The Oxford Student - Week 5 Michaelmas 2023 by The Oxford Student

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Michaelmas Term, Week 5 | Friday 10 November 2023

OXFORD STUDENT The

The University of Oxford’s Student Newspaper, Est. 1991

Activists protest Ben Shapiro’s Union appearance

The Oxford Student News Team

protest took place against the controversial right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro appearing at the Oxford Union. The group involved activists

from “Stand Up to Racism”. Beforehand, they laid out Shapiro’s controversial views in a statement, calling him “a racist, islamophobic, climate-change denying, transphobic, homo-

phobic, anti-Palestinian bigot”. Students had queued all along St Michael’s Street and around the block to hear Shapiro speak. However, only 200 people were in the Union

Protests calling for “Ceasefire Now” held in Oxford Valida Pau

wo protests took place last week calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, attracting large numbers of students and locals. This is a response to the Israel-Gaza war, where Hamas attacks on 7th October claimed 1,400 lives in Israel and the Gaza health ministry has reported at least 9,488 deaths in the resulting conflict. Hundreds of people gathered

at Broad Street and the Radcliffe Camera on 4th November, including former Labour councillor Jabu Nala-Hartley. Speeches were given outside the Weston Library in support of Palestine. An argument briefly broke out when a passer-by shouted to the protestors to “recognise the state of Israel”, leading to police intervention. The Oxford Trades Union Council resolved to back calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, so Read more on page 5

anyone who has been affected by the ongoing conflict.” In the chamber, Shapiro made controversial remarks such as “[anyone] who draws comparisons between Israel and the Hamas is a Jew-hater” and that “[he] will absolutely not condemn [the killings of Gazan civilians by the IDF operations against Hamas]”. On the conflict, he held “[civilian] casualties are a necessary cost of war”, dismissing a question on the issue from a Union member with a comparison to the fact “[more] German civilians died in WWII than Brits”. Shapiro’s views on the IsraelPalestine conflict, including controversial remarks such as “Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage”, have become especially controversial in light of recent events. A number of protests have taken place in Oxford responding to the crisis in recent months. A former Union officer told The Oxford Student that Ben Shapiro was “disgusting”, and he believed that the Union was creating controversy Read more on page 4

“

St John’s is delighted to announce the future of the Eagle and Child as a pub and iconic landmark has been assured

“

Credit: Cameron Samuel Keys for The Oxford Student

chamber, with the upper level restricted to ensure that there were no potential threats. In Trinity 2023, an activist glued themself to the ground while Kathleen Stock spoke on trans rights and gender at the Oxford Union. The protestors chanted “Oxford Union here us say, hate speech no way”, “Ben Shapiro we know you, you’re a racist through and through”, and “Oxford Union you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide”. SU VP Mia Clement was also present at the event, seen holding a sign that stated “Freedom for Palestine” and joining chants saying “Israel is a terrorist state”. Clement has previously protested at the Oxford Students for Life (OSfL) Freshers’ Fair stall, and at Bonn Square against government policy on transgender people. On Clement’s appearance, the SU commented: “Mia atmore on in page 3 tended Read the protest a personal capacity, not in the capacity of a Sabbatical Officer. Oxford SU supports everyone’s right to freedom of speech, and we will continue to do so. We stand in solidarity with

- St John’s College bursar on the sale of the Eagle and Child to the Ellison Institute of Techology

2 | Editorial

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

THE EDITORIAL TEAM

EDITORS IN CHIEF Emily Hudson and Charlie Bowden ASSOCIATE EDITORS Tara Earley and Martin Alfonsin Larsen

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Amy Ellis Winter STRATEGY Rose Henderson (director), Milo Dennison, Ayomilekan Adegunwa NEWS Daisy Outram, Blane Aitchison, Etienne Baker, Gaspard Rouffin, Tasneem Jodiyawalla, Milo Dennison, Rose Henderson COMMENT Jack Arrowsmith, Haochen Wang, Tasneem Jodiyawalla, Thomas Cowan PROFILE Martin Alfonsin Larsen, Lukas Seifert, Jack Arrowsmith, Holly Errington PINK Etienne Baker, Amelia Gibbins, Charlie Wild, Lauren Gray IDENTITY Sami Jalil, Georgia Ferris, Ivy Wong, Amelia Gibbins FEATURES Haochen Wang, Patrick Groves, Elliot Francolla CULTURE Jennifer Robinson, Johannah Mathew, Liz Lane, Declan Collins FOOD & DRINK Tara Earley, Johannah Mathew GREEN Jasmine Wilkinson, Gaspard Rouffin, Jessica Wang SCITECH Bridget Harrington, Tymoteusz Syrytczyk, Samkeet Shah, Gabriella Kchozyan OXYOU Olly DeHerrera, Florence Purcell SPORT Patrick Groves, Purav Menon, Thomas Thornton, Charlie Wild COLUMNISTS Blane Aitchison, Paul Furey, Matthew Holland, Jonah Poulard, Vuk Winrow, Amanda Li CREATIVE Amy Ellis Winter, Charlotte Kerr, Cameron Samuel Keys PODCAST Tara Earley, Ashley Lee, Niall Hall, Sam Freeman, Holly Gowland, Cindy Yu

ifth week is hard, but our editors work harder, battling through rain and illness to put together a paper I couldn’t be more proud of. It’s been a pleasure to watch the team come together this term, to see friendships form and confidence grow. We tried team building – at Junkyard Golf (other crazy golf courses available) – but found the team already built, and Rordon Gamsay was doing something strange so I didn’t want to look too closely at that. This was followed by a trip to Atik (other clubs available), which was fairly sparse; all the more room for Charlie’s dance moves.

Usually an editorial is the space to share a lighthearted anecdote, a comment on events, a little piece to make you think. I hope that this is at least some of those things. So here I will simply hope that your fifth week was as good as it could have been, that you still found the time to laugh with your friends and share a little autumnal joy. Work is hard, life can be hard, and it is friendships that make it worth it. I’ll take this time to thank all the editors and as always, Rose and Milo. Especially Charlie. Tara is an unsung hero for her work on the podcast, and Martin has put hidden hours into curating our newsletter. I would also like to thank Anton, Rhienna and Peter (you know who you are) for their support and encouragement in unprecedented times. Two weeks to go until my final editorial – but more importantly, two weeks until Oxmas!

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Emily Hudson

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From the Editors

ow being an Atik dancefloor veteran, OxStu lay in doesn't seem all that tiring anymore. Michaelmas is slipping away into a moment in time quicker than August ever did, and today we've begun the search for next term's editors. For now though, you're stuck with Emily and I for another two editions. I'd like to thank every member of the editorial team this week for making the laying in process less painful this time around. I'm almost sad that I only have one more edition to put together after this. Emily deserves all the thanks

in the world for being so on the ball this week. Martin also deserves a lot of our gratitude for helping out with laying in News this week. Tara is, as ever, working dilligently on the podcast and thanks to Daisy and Olly for providing entertaining contributions over the past two weeks. Daisy, Rose and Milo also did a great job running the News workshop earlier this week. Christmas is fast approaching, according to my Spotify playlist and November advent calendar (sue me, also thanks Rose for giving me the idea). In case anyone's wondering, Kate Butch is still doing well on Drag Race UK, but I might have already regretted saying that depending on what happens on Thursday - yesterday for all you losers who don't put the paper together in the SU on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Charlie Bowden

Jesus College

n an effort to pre-empt fifth week blues, OxStu headed out to Junkyard Golf for a night of intense competition. Jack deservedly took home first place, but credit must also go to Rose for her superb social sec skills. The evening was a nice reminder of why it’s good to leave the SU every now and again, and that even outside of the paper, we actually do all rather like one another. It's quite an honour to work with such an inspiring team, and even better to get to call them friends. My thanks this week must go to Haochen for keeping me sane throughout the last fortnight his feature on podcasting is a great read this edition. Enjoy!

Tara Earley

Hertford College

30 14

very time we reach the middle-point of an Oxford term, I find myself asking the same question: what is the cure to fifth-week blues? In my case, it clearly must be editing the Profile section, writing a newsletter, and redesigning social media posts. All kidding aside, I really hope that you enjoy reading Profile as much as I enjoyed editing it. Lukas has succeeded in editing 80 minutes of conversation into a spectacularly reflective piece in less than 6 hours, and Holly has shed light on an issue I hadn’t even considered, due to my college being so secular. This week has highlighted that, more than ever, editing is a privilege.

Martin Alfonsin Larsen St Catherine's College

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

editor@oxfordstudent.com

News | 3

NEWS

@TheOxStu

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The Oxford Student

Vigil for peace takes place on Broad Street

Contents News - p. 3 Comment - p. 8 Profile - p. 12 Identity - p. 14 Pink - p. 15 Columns - p. 16 Features - p. 20 Culture - p. 22 Green - p. 26 SciTech - p.27 OxYou - p. 29

Credit: Cameron Samuel Keys for The Oxford Student

Daisy Outram

Food & Drink - p. 30 Sport - p. 31

To find more online, scan the QR code

Illustration: Jonas Muschalski

Head of News

ivic and faith leaders joined a vigil on Broad Street on 5th November at 5pm calling for peace amidst the Israel-Gaza war. Supporters included Oxford City and Oxfordshire County Council leaders, district councils, and leading figures in local faith communities. Attendees were encouraged to bring candles and reflect on those impacted by the conflict. The vigil was “open to all, irrespective of faith or background, who wish to come together peacefully and respectfully”. This follows the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft, and Imam Monawar Hussain hosting a meeting for faith and community leaders. They discussed losses and hostilities from the Israel and Palestine conflict. Croft commented that it is “vital in this moment of crisis for communities to come together across Oxfordshire in solidarity with those who are suffering and to reach out to one another”. Hussain expressed how hostilities “perpetuate the vicious cycle of violence, killing and revenge”. Thus, a “path of peace, reconciliation and healing” is

needed. Croft thanked people for joining this “vigil of lament and prayer”. He clarified this was not an event for “disharmony and division” and discouraged waving of national flags, chanting, and heckling. Police and stewards were present at the event, with their main focus being controlling the crowd to maintain access to the cycle path. Leader of Oxford City Council Councillor Susan Brown said Oxford is “rightly proud of our welcoming, diverse and compassionate city”. Therefore, those “grieving for loved ones” or “experiencing fear in our city as a result of international events” needed the “peace and solidarity” of today’s vigil. Brown set out that the community must “ensure that hate and prejudice have no place” in Oxford, which was met with applause from the crowd. MP for Oxford West and Abingdon Layla Moran said that she was there to “share [her] grief, [her] sorrow, but also [her] hope”. Moran’s mother is from Jerusalem, and she told the crowd of the “deep grief” she felt at the Hamas attacks and the subsequent deaths now reaching 10,000 in the conflict. Rather

than having to pick a side of the conflict, she encouraged attendees to choose the “side of humanity”. On the vigil, she commented that it is “vital that we have an opportunity to come together as a whole community, stand shoulder to shoulder in support, and call for peace”. Representatives of the Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, and Buddhist communities also attended. They spoke of the need to recommit to “peaceful living” and wished for “courage and wisdom” in world leaders. The crowd joined the Buddhist chant “nam-myohorenge-kyo”, which is a pledge to not yield to difficulties and suffering, as well as having a spiritual protective function. Attendees lit candles and took a moment of silence before Croft closed the event praying for “peace in our hearts, peace in our homes, peace in our nations, peace in our world”. He also thanked the council, police, and university for the support. Lyrics of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” were sung in between speeches, with the final words “Yes, and how many deaths will it take ’til he knows that too many people have died?” concluding the tone of lamentation.

4 | News

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Activists protest Ben Shapiro’s Union appearance The Oxford Student News Team

Cont. from front page

for controversy’s sake”. A protest organiser stated that he decided to protest because Shapiro “supports hate speech.” He added that “Israel has put Gaza into an open-air prison […] multiple human rights organisations have realised that, and yet he keeps telling people to have this idea of Arabs and Palestinians, as well as trans people.

He is just a hateful person.” He also added that Shapiro “pretends that he is in support of freedom of speech, but he has mobilised haters from all around […] and yet, we see people coming here to listen to him, and we say no more.” He also stated that he wanted to make people aware of the “genocide happening in Palestine”. Another participant in the protest said they were there “on behalf of the Palestinian

people” and cited statistics of those “killed by Israeli strikes”. They criticised Shapiro as a prominent supporter of Israel in media appearances, so attended the protest “to stand against anyone that says that Israel is just defending itself”. One student attempted to vault the Union fence and was met with immediate police intervention. Speaking to The Oxford Student, she gave

Kevin McCarthy debates US interventionism at the Union Gaspard Rouffin

News Editor

n the 28th of October, the Oxford Union hosted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to debate “This House Believes US Interventionism Has Done More Harm Than Good”. McCarthy is a Republican politician, who served as speaker of the House of Representatives from January 2023 October 2023. He was voted out on the 3rd of October, just a few days after the publication of the Oxford Union’s term card. In March and April 2023, McCarthy sparked major US foreign policy controversies by refusing an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and inviting Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, leading to significant Chinese military exercises near Taiwan. The debate started with roasts of the opposition, including the hope for McCarthy that “this house has more confidence in him [than the last one]”. They also joked that “[this is the] last time he will be speaker of the house for a while”. Speakers even poked fun that the Union “only needs one ballot to make a decision, not 15” in reference to McCarthy’s election as speaker, which took 15 ballots. The first speaker of the proposition, Jenny Heath, started by saying “with great power comes great responsibility”. She then demonstrated that the US had failed its foreign policy objectives, and had even in fact aggravated local and global tensions. She concluded with the statement: “Peace at the expense of innocent lives is no peace at all”. Leo Buckley, the second speaker for the proposition, argued that the “more harm than good” motion set a low

bar. He pointed out that McCarthy’s bill reduced funding to Ukraine, a relatively uncontroversial recipient of US aid. Buckley presented a printed 58-page document detailing American interventions since WWII and accepted a point of information on its length, answering that the US had more foreign interventions than the British Empire. He also criticised US interventions primarily serving its self-interest in promoting “neo-liberal capitalism” to benefit the wealthy. The third speaker, Aryan Dhanwani, told the story of the United Fruit Company in Guatemala, and of the “Banana Massacre” in Colombia. Dhanwani memorably brandished a banana during his speech, and said “God knows how many coups the US has failed”. The fourth, Alex McGovern, stated “the US supports democracy as long as the country supports US interest”, and that US interventionism was always selfmotivated. The first speaker of the opposition, Peter Chen, started his speech by asking if we wanted the US to pursue an isolationist policy, and named positives of non-military US interventions, such as food and vaccine programmes. The second speaker, Democrat Jim Himes, argued that the US is an “indispensable nation” on the world stage, and that the definition of intervention should encompass both hard and soft power.. He asserted that without US intervention in WW2, there could have been “concentration camps in Edinburgh” and a nuclear bomb strike on London. Himes also emphasised US support for Israel, stating that “Israel shares the values of the US and everybody

in this chamber”, which was met with a mixed response. The third speaker, Frank Luntz, delivered his speech without notes. Luntz is a political communications consultant, who notably wrote a report titled “Israel’s Global Language Dictionary” to create a more favourable impression of Israel and US foreign policy in the media. He spoke nostalgically of his time in Oxford, particularly as a member of the Union. In that time, he counselled Boris Johnson during his election as Union President. His speech mocked Donald Trump on multiple occasions, said he was happy to have democrats and republicans on the same side of a debate, and encouraged the audience to drink to “freedom, peace, prosperity, and protection”. He also claimed that when the US doesn’t act, the world looks and asks why not, using the genocide in Rwanda as an example. Finally, the much awaited speaker Kevin McCarthy took the stand. He began engaging with the audience asking whose first language was German, Russian, or Italian. In reference to US involvement in WWII, when the majority showed their first language was English McCarthy said “you’re welcome”. The former speaker made a historical comparison to foreign affairs today, pointing to similarities with the 1930s, with Iran, Russia, and China being an “evil axis of power”. He concluded “peace without freedom is meaningless”, that America gives lives for others to have freedom, and that America is “more than a country, it’s an ideal”. The motion “This House Believes US Interventionism Has Done More Harm Than Good” did not pass in a close call with 175 voting against and 160 in favour.

several narratives behind her action, eventually stating that “[she] wanted to protest”.

Credit: Cameron Samuel Keys for The Oxford Student

SU launches new Environmental Affairs campaign Etienne Baker News Editor

ollowing approval at Student Council in 3rd week, the new “Environmental Affairs Campaign” is set to join the existing eight student-led SU campaigns. The focus of the campaign is to “serve as a platform for students to engage in dialogue, advocacy, and action regarding social and environmental justice”. On Tuesday 24th October a motion was passed at the Student Council meeting for the creation of an “environmental affairs campaign for social and environmental justice”. This would work alongside various other SU campaigns such as the Women*s Campaign and Class Act. The motion outlines that this will come into effect in 7th week, with the constitution being presented at the next Student Council meeting. The motion was introduced by Mia Clement, current SU VP for Activities and Community, and outlines that the campaign aims to “foster student engagement” in environmental justice and action. It goes on to say that the objectives of the campaign will be “organising educational events on environmental

and ethical issues”, as well as “spearheading sustainability initiatives within the university”. The campaign aims to “provide a platform for engagement and networking with individuals sharing similar ethical concerns”. Potential questions around funding were also raised in the meeting, with one participant inquiring about “managing potential funding crises for other campaigns” given the proposal of a new campaign. From this, ring-fenced funds and “exploring proactive methods for financial resources” were both discussed, as well as noting the “sizable budget surplus available for this initiative”. It was also mentioned that the campaign will “predominantly focus on environmental aspects of social justice”, which will give it a “unique focus” existing alongside campaigns for other issues of fairness and equality. There are multiple groups currently in Oxford focusing on climate activism, such as the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign and Just Stop Oil, who recently made headlines by throwing orange paint on the Radcliffe Camera. The motion passed with 33 votes for and 1 against, and now has a page set up on the SU website.

Credit: Lawrence OP via flickr

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

Protests calling for “Ceasefire Now” held in Oxford Valida Pau News Editor

Cont. from front page

a representative addressed the gathering. The organisation supports the national TUC statement which emphasised a “road to a just peace in Israel and Palestine”. After the protest on Broad Street, protestors gathered in Radcliffe Square at around 1pm. A speech written by a doctor in Gaza was delivered on his behalf. A medical professional who heard from doctors in Gaza also shared an account of a young girl brought to the hospital unrecognisable due to her injuries. A list of names of healthcare workers who have lost their lives in Gaza was read out, followed by a poem and a moment of silence. The group of protestors then lined up outside Radcliffe Camera and held names of those killed in the recent conflict along with signs spelling out “Not A Target”. That protest follows one on 1st November, where reportedly around 1,500 protestors marched through Oxford towards Bonn Square. At the meeting point, a speaker stated that they

marched “as the voice of Palestine” “[they] march today as the voice of Palestine” in order “to end the siege on Gaza”. They sought “[full] restoration of Palestinians’ rights and civil liberties in their homeland”. Chants included “By the dozen by the million we are all Palestinian”, “1234 occupation no more, 5578 Israel is a terrorist state”, and “What do you want? Ceasefire. When do you want it? Now.” The chant “From Oxford to Gaza, mobilise the intifada” was also reportedly attempted once without a reply. This follows Oxford Jewish Society’s statement earlier this week condemning this “call to violence” due to its history of terrorism and potential to encourage “targeting of Jewish and Israeli residents of Oxford”. Protestors gathered at Bonn Square around 6:30 pm and a flare was let off while speakers renewed calls for a ceasefire. These protests follow others earlier this term, with one criticising the University for receiving funding from arms manufacturers.

