MT14 Week 6 Issue 7

Volume 71 Issue 7

Thursday 20th November 6th Week

oxfordstudent.com

Abortion debate cancelled Christ Church no longer to host OSFL debate on “abortion culture” MATTHEW DAVIES & ADAM DAYAN NEWS EDITORS

PHOTO/ David Hawgood

Homophobic assault against Oxford students Thames Valley Police investigating “hate crime” against two Oxford students

LUKE MINTZ DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

Two Oxford students were attacked in the early hours of Saturday morning in what has been described as a homophobic assault.

The students, both male and aged 19, were attacked by two men at around 3.30am on Parks Road, near Keble College. Neither was seriously injured, although one suffered significant cuts and bruises. The men allegedly shouted “faggot” and other homophobic abuse, before kicking and punching the students.

Thames Valley Police are currently investigating the incident, with spokesperson Lucy Billen confirming: “between 03.30 and 03.45 on 15th November, two men shouted homophobic abuse at two other men and attempted to trip one of them up. We are investigating a potential breach of the Public Order Act”.

In a general statement on its website, the police force claim to take reports of homophobic and transphobic hate crime “very seriously”.

One of the assaulted students said: “I was quite shaken up about it at the time, and I felt a bit rubbish about it the next day. I’m going to be a bit

Features, p.17 St Hugh’s Ball President reveals secrets behind making it a night to remember, and talks charitable potential

more wary of other people when I’m out and about late at night”.

The Keble student went on to describe the response of Thames Valley Police as “great”, commenting: “Within 15 minutes of the incident being reported, two police officers were at my door to check on me and the details”. The officers assured the student that he was right to contact the police, describing the incident as a “hate crime”.

The students were returning home from a nightclub when they were confronted by the men.

Anna Bazley, Welfare Officer for Oxford University’s LGBTQ Soci-

ety, commented: “Whilst incidents like these are thankfully incredibly rare, they serve as distressing reminders that homophobia is still a presence within society and even within the University.”

Bazley, a third-year student at St Peter’s College, went on to assure students that “the LGBTQ Society welfare team strives to make sure all queer students at Oxford feel as safe and comfortable as possible”, urging students to report incidents of bullying or harassment with relevant college or university authorities.

Continued on page 3 »

A scheduled Oxford Students For Life debate on the topic of “This House believes that abortion culture harms us all” was prevented from happening on Tuesday evening following pressure from student activists.

The debate, which was due to be held at the Blue Boar Lecture Theatre in Christ Church, was described on Facebook: “Last year in Britain, over 185,000 abortions were carried out. What does this say about our national culture? Is it a sign of equality, or does it suggest we treat human life carelessly? Joining OSFL to debate the issue are two prominent journalists.” Prior to its cancellation it had been subject to heavy criticism from student activists, and in particular members of the feminist Facebook discussion group Cuntry Living.

Criticism on social media was followed by moves to shut down the debate, with Christ Church JCR Treasurer Will Neaverson bringing forward a motion at Sunday’s GM which resolved to “request our college authorities and our elected officers to try and cancel an event hosted by Oxford Students for Life”, and the college responded to the request the following day with a decision to cancel the debate.

An email sent around the Christ Church JCR mailing list by JCR President Louise Revell stated that the decision of the College authorities had been not to grant OSFL permission to host the event in Christ Church, for the reason that “there was insufficient time between today and tomorrow to address some concerns they had about the meeting”.

The GM motion, which originally questioned the legitimacy of the OSFL debate itself, was amended following a three-hour debate to mandate JCR Officers to raise “security concerns, both physical and mental, of Christ Church students” with the college. The amended motion also noted the JCR’s “strong Continued on page 4 »

Comment, p.31

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Stage, OXII p.14

Is Obama too lame a duck to forge his legacy, and is Hillary’s Presidential career DOA?

Taylor Swift’s transformation from wannabe cheerleader to mature superstar

Drama cuppers reviews – lacy thongs for tickets, clandestine sex in parliament and chat-show theatre

2 Editorial

20th November 2014

Editorial The Stepford Students

W

e all seem to be a bit confused about free speech.

