrepancies between our online and print version for this week, due to minor edits in design, and correction of author's names that could no longer be put in place after we have sent it out for print. We sincerely apologise for our mistakes, aim to continuously learn from them, and want to always become better! Love, the Editors.

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

editor@oxfordstudent.

News | 3

NEWS @TheOxStu

The Oxford Student

oxfordstudent.com

Local Council Elections: Results Announced Dominic Enright Senior Editor

Write for us!

Illustration: Jonas Muschalski

Join our Facebook Contributors page, QR Code above

he local election results have been announced for Oxford City council, with Labour retaining its majority. In it, there was an election for one city councillor for all 24 wards of the City of Oxford, with 2 elected officials serving each.

There were gains however for some of the minor parties such as the Greens who gained 3 seats in Oxford, ( in Marston ward, Osney and St Thomas ward, and in Donnington ward) whereas the Liberal democrats gained 1 seat in the ward of Wolvercote. There remains not a single Conservative councillor on the Oxford City council. The change in the seats means that the Labour party holds 32 of the 48 seats in the council . Oxford city council is a lower tier local authority that has jurisdiction over a number of important services that can be found on their website.

However, the main point to understand is that Oxfordshire has a twotier local authority system, where responsibilities are divided between the large Oxfordshire County Council and the smaller Oxford City Council. Thus, while The County Council has responsibility over schools, social services and education, the City Council holds responsibility over housing, planning and licensing in the local area as well as collecting Council Tax.. The majority of students living in college and eligible to vote, voted in the three wards of Walton Manor, Carfax and Jericho, and Holywell. However, Wolfson college students that live in voted in the District Ward of Summertown, Pembroke and Campion Hall students vot-

ed in the District ward of Osney and St. Thomas, and St. Stephens house will vote in the District ward of St Clements.

All three of the major district council wards in which the colleges are locat-ed, were held by Labour party coun-cillors. In fact, Labour has held a ma-jority on the city council since 2010, with 1979 being the last year that the council was under the majority of a different party (Conservatives). The councillors that retained their seats in the district council wards were Alex Hollingsworth

of Carfax and Jericho, Edward Mundy of Ηοlywell, and Lousie Upton of Walton Manor are up for re-election, and will hope to retain their seats. Two candidates that had hoped to challenge the elected councilllor in these seats are Oxford students, Kai Pischke and Janey Little who were both candidates for the Liberal Demo-

crat party. Kai ran for Carfax and Jericho, and Janey for Hollywell. Janey is the current president of the OULDC (Oxford University Liberal Democrat club) and Michael previously served the same role. I spoke to Kail, the day before the election, and I asked a few questions about his experience of running in the election, and how to get involved in politics. “I originally got into politics because of Brexit. There was so much going on, and I really felt like young people’s voices were being ignored. Cont. on page 5

Afghanistan Society member storms out of Union chamber in protest Dominic Enright Senior Editor

Mohib has been criticised by the Afghanistan Society in a public post on Twitter for his “facilitative role in the ongoing murder and genocide of thousands of Afghans and the crippling humanitarian crisis they are subject to”. This is in allusion to him notably fleeing the country while the Taliban took over last year.

A petition before the talk with Mohib, which asked “ the Oxford Union to cancel its speaking event with Hamdullah Mohib” gained 11,000 signatures. Whilst this was unsuccessful, the Union decided to make this a 'members only' event, shortly before the talk. For the Afghanistan society, this was “Shocking to see @oxfordunion make the event with Mohib more exclusive by NOT allowing non-members to attend.” There were a number of people at a protest outside the Oxford

Union gates on St Michael’s street, with placards and chanting. Some of the placards declared Mohib a traitor, while others had his name in blood, and several called for the ending of “Hazara genocide”, referring to the Hazara ethnic minority persecuted by the Taliban. There were also chants outside of “Oxford Union let us in” and “Hamdullah Mohib, Traitor”.

However, the main act of defiance took place inside the Union where an attendee directly confronted Mohib during his speech. Summia Tora, one of the few members of the Afghanistan society with a Union membership, left the chamber in protest. We spoke to after the event, and she informed us that he failed to satisfactorily respond to her concerns. She, as an Afghani refugee, spoke firsthand of the pain regarding the Taliban takeover, and holds the belief that Hamdullah Mohib played a responsibility in enabling such turmoil.

She revealed her grievances to The Oxford Student, insisting, “why is he only saying all of this now, when he knew that the state would collapse? He did not bother to care about others” ” When questioned on how he would hold himself accountable, Mohib's response to Summia was merely, "I understand your frustration”.

Summia also questioned Mohib about the picture of himself in a red Bentley, spotted in London, and upon receiving another unhelpful response, she left the building in protest.

Summia is the first Rhodes scholar from Afghanistan, and she is the founder of Dosti Network, an organization focused on providing Afghans access to resources and information to flee persecution and access global support networks. There was much elation among the protestors upon her return outside, and she was greeted with embraces of support and solidarity.

Cont. from front page

4 | News

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

LMH Pledge to End Use of NDAs Anna Davidson

News Editor

ollowing a Times article published in April exposing Lady Margaret Hall for badly mishandling cases of sexual harassment, the college has pledged to never use NonDisclosure Agreements again. The report, which described LMH as threatening an undergraduate with expulsion if she spoke out about the alleged assault she experienced and her subsequent experience of dealing with college while reporting it, sparked outrage.

The undergraduate, who went on to take legal action against the college, bringing forward a case including discrimination, negligence, breach of contract and harassment, had signed a confidentiality agreement under former principal Alan Rusbridger. The case, though disputed by the college under Rusbridger, was settled under his successor Prof Christine Gerrard, who also confirmed the college’s decision to sign the pledge. Gerrard hoped the move would demonstrate “commit-ment to tackling sexual violence and misconduct, and increase the confidence of our students in the help and support that is available to them”. The pledge, the result of col-laboration between the Department of Education and the Can’t Buy My Silence campaign, was introduced to the college by student pressure group It Happens Here (IHH). LGBTQ+ Ffion Sam-uels, representative for It Happens Here, who has been active in representing students giving tes-timonies to the college, brought up the pledge to Gerrard, alongside Dr Anne Childs and Dr Fiona Spens-ley.They suggested that there was generally a positive response to the pledge, which was later ratified by unanimous vote; “I’ve had several meetings with Christine and other senior staff members at LMH about their SA procedures and as IHH we originally suggested that LMH sign the pledge. We’re also working with Can’t Buy my Silence and they’ve been a great help to Christine.” Samuels suggested that this was encouraging, but the group were looking to encourage similar steps elsewhere. All other heads of college were approached on Monday by Layla Moran and IHH to ask them to sign the pledge. Before this, IHH contacted a large group of JCR, MCR and GCR presidents requesting that they pass a motion mandating their principal/ master to sign the pledge. Samuels stressed the importance of this mo-

Cont. from front page

tion passing particularly because of the nature of NDAs. They emphasised the fact that NDAs were often difficult to spot for students signing them, who could agree to them without realising what they were signing and without proper legal advice. The motion would require colleges to mandate the pledge to stop using NDAs for cases of sexual harrassment, bullying and other misconduct: “This practice is unnecessary and immoral. Victims often seek and deserve confidentiality, but they should not be permanently prevented from speaking about their experiences or forced to agree to protect the offender in exchange for their own privacy. The use of NDAs allows perpetrators to continue to harm others, either at their own university or another one. It also chills the climate for anyone who might wish to bring forward a complaint, knowing that they will face a demand that they sign on to an NDA at some stage of the process.”

New Oxford University ViceChancellor appointed Dominic Enright

(cont.) and then Director for ten years of the world-leading institution now known as the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging.

The Vice-Chancellor is Oxford University’s senior officer, responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the world’s top-ranked university. Professor Tracey’s nomination has been approved by the University’s Council and is now subject to approval by Congregation, the University’s sovereign body. Following approval from Congregation, Professor Tracey will succeed the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, in 2023.

The Nominating Committee was chaired by the University’s Chancellor, The Lord Patten of Barnes, and included members from across the collegiate University. They were joined for the first time by representatives of the student body and the early Samuels suggested that this was career researcher community. encouraging, but the group were On her appointment, Professor looking to encourage similar steps Irene Tracy said, “I am honoured elsewhere. All other heads of col- to be nominated as the University lege were approached on Monday of Oxford’s next Vice-Chancelby Layla Moran and IHH to ask lor, and I wish to thank my colthem to sign the pledge. Before leagues for entrusting me to lead this, IHH contacted a large group such a magnificent and worldof JCR, MCR and GCR presi- leading academic institution. dents requesting that they pass a motion mandating their principal/ The last few years have remaster to sign the pledge. Samuels minded us all of the crucial role stressed the importance of this mo- Oxford, along with other leading British universities, plays in tion passing particularly because tackling global societal issues. of the nature of NDAs. They emphasised the fact that NDAs were That is why I am deeply comoften difficult to spot for students signing them, who could agree to them without realising what they were signing and without proper legal advice. The motion would require colleges to mandate the pledge to stop using NDAs for cases of sexual harrassment, bullying and other misconduct: “This practice is unnecessary and immoral. Victims often seek and deserve confidentiality, but they should not be permanently prevented from speaking about their experiences or forced to agree to protect the offender in exchange for their own privacy. The use of NDAs allows perpetrators to continue to harm others, either at their own university or another one. It also chills the climate for anyone who might wish to bring forward a complaint, knowing that they will face a demand that they sign on to an NDA at some stage of the process.” Cont. on page 6

Cont. from front page

Senior Editor

mitted to growing Oxford’s impact through supporting its groundbreaking discovery search, its excellence in teaching and its drive to create a global innovation powerhouse. “The University has also made significant strides in recent years to becoming a more diverse community. Coming to Oxford University from a terrific local school, Gosford Hill, I know well the transformative power that great teachers, professors and a good education can have throughout one’s career; Oxford’s commitment to attracting the very best students from whatever their background will remain steadfast.

I doubt whether anyone knows more about the University and all re- its aspects than today’s Warden of Merton. She also, as an internationally recognised scientist, has considerable experience at home and abroad. I am sure she will build successfully on the outstanding achievements of Louise Richardson and lead Oxford in coping with the big challenges which lie ahead.”

The current Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Professor Louise Richardson, said, “I am delighted by the nomination of Professor Irene Tracey, who will bring deep-seated familiarity with the collegiate university as well as enthusiasm for its values, I am delighted that from next year, to the role of Vice-Chancellor. having already been an academic Irene’s talents, collegiality and boundless energy will stand her leader and college head at Oxford, I will have the chance to further in good stead. I wish her every give back to a university that I success and I will do all I can ardently believe in, and to my to ensure a smooth transition.” home city that I dearly love. I am also proud that I will be passed The current Oxford Student Unthe leadership baton by Oxford’s ion President Anvee Bhutani and first female Vice-Chancellor, VP Graduates Devika, who were Professor Louise Richardson, also part of the nominations comwhose outstanding legacy will be mittee, said on the appointment: built upon in the years to come.” “We are so happy to announce the nomination of Professor Irene The Chancellor of Oxford Uni- Tracey CBE FMedSci as the next versity, Lord Patten of Barnes, Vice-Chancellor of the University who chaired the Nominating of Oxford. Both of us have sat on Committee, said, “Irene Tracey the Vice Chancellor Nominations was born in Oxford and edu- Committee for nearly a year now cated at a local comprehensive and we’re so pleased that we were and Oxford University, for which able to help decide on a woman she has now been proposed who’s incredibly progressive and as the next Vice-Chancellor. whose story of going from a state comprehensive school in Oxford It is an extraordinary story of to Warden of Merton College is personal achievement, social mo- very inspiring.” bility and academic excellence.

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

News | 5

Local elections results announced Not Here Not Anymore Cont. from page 3 Dominic Enright Deputy Editor

(cont.) I was too young to vote in the referendum, so I ended up going to the big protests in London and eventually did some volunteering at the Lib Dem head office. It was such a buzz of energy and gave me so much hope and was extremely fun. When applying to be a candidate in Oxford, all I had done was campaigning with the local party beforehand, but (even) that’s not necessary to be selected. You just have to ask.” “For anyone interested in getting involved: please do! I would highly encourage them to contact the local branch of the youth wing of a political party or pressure group. The youth wings are often the ones really pushing the pace of change and arguing for the most progressive policies. It’s such a rewarding experience working with people your own age on big consequential issues.”

“The side of politics you often see in the media is extremely hostile. I think that can put a lot of people off. People hate taking sides, especially if your friends support other parties or have different options. In reality, it’s extremely fun and rewarding and just amazing in so many ways.” Kai, even though he lost his election, will be happy about the gains for the Liberal Democrats in Oxford, and more generally. The Oxford city local elections were fairly representative of the national picture, with neither the Conservatives or Labour making significant gains in councils . Especially in light of the criminal fine issued by the Police to Boris Johnson over his Lockdown gatherings, this was thought to be a significant election to show the faith of the British people in his tenure. While the Conservatives lost ten councils in England, only

three (all in London) were gained by the Labour party with the same number being also gained by the Liberal democrats. Similarly in the number of councillors, the Conservatives lost 338 while Labour only gained 22 whereas the Liberal Democrats gained 192 and the Greens 63 councillors. The Liberal Democrats had a very successful election.

The other significant stories outside of England was that in Wales there were more significant gains for the Labour party over the conservatives, in Scotland the SNP saw slight gains and the Conservatives large losses and in the Northern Irish Assembly vote, the DUP lost 3 seats to make Sinn Féin the majority party in the Northern Irish Assembly. This is significant as the ultimate goal of Sinn Féin is an independent Northern Ireland, and so it is seen as a bad sign for the Union.

Cycling campaign charity writes open letter to newly elected Oxford City councillors Dominic Enright Senior Editor

he Cycle campaign charity Cyclox have written an open letter to the incoming Oxford City councillors in order “to ensure that cycling is at the heart of Oxford’s future”. Their letter outlines their four main objectives for the future of cycling in Oxford: Traffic reduction, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, Vision Zero (a campaign to reduce cycling deaths in Oxford to zero), and Neccessary Car Journeys. This comes after a plans released by the City council on the 18th of February, aimed to “support a zero carbon transport network”.

This letter seeks to reaffirm the council’s support for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods which have been met by strong opposition by local residents. These LTNs use traffic filters such as bollards or plant pots to move traffic away from residential areas, and so prevent pollution, collision rates and promote community. Many of them can be seen down the back streets of Cowley like on Union Street. However, there is a strong local movement against these policies. Many people object on the basis

that this just shifts traffic to other areas to their detriment, and is a waste of public money. A petition started by David Henwood on Change.org to stop the Cowley LTN, has over 3000 signatures. In a recent update by the creator for the local election, David writes “The official Council LTN consultation returned a decisive majority against the LTNs – over 73% objected or had concerns – only Independents continue to campaign respecting the democratic results of the consultation.” There remains much controversy, and the decision on them is likely to come in the coming months. Less controversial is the Cyclox’s Vision Zero campaign which seeks to end deaths and cycling injuries in Oxford. As they write in their letter “The safety of our roads has become a compelling issue following the deaths of three young women in rapid succession over the autumn and winter. Cyclox is calling for Vision Zero, an initiative intended to end traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by taking a systemic approach to road safety. Road deaths and injuries are unacceptable and pre-

ventable, and we want to work with you on making our roads safe for all road users in your ward, and across the city.”