News | 5

Student Council forces SU President to U-turn over rules change Rose Henderson and Milo Dennison News Team

ollowing a heated discussion at Student Council, the Council has voted to restore the majority of its old rules and seek an explanation from the SU President about the changes made to them by the SU Trustee Board over the summer. The motion, which was amended slightly so as to keep the number of Student Council meetings at 2 per term, passed with 33 votes for, 13 against, and 2 abstentions. The passing of the motion means that Student Council’s official position is that the Trustee Board acted outside of its remit in forcing through changes to the rules. The decision will mean that all rules in place at the end of Trinity 2023 will now remain in place, apart from the decision to move from four meetings to two. This restores the ability for extraordinary meetings to be called and for emergency motions to be submitted. SU President Danial Hussain will now also be forced to make a report to the next meeting of Student Council on how and why the changes were carried out. At the meeting, sabbatical officers claimed that four meetings a term required too much work from them and the SU staff. Nick Harris, VP Postgraduate Education and Access, said that staff and sabbatical officers were “bordering on burnout.” Harris also confirmed that the vote had taken place online via emails between the members of Trustee Board rather than a meeting. Mia Clement, VP Activities and Community, said four meetings a term as opposed to two put the SU “under pressure.” As Trustee Board’s vote on the new rules took place

online, it is unclear whether Student Council will be able to access these emails as ‘minutes’ of the meeting. Minutes of Trustee Board meetings must be uploaded to the SU website, but they haven’t been since April, violating article 40.3 of the SU’s Articles of Association. Rosalie Chapman, VP Welfare, claimed that the sabbatical officers had been told that there had been consultation with people involved in Student Council and JCRs when they voted on the new rules. The Oxford Student has learnt that not all JCR Presidents were consulted, and many SU Campaigns weren’t asked at all. The old rules had only been put in place at the end of last Trinity after a working group made up of student volunteers produced a new set of rules that were passed at the last Student Council meeting of term. Theo Sergiou said at Student Council that it felt like “overnight [these rules] got taken away.” One of the members of the working group described their efforts as “months of unpaid volunteer time.” Harris said he had not been aware of the working group until the Student Council meeting this week. Niall Pearson-Shaul, the proposer of the motion, commented to The Oxford Student: “The result of the vote in Council is a vindication of the principles in the Motion, in particular, the declaration that the Trustee Board acted beyond its powers in amending the rules. I am pleased that common room and campaign delegates, representing those whose voices were threatened by the decision, joined me in asserting the Council’s right to control its own procedure: a cornerstone of our student democ-

racy. Though the motion was ultimately amended to accommodate Council meeting only twice per term this does not affect the underlying principle of the motion and merely represents a voluntary concession to the concerns of Sabbatical Officers which, in my mind, remains under consideration pending the President’s report on the process informing the decision, which comes due at the next meeting of Council. I encourage Common Room and Campaign delegates to commit themselves to making two meetings per term work, not conceding Council’s democracy to accommodate the change, but actively working to ensure full and thorough representation despite it. I myself look forward to working within the Steering Committee to cultivate a truly representative student democracy for years to come.” The SU commented: “We were grateful and open to hearing feedback on the motion during Student Council and we fully support the democratic function of this body in providing a space to listen and platform student voices and views.” The meeting, which took place under the new rules, took over three hours to complete, raising concerns about the length of Student Council under the two meetings per term system. There will only be one further meeting of Student Council this term. The rule change also makes it more difficult for no confidence motions to be passed against sabbatical officers. A motion has to be brought to two consecutive meetings before a referendum can be held, meaning that any no confidence motions submitted now could take until February 2024 to resolve.

6 | News

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Central Oxford Mosque issues statement on Islamophobic attack Tasneem Jodiyawalla

News Editor

petrol can was reportedly thrown over one of Central Oxford Mosque’s walls on 28th October in what has been classified as a “hate crime” by police.

Central Oxford Mosque issued a statement regarding the attack, which was reposted by Shaista Aziz, excouncillor for Oxford Labour, on Twitter. It describes the incident as an “Islamophobic and terrorist attack”, where a “lone terrorist” threw a red petrol can over the mosque’s gates with the words “IDF RULE” and “IDF” written on it, referring to the Israel Defence Forces. The mosque thanked Thames Valley Police for their immediate response. They also urged community members to “remain vigilant”, and said that the attack was likely

to have been provoked by the display of Palestinian flags around the mosque which show the community’s “unwavering support” for the people of Palestine. The statement expressed that this “attempt to scare [the community] will not work”, and that the mosque will “continue to exercise [its] democratic right and show solidarity with the innocent Palestinians being massacred indiscriminately and illegally”. Thames Valley Police reported no casualties from the incident since the can was empty, but expressed it “may be related to the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza”. Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Deputy Inspector James Holden-White said: “We are working with the mosque and local community to reassure them of their safety following this unacceptable in-

cident, as well as conducting further patrols in the area”. “Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and all other racial and faith-based discrimination will not be tolerated in any form”. Oxford Labour Leader Susan Brown and MP Anneliese Dodds said that they “stand with the Muslim community in Oxford in condemning this cowardly act”. Earlier this month, the Oxford Four Mosque Forum (a group of four Oxford mosques) called upon these same politicians to distance themselves from Keir Starmer’s comments regarding Israel’s “right to defend itself”,

which provoked the resignation of numerous Labour councillors in Oxford. In response to these resignations, Susan Brown had said: “Labour fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself from the indefensible actions of Hamas, to rescue hostages and protect civilians in line with international law”. The Four Mosques statement says: “We call on both Susan Brown and Anneliese Dodds to immediately distance themselves from Keir Starmer’s hateful words and call on them to demand Starmer apologises for his inhumanity towards the Palestinians”.

Credit: abby chicken via Flickr

Labour loses Oxford Council majority after ninth resignation Valida Pau News Editor

he Labour Party has lost its majority of Oxford City Council after a ninth councillor resigned from the party over Party leader Keir Starmer’s comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Starmer’s comments on 11th October held that “Israel does have that right” when asked whether cutting off water and electricity supplies in Gaza was a proportionate response. The Headington Hill & Northway councillor Barbara Coyne is the latest to leave in protest against Keir Starmer’s stance on the war in Gaza. This comes after six former Labour councillors, Imogen Thomas, Edward Mundy, Paula Dunne, Duncan Hall, Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini and Jabu Nala-Hartley all resigned on Friday 27th over the “Labour leadership’s refusal to condemn collective punishment of Palestinians.” The group of six joined two councillors Shaista Aziz and Amar Latif, who announced their resignations on 14th October. Labour is now left with a minority leadership of 23 elected representatives, with 25 in opposition. It marks the

first time since 2010 that the Party did not hold a majority on the Council. In a statement, Councillor Coyne said: “That the Labour leadership continues to issue hollow statements as we watch a genocide unfold before our eyes is, in my view, unconscionable.” “I have resigned from the party because I can no longer stand with a leadership that claims to value international law, human rights and equality, but will not condemn clear violations of these by Israel, and call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. “Self-defence does not justify crimes against humanity; no violence against civilians should be condoned.” Although she confirmed she

would be sitting as an independent, she informed Council Leader Susan Brown that she “does not wish to join any other groups on Oxford City Council and [sic] intends to vote with the Labour Group.” On Thursday, Shaista Aziz and Amar Latif formed a new Independent Group after they resigned as Labour Councillors. Aziz, who also resigned as cabinet member for safer communities, will be official group Leader. When asked why they made the decision to stay as independent councillors, Aziz told the Oxford Mail that “We’re trying to change the direction of the ruling of the city council.” On representation, Aziz held that though they “were Labour councillors” it was also true that “people also voted for [them as individuals] as

well”. Latif expressed that they would be “working constructively with elected members, all stakeholders across the City, and residents to serve the people and communities of Oxford”. A spokesman for the Oxford Labour Party responded that “That is a matter for them.” and the Labour administration “will continue to serve local residents, delivering on the manifesto pledges that Oxford residents voted for by a large majority.” Labour’s divisions deepen after more than 20 Labour councillors resigned following Keir Starmer’s comments. He has since tried to clarify his comments saying that Israel had a “right to self-defence”, but this did not mean humanitarian aid for Gaza should be withheld.

Credit: A K M Adam via Flickr

Badger cull protest at Merton Blane Aitchison News Editor

he Oxfordshire Badger Group protested outside Merton College on 31st October, timed for when the college held a talk by Professor Rosie Woodroffe called “Badgering – the quest for science-based management of bovine tuberculosis”. This follows a protest at the Department of Biology in September, with the silent demonstration calling the University of Oxford out as the “intellectual home of badger culling”. In 2014, high profile protests against the badger cull took place in the city centre. The group hoped that Oxford’s scientists will “accept new evidence that continuing the cull will not help farmers control bovine tuberculosis (TB)”. Linda Ward, a Trustee of the Badger Group stated “Professor Woodroffe and other scientists from Merton College and Oxford University cannot stay silent when their original research is being used to justify killing nearly a quarter million badgers”. Mrs Ward had previously estimated that 60% of an area of the country west of Banbury had become a “killing zone” of badgers. She also commented that “Professor Woodroffe and other scientists from Merton College and Oxford University cannot stay silent when their original research is being used to justify killing nearly a quarter million badgers”. Julia Hammett, the chairwoman of the Badger Group, said, on behalf of the group “we hope Rosie will support bringing the cruel and ineffective badger cull to an immediate end”. Bovine TB is a chronic bacterial disease that affects the respiratory system. It mainly affects animals like cattle and badgers, but can be transmitted to humans by drinking unpasteurised milk from an infected cow, or contact with an infected animal. Professor Woodroffe has studied badgers and bovine TB for over four decades, and the talk discussed her part in disease management and how the science behind the disease impacts policymakers. Badger culling has taken place in the UK since 2011, when schemes to curb bovine TB cases started. Controlled shooting of badgers was then trialed in Gloucestershire and Somerset in 2013 and 2014.

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

News | 7

SU Sabbs don’t show up to ask SU Sabbs anything event Milo Dennison and Rose Henderson News Editors

ot a single SU Sabbatical Officer appeared at their well publicised event outside the Radcliffe Camera on 28th October. The event was due to be held between 13:00 and 15:00 on Saturday 28th October, but between these hours no Sabbatical Officers appeared to answer students’ questions. At 14:22, the official SU Instagram account announced that a SU Vice President was on their way, but The Oxford Student can confirm that by 15:00 no Sabbatical Officers had turned up. There were students in attendance hoping to ask questions who were thus unable to do so.

The event was publicised on numerous accounts, including the official SU Instagram account, the SU President’s Instagram story, and the OxUniStudents account, all of which stated that the event would be happening from 13:00-15:00. The SU President announced an updated start time of 14:00 at around 13:30 today, after the event was supposed to have started. At the previous “Ask us anything” event, when The Oxford Student asked the SU President Danial Hussain about changes to Student Council, he repeatedly declined to comment, instead simply staring silently at The Oxford Student’s reporters. This came despite earlier as-

sertions that he was keen to be open and transparent with the student press. A rule change passed by the Trustee Board makes it more difficult for no confidence motions to be passed against Sabbatical Officers. A motion has to be brought to two consecutive meetings before a referendum can be held, meaning that any no confidence motions submitted now could take until February 2024 to resolve. The SU told The Oxford Student, “We apologise to any student who came along to the Radcliffe Camera whilst a Sabbatical Officer was not present on Saturday. This initiative is still new for the SU and we are welcoming all of

Historic Eagle and Child Pub to reopen Charlie Bowden Editor-in-Chief

he Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) has purchased the historic Eagle and Child pub on St Giles’ from St John’s College, with plans to refurbish and open the space to the public. The refurbished pub will provide separate meeting spaces for Ellison Scholars and EIT staff and faculty members, as well as being a general recreation space for members of the public. A restaurant will be added to the existing pub space to improve its food offerings. Designs for the Grade II Listed pub’s refurbishment will be led by Norman Foster and his team at Foster + Partners. It will be the first pub to be designed by the world-renowned architect. The Eagle and Child first opened in 1684 and is known for hosting the Inklings writers’ group in the 1930s and 1940s. World-famous authors C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were notable members of the Inklings. The pub was forced to close its doors in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In June, the Oxford Mail reported that St John’s College was attempting to reopen the pub via a search for new management and that they were “nearing the end of [that] process”. The move now follows EIT beginning construction on its new campus in Oxford, set to open in 2025. Dr David Agus, Founding Director and CEO of the El-

lison Institute of Technology, said of the purchase: “The Eagle and Child pub is a truly historic venue that has hosted some of the greatest minds Oxford has had to offer for over 300 years. “We are humbled and proud to be able to safeguard this treasured pub’s future and continue its legacy as a place for brilliant people to come together, including for our Ellison Scholars. “The Ellison Institute of Technology is delighted – through the acquisition of this beloved space and the construction of our new Oxford Campus – to be able to put the city at the heart of our mission to help solve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity.” Zoe Hancock, Principal Bursar of St John’s College, said: “St John’s is delighted to announce the future of the Eagle and Child as a pub and iconic landmark has been assured through the sale of the

property to Ellison Oxford Ltd.” “The Eagle and Child is an iconic Oxford pub with a history dating back to the 17th century and St John’s has been pleased to play a small part in its story. As an educational charity the College will be looking to invest the proceeds from the sale to focus on its charitable purposes, most particularly in relation to ensuring that we continue to attract the best students, irrespective of their background or ability to pay, and to give them the opportunity to study and succeed at St John’s and the University.” EIT intends the Eagle and Child to be a collaborative space for Ellison Scholars to work on projects to “invent, improve and manage the next generation of technology” with the wider University community.

Image credit: irene. via flickr

the feedback that students have for us. We are looking forward to developing this

event as term continues to allow students an opportunity to engage with the SU.”

Image credit: Cameron Samuel Keys for The Oxford Student

Oxford City Council launches new community platform Tasneem Jodiyawalla News Editor

atch My Project, a free online community platform developed in 2021, is being launched in Oxford. The scheme helps businesses come together and collaborate for social value by allowing community members to post requests for resources. Requests can include advice on a project, technological resources, or funding. When a business fulfils a request, it can claim delivered social value on council contracts. Since its launch, over 7000 businesses and community organisations have registered, and 262 projects have been facilitated through this platform. It is currently used by nine contracting authorities in England. Businesses can also post to offer their services, such as apprenticeships, training, and other resources, which are available for request from educational institutions and community organisations. The Council will help promote the website to the different organisations and communities which might benefit from the scheme. The platform scores suppliers based on their demonstration of commitment to supporting the local economy. By offering training opportunities, paying at least the Oxford Living Wage, and using resources which are locally produced and sourced,

suppliers will rank higher in the procurement process. This opportunity is open to any Oxford business, not just City Council suppliers and members. An online launch event was held on 7th November at 2pm. Susan Brown, Councillor and Leader of Oxford City Council and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Economy and Partnerships, commented on the way this scheme would help make the city’s economy fairer: “Match My Project Oxford is a great way for local businesses to help us do this. By partnering with local community and charitable organisations, they can directly support local residents and reinvest money back into the city’s economy.” The founder of the project, Dan Ebanks, also expressed his anticipation for the project launch, especially regarding the way in which the scheme will help innovate collaboration and social value: “We’ve long held the view there is untapped innovation in the local community sector. It has a deep understanding of local civic challenges. It is directly plugged into the local networks. It is often best placed to problem solve – but for a lack of capacity.” “Match My Project removes this barrier. Our platform makes it easy for businesses to support community organisations that are themselves helping local people and delivering local, place-based outcomes.”

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Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Deputy Editor: Jack Arrowsmith Section Editors: Haochen Wang, Tasneem Jodiyawalla, Thomas Cowan comment@oxfordstudent.com

HS2: The story of Great British decline Image Credit: Hitachi

Jacob Hill

o much for “Great Britain”. Looking back at the last fifteen years we may as well be “Stagnant Britain”. From the Mongolians to the Venetians, the first symptoms of a crumbling state are found in its public infrastructure. The United Kingdom is no different. The HS2 story is but another in a tale of poor investment in public services in Britain. The abandonment of HS2 amounts to an almost criminal offence toward the British taxpayer. So much for the Northern powerhouse, so much for Scottish integration, so much for progress. Britain has fallen out of love with economic growth. Our economy is the worst performing in the G7 and has not grown in real terms per capita beyond 2007 levels. The average Briton is no better-off now than they were 16 years ago.

“From the Mongolians to the Venetians, the first symptoms of a crumbling state are found in its public infrastructure.” With our Western peers outgrowing us, the cause can only be structural. Economic stagnation traces back to improper investment into the public need – whether that be transport, local councils or community projects. This process of destruction began with Thatcherism and ended with austerity. Our economic decline can be directly mapped to our inability to deliver on key infrastructure projects. Far from our great road, rail and energy projects of the past; we now struggle to

finish something as simple as a 14-mile relief road. Rishi Sunak is just another Prime Minister at-odds with what will benefit the economy, despite his promises otherwise. HS2 is merely another pawn in a Tory war on prosperity. Its abandonment has been mobilised, like an extraordinarily expensive weapons platform (the failed Ajax programme comes to mind), by Rishi Sunak against the growth of the British Economy. The origin of the decimation of Britain’s railways is the failed experiment of privatisation. In 1994, an embattled Conservative Government took it upon themselves to crown Thatcher’s wishes by selling British Rail into private hands. Unlike British Airways, however, the sale of British Rail could never seek to generate proper competition – it would never work, not even in theory. Railways can only facilitate a single train at any one time. Railways consist of popular profitable routes and unprofitable routes serving smaller communities. Railways require large upfront investment to make progress. Air travel never had these issues. British Railways should’ve never been put into private hands. If I were a businessman in 1994 and wanted to take advantage of the new rail liberalisation policy, my rail start-up could surely try and bring in a new competitive route from Leeds to London? Sadly, it couldn’t. The line would already be in use for another service. Even if I could secure a spot on the line, I’d have to win a contract from the government. The companies that win government contracts are granted exclusive rights to some of the most profitable routes for an extended duration of time. Private rail companies are therefore (and by design) state-

subsidised, foreign-owned, profit-maximising monopolies. They exploit the taxpayer by reaping egregious subsidies to run their lines, all the while exploiting the commuter with exuberant fares in the name of private profits. Not to mention that any profits are now removed from the economy and

“(Private rail companies) exploit the taxpayer by reaping egregious subsidies, all the while exploiting the commuter.” sent to the foreign rail owners. The Spanish and French Governments receive profits from British railways, but the British Government doesn’t. Rail subsidies have increased dramatically since privatisation and show no sign of slowing. Despite the necessity to bid for, and fulfil, contracts, rail companies still collect government subsidies to help them run unprofitable lines. Modern British transport infrastructure is built on the assumption that people will use a variety of transport means to travel. Those on high-speed lines into central London will commute by train not car, those in rural communities will commute by car, not train. The railways, like motorways, are a public service and one that was carefully designed to be used proportionally. When rail was put in private hands, the government also gave those same hands a large customer-base with no alternative transport means. Those living in “commuter-line” towns couldn’t easily just drive to work if prices rose. After all, we can’t

magic-up new roads overnight. Therefore, if prices rose, and they did, people had no other choice than to pay more. Private companies win contracts, people pay more for tickets, the government still pays subsidies, taxes rise, investment falls, service worsens, private companies win contracts and so on and so on the cycle goes. Privatisation created this cycle of despair, one which was emulated in many other state industries and local services. The result is a hollowed-out public sector. An obsession with private ownership seems to stem from the love affair Britain has with the United States. Yet the so-called “special relationship” seems rather unidirectional. After all, I’ve never heard Americans fantasise over the British political system. The United Kingdom is not the United States, nor will it ever be. They are structurally, politically and socially distinct. However, neither is the United Kingdom mainland Europe. Privatised industry has a place in Britain where it doesn’t in its European counterparts. Privatisation was never going to work for the railways or energy providers, but it did work for the airlines and oil companies. Telecommunications privatisation has been a success, whereas water supply privatisation has been a failure (see the Thames Water fiasco). British public policy used to be defined by a clear rationale and prudent decision making in order to navigate its European and American influences. Yet, it seems that the British political system is now steeped in partisanship and ideology. This is the political change that brought about rail privatisation and is the one that continues to tear apart our public sector. Such episodes of decline have been seen before. The government sought a solution; a new high speed rail line was one such

solution, and a good one at that. To be the envy of the world 200mph, 18 trains an hour, sections up to Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow – a new UK mainline (the first since the 19th century) was the government’s silver bullet. As continual minor rail improvement schemes failed in delivering real change, it became clear the country needed a new mainline. The government itself tacitly admitted it made mistakes in

“Privatisation created this cycle of despair, one which was emulated in many other state industries and local services.” privatising rail as it drew up the plans for HS2. A state-owned operator would run the line. It would be fully electrified and stop at key developing towns and cities. It would run through to Scotland to bring the UK closer together and charge affordable fairs to get cars off the road. The Conservative Party admitted its own failings and covered them by investing in a new rail project. However, one by one, the Jenga pieces that made up the HS2 project began to fall. First, costs ballooned as stories of mismanagement surfaced and the need to hide the line from rural Conservative voters by digging trenches became a political reality. Next, lines to Leeds and Sheffield were scrapped by Boris Johnson. He promised the completion of the rest of the HS2 project and that saved cash would be diverted to Northern Powerhouse Rail. This was a scheme that funded a number of projects, including improved lines across the

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

Pennines. However, they had already received government funding several years prior. HS2 was used to deceive the taxpayer, while undermining any sense of “levelling up”. Then came the cancellation of phase 2 to Manchester (running on to Glasgow). Another blow to the North and another promise to use saved funds on other rail improvement projects. Managing to one-up Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak promised to use the freed cash to fund projects that had already been completed. One project cited was extending the Metrolink tram to Manchester Airport, an extension which opened in 2014. Even now it is uncertain whether HS2 will reach Euston leaving us with a £70bn train line from Old Oak Common (a station that cannot handle HS2 passenger numbers) to Birmingham. A pitifully embarrassing showcase to the world of how useless we are, how much our country has fallen from grace, and how little our leaders care about anything but the

“The refusal to invest in public infrastructure by this country’s government is simply baffling.” Southeast. The deceit, sleaze, and partisanship doesn’t stop there. As the Conservative Party prepares to inevitably leave office, it is hurriedly selling the land it bought for phase 2 of HS2 at reduced prices. Taking knockdown prices on taxpayer investments to ensure future governments can never reinstate the full HS2 project without enormous expense. This is nothing but criminal. To cancel a key public infrastructure project, deceive the public as to where the saved funds would be reinvested, and then sell-off public investment at a discount rate to ensure no one can reinstate the project is a despicable offence to the British taxpayer. It is one that epitomises this country’s complete demise. The refusal to invest in public infrastructure by this country’s government is simply baffling. The promises made by this country’s government regarding “levelling up” are dishonest. The choices made by this country’s government regarding HS2 are criminal. Bring on the Great British decline.