From controversial online publications to Oxford Students for Life asserting their right to ‘debate’ freely, free speech has been the preferred defence of those who have come under criticism this week.

Throughout the term, students have interrogated the question of free speech and free platforms, proving the power of Facebook mobilisation to galvanise and channel vocal opposition. In second week, it was the inclusion of a transphobic article in the St. John’s Gender Equality zine that brought the issue to the fore. Now, Christ Church’s decision not to host a debate on ‘abortion News Comment Features Music Screen Stage Arts Fashion Sport

culture’ between Timothy Stanley and Brendan O’Neill has divided students.

There was so much wrong with the OSFL’s ‘debate’ in the first place.

From its speakers to its discussion of ‘abortion culture’ – a bizarre coinage which is horribly reminiscent of other ‘cultures’, such as lad culture and rape culture – the event sidelined the very people whose bodily autonomy it purported to debate: women. Of course, the story has hit the national headlines. It has been used as evidence of the ‘mob-rule’ of an institution where discussion is famously encouraged. Those who opposed the event are “the enemies of free speech” – a grandiose title for which the Oxrev Fems can thank The Spectator.

What is forgotten, however, is

work with us

that the principle of free speech does not entitle O’Neill and Stanley to a platform, and it certainly does not entitle them to a platform at this University. Christ Church’s resolution to revoke the loan of their lecture theatre to the OSFL demands that we examine who exactly merits a platform and what that platform should be.

A rejection of the debate was not a rejection of free speech, but the denial of a platform, preventing OSFL from using a room at Christ Church. It is important to appreciate that college facilities exist primarily for the students who live and work in them. The decision to deny OSFL use of Christ Church as a venue was made by a vote on an emergency GM motion. The students of Christ Church did not want this debate to

take place on their turf.

There is a difference between free speech and free platform, and neither has been ultimately or absolutely denied to Brendan O’Neill and Tim Stanley. The Telegraph has published a comment piece by Stanley, in which he professes what he probably imagines is an endearing ignorance of cissexism. He need not have even booked a train ticket to Oxford, as the full text of the

speech he would have delivered at the debate appeared in The Catholic Herald. These men already have many platforms; we don’t need to give them another one.

Are you a photographer, cartoonist, film-maker or just a plain old journo?

With the largest readership and the most national stories of any student publication in Oxford, The OxStu is the ideal training ground for budding student jounalists. In fact, in last year’s Guardian Media Awards we were not only shortlisted for Student Publication of the Year, but, of the five people on the shortlist for Student Reporter of the Year, three wrote for us.

To get involved email

editor@oxfordstudent.com

Get involved with student social action www.oxfordhub.org

20th November 2014

News 3

Homophobic assault Gas leak causes chaos at Merton against Oxford students Students prevented from returning to their rooms until the next day ELLIOTT THORNLEY DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

PHOTO/Keble College LUKE MINTZ DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

The society’s president Otamere Tam

» Continued from front page

Guobadia also condemned the attack, criticising the “wider context of a society that endorses the violence and punishments visited upon bodies that are ‘queer’”.

In May 2014, two Oxford students were assaulted by three men on Hythe Bridge Street, with the attackers repeatedly addressing the students as “fags”.

Homophobic and transphobic assaults in Oxford are generally rare.

An active member of Oxford’s LGBTQ community described the attack as

“disgusting”, stating: “This pathetic and cowardly assault is an attack on Oxford’s entire queer community. We have the right to walk around our own city without being attacked, and we will absolutely not be silenced by these reprehensible homophobes.”

According to Home Office figures, 5,000 homophobic and transphobic hate crimes were recorded in the UK in 2013, with gay rights charity Stonewall reporting that 1 in 6 gay and lesbian youths have been the victim of hate crime in the last three years.

Thames Valley Police are requesting any information from witnesses to the incident, and can be contacted by calling 101.

Dapper Laughs cancels O2 show Comedy tour abandoned in wake of sexism scandal BERTRAM BEOR-ROBERTS

Comedian character Dapper Laughs will no longer be performing at the O2 Academy Oxford, following the retirement of the alias by creator Daniel O’Reilly.

The twelve-part tour, including a show in the Cardiff Student’s Union and another at Oxford in February, was cancelled following a backlash against the performer and his sexist conduct on his ITV show On the Pull.