The recent deaths of women, and in particular the Oxford Pharmacology researcher Ling Felce, have made increased cycling safety in Oxford a necessity. The death occurred on the Plain roundabout in St.Clement’s which has received particular attention as a danger to cyclists. On the 2nd of March, the Leader of Oxford City council, Susan Brown, wrote to Oxfordshire County council to say that “While it is too soon to know if this incident is related to the junction design, the City Council will be writing to Oxfordshire County Council, asking them to urgently review the safety of The Plain roundabout”. Hopefully, the newly elected councillors can adopt a cycling policy which benefits all residents of Oxford. You can find out more about the Elections in an earlier piece.

protest takes place at RadCam Kesaia Toganivalu News Editor

n May 22nd at 4PM ‘Not Here. Not Here Anymore.’ are planning to stage a protest at the Radcliffe Camera against “Oxford University’s abhorrent treatment of victims of sexual harassment and fighting for new protective procedures.” The group, made up of women from across the colleges with various positions in their JCRs and student societies formed in response to the colleges’ repeated mishandling of sexual assault allegations. The Oxford Student spoke to the founders of ‘Not Here. Not Anymore’ about what motivated them to form the protest group. Maia Hamilton, New College, JCR Women’s Officer, Oxford University Labour Club (CoChair said “The students at this university deserve to feel safe and protected, no matter their college. It is sickening the degrees to which a college can mishandle cases, and harm survivors. The University of Oxford can and must do better.” OULC is not the only student society to be involved with ‘Not Here. Not Anymore.’ Clara Marks, Worcester College, told the Oxford Student: “As a College Rep for It Happens Here and President of Oxford Women in Business, I chose to get involved with Not Here, Not Anymore because I was sick of reading and hearing about the injustices being carried out and covered up by this university. This protest is so important right now as it seeks to protect students, forcing the university and individual colleges to take action against the use of NDAs; creating a centralised complaint system; generally raising awareness of the lack of institutional support for victims; and encouraging better

educa tion about spiking, consent and complaint procedures. I hope that this will be the beginning of meaningful, institutional change at Oxford, as well as encouraging individuals that when they come together behind a cause, they can help to change a broken system.” “As Women’s Officer for Lady Margaret Hall” said third year Martha Galsworthy, Lady Margaret Hall, JCR Women’s* Officer and Peer Supporter, “I really wanted to get involved with Not Here, Not Anymore because I had witnessed how female students at LMH had been disbelieved and neglected time and time again by the college. The pervasive culture of silencing and intimidating survivors of sexual violence in Oxford must be broken, and all colleges must pledge to ban non-disclosure agreements immediately. We fought for our place to be here and we shouldn’t have to fight for our safety. This protest is a space for us to voice our anger and hopefully catalyse real, meaningful change. Ultimately, the burden of taking on such direct action is to student welfare, even if for the greater good. “One reason I got involved in this campaign” said Hannah Hopkins, St Anne’s College, JCR Women’s Representative, It Happens Here (College Representative), SU Wom*Cam (Campaigning Officer) “is that it has gotten to the point that I can’t focus on my studies and am struggling to find a home in this university due to the disturbing way it treats students who are victims of assault. This protest is a means to break the silence, to demand action because this university is not a safe space and something has to be done. The university has shut down victims for too long and change must happen. I refuse to be quiet or polite about it.” Cont. on page 6

6 | News

LMH Pledge to End Use of NDAs Anna Davidson News Editor

JCR president of LMH Lewis Boyd welcomed this move, as part of ongoing efforts to address the issue. He suggested that the LMH community had been shaken, stating that “for some time the JCR has been incredibly unhappy with college, , because lots of members know somebody that has been affected by the college’s poor policy in the past.” He said that the NDA pledge was part of a larger restructuring of procedure, with significant change required in order to root out the causes of the misconduct and start to build trust again. Boyd suggested that other changes were being pushed forward by the JCR to meet this end - plans have now been put in place for a replacement of the old head of welfare with a new, properly-trained role dedicated to student wellbeing, alongside a total rewrite of procedures for non-academic misconduct. Another change was the suggestion to host termly ‘town halls’ for the college, as a space for people to “air their grievances more easily,” and “ensure accountability”, while the JCR are also working with college’s working party to create a form of anonymous reporting system. These changes, alongside

Cowley’s Ultimate Picture Palace formally began its ‘Lights, Community, Action’ campaign for community ownership. Efan Owen News Editor

Cont. from page 5

(Cont.) Samuels suggested that there had been some positive responses to the request - the motion has already been passed in Balliol and Queens, and contact has been made by the presidents of Keble, Univ, and St Hugh’s, while the Magdalen JCR president has promised to raise the issue in a 5th week meeting - though IHH were looking for more specific responses and responses from other colleges looking forward, and condemned colleges not genuinely engaging with the motion to ensure the protection of their students.

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

the significant work undertaken by It Happens Here in ensuring the passing of the NDA pledge, led Boyd to hope for a shift in culture: “The ultimate aim has to be an improvement in the culture. That’s something which takes time but something that can be fostered. I think college still has some way to go before it is trusted again with the welfare of students, but the introduction of a new head of wellbeing, for example, is a promising sign of things to come.” Looking to the future, the hope seems to be that the signing of the pledge is the start of a complete reshaping of procedure and culture. Higher education minister Michelle Donelan welcomed LMH’s commitment, suggesting it “must be the first step in rebuilding trust with staff and students” and that “Now is the time for other Oxbridge colleges to stop dragging their feet and pledge to never buy victims’ silence.” LMH will be the first Oxbridge college to sign the pledge, and the 48th institution in England and Wales to make such a commitment, while IHH continues to place pressure on other colleges to follow suit. Resources for understanding non-disclosure agreements can be found via Can’t Buy My Silence (https://cantbuymysilence.com/ recognizing-and-understandingan-nda/) while welfare resources can be found via the It Happens Here website: (https://www. ithappenshere.co.uk/ , https:// www.ithappenshere.co.uk/needsupport).

Not Here Not Anymore protest takes place at RadCam

Cont. from page 5

(Cont) Open Letter: “The University of Oxford must do better to prevent sexual violence and protect survivors. It can, and should do so, but is not doing enough.... Education should not cost an exposure to danger. “

n a bid to conserve the picturehouse’s status as Oxford’s sole surviving independent cinema,

supporters have been urged to purchase community shares, with the final goal of re-establishing the business as a communitybased co-operative. This follows a lengthy investigation process into the pos-sibility of community ownership, which was initiated after the death of the previous proprietor in 2018. A bid was made by the cinema to raise £312,575 in Community Benefit Society shares by the 1st of July 2022. As of the 10th of May, £143,000 has already been brought forward by 540 new investors. Instituted by the Co-operative and Community Benefit Act 2014, the community shareholding system allows for members of local com-munities to become part-owners in projects and businesses perceived to be of value at significantly re-duced cost. The UPP’s offer of shares is an attempt to bring the business into communal ownership, enabling it to remain open and independent as well as genuinely belongingo the community.

urged to donate, as the project has been designed with intention of involving as many shareholders as much as their circumstances would allow. The UPP, established in 1911 as the Oxford Picture Palace, is one of the country’s oldest picture-houses. Located on Jeune Street, just off Cowley Road, it holds showings of a Shares currently cost £1 each, and broad cross section of films: are available to purchase via classic, mainstream, and avantthe not-for-profit organisation garde. Ethex. This can be done through the Ethex website, and requires a It has faced threats of shutdown 15 minute online process in at various points in its history, unwhich those who desire to dergoing stints as a furniture warepurchase shares must reg-ister house and a squat for the Oxford with the organisation and an-swer Freedom Network. The building a short approval quiz on the has been Grade II listed since 1994. risks of investing.

Additionally, investment will be used to make improvements to the site and the business’s operational structure, with a particular eye on increasing accessibility. Shareholders will be co-owners in the UPP and as such will have the right to vote at share-holder meetings.

The minimum buy-in to become a shareholder is 50 shares - that is to say, an investment of £50. This minimum is reduced to 30 shares at £30, however, for prospective investors aged 16-29 or to those with OX1, OX3, or OX4 postcodes. The project has been designed with the intention of involving as many shareholders as possible. The UPP notes that owing to the high target of the campaign, investors are still

The campaign for community ownership includes a social media publicity effort under the hashtag #OwnTheUPP, while the project’s launch weekend was marked by free screenings and Q&A sessions with special guests. More detailed information on the share offer, as well as a rigorous business plan, are available via the UPP’s website: https:// uppcinema.com/

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Ads | 7

8 | Ads

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Comment

Comment | 9

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

Who still cares about the South Pacific?

by Kesaia Toganivalu

o one seems to care about the South Pacific. When we consider climate change and its catastrophic ramifications hardly anyone asks who will be first affected. It is indigenous communities living in islands who have been deserted. Fiji is seen as a tourist destination. A mystical land whereby ‘Fiji Water’ pours seamlessly out of the mountains, and local citizens sing ‘Moana’-esque chorus’ and thank you for visiting. The fact is the South Pacific was ripped apart by the British Empire and pieced back together by our own hand.

Studying at Oxford has allowed me to accept who I am and where I have come from. My name is Adi Kesaia Selala Qarau Toganivalu and I was born into chiefly rank, and of nobility. To

"Fiji was ravished by the colonial selfishness of the empire, and there remains long standing scars from these crimes." be clear, the hierarchical system I speak of is not synonymous with an English aristocratic hierarchical structure, and even the language I use is reductive in so far it does not translate directly across. What I say is undoubtedly cut through the privilege that this rank has afforded me, but it is important to note, as I said “No one seems to care about the South Pacific”. Being of chiefly rank didn’t stop me from attending a state school.

I am not going to pretend I am not British. I was born in Hackney, London. My father was in the British Army and I grew up in the barracks opposite Buckingham Palace. I have never even visited Fiji, for a myriad of reasons. But this does not remove the legitimacy of my heritage. Fijians, along with other South Pacific members of the Commonwealth, are some of the greatest fighters in the British Army. We serve, selflessly. That Fiji was ravished by the colois what my father did, and my nial selfishness of the empire, aunt, and my uncle, and so many and there remains long standof my close family members. I ing scars from these crimes. Fiji am British and I am also Fijian.

has faced a number of coups, and the time of my grandfather where the famous Toganivalu Brothers conceived an independent Fiji has since passed. In Fiji, along with many other nations, where you come from is an integral part of who you are. So, when I shook the hand of His Excellency Benny Wenda and told him “It is an honour to meet you” it didn’t just feel like it was me. I am the product of my forefathers, and their values are instilled in me to this day. I invited the Interim President of West Papua, Benny Wenda, because I look up to him. If I mature to be even a slither of a leader who has faced so much, I think I will be alright. It is very hard to describe and dilute all of this tradition into an email to the president of your college and say you have invited the leader of a nation to a formal hall. But the President of Magdalen, Dinah Rose QC, went above and beyond to make us as melanesians recognised within an establishment like an Oxford College. West Papua can and must be

free. This is imperative to the state of the South Pacific and its future as a major player. The South Pacific need not play games with western nations like the UK, its former oppressor, or Russia, another bully. We must look to our fellow islanders and seek to preserve our language, our culture and what makes us powerful, our heritage. It is an absolute disgrace that so many ordinary Fijians live in poverty whilst our politicians reap the benefits of corruption. No Fijian is free whilst any one of us struggle for dignity. And the same goes for West Papuans. To talk to a man exiled from his land and people was not only humbling but inspirational. For both of us to sit at high table, and be recognised as melanesians within a British and prestigious institution was a feeling I may never repeat within my lifetime. No one may care about the South Pacific, but we will continue to care about our lands and people. West Papuan oppression by Indonesia is a stain on the history of the world. We must liberate West Papua from oppression,

and we must free ourselves as Fijians from corruption. If you leave reading this newspaper doing anything, do this. Google West Papua and the atrocities committed by its oppressors, and ask yourself why you had never heard of this before.

On Sunday 8th May The Interim President of West Papua attended a formal hall at Magdalen College, as per the invitation of one of their undergraduate students. The President, Benny Wenda, and the student were allowed to attend a high table as guests of the President of Magdalen College, Dinah Rose QC.

10 | Comment

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

KBJ makes history, but can she make change?Is a by Sebastian WATKINS

he appointment of the first AfricanAmerican woman to the Supreme Court will undoubtedly be seen by many as making history, but how much change will it actually make to America’s notoriously byzantine court? Firstly, let there be no question of the significance of her appointment. Though neither the first woman (Sandra Day O’Connor, appointed 1981) nor the first African-American (Thurgood Marshall, appointed 1967) to serve on the Court, her status as the first to be both is a crucial landmark for an institution that has long been regarded as somewhat apart from most Americans. Momentously, this will be the first time since the Court’s founding in 1789 that four women will have served on it together. But, for all its symbolic importance, her appointment was arguably lacking in the usual fanfare, especially when compared to those of her immediate predecessors. Yes, her confirmation hearing was nothing short of a tortured ordeal. Her nomination was bitterly opposed by all of the usual suspects in the Senate, seeing denunciations from many Republican senators, including the minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who decried it as yet another intrigue of the “radical left”. A no less incendiary source of opposition came from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who, despite voting for her appointment to the influential D.C. Court of Appeals

but a year prior, publicly railed against her as an “activist judge”, even going so far as to walk out of the hearing mid-session. The prize for the most outrageous criticism, however, can only go to Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), of January 6th infamy, who accused her of having given disproportionately soft sentences to child sex offenders when a judge – claims that have been widely debunked. But, even then, her nomination struggled to dominate public discourse in the same way that others became all-encompassing for US politics. Ultimately, this round of hearings was neither as vitriolic of those of Clarence Thomas (1991), where the nominee was infamously accused of sexual assault towards the end of the process, or as scandalous as those of Brett Kavanaugh (2018),

such a bad thing? The notion of an independent judiciary was vigorously argued for by Hamilton and Madison in the Federalist Papers (1788), and the best way to preserve this is if we can rewind the clock some 30 years, where tight Supreme Court confirmation votes were a rarity rather than a reality.

Her confirmation hearing was nothing short of a tortured ordeal

Many of the complaints against her, of course, are largely unfounded. There is little serious doubt that Jackson is, legally speaking, more than qualified for the role. A graduate of Harvard Law School who served for eight years as a judge, as well as a brief stint as a public

where the FBI had to step in to investigate claims of sexual assault against him. Even the final confirmation vote, at 53-47 – including three of the usual Republican “moderates”, such as Mitt Romney – was not quite as polarized as previous ones; Amy Coney Barrett’s 52-48 two years ago was the first without bipartisan support since 1869. People can always be counted on to enjoy a good circus, and, for the increasingly hyper-partisan standards of the US political system, there just wasn’t quite enough psychodrama for the media. But is that

We would, of course, be utterly remiss to neglect the fact that her confirmation coincided with Russia’s heinous invasion of Ukraine, which naturally (and rightly) dominated the headlines. Perhaps, then, the hearings would have garnered more consistent international attention, as previous ones have done, without history unfolding so rapidly in such a crucial part of the world at the exact same time.

Jackson is, legally speaking, more than qualified for the role defender (a first for a Supreme Court justice) in Washington D.C., she is objectively perfectly qualified. But if the US Supreme Court operated in such objective terms then it would likely

not court half the controversy that it so often does. Indeed, the real question – as ever – is what consequences her appointment might have on the lives of ordinary Americans, to which there is a simple but disheartening answer: very few. When she officially replaces Justice Stephen Breyer, under whom she clerked as a student, in June, her appointment will not alter the Court’s 6-3 conservative balance (though Chief Justice Roberts is really now more of a “swing vote”). Crucially, it will have next to no bearing on the imminent (since the leak of Justice Alito’s draft opinion) overturning of Roe v. Wade. Anyone naïve enough to expect her to swoop in and save the day will be bitterly disappointed. There’s no question that Ketanji Brown Jackson is a brilliant woman and an accomplished jurist with much to offer, but in an institution – and, unfortunately, increasingly now a country – where people pay more attention to your stated ideology than your actual ideas, she will have the opportunity to change very little. The blunt but hard truth is that, for now, the change is only one of aesthetics. But none of that should detract from how much her historic appointment already means to millions of people, and, with her set to remain on the Court for decades to come, what great things she may yet do.