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A whitewashed tomb Credit: Gage Skidmore

Ben Hayes

n 28 Oct, Mike Pence dropped out of the Republican presidential race. Donald Trump’s former VP had been trailing from the start. He’d waffled for months on whether to launch a campaign, eventually announcing his bid last of the major candidates. He’d squeezed into the first GOP debate by a hair, qualifying the latest of any candidate on stage except for the nonentity Asa Hutchinson. His campaign lacked funding, racking up $620,000 in debt by the time he packed up shop.

Pence’s modern-day lack of political weight begs the question: who cares? Why is his latest failure significant? The answer lies hidden in the pit where so many American evangelicals have fallen in the era of Trump. The role that White Protestant evangelism has played in American politics had its beginning in the 1980 campaign of Ronald Reagan, who affixed religious priorities to his platform and won by a landslide. The triumph of Reagan was the inciting incident in the narrative of Republican evangelicals. It was hugely eventful in the life of Pence, who grew up Catholic but underwent his transformation to Protestant evangelicalism in the 1980s. Pence’s personal hero is Reagan, who he recently invoked in a September Wall Street Journal editorial entitled, after Reagan’s legendary 1964 speech, “A Republican Time for Choosing.” In the modern day, Pence is the most prominent poster boy

“The answer lies hidden in the pit where so many American evangelicals have fallen in the era of Trump.” for the cadre of Reaganite evangelicals that carried so much political force in a former era. His political rhetoric, past and present, is thick with affirmations of conservative religious

“His political evangelical Protestant voters. Trump’s desire to invoke the Republicans needed a figure Insurrection Act so that BLM rhetoric, past and that would bring the evangelicould be cleared for present, is thick cals behind Trump, a figure protestors a photo op as well as penning with affirmations that would mitigate worry as an editorial for the Wall Street of conservative to Trump’s lack of morals or Journal in June of 2020 backing Christian roots. “If I’m being up Trump’s claim that the presireligious called to serve, I will serve,” dent had put a halt to COVID principles.” Pence told advisors in 2016, spikes and a summer wave was principles. As governor of Indiana, he came under fire for putting forth legislation theoretically allowing those of religious convictions to refuse services to gay people. When Pence was presented with requests for the government to supply clean needles during an AIDS outbreak in 2015, he dismissed them with the statement “I’m going to go home and pray on it.” (Pence was forced to concede both issues in the face of public outcry.) As a representative of this particular sect of Republicanism, Pence and the failure of his campaign thus offer a revealing look at the state of conservatism and evangelicalism in America. His slavish devotion to Trump, a man ridiculously far removed from the values Pence claims to honour, is symbolic of a mould of compromised identity that has spread fast throughout religious conservatism in the country. The end of Pence’s campaign is a belated example of the effect of the Trumpian poison that has already achieved its end in a faction bereft of its former “principles.” It began with insecurity. Christians in America dropped from 90% of the population in 1972 to 63% by the end of the 2010s. This seeming assault on the identity of the country made for a desperate situation in the ranks of the religious, especially those wedded to the Republican base—how would the policy goals of the religious right gain electoral momentum in a less Christian electorate? Out of this anxiety was born a willingness to accept populist leadership less aligned with traditional principles. Donald Trump’s 2016 momentum slowly enticed Republican leaders to give him their support. Trump had struggled with evangelicals, though, as was apparent in his failure to win the Iowa caucuses in 2016, a contest dominated by White

and whether or not the appointment was divine, he answered it. Trump now had a mask to wear for those members of the religious right not yet sold on his assumption of conservative power. “Trump’s got the populist nationalists,” adviser Steve Bannon once explained. “But Pence is the base. Without Pence, you don’t win.” And win they did. Trump carried 81% of the evangelical vote in 2016. Trump continued to use religious conservatives to gain support throughout his presidency, but more than ever, evangelical Republicans came to rely on him for validity among a changing populace. He was fully embraced by Franklin Graham, the son of the legendary evangelical pastor, who said in 2018 “I believe he’s president of the United States for a reason. I

“evangelical Republicans came to rely on (Trump) for validity among a changing populace.” think God put him there.” Pence was at the centre of these adoption efforts. At the anti-abortion March for Life in 2017, he proclaimed, “I can tell you firsthand: our President is a man with broad shoulders and a big heart.” Richard Land, the Southern Evangelical Seminary president, asserted in 2019 that “[Trump] is a different person than he was three years ago. He’s just a more spiritually sensitive person. I attribute that to some degree to Mike Pence.” Endorsement of Trump often came through the religious validity presented by his Vice President. As the Trump years passed, authority continued to shift. By 2020, Pence was completely beholden to Trump. He supported

not incoming. Beyond prominent figures, Trump had succeeded in remaking White Protestant evangelicals in his image. He’d made conversions: of non-evangelical Trump supporters surveyed in 2016, 16% began identifying

“Endorsement of Trump often came through the religious validity presented by his Vice President.” as evangelical by 2020 as compared to a 1% change for nonevangelical never-Trumpers. He’d captured the fringes, too: non-church attending evangelicals who identified as Republicans grew from 33% to 50% between 2008 and 2019. Perhaps most importantly, Trump’s proportion of the White evangelical Protestant vote rose from 77% in 2016 to 84% in 2020. Trump had won the evangelical populace. It was time to get rid of their leaders. The Capitol attack of Jan. 6, 2021 represented more for Trump than just an attempt to challenge democracy. It was an effort to throw off the reins of evangelical leadership that had accompanied him thus far. By making Mike Pence the target of his supporters’ murderous rage, he dealt the death blow to traditional Republicanism as symbolised in his former Vice President. The shockwaves of this rupture reverberate in the present day. When Franklin Graham tentatively switched his 2024 endorsement from Trump to Pence, the event went unnoticed by the media. The traditional stances of the Pence campaign—abortion bans as far back as conception, aggressive military action in Ukraine,

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

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Killers of the Flower Moon, “It would be the long road to easy to depict the fall of Pence restoring trust Republicanism

government absence in social affairs—contrast with Trump, who calls for isolationism and engages in culture wars. At the time of Pence’s dropout from the race, he was polling a whop-

as a tragic story of the demise of the righteous. But Pence and the evangelicals were hardly a faction of virtue before Trump.”

ping 3% in evangelical Iowa, as compared to Trump’s massive lead of 49%. Pence’s campaign was a relic of the past, his arguments falling deaf on the evangelical ears that used to lift up men like him. Trump has gained the full support of the people that Pence represented in a bygone era— the former Vice President’s betrayal of his causes has now gained him nothing more than a quick defeat. It would be easy to depict the fall of Pence Republicanism as a tragic story of the demise of the righteous. But Pence and the evangelicals were hardly a faction of virtue before Trump. Strom Thurmond, the fiery Baptist Democrat whose racist opposition to the civil rights movement drove him to jump ship to the Republicans under Nixon, was supported by evangelicals and President Reagan alike throughout the course of his political career. Jerry Falwell, Jr., who continued the activism of his Reaganite, televangelist father (and lent prominent support to Trump), was brought down in a perverted affair widely covered by the press. These examples are standouts in a long tradition of hypocrisy exemplified to the fullest by the evangelicals’ easy capitulation to Trump. It is no surprise that Pence’s campaign was the first major one to go, for it is a thing wholly of the past, a tomb of Reagan Republicanism filled with the bones Trump has finished with. In the Reagan era, Republican politicians had to court the support of the evangelical right by changes to their platform. Modern evangelicals, Pence chief among them, have compromised their self-professed values to gain the authority of Trump. Their house is thus left to them desolate.

Olly DeHerrera Indigenous readers please note that this article contains the name of someone who has passed away.

his three-and-a-half-hour film epic on the 1920’s Osage Nation murders is set to be the last major work of the now 80-year-old director, Martin Scorsese. My own interest in this film had little to do with the legacy of Scorsese, but an anxiously earnest investment in how Native North Americans and our stories are represented in the mainstream. Like the Osage, my own Tribe is one of thousands of Indigenous communities around the world irreparably transformed by the discovery of oil under our land. The oil under our North Utah Reservation is a viscous oil, too sludgy for pipelines, meaning that a near constant stream of huge rigs can be heard rumbling through the Reservation. It’s an ever-present reminder of the complicated relationship we all maintain with the land, the scars of history and the uncertainty of the future.

Killers of the Flower Moon tentatively promised to address a chapter in the Osage Nation’s history which has not yet been addressed much outside fellow Native North American communities. The intentional murder of members of the Osage Nation by White families in order to secure financial rights to their oil patches is conspiracy in the highest form, but it is not an isolated incident of systematic violence against Native Americans. The film follows the true story of Mollie Ne-Kah-Es-Sey-Cue Kyle (yet notably from the perspective of the would-be murderers of her family), as she watches her family and community be killed by an ever-present but seemingly elusive force. Geoffry Standing Bear, Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, said the production of the film had “restored trust”, remarkably high praise rarely heard coming from our communities. The film represents many elements of the Osage world with respect and integrity, which is

healing work for an industry responsible for popularising hideously inaccurate representations of Native American cultures. On screen the Osage are elegant, artistic and knowing; a far more just and welcome depiction than the usual narrativized representation of Native Americans as violent, uncivilised, and unintelligent. We are kindly permitted to observe aspects of Osage life, language and religion, all things which have been passed down by dogmatic resistance of Osage ancestors. Beautiful woven blankets, some custom designed by Pendleton, some borrowed from Osage members, punctuate the film’s visuals consistently. They provide a constant and authentic reference point to the Indigenous experiences which this film is ultimately predicated on. “This blanket is a target on our backs”, Rita, Mollie’s sister, solemnly foreshadows shortly before her murder. The ‘blanket Indian’ is a term referring to Native Americans who chose to retain the traditional aspects of their culture, yet also can refer to Native women married to White men. Rita’s profession contains meaning. The calculated targeting of the Osage Nation may appear to be the actions of one scheming man but are in fact the goals of an entire system which has conspired to contain, exploit and ultimately eradicate Native Americans. William Hale, the central figure in the murders, espoused the sordid belief that Native American communities were destined to be destroyed and that taking advantage of this destruction was just smart business. Whilst Hale orchestrated the Osage killings of the 1920s, he was supported by a system which is ambivalent to Native death and situates itself as superior to Native life and Native ways. In an important scene for centring Native voices, the film brings the audience into a Council meeting of the Osage. “In the past, we could see our enemy”, declares one member of the Council, lamenting how the war for Osage life has become harder

Credit: The Osage Nation Archives

to fight. This is more than just a cinematic indication that the Council does not yet suspect Hale, it is a poignant acknowledgement that the installation of colonial systems in America has progressed to the point that the enemy is the system itself. When we speak of decolonising spaces, it is not as simple as removing individuals who act

“people can claim to love and admire Native Americans and still do extreme harm when it benefits themselves” in offensive or prejudiced ways, it is about addressing the conditions under which the space came to be. Whilst Hale speaks the Osage language, understands their customs and attends their meetings, this intimacy does not lead him to empathy but instead leaves him feeling entitled to murder. Whilst such a scenario may be unimaginable to outside audiences, those of us within know well that people can claim to love and admire Native Americans and still do extreme harm when it benefits themselves. We encounter this attitude many times when we inform someone about their harmful misappropriation of Native American cultures and are met with resistance as they tell us they can’t possibly be hurting Native Americans because they love, or ‘respect’ us so much. Whilst appropriation and stereotyping are not comparable to the murders that occurred in the Osage Nation, they are part of a system of entitlement and White supremacy which oversees the taking of our culture, and in the case of the Osage, the taking of our lives. For too long non-Natives have controlled the script on what Native American culture and history is. Scorsese depicts this by concluding the film with an all-white theatrical retelling of the events, ‘true crime’ style, staged for a live 1950’s audience and complete with

a dodgy impersonation of the Osage accent. Scorsese himself delivers the final spoken line of the movie, reminding us that this story is not just a story but a true history. It is pertinent to ask if Killers of the Flower Moon really addresses this narrative imbalance, or did Scorsese not succeed in truly altering the perspective through which those outside the Osage Nation see this history. What the Burkhart-Hale family put Mollie through is “beyond abuse”, said Christopher Cote, the lead Osage language consultant of the film, something that he feels perhaps the film did not adequately convey to its non-Native audience. “I think it would take an Osage to do that”, Cote added. Although this film is of significance to many Native Americans, it is important to remember this story belongs to the Osage Nation, and specifically the descendants for whom this is their living history. Viewers must remember that Tribal land in North America is seldom the true home of its Indigenous population. The barren land which many of our communities were pushed onto caused mass starvation and poverty in the earlier days of many Reservations; the unanticipated discovery of oil under these lands provided such a rare win but deeply difficult dilemma for our communities. Killers of the Flower Moon is a vision of a time when Native Americans were allowed to economically benefit from the vast wealth of their land, but also a reminder that this sort of wealth and the violence it brought was never something asked for. The film ends with a performance of Wahzhazhe (A song for my people), produced by Osage singers for the film. As I sat listening, I covered my eyes and brought back the feeling of the Powwow ground, the Colorado sun and the jingle dancer’s bells. As I watched people file out the North London cinema, I knew it would take far more than a film to make this history and its implications real to the rest of the world, but it’s a start.

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In conversation with Jeff McMahan

Credit: Jeff McMahan

Lukas Seifert walk into Corpus Christi and I’m greeted by Jeff McMahan, a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He’s just had a long chat with a student of his, and there’s a faux changing of the guards as McMahan hugs his student goodbye and then shakes my hand. McMahan seems agitated, and tells me he’s had a rough few days as he apologises for being late. He beckons, and I follow him up a winding flight of stairs into his office; papers are scattered across a table. Hazy light seems trapped within the oaky study and it’s strangely intoxicating. McMahan points me towards a large armchair and as he sits opposite me I sink into the soft seat. Jeff McMahan is renowned for his expansive analytical work on ethics, particularly on war and killing. It’s not easy to summarise his wide range of views, and indeed the space

on my page does not permit me to condense our 80-minute conversation any more than it does to outline McMahan’s varied stances. “In many ways. I’m not really a proper philosopher,” he begins. “I’ve worked on the issues that have seemed important to me, mostly life and death issues.”

“In many ways. I’m not really a proper philosopher. I’ve worked on the issues that have seemed important to me, mostly life and death issues.”

He goes on to explain his career focus on population ethics, which he admits is “very difficult” and a topic within which “very little progress has ever been made.” I take that as a sign to press him on some of his more controversial views, and question him about his opinion on aborting severely

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student Deputy Editor: Martin Alfonsin Larsen Section Editors: Jack Arrowsmith, Lukas Seifert, Holly Errington profile@oxfordstudent.com

of the week

disabled foetuses. “If we have good reason to believe that [a foetus’] life is just going to be full of suffering and not containing any positive well being of any significance, then [aborting it] can be considered euthanasia, that is a good death,” McMahan says. He goes on to state that this would be permissible even with a nine month old foetus. I ask if this could lead to problematic consequences. Is there a moral difference between a foetus nine months inside the womb, versus the moment it comes out of the womb? “There is no moral difference,” McMahan responds confidently. His perspective on the sanctity of life is not confined to binaries but reflects a continuum of human development and consciousness. “The difference between abortion and infanticide is just a matter of geography,” he expands, challenging the notion that the moral status of a being could hinge on its location relative to the womb. He critiques the legislative absurdities that have arisen from such positional distinctions, highlighting the need for a more nuanced understanding of the moral status of foetuses and infants. McMahan expands on this, referring to “ludicrous and comic debates in the American Congress about what’s called partial birth abortion.” He shakes his head in halfdisbelief, “You know, if it’s a breech birth… if you can see the belly button, then it’s murder. If you can’t see the belly button, it’s okay. Something like that… That shows you the ridiculousness of thinking that anything hinges on whether a being is a foetus or an infant, except that if it’s still inside somebody’s body, that person in whose body the being is existing at the time has some prerogatives over what’s done because it is her body.” I push back, citing the negative implications of killing babies. McMahan’s answer is long, and he claims that “the extent to which an act of killing harms and wrongs the individual who is killed is a

function of the psychological capacities of that individual.” I want to push back once again, but I realise no more progress will be made. The subject is sensitive, and his stance is clearly not a straightforward one. Indeed, he admits there are multiple caveats when it comes to such practices. Our discussion shifts to his vegetarianism and veganism. Recalling his own experiences, he muses, “When I was doing PPE here at Corpus a long time ago, I was the only vegetarian in the college. The only thing that the kitchen could do for me was a tiny little nasty frozen pizza from lunch with some baked beans. That’s what I had every day for lunch…I don’t know what this fucking place would have done if I had actually been a vegan.”

“And yes, I think that it should be completely illegal to operate a factory farm and to torture animals in these places where most of the meat comes from that people eat. That should be illegal.”