An online petition, centering around the hashtag “#canceldapper”, quickly garnered in excess of sixty thousand signatures, causing ITV to cancel a planned second series, and O’Reilly’s subsequent decision to retire the character.

The news was hailed by gender equality campaigners, who had accused Dapper Laughs’ humour of promoting “lad culture” and sexism. The O2 Academy declined to comment on the cancellation, but the website has promised full refunds to those who had bought tickets.

Hamish Forbes, Merton College’s Gender Equalities rep, attributes the cancellation to the “mobilization of

students around the country to make it happen,” and condemns the way in which “damaging ‘lad culture’ behaviour can be shielded behind the protection of ‘comedy’ or ‘being a persona’.”

Alice Nutting, contributor to Oxford feminist magazine Cuntry Living, condemned the way his comedy “repeatedly made light of predatory behaviour towards women” and branded the campaign an example of how “discussion and activism can lead to meaningful change”.

Becky Howe, OUSU presidential candidate, expressed that: “The one good thing to come out of the Dapper Laughs issue is the debate it has prompted. That’s what we need – to talk about ‘lad culture’ as a student body, in an inclusive and non-hostile way.”

Others have expressed dismay at the news, and a ‘Bring Back Dapper Laughs’ Facebook group has accrued 15 thousand likes in five days. One Univ student told the OxStu: “I understand the show is problematic but equally, I find it problematic that a focused online campaign by a relatively small number of people can cancel a show watched by many more.”

PHOTO/Ed Webster

Merton students had to be evacuated from their accommodation blocks last Thursday as a result of a gas leak.

Merton Street was closed for two hours after staff at both Merton and the nearby Eastgate Hotel reported a strong smell of gas. Six emergency vehicles from Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) were called to the scene and discovered the leak.

Approximately 30 students were evacuated from their accommodation buildings at 20, 21 and 22 Merton Street, along with residents of the Warden’s Lodgings and a number of Eastgate Hotel guests.

The Warden and some students had to sleep in other rooms overnight.

First-year Merton student George Prescott commented: “I live at 20 Merton Street but was moved to a room in Holywell Street, where I spent the night.

I wasn’t in when it happened but when I came back at about 7pm I was told to leave by staff because it was evacuated.”

Another Merton first-year, Ben Holden, said: “I was stuck in my slippers after being asked to leave the building, and they wouldn’t let me back in to grab my shoes.

They wouldn’t let me get my laptop either, even though I had an essay to do. I had

to email my tutor to ask for an extension, but I expect he’ll understand. I slept in the hotel that night, but aside from the whole lack of laptop/shoes thing I didn’t really mind. The hotel room was a lot nicer than my college room.”

Concerning the discovery of the leak, the general manager of the Eastgate Hotel explained: “Our staff smelled gas outside and the maintenance man called the gas company number. We had to evacuate the building.

“We switched off everything – kitchen, heating, the boilers. There was danger of an explosion.”

He also commented that several Merton

students slept in the hotel on Thursday night.

A spokesperson from SGN stated that the source of the leak has now been discovered and fixed, adding that Merton Street would be closed until Sunday in order to fix the parts of the road that were dug up to access the leak.

In a college statement, a Merton spokesperson said that it is “likely that a new gas main will be laid [on Merton Street] in summer 2015”. He added that: “The management of the situation by the engineers in attendance, and their communication with us, was excellent throughout.”

PHOTO/Bertram Beor-Roberts

SOS medical bus scheme launched in City centre

Pilot project to provide onsite treatment for “alcohol-related injuries”

LAURA KENNEDY DEPUTY EDITOR

A £55,000 pilot scheme providing an SOS medical bus in Oxford City Centre treated 20 people in its first weekend.

The temporary weekend night service, facilitated by the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), is intended to help those suffering from minor “alcohol-related injuries and illnesses” over the winter months.

Located on Cornmarket Street, the SOS bus contains onsite treatment beds and provides medical care on Fridays and Saturdays between the hours of 10.30pm and 5.30am.