The Oxford Student | Friday 29 April 2022

Comment | 11

Cosham and Wymering Turns Red Matthew Holland discusses his personal experiences of campaigning in the recent local elections in his home ward, Cosham and Wymering.

t around 1:30 in the morning on Fri- had exclusively Conservative Councillors. day 6th, the results for the Cosham Residents were becoming more disillusioned and Wymering Ward were declared with their local governance and it was felt inside the Portsmouth Guildhall, which that if we could continue this momentum, serves a dual-purpose as being the Council then Cosham could potentially turn red. Chamber and a music venue. Asghar Shah, local campaigner and organiser of a food In 2021 I was also studying for my A-Levels bank run from his own home, was duly elected to serve as the Labour Councillor for Asghar Shah, local campaigner Cosham and Wymering. This ward, situated and organiser of a food bank run in the centre of Portsmouth North (held by from his own home, was duly the Conservative Penny Mordaunt MP), elected to serve as the Labour has been controlled by the Conservatives Councillor for Cosham for over a decade with many elections putand Wymering. ting UKIP or another Party in second place in that time. This ward also happens to be where I’ve lived my entire life, where I went which put a limit to the amount which I to school, where I had my first job and where could canvass, not to mention I was also I first canvassed and voted in an election. working part-time. However, in 2022 much of the campaign occurred while we were I remember even in 2021, the first time I can- on vacation between Hilary and Trinity vassed, there being a degree of animosity and Terms, affording me much more time to frustration at the Conservative Councillors get involved. As it occurred, I mostly canin our ward. Repeatedly, we heard people vassed in the Wymering area of my ward, telling us of their inability to contact their characterised by deprived blocks of council Councillors and failing to have their local flats with residents who are often sorely concerns listened to. That election proved forgotten when it comes to elections. I spent to be fairly successful for us, as we increased hours running up and down the stairs of our vote share by 6.3% and came within 400 these flats, delivering leaflets, and eventually votes of toppling the Conservatives. After knocking doors and talking with residents. this result, Cosham came to be a symbol for the Pompey Labour Party; a key to break- Whilst a few local issues came up such as ing into a Conservative constituency that the council’s decision to demolish the police

and fire stations in order to build 800 new flats, I mostly heard from residents about the national issues. Residents were concerned by sudden rises in the prices of their food shops and their energy bills, scared that they would struggle to make ends meet if the Conservatives didn’t do more. They brought up corruption and scandal in the Conservative Parliamentary Group, feeling like the sacrifices they made were futile and like they were being ridiculed by these elitists. Rightly or wrongly, they attributed these issues to the Party which the incumbent Councillors represented. Even though we attempted to divert to mistakes being made at a local level by these people such as their poor attendance records at council meetings, it would be wrong to say that residents ignored the national issues, as they certainly saw this as an opportunity to voice their frustration with the Conservatives generally. Residents were concerned by sudden rise in the prices of their food shops and their energy bills, scared that they would struggle to make ends meet... It brought me to tears hearing some of the stories which people told me, stories of desperation and anxiety, and then to hear

that these people had also never had a Conservative Candidate knock on their door to listen to these concerns. Many didn’t even receive any leaflets from the Conservatives, possibly because the Candidate recognised that many of these people were too far gone away from the Conservatives to be convinced by a pledge on a leaflet. In contrast, we knocked every door, listened to as many residents as we could, and made the basic promise that we would listen to their concerns and be open to discussions with local residents. Shah’s campaign leaflets all included his mobile number, his email address, and his home address. While this may not sound like much, some or all of these basic pieces of information were missing from the leaflets of the other Parties. So while the first piece of good news for me was seeing my neighbouring city, Southampton, turn to the Labour Party, the cherry on top of a great night for me was the news that for the first time since I could remember, my ward was being represented by a Labour Councillor. A community man, a volunteer, and a family man whose dedication to his local community was unparalleled, possibly across the entire city. I had a candidate that I was proud to vote for, and am now proud to say is my representative in a now progressively-dominated Portsmouth City Council.

12 | Comment

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

Hotel Rwanda

Johan Orly argues that the heartless Rwanda deal shows a fundamental misunderstanding of our asylum system’s challenges

ven by recent standards, the furore that greeted the government’s new ‘Migration and Economic Development Partnership’ with Rwanda was deafening. The Archbishop of Canterbury said on Easter Sunday that the policy ‘does not stand in the judgement of God’. Theresa May condemned it on the conclusive grounds of ‘legality, practicality and efficacy’. Gillian Triggs, assistant secretary-general at UNHCR, called it an ‘egregious breach of international and refugee law’.

What, then, were they objecting too? This was not the muchvaunted policy of Australian-style ‘offshore processing’. Instead, the deal entails the offloading of an entire chunk of our asylum system; some refugees deemed to have entered the UK illegally are now ‘eligible’ to be sent to Rwanda, where Britain will pay the authorities to process their claims and then either deport or resettle them. Boris Johnson said the government expects to send ‘tens of thousands of refugees’ there. On a fundamental level, there is something deeply troubling about the world’s fifth richest country entering a ‘cash-for-refugees’ deal with a nation where, according to the World Bank, 60% of people live in extreme poverty, and which has already taken 130,000 refugees. We have a moral and legal responsibility to offer asylum – a human right – and through this deal a government claiming to represent ‘Global Britain’ has vacated an essential part of its international obligations. This is complicated by the nature of President Kagame’s autocratic Rwandan regime. Deutsche Welle’s Global Media Forum reported ‘enforced disappearances’ of journalists and opponents, and the suspicious deaths of exiles in South Africa and Mozambique. The UK government’s own human rights ambassador spoke last year of serious concerns over the support given to trafficking victims, including in the kind of refugee processing which we are now funding. Meanwhile, the charity Rainbow Migration said

illegal economic migrants. As set out by a House of Commons report, only 28% of asylum claims were refused in 2021, and a quarter of those were allowed on appeal. Why this is the case is apparent when we look at countries of origin, the three largest of which in 2021 were Iran, Iraq and Eritrea. Therefore, the entire policy of cracking down on ‘pull factors’ is both pointless and harmful: genuine refugees fleeing war and persecution are Much, too, has been made of highly unlikely to be deterred, the cost: £120m upfront, plus and they will only face more oban undisclosed cost per asylum stacles on the way. seeker, high enough to force a Ministerial Direction out of Patel The second falsehood is the (where a minister overrules her idea that our asylum system is Permanent Secretary on a spend- overwhelmed because the UK ing decision). Australia, notably, is a uniquely attractive destispent £1.7 million per asylum nation. In 2020, the UK had 6 seeker on offshore detention. But asylum applications per 10,000 this seems to me a less convinc- residents, compared to 11 as the ing criticism: the government EU average. But the UK’s numspends £4.7 million daily on pri- ber of pending asylum decisions vate accommodation for asylum hit 85,000 at the end of 2021, seekers, and if the scheme does double what it was two years indeed (spoiler: it won’t) prevent previously. Why? The Refugee Channel crossings and tragic loss Council found in research of life, the price tag should not this year that most asylum decisions took between one be the primary concern. and three years; Rwanda takes Proponents of the scheme three months. The solution to would have it that neither of the asylum backlog these actually matter much, for is not to limit the in fact the objective is not really number of people to send anyone to Rwanda at all. applying – it is inWhy? The Home Office believes vestment, streamthe UK attracts illegal economic lining processes migrants through ‘pull factors’, and firm political clogging up the asylum system direction, none of and feeding an ecosystem of peo- which are there at ple smugglers. Everything that present. Patel says and does – including the Nationality and Borders Bill The sum of these – is to clamp down on these ‘pull misconceptions has factors’ and make the UK such led the Home Ofan unattractive destination that fice to ignore the ‘illegal migrants’ no longer want obvious solution to come. The threat of Rwandan to the small boat removal is just one part of the crossings: to creattempted deterrent. ate safe and legal routes, allowing The problem, however, is that asylum seekers this entire approach towards to make it to the dealing with small boats and UK without havbacklogs is based on fundamental ing to take a small misconceptions of the challenges boat. The governfacing our asylum system. ment created these for Ukraine and AfThe first error is the assertion ghanistan, but other – made by Patel herself – that resettlement schemes asylum claims are mostly from took only around a

that ‘Rwanda is not safe for LGBTQI+ people’. Considering that political dissidents and LGBTQ+ people are prominent categories within asylum seekers, sending them to a country with such a chequered record seems both a grotesque injustice and a violation of the international legal principle of ‘non-refoulement’, whereby no-one can be removed to a country where they may face irreparable harm.

thousand refugees in 2021. Many options have been proposed: allowing asylum applications to be tabled in embassies; the creation of a ‘humanitarian visa’ to the UK, allowing entry into the country for the purpose of claiming asylum; or the expansion of family reunion and unaccompanied child schemes. A variation on this would be to open a reception or processing centre in Calais, ending the need for crossings at all. These measures would stop the awful loss of life in the Channel; but the Home Office refuses, on the grounds that safe and legal routes or a centre in Calais would create ‘pull factors’ for migrants. Here lies the fundamental issue with the government’s policy: it will never create a fair and effective asylum system when it is determined to prevent people from claiming asylum in the first place. It is easy to blame Patel for this heartless approach, but the uncomfortable truth is that she is merely reinforcing the worst instincts of the Home Office, and the broader

rightwing political and media ecosystem. Her Rwanda deal may cause irreparable harm, and not just from the displacement of vulnerable people. The experience of Israel’s brief asylum

arrangement with Rwanda suggests that instead of stemming people trafficking, resettled refugees paid the smugglers again to make it to Europe, furthering a cycle of human misery. Then again, it might not ever happen: the policy was a major pre-election political boost for Johnson, and likely saved Patel’s career. There has been considerable speculation that, safe in the knowledge of a protracted legal challenge, the government is never planning on delivering a deal which remains elusive on basic issues like cost, eligibility criteria and transport. On one hand, that would be an enormous relief; on the other, a damning indictment of the cynical, uncaring depths to which politics in this country have sunk under this government.

Features

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Features | 13

Editors: Anna Davidson, Marietta Kosma Deputy Editors: Ciaron Tobin features@oxfordstudent.com

Marietta Kosma Section Editor

Grad school can be really harsh. We really have to ask ourselves why we have gotten involved in the DPhil process at first. There are many reasons why individuals want to pursue a DPhil. Some people might be doing a DPhil because

Navigating a DPhil they want to improve their employment prospects, others may have started one due to vanity and some people might be pursuing a DPhil due to their passion for research.

During my first year of studies I really started coming up with a plan on how to navigate my research and I also have started developing a backup plan in case something goes wrong. What I would suggest to start thinking in detail how you ended up pursuing this topic, what questions

you hope to answer in the course of your DPhil, and (to the degree that you can) what texts, histories, document will constitute your primary archive. It is your DPhil and you will need to generate the ideas, the writing, and the direction of travel. Based on my experience I would suggest to prospective student to start drafting their materials for the transfer of status interview as soon as possible so that they have enough time to discuss them with their supervisor and also make revisions. What has really helped me was thinking about how my own research fills the gap in literature and how it addresses the current

concerns of the field.

I believe that it is also worthwhile for DPhil students keeping an eye on what’s being published in the marquee scholarly journals focused on their area of studies and also closely adjunct fields. The Bodleian subscribes to most of the best journals. Many of the key journals offer a service where they email you an alert with the table of contents of each new issue. It would also be worth browsing the catalogues of the major presses in the field, most of which are available online: Harvard University Press, University of Chicago Press, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Duke University Press. Keeping an eye on the journals and presses, even if it’s only to quickly read the titles and abstracts of what’s emerging,

“Grad School can be incredibly gruelling, and isolating however: you are not alone.”

can help us as student establish a view of what world we will be speaking to when we begin publishing our own work. I also try to look out for meetings, conferences and even possible travel awards. It is important to present your work in public because conferences will help you learn what is your filed and can also help you build connections by networking with other scholars in your field. Grad school can be incredibly grueling and isolating however; you are not alone. Doing a DPhil is an ongoing project for the next years. Even if you feel like quitting remember that you are not completely on your own. A DPhil is worth fighting for. Ultimately, feelings about quitting prove to be only fleeting b ut t he satisfaction from enhancing human knowledge is not. Featured image credits: Jonas M via Wiki-media Commons

14 | Features

A Visit from

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

Anthony Joshua

Ciaron Tobin

Deputy Section Editor

A figure to rival the photos on the wall of the Union had the whole of the premises in anticipation. We were waiting in unison in an eager line full of hacks and journo-hacks, as soon as this 6’6” god entered the room. Before the interview commenced Anthony wanted to fight a foe in a different arena, chess. That a man that boxed would also play chess may seem odd to the no-context viewer, but his story is as heartwarming as could be. As Anthony said himself, his niece taught him to play and has currently played for 4 years now. The first joust he offered was to say “I’m out of my comfort zone, I just want to have some fun here.” The man clearly values education, throughout his visit he wanted to learn from us! Why he would want to learn from oxford students I have no clue. Anthony was playing against a 3 time Chess winner, the guy has confidence to say the least. His fight against the slick champion from Oxford came to an eventual knockout, but he expected this of course. Anthony was here to make friends and learn, not to chat trash and act his ego. After the match AJ, as all the adoring fans at the Union started to call him, shook the winner’s hand and proceeded to the chamber having firmly established he was here to relax and learn, not to box and battle.

Thunderous applause greeted him as he entered the chamber and sat down comfortable as usual. Questioned first about how he got into boxing, he brought up his cousin, having watched boxing from the side of the ring he ‘thought I could do this’. Alongside this he started watching documentaries about people changing their lives for better through sport, an ideal he wanted to emulate- towards reading, not raving. Having left education to make money, he was asked whether he would advocate boxing over education, he said ‘a smart person makes a smart boxer’, you need education for boxing, you need the ability to predict and research outcomes. Having settled the audience with the basis of his life, he took a lead hook to his idols. AJ looks up to ‘Alpha males’, conquerors from ‘back in the day’. Mindset to him is key, we should avoid distractions like nightclubs and instead focus, something his boarding school experience in Nigeria taught him. ‘Discipline is key’. For him discipline is not just his routine, but his set of values. Respecting elders, pleases and thank you’s, remembering your ancestors. But even the little things, he values sleep and being involved in the community, being the ‘big man’ as such. Thus, his idol in his remit was Klitschko, , who he admits to be his hardest fight, but also a man that understands responsibility. Klitschko

is admired for speaking multiple languages, wearing suits, and understands the value of respectability. Another common theme of AJ has and is that he wants to show is respect. Asked about his future? He is looking to get his fingers in many pies. Pointing at the audience he asks for any ideas, God knows why he would ask Oxford students. Yet once again thinking in his boxing mindset of wanting to think smart and long-term and be a cornerstone in his community. He remarks he sees notable other athletes who turned to drugs after retiring and finds that pitiful. Instead, he is looking to have his name in the newspaper for good things like investing and setting up businesses. Respect for him is not just pummelling opponents, but also ensuring grace outside of the ring. The talk throughout noticeably lacks any direct talk on his current fights (only vaguely mentioning his new gameplan for the next fight, that will be more tactical and on his ‘raw ability’), for that he saves the audience on the side of the ring as we learn who is AJ. Even to mental health, a topic often hidden by boxers, he admits growing up in an African household he felt he had to hide things more. But he admits it is better to get things of your chest. Dealing with criticism, as he said, is by finding the balance. Critics are not all equal, do not take this personally,

and at the same time don’t take criticism that isn’t constructive, ‘your mind is your own critic.’ As such to follow gently on, the succinct interviewer asks, ‘what are you not good at’. His answer, he needs to become more selfish, despite earlier admitting money is his central goal, he thinks he is still a people-pleaser in the sense of not choosing his own priorities and taking time for himself. Rather, he helps ‘build the empires that surround him’, that surround the brand of AJ. Despite wanting us to hide it, his favourite song is Whitney Houston’s ‘Greatest Love of All’. Does this typify his boxing style? His emotional rollercoaster of a story throughout the talk? Or does it just show the man as what he wants to be, comfortable. Asked about how it felt to host the illustrious boxer, the Union had this to comment: “Yesterday the Oxford Union was delighted to sit down for an interview with former two-time unified Heavy Weight Champion of the World, Anthony Joshua. He was down to earth with his charismatic

interaction with members, and gave an enlightening talk to about his inspirations and motivations, lessons growing up, his heritage and his love of another sport chess. Indeed, before

the interview he played a match against one of our members, herself a former three-time British Women’s Chess Champion and Fide Master (FM). As a care-leaver himself, the Union President, MichaelAkolade Ayodeji, felt particularly inspired by Joshua’s talk on not letting present circumstances dictate one’s destination in life, and thoroughly enjoyed Mr Joshua educating the Union members from a different, but fascinating, perspective.”