I laugh, but I’m impressed by his commitment, as much as I am his range. McMahan is down-to-earth and relatable, as he admits to sometimes breaking his view that “people should be vegan.” Wanting to probe further, I ask “What do you think about pushing veganism on students?” bringing up Meat Free Mondays as a topic of contention. Colleges and the university itself have certain policies policies in place to tell us what we should do ethically and morally. To what extent do they have the right to tell students what they should and shouldn’t eat? “I’ve never thought about this before,” McMahan grants, “but it seems to me that something here hinges on what the nature of the relation is between the institution that’s providing food and those who are consuming it.” At his house, no one coming for dinner will receive meat, he tells me. But, he accepts it’s difficult to justify

the imposition of certain diets when students are paying for their meals. “What if the government starts to implement such policies?” I ask. Bringing it to the national level, I complicate the matter: “You could say, ‘Well, the government has laws against killing people. Why shouldn’t it have laws against killing animals?’ Is this just a political thing? Or is it a personal freedom that a human has the right to eat what they want?” “I don’t think [humans have this right]. I think that there are all kinds of instances in which immoral action rises to a level at which enforcement by the state is not just permissible but perhaps even required,” McMahan responds. “And yes, I think that it should be completely illegal to operate a factory farm and to torture animals in these places where most of the meat comes from that people eat. That should be illegal. These are torture chambers and centres for the slaughter of sensitive social beings.” “Should it be illegal to provide and sell the meat of animals that had been raised humanely and given lives that are worth living, albeit cut short by painless killing? Probably not; that probably shouldn’t be illegal. Is it morally permissible? I doubt it, but it’s not so obviously impermissible that it should be illegal.” I leave the most topical discussion to the end and shift attention to the current conflict in the Middle East. McMahan is clearly very passionate, but also troubled, as he tells me that his views have instigated criticism from Israelis he considered friends. “They’re both wrong,” McMahan asserts, referring to Hamas and the Netanyahu government. He traces the roots of the conflict to Israel’s longstanding refusal to “give justice to Palestinian people,” a stance he believes has perpetuated the struggle. As he continues, he critiques Israeli settlements in the West Bank, characterising it as “creeping aggression”. Full profile available at oxfordstudent.com

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

Profile | 13

Chaplaincy in a modern age

it’s important to have a space where people who are LGBT+ or exploring their sexuality and gender can ask questions about their faith or spirituality in a setting where they won’t be judged or pressured into belief.”

“The Church as a whole still isn’t always a safe experience for LGBTQIA folk, and can be difficult for women, with many Churches not affirming women’s ministry or ascribing more ’traditional’ gender roles.”

Credit: fenlio on Wikimedia Commons

Holly Errington n its early days, the University of Oxford was considered an extension of the Church’s educational system. Faith and academia walked hand in hand, and the spiritual well-being of the university’s occupants was of paramount importance. Thus, within the cloisters of the earliest colleges, chaplains emerged as stalwart figures, their presence integral to academic life. As we continue to step into the modern age, the role of chaplaincy at Oxford and other academic institutions worldwide has evolved. This is undoubtedly necessary, as all university roles have had to adapt to the increasingly diverse needs of the modern university community. Most colleges still uphold traditional Christian rituals such as evensong, or begin their formals with a prayer (other than anomalies such as St Catherine’s, which do not have a chaplain role at all).

“But does it not remain that the challenges we grapple with on a day-to-day basis often delve into questions of ethics, purpose, and philosophical inquiry?”

However, there is arguably a widespread oversight when it comes to non-religious students recognising their college chaplain as a valuable source of spiritual and pastoral guidance, and it is too often assumed that the spiritual is something only relevant to students with pre-existing beliefs. But does it not remain that the challenges we grapple with on a day-to-day basis often delve into questions of ethics, purpose, and philosophical inquiry? To attempt to answer this question, I spoke with Alice Watson, the chaplain of Queens College. I attempted to reach out to various other chaplains, but received no response. She remarks that “university can be a really good opportunity for people to explore their spirituality” but also emphasises her dedication to the overall welfare team. She explains that “the search for meaning, and peace, and spaces for reflection is a universal human instinct, and that chapels and chaplains can help with this.” When talking about the role of the chaplain in the modern era, it is inevitable that controversial social issues within the church community will arise as a point of contention. Student comfort is paramount, given that we spend so much money to be here. Many students question whether any

role tied to the church is able to be truly welcoming when it comes to matters of personal identity. In response to these sentiments, Watson notably remarks that she doesn’t think any role in an institution, nor indeed the institutions themselves, should be above being questioned. She even explicitly goes further to highlight a modern shift towards overt inclusion, stating that “an aspect which has shifted, and which I think is a really good thing, is that college chaplains and chapels are usually overtly inclusive spaces. Sadly (in my opinion) the Church as a whole still isn’t always a safe experience for LGBTQIA folk, and can be difficult for women, with many Churches not affirming women’s ministry or ascribing more ’traditional’ gender roles.” She goes on to say that “the Church holds a real variety of views, which is both a very good thing, and something which can cause tension. Most colleges actively want Chaplains who foster a more inclusive community. I think that this would definitely fall under what my ‘goals’ are also – to show people that not all Christians hold the same views on, for example, same-sex marriage, and that religion doesn’t have to sit alongside things such as sexism and homophobia. I think

Hearing such sentiments coming from a religious leader in an institution as old as Oxford initially surprised me. Again, this highlights that the preconceived notions non-religious students have concerning the role of chaplain may be worth reconsidering. In personal conversations with Jesus College chaplain Chris Dingwall-Jones, he recommended the study of black theology, explaining that there is an unfortunate lack of black theologians available to study at Oxford. It is therefore evident that at least some chaplains actively care about modernising the position. Progressive chaplaincy certainly serves many nonreligious students. However, when speaking about this issue publicly, one religious student voiced: “we can be liberal politically while not being liberal on the power of Jesus, the reality of God, the importance of real faith. This is where progressive chaplains fail”. The issue at hand here seems to be that chaplains who spend time promoting progressive ideals have less time to hold traditional Christian events and talks. Striking a balance between the two is what Watson promotes. Religious diversity is another issue that is often debated when it comes to the suitability of the chaplain role to the modern era. Is still being an officially Christian country a valid reason to have a Christian role as the sole religious point of contact? Are we simply maintaining a Christian role for the sake of tradition and nostalgia? If we were to

reach a state in which the number of Christian students declined to the same level as students of other religions would it make sense to still only have a Christian role on the welfare team? Watson responds to such questions by explaining that “the role of Chaplains is to speak up for faith and spiritual practice in general, whatever that might be. I hope that I’m clear in saying that this is my faith, but I’m here for you no matter what you believe.” However, she also states that “it would be great if the university had specific roles for chaplains of other faiths.” Watson says that her favourite part of being a chaplain is “mostly just getting to know students and getting to walk alongside them through the ups and downs of life. Chaplains get to witness some of the most fragile parts of people’s time at Oxford, and that is a great privilege.” She certainly relates to the hectic state that many students find themselves in during term time. As we enter the colder and darker weeks of Michaelmas, she recommends a walk in Christ Church Meadow or a hot chocolate from Knoops on busy days to ward off fifth week blues.

“The role of chaplains is to speak up for faith and spiritual practice in general, whatever that might be. I hope that I’m clear in saying that this is my faith, but I’m here for you no matter what you believe.”

The role of chaplain has clearly evolved with time, but despite these efforts, it is clear that students still do not feel they can associate themselves with a traditional religious figure. However, I believe that chaplaincy’s relevance in an era of growing concerns over mental health is paramount. It is often said that there is a God shaped hole in modern society, and while it may just be the Philosophy and Theology student in me, Watson’s belief’s are captivating. Engaging with your college chaplain is a worthwhile way of navigating the human search for purpose and peace.

14 | Identity Deputy Editor: Sami Jalil Section Editors: Georgia Ferris, Ivy Wong, Amelia Gibbins identity@oxfordstudent.com

Turning shame into superpower: Dyslexia at Oxford Jessica Kenward

acers line up on your left and your right. A gunshot fires, signaling the start of the race. Runners take off on either side of you, sprinting ahead, but your feet are stuck at the starting line. Living with dyslexia is like starting a race a few minutes after everyone else. It has taken me years to adjust to my dyslexia, but I’ve finally recognized, adapted to, and accepted this part of myself. Over time, I’ve turned my once shameful secret into a superpower. By the third grade, I was still reading at a first grade level. My teachers had tried their best to help me; I was put in extra reading classes and my weekly spelling words were cut in half. All of my report cards said the exact same thing: “Jessica is very sweet and well behaved, but useless when it comes to school work.” I would sit with my head hung in shame as my teachers discussed my fate with my mom. If something didn’t change, they feared that I would be held back and have to repeat a grade. This was the first time the word dyslexia entered my life. To be honest, it was a heavy word that weighed me down. It made the idea of catching up with my classmates feel impossible. I felt completely stuck, but dropping out of the race wasn’t an option. I took years to develop the skills to cope with this new part of my life, but I can’t forget the people who made it possible. Mrs. Lackey, my fourth grade teacher, was determined to help me and created an afterschool reading program for struggling students. She dedicated a lot of time and money to teaching us skills that I still use today. Once my Nan, a former primary school teacher, found out that her oldest granddaughter was falling behind, she also jumped into action. Every summer she would homeschool me at our kitchen table. Thanks

Identity

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

to these two women, I found a love for learning that I didn’t know existed. Much to their delight, I began to read every book I could get my hands on. I became so passionate about books that I made it my life’s goal to become a published author. Their persistence helped me jump an entire reading level above my classmates, but shame still kept my feet shackled to the ground. When I entered Middle School, (the American equivalent to Secondary School) I had decided I would not tell anyone about my dyslexia. I wanted to show that I was just as smart as the other kids, and I thought by admitting I had a learning disability it would single me out. In the end, this only In university, I kept the mindled to more struggling. set that I couldn’t tell any of the professors about my learning disability. I was ashamed and feared that my professor would judge me for having dyslexia, so I continued to struggle in silence. Assignments that took my classmates an hour to finish would take me days. I stayed up all night trying to write essays on books that I couldn’t fully comprehend. However, thanks to Mrs. Lackey and my Nan, I was able to use the tricks they taught me to scrape by. My sleepless nights paid off, and at the end of each I had been so busy catching up school year, I was recognized with reading skills that I never for academic excellence. Then learned basic grammar rules. I came my junior year of univerdidn’t know the difference be- sity. My professor informed me tween verbs or adjectives. I didn’t that I needed to spend a semester know anything about dependent studying abroad.I applied to a vs. independent clauses or where few schools across Europe, but to put commas in a sentence. I focused mainly in the U.K. When I was too embarrassed to ask for decided to apply to Oxford, family help, so I lived by a new mantra: and friends warned me not to get fake it till you make it. my hopes up. I felt a small part Turns out, I was very good at of me deflate. I knew they were faking. Despite feeling miles be- right and only wanted to soften hind everyone else, I was able the blow once I inevitably got reto graduate highschool and get jected. Yet all I could think about into university. My family was was my third grade self. I could ecstatic to see their little girl who see her small head hung low and had struggled so much in school shoulders hunched over, as my going to college. That being said, I teacher explained how dyslexia didn’t have the heart to tell them would affect me for the rest of my that I still grappled with my dys- life. My finger hovered over the lexia every day. enter key, wondering if I should

“shame... kept my feet shackled to the ground.”

“She won’t see her learning disability as something to be ashamed of, but as a superpower.”

Image credit: Sami Jalil

even bother turning in the application. When the acceptance email arrived, I didn’t scream or jump up and down. I barely breathed as I stared at the words declaring I had a spot at the University of Oxford. I shut my computer down and rebooted it, thinking that there must be a mistake. I didn’t tell anyone for a while but when I did, they were the ones who screamed. They jumped up and down, laughed until they were breathless, and couldn’t believe it was real. I spent that summer dreaming about my soon-to-be life in Oxford. Perhaps it was those dreams that gave me the strength to stop running away from my shameful secret. I was going to Oxford, one of the best schools in the entire world. I was going to be taught by people in the top of their field and expected to produce the same level of work as any other student. I was finally ready to admit that I couldn’t do it by myself anymore.

“Living with dyslexia is like starting a race a few minutes after everyone else.” Once I accepted and embraced my dyslexia, life became a lot easier. I slowly began teaching myself the grammar rules I had been guessing at for so long. I asked the people around me for help and opened up how much

I struggled in school. I learned that I wasn’t alone and many people have learning disabilities. I won’t lie and say that adjusting to Oxford has been easy. Even now I still have bad days and begin to feel like I’m falling behind again. However, a few things have helped me during my time here. Whenever possible, I listen to the audiobook version of assigned readings and take all my notes by hand. I spent my days studying in Oxford’s many libraries where I’m more likely to stay focused. If I don’t understand something, I write it down and ask my professors for help at our next tutorial. My college is equipped with people who are trained to help people like me, and has judgment-free spaces that I can go to for support. Living with dyslexia isn’t easy and it can feel very isolating. Something I wish I would’ve realized sooner is that education isn’t a race and I don’t need to keep up with everyone else. Assignments still take me hours to finish, but in that time I take in so much more information. It makes the process of writing essays easier and contributes greatly to the quality of my work. I realize that my brain works differently than others, but it gives me a unique perspective that my neurotypical classmates might not think of. I still want to be an author and use my platform to write about the struggles I’ve faced. Hopefully the next time a little girl hears the word dyslexia, it won’t be so heavy on her small shoulders. She won’t see her learning disability as something to be ashamed of, but as a superpower.

Pink Vice-Chancellor attends OULGBTQ+ Q&A to The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

Pink | 15

Deputy Editor: Etienne Baker Section Editors: Amelia Gibbins, Charlie Wild, Lauren Gray pink@oxfordstudent.com

“listen and learn”

Etienne Baker

n Tuesday 31st October, Vice-Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey addressed a small group of students in a Q&A session organised by OULGBTQ+ Society. The event was free and allowed students to raise concerns about LGBTQ+ issues. Problems with welfare, disability services, and recent funding from Cobham and Ultra Electronics were discussed. Tracey began by explaining her background as an undergraduate and postgraduate student at the university, and how important it was to understand the student experience. She then outlined how there were multiple facets to power in the university, such as departmental and collegiate levels, noting that people often “underestimate” the power that the Vice-Chancellor holds. She also said that she hoped to hold more sessions using student consultation, and emphasised multiple times that she was there to “listen and learn” to students’ concerns. One student questioned the “reactive” nature of university welfare provision for LGBTQ+ students, noting how all of the

LGBTQ+-specific counsellors were not based in Oxford, but online. The Vice-Chancellor responded that she “wasn’t aware” that no counsellors were available in Oxford, whilst another attendee who works in welfare said that the cost of living crisis was deterring people from working in Oxford.

“‘rest assured, lessons were learnt’” The University has expressed that there are 6 therapists who identify as LGBTQ+ offering inperson appointments in Oxford as well as the services provided online. Kathleen Stock’s invitation to the Oxford Union and the subsequent response last term were also raised, as Tracey said in her first Oration that “we should have done more to support them; rest assured, lessons were learned”. This was in reference to hateful and transphobic messages sent to members of the OULGBTQ+ society last term on social media. Problems with the Disability Advisory Service (DAS) were discussed, with one student noting

Heartstopper Season Two Review Etienne Baker

n August of this summer, the second instalment Netflix’s graphic novel adaption Heartstopper hit our screens. The first series, released in 2022, spent three weeks in the platform’s top ten charts, and quickly earned its place in the LGBTQ+ entertainment hall of fame – granted, there’s not a lot of competition out there. For many, this was the crux of the show’s popularity, as one of the only shows available to watch that centred around a gay relationship to make it mainstream. I must admit, the first season didn’t quite strike a chord

with me. Undoubtedly a warm comfort show, it provided a relief to much of popular media nowadays, but certain elements always felt thin and underdeveloped. It was incredibly refreshing to see a gay relationship developing on television, and it certainly felt reminiscent of queer childhood. However, the will-they-won’t-they dynamic meant its plotline was completely subsumed by the central characters of Charlie and Nick, leaving much to be desired for the rest of the LGBTQ+ community. The second series, on the other hand, felt more confi-

the intersection between queer students and people with disabilities. One in three LGBTQ+ individuals self-reported as having a disability. Tracey said that she did not know students were waiting so long to receive appointments and student support plans. She then went on to admit that it was understaffed and that there was simply “not enough cash”, although she emphasised that this wasn’t “making excuses for the problem”.

ics. The SU LGBTQ+ Campaign released a statement on this issue at the start of term, outlining Cobham’s role in developing surveillance technology, including mobile phone hacking technology that was sold to the governments of Saudi Arabia and Brunei, where gay sex is punished with the death penality and is heavily criminalised. The student questioned how Tracey could claim to support the LGBTQ+ community in sessions

One student questioned the recent funding accepted by Oxford University and the engineering faculty, who received £500,000 from Cobham and Ultra Electron-

such as these whilst simultaneously not responding to this type of funding. The Vice-Chancellor said that she was not aware of this funding, and “couldn’t comment

dent and self-assured, maturing with its characters. Perhaps it’s my age that made me gel with the first series less, but the expansion of the characters in the second series feels like a more accurate resemblance to queer teenage years. The positive representations of intimacy and the importance of consent as the central couple navigate adolescence signify how much the show understands its responsibility to younger viewers. Above all, though, the exploration of characters from the wider ensemble enriches the slightly non-existent plotlines and is a marked difference to series one. My favourite focus was that of Tara and Darcy’s relationship, which in the first instalment didn’t seem to progress beyond a subplot to prop up Elle’s move to a new school. In the second series, both char-

acters get a chance to shine individually, and face their own challenges which cater beyond the struggles of cisgender gay men - which is where television normally draws the line. It still remains frustrating,

“resemblance to queer teenage years” though, that Netflix is lacking a show willing to move beyond the focus of cisgender male relationships. The second season was certainly an improvement, and characters like Isaac, Darcy and Elle feel like the ‘breakthrough’ in representation that was so widely talked about initially. Heartstopper will always be fundamentally hampered by its protagonists, as there is only so much you can utilise an ensem-

without further details”. A spokesperson for the University told The Oxford Student: “All decisions about donations are made by the University’s Committee to Review Donations and Research Funding, whose members include Oxford academics with expertise in relevant areas like ethics, law and business. This committee considers whether donations or research funding are acceptable under University guidelines, and turns down proposals which do not meet this standard. The Committee reviews all the publicly available information about a potential donor and can take legal, ethical and reputational issues into consideration.” The session concluded with a question about the diversity of the governing body, and whether or not it was good enough yet. Tracey answered that this was “not enough diversity”, and that we “had to keep pushing…and calling out things when we see them”. At the end, the Vice-Chancellor noted how “helpful” the session was. She said she would use the issues raised to help upcoming work on welfare provision, as well as pass other issues on to the governing body. ble of characters when they are not the focus. In this sense, it becomes hard to look beyond Nick and Charlie’s relationship, as you are left wanting more from characters who represent a spectrum of queer identity. Simply moving past ‘queerbaiting’ that so many shows utilise shouldn’t be enough on its own to break through as a landmark LGBTQ+ series. Whilst an improvement, Heartstopper unfortunately stays within the same comfortable margins. Even the development of other characters feels more like hitting a checklist of characterizable ‘teen’ issues, whilst lacking the time devoted to really make them fully-fledged. Most certainly a more confident approach, the second series is undoubtedly better television, but it still falls short on realising the potential of LGBTQ+ entertainment.

snmuloC

16 | Columns

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Paul Furey visited Labour Club and Oxford Round Table Fireworks

So You Don’t Have To... Paul Furey ne week I will write a column which doesn’t involve me visiting Magdalen’s Oscar Wilde room. This week is not that week. This time it the Oxford Labour Club’s Beer and Bickering which has returned me to this Mecca of student societies. An event which is held most Saturdays of term, this week was draped in a Halloween theme. The motions to be discussed matched appropriately, this house believes Oxford is haunted by its elitist history, this house believes that Rishi Sunak is the spookiest Tory, and this house would nationalise the golf courses. The costumes on display also did not disappoint. A sea of devils, nurses, Carries, cats, and witches packed the room. The entry fee of £5 for members and £8 for non-members earned anyone access to a stocked bar to the rear of the

room. The table was filled with wine, rum, Schnapps, vodka, cider and a notable lack of beer. Before discussions began, some house rules were an-

“Try to refrain from saying anything that would get the Labour Club cancelled, try not to get too drunk off the booze, and most importantly, in the words of Basil Fawlty, “Don’t mention the war!”

nounced. Try to refrain from saying anything that would get the Labour Club cancelled, try not to get too drunk off the booze, and most importantly, in the words of Basil Fawlty, “Don’t mention the war!”. The Social Secretary decreed that

any mention of Israel and Palestine was strictly prohibited. Debate on the first motion centred around if Oxford was really haunted by the ghost of elitism past or the ghost of elitism present. While some pointed to the strong accessibility work of colleges like St. Anne’s, who are 77% state school, and Mansfield, who better them at 94%, others simply replied that these are outliers and there are still colleges like St. Peter’s and Trinity which are closer to a 50/50 split. It was raised that the Oxford Labour Club could not exempt itself from allegations of elitism, with the amount of co-chairs who go on to become MPs. Indeed, it was hard to critique Oxford for its perpetuating of elitism when it has also done so much to house and grow progressivism throughout history. Although, in the end, the vote

resoundingly supported the motion, this house believes Oxford is haunted by its elitist history. “We make an inclusive place for those who want to get involved in politics,” said Labour Club Co-Chair Thripty Dutt. “Beer and Bickering is the heart of drunken socialist debate where every voice is heard and listened to!” Oxford Round Table have been holding a fireworks display and bonfire to mark the weekend of Guy Fawkes night for over 50 years, helping support charities within the area. This year, the event took place in South Parks and claimed over 25,000 attendees. It also claimed the life of my white trainers thanks to the abundance of mud supplied by Storm Ciaran. There was no lack of things to do. Amusement park rides and food stands, although heftily

priced, lined the perimeter. The entry fee alone was £12. The stage show was spirited with a live DJ and celebrity appearance from Clarkson’s Farm’s own Kaleb Cooper. The fireworks display itself went off without a hitch. A spectacular show of sight and sound with music soundtracking each blast. The display ended seamlessly to the igniting of the bonfire, an impressive height on its own. Dutifully, the DJ began the cheesy hits of Firestarter, Great Balls of Fire and Ring of Fire as the crowd waited to witness each tower of pallets collapse, or head home to get an early start on scrubbing their slippers. The Oxford Round Table Fireworks supports over a dozen of local charities and are still accepting donations at oxfordfireworks.co.uk.