It is hoped by the SCAS that the pilot scheme, which has received £55,000 in funding from the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, will facilitate the efficient provision of first aid whilst also relieving pressure on A&E. In its opening weekend the onduty SCAS paramedic and volunteer first aiders from St John Ambulance treated 20 patients, 13 of whom would otherwise have been forced to attend the emergency department at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Only one patient was transported to the Hospital for further treatment.

Recently it emerged that over 20 per cent of male Oxford University students had visited the John Radcliffe A&E department during their degree – a figure more than double the percentage of the general public in Oxfordshire who have made use of this emergency service.

Speaking about the operation of the scheme, the Operations Director at SCAS, Steve West, remarked: “The bus will also be a safe haven for those

who have been found in the street too intoxicated to stand or speak and who cannot find their way home. As such, the bus will work closely with both Thames Valley Police and the Oxford Safer Community Partnership.”

Expressing his “delight” to be supporting the new healthcare initiative, the Direct Manager for St John Ambulance, Craig Heigold, stated: “By providing a mobile treatment centre and trained volunteers we can help ensure that anyone who needs first aid gets it. I’m sure the benefits to those enjoying a night out

in the city will be immeasurable.”

OUSU VP for Welfare and Equal Opportunities, Chris Pike, commented: “It’s encouraging that the SOS bus is being set up, and hopefully will result in more people being treated quickly and efficiently.

This helps reduce the burden of alcohol-related injuries on A&E as well as preventing long waiting times in the minor injuries unit.”

The SOS bus pilot scheme launched on Friday 14th November, and is scheduled to run throughout the festive season until March 2015.

PHOTO/SCAS

4 News

20th November 2014

Christ Church rescinds invitations for debate on “abortion culture”

JCR Treasurer tabled motion to request that College cancel after serious concerns about “welfare and safety” MATTHEW DAVIES & ADAM DAYAN NEWS EDITORS

» Continued from front page concern with the practical format of the debate”.

Neaverson told the OxStu: “I’m relieved that Christ Church passed the motion, which sends a strong message that the welfare and safety of our students is more important than an outside group’s access to use our space.”

Other Christ Church students disagreed. One Christ Church undergraduate posted on Facebook: “How can you claim this is in favour of free and fair debate when you propose shutting down an event because you disagree with their ‘narrative’? Where is free debate if the Christ Church JCR should decide which narratives are acceptable and which are not?”

However, Charlotte Sykes, editor of Cuntry Living, criticised the event, posting: “Why are both the speakers (apparently) cis-men? They will never have to directly experience an abortion and so are speaking for a group of people they do not represent.

Another example of decisions about women’s bodies being outsourced to men…”

The debate had already come under fire from OUSU’s Women’s Campaign, which released a statement on OSFL’s debate: “This Tuesday, a debate called

“This House Believes Britain’s Abortion Culture Hurts Us All” will be hosted at Christ Church, where two men journalists will be joining with Oxford Students For Life (OSFL) to discuss ‘abortion culture’.

“The Women’s Campaign (WomCam) condemn OSFL for holding this debate. It is absurd to think we should be listening to two cisgender men debate about what people with uteruses should be doing with their bodies. By only giving a platform to these men, OSFL are participating in a culture where reproductive rights are limited and policed by people who will never experience needing an abortion.

“The event description seems to suggest that increased access to abortion contributes to a ‘culture’ of ‘[treating] human life carelessly’. Framing the debate in these pro-life terms denies people autonomy over the choices they make regarding their own bodies.”

WomCam called “for an apology from OSFL for hosting this event and urge them to cancel it” and supported a “disruptive protest” if the event goes ahead. WomCam further added “we also support those within Christ Church who are working to stop the event going ahead”.

In response to criticism, OSFL released a statement, saying: “Free speech is a vital principle of a democratic society, and at a university of all places it should be protected. We’re very happy

PHOTO/Tejvan Pettinger

to discuss people’s concerns about the event, but it would be a shame if open debate was shut down.

“While we recognise that this is an issue which affects women especially

- and partly for that reason we have hosted two all-women panel debates in the last year - Tim and Brendan are two well-known commentators coming to talk about an issue which has an impact

on the whole of British society.

“As a sign of our commitment to dialogue on this challenging issue, we’d like to invite WomCam to co-host a debate next term.”

Should the OSFL debate have been cancelled?