The Oxford Student | Friday 13th May 2022

Profile

Profile | 15

of the week

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

Maya Szaniecki talks to Lily Sheldon about her experience co-founding the Yente zine, her aspirations behind the project, and hopes for future issues.

Y E N T E

Co-founded by a creative mix of Oxford students, Yente zine is described as a Jewish Queer/female/non-binary led zine. The first meeting for the zine took place in a pub in January 2022, following an open callout to anyone wanting to get involved with the project. With the first edition already released in March, and the second edition coming out soon, the Yente zine and community has already grown in an impressively short time. I spoke to Lily Sheldon, a 2nd year History student at Somerville College who is one of the co-founders of the zine, about all things Yente. Can you explain the story behind the name ‘Yente’ zine, and the names of the editions of the zines themselves?

The name’ Yente’ makes reference to the Yiddish word for “gossip.” Gossip is an intrinsic part to both Jewish and minority culture. It can often be read as something derogatory, but we wanted to reclaim it as something which we take pride in. The editions follow the Jewish calendar, and each one will be released at the same time as different festivals. Each edition will be named after a biblical woman or person whose voices have been traditionally silenced, or who are not the main voices of a story. The first edition was named after Vasti from the story behind Purim*. At the beginning of the Purim story, Vashti is asked by her husband, King Achashverosh, to dance naked in front of his friends. She refuses to and is consequently banished from the kingdom, and we never hear from her again. Recently, Vashti has become a popular feminist figure within the Jewish community because she never lost her autonomy and held onto her voice. The upcoming edition will be named edition Ruth, in time for Shavuot*! How did the idea come about to start Yente zine?

The idea came about one Friday night when we were all sitting around a table and discussing the importance of a publication which is more representative of the pride that we take in our culture. Often articles about Judaism can be related to antisemitism or some form of oppression, which is of course extremely important!

However, we also wanted something which represented the full amalgamation of Jewish culture and the intersection of being Queer and Jewish: our pride, our shame, our food, our songs, our dances, and most importantly our art. A zine lends itself to being messyand creative which is what we seek to cultivate. So we set up an Instagram account, and now have a following of over 1000 people from all over the world! What has the process of actually putting the zine together been like?

We start by doing an open callout for submissions on Instagram and Facebook. We then make a Google Drive with all the submissions, edit them all and then vote on which ones to include in the zine, using Google Sheets. It is often tricky to decide when to cut pieces or send edits whilst maintaining the authenticity of the piece. Another thing that has been tricky is making sure that we hit deadlines because we are all so busy, but it has worked out so far! What kind of submissions have you had so far, and what sort of submissions are you looking for?

For edition Vashti, our theme was identity/false identity, and we had a really broad range of submissions, from recipes to extended essays, to photoshoots to poetry. For edition Ruth the main themes are loyalty and worship, and we were looking for any submissions which spoke to these themes. We are currently short of visual art and so would love to receive more of this!

What were your hopes for the zine when starting out?

We were hoping to create a platform and space for Queer Jewish people to express themselves creatively. We wanted to bring cultural Judaism into the 21st century and let it be representative of this subgroup in society. It is almost a process of creating a culture within a culture. We want a space where people can unapologetically submit, without having to explain themselves. It is also an informative guide, both to normalise Judaism within a majority non-Jewish society, and to normal queerness in a traditionally straight world. I actually have an anecdote related to this! My grandma, who’s an incredible Jewish feminist writer called Gloria Goldreich, was reading the zine and found that she was exposed to these modern Queer voices which she had never heard in the same way. The zine is a physical document of who Queer Jews are at this moment in time. I was terrified to show it to her, but the whole process has forced me to be unapologetically myself, and she carefully followed every page. This includes the page in the zine with my own contribution, where I wrote about the cultural dissonance I felt when sitting in church with my girlfriend. After reading it my grandma said: “Lil, what you and your friends have done is extremely brave.” This is what Yente is about: we are intergenerational and we are unapologetic. Yente is a Jewish Queer/female/ non binary-led zine. Why did you feel it was particularly important to create a platform for these voices?

flagship store on Oxford Street, in London, dedicated to zines (run by femzine). It feels good to be producing this type of art and learning from the different zines! They are all so different.

Finally, what do you see for the future of Yente?

Often these voices are shafted by the dominant traditional voices, so by having a publication which is run by Jewish Queer voices it has allowed this group to dictate the project themselves. It has given everyone confidence, and no one has to be shy about who they are. As well as the zine you have organised events such as a reading group, a workshop, and a film screening. Do you feel like a community has now been formed around the zine?

We organised a reading group last term with Rabbi Yael where we openly discussed the story of Vashti. It was called ‘Queering the Purim Story.’ We were able to collage and discuss the story in a modern context. Everyone there had a range of knowledge but it felt great to engage in an academic and guided discussion that was completely unrelated to university life. Doing socials such as the film screening and question and answers and trips to the pub has allowed a great community to form around the zine! There are different levels to our community: we have our Yente community of students at Oxford, our online community which includes contributors from all ages and from all over the world, and then we have the wider zine community! We came into contact with this wider zine community at a zine festival which took place in a church in East London, run by ‘grrrl zine fair.’ We also took part in a zine exhibition at the Adidas Creative Debuts event -there was a floor of the Adidas

In future we would love to expand our website to have more regular columnists who come from different Jewish practices and backgrounds. There’s even the potential for opening it up to have editors from different universities collaborating to create this student space. We want to be fully representative of the Jewish, Queer community! Soon we’ll be featuring in the 001 exhibition, we are organising an Oxford zine fair, and we are also planning to have a drag king, klezmer crazy launch event, so keep your eyes peeled. Yente is always looking for editors, creatives and event coordinators to join the team.

*Purim is a Jewish festival which takes place in February/March *Shavuot is a Jewish festival which takes place in May/June

image attribution: @yentezine on Instagram

“This is what Yente is about: we are intergenerational and we are unapologetic.”

Friday 13th May 2022 | The Oxford Student

16 |Profile

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to Maya Little, project assistant at the decolonizing arts studio. Maya recently graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class degree in English Literature and Language. She is a writer, a theatre director and a widening participation enthusiast, with a longstanding interest in volunteer in theatre productions. Throughout this academic year, members of the Oxford community and I have enthusiastically followed her theatrical productions. When asked about her productions, Maya says that she is particularly proud of “Stranger Baby” which she has adapted from a collection of the same name by Forward–Prize winning poet, Emily Berry. She also feels a special connection to “Home Fires”, a play written and directed by herself. “Home Fires” is a monologue following a young woman as she struggles with grief, miscommunication, broken connections and inheritance. According to viewers “Home Fires” is “Paper Moon’s latest masterpiece” and according to other view-

ers “a very captivating play”.

When I asked Maya about her current involvement in the decolonizing Arts Institute of the University of the Arts London, she told me that she is excited to be a project assistant on 20/20, an ambitious 3-year national commissioning and network with funding from Freelands Foundations, Arts Council England and UAL. The focus of the project is challenging colonial and imperial legacies in order to initiate institutional change. Maya has said that she is interested in examining porous, disruptive, ever-evolving spaces.

What makes her plays special is her attention to detail as a form of both love and art making. She is also committed in making theatre a more diverse environment. She strives to make theatre a more inclusive environment, stating that this is a great way to realize change: “it is amazing to see that the work you do will always have an impact on the causes you dedicate your time to. This prompts me to further evolve”. Some of the themes that interest

her are familial relationships, the interaction of the audience with the protagonists and the evocation of emotions throughout the audience. She is currently an Oxford Playhouse Young Ambassador. She has planned and executed over 20 events as president of Oxford University Poetry Society, ranging from readings by Alice Oswald, to reading groups with Andrew McMillan, to the innovative and popular crossover nights ‘feminism and fizz’ and ‘philosophy and fizz’. In this role she has gained experience working with an extremely limited budget and a lot of thinking on her feet.

When I asked her how she continues to navigate theatre throughout the pandemic and how she has been handling it as an artist, she says that it has been pretty tough. She told me that the pandemic has been a time that has made her seriously questions the trajectory of her life as an artist, even moreso than before. One of the reasons she started doing theatrical productions is because she loves the autonomy it offers her to be creative.

When I asked Maya about her future plans she said that she will pursue her lifelong interest producing plays. The University of Oxford is known for attracting talented English students who thrive and Maya is no exception. She is a source of inspiration for all of us and her work is worthy of attention as she accomplished to make theatre a more inclusive environment. .

Featured image credits: Omassey and Frey Wholesale Post Card Co. (Fort Worth) via Wikimedia commons

“It is amazing to see that the work you do will always have an impact on the causes you dedicate your time to.”

“you know that your money is providing legal aid and empowering forms of assistance”

by MARIETTA KOSMA

Maya Little, project assistant at the Decolonizing Arts Institute

Columns Columns

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

There I was. On the floor. Not the floor metaphorically speaking, it’s not 5th week yet. Instead I was on the floor of my bathroom. Head in the toilet. Dreaming of happier times and better places. The harsh fluorescent, usually so helpful in pointing out the blackheads was now instead more akin to a laser beam shooting through my eyes. I wasn’t sure whether I was in a budget Star Wars spin off and the depths of Hell. As I sat there groaning, my hair being held back by my faithful friend, I wondered, no doubt as you do now, how it had got to this point. Well, it all began with a date as seems to be the case with me. Readers remember, I deleted Tinder and so had to resort to more old fashioned methods which included putting an advert in local newspapers, notably absent from the chosen few was the Cherwell, leaving my glass shoes lying around, and actually talking to people in the flesh. All in all a rather time consuming project but I am nothing if not faithful to my adoring fans, in this case I rather feel, to my detriment. It just so happened that I had met at several different occasions this one boy. He was a friend of a friend and so I knew he wasn’t completely bonkers and the likelihood of a gruesome chainsaw death (a la American Psycho) was minimal. Although, looking back on it now he did look a bit like Christian Bale… Anywho, when I met him once again at the most recent event and he suggested getting coffee and to message him, I did. It was really rather magical, I was in a delightful little black tie-esque dress. Think 1950s glamour, think Marilyn Monroe, think jaws dropping as I walk past and men falling to their knees and you’ll be halfway there. Don’t, however, think Kim K’s Met Gala look. An abysmal disappointment which no doubt Blaine’s Style Files will be covering as we speak! The messages were exchanged and the date morphed like a sped up Darwinian

evolution animation from GCSE biology from coffee to drinks. And that may be the first whisper of where it all went wrong. We went to the Rose and Crown on North Parade because it was close to both our colleges and also very cutesey. Their selection of bathroom cacti really are some of the best I’ve ever seen, and, coupled with the fairy lights and (fake) ivy I really would say it’s one of the more understated pubs of Oxford. We chatted and drank, and drank and chatted and it really was going quite smoothly. We laughed, we cried, it really was very nice. And then we were (rather unceremoniously) chucked out because of closing time. As soon as I stood up I felt woozy. I hadn’t had that much to drink and had eaten before although possibly not enough owing to the college culinary masterpiece that was spiced cauliflower, tofu, and bean enchiladas with beetroot slaw. I persevered thinking I was only merrily tipsy. Readers, I was very much not. He walked and I wobbled; he schmoozed, I swayed. I was now feeling more than a little sick. In either a classic gentleman’s move, or a well trained philanderer he invited me to his room and I gladly took the invitation so as just to sit down and gather my bearings. I was a very nice room and quite tidy; there was a nice selection of arty postcards and some books lying about the place. There were photos of friends and a nearly dead plant and a good selection of half consumed alcohols. He even had an ensuite which, unfortunately, mid conversation, I ran to groaning. It was a false alarm. I returned and slurped some water. He sat on the bed and invited me to do the same but I couldn’t, the only seat I moved towards was the toilet where I then began to decorate it with recycled enchilada. Some insight for you all; it’s a real mood killer. Poor ****** was quite taken aback. There was some stuttering from the other room and then silence. I sank to the floor, green

Columns | 17

with a slight sheen of sweat. The kind of glassy skin look beauty influencers die for. I just felt like I was dying. When I had managed to summon the strength to stand I went back into his room to find him, oddly I thought given the context, In his bed, with his shirt off and Netflix open on this laptop. He raised his eyebrows at my and I had to do everything in my power not to laugh out loud for fear of other emissions instead. I was almost flattered, but, I felt, a little presumptuous. Maybe the glassy skin look was more attractive than I’d given Nikki Tutorials credit for. I muttered something about needing to leave, I wasn’t very well, I was so sorry and I ran out. I managed to crawl back to college. I scratched at the base of the door like a mangy cat, clawing and mewing sadly for someone to let me in to the building, and also ideally their hearts. I needed someone to feed me warm milk from a tiny bottle and tell me everything was going to be alright. Luckily that person did appear in the guise of my faithful friend who had managed to ascertain my whereabouts from the Wordle style messages I’d sent which included: “Font dio hak me” Translation: “Front door. Help me”

My faithful friend revived me some hours later with a croissant and enquired as to the progress of the date. I simply looked at her dishevelled and worse for wear, a budget Bellatrix Le Strange. As a woman in STEM she had done her research and concluded that I actually couldn’t drink on the antibiotics I was taking. I had essentially poisoned myself for the evening. Maybe it was the universe and my subconscious telling me to stop dating and maybe, just possibly, I should focus my attentions on revision? But then again it was much more likely to have been a silly mistake. What does my subconscious know anyway? When I finally managed to heave myself out of bed and checked my phone I found a lonely Facebook message. “I don’t think we’re on the same page but I had a lovely time. Hit me up if you fancy something casual”. Not even a kiss or an emoji. way it deserves to be.

Dates of our Lives with Poppy Atkinson Gibson

She gathered me up and we ascended the stairs as I imagine Christ ascended to Heaven after being taken down form the cross, stopping on each floor to baptise a new bathroom. She eventually poured me into a spare room. I melted into the bed where I stayed until the next morning where I was abruptly awoken by the scouts. Like a weak Victorian child, dying of typhus I could only raise my head and flutter me waxy eyelids in their general direction before wheezing out an apology and sinking once more into a fever induced slumber.

Blane’s Style Files

with blane aitchison

In case you’ve missed it, the Met Gala happened again recently, This time with the theme of Gilded Glamour to correspond with the Met’s new exhibition; In America: An Anthology of Fashion. Although it’s only been 8 months since the last Gala held by the Costume Institute, the underwhelming response to the American theme left many, including myself, excited for what the designers and celebs would team up to create. The result was quite possibly the worst Met Gala in living memory. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few stand out looks, such as the transforming bronze to seafoam Versace gown that Blake Lively wore which paid homage to the Statue of Liberty, Hilary Clinton’s Bordeaux red gown by designer Joseph Altuzarra, which was embroidered with the names of inspirational American women, and

Jessie Buckley’s Schiaparelli homage to New York gangsters, complete with an oversized hat and drawn on moustache. However, it’s not difficult to argue that none of these outfits are anywhere near as interesting as those of past years. There was no comedy like there was in 2021 with Cara Delevingne’s now-infamous Dior breastplate which proclaimed “Peg the patriarchy”, there was no showstopping ‘wow moment’ like there was in 2018 with Rihanna’s incredible Papal-inspired dress from Maison Margiela, and there was no “What on Earth is she wearing? I love it!” moment like there was in 2019 with Cardi B’s oxblood red gown and bejewelled headpiece designed by Thom Browne. One of the strangest moments of the night was when almost the entirety of the Kardashians turned up. Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, Kris, Kylie and Kendall were there, and while their outfits were mostly inoffensive, Kylie and Kim’s looks have divided opinions. Kylie wore an Off White wedding dress t-shirt combo designed by Virgil Abloh, with a veil attached to a white baseball cap.

ssnnm muullooC C

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Columns | 18

Dan the Man with Daniel Harrison deprive the Conservative Party of their majority. The recent local election results portray a party that

demographic changes in states such as Nevada and Georgia, Labour is starting to do the same in the

a demonstration that the electoral trend of C2 and D type voters in deindustrialised areas continue to

is not submerged in a quagmire of mediocrity or of a submarine that has reached the depths of despair,

UK. Starmer’s great asset is that he is not feared by

switch from Labour to Conservative, a trend first

swathes of the electorate in the same way that Jeremy

seriously translated into results in 2017.

but a party that is on the move and moving along an upward trajectory.