Lessons from the Balkan Women in my Life Who is Novak Djokovic and why am I being compared to him? Vuk Winrow

erhaps the title is somewhat misleading. Neither my talents nor my physical stature is being compared to Djokovic (although many have tried to little avail). Rather, it is my presence – my character if you will, which is being dissected against such a grand Serbian specimen. Ignoring his more recent controversies (far too many think pieces have been written by people with more knowledge, for better or worse than I have), he represents a kind of divine transcendent being to the Serbian woman. It is blasphemous in most Serbian households to speak bad about Djokovic, occupying a position close to God, he represents a kind of divine Serbian achievement. He is someone children are taught about from a young age, his doctrine espoused far and wide to small

diasporic Serbian youth everywhere – Djokovic becomes a kind of omnipresent figure. Entire emotional states are determined by Djokovic’s achievement, his winning a tennis match is akin to whether this is going to be a good or a bad day. Likewise, his losing can initiate the most solemn emotional effects as TVs are turned off and a brief period of mourning what could have

“Nothing can quite encapsulate the intensity of the Balkan woman watching Djokovic Play”

been a great victory begins. Nothing can quite encapsulate the intensity

of the Balkan woman watching Djokovic play – there are rounds of yelling at the TV screen, periods of prolonged silence, and sometimes the changing of channels so as to not overwhelm the senses. It is a full body experience, akin to a Divine ritual, which requires equal parts emotional restraint and focus. Once the match is over, entire households gather round to hear him speak and deliver his gospel, my mother will send me YouTube clips and gifs showing him holding trophies or espousing any kind of wisdom. Such words (often to do with cultivating success) are to be treasured and applied to everyday life, and Serbian women everywhere become almost prophets assigned to deliver these messages (usually by WhatsApp but sometimes Viber). Djokovic be-

comes a source of inspiration and knowledge – a fountain all Serbs can drink from to better realise their potential, and an ultimate standard which Serbian women hold their children up against. All this however had me thinking that there are some things I can do more successfully than Djokovic (this list for obvious reasons does not include tennis), in spite of the love that has been instilled in me for the man. Get vaccinated – Something Djokovic, for better or worse, has been unable to do Dress better – I like to think I have a better sense of style, with or without a Lacoste sponsorship, even if such broad descriptors like ‘style’ are subjective terms Write better – I am just going off general assumptions here, I have never nor do I intend to read anything Djokovic has written (his spo-

ken word fulfils me enough), but I would like to think that should we judged on our prose, I would be more successful. Be shorter than – It might seem like I am clutching at straws here but I am indeed shorter than 1.88 m so I have included this in both an attempt to bolster my own successes in this list but to show that my physical attributes can indeed be weighed up against the Serbian giant (or rather mostly average height for men in Serbia). As shown from the list above, there is a well-rounded multitude of things I can do better than Djokovic. Whilst it might not prove to Serbian women that I can stand amongst him, it does help inflate my ego that there are at the very least some things which I can do better.

Columns Yesterday in Yerevan

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

Columns | 17

Dilly-dallying in Dilijan

Jonah Poulard

ere we have it folks, the worst title to a piece you’ll see all year. I just couldn’t resist, sorry. The

other month I sought out the resort town of Dilijan for a nature-filled break from the big city. I’d already passed through a couple of times on my way to Tbilisi and been stunned by the beauty of the wooded hills there, especially while deeply sleep-deprived and hungover in a minibus that squeaked every two seconds, cruelly negating any desperate attempt at some shut-eye. In that low moment, I resolved to return, and that I did. On a cold Friday morning I ventured to Yerevan’s Northern Bus Station, a pretty bare bones place with the exception of its absolutely stunning brutalist main hall, whose geometric rafters and staircases lit up gorgeously in the nascent morning light. I was quickly hustled onto a classic marshrutka, a staple form of transportation in post- Soviet states, and then another, because that’s just how it goes in this neck of the woods. The road out of Yerevan to Sevan is a fun one, there’s a couple of huge roadside malls in that unique style of caricatured Classical architecture – think Caesar’s Palace in Vegas – which I’m positive no one ever shops at, endless billboards advertising beer and vodka, of course deeply ironic on a motorway, and a bit later, when the plain opens up, a few humble roadside shacks selling fish from Sevan (a lake), starkly backgrounded by the arid hills way off in the distance. Shortly after the town of Se-

van on Lake Sevan the road goes through a tunnel, at the other end of which is a completely different world. The scrubby landscape and the light blue waters of the lake are exchanged for thickly forested spurs and peaks, the autumnal leaves glowing a thousand shades of orange, it’s pretty sweet. When I got dropped off by my humble transport it was still early, and that special lustre, special nuance that the bright morning light imparts to its surroundings was still going strong. I wended my way around a small lake in the centre of town, admiring the reflection of the incredible colours on its glassy surface, to the tourist information office. There I was duly provided with the sort of leaflets about hiking trails I was after, and I copped a proper paper map too, which made me very happy. After a quick stop at my hostel, a charming little spot with dorms akin to a supersized pidge room (think capsule hotel mixed with DIY bookcase), I set off in search of a couple of monasteries. Most of the walk there took me through a dejected suburb to the west of the town, although the day was so beautiful that

occasional deserted hotel or

even the derelict old housing blocks retained a certain charm, before swerving into the hills under a massive railway viaduct, part of the old Yerevan-Baku line, which has been closed since the brutal conflict in the 90s. As the road climbed higher, the development became sparser, just the

of two varnished branches gleamed darkly from the light of a lone tallow candle. A little down and up through the pumpkin hues of the forest led me to another charming monastery, Jukhtavank. It was in far better nick than the other, thus missing out on the unique intrigue and tranquilli-

“The walls were a dank green from a century’s coating of moss, and a makeshift cross out of two varnished branches gleamed darkly from the light of a lone tallow candle” activity centre watched over by the obligatory unfriendly wolfhound. I made it to the trailhead and began the brief ascent up to Matosavank monastery. At the top, a large, intimidating group of schoolchildren took great amusement from the huffing-and-puffing of the odd foreigner with silly hair, which wasn’t kind, but thankfully the rascals were well on their way by the time I made it to the monastery. Therefore, I was able to revel in peace at the ancient structure, long reclaimed by the forest around. The walls were a dank green from a century’s coating of moss, a makeshift cross out

ty of a place at the quiet mercy of nature, but still nice. The views down the valley in the dying sun encouraged me on the long trudge homewards, and before long I was chilling in the hostel, well rested, with a meal prepared and the rugby on. I awoke hideously early the next day to hop in a taxi to a village called Gosh, in order to get in a pretty serious day’s stomping. My driver, Ararat, gave me two walnuts as a token of good luck, and, after inspecting the village’s monastery, of course looking dope in the morning light, I set off for Gosh Lake. Before long, on the track up from the village, a 4x4 pulled up alongside me and offered me a lift. Being a lazy sod and not really a student of the school of stranger-danger thought, I hopped in. We exchanged pleasantries, before the kind man went on to warn me about all the dangers of the Dilijan woods, bears, wolves, angry dogs and so on. I was dropped at the lake, naturally filled with confidence about the hike to come. The lake itself was beyond special. The jeep went on its way and I was left entirely alone, shitting myself about an impending mauling from a grizzly every time a falling twig rustled the dead leaves on the floor, deafening in the quiet of the forest. Resolved that if I were to die, it wouldn’t be too bad for it to happen in a place of such absurd beauty, I set about a leisurely stroll around the pristine lake, the reflections in which of the surrounding orange hillsides only occasionally interrupted

by the ripples of a leaping frog. It was divine. I kept on through the autumnal wonderland in the direction of Parz Lake, which I eventually reached, traversing over hills and dales, through meadows and thickets, and around an insanely long column of rare woodland cows. Parz was mid in comparison with Gosh, it was noisy with people who hadn’t worked as hard to get there as I and far less pretty, so I quickly ploughed on towards Dilijan. On my way up out of

the depression around Parz, I shoplifted a couple of stray dogs from a Russian couple and began to make very good ground, spurred on by my newfound furry friends. The final leg to Dilijan was more of the incredible same, enchanting woodland interspersed with the odd clearing that cut open a window to far-away hillsides, slightly dimmed by the haze from the valley in between, resulting in an almost ethereal look. Before long we were well into the foothills above the town, where I had to bid farewell to my loyal companions as they left me for the greater entertainment of the other local strays. Thirty strong kms in the bag and the second night of RWC quarters starting later, I collapsed, beer in hand, in the hostel in a state of utmost content. Good times.

s n m u l o C History Beyond the Reading List 18 | Columns

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Portsmouth

Matt Holland

write this article, rather fittingly, on a brief hiatus from Oxford, spending the weekend back home in Portsmouth. For people that have had a conversation that lasted more 5 seconds, chances are they’ve heard me mention my hometown before, although usually the negativity tends to take hold and I tell them how much I hate the place. In my interview for Oxford almost 3 years ago now, I was given an opportunity to describe to the tutors at Exeter about how growing up in Portsmouth had given me many chances to engage with local history and had started my relationship both with my chosen subject and the city I was subjected to. What I find particularly fascinating about local history, and which I attempted

as a nervous 18 year old to explain, is that local history can take so many forms of engagement outside of simply books. My earliest memories of

“I remember the D-Day museum, with a vast collection of materials relating to the D-Day landing, which Portsmouth played an integral part in”

Portsmouth and growing up here are of going on day trips, often with my grandparents tagging along with my two older brothers and my parents, running around the Historic Dockyards and along the decks of the HMS Warrior and Victory. I remember

the D-Day museum, with a vast collection of materials relating to the D-Day landing, which Portsmouth played an integral part in, as remembered every year on the 6 th June when dignitaries from various countries come down to remember that fateful day in 1944. For my work experience at secondary school, I volunteered at a small World War 1 Remembrance Centre, run by the brilliant Charles Haskell, which was built in an abandoned fort along the Hilsea Lines, a section of Napoleonic-era fortifications at the north of Portsea Island. Because Portsmouth has always been such an important maritime city, those are the things that tend to dominate in terms of the

museums and sights which one can see; Southsea Castle, where Henry VIII watched the sinking of the Mary Rose from, the Mary Rose museum itself, and the many churches which dot the coastline, including the Cathedral which would look out of place anywhere other than an island-city like Portsmouth. But the city has seen much development in its years, and one can chart that by looking at the various architectural styles which gave way to one another; Georgian civic buildings, leading to early Victorian industrial design, into Edwardian simplicity, into post-war slum clearance townhouses, into finally the specious and tasteless necessity builds of the ‘60s and ‘70s. More than anything,

Portsmouth and its history, or more succinctly its impact on history, can best be captured in the resonance of the many people who were born or raised here and took a little piece of the city where they went: Hertha Ayrton, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Callaghan, Rudyard Kipling, Peter Sellers, Nevil Shute, H.G. Wells, and the man immortalised in the naming of a council ward and the prodigal son of the great old city; Charles Dickens. With a simple google or a visit to a town/city museum, you can have as strong a connection with your hometown and its past as I do with the little island where I was born.

change it up.

If you’re worried about your outfit clashing, try to base it around no more than three main colours, or if you’re wearing something with a bold print, try to wear pick out colours in the print in the other things you’re wearing. For example, a green jacket to go with a tropical leaf-print shirt, or pink shoes to match a floral dress. I’ve heard it said that picking out a darker, more prominent colour in a print can make you seem slimmer, while picking out a paler, less noticeable shade from the print can make you seem bigger, but maybe take this with a grain of salt.

intentionally wearing multiple bright statement pieces at once, consult the colour wheel and try to pick pieces that are analogous colours (next to each other on the colour wheel) or complementary colours (opposite each other on the colour wheel) so that they work well together. A lot of this is trial and error, so just play around with different combinations until you find something you like.

Blane’s Style Files Speedy style solutions

Blane Aitchison

s someone who loves to talk about fashion, I sometimes get asked “What fashion advice do you have for me?” In the heat of the moment, I almost never know what to say to such a broad yet personal question, and so I’ve decided to compile an abridged anthology of advice that you can refer back to if you ever feel lost about what to do or what to wear. Want to look taller? Wearing the same colour on your top and bottom half draws the eyes up, creating the illusion of added height. Suits are great for this, and the recent trend of coordinating sets allows you to use this trick in a more casual way. Clothes with vertical stripes can often have this effect too,

and so can matching your shoes to your trousers. Want to look shorter? On the other hand, wearing different colours on your top and bottom half causes the eyes to focus on a certain piece of your outfit rather than it coming across as one block of colour, making you seem shorter than you really are. Want to spice up your black tie? Accessories are great for this! Rings, watches, and lapel pins/ brooches can be the perfect finishing touch for your black tie, whereas a colourful bowtie, waistcoat or cummerbund can really change the vibe of your outfit. Charity shops often have a selection of patterned bowties and ties, so they’re a great place to look for a quick and cheap was to

Want to spend less time working out what to wear? The standard way to organise a wardrobe is to have all clothing of the same type (e.g., shirts, trousers, jackets, dresses) grouped together, but if you know that you usually wear a certain shirt with a certain pair of jeans, or you always wear a certain jacket with a specific dress, then try hanging them together the wardrobe. This way, you’ll see outfits rather than just clothes when you open your wardrobe and it’ll make your mornings easier. To eliminate any final indecisive moments in the morning, lay out your outfit the night before so that it’ll be ready for when you roll out of bed. Worried about a clashing outfit?

How do I do a successful colour block or print clash outfit? If you’re bold enough to try colour blocking or even an extreme print clash by

Bored of your current look? Why not try to develop a new signature style? Think about what you own that you love to wear and makes you feel confident, and then see if you can find other similar pieces in new colours, cuts, and styles. Alternatively, try something you’ve always wanted to do, but have been putting off – like a brand-new hairstyle, a different hair colour, or a new piercing!

Columns Mental Health Walk Michaelmas

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

Columns | 19

The fourth week blues and the college pet in Cowley

Amanda Li

his week, dear readers, I had once again overstressed and gotten little to no relief from it. Two essays a week due on the same day were getting to me, plus internship applications (and having just– two seconds ago just – finished a disastrous interview for one), and society events I had to go to plus club committee duties were truly throwing me for a loop. Ben Shapiro coming to the Union, lack of sleep from the workload, overall lack of sleep, and a lot of seasonal depression was coming to a head. Plus, I’ve gotten immensely homesick for NY and the sun. Who decided we would have the sun set at 4 PM again?

“Fourth week blues are more of a thing than fifth week blues; fifth week is just the continuation of it for me” Fourth week blues are more of a thing than fifth week blues; fifth week is just the continuation of it for me. Welfare reps have scheduled alpaca pettings for today, but

last week, I had completely lost it by Saturday, so I decided it was time to take a break from my perpetual state of doom and go on a walk. (Plus, the column was due; it was a good excuse to procrastinate.) I really wanted to spend time with someone who was not battling the urge to collapse on the floor and cry at any given time else I would do the same, so after some light thinking, I found the only person I could think of that fit that criteria: our unofficial college pet. That’s right, folks, Brasenose College does not have any official college pet, and the unofficial college dog was the only one I could think of that wouldn’t make me absolutely lose it. She was in Cowley, so I decided to take the twenty five minute hike from Frewin across Magdalen Bridge to pick her up. I passed by the Ballroom Emporium, where I got a beautiful scarf with birds on it for 2 pounds, and then up Cowley Road. Cowley is beautiful, though far away; there were so many shops from different cultures selling groceries. There are less students than locals, and the many small businesses on the road were bustling as the cool wind rustled the leaves on the ground. There I found the dog happily sitting in her house, and after she finished barking at me as if I hadn’t

seen her in June, we went on our way to take a little walk around. The original plan was Uni parks, but she seemed so reluctant to leave home that we decided to take a walk nearby next to the Headington Hill park, where they were setting up for the Bonfire night fireworks in South Park. We trudged through the mud as she stopped and sniffed pretty much everything in sight. This dog really was stubborn, but so was I; I pet her at every intersection until we finally arrived at the park. The park was serene yet small, a reminder that we were still in a town somewhere. The leaves had fully gone red and were absolutely stunning to watch despite the large amount of mud from the rain. We trudged and sniffed through the park, until, after she sat for two minutes staring at the trucks across the road in South Park, I offered us a chance to go near the trucks. She immediately perked up. And then she became the speediest girl in the world. We zoomed across the road to South Park, past a guy who shouted, “Looks like wellies were a very practical choice for today!” She then seemed to decide that five seconds with the trucks was more than enough, and she wanted to go home. I, still sad and

Image Credit: Stephen McKay

Image Credit: David Hallam-Jones ready to walk her for another hour, suddenly was forced to also want to go to her home. She dragged the leash and led us back to her house, a shocking half hour of walk from a dog that kept me out for three times that on our last excursion. And there went my chances of walking with

“And there went my chances of walking with someone who didn’t secretly want to lie on the floor and chew toys or something”

someone who didn’t secretly want to lie on the floor and chew toys or something. Having nothing else to do, I walked back to get started on my work again, and decided to stop by those small businesses that tempted me so much on my way there. I got a beautiful red pomegranate from the Moroccan grocery store, a strawberry tart from the French bakery, and unsuccessfully popped my head into the Korean grocery in search of some honey butter chips, which did satisfy my desire to do some random wandering. As I ate my tart back in Frewin, I reflected on the two hours that had just passed. It was a nice walk for me, and probably a good time spent in the end exploring relatively uncharted territory, but in the end, I would’ve been happier if I had waited

the extra three days and pet the alpacas in Brasenose Old Quad instead of a muddy, commute-filled walk.