Jan Nedvídek Christ Church

B

eing born in a country which experienced both Fascism and Communism over the course of the 20th century, I am extremely grateful that my generation enjoys freedom of speech. That freedom is very precious to me, and I find it disappointing that my JCR gave in into the efforts of some of my fellow students to restrict it.

The JCR motion in question effectively stated that an event should not take place if a group of people who feel strongly about the subject of the debate threaten to protest against it. When in 1979 our JCR discussed whether or not to admit women – and yes, this was discussed predominantly by white males – there were violent protests against it. Do you really think that, for this reason, the debate should have been cancelled?

I think those who argued the debate should be cancelled because of its triggering nature were being hypocritical and disingenuous.

The same event took place last year in exactly the same setting: it was attended by about a dozen of people, half of whom were there because of the free wine. The profile of the event was so low that no one cared about it: yet this year, the student press and Facebook are full of debates about abortion.

This is not OSFL’s fault.

Without free and open debate, there is no progress. Undeniably, debate can often be upsetting and triggering for some. How-

ever, this does not constitute sufficient grounds for banning it. The key issue is that every topic is potentially triggering: as I am partly Russian and my family suffered under Stalin and Brezhnev, I feel very uncomfortable when some of my fellow students discuss the positives of Communism.

Would I ever dream of cancelling their debates?

Of course not: I just wouldn’t go to them.

Instead of providing the missing side in the argument, the protesters wanted to organise a “non-destructive but oh so disruptive” protest, and as a result of that, we decided that abortion should not be discussed. I find it staggering that this happened in Oxford, one of the world’s centres of scholarship.

No

Oxrev Fems

D

ebate is never a neutral form of exchange. Any debate question has implicit in it a basic set of shared assumptions and those engaging in the debate come from different positions of privilege or marginalisation.

OSFL’s debate on “abortion culture” was insidious in a number of ways.

To presume that the number of abortions in the UK in the previous year has created an “abortion culture” is at best naive, and at worst dangerous.

Abortion has happened for as long as people who do not want to be pregnant have been determined or desperate enough to do something about it. What has changed is

Yes

that state will now support the decision to terminate a pregnancy within their prescribed window of time – one of the few victories feminists have won in the last century or so. Improvements in abortion have been to do with safety and stem from the idea that someone with a uterus (women, trans men, non-binary people) know what they do and do not want to do with their body. In light of the above, it is unbelievable that OSFL have refused to recognise the problem with giving cis-men the power to make and enforce decisions about bodies which are not their own.

This issue is important to many of us because we value exchanging ideas and being inclusive of a diverse range of views, for which universities are supposed to provide a space.

We must remember, though, that Oxford and its colleges also have the responsibility to give an outlet to more marginalised voices. Not every debate is fortunate enough to receive such a forum and we must choose the debates that our institution holds with care.

The overwhelming call to cancel this event shows that we do not endorse an Oxford college hosting a debate premised on damaging assumptions with a poor choice of speakers to boot. Still, we acknowledge that effecting greater change requires more action and information. We will be hosting an alternative event in the near future where more deserving voices are given the legitimacy of our university’s platform.

. . .

N O O S

5 1 S E 0 U ar 2 G L IN RD B lend

M a O C O F X C O ed k a N y t i r a h C

Every penny raised goes directly to four charities elected by the Oxford University student body.

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Applications for Applications for editorial roles in editorial roles in every section of every section of the University’s University’s the biggest student student biggest publication publicationopen are th on November now open.14 .

If you you think think you you If have what what itit takes, takes, have go go to: to: www.oxfordstudent.com/apply TheThe deadline applications midnight deadline for for the application ofisEditor-inChiefThursday is Monday 6th of 7thJune week(7th (25thWeek).

November) at midnight and for Deputy Editor is Wed 7th week (27th June) at midnight.

The interviews will take place in 7th week.