Corbyn was. This will help Labour gain more votes in

Starmer is similar to Iain Duncan Smith as a leader

All Aboard Starmer’s Submarine!

the coastal areas of southern England and the com-

Being leader of the opposition is a thankless task.

muter towns that lie in London’s shadow.

of the opposition, as both have seen their leader-

Labour also made some notable seat gains. The

If you are bold you are accused of being a reckless

ship style, personality and public speaking delivery

party gained seats in Redditch, Southend-on-Sea and

radical (Corbyn). If you are cautious, you are accused

questioned. Both have been accused of being too

Hillingdon, places that have never been traditional

of being calculating (Miliband). Starmer faces this

timid, introverted, awkward, stilted and stiff. Iain

Labour supporting areas. Starmer cuts a reassur-

challenge on top of the fact that he inherited a party

Duncan Smith proclaimed at the Conservative Party

ing, reliable, solid figure, in much the same way that

that had just recorded its worst electoral performance

Conference in 2003 that, “the quiet man (referring

Clement Attlee did and this aids the party’s appeal in

since 1935, a party that was submerged in a swamp

to himself) is here to stay and he is turning up the

areas with many older residents and home owners.

of antisemitism and a party that teetered on the verge

volume.” He was soon made redundant. Starmer, like IDS, is a quiet man and he is turning

Aside from England, Labour regained second place

of bankruptcy. Then came a pandemic that benefit-

in Scotland and gained Bridgend and Blaenau Gwent

ted the poll ratings of incumbents across the world,

up the volume with these local election results. The Labour Party performed particularly well in

councils in Wales, despite being the incumbent gov-

from Johnson to Macron to Merkel, from Morrison

ernment in Cardiff. With both Mark Drakeford and

to Ardern. The pandemic constrained what Starmer

London, gaining control of Barnet, Wandsworth and Westminster councils, as well as a suite of councils

Anas Sawar popular and well-respected with their electorates, there is potential for further electoral

could talk about. He was not asked about his vision for the country,

in incredibly interesting areas of the country. La-

improvement in both countries, especially in Scotland.

but about masks, tests and vaccines.

bour gained control too of Rossendale and Kirklees

Surely a Labour victory, given that the party has

councils in the north, as well as Worthing, Crawley

There were some disappointing results.

not won a majority for seventeen years, would be to

Starmer’s Labour Party resembles a submarine.

and Southampton in the south. Labour is making important gains in southern areas outside of London,

The party is still losing in areas that it should not

form the next government, which could be a minority or a coalition administration. The projected national vote shares released by the BBC and Sky News during

such as Worthing and Crawley there are more gradu-

be if it were on course for a majority at the next general election. The leadership should be disgruntled by the fact that the party lost council seats in places

closer to electoral victory. Victory does not require a Labour majority, but a repeat of the 2010 general

ates and young families who are moving there and

such as Salford, South Tyneside, Oldham and Walsall.

is not sinking, weighed down by incompetence or

leaving London; hence the populations are becoming

These areas were once safe Labour seats. But this

submerged in a morass of disunity, but it is stealthily,

election result; when the Conservative Party deprived

younger and more ethnically diverse. As the Democrats in the USA capitalise on similar

only underlines the challenges Starmer faces. These

silently swimming to victory. A quiet, understated

results are not a product of Starmer’s failings, but

victory with the volume turned up a little.

The party is stealthily gliding towards electoral com-

where demographic changes are helping to make the

petitiveness. It is quietly, but self-assuredly crawling

electorates there more receptive to the party. In areas

back to relevance. Without fuss or fortune, it is moving

Labour of a majority, so Labour must seek to at least

Tea from TAIWAN with Cicely Hunt

Hello again, cherished reader. I am currently sitting in a cat café doing that café productivity thing with a cup of cold raspberry and lime tea at my side. As I write this, there is a ginger and white cat perched on the counter, sticking its tail and nose in peoples’ drinks at regular intervals, just as is every cat’s right. I don’t have enough time or words in this column to write a manifesto on it, but, petition to start making cat cafes more of a thing in the UK please. There’s not much to say about it, other than just how fun and cute it is, and Taiwan definitely has the right idea. Last Friday morning my friends and I drove six hours south to the Alishan mountain range accompanied by the dulcet ballads of One Direction and ‘Sailing and Whaling Songs of the 19th Century’ (guess which was my choice). We traversed precarious mountain paths, tunnels built into the mountain, and buttock-clenching bridges until we were several thousand metres above sea level. It was some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen in my life. Our dinner was a superb spread atop a lazy susan of sizzling deer (sorry Bambi) and mountain trout (still a bit confused about this one because we were well above sea level so they must have had to carry it up a good way). Having returned to our forest adjacent hotel rooms I lulled

everyone to an early sleep by recounting in painstaking detail exactly all of the delicacies I had eaten that day (a lot, by the way, but I’ve already spoken enough about it so won’t burden my fans with it) and sharing scary ghost stories about the teacher at my secondary school who had an affair with a student (Daily Mail article linked below). This wasn’t much appreciated by my dear friends, given that our wake-up call was at 3:20am. Despite our early rise, we managed to trudge to the station to get the 4:20am sunrise train up the mountain. Twenty minutes and a few kilometres later, we arrived at our destination. One thing I’ve noticed about Taiwan is that it does a spectacular job with viewing platforms at scenic points. There were three dotted around the paths in order to accommodate the queues of those hankering for a good sunrise. I confess I’m very much not a morning person, least of all when it’s as early as 3:20am, but the sleep sacrifice was well worth it. We were lucky enough to witness the fabled ‘sea of clouds’ in all its glory. As the sun rose above the mountains, all feelings of sleepiness were quickly forgotten as we surveyed a scene reminiscent of the David Attenborough Cinematic Universe. The peaceful silence was promptly interrupted by a tour guide who had brought up a megaphone to give

us a very necessary introduction to the scenery around us. Satiated by the sunrise, we walked back down the mountain’s sunlit forests to our hotel and drove back up to Taipei that day. This past weekend in Taipei brought with it a boat party on the Danshui river, which seemed like a perfect idea until we realised it was also a costume party and that two of our group get bad motion sickness, which isn’t ideal when you’re on a moving boat for four hours straight consuming alcohol. However, in typical Cici style, I simply donned a Powerpuff girl outfit which I already owned and called it a Major Fashion Moment (MFM). Safe to say literally no one was quaking, except those whose stomachs were reacting to the motion of the boat. The social scene in Taiwan seems much more varied than that which I’m used to in the UK. Besides clubbing, karaoke and the aforementioned boat party, I’ve also attended a couple of parties hosted in motel rooms which have entire swimming pools inside them. Whilst not completely living up to the sleazy reputation that I had previously associated with American motels, I have borne witness to rather indelicate behaviours perhaps not worth going into for the sake of my relatives that will inevitably read this, and of course, my own journalistic integrity.

the local election results illustrate that the party is on course to achieve this. So the Starmer submarine

That seems like a good and mysterious note to end on. Farewell, dear fans. Cicely xx

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Ads | 19

20 | Ads

The Oxford Student |Friday 13 May 2022

21 | Identity

Identity Reflecting Upon ‘The God

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Editors: Anmol Kejriwal, Srishti Kochar Deputy Editor: Madi Hopper identity@oxfordstudent.com

of Small Things’

“A meditation on the contingencies of history, memory and human existence, that transcend the specificity of time and place”

Srishti Kochar reviews Arundhati Roy’s Booker Prize-winning debut novel

erhaps it’s true that things can change in a day; that a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetime. In a single phrase, Arundhati Roy neatly encapsulates both the thrust of her debut novel, The God of Small Things – and the sheer longevity of its impact upon the reader, attested by its spectacular critical reception (having won the Booker Prize in 1997) and the widespread acclaim it has garnered thereafter. An ostensible focus on the trivial trials and tribulations of a middle-class Indian family opens onto a meditation on the contingencies of history, memory and human existence, that transcend the specificity of time and place. Indeed, complexity is woven into the very fabric of the narrative. A peculiar hybrid of family melodrama, childhood fairy-tale, political fable, and post-colonial novel, it resists precise classification, exhibiting a technical and stylistic fluidity that proves particularly apt to recreate the convoluted decline and fall of the Ipe family in the Keralan backwater village of Ayemenem in 1969, their fatal flaw: a propensity to

“tamper with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much.” The consequences of that transgression are visible almost immediately: the death of a child, a pair of separated twins, all encased in a heavy aftertaste of grief, loss and decay. Armed with these disjointed impressions, the reader enters what resembles, at first glance, a straightforward mystery story, whose true architectural complexity is revealed circuitously, memory-like, in spasmodic flashbacks and side-tracks, punctuated by segments in the present day. Our principal guides are a pair of seven-year-old, fraternal twins, Estha and Rahel. The village takes shape through their eyes, its biodiversity and cast of eccentric residents translated, as such, into a beautifully whimsical prose bursting with childlike imagination, fleeting fantasies, and trivial injustices. Thus, we become acquainted with the children’s mother, Ammu, a subversive, wounded woman, disgraced for leaving an abusive marriage and returning to her natal home; and with their grandmother, Mammachi, elegant in

spite of her old age. With their embittered grand-aunt, Baby Kochamma, still nursing her adolescent infatuation with a priest; and Chacko, their uncle, an erstwhile Rhodes scholar, hapless divorcé, incorrigible flirt, and laughably incompetent entrepreneur. A final, rather incongruous, addition to the dramatis personae is Velutha: the skilled carpenter, victimised by society, on the one hand, for his Untouchable affiliation – and loved in secret by twins and Ammu alike.

“The God of Small Things is, in a sense, a call to celebrate the complexity of human existence. ”

The arrival of their beautiful, English cousin, Sophie Mol into this explosive milieu, proves the ostensible catalyst for tragedy, but the real culprit, Roy is at pains to stress, is more structural, inextricable from the texture of the post-colonial moment. It is a

by-product of a nation oscillating between tradition and modernity, change and preservation, in which American cars and proletarian politics coexist uneasily with the spectres of patriarchy and the rampant casteism, etched most strikingly into the omnipresent “love laws”. Roy’s occasional historical detours – including a rather lengthy meditation on the fortunes of the Communist Party in Kerala – make for a meticulously contextualised narrative, attuned to the large-scale social and political codes that configure her protagonists’ world, without, however, losing sight of the significance of the small-scale and the mundane. From the profuse vegetation, the “sky-blue” of Uncle Chacko’s car and the characteristic odour of banana jam, through to the selection of Rahel and Estha as “ambassadors” of their world, it is the details the take centre-stage. It is the bricolage of micro-aggressions, acts of individual resistance, and shortlived passions that sinew the narrative, and the micro-politics of emotion – hatred, betrayal, spite, and, above all, forbidden romance – that lends the novel its signa-

ture poignancy and intimacy. Everywhere, it is the “small things” that define an infinitely complex, multi-layered reality. If, on the one hand, Roy spotlights the more disconcerting facet of this “butterfly-effect” outward reverberations – the spectres of generational trauma and domestic violence, for example, constantly overhang the twins’ fragile childhood utopia – her novel simultaneously renders homage to the quotidian pleasures and the private moments of beauty that inflect our identity. The God of Small Things is, in a sense, a call to celebrate the complexity of human existence. A call to recognise ourselves as a constellation of emotion, experience, and memory, distilled from everyone and everything we have ever cherished, and, conversely, to discern our own imprint – however nebulous, however tangential – in the lives of those around us. In a world that instinctively venerates the grandiose and the spectacular, the immediate over the cumulative and the gradual, perhaps, it is time to acknowledge the small things that anchor us.

22 | Entertainment

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

The Gilded Age: Back to the Page Duoya Li

Enter tainment

he HBO TV series The Gilded Age has recently announced the launching of a second season, after the first nine episodes this January. Despite – or because of – rather mixed reviews, the series has cast sufficient influence in the fashion world as to set the theme for Met Gala this year. As someone who has been introduced to Fifth Avenue in the late nineteenth century under the pen of Edith Wharton, I would like to encourage a return to her novels before another season of Julian Fellowes’ reimagination of this era, even though reading might be the last thing one would do in the Gilded Age.

The series traces the young and recently bereaved Marian Brook’s (Louisa Jacobson) new life in New York, residing at her wealthy aunt Agnes van Rhijn’s (Christine Baranski) mansion on Fifth Avenue. While she belongs to “Old New York” by birth right and is both financially and socially supported by her aunt, other characters must strive harder for a footing in this strictly coded and discriminative society. Marian’s admirer and her late father’s lawyer, Tom Raikes (Thomas Cocquerel), leaves the Pennsylvanian countryside in her wake, and successfully charms his way into the wealthy circle. Her friend Peggy Scott (Denée Benton) starts her secretary/journalist career, overcoming various forms of racism targeted at her black ethnicity. Meanwhile, George and Bertha Russell (Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon) are an ambitious couple of the “new rich” who are eager to obtain recognition in New York high society with their co-

lossal fortune made from the prospering railway industry. The Gilded Age has showcased the intricate question of balance between historical accuracy and artistic creativity, a persistent challenge to any period drama. I hope to construct a less biased picture of this period and evaluate the merits and shortfalls of The Gilded Age by comparing a few themes in the TV series and in Wharton’s writing. Nevertheless, Edith Wharton, a rich and privileged member of New York high society, does not always give an unbiased illustration of her time, as the first theme of racial discrimination and class division will show. It is a laudable attempt to represent the rich black families in New York through the character of Peggy Scott and her parents. When reading Edith Wharton, there is no need to watch out for any derogatory remark towards the black population in the city, because they are hardly ever mentioned at all. The series has not only finally given a voice to the long-silenced black community that writers like Edith Wharton have completely ignored, but also portrayed an actively engaged young woman who seeks to find her own voice and speak out to the world as a journalist. However, the challenges she faced would have been much more difficult than

being turned down by a hansom or having to live with prejudiced servants – it is extremely unlikely that someone at the social position of Aunt Agnes van Rhijn who abhors any transgression of her rigid code of conduct would hire Peggy as secretary in the first place. One can find, however, the presence of anti-Semitism in Edith Wharton’s writing. In her novel The House of Mirth, a new Jewish millionaire of Wall Street is both insulted by other characters and

portrayed by the narrator with disturbing language, yet he also turns out to be more humane than many others in this exclusive tribe of the rich. The Gilded Age seems yet to explicitly tackle this hostile mechanism of combining anti-Semitism with social hierarchy or attempted to revert the prejudice in contemporary discourse.