The Final Ratings: Cowley: Cryability: 7 Seclusion: 6 Fun: 8 Helpfulness:4 Quickness: 4 Dog: Cryability: 9 Seclusion: 1 Fun: 9 Helpfulness: 7 Quickness: 5 Headington Park: Cryability: 9 Seclusion: 9 Fun: 4 Helpfulness: 3 Quickness: 6

Features Podcasting at Oxford: A unique fit 20 | Features

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Deputy Editor: Haochen Wang Section Editors: Patrick Groves, Helena Catalán Busquets, Elliot Francolla features@oxfordstudent.com

Haochen Wang xford is not known for academic laxity – with the relentless flow of tutorials, lectures, problem sheets, and essays, we are not left with a great deal of time to engage with the news. And when students do manage to escape from their degrees, there is an almost inexhaustible range of extracurricular activities waiting for them; from subject-specific societies to the arts, and historic forums to novel niches, university students always seem to have something going on. Consequently, sitting down and physically reading newspapers – to my sadness as an editor of The Oxford Student – isn’t necessarily the most popular or accessible option for catching up on news. Especially since the lockdown years, student journalism, and indeed journalism as a whole, has taken on a more multi-media approach, diversifying into short-form videos, interviews, and, notoriously, podcasts. Since the mobile age of the early 2000s, “podcasts”, or something similar, have been on the periphery. Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code in 2004 was a very early form of podcasting – a document of his daily life, routines, and activities. Now, less than 20 years later, podcasts are everywhere. A selfproclaimed history buff might tune in to The Rest is History on their way to work or while cooking in an attempt to passively consume information, while others may consume more conversational, relaxed podcasts as an alternative to binging television or movies. Regardless, while listening to audiobooks may have been the norm a few years ago (and this is not to say it isn’t anymore), listening to podcasts is certainly a much more prevalent phenomenon now. Honing in on Oxford, particularly student journalism as an extracurricular activity, we constantly face the question of access and inclusivity – it is never rare to see Oxford students accused of being posh or finding that a lot of societies,

including student journalism, can seem restrictively inaccessible or intimidating. Even if one does take the leap to write for one of the student papers, it remains unequivocally difficult to secure a professional career in journalism without connections fostered during your student days that indubitably come from a variety of opportunities, and certainly not just merit. In this context, podcasting is taken by many to represent a new, more accessible, and more relaxed channel through which those interested in media and journalism can dive in without the pressures of traditional writing. Currently among Oxford stu-

“Podcasting is a much easier method of consumption, and it makes journalism a lot more personal, as traditional written form… can seem quite detached.” dents, there are already at least a handful of podcasts being run: LOAF, OxPods, and the podcasts by The Oxford Student and the Oxford University Media Society among several others. And observing from a distance, Oxford’s burgeoning student podcasting industry does seem more receptive to newcomers in the journalism scene. Niall Hall, one of the hosts of The Oxford Student’s podcast, was confident in the approachability of podcasting, saying that for both producers and consumers, “podcasting is a much easier method of consumption, and it makes journalism a lot more personal, as traditional written form…where you become hyper-fixated on writing long, eloquent sentences, can seem quite detached.” I asked him whether he had any prior experience in podcasting before diving into the role of hosting, to which he conceded that he had only, as part of a micro-internship, been a guest on one. But suitably, this kind of

Image credit: Flipsnack via Unsplash inexperience points distinctly to the accessibility of podcasting. Zooming out of Oxford and looking at the proliferation of podcasts as a medium, I daresay a great number who now listen to podcasts semi-religiously were likely much less familiar with this form of media. Indeed, while some, including myself sometimes, may doubt the efficacy of learning from listening to podcasts or audiobooks, a study published in the Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology shows that podcast listening was preferred to reading in self-reported satisfaction ratings and produced a higher level of learning gain, and though narrative podcasts do share some resemblance with lectures, they are much preferred to the drier MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) that swim around on YouTube. Particularly at Oxford, we’re constantly barraged with information – lectures run on for hours on end, readings and problem sheets seem to never stop, and rarely do you come out of a tutorial feeling invigorated. Yes, we are meant to work around 40 hours a week, but if you’re anything like me, by the time I reach the tail-end of those hours, words on the page are recognised, read, but only occasionally understood. Admittedly, tutorials, whether

you like it or not, are engaging – it’s difficult to sit there blankly when a tutor is expecting an answer, and, as such, they are equally intimidating and stressful. Furthermore, it’s difficult for students in the tutorials to steer its direction, for they are usually based on work done over the week, and questions posed regarding those works by the tutor. Yet, even before we applied, we have been constantly reminded that tutorials are a conversation – an intellectual exchange between tutor and student. So, how do we remedy that kind of imbalance? One solution that you may not have considered is studentled podcasting. Many have probably heard of OxPods – a student-led podcasting initiative that looks to reverse that relationship between student and tutor by interviewing academics on “the niche, weird and wonderful from their subjects.” I spoke to Alice Hazell, the current President of OxPods, who, like Niall, similarly commented on the quickness in consumption and readiness in access that podcasting enjoys. But more particularly, she spoke of the concept of a “reverse tutorial” where “we [the student hosts] are asking the questions instead of them asking us the questions.” She notes that in those situations, these seasoned academ-

ics will, like the students in their normal tutorials, begin to struggle and be pushed to think on their feet in responding to unexpected questions. Fundamentally, podcasting is a conversation, and though the question of whether tutorials at Oxford truly are dynamic exchanges between the student and the tutor is certainly debatable, our centuries-long use of such a format puts students and staff alike in a unique position of strange familiarity with podcasting where, like a tutorial, conversations are being held. So, while podcasting may still be on the rise in Oxford, and there is certainly room for improvement across the sector, we are in a distinctly advantageous position to manipulate tutorial experience into podcasting experience. Who knows - maybe a few years from now, the race between the student newspaper publications will be joined by another race, between a few podcast outlets.

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

Features | 21

Niall and Ashley visit the ACS Exhibition Niall Hall and Ashley Lee

ith nearly 30% of all Oxford students identifying as BME (Black and Ethnic Minority), some of the University’s most vibrant societies are equally the most diverse. One of which, incidentally celebrating its 20th-year anniversary is the Oxford African and Caribbean Society (ACS), which held its annual Black History Month (BHM) Showcase on the Saturday, 28 October. In celebrating its birthday, ACS also held an exhibition in recognition of Black History Month which included guest speakers, a talent show, and an African and Caribbean-inspired dinner. Despite not being part of the society, we felt very welcome, perhaps due to the fact that just a week or so ago, we had interviewed two officers of ACS on The Oxford Student’s podcast. While Society membership is reserved for those of African and Caribbean heritage to retain the community feel that prompted its very finding. Non-members can still attend certain events. Fortunately, the BHM celebration and dinner encouraged all-round participation, and its vibrancy certainly shone a warm light on the now rapidly cooling autumnal weather. The event began by welcoming

Peter Obi for a panel on black politics in the diaspora and beyond. Obi is a Nigerian politician who became the Labour Party candidate for President of Nigeria in the 2023 presidential election, after changing from the Peoples Democratic Party. He spoke of channelling resources in effective ways and governing to help people out of poverty. Education, for instance, needs to be invested in because the more educated the country is, the more developed it is. Investments can pull Nigeria out of where it is now. The second panel – “For the culture” – was, in our opinion, the most enjoyable. Four speakers discussed Black culture, contemporary issues and advice for the future. One panellist, writer Athian Akec, spoke, in passing, of “having one foot in the institution and one foot on the ground”. A simple sentiment on remembering where you are from, but not to the detriment of your growth. Indeed now, almost two weeks later, his simple words still ring loudly in my ear. Another panellist was Abi Daré, the author of The Girl with the Louding Voice, explaining her deliberate use of broken English in her novel as being authentic to herself, for that was the culture that she grew up in. “Be authentic to who you are and when you speak loudly, they will listen,” Dare advised. After you have shout-

ed enough to be heard, speak for those who are still whis-

“After you have shouted enough to be heard, speak for those who are still whispering. One foot in the institution, one foot on the ground.”

Image credit: S. Pakhrin

pering. One foot in the institution, one foot on the ground. Oxford alumna Naomi Kellman then spoke about the society’s history. Having graduated in 2011, Kellman has since cofounded Target Oxbridge: a free programme designed to help students of African and Caribbean heritage access Oxford and Cambridge. In the institution, on the ground. Whilst at Oxford herself, Kellman was ACS’s vice President and Secretary. She took two positions because the society did not have enough people to fill the amount of positions a society technically required. Now, less than 20 years later, the current Society has its largest committee ever, and with more than four thousand followers on Instagram, ACS has long proven itself as one of Oxford’s most diverse, active, and passionate communities. Indeed, from Kellman’s days of little social media and a burgeoning society still seeking membership, ACS has transformed massively. To her, the generations of ACS committees have all built upon each other, “we did what we could in the moment, but you guys have built ACS from there.” The presentations were followed by an ethereal piano solo and an acoustic rendition of Khalid’s “Location”. This was their talent show, of which the fashion show followed. Students walked down the auditorium modelling their traditional clothing – a diverse range of family-made garments,

Image credit: Haochen Wang Somalian diracs, and even a dress from Amazon – a true testament to cultural diversity. Of course, any society event’s dinner is always something to look forward to. Pembroke isn’t known for good food, so we walked in with little expectations. And to our great surprise and contentment, the food was phenomenal. One member of staff placed a Jamaican pumpkin soup in front of us and, before we could begin, another swept it away. It wasn’t vegan. While others had started digging in, we sat waiting for the vegan option, and when it did come, it was very much enjoyable. Perhaps a tactic from Pembroke: make you believe you are not eating and you long for their food more? Even better tactic: flavour. Soon, with the final bites of the Jamaican ginger cake being readily consumed, the event came to a wrap. Admittedly, it probably is quite strange to see two people distinctly not part of the African and Caribbean community writing on their experience in such an event. Looking back, we probably stepped into the event with a binary in our head: that it was either an event for us or it wasn’t, but perhaps we should have approached it differently. Perhaps our unconventional not fitting in was the beauty of it: in the age of globalisation, we’re all encouraged and welcome to celebrate each other’s culture, but, as Athian Akec says, we must remember where our feet are.

Culture

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

22 | Culture Deputy Editor: Jennifer Robinson Section Editors: Johannah Mathew, Liz Lane, Declan Collins culture@oxfordstudent.com

Last Hope of a Sinking Ship Angels in America:

Millennium Approaches Review

The waves are deafening silent tonight Their callous fingers scrape the hull Johannah Mathew A gentle easing into darkness he Pulitzer-and-TonyAs a mother her child Awards-winning Angels Our frail beacon falters in the sky, in America: A Gay FanSuffocated by deep vast blue. tasia on National Themes is a two-part play written by Tony We do not know what lies beyond our light Kushner, featuring ‘Millennium And all is dark to us. Approaches’ (which was first The whipping white of wind seeps and settles performed in 1991) and ‘Perestroika’ (first performed in beneath our skin 1993). The play centres around the AIDS crisis and homosexuI hold the railing with unseeing eyes. ality in Reagan’s administrative It is numb with cold America, primarily focusing on To my touch. a small group of differentiating If tonight would only ever roll over into dawn. characters grappling with their

I, captain Of this ship, Virtuous vertigo of the seamless ebb and flow. The plunges of those untold torrents Live deeper in my soul than I, I breathe and they are part of me, To feel so infinite! So free beyond all thought – But the sea is too strong here. Its hungering breath keens for more For us and all our souls Rising, rising, ever rising, Waves heave themselves on board. Night soft against my skin I wait and measure The extent of life, calling order. ‘Aye, Captain!’ Sinking, sinking, slowly sinking, I see a light ahead. Singing siren soft in sickness, Mournful hollows of the wind Cry out with the phantoms of men, The hoarse chorus clashes in the air, but all seems silence now. I reach out with desperate hand For some last hope beyond The light closes round me, cradling, calling As a mother her child And so the darkness takes me back. by Jennifer Robinson

own self-identity and relationships. During early November, ‘Angels in America: Millennium Approaches’ was presented by Happier Years Productions at the Oxford Playhouse. Yet this production advanced the typical ‘student company’ play. The director Andrew Raynes described how, when Kushner released the play during 1991, a new millennium was to be ‘looked forward to’; however, 32 years later, ‘the millennium has passed’ and many issues remain unchanged: with conservatism ‘still on the rise’, questions of religion’s place ‘in a rapidly modernising world’ and how the COVID pandemic exposed many similar issues of the AIDS crisis, with ‘the most underprivileged and vulnerable members of society’ facing the biggest impact. At 3-hours long, Tony Kushner’s play is a gargantuan task for everyone involved in the cast and crew, with some heavily uneasy scenes between characters and difficult choices with set design, lighting, and staging; however, Happier Years Production rose readily to this task. Although some characters’ New York accents were a little jarring at first, this slowly faded with the emotionally intense acting and cast chemistries. The production started suddenly with a monologue by Maya Robinson’s character Rabbi Isodar Chemelwitz, introducing themes of religion, grief and the isolation of the human experience, which crop

up constantly throughout the play. Straight after, we are introduced to Immanuel Smith’s cutthroat Roy M. Cohn and Aravind Ravi’s timid yet righteous Joe Pitt. Kushner’s Roy M. Cohn is based on the very real American lawyer and prosecutor under the same name. On the AIDS Memorial Quilt, he is described as ‘Roy Cohn. Bully. Coward. Victim.’, which Smith embodies wholeheartedly, ensuing fits of rage and pain under a flawlessly stereotypical New

sexually repressed, Valium addicted, constantly hallucinating Mormon, who is the wife of Joe Pitt. Gordon entered this role with a seamless, unexaggerated American accent and managed to make the whole theatre laugh during her character’s surreal hallucinations, never once making them seem overly dramatic and pushed, which is very easily done with such an eccentric role. A favourite scene of mine was between Harper and Daniel McNamee’s

York accent. There is a scene in which he writhes in pain after constantly dismissing his AIDS diagnosis and converses with the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg (again, played fantastically by Maya Robinson), which almost tips into the overdramatic, but Smith’s performance brings the scene back, toeing the line between melodrama and realism. Joe Pitt is characterised as a chief clerk and closeted Mormon man in a straight marriage who emotionally grows across the performances. Ravi builds this through tone all throughout Angels in America, starting as a timid, God-fearing man who gradually becomes more aggravated and emotionally distressed. A scene that made me tear-up was when Joe declares to his wife that he prays for God to crush him and start over again. Ravi asserted these words so sincerely, it was felt all through the theatre. Grace Gordon’s portrayal of Harper Pitt was a highlight to the show. The character is a depressed, locked-away,

Prior Walter, in which they visit each other in unconscious realms (Harper’s hallucination and Prior’s dream), both actors excellently play the roles of stereotypical characters (sometimes at a fault in Kushner’s writing) meeting people outside their cultural circles. The scene is both hilarious and heart-breaking, with both characters understanding the pain each other feels on a deeper level than just a stranger’s interaction. Happier Years’ production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches managed to encapsulate the original themes of Tony Kushner’s 1991 play (such as loneliness, trauma, relationships, religion and politics) through the lens of 2023 British society, whilst still heavily paying homage to the original. This production is a mammoth of a play and to interpret it so incredibly is an absolute feat. Audiences should definitely keep a look out for future Happier Years Productions’ events.

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

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Taylor Tomlinson: Meet America’s Newest Late-Night Host Liz Lane his week it was announced that twentynine-year-old stand-up comedian Taylor Tomlinson will be taking over from James Corden as CBS’s newest latenight talk show host. With a hefty following on TikTok and two hugely successful Netflix specials under her belt, Tomlinson will be joining the ranks of TV veterans Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon. She will also be the only woman in the role of host. Despite a loyal following and celebrity endorsements from Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien, both of whom have previously praised her work, Tomlinson has little known connection with the broad-

casting world. So, who is Taylor Tomlinson, and what can we expect her to bring to Late Night? Tomlinson started performing stand-up when she was sixteen years old. Growing up in a “very religious” environment (which provides the source for much of her comedy), she first began performing in church basements and high school venues. In 2015, she had a breakthrough when she became a top-10 finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and has since gone on to do international tours. “I’ve never had a real job!” she told Stephen Colbert, half-gleefully and half-anxiously when her new role was announced. Tomlinson, it appears, has always been ahead of her time

and when it comes to Late Night, at twenty-nine, she will become the youngest late-night host by more than two decades. “If you don’t know who I am,” she reassured Colbert’s audience, “don’t worry. I barely know myself.” Famous for her tightly written, self-deprecating humour, Tomlinson shot to fame in 2020 with her hit Netflix special Quarter-Life Crisis, followed two years later by her followup Look At You. Her first special revolved around the ups and downs of being in your twenties. “They’re not fun.” She said to the crowd in Quarter-Life Crisis, “They are ten years of asking yourself will I outgrow this, or is it a problem?” Covering topics ranging from online dating and social media

blues to therapy revelations and mental health struggles, it’s no wonder Tomlinson has found a following online in a younger generation hungry for stand-up reflecting their own concerns. Her new late-night show, due to air in 2024, is called After Midnight and will apparently be based on Comedy Central’s @midnight with Chris Hardwick which followed a panel-show format in its 2013-2017 run. It will be produced by production company Funny or Die, and Colbert will act as an executive producer. The decision to choose a host with a powerful social-media presence suggests CBS have been thinking differently about their 12:30am slot since the appointment of James Corden in

What’s on this week? Medea Running from the 8-10th Nov, the 2023 Oxford Greek Play company aims to breathe new life into the past and reveal the timeless significance of Euripides’ iconic play.

2015. Speaking to Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes on the podcast Smartless, Corden recalled a conversation he had with CBS’s Nina Tassler and Les Moonves about how he thought the show could be run: “If you don’t make a show that embraces the internet,” Corden recalled saying, “there’s no point doing it. I said you’ve got to make a show for kids and stoners. They all still want to watch late night. They just don’t have a TV and they don’t care about a schedule.” The appointment of Taylor Tomlinson as CBS’s latest late-night host is something of a shakeup for cable television. If she is as whip-smart and original as she is in her Netflix specials, this promises to be a very exciting turn of events.

Oxford Victorian Christmas Market From the 16-19th Nov, the Oxford Christmas market will bring festive and fun stalls, music and food to Broad Street.

Movember Comedy Night On the 10th Nov at the Undercroft Bar in Christ Church college, there is a comedy evening to raise money for Movember.