News 7

20th November 2014

Oxford Hub rewarded for "outstanding work in the community" Vicious attack at Cowley's O2 Academy Student-led social enterprise receives recognition for volunteering contribution

PHOTO/Garret Coakley MATTHEW DAVIES NEWS EDITOR

The Oxford Hub has been awarded a prestigious volunteering award in recognition of its “outstanding work in the local community”. The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services, re-

ferred to as “the MBE for volunteer groups”, was presented to the Hub executive last week by Tim Stevenson of Oxfordshire, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

The Oxford Hub, a founding member of the national Student Hubs network, is a student-led social enter-

prise which aims to “connect students working across different causes” and claims to currently reach “over 8,000 students every week with information about opportunities to get involved”.

The Hub is led by a committee of 14 students and also employs five fulltime staff on its graduate scheme. In Oxford the Hub is based above the Turl Street Kitchen, all the profits of which go towards funding the Hub’s work.

Flagship Hub programs include Schools Plus, which coordinates over 300 student volunteers in schools across Oxford, and student food cooperative Oxgrow, based on Hogacre Common in south Oxford.

Henry Owen, the Hub’s student President, responded to the award in a blog post, saying: “As well as the direct positive impact our projects (such as Schools Plus) have, I think the award recognises the role the hub has had, and continues to have, in helping to engender a culture where volunteering is an everyday and expected part of the student experience in Oxford, along with essay crises and grumbling about rowing.”

“Local volunteering is a huge part of what we do, and it’s brilliant to have that recognised, but we also do so much more than that at Oxford Hub: running artistic events, the largest student-run conferences in the UK, supporting a student run food co-op, working with groups researching or volunteering in international development, running Oxford’s student thinktank OxPolicy, and the list goes on.”

Police appeal for information on assault at nightclub

SAMANTHA LISLE

Police have revealed that two men have been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm following an attack which took place at the popular Oxford nightclub, the O2 Academy, on Saturday 1st November at 2am.

The victim, a 23-year-old man, had to receive hospital treatment after sustaining facial injuries from a group of at least five men.

The incident took place while the 23-year-old was standing on the staircase at the O2 Academy, where he was assaulted, caused to fall to the floor, then kicked and stamped in the head.

The force said: “Two men, aged 23 and 25 from Wantage, have been arrested on suspicion of GBH. They have been released on police bail until 8 January 2015.”

Investigating officer Det Con George Atkinson said: “I am appealing for anyone with any information about the incident or anyone who saw the victim being assaulted, to speak to the police.

If you were in the 02 Academy at the time of the incident and have any information which could assist in the investigation please call the 24-hour Thames Valley Police enquiry centre on 101.”

The O2 Academy often hosts gigs and events which are extremely popular among students in Oxford. Clarissa, who studies Japanese at Hertford College, has been to the O2 Academy in the

past said that: “The O2 Academy was great when I was there, I’m so surprised! Seemed pretty normal last week.” Clarissa claimed she won’t be put off attending the O2.

One Magdalen student told the OxStu: “It’s easy to forget that Oxford isn’t the safe bubble some people assume it to be. Incidents like this remind us to be wary and remember that Oxford is part of the real world.”

PHOTO/archeon

Magdalen students trash wreath Launch of Versa outrages student activists JCR President reprimands behaviour after bop Controversial new online publication launched to over 18,000 page views MATTHEW DAVIES NEWS EDITOR

Magdalen students have been reprimanded by their JCR President for trashing areas of the college after a bop, including a remembrance wreath.

In his email, JCR President Fabian Apel wrote: “The Deans of Arts and the Home Bursar have notified me that there were significant disturbances to College life in the night from Saturday to Sunday”.

Apel explained “the newlyreplanted border outside the Gothics (next to the OKB) was trashed and the Remembrance Day wreath found in a state”, further commenting that “staff put a lot of work into keeping the grounds in a good state and that your trashing them is deeply disrespectful. There is no need for me to reiterate the same about the Remembrance Day wreath.”

The JCR President also stated that “The Deans have asked me to supply further information about these incidents”, but reassured members that “As is JCR policy, I would not pass on any names were I aware of them. However, if you wish to take responsibility for any of these incidents and apologise, do contact the Deans. Please believe me that this is one of the many emails I would much prefer not to have to write.”

Some students were angered by

their fellow Magdalenites’ actions.

Tom Shore told the OxStu: “I’d like to say to whoever the vandal may be: karma is coming for you”.