The series has accurately captured the tension between old money and new money – a reader of The Age of Innocence must have tacitly smiled at the project of building a new opera house mentioned in passing, a real event with which Edith Wharton starts her novel. What could better summarise this society than the opera house? An enclosed space with no extra boxes left for newcomers, where people gather to spy and gossip on each other rather than to watch the performance, and where art only serves as the golden veneer of society to dress up its wealthy members’ frivolity. Such are exactly the difficulties lying in the Russells’ way: their money cannot quite buy over social prestige from the jealous and threatened Old New Yorkers. The most interesting aspect of George and Bertha Russell is their collaboration across the male sphere of work and the female sphere of house. Unlike Wharton’s representation of George and Bertha Dorset’s cold division in The House of Mirth (the names certainly invite a comparison), Bertha Russell invites George’s business contact to dinner, while George coerces people into attending his wife’s ball. Equally money-driven and ambitious, they turn out to be, ironically, a more fitting pair than many other arranged marriages in high society. The Gilded Age suggests by its name glamour on the outside only; the age of innocence as per Edith Wharton is about young girls’ synthetic ignorance – they were taught to seem pure and innocent and adhere to social codes (supposedly what men

expected of a wife). The central figure of Marian Brook in the series definitely seems innocent, but not quite in Wharton’s way: unlike May Welland in The Age of Innocence, Marian is at first ignorant of social codes. She is more tailored to appease modern audience’s supposed taste: innocent but righteous, pretty and blond but also kind inside, rich (presuming that she shall inherit from her aunt) but charitable. As a newcomer who disregards the conventions of society, Marian is too innocent even by Wharton’s standards. Again, the series effaces the difficulty for social change from within an extremely privileged group of social elites, whose names are recorded in Mrs Astor’s Four Hundred. In Edith Wharton’s writing, this New York high society is anything but straightforward. Incessant gossip and injurious innuendoes are a recurring

theme; social ostracism is accomplished by a few sharp but nevertheless decorous remarks; and newcomers are put off by their ignorance of various etiquettes and conventions. It is therefore disappointing that the characters in The Gilded Age speak to each other in overly plain language. They are all New Yorkers and in New York everything is possible. They are all extremely rich, but money isn’t everything. Even though refined literary taste was not the trend of the age, characters could have spoken fewer clichés. The show underestimates the difficulty of penetrating such invisible conventions and intricacy in language and manners – like the Russells, the series still has a long way to climb up the ladder towards New York high society as it was. The Gilded Age is facing the danger of a wilful modern interpretation. The audience is invited to enjoy the lavishly decorated mansions and extravagant dresses. The guilt of frivolity is veiled by an interest

Entertainment | 23

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022 in contemporary architecture or fashion, and the righteous progressiveness of so many characters. Yet such portrayals risk trivialising real and corrosive problems in American society at the time. Of course, we wish that a young black woman could be welcomed by high society, or that many of the rich were open to new ideas like Marian Brook. But rigid rules were not so easy to break. It is precisely because we, as modern audience, uphold liberal values that they should not be used as a pretext to aestheticise the uncomfortable parts of history or an excuse for fantasising about luxury. Or else we are living in another gilded age, where conspicuousness passes for distinction. Edith Wharton wrote about her time; reading Edith Wharton gives insight into our own time. Through her luxurious language, she depicts the true degree of difficulty to break away from social norms, to escape the golden cage. In any case, the very act of reading would have beaten most of the members in New York high society. Image credits: Yii-Jen Deng

Much Ado About Nothing:

Wadham garden play review

Elsie Clark

uch Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s classic comedy of love and trickery, made a fantastic debut this week in the beautiful setting of the gardens at Wadham. The backdrop only grew more characterful as the night went on; unhampered by a minimal set, the sunset meant the actors were lit by nothing but the lights on stage. The scenery alone made the opening night performance special, but what really animated the show was an excellent set of actors who gave their all to their performances and were evidently having fun as they did so. Everyone managed to get their tongues around Shakespeare’s knotty verses and deliver their lines with a verve that brought the dialogue to life, creating an irresistibly sparky interplay between the characters. I wish I could shout out every single member of the cast for their thoughtful and engaging

performances, but the review would quickly become a boring list of rhapsodic praise, so I will limit myself to commending the three leading players. Jules Upson delivers a highly amusing performance as Claudio, with perfect comedic timing and a sense of melodrama that prevents his character from becoming too unlikable in the second half. He threw himself into every scene with admirable energy, even during the ‘Dancing Queen’ sequence, where others were more hesitant in their performance. Yes, this production has ABBA in it too - what’s not to like? Benedick and Beatrice were also played to perfection by Ailbhe Sweeney and Vicky Stone respectively. Both leaned into the silliness of their subplot, the comedy of their interactions heightened by their masterful delivery. In her monologues, Sweeney was able to express

more vulnerability and engage the audience even when alone on stage. Her standout moment of the night, however, was unquestionably her wrestling with a bucket and a stuffed cat. (I can’t explain more than this, but it was really funny.) If I were to criticise the show on any level, it would be for some occasionally static staging that Shakespeare performances often fall victim to. Admittedly, it’s hard to make blocking exciting when many scenes involve characters just talking to each other, but were it not for the ability of the cast to breathe life into the dialogue, this could have become dull. Alison Hall’s direction was at its best when movement became more dynamic, for example in the scenes in which the characters are trying to trick Benedick and Beatrice into thinking the other is in love with them. Innovative

use of sheets, and the aforementioned bucket and cat, took the hilarity of the scene to new levels, with slapstick physical theatre gamely employed by the actors to maximum efficacy. Overall, this was a highly enjoyable production that could be enjoyed by anyone, Shakespeare enthusiast or no. Just remember to bring a jumper (I learnt the hard way that gardens aren’t too warm after 9pm, even in British ‘summer time’).

Image credits: Yii-Jen Deng

Heartstopper: drama to warm the heart Kiki Wrece

eartstopper was released on 22 April, and within days it had found a place on Netflix’s Top 10 TV programmes. The story centres around the schoolboy Charlie Spring, who falls in love with Nick Nelson. Charlie is quiet and a little shy; Nick is confident and has lots of friends. Charlie thinks he’s bad at sport; Nick is captain of the school rugby team. Charlie is gay; Nick seems straight. But might not be. That’s the question that causes Charlie such grief. While his friends tell him he needs to get over Nick, Charlie can’t stop thinking about him. Suggestive looks and heartfelt smiles lead Charlie to think that Nick could be something more than a friend. The show stays faithful to Alice Oseman’s comic, on which it is based. Her previous novel, Loveless, deals with aromanticism and asexuality. Heartstopper keeps the rough plotline of the first two volumes of Oseman’s comic, whilst also replicating the graphic novel feel through sparing but effective use of CGI. The comic has four volumes, thankfully, which gives me hope of a second season. Joe Locke, who plays Charlie Spring, does a perfect job of portraying the schoolboy wracked by a love he thinks cannot be, and then the sheer excitement when that love becomes a possibility. The best element of his performance is possibly the word ‘Hi.’ I never thought the word could be so

expressive. Whenever he sees Nick around school, he says this word, and these are such delicate and beautiful moments. The show is full of these beautiful moments. If queer happiness were a TV show, I think it would be Heartstopper. Some have described the show as a kind of ‘anti-Euphoria’, a show also based on a group of schoolchildren, but where the prevailing forces are drugs, sex, and the darker sides of social media. Happiness is what makes Heartstopper such an important show. It’s something very rare in queer films and TV series for queer love to end happily. Stop reading here if you don’t want spoilers. I love Call Me By Your Name (and even more, I love Timothée

Chalamet), but at the end the two lovers have to part ways, and there’s a lot of crying. In It’s a Sin, each episode heralds the death of a new character. Brokeback Mountain ends with death rather than happiness, and is anyway very hard to relate to, because I’m not American, and additionally, not a cowboy.

But Heartstopper is relatable. It gives hope. If you’re queer and went to school in England, you probably will see a lot of yourself in Charlie Spring. I certainly did. Having said that, Heartstopper made me sad as well, because even though I relate to the Charlie (and Nick) by feeling like them, I cannot relate in terms of having the same actual experiences. Maybe coming out would be easier if Olivia Colman was my mother. That’s for another time, but the point is that when other people have things that you don’t have, it can make you sad, whether it’s a happy queer love story from school, or Olivia Colman as a mother. (I had neither.) Still, the overall joy of the show can’t be underestimated. Other queer films and shows end sadly for a good reason. Queer love didn’t always end well. AIDS was a real and big problem, and so was (is) homophobia. But too much of this causes despair. We don’t want people to think queer love is impossible, or always ends like this. Heartstopper gives hope that another way is possible. Image credits: Yii-Jen Deng

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

FOOD&DRINK

Food & 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

The Spoons Special: a handy guide Jasmine Wilkinson Food & Drink Editor

o Summer is fast approaching, and we all know what that means. Everyone will be flocking to Wetherspoons for a cheeky pint when they’re sick of studying. To help you out with your much needed procrastination, here’s my handy guide to different Wetherspoon’s drinks. Coffee/ Tea

You just can’t go wrong with a classic. Although Wetherspoon’s coffee isn’t anything to preach in the Sheldonian theatre about (the coffee is decidedly mid), caffeine is caffeine, and when my essay deadline hits in eight hours, and I had one too many tequila shots in Atik the night before, it does the job. It’s not the quality of the drink but the unbelievable value for money which has me running here faster

than a first year to get their stash. With unlimited refills available to you at only £1.20 a cup, how could you say no? Just don’t blame me for the inevitable caffeine headaches as you struggle to get your money’s worth. This coffee hack is the best deal since the one-month free Pret Subscription was stopped. (I’m still not ready to talk about it.) Cocktail Pitchers

Ah, the famed spoons cocktail jug, renowned for making (or breaking) a night. The jugs and I have a chequered history, to say the least. Responsible for many of my best nights, (and a few of my worst decisions), ordering one is a one-track road to pulling out the dad dancing on the Atik cheese floor. ‘Oh, I’ll just have one drink’, you say, before ordering a veritable JUG of alcohol.

Just be warned: one too many of these and you’ll be boarding a oneway train to chunder town. The mix of different fruit juices and alcohols is not for the faint-hearted, nor the faint stomached. (Not speaking from personal experience, obviously.) The flavours are immaculate, dangerously so, because you really can’t taste the alcohol, but the pitchers drop points for being pricey.

you a refreshing summer drink for when you’re sick of the vile Oxford tap water. Best served in a glass filled with ice cubes, so you can feel boujee from the comfort of the Four Candles. The entire experience treats you better than any Christchurch boy ever could. My advice: skip the heartbreak and disappointment and get yourself a taste of heaven.

R. White’s Raspberry Lemonade

Ending this article on a high note, R. White’s raspberry lemonade is truly one of the highest pleasures. I discovered the sweet, cold, and fizzy deliciousness almost two years ago and it was love at first sip. Personally, I’m not a lemonade girl, but this drink never misses, with the sweet raspberry flavour counteracting the sourness of the lemon and giving

Image credits: No Revisions via Unsplash

Hidden Gem: Dore Dore Bakery Cafe review Yii-Jen Deng

Food & Drink Editor

t is easy to miss: a little bakery café in a modest building on New Inn Hall Street, with a plaintive sign showing a smiling chibi-style baker. Despite living just round the corner, I only spotted Dore Dore at the end of Hilary term and, one sunny morning, decided to give it a go. The atmosphere is cosy and relaxed, helped by the old-fashioned house with its wood beams, as well as various sofa chairs arranged in a homely manner. I was surprised to find that it also had upstairs seating, and was charmed by the whimsical décor, with cheerful pictures, cute wall decals, and a shelf of books to browse. I especially liked the series of kawaii animal designs – rabbit, bear, cat – along the staircase, which leant a friendly playfulness to its air. Though the café is two minutes away from the bustling environs

of Westgate shopping centre, it is peaceful enough to suggest a nice studying space, and indeed there were already several students tapping away on their laptops when I arrived. Dore Dore specialises in Chinese and Japanese desserts, particularly celebration cakes, several elaborate models of which are featured in the small display window; such cakes are lighter and softer than their English counterparts, and tend to favour cream rather than icing. Themed birthday cakes are a popular choice, with examples including Harry Potter and Pikachu, often embellished with vibrant fruit. But they also offer a variety of treats, such as mochi, red bean buns, and tiger rolls, in addition to a breakfast selection of salads and sandwiches. I was very tempted by their coconut bunnies – they looked so sweet (in both senses!) with their delicate pink noses and pensive expressions, almost too adorable to eat. I opted for a mocha coffee (£2.80) and a Japanese cheesecake (£3.00). They have the option to add special latte art for an extra 80p; you can show them a photo from your phone and they

will magically transpose this to your coffee. For now, though, I enjoyed my mocha – it cannot beat the likes of Jericho Coffee Traders, but was lovely all the same. The slice of cheesecake however was a bit underwhelming. I have read other positive reviews, so perhaps I happened to get an odd one out: it seemed too thick, unlike the airy, soufflé-like texture which such cheesecakes ought to have. They should be wobbly and fluffy but mine was distinctly un-jiggly. On the other hand, the wife cake (£1.60) with its sweet and chewy filling was delicious. It’s really more like a pie than a cake; this kind of flaky pastry (also found in mooncakes and sun cakes) is a great favourite of mine, and Dore Dore’s did not disappoint. They’ve added a hint of coconut in the candied winter-melon paste, giving it extra flavour, while the pastry was baked to a beautiful golden colour and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I would have liked to see more vegetarian and vegan savoury options; they had some gorgeouslooking buns just out of the oven, but they contained chicken or pork. And the wonderful fragrance of bakery cafés – the warm smell of fresh bread mixed with the

subtle aroma of roasted coffee – was for the most part curiously faint. Still, the variety of desserts to choose from is wonderful, and offers a change from most eateries in Oxford. As an independent café that opened just before lockdown and managed to survive the pandemic, I admire the evident love and care taken in its creation, and will be back again. The prices are reasonable, the space comfortable, and the food seems tasty. Each baked good has been individually wrapped since to help stay safe post-pandemic. Perhaps next time I will try one of their lattes, if only for the fun of seeing a picture of my dog appear in coffee, and to study while enjoying strawberry mochi and chocolate cake. Image credits: Yii-Jen Deng

25 | Pink

Pink

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Editors: Agatha Gutierrez Echenique (senior); Jessica De-Marco Jacobson, Jessica Kaye, Kian Moghaddas (section) oxstu.pink@gmail.com

Fear and Loving: Reflections from a Trans Person Agatha GUTIERREZ ECHENIQUE

e hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicilty protected by any constitutional provision.” The bed in my room is cold. Distantly, someone laughs in the hallway of the Angus building of Regent’s Park and a door slams shut loudly. The sound, as per usual, rattles through the entirety of the floor. “...exceptionally weak…” “...egregiously wrong…” I turn over on my back, finding that my chest is too constricted to keep reading my phone screen on my stomach, with my head propped up on my elbows. When I’m done reading the Politico article of Justice Samuel Alito’s initial draft of the majority opinion to strike down Roe v. Wade, I can’t help but to share the article with a few cutting remarks on Alito’s moral character added on. It does nothing – it doesn’t even really make me feel better. I set down my phone – feeling something large and yet totally inexplicable blooming in the center of my stomach. Now what? I think. Now what? A notification noise startles me from my haze. I hadn’t even noticed I had closed my eyes, much less even let go of the phone. It is one of my best friends – the person who made me realize I was even trans to begin with – liking my post. The little interaction prompts a bit of reciprocal online liking and sharing between our two accounts, before she finally just texts: “Slow news day, huh?” I have to laugh. If the worst should come to pass, both of us, as exceedingly queer individuals, would be pretty fucked. There is very little to be done about it, realistically. We can discuss, in

between ourselves, whether we ought to invest in real estate now or keep our funds more liquid, should we need to flee from one state to the next, or whether real estate itself offers a good jumping point from whence to flee. And we do, in fact, do that. But it’s mostly fear and trembling. It’s the feeling of: I don’t even know what to do. We don’t have much to say from each other – apart from these practical considerations of should-I-stay-orshould-I-go-now? Still, as I talk to her, I think: this is what I’m here for. The world is bad. And I am but a little thing of flesh and blood, full of fear and worry. But here you are too: another little thing of flesh and blood. And even if there’s not much we can do about the external circumstances we find ourselves in, we can at least be there for each other. I’m not happy about the state of the world. Being here at Oxford – in this prestigious academic setting – while the Ukrainian civilian death toll is reported to be higher than official counts, and while my right to health care, both trans-related and otherwise, back home is fundamentally threatened – feels sort of like I’m stuck in a fever dream. I write an essay about why it rains according to Aristotle, and all the while I’m thinking: and what about when I run out of hormones? And who is dying now? And now what? Now what? Now what? Fear-fearfear. And in between drafts of my essay I send what I hope are causal sounding messages to my gynecologist. My phone pings. It’s her again. It’s a nothing text – it’s a ‘the-washing-machineswere-occupied’ but it could have been ‘my-shirt-is-blue’ or perhaps ‘I’m-drinkingEnglish-breakfast-andthought-of-you.’ Still I think, I’m so glad it’s you. And I

think of the poem, Song of the Anti-Sisyphus: that the scientific articles say that ‘passionate love/lasts only a year, maybe two, if you’re lucky/Because I want to be extra, extra lucky…’ Extra, extra lucky with you – the

occupied watching machines, the cups of English breakfast, the little blue and grey text message blobs, the fear and loving in the face of a bad, bad world. I have no advice to give, this time around. Nor do I

have the energy to engage in witty political commentary. I just think that people should find someone they care about in times like this. All we have in the end, is each other in our boring, wonderful particularity.