Bodies Running from the 21-25th Nov, Bodies is an orginal pay by Deborah Acheampong about AI and relationships

Subscribe to our newsletter to get these events in your inbox every week! Link on our website: oxfordstudent.com

The Beatles’ Last Song: ‘Now and Then’ Review – 4/5 Purav Menon

hen Paul McCartney said in June that the power of AI had enabled a ‘final’ Beatles song, I was admittedly a little bit sceptical. Following the legendary band’s messy split in 1970, they never fully reunited as a four, something made impossible by John Lennon’s murder in 1980. Yet, in 1995, the three living members, McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, reworked and fully recorded two old John Lennon demos – “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” – and released them as new Beatles songs, with the aid of Jeff Lynne of ELO (Mr. Blue Sky) fame. They had intended on recording over a third Lennon demo, ‘Now and Then’, but abandoned the idea due to the choppy nature of Lennon’s recording. Yet, in 2023, McCartney and Starr, along with long-time collaborator Giles Martin (son of their iconic producer George Martin), were able to record the song and release it properly

as the “last ever Beatles song”. This is quite a moniker for a song to have to live up to – to be the final song of the most iconic and pioneering band of all time – especially with only half the remaining members. Those expecting something akin to ‘A Day in the Life’, ‘Let It Be’, or ‘Here Comes the Sun’ in complexity and scope will most likely be somewhat disappointed. But for those like me, who simply wanted to hear the melodic harmonies of John and Paul, the sweet guitar tones of George, and the stirring drumming of Ringo, all together on a song for the final time, ‘Now and Then’ does the job beautifully. The song opens with confident minor piano chords and strumming from the late George Harrison, recorded in the 90s, before we are introduced to Lennon’s voice. “And now and then, if we must start again / Well, we will know for sure, that I will love you,” sings Lennon; the double tracking overdubs by a now-aged McCa-

rtney bring back a Beatlesque feel to the song despite its obvious modernity. The penultimate two words of the line, “love you”, are sang solely by McCartney, as Lennon had not quite found the words to fit in his demo. McCartney taking on the rest of the line feels symbolic of the pair’s creative song-writing partnership in their youths, during which they would frequently riff on each other’s lines to help one another out. It cannot be pretended that the chorus, “now and then, I miss you,” contains a lot of lyrical complexity. But its simplicity is what makes it beautiful; at its core, it is a duet of Paul and John, two artists separated by 45 years, singing about how they miss one another. The chorus feels like a journey in time; we are simultaneously hearing 60s Beatles, 70s Lennon, 90s Harrison and 2020s McCartney and Starr – apt for the song’s title of now and then. The song ends with a short return of Harrison’s solo, along

with a beautiful string outro that finishes on a minor chord – a melancholy yet nostalgic finish to the Beatles’ catalogue. The true end of the song is a faint “good one” from drummer Starr, the heart of the band. And, with that, it is the end of the Beatles. Truth be told, when I first heard the song, I was not completely blown away. But on subsequent relistens, picking up more and more of the song, such as McCartney’s delicate harmonies, the weaving of multiple eras of recordings into one, and the genius sampling of old Beatles tracks, I have begun to appreciate it more and more. It is a journey through time that is in equal parts nostalgic and sombre due to the losses of Lennon and Harrison, underpinned by Martin’s expert production, McCartney’s intricate harmonies, and Starr’s drumming, consistent as ever. It is not particularly complex or a lyrical masterpiece, but a beautiful rendition of a John Lennon demo, and a lovely song

in its own right. The song was accompanied by a Peter Jackson-directed music video, which documents the process in which the song was created, interspersed with old clips of the band together; it also features brushed-up VFXedited clips of a young Lennon and Harrison, inserted such that they are standing and singing alongside the present-day McCartney and Starr. Though these can border a little on the uncanny valley side, the video is an emotional experience, finishing with the Beatles bowing following a live concert, and then disappearing from the frame, a creative decision from Jackson that almost brought a tear to my eye (even as someone who wasn’t old enough to experience half of the band being alive, yet alone performing and releasing music!). All in all, ‘Now and Then’ is a sweet song that serves as an emotional goodbye from the four boys in Liverpool that are, and always will be, the greatest band of all time.

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Green

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Deputy Editor: Jasmine Wilkinson Section Editors: Gaspard Rouffin, Jessica Wang green@oxfordstudent.com

5 years of strikes for the climate: Where is Greta Thunberg now? “D Iona Neill

id you know Greta Thunberg has been arrested?” a friend asked me the other day, passing by the Rad Cam whilst a man with a pressure-washer removed the orange paint remains of a recent ‘Just Stop Oil’ protest. The protesters were removed by police and arrested following the event. The question took me by surprise, as I hadn’t heard the Swedish activist’s name mentioned in weeks, months perhaps. After rising to global fame for her ‘school strike for climate protests’, Greta has become one of the most well-known climate activists and has given speeches at COP24, the UN Climate Action summit, and the European and British parliaments. I took part in one of the climate strikes she inspired whilst I was in Sixth Form, skipping Friday lessons to travel to Bristol with a group of friends to take part in a march. We made our own cardboard placards with marker-pen statements and were joined by thousands of other students and young people voicing their concerns about the UK government’s complacency regarding climate change. At the end of last month, Greta posted a slideshow of images from a climate protest to her Instagram, with the caption: “For five years now we have

been striking from school every Friday to protest and demand climate justice. We were born into a crisis that we did not create. It is shameful that the responsibility to act falls so disproportionately on children and youth because the people in power and adults fail to step up.” Looking back on the last five years, where has Greta Thunberg’s activism taken her? And what is she doing now?

“Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis” Greta Thunberg began skipping school at the age of 15 to protest outside of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm every Friday. Soon enough, by late 2018 her solo protests had grown into a global movement of young people with the hashtag #FridaysForFuture, and in 2019 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, which she has been nominated for every year since. In September 2019 she delivered an impassioned speech at the UN Climate Summit. “How dare you?” she said. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” In December of the same year, she called out world leaders’ lack of action over climate change at the COP25 summit, and became Time Magazine’s youngest-ever

person of the year, much to the dismay of Donald Trump, who tweeted that her Time award was “so ridiculous”. In the 2020 pandemic, Thunberg turned the school climate strikes digital under the hashtag #ClimateStrikeOnline. She donated a $100,000 award she received from the Danish charity Human Act to UNICEF to buy soap, masks, and gloves to protect children from coronavirus. “Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis,” she said. In April she refused to attend COP26 over concerns about vaccine inequality. She said she would not attend the summit “unless everyone can take part on the same terms.” At the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, she stood outside the Russian Embassy in Stockholm holding a sign that read “We stand with Ukraine”. In June she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders to discuss the ecological impacts of the war. In January 2023, Thunberg was detained along with other activists by German police, while demonstrating at the coal mine Garzweiler 2, and was released the same day after an identity check. In June, Thunberg took part in a protest in Malmö and was charged by Swedish police for disrupting traffic and refusing to follow police orders. Thunberg said her protest was a form of selfdefense against the threat to the climate caused by the fossil fuel industry. She was given a fine of 2,500 Swedish Krona (around £185). Within hours of her court conviction, Thunberg was again forcibly removed by police during a similar protest which blocked oil tankers on a road in Malmö. Thunberg’s second Swedish trial for disobedience ordered her to pay fines totalling 4,500 Krona (£334). On the 18th of October, Thunberg was arrested during a rally protest in London where dozens of protesters gathered at the Hamilton, a five-star hotel that was hosting the Energy Intelligence Forum, formerly

known as the Oil and Money Conference (also known as the “Oscars of Oil”) where bosses of Shell and Total were set to speak. Thunberg spoke at the rally, saying: “Behind these closed doors at the Oil and Money conference, spineless politicians are making deals and compromises with lobbyists from destructive industries - the fossil fuel industry.” Police officers asked protesters to move away from the hotel, and many were forcibly removed after they refused. Thunberg was released on bail, with her trial scheduled for the 15th of November. More recently, Thunberg has been using her significant online platform to express her solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, particularly in response to the recent escalation of conflict in the Gaza Strip. On the 20th of October, she shared an image on her Instagram account in which she is seen holding a sign that reads ‘Stand with Gaza.’ Furthermore, on October 27th, she shared another image capturing a Fridays for Future climate strike in Stockholm. In this picture, demonstrators are holding a banner that says ‘Free Palestine,’ alongside the well-known ‘Skolstrejk för klimatet’ (‘School strike for climate’) banner. Thunberg’s support for the Palestinian cause has stirred controversy with the Israeli government, resulting in the removal of any mention of her activism from their school curriculum.

“Thunberg is credited with raising awareness of climate change amongst young people” In an earlier post, Thunberg’s ‘Stand with Gaza’ sign was accompanied by a toy octopus, which some interpreted as an anti-semitic symbol. Thunberg reuploaded the image without the octopus and wrote: “It has come to my knowledge that the stuffed animal shown in my ear-

lier post can be interpreted as a symbol for antisemitism, which I was completely unaware of… The toy in the picture is a tool often used by autistic people as a way to communicate feelings. We are of course against any type of discrimination, and condemn antisemitism in all forms and shapes. This is non-negotiable. That is why I deleted the last post.” Thunberg has had to defend herself against critics previously throughout her life, most recently at the beginning of 2023 when former Kickboxer Andrew Tate sent her a tweet mocking her climate commitment. He wrote: “Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions,” which was accompanied by an image of himself pumping petrol into one of his vehicles. Thunberg’s reply quickly gathered thousands of retweets. “Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife. com,” she wrote. Further criticisms of Thunberg involve her lack of concrete solutions to the climate crisis. For instance, Vladimir Putin has described her as a ‘kind, but poorly informed, teenager’, and British radio presented Julia Hartley-Brewer called her a ‘half-educated, autistic, doom-mongering eco-cultist’ in a tweet that was subsequently deleted. Despite these criticisms, Thunberg is widely credited with raising awareness of climate change amongst young people, often dubbed with the term ‘the Greta Effect’. It is worth noting that she is just twenty years old. Alongside her climate activism, Thunberg is also a famous autism activist. In an interview with The Guardian, she said: “Autism can be something that holds you back, but if you get to the right circumstance, if you are around the right people, if you get the adaptations that you need and you feel you have a purpose, then it can be something you can use for good. And I think that I’m doing that now.”

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023 Deputy Editor: Bridget Harrington Section Editors: Tymoteusz Syrytczyk, Samkeet Shah, Gabriella Kchozyan scitech@oxfordstudent.com

SciTech

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How is artificial intelligence transforming patient care? Samkeet Shah rtificial intelligence (AI) is expanding and revolutionizing every field and industry. With healthcare becoming more important than ever before, a change has been brought in how the field operates. Recently that change has been driven by AI. It has evolved and modified how physicians carry out disease diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options. Patient care has undergone profound transformation by the inputs of AI – delivery, management, and recuperative stage- every aspect has been upgraded. However, the advances of AI in the healthcare industry have presented both advantages and disadvantages. With most diseases, early diagnosis continues to offer

high cure rates. With AI, early detection of diseases has become easier and more accurate. Doctors continue to use medical imaging and pathological tests for diagnoses, but AI has improved how the results of these tests are analyzed. In hospitals, radiology and pathology machines have been fitted with AI systems to analyze results produced by these devices. It has been observed that AI is doing a better job than ever before in finding abnormalities and detecting disease. The probability of misdiagnosis has been reduced greatly since the introduction of AI in healthcare. Post-diagnosis, prognosis and treatment routes have also improved with the help of AI. For example, personalized medicine has become more popular and affordable due to AI’s ability to process large sets of

patient information. Oncologist Dr. Susan G. Komen notes “AI facilitates the tailoring of treatments to individual patients, considering their unique genetic makeup, medical history, and lifestyle factors”. AI-powered personalized medicine has enhanced the efficacy of treatment routes and has given doctors some hope of treating cancer in the future. AI has also simplified the drug discovery process, which has been known to be notoriously lengthy and costly. The drug discovery research process requires one to study the intricacies of different drug chemistry, their activity on a specific step in a metabolic pathway, and their efficacy and affordability. AI can process large amounts of data to make the drug discovery research and development process simpler. In immuno-

therapy, AI has been particularly effective in proposing novel potential drug candidates for rare diseases where the traditional methods are ineffective. However, AI also brings with it a set of considerations and consequences. One of the main concerns is privacy. When using AI to process patient data, there is always a risk of AI leaking sensitive medical data when there are security breaches. Along with privacy, AI bias is another concern. When an AI system is trained by feeding it with data, it may sometimes have an intrinsic bias, and this can cause some form of inequality in healthcare. Some patient groups may benefit from this bias, while others may suffer. There is also the consequence of loss of human interaction as AI-dependent telemedicine becomes more popular. Although

it has made healthcare more accessible, it has adverse impacts on the essential patient-doctor relationship. In medicine, the human touch, empathy, and human judgment are essential for creating a perfect patient care experience. A delicate balance must be struck between AI’s computational power and human expertise, and this will determine how AI metamorphosizes healthcare in the future. Thus, AI has transformed patient care, with its own set of advantages and drawbacks. In the words of Dr. David Bates, “AI in patient care is a doubleedged sword, a powerful tool, if wielded responsibly and ethically, can be a transformative force in medicine”. Going ahead, we can capitalize on AI’s advantages and eliminate its disadvantages if used correctly.

Oxford researchers make waves in using 3D printing for brain repair Gabriella Kchozyan new study conducted at the University of Oxford offers significant progress in using 3D-printed neural tissues to repair brain injuries. Brain injuries, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), may seriously damage the brain’s cerebral cortex, or its outer layer of nerve cell tissue. The cerebral cortex carries out essential, complex processes of the brain such as thought, memory, and motor functions. It consists of six layers of neurons, the basic building blocks of the nervous system, responsible for carrying and transmitting information throughout the body. Injury to different areas of the cerebral cortex may produce varying physical, emotional, or cognitive effects. A few causes of brain injury include stroke, brain tumours, and disease. TBI refers to serious head trauma caused by an external force. It disrupts brain function and remains a global public health problem, affecting approximately 70 million people worldwide. Despite being a leading cause of injury-related death or disability, pharmaceuticals and biotherapeutics have not offered an effective treatment for

severe brain injuries. Tissue regenerative therapies using stem cells are a potential treatment for brain injuries, yet stem cells have still not successfully replicated the complex structure of the brain. The researchers instead used a droplet printing technique to imitate and 3D print a simplified, two-layer version of the cerebral cortex’s six-layer cellular architecture. The project began in late 2020 when senior authors Dr. Linna Zhou (Department of Chemistry), Dr. Francis Szele (Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics), Dr. Zoltán Molnár (Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics), and Dr. Hagan Bayley (Department of Chemistry) came together via the Oxford Martin Programme on 3D Printing for Brain Repair. The programme has funded and supported the project, allowing collaboration with students and postdoctoral researchers. Dr. Yongcheng Jin (Department of Chemistry) is the lead author of the project. In an emailed statement, Dr. Jin said he is very passionate about regenerative medicine and that the team was amongst the first groups working on 3D bioprinting. The project didn’t garner much attention in its initial

stages, he added, but it is now being more widely recognised. Through pooling together their varying expertise, the group established a unique 3D printing technique that was biocompatible with human neurons. In an interview with the senior authors, Dr. Bayley said when the team began 3D printing, no one had done it the way they had. “We printed various small droplets in the picolitre range, where a picolitre is 10-12 litres, so getting down towards cell size”, he added. “So, we can take different types of cells and use the 3D printing method to print them in very high resolution.” The development in 3D printing likewise represents massive progress in engineering human cortical columns. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) were printed to replicate cerebral cortical tissue with a two-layer design. The two layers represent the upper and lower cortical layers. The brain cannot repair itself, so using stem cells enables the replacement of nerve cells lost to disease or injury. Stem cell treatments involving early human embryonic

cells have been met with ethical concerns. Collecting embryonic cells risks killing the embryo, thereby making it a controversial practice, particularly amongst some religious groups. The study bypasses this controversy through using hiPSCs, which are easily obtained through skin cells, blood cells, or even air cells. Dr. Szele said hiPSCs can replicate the early embryonic stem cells which are in a state of totipotency. This means the stem cells can generate almost any cell in the body. After printing the simplified cerebral cortical column, it was implanted into ex vivo mouse brain slices. The implantation resulted in significant integration between the implant and host tissue. “The tissue can form crossprocesses into the brain slices”, Dr. Zhou said. Thus, neurons crossed the implant-host boundary and the implanted human cells communicated with the mouse cells. The researchers plan to continue their work with droplet printing in hopes of engineering a more accurate cerebral cortical tissue. “We don’t know whether it is really functional repair yet, but they influence the host tissue”, Dr. Molnár said. “So the long term goal is to perfect this

construct, which will integrate extremely well and better than the associated cells … and eventually improve the host condition.” This project marks a milestone in the path to personalised implantation treatments for brain injuries. When discussing the possibility for implantation to be a low-cost treatment, the authors noted the commercialisation of stem cell technologies will drive down its costs. Dr. Jin said partnerships, subsidies, or alternative funding bodies may facilitate the commercialisation process to make personalised treatments more affordable. The future of 3D printing in medicine holds great promise. It can potentially be used for drug screening, personalised prosthetics, organ repair, and much more. Nonetheless, this is still a work in progress, and the long-term goal of neuron repair through stem cells and bioprinting techniques is still in its infancy. In fact, all cells in the human body have yet to be identified. While other scientific developments are occurring in parallel, the team still has a long road ahead in refining their method. “This is just the beginning”, Dr. Molnár said. “These paradigms that we are doing now, 30 years ago, were a dream.”

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OXYOU

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Deputy Editor: Olly DeHerrera Section Editor: Florence Purcell oxyou@oxfordstudent.com

WhipsApp: OxYou political analysis Olly DeHerrera

he new public enquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the Cummings and goings of a Westminster WhatsApp group. The previously secretive group chats were exposed by former Chief Adviser turned whistle-blower Dominic Cummings after he and other ministers got fed up with being asked to read over Hancock’s applications to reality shows. The content of these chats is sure to cause internal stirrings in parliament as well, not least because Suella Braverman discovered there was a second, more active, group chat without her. The leaks have exposed key insights into how a room full of men with a degree In PPE failed to reach vital consensus on PPE when it mattered most. Ministers complained of a ‘macho culture’ surrounding the COVID handling, citing examples such as the chat being named “Downing Street DILFS” in a completely inappropriate erasure of the female members of the cabinet. Former cabinet ministers deposed at the enquiry have

recounted a grim scene of bullying and incompetence. Described by one minister as “unworkably bad”, it was revealed that “Boris would only reply to certain ministers with Fortnite dance gifs” and forced members of the cabinet to maintain a Southampton backline in their fantasy league squad all season. OxYou can also bring you exclusive insight into material circulated by the Prime Minister before and during Downing Street COVID briefings, including Eurovision sweepstakes and a YouTube link to video entitled “fat man falls in pool”. Shockingly unsurprising disregard for the NHS was also on display within the chat: at the height of the pandemic Chris Whitty shared vital statistics about the potential collapse of two major NHS hospitals to which Johnson replied “lmao”. In mitigation, the former PM claimed that this message was a reaction to his own earlier link to “fat man falls in pool” and not a reflection of his stance towards the NHS’s functional integrity. OxYou Political Analysis Kaura Loonsberg A particularly illuminating aspect of this inquiry is

the recovery of images sent by the then Prime Minister to the parliamentary group chat. OxYou’s political editor Kaura Loonsberg breaks down what images recovered from the Parliamentary WhatsApp chat may suggest about the former Prime Minister’s handling of the pandemic.

The main theme of the public enquiry has focused on the unclear rules of social media use in British diplomatic conduct. Scotland’s First Minister’s Friday comments implied that the government didn’t erase vital messages

and were unaware that their WhatsApp communications were breaking any rules. This image may suggest otherwise.

Since the start of the pandemic there have been questions about how the pressures of the Prime Minister’s personal life impacted upon his ability to manage the COVID response. This image appears to suggest that Johnson’s highly publicised divorce form his former mistress and subsequent remarriage to his new mistress may have been a distracting element in his professional conduct.

Johnson has been criticised for a lack of urgent response to the arrival of the COVID-19 variant in the UK, a lack of action which invariably left Britain unprepared to face the outbreak. This recovered image, sent by the then Prime Minister, solemnly confirms both public and professional sentiment that the former Prime Minister did not seriously appreciate the dangers of COVID-19. The COVID-19 parliamentary enquiry is ongoing. OxYou will provide further coverage as more emerges in the following weeks.