However, one Magdalen second year commented: “Obviously, damaging a Remembrance wreath is unacceptable but I think it’s important to understand the context.

It was after bop, everyone was drunk and I’m sure that the damage was just an inebriated accident”.

The incident comes after the Deans threatened to close Magdalen JCR’s Games Room because no one took responsibility for a small fire started by a tennis bat being left on a lamp.

PHOTO/comedynose

OXSTU NEWS TEAM

Versa, a new Oxford online publication launched by former student journalists, has already attracted controversy.

The publication, which has been prepared secretly throughout this term, launched on Monday of 6th week. The name is believed to be a play on the title of the preexisting publication Vice which senior editorial staff have cited as an inspiration for the site.

Student activists have criticized the publication, stating that Versa’s commitment to free speech goes “too far”. Members of feminist discussion space Cuntry Living attacked the publication, with posters commenting "meet Oxford's new Daily Mail", "very funny. I cracked a heteronormative rib laughing." and "you know it's good journalism when people are too ashamed to put bylines". The activists suggested using donotlink. com to deny Versa any advantage in search engine listings.

However, the publication’s founders, Ruth Maclean, Nick Toner and Amelia Hamer, told the OxStu: "We're really delighted that the OxStu is offering Versa this opportunity for free publicity.

We also appreciate the exposure offered by everybody else who has kindly offered their views on our

new publication. It is to you all that we owe our 18,000 views in the first 24 hours.

We are finally elated to be free of the bureaucratic shackles of OUSU (except for Theo, whom we still love dearly). We welcome free speech and debate, and we encourage everyone to engage with our amazing content.” The editors

signed their comment with “ xoxo two girls and a gay”.

One second-year PPEist told the OxStu: “I don’t know about whether they’ve taken their commitment to free speech too far. All I care about is the travesty of me being left off the list of Oxford’s most eligible bachelors. That must be defamatory!”

RAG

KILIMANJARO CLIMB & MOROCCO TREK

Ever thought about trekking up Africa’s highest mountain or exploring some of the most stunning scenery of North Africa whilst raising a huge amount for four very deserving charities? Next summer OUSU RAG is running two Challenge Events, one to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and the other to trek through the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

DO YOU DARE?

Do you think you’ve got what it takes? Sign ups are open NOW at http://www.chooseachallenge.com/trek-morocco/ and http://www.chooseachallenge.com/trek-kilimanjaro/ until mid 7th week, and more information can be found on these links.

If you’ve got any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the RAG Challenge Events Officer through harry.bush@merton.ox.ac.uk especially for more information on fundraising and to get hold of the slides from the information session.

News 9

20th November 2014

Fossil fuel protests mount Balls speaks at two talks across Oxford

Faculty and students call for fossil-free Oxford

Keble alumnus returns there to give talk, as well as addressing OULC LAURA WHETHERLY

PHOTO/ eutrophication&hypoxia NICK MUTCH NEWS EDITOR

Oxford students and activists toured a series of historic Oxford colleges and landmarks to protest against the University's continuing reliance on fossil fuels. Over 100 Oxford academics and 2000 students have signed an open letter requesting the University to take urgent steps to divest from fossil fuels.

This comes as the University has recently closed a consultation to consider the resolutions of OUSU's Environment and Ethics Fossil Free campaign. The University’s Socially Responsible Investment Review Committee (SRIRC) will meet to consider these submissions on 27 November and the University Council should make its decision in Hilary Term 2015.

Ruth Meredith, OUSU Vice-President for Charities & Community, commented: “The size and speed of growth in OUSU’s Fossil Fuel campaign over the last year indicates how passionate the University Community is about ensuring that Oxford University takes a responsible approach toward its investment. We’re calling on the University to take a proactive approach towards climate change, and divest from coal and tar sands oil as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson for the University of Oxford said in a statement to the Ox-

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Stu: "While the views expressed were diverse, there was agreement that the issue of climate change is one of great importance. It was also widely agreed that the University has a responsibility to consider its position carefully, given the significance of the climate change issue... but concern was raised with respect to a resulting loss in the funding and support received by the University from fossil fuel companies (and related individuals and companies), including funding of academic posts, academic programmes and buildings and student support, such as career opportunities, development and internships."

Professor J. Doyne Farmer, Co-Director of Complexity Economics Thinking at the Oxford Martin School commented that “Science makes it clear that use of fossil fuels needs to stop as soon as possible. It is technologically feasible to replace fossil fuels in a short time if we only resolve to do so. Oxford University should show leadership by divesting from fossil fuel companies and supporting alternatives, and encouraging others to follow.”

Glasgow University and Oxford City Council recently became the first University and city council respectively to pledge divestment from fossil fuels, joining institutions such as the British Medical Association and Stanford University.

Jessica Sinyor and Jack Myers Laura Kennedy, James Waddell, Alys Key, Raphael Hogarth and Sachin Croker George Gillett Natalie Harney Charles Clegg Adam Dayan, Matthew Davies and Nick Mutch Nasim Asl Sid Venkataramakrishna and Matthew Moriarty Elizabeth Freeman and Rheanna-Marie Hall Lisa Cave and Jennie Graham Thomas Barnett and Jack Solloway

Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, visited Oxford last Thursday to speak at a meeting of the Oxford University Labour Club, and at Keble, his former college. The MP’s speech to OULC covered “internationalism, May 2015 and Ed Balls Day”.

Nikhil Venkatesh, the Co-chair of the Club, commented: “OULC was delighted to host the Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, on Thursday. He spoke to us about a broad range of topics, emphasising the importance of students voting and campaigning in the next election.

“Members really enjoyed it and so did Ed – it's great that we can give students the chance to discuss politics with important politicians, and it's great that we can give politicians a chance to find out what students and grassroots members want.”

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Part of Balls’ address to the Labour Club was focussed particularly on the run-up to next summer’s general election. This follows the OULC’s participation in last week’s #WeBackEd Twitter campaign; the Club also canvassed in Calcot, a suburb of Reading.

David Parton commented that “it was really great of Ed to come and take time out of his schedule to encourage OULC members to go out and help win Labour the next election”. Parton described Balls as “friendly, honest and personable”, and was pleased to see all spaces at the OULC event filled prior to the Shadow Chancellor’s arrival.

Having studied PPE at Keble from 1985–1988, Balls retains links with his former college, where he holds a position as Honorary Fellow.

Not all students were entirely enthusiastic about his speech at the College however, which also took

place on Thursday. Esther Hodges, a current Keble PPE-ist, said: “College were (overly) keen that economics students attend Balls’ talk given his request that we do so. This despite the fact that I gave economics up over a year ago and was delighted to do so. However one mustn't be churlish; Balls was engaging enough and it was good to see a Labour politician in action, even if I'd rather have seen his wife.”

After getting a first in PPE, Balls worked as economics advisor to Gordon Brown, starting in 1994.

Some students were surprised to see him appearing at several wellknown Oxford locations throughout the day.

Dan Enzer, a History and Economics student, tweeted that he had just seen Balls “walking down the Lamb and Flag passage, talking about the economy where many before have chundered”.

PHOTO/Sebastian Bergmann

PHOTO/ harrypotts

Nasim Asl and Jessy Parker Humphreys Srishti Nirula and Laura Hartley Aysa Likhtman and Alice Troy-Donovan Emma Williams and Dan Smith Ed Roberts and Rupert Tottman Elliott Thornley and Luke Mintz Jake Hurfurt and Hugh McHale-Maughan Joshua Meilke Olivia Sung Leo Mercer and Alex Bragg Thomas Bannatyne Amelia Brown and Harriet Fry Alice Jaffe and Natalie Harney James Yow and Xavier Greenwood

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Address complaints to The Editors, 2 Worcester Street, Oxford, OX1 2BX, email: oxstucomplaints@ousu.org.

Focused Leadership Training for Women Students

OUSU WOMEN’S

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Programme Aims To develop leaders who are confident in their ability to lead in a variety of contexts, can fully engage with their communities, can speak into and change systems and organisations, and understand the unique difficulties and opportunities that come with leading as a woman.

Applying

PROGRAMME

Structure

The programme has two streams:

The programme accepts current students who wholly or partially identify as women and/or transfeminine from any background.

Community Groups - large group training sessions for all participants on topics such as assertiveness, public speaking and negotiation.