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

26 | Gen Z

EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Blane AITCHISON Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G f you’ve been living under a EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z rock, then you might not be GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN aware that the MET Gala reZ GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE turned to our screens once again N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G earlier this month. If you haven’t EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z been living under a rock, then you GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN might have noticed that the MET Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE Gala has somehow continued to decline in quality and has now N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G reached new lows that seemed EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z previously unreachable. GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE But how has one of the most N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G fashionable events in the celebrity EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z world lost its sparkle? GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN In short, I would argue that it Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE comes as a result of the designers N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G and celebrities being unwilling to EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z engage with the gala itself. GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE One of the ways that the MET Gala tries to keep itself fresh N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G and interesting is by having a EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z theme that changes every year. GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN These have ranged from “Manus Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE x Machina: Fashion in an Age of N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G Technology” in 2017 and “HeavenEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z ly Bodeis: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” in 2018 to “Man and GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN the Horse” in 1984 and “Diaghilev: Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE Costumes and Designs of the BalN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G lets Russes” in 1978. The theme EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z serves to inspire the designers of GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN the styles, colours and accessories Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE that they should use, and therefore the theme forms the crux of the N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G gala. So why is it then that fewer EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z and fewer celebrities seem to stick GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN to the theme every year? Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G The worst offenders are the men EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z who ignore anything that’s even vaguely interesting in favour of a GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN boring black suit. Bearing in mind Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE that the gala is also an opportunity N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G for designers to get their names EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z out there, or to show off new ideas, GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN it makes little sense for the designZ GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE ers to continue to dress the men in N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z G EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN EN Z GE GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE

Is the MET Gala falling apart at the seams?

such bland suits when they could be showing off their new menswear collections, or doing something interesting or subversive, or (god forbid) fashionable? Other times, celebrities arrive on the red carpet wearing something that bears no resemblance to the theme at all. For example, in 2019, the theme was “Camp: Notes on Fashion”, asking designers to create extravagant, over the top and crazy outfits. Because of this, when Karlie Kloss teased her MET Gala look with a cryptic Instagram post, many people expected big things from her dress. In the end, she wore a short gold cocktail dress with puffy black sleeves. One tweet compared her dress to a Twix.

“One tweet even compared her dress to a Twix...’” This inability to stick to the theme raises so many questions: Why didn’t they stick to the theme? Did the designer misinterpret the theme, or is the deviation deliberate? Does the celebrity not feel embarrassed about not fitting the theme? Do the designers not read the articles that slate outfits that don’t fit the theme? Another issue is the guest list. The power of the celebrity is undeniable, and therefore, inviting the right people to the gala, and then having their outfits displayed in the Costume Institute could draw in thousands of visitors (It is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, after all). With

this in mind, the Met Gala guestlist has frequently been questionable, with controversial figures Ivanka Trump, Hilary Clinton and Gwyneth Paltrow all having been invited in the past, and yet, stars like Adele, Meryl Streep, Britney Spears have never graced the red carpet despite their popularity. In 2021, the MET’s red carpet was swamped with internet celebrities like Addison Rae, Emma Chamberlain and Dixie D’Amelio, much to the dismay of many Twitter users. However, even if celebrities are invited, getting them to show up is another issue altogether, suggesting that the stars who choose not to accept their invites see the gala as a waste of time or an unenjoyable experience, so maybe the parts of the gala that go unseen by the public are putting celebrities off going back. In conclusion, it seems like the gradual worsening of the MET Gala is the result of several issues that are now becoming too obvious to ignore, and unfortunately, it would take a lot of coordination between the celebrities, designers and the people who organise the gala. Perhaps the way forward is a stricter dress code and the threat of being kicked out if the outfit doesn’t fit the theme. Or maybe the whole concept of the MET Gala should be reconsidered. In a time when the cost of living is rising so quickly and the environment is on its last legs, do we really need to have celebrities partying in designer outfits at an event where (in 2019) the tickets cost $35,000 and a table cost between $200-300,000 in order to raise money for the largest art museum in the Western hemisphere?

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

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

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

OXYOU

Diary of an Oxford Student Elsie Clark THURSDAY: 10am: Wake up. Hungover. Can’t remember what was drunk at Park End the night before. Doesn’t bear thinking about. Return to sleep. 11am: Wake up again in cold sweat, having remembered that tute is at 10am tomorrow, meaning essay must be written today. 2000 words by 5pm. Thought so repulsive I spend an hour panic-scrolling on TikTok desperately waiting for clouds of hangover to disperse. They do not. 2pm: In the library. Have written the title. Time for a quick break. 3pm: Wordle done. 4pm: Really must get on with essay now. Only 1676 words to go. 5pm: Desperately email tutor telling essay will be slightly late due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’. 8.45pm: Submit essay. Determine never to write an essay in such panic or be hungover ever again. 9pm: Go to pub with friends, but definetely not going to Bridge. Have tute at 10am tomorrow. FRIDAY: 9.30am: Hungover once again. Fuck. 9.32am: Check bank account. How did I spend £30 in Bridge yesterday? Who was I buying drinks for? 10am: Manage to arrive on time for tute. “Thanks for the drinks yesterday,” says tute partner. 11am: Tute partner disgustingly lively during tute despite all the drinks consumed yesterday. Look like a tit in front of tutor in comparison. Make terrible analogy between Julius Caesar and Elon Musk that the tutor hates.

BEST OF Rordon Gamsay

OxYou | 27

3pm: Having the afternoon off to celebrate hard work on essay yesterday. Next essay not due until Tuesday. Plenty of time. SATURDAY: 10am-12pm: Go to café to study with friends. Spend more time complaining about working than working. 2pm: Tesco trip. Exhibit saintly behaviour by avoiding the biscuits on Clubcard discount and buying only what is necessary. Basket full of vodka, hummus, and an interesting looking yoghurt from a brand I think is new. Ooh, Mini Rolls. 4pm: Run into annoying overachieving friend who smugly says that they’re ‘ahead on work’ and are just going for a ‘stroll round Uni Parks’ before lacrosse practice and a play rehearsal later today. Hate this productive and happy person. SUNDAY: 10am: In the library to work. Open academic PDF – it is 60 pages long with no abstract. Contemplate running away and joining a circus. 12pm: Check reading list. Tutor has set an entire book and double starred it. Find book in library – it is 200 pages long. Contemplate running away and becoming a professional ventriloquist. 4.30pm: Should really get started on this book. Quick check on Facebook first… What’s happening on Oxfess… 5pm: Really MUST get back to work. 7pm: Exhausted by effort of contemplating doing work. Order Deliveroo and promise to do better tomorrow. MONDAY: 9.30am: In library. Really must get down to it today and write the essay. 11am: Bored. Someone is breathing too loudly in the corner. Can’t concentrate. Will do my laundry as a productive break.

7pm: Convinced by hack friend to actually use overpriced Union membership acquired in naive haste in Freshers’ Week. Join the long queue to see notable speaker/ famous celebrity. Waste a lot of time standing around. Think gloomily about how much reading could have done in that hour instead. 8pm: Chamber has filled up and won’t let us in so have wasted my time. Write off the rest of the evening out of frustration. TUESDAY: 10am: Lecture from important and notable fellow whose work was on the reading list last week. Realise in horror only at the end that have spelt their name wrong throughout the entirety of previous essay. 11am: Really MUST complete the new essay. Have the other one to read for as well. It’s fine, stay calm, stay calm. 3pm: Somehow manage to write the essay. Arguments are half baked but that will have to do. Feels wrong to email essay with apology attached so say that I ‘struggled with some of the week’s concepts’ instead. WEDNESDAY: 9.30: Oh God. SO much reading and essay is due tomorrow afternoon. Tutor has not starred any articles on the list. Absolutely loathe them in this moment. 2pm: Run into an ex-Tinder match on Cornmarket Street. Try to avoid them but they spot me and say hi. Fail to pretend I hadn’t seen them already by studiously looking into the window of Gregg’s. Encounter is embarrassing and regretful. 5pm: Fit of madness leads to the purchase of a Park End ticket. I’m not going to achieve anything else today anyway. 3am: Oh, Soloman’s… I love you so… THURSDAY: 10am: Wake up. Hungover. Remember that tute is at 10am tomorrow, meaning essay must be written today. 2000 words by 5pm. Oh God.

HAT DOES YOUR STASH SAY ABOUT YOU?

Jonah Poulard

College Puffer This is the most widespread stash, owned by everyone who isn’t desperately trying to avoid looking ‘basic’. If you’re alone in a college puffer, no one cares unless it’s really hot outside. The issue comes when three or more students are spotted in *matching* college puffers. You are not a pack of coyotes, nor coolly subverting the social mores about college puffers. It just looks cringe, and a bit threatening. Let’s not even speak about their use outside of Oxford… Boat Club stash You don’t need Oriel College Boat Club trackies for people to know you’re a bit strange and bad at socialising. And no, we don’t care that you were one bump away from blades. See online for the rest!

THE ROAST

MEAT-FREE MONDAYS: CHRIST CHURCH STUDENTS FACE ADVERSITY FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE SCOUTS STOPPED DOING STUDENTS’ LAUNDRY Students of Christ Church turned their hand to important matters of democracy this week – a group of undergraduates have begun a protest at the highly distressing experience of their Hall having a Meat-Free Monday each week. It has been suggested that this mandated consumption of vegetables has seen the welfare of students reaching record lows.* Rordon went to the scene of the revolt himself to discover more. I dread Monday every week now, and not just for the normal reasons,’ one student told Rordon. ‘I’ve never faced any sort of hardship before; I just don’t know how to cope with being forced to eat vegetables once a week. I’ve been reduced to ordering in £56 filet mignon steaks just to keep my iron levels up.’ Reports are showing the meat section in St. Aldate’s Street Tesco has been wiped clean

by these students desperately panic-buying to see themselves through each painful Monday. Rordon hopes they will be able to keep fighting the good fight, and find the courage to survive these terribly trying times. *data compared to a survey conducted after the caviar course was removed from the college’s formals

BREAKING: OXFORD STUDENTS PIONEER THE CALCULATED CRY Oxford students have long had a history of stress and mental health issues, but a pioneering new study is currently being trialled on them this term to try and delay 5th week blues into at least 6th week. Taking inspiration from the idea of the tactical chunder, common at other universities up and down the country, the technique relies on so-called ‘calculated cries’. Rordon Gamsay spoke to one student who confessed that the technique was having a revolutionary impact on her studies: “I only have a breakdown once a week nowadays!“

It involves students deciding to deliberately have a cry over minor problems so that they can force themselves on for more of term. Described as “inspired” and “life-saving” by tutors unable to cope with their students’ inability to cope, Rordon is sure the scheme will be implemented on a wider scale in the future.

SHOCK: SIMPKIN FURIOUS AT SHARING TOP 40 BNOC NOMINATION A certain feline member of Hertford College was found in the lowest of moods on Friday morning upon discovering that although he had, naturally, been awarded the highly lucrative title of Cherwell’s Top 40 BNOCs, he has

been forced to share the position with his Exeter counterpart and rival, Walter. It seems his generations-long reign as Oxford’s favourite cat is over. Reports are saying Simpkin has since gone completely off the rails – “I’ve never seen him like this,” a Hertford student told Gamsay. “He’s been out until the early hours of the morning every night – there’s even a rumour he’s developed an addiction to-” here the student lowered their voice in horror – “catnip.” Gamsay will continue to keep a close eye on this unfolding story – he knows the status of our city’s feline hierarchy is a vitally important matter for all OxStu readers.

OxYou OxYou Plus Plus

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

the Dean of Hearts

is back in business, baby! Dear readers, It has been an entire pandemic since I saw you last, and now I return: your Dean of Hearts. I have disappeared for nearly two years, making my initial debut in Trinity 2020, and now I re-emerge two Trinitys onwards. But I shall emphasise that no quandary is too small, no dilemma too delicate for myself to unpack. Many a lockdown has passed but many of hurts pangs remain the same: Tinder is a mess, Christ Church is a no go zone, and no, he is not a softboi... he is a lothario who sees you as merely a conquest. Not to worry, like every 7th week hack message, I am back, and better than ever. Send in your woes to oxstu.editor@gmail.com for my consideration.

OxYou Plus| 28

Tinder Troubles... and the Sweet, Sweet, Serenade of Oxford Softbois Ladies and gentlemen, the same genius minds that once brought you our beloved, “In Conversation with an Oxford Fuckboy”, article from 2021, are now proud to announce that we have decided to officially work in partnership with @oxford_ softboi_texts from Instagram.

all just constantly amazed by the sort of messages and profiles we’d see on Tinder, and thought it would be something worth documenting for the sake of a good laugh,” the admins replied in response to the OxStu editors.

“Definitely, we’d be more than happy to partner with the When approached by the OxStu :) It would be a great opOxStu editors, the admins of portunity to feature this univerthe Instagram account found sity’s finest specimen of (mostly) themselves pleasantly sur- straight white men,” they added. prised and taken aback by the fact that their meaning- With that being said, we have less shitposting has man- given the honour to our Editor aged to make such an impact. in Chief, Elias, to choose some of his favourite submissions “Honestly, the Instagram to be featured in the OxStu’s page initially started as a joke Softbois official debut. This amongst our friends. We were is what Elias has had to say:

“This week’s softboi highlights contain some exchanges very close to my heart. Whether it be the conservative PPEist dabbling in French existentialism, the dude who finds humanities particularly arousing, or the champion of equality cheerleading a proud woman in STEM... the Oxford Softboi is a key personality at this university, and one that we want to showcase.”

– Elias, 2nd year, proud STEM student & straight man.

So here are some of our Editor’s Picks™ for this week’s carefully curated selection of Oxford Softbois... This is probably the most quintessentially Oxford thing to say. We are genuinely speechless and at a loss for words. At least he’s upfront, and if anything, we genuinely admire his honesty. “I once dated a man who studied Engineering, and I can promise you that they are absolutely NOT normal!”

Yours sincerely, the Dean of Hearts xoxoxoxo

– Anonymous member of our Editorial Team

Frankly,we think this one definitely takes the cake. It is bold, it is incisive, and it is absolutely original – we’ve never seen anything like this before. And we most definitely don’t mean that in a good way...