BEST OF THE ROAST Rordon Gamsay

t truly was a Hallowed Ween, but any zombies looking for brains on the streets of Oxford were out of luck this week. Across town, people gathered to protest the culling of Merton students; hell is empty, and all the devils are here. Oxford was in the headlines again as ELAT-takers prepared to be examined on poetry analysis were instead asked to answer complicated questions about geo-political borders in the Middle East. W e can only apologise for the late Roast this week, Rordon has been hiding under a bush since he heard Pryzm break out Mariah Carey last Wednesday. We send our thoughts and prayers to anyone affected

by the incident. RORDON REQUESTS: GET RID OF MUD On a chilly Saturday night, Rordon and his mates sit staring at each other, with nothing left to talk about, nothing left to do. Bored and listless, they begin to scroll through the trenches (aka Facebook). Suddenly, Rordon’s demeanour undergoes a dramatic change. ‘Lets go to Cowley!’ he beams. So, with little time to spare, his friends make their way to start the festive season off with a bang. Fireworks! After an arduous trek, the glamorous group reaches the entrance. Faces rosy and jolly, they join the queue. Only one more minute, and they will be inside! Rordon’s

nostrils are set a-quiver as tendrils of smoke drift up his nose. Fried food! One more second, nearly thereaaaaaand- wait, what!!!! MUD??? Surely not! Rordon howls as his foot drowns in the sordid brown sludge. What foul, what vile tricks the world plays on him. The night is ruined. To end this traumatic anecdote, Rordon would like to ask: Why does the world hate him? Why does everyone want him to suffer? And WHY has this disgusting green mass not yet been covered in concrete???? THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONER Mandatory anti-harassment training was out the window faster than a burnt lasagna as soon as Emma Watson

touched down in Oxford. With tips and sightings flying into the OxStu inbox, Rordon had to investigate. The OxStu sensitivity training surely wouldn’t approve, but it doesn’t count as stalking if everyone else is doing it. Unable to convince the LMH porters to stop hoarding all the famous students, a defeated Rordon retired for some mid-day drinking. Lost and confused on the mirrored Pryzm floor, things look bleak until, suddenly a voice… Emma Watson! A star struck Rordon could hardly speak and she said “follow me”. Rordon couldn’t believe his eyes as he approached her booth and found himself sharing a bucket of VK’s with Mother Teresa and Hillary

Clinton. “I’m absolutely gagging for a Najar’s chicken tika panini” Hillary announced. “But Hillary, I thought you were a devout Vegan?!” Rordon exclaimed. Hillary looked disgusted as a she prepared to execute a flawless roundhouse kick in her blue pantsuit. “I’m sorry Mrs Clinton!”, Rordon cried as she stepped on him like a pathetic ant and walked away into the crowd laughing. “Ten points to Gryffindor”! The DJ declared. Rordon felt dizzy as his eyes glazed over, suddenly he was back on his bedroom floor. It was all a dream….or was it….

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Deputy Editor: Tara Earley Section Editor: Johannah Mathew food@oxfordstudent.com

Food & Drink

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Too Good to Go, or no? Tara Earley

he Danish app Too Good to Go has been popular with students since its initial creation in 2015. If you’ve somehow avoided or ignored the raving reviews, then let me explain the premise. Their underlying goal is to prevent food waste. The app connects restaurants that have left-over unsold food with customers looking to collect it at the end of the day or after mealtime rushes, and are able to do so very cheaply. The first bag I collected was

“At just £3 for each bag, this is undoubtedly a bargain.” from NewGround Coffee on Ship Street. One of Oxford’s newer establishments, I was excited by my first impressions; this being my first time in the shop. The staff were closing up as I arrived, but were very friendly and had some great 80s music on in the background. I was in and out of the store within two minutes, and stopped off on Broad Street to open my collection bag. For the low price of £3, I received two apple turno vers, a giant pain au chocolat,

and a slice of lemon loaf cake. All four of the desserts were delicious. The lemon loaf was moist with a crunchy glaze, and the apple pastry (I gave the second to a flatmate) was still sugary, flaky, and fresh, even though it was surplus food that must have been sitting out most of the day. Obviously this is not the most balanced of meals if you’re looking for a genuine lunch or dinner bag, but after a long day of work I found the sugar rush very rewarding, and saved the pain au chocolat for the next day as another sweet treat. Next up was Pret au Manger – specifically, Tudor Pret on Cornmarket Street. This bag specifically was a breakfast bag, although quite a late one as my collection slot fell from 12-4pm. Usually I have quite a sweet tooth (see above) but this morning I was craving something brunchy – and I was in luck. I received two veggie breakfast rolls, a mozzarella and tomato croissant, and a pot of porridge, again at just a mere £3. The veggie roll was surprisingly nice (my relationship with mushrooms is on and off); it was essentially an omelette stuffed inside a ciabatta, packed with mushrooms, spinach, and tomato.

Again, I offloaded the second to a friend, who, in hopes of being quoted in this article, proudly proclaimed that he would pay the full £3 just for that roll (clearly he doesn’t shop often at Pret if he thinks he’s getting a sandwich for any

saving of over £10. Too Good to Go values the bag at £9, with a saving of £6 – therefore, the contents of the bag were much more valuable than they were presented to be. The app tells me that across the five bags I have ordered since coming to Oxford, I have saved £34, but I would argue that the real to tal is probably more than that. It also states that across these

is a mixed bag - literally. If you do have allergy or dietary requirements, the app asks you to speak to staff in store – but there is no guarantee that you will receive anything catered to such requirements. Whilst a lot of the food that I have been given has been veggie, most of it would be unsuitable for lactose or gluten-intolerance.

Overall, Too Good to Go is

“I’ve avoided 13kg of CO2e - this equates to 2,210 full smartphone charges...”

Image credit: Tara Earley

less than that). The porridge usually has the option of add ed toppings, but this one obvi ously came plain so I chucked on my own fruits and it was more than passable, even if a little overly congealed. At just £3 for each bag, this is undoubtedly a bargain. At Pret’s everyday retail price, the porridge clocks in £3.15, the croissant is £2.95, and the rolls are £3.65 individually, totalling £13.40 for the full value of the bag and suggesting a

five bags, I’ve avoided 13kg of CO2e – this equates to 2,210 full smartphone charges, 110 cups of coffee, or 40 minutes of showering. The system clearly benefits the environment. However, this alludes to one of its central drawbacks. If you do happen to observe vegetarianism or veganism, have specific dietary requirements, or are just a bit of a picky eater (no judgement here), then this will impact your experience. What you get

not the most practical eating option, but for the price it is definitely a tool to make good use of. My tips would be to read bag reviews from different locations, turn on notifications for your favourite stores, and stay flexible – sometimes the collection times can be a little unorthodox, and on several occasions in the past I have had my orders cancelled due to lack of supply. But with stores such as Tortilla, Pizza Express, and LEON, there is arguably something for everyone. TGTG can’t replace a fully balanced diet, but it can certainly supplement it on those weeks where you just don’t know what to cook.

This article has been edited for clarity - read the full version on the OxStu website.

OxStu’s Picks!

Parents coming to visit? Friends round for dinner? Nice date approaching? OxStu’s got you covered.

Recipe of the Week: Gingerbread Biscuits - BBC Food, makes 15 Ingredients: - 2 tbsp golden syrup - 50g butter - 60g caster sugar - 3 tbsp double cream

- 175g plain flour (plus extra for dusting) - 1/2 tsp ground ginger - 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon - 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method: - Heat the golden syrup, sugar, and butter in a pan over medium heat. Once sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and add the cream and spices. - Add the flour and bicarb, stirring as you do until loosely combined. Tip the mixture onto a lined baking tray, cover with more parchment paper and flatten, and refrigerate for 2-3 hrs. - Preheat your oven to 180C or gas mark 4, dust your work surface with flour, and roll the dough out until 5mm or 1/4 inch thick. Use a floured cutter to make shapes and place them on a lined baking tray. Bake for 8-10 minutes, then leave to cool and enjoy!

Lunch

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This Caribbean restaurant is famous for their jerk and cocktails that pack a punch. Their soul food encompasses everything from burgers and curries to spicy mac and cheese.Be sure to check our their bottomless brunch to start your day the right way.

For a fancier evening, dine in Quod for dishes such as rabbit tagliatelle, pizzas, and seabass. With their Christmas Party menu arriving soon, this is the ideal spot for a festive dinner with friends - be sure to book ahead to avoid disappointment.

Sport

Sport | 31

The Oxford Student | Friday 10 November 2023

A tournament of ‘Almosts’ – the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Review Matt Misselbrook

s ever, the 2023 World Cup has provided its fair share of controversies and conversation fodder, but ‘almosts’ appear to be the theme underpinning this year’s tournament. No statistic supports this claim as well as South Africa’s final steps to World Cup glory: winning their each of their last three matches by a single point. However, the competitiveness of these matches does come as a surprise, due to the the ‘disgraceful world cup draw’ (as Kathy Owens of ‘Wales Online’ puts it) meaning that only two of the five highestranked teams would make it past the quarter-finals. From the off, the quarter-finals were always going to be the most electric rounds of rugby, and this presumption was certainly realised as my heart rate remained in the mid-200’s for the entire weekend. Nevertheless, quality rugby was displayed throughout as South Africa faced the five other highestranking teams to lift the trophy for the second consecutive time. I must offer credit where its due – which is particularly painful as an Irish fan. Starting close to home, England had an anomalous journey to the bronze podium position, but one largely vindicated by their performance against South Africa in the semi-final. With three losses out of four in the warm-up matches, not least to Fiji (a country so small you could carpet it), it is fair to say English hopes must have taken a hit. Combine this with a temporarily-banned Owen Farrel and a precarious coaching arrangement, confidence

“Too little, too late - Almost!” must have been at an all-time low. However, faith was likely restored when they looked to their fellow pool-members, Chile, Samoa, Japan and Argentina, essentially guaranteeing England a spot in the quarter-

finals at a minimum. England’s pool-performance was irregular; with George Ford’s rightfoot masterclass against Argentina and Henry Arundel’s five tries in a 71-0 triumph against Chile both being counteracted by a narrow victory 18-17 to Samoa. This was after trailing for over 45 minutes to one of the lowest-seeded teams in the competition. England’s reputation as a world-class team was, however, reinstated at their semi-final clash with South Africa, producing some of the finest English rugby we’ve witnessed in years. Although the Boks proved their superiority and squashed England’s world cup dreams, echoing that fateful Yokohama night in 2019. In terms of “almosts”, the Ireland’s journey is the most remarkable. Entering a World Cup as the highest-ranked team in the world (but still not the favourites, according to BetFair!) must have put a lot of pressure on Andy Farell’s side’s shoulders, but the unprecedented sea of green jerseys apparent at every Irish match counterbalanced it. While trying my best not to sound bitter, the odds were stacked against the Irish in the group stages as they faced the World Cup defenders, South Africa, and a seeminglyformidable Scottish side. However, no amount of traffic-lightpuppetry from Rassie Erasmus or dirty hand-stomps from a 114kg Ox Nche could stop the Irish from putting 5 points on the Bokka and cruising into the number 1 position in their pool. Despite this, Ireland’s only legacy from the 2023 World Cup will be as the thorn in the champion’s side, with their labour proving fruitless after a narrow 24-28 defeat to the All Blacks in the quarters. Had Ireland won that match, they would have set a new record for consecutive international test-match wins and become the first Irish squad to reach the semi-finals – almost! After 80 minutes of adrenaline and clenched-buttocks, my heart sank as Ireland eventually succumbed to a magnificent

Image credit: JaumeBG

display of Kiwi rugby. Despite beginning in a scrappy manner, New Zealand categorically outplayed the best Irish side to ever grace the pitch. A host of retirements were announced following this loss, most significantly Jonathan Sexton, whose

“I doubt we’ll see a fly-half like him again in the next few years.” final defeat proved to be his biggest. I’ll also afford Australia a few words of slander. 2023 was the first time the nation hadn’t made it out of the group-stages in rugby history, following consecutive losses to their tiny island neighbours, Fiji, and a largely-unremarkable Wales. The loss to Fiji must leave a particularly bitter taste in Jones’ mouth, considering how New Zealand and Australia are accused of ‘poaching’ Polynesian talent. There’s an argument to be made that Australia lost to the Fijian C-Team. Departing from the theme underpinning this article, there was nothing close to an ‘almost’ about this side. While being nowhere near to matching Australia’s underperformance, France and New Zealand weren’t the dominant side the fans were anticipating.

For a third-ranked team at a home world cup, making it to the semi-finals seemed deadset for the French, but a facial injury to Dupont against the low-seeded Namibian side took the fire out of the beast’s belly after a convincing win against the All Blacks. True, France had a tough run, facing both the Kiwis and the Boks, but if you want to win a World Cup you have to beat everyone (unless you’re South Africa). After a loss to France, New Zealand redeemed themselves by defeating world number ones, Ireland, and were blessed with an Argentinian semi-final where the wheat was truly separated from the chaff. For the three Barrett boys, a World Cup win would have been particularly special – fortunately, Jordy had his two brothers on the pitch to console him after missing a world-cup-winning sitter. Portuguese excellence was as surprising as Australia’s mediocrity. For the mostly semiprofessional squad, simply qualifying for a major rugby tournament should have been accomplishment enough, to the fans at least. However their 24-23 win over an in-form Fiji had the team and crowd in tears as they secured their first ever World Cup victory. While many teams departing before the quarter-finals would fly home with their heads hung

low, Lisbon airport was packed with fans excited to welcome the squad home as if they had won the whole tournament. There is something to be said about other underdogs in this World Cup, namely Uruguay who were down by just a point at halftime against world number three France. Similarly, Fiji defied logic and reason by beating two Tier 1 teams and making it to the quarter-finals for the first time in years, despite being the only team who require financial support from

“Portuguese excellence was as surprising as Australia’s mediocrity.”

their government to attend World Cups. While I do recognise a [slight] European focus to this review, it would be impossible to cover every aspect of this 8-week thriller in anything less than a dissertation. One conclusion we can all agree on is that the 2023 World Cup has been an incredible display of athleticism, sportsmanship, and South Africa’s unique ability to get away with dirty tactics. On a sidenote, Student Finance England if you’re reading this, skip the middleman and send my loan straight to my O’Neill’s tab for the 6 nations…

Sport Messi vs Haaland – who 32 | Sport

Friday 10 November 2023 | The Oxford Student

Deputy Editor: Patrick Groves Section Editors: Purav Menon, Thomas Thornton, Charlie Wild sport@oxfordstudent.com

deserved the Ballon d’Or? M Purav Menon

any months before the Ballon d’Or ceremony on 30 October, recognising the best footballer in the world across the 2022–23 season, a fierce debate began to emerge, between fans, pundits, managers, and players alike. Who ought to receive it?

The frontrunners: 23-yearold Erling Haaland, the lethal, record-breaking Norwegian striker who powered his new club Manchester City to an unprecedented Treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League; or 36-year-old Lionel Messi, Argentine superstar and arguably the greatest player of all time, who had captained his country to the FIFA World Cup…? In the end, it was Messi who won his record-extending eighth (eighth) Ballon d’Or last week – but not without some controversy. Is the Ballon d’Or rigged? Does giving the award to Messi time and time again negate the award’s prestige? The first and most obvious way of comparing the players’ seasons is to compare their statistics over the course of the season. During his second and final season at PSG, Messi notched 21 goals and 20 assists (a combined 41 contributions in 40 appearances); not a bad record at all, but paling in comparison to Haaland’s whopping 52 goals and 9 assists (61 contributions in 53 games). As for trophies, Messi’s superstar-laden Qatari-backed PSG, as expected, won the French league for the ninth time in eleven years – yet they produced a tame showing in their domestic cup, and, despite lofty ambitions of their first ever Champions League trophy, fell completely flat against Bayern Munich in the round of 16. Haaland’s City, meanwhile, swept their third consecutive Premier League after seeing off an impressive challenge from Arsenal, as well as maintaining their form to win the FA Cup, and, after many years of failure after failure in their most

coveted prize yet, claimed their first Champions League trophy, seeing past the likes of Inter Milan, defending champions Real Madrid, and the same Bayern side that had knocked out PSG. Haaland was key to all of this, breaking the Premier League goalscoring record and finishing as top goalscorer of the Champions League. So why has Haaland not won it this year? Prior to the Messi era, Ballon d’Or wins on World Cup years were heavily weighted towards individual performers (and winners) of the World Cup. In 1998, the award was Frenchman Zinedine Zidane’s; in 2002, it was Brazilian Ron-

“What more could Haaland have done?” aldo Nazario’s, and in 2006, it was Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, all three of whom (along with admittedly excellent club seasons) had lifted the World Cup the same year as their country’s best player. In fact, ironically, the player to break the trend in 2010 was none other than Messi himself, who, despite not winning the Champions League or even scoring a single goal at the World Cup, was the Ballon d’Or winner – purely for his obscene goalscoring exploits. The trend was further broken by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2014, who won the Bal-

“(Haaland’s) wait for a first Ballon d’Or will not be a long one.”

lon d’Or despite Portugal not even escaping the World Cup’s group stage. 2018 winner Luka Modric reversed this, ending Messi and Ronaldo’s nine-year dominance, after a superb World Cup campaign with Croatia. But, if Messi could win the 2010 award on his goalscoring exploits alone, why shouldn’t Haaland? After all, it has been pointed out that, had Haaland

and Messi’s achievements this season been swapped – i.e., if Messi was the 52-goal Treble winner and Haaland the best player at the World Cup – Messi still would be the winner. Why? The first, and what I believe is the most important reason, is the role each player plays to their specific teams. Take Haaland out of that City team, and I think they still win the Treble, or at least come very close. Indeed, the majority of Haaland’s goals did come against clubs like Crystal Palace, Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Burnley; he did not score or assist in the semi-finals or finals of either the Champions League or the FA Cup. If anything, City’s best players in these games were arguably attacking midfielder Kevin de Bruyne or defensive midfielder Rodri, who scored the winner in the Champions League final. They had a strong team, no doubt, one that was previously unbeaten for a number of years – but Messi was simply magical to watch at the World Cup. He was pivotal in his side’s tournament, scoring seven goals and notching a tournament-high of three assists, and scored in every single game of the tournament except one – including two goals in the final itself. His excellent strike against Mexico turned his country’s fortunes around after a shock opening defeat to Saudi Arabia. He later scored brilliant goals against Australia and France. He simply amazed and dazzled throughout. And even his footballing skills aside, the amount he meant to his team as their captain and inspiration is a quality that cannot be quantified in a statistic. The second reason, and the reason that sets apart Messi’s previous goalscoring records and Ballon d’Or wins with Barcelona from Haaland’s records with City, is the way the goals are scored. I am hesitant to call Haaland a “tap-in merchant” or anything of the like, as his role as a striker is simply to put the ball in the net, something he does excellently. But

Image credit: Dmitry Sadovnikov

anyone who has watched a clip of Messi kicking a football will know that what he does is on another plane of existence. He masterfully whips through defenders as if in a training exercise. He performs skills otherwise undreamt of. Even at the grand age of 35, he was sending some of the best defenders in the world, such as Josko Gvardiol, hurtling to the floor at the World Cup.

“Take Messi out of that Argentina team, meanwhile, and they do not come close ” But the third reason, and the one that potentially outweights all of the others, is that the Ballon d’Or is an often inconsistent and generally meaningless award. The organisers and the voters are never going to be strictly consistent with the way the award is given. Sometimes, individual performances are given more weight (e.g. Messi’s 2010 win), and in other times, being part of trophy-winning teams is all that really matters (e.g. Modric in 2018, despite

Ronaldo’s heroics for Real Madrid and Portugal). After all, if French striker Randal Kolo Muani had put away that 1-on-1 chance to take the lead in the last minute of the World Cup final, it would have been neither Messi nor Haaland but Kylian Mbappé, the top scorer at the tournament and PSG talisman, holding his first Ballon d’Or, and this discussion would not have happened. Even if it was slightly unfair to Haaland, Messi being recognised with his eighth Ballon d’Or represents the voters choosing to value the greatest ever footballer in the history of football crowning his legendary career with the sport’s most prestigious trophy, honouring him one last time as he enters the closing stages of his career. In an alternate world where Haaland had received the award, it would be difficult to argue as to why he did not deserve it. As Messi himself said upon receiving the award, “Erling, this could have been yours. And it would have felt perfect.” Luckily, Haaland is just 23 years old. And if he continues playing the way he has over the past few years, his wait for a first Ballon d’Or will not be a long one.