SciTech Desalination on Demand: MIT’s new

SciTech |29

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

Editors: Emily Hudson, Yexuan Zhu scitech@oxfordstudent.com

device fighting water scarcity

n the lush and bountiful river valleys of the UK, it is difficult to imagine that for many, fresh water is a scarce and valuable resource. The need is only becoming more dire as time goes on, with the climate crisis creating an even greater disparity between rising water demands and dwindling supply. To use a common expression, water is quite literally drying up – leading to huge infrastructural challenges, especially in regions of North Africa and the Middle East. 2018 saw Cape Town, South Africa, facing a water supply crisis, which had been predicted the previous winter. Crises like this one will become more frequent, as rising temperatures make drought more likely. Since then, experts have been counting down to “Day Zero”, when the water supply will run out entirely. Through severe rationing and tightening of (literal and proverbial) leaks in the system, Cape Town was able to push the date into the rainy season, but as sea levels rise and freshwater tables fall, this will prove increasingly challenging in the coming years. In light of this, engineers are turning to technology to mitigate the worst effects of water scarcity. There is rich irony in the fact that countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are surrounded by gorgeous seas, with none of the water being safe to drink. Converting saltwater

to fresh water is a reasonable solution to this problem in such locations. Desalination technology works by turning salt water into clean drinking water and, as of 2019, is responsible for converting around 95 million cubic metres of water per day. Around 42 percent of the UAE’s water supply is provided by 70 major desalination plants. Fresh water is needed, not only for civil use, but also for agriculture, and is utilised most extensively in highly populated areas with low rainfall. There are a few different ways to remove salt from water, with thermal desalination and reverse osmosis being the most widely used on industrial scales. Thermal desalination works by distillation, wherein seawater is heated until it evaporates, leaving the salts behind. The fresh water is then condensed on a cool surface and in this way is separated from the salt. This basic principle is employed in various processes tailored for efficiency. Reverse osmosis relies on chemical separation of the seawater by passing it through a series of membranes which allow water molecules through but not salts. Reverse osmosis is the dominant desalination technology at present, but it is not perfect. It is, however, nearing its maximum efficiency, as engineers have tweaked and improved the process over decades. Researchers are perpetually looking for ways to make the pro-

cess cheaper, more energy effective, and environmentally sustainable. Moreover, water scarcity is not an issue that affects only highly developed countries like South Africa and the UAE, and therefore, it remains important that the solutions are made as cheap and accessible as possible. The main challenge in desalination comes from the immense energy cost involved. In the case of countries with low access to seawater, the cost of transporting fresh water from elsewhere may be equal or even lower than the expense of desalination. However, desalination is an effective solution for many countries, and it is here that it is the most important to make the process sustainable. The importance is twofold: it would be tragic that, in efforts to curtail effects of the climate crisis, the energy used worsens it. There will always be a minimum energy required to chemically separate the salt from the water – the goal of researchers is to get the actual energy used as close to this lowest value as possible, and for this energy to come from sustainable sources. This generally means solar power, but mechanical energy from coastal waves and traditional hydroelectric power also contribute. Dubai plans to make all of its desalination plants solar powered by 2030. Although, as mentioned previously, desalination is used by whole countries to solve large infrastructural supply issues, desalination is also utilised on an individual level.

by Emily HUDSON

Small-scale, portable desalination devices can be useful for communities isolated from centralised supplies or as aid for refugees in the aftermath of natural disasters. It is possible for desalination to occur directly from solar power with heat from the sun distilling the water. However, this is diffi-

“Small-scale, portable desalination devices can be useful for communities isolated from centralised supplies...” cult and time-consuming to do, so scientists at MIT have taken a different approach. Researchers have created what appears to be the perfect solution to small-scale desalination needs, using a new technique which converts salt water into fresh water using electricity. It is the “culmination of a ten-year journey” for the researchers, who have collaborated on the project, based at MIT, from their respective universities across the US. The senior author of the paper, published in Environmental Science and Technology, is Jongyoon Han. Unlike many portable desalination devices, this unit runs on a process, pioneered by the research group, called Ion Concentration Polarisation (ICP). There are no filters in this technique, so none that would need replacing, greatly increasing the lifetime of the device whilst reducing the demand on resources. Alongside desalination, this device can be used for general water purification, as its technology

works on bacteria and viruses as well as it does salt. The principle behind ICP is to apply electricity to membranes on either side of a channel of water, which attract particles, depending on their charge. These particles can then be removed from the channel and siphoned away from the purified water. The ICP method does face one small challenge: Not all salts in the middle of the channel are removed. The research group utilised a second process, called electrodialysis, to remove the remaining impurities. The completed device is formed of a combination of the two techniques, with the setup optimised using machine learning. Because none of the processes require large amounts of water or energy to be efficient, they could be scaled down to a portable device. The advantage of this combination over more traditional methods is that, as well as not requiring filters, the water does not need to be pumped at high pressure. The energy used in the device that has been developed is comparable to a mobile phone charger and as such is a perfect candidate for being powered in a sustainable way – such as solar cells. One thing the research team prioritised, when developing this device, was making it user-friendly. The purification process begins at the push of a button and automatically stops when the salt levels in the water have reached an acceptable value. The quality of fresh water produced from this device exceeds safety standards defined by the World Health Organisation. That said, this is still in its prototype stages; but even this is very promising.

Green A Def initive Guide to

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

30 | Green

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

Second Hand Formal Clothes

all season – on top of weeklyfomals, launch events and 21st’s – is once again upon us in earnest, and for some, this is the first time we’ve ever experienced the glamour (and the price tag) of an Oxford ball. Oxford balls seem to foster a certain Brideshead Revisted-esque longing in its attendees. The allure, the drama and the seduction of Waugh’s presentation of the dreaming spires seems to coalesce on these nights – or at least in the expectations of those in possession of a ticket. Maybe it’s wishful thinking of £240 well spent, or maybe there really is something of Waugh’s vision of Oxford in the air. Whatever it may be, balls (and other formal occasions) are expensive hobbies despite the frequent promise of an open bar (double shot cocktails who?). Importantly, they are not only expensive for your personal Monzo account, but also for the environment, especially the outfit.

From a broader perspective, improv ing accessibility of second hand shopping is also essential for transitioning to a circular economy, in which items such as formal dresses (and the garment workers who produce them) can no longer be treated as disposable. As avid scrollers on Depop, Ebay and Vinted, as well as a former charity shop volunteer (Charlotte), we present you with our hot takes on second hand formal wear as a way to reduce your climate impact, and look great doing it (formal or no formal). We are by no means experts, merely devoted enthusiasts, and so before diving into the suggestions, we offer a disclaimer: being able to shop secondhand is a privilege that not everyone has access to. Consider the time commitment, financial constraints and lack of plus size clothing options that shopping second hand often entails. On top of this, attending events such as balls, garden parties and formals often requires significant financial commitments, a price not everyone is

willing, or able, to pay. Although shopping second hand often provides a cheaper alternative to sourcing clothes on the High Street, this is not universally true and so we encourage you to refrain from lecturing (and judging) others on their consumption habits. With that being said, on to the suggestions!

Oxford Ball Gown Swap and Shop A staple for shopping (and renting) second-hand in Oxford. Sellers post their available items here multiple times a day, with photos, sizes, and prices. Renting an outfit typically costs between £15-20 a night. We would recommend dropping sellers a message on Facebook a few weeks before an event, or creating a saved folder of future dress options on Facebook to avoid disappointment. There are some great dresses here, and you don’t want to miss out!

Let’s Share our Clothes If you’re looking to borrow a ball dress for free, Let’s Share our Clothes may be your best bet. Typically, people post the items they require (providing photos for inspiration) and hope that someone has what they’re looking for. Pro tip: We’ve found the more active you are in the group (i.e. offering others to borrow your dresses), the more success you will have! This group can be hit or miss with item availability, so again, it’s best to post ahead of time.

Depop, Vinted and Ebay Undobtedly, the holy trinity of second-hand websites. Personally, we are Depop girls, but the gentrifying influx of drop shippers and sellers flipping charity shop items for double their price means that we are slowly moving towards Vinted. If you haven’t heard

Green

The Oxford Student | Friday 13 May 2022

31 | Green

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

of Vinted, think of it as Depop’s understated younger sister; i.e., less ‘Depop Girlies’ and more ‘shopaholic who is clearing out their closet’. Vinted is also generally much cheaper, doesn’t have a selling fee, and allows clothing swaps! It may seem less userfriendly at first, but persevere, as there are some real gems to be found! For a first time user, navigating these sites and finding secondhand clothes that you actually like and which fit you can feel daunting, so here are some specific tips to get you started: If you’re in doubt over the style/fit/colour clothing you want, start with online (or in store) brands that you are familiar with. Find items that you like on the brand website, and for which you know the rough sizing, then search for them second-hand afterwards. When searching on Depop/ Vinted/Ebay, filter for specific sizes, price ranges, and item condition before you start browsing. Use key words such as brand name, specific item name, or type of pattern (for instance: ‘off the shoulder Zara maxi dress’ or ‘black midi dress with slit’). If you can’t find it on one site, try the others!

Have a quick look at seller ratings to determine whether it’s worth buying from them. Anything below 4.5 stars is generally a red flag for scams, although reading the reviews may give you an insight into how trustworthy the seller is. Look out for drop shipping. Items which are ‘brand new with tags’, take 2-3 weeks to arrive, or seem to have hundreds of reviews despite being called ‘unique’ are almost certainly drop shipped. These are items which have been bought in bulk by the seller from websites such as AliExpress and resold at a significant markup. These will often be poor quality, arrive late, and are incredibly unsustainable. Message the seller. Ask for estimated postage time, whether they do returns, or if an item is true to size. Formal outfits can often be a significant investment, so don’t be ashamed to pester a seller to understand if it will work for you (you could even try and haggle the price down a bit!).

Vintage shops in Oxford Although few and far between, vintage shopping in Oxford is a somewhat of a mecca for retro gems and one-off pieces. It can also be an experience to say the

least, so prepare yourself for a bit of walking, a lot of rummaging, and the occasional opportunity for some bargaining. 1. Reign Vintage on Cowley road is a London based vintage icon which has branched out to Oxford. It’s a spacious and inviting shop, making it great for beginners, although it can be on the pricier side for certain items. Nonetheless, a noteworthy option and a great springboard into the world of vintage shopping in Oxford. 2. Situated on St Clements,

Ballroom Emporium is the

go to destination for some serious vintage. This establishment has been around since 1984 and specialises in ball gowns and formal wear as well as having an impressive costume department. The Ballroom Emporium is not to be missed when on the hunt for a show stopping ball outfit! 3. The Unicorn is a treasure trove nestled away on Ship Street and is as piled high with clothes as it looks from the outside. The Unicorn is run by a particularly eccentric lady, so expect erratic opening times, prices based on how much she deems you personally should pay, and much left to be desired in the

way of a changing room. All this being said, you will find some of your new absolute favourite clothes in this warren that are more often than not, at a very reasonable price. Like I said, this is an experience that is perhaps not for the faint hearted. While we hope these recommendations are more than sufficient to get you started on your vintage shopping journey, our Style Team has written a great guide purely dedicated to vintage shopping spots in Oxford and we really recommend you checking it out if this has whetted your appetite for all things retro....

Further Advice: Alterations. Whilst not necessarily a top tip for purchasing second hand clothes, it’s important to consider the possibility that the item you have purchased (using our ultimate guide), might not fit. If this is the case, alterations can be a lifesaver. They generally cost between £10-£20 depending on the changes required, the style of the dress and the materials used. Our top recommendations for formal dress alterations in Oxford are:

Bespoke Alterations (Jericho) and Stitch Tailoring (Covered Market) and Wash and Sew (St. Clements). With the clothes resale market growing at a rate 11 times faster than that of traditional retail, there’s no doubt that sustainable fashion is here to stay. The future of sustainable formal wear in Oxford looks promising. Alongside the rise of resale websites and marketplaces, College run clothes swaps and secondhand sales are becoming evermore commonplace (and provide an excellent way for ball committees to reduce their wider environmental impact!). Hopefully this guide has inspired you to find your next ball outfit from a sustainable source. After all, nothing looks as good as saving the planet feels.

Article written by Charlotte Maddinson and Katie Hulett.

32 | Sport

Friday 13 May 2022 | The Oxford Student

Sport

Sports-Washing and American Owners:

A Conversation with a Football Industry Insider

Joe Sharp

Sports Editor

sat down with an anonymous source who has worked in the football industry for nearly 20 years to ask the two questions Chelsea fans have been pondering since early March – how does sports-washing work? and are American owners really that bad? *** In early March of this year my football

club, Chelsea FC, were sanctioned by the British Government. Their owner, Roman Abramovich, is described as Putin’s ‘favourite son’ and indeed, it was this close relationship to the Russian regime that led to Chelsea’s asset freeze. This article does not seek to explore the politics or legalities of this process. Despite all my tribal instincts, one has to accept that this was a necessary and poignant action on behalf of the British government in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. A good decision. However, what I will explore are the consequences of this process. Indeed, Chelsea fans, including myself, have faced two fundamental questions…. have we fallen into the trap of sports-washing? and what does the future hold for our football club? These two avenues of discussion have both been prompted by the Chelsea fanbase’s responses to the sanctions; the embarrassing heralding of Roman Abramovich as some sort of ‘victim’ in this process . His name continuing to be sung by a certain, balding, Caucasian, gold teethed, Brexit loving sect of the fanbase has made me confront the realities of sports-washing. Similarly, the near apocalyptic panic of fans on social media over the prospect of having American owners as a result of the impending takeover of the club as led me to wonder if they are really as bad as they are made out to be? Speaking to a source who has worked in football for nearly 20 years, with great insider knowledge, I sought to alleviate my fears and become enlightened on the realities of football ownership, but more importantly – Chelsea. It is important to note from the offset that sports-washing is a broad subject. My source was keen to stress that in regards to sports-washing one needs to look beyond football, with the F1 and the Olympics being major sporting bodies also guilty of promoting this practice. Indeed, there is seemingly an inevitability surrounding it. The circumstances of the selection processes of host cities make it inescapable. My source outlined how unfortunately federations like the IOC call on their host countries to pay for everything while simultaneously exploiting the sponsorship and media rights, to keep the money, emphasising that it means there is little financial motivation for these host cities. Hence, we have World Cups in Russia and Qatar, Olympics in Beijing or F1 races in Saudi Arabia. The conditions of selecting these

host nations means most countries, willing this regard- a Chelsea fan of almost 20 years chanting the name of a man who is directly to spend the money required, have a dif- who only now has decided to think critically involved in the invasion of a sovereign naferent motivation – that of enhancing their about sports-washing. This is what we get tion and the murder of thousands of inreputation. Sport is high profile and putting as a result – a bunch of Americans seeking nocent civilians. on a World Cup or F1 Grand Prix provides profits or other foreign parties seeking to “The sport has been besmirched, we must act to stop society from a useful route for states to cover-up their strengthen their reputation. It is high time “The sport has been besmirched, going the same way” political or social misdeeds. Poignantly, to my source it seemed a near we decide which of we must act to stop society from We have to accept laughable myth that governing bodies are these is worse. that our football clubs going the same way” there for the good of the sport. Most of these “…to my source it have been treated like federations are run for the good of the presi- seemed a near laughcommodities for decdent and those who surround them. Finding able myth that governing bodies are there ades now. Nonetheless, fandom is inherhost-nations who are willing to take on such for the good of the sport.” ently irrational, it is a passion driven lifea responsibility without any financial imHowever, my source swiftly pressed me style. It subsequently distorts fan’s view of pulse allows for these governing bodies to on this assumption – are American own- what’s happening, who’s good and who’s hold onto their profits and disperse them to ers really that bad? Should they be seen as bad. We, British football fans, have to take retain votes. Interestingly, my source noted evil? They went on to outline that if British a step back and recognise the wider picture. that this is what made the Super League an football is going to be opened up to outside Though American owners, like the Glazers, interesting concept, as it threatened to take investment, this is a near inevitable conse- might be lambasted as parasites sucking away this power. quence. We have two options: we are either the money from Manchester United, this is Hence, we are forced to ask: what about at the whim of owners who make money what happens when a cultural cornerstone the fans? Sadly, as my source was quick to a near farce, throwing it about without a of our society isn’t protected by our governemphasise, there is not much room for fans concern; or r we will have owners who will ment. Bad owners come in. However, in the in this issue. It seems, treat it like a business long-run I’d still rather have ‘bad owners’ it is only really the ...to my source it seemed a near investment, seeking like the Glazers, as opposed to allowing our government that can laughable myth that governing to make profit in the football clubs to be tools for political games. combat this……hurrah! bodies are there for the good of long-run. We do not want ownership of a club to allow Once again, in a near In many ways, Amer- for fans’ view on the elementary notions of the sport. inevitable cycle, one ican owners – or any good and evil to be warped by success on a must turn to the govowner who seeks a football pitch. Nowadays there simply exists ernment to find the key source of the issue. financial incentive, rather a image based two choices for Premier League clubs – to So, what can our British government do, or one – are the only reasonable solution to be run for profit or disguise. have they done, to combat owners taking sport-washing within football at the ownFootball is a messy and depressing subject – over our clubs and using them as tools to ership level, within the framework of Brit- even more so when framed within the British enhance their reputation? Disappointingly, ish football currently finds itself in. People model of club ownership. For fans like myself it seems this very issue has come about like myself must accept that it is better for who pretend to see football clubs as more than due to the government’s lack of action. The society to have owners who will come in just teams who play on the pitch, but as pillars British government has never really cared and seek to sell off the club in the future of community, there is no happy solution. The for football. Consecutive governments have for more than they paid, than those who sport has been besmirched, we must act to stop disregarded the sport and British clubs’ come in to cover up the muddied waters society from going the same way. Sadly, most position in the football community. They of the state they represent. I’d personally likely, nothing will change. These issues are have failed to protect it from outside invest- rather have my club owned by a Boston long-term – they have big consequences, but ment, and ultimately aren’t we to blame?! based investment firm, who may not throw they take time to develop. As long as most fans Fans have only really cared about success money around in the same way, but whose keep watching great performances they’ll rather than integrity. I speak for myself in ownership will at least not lead to my fans probably never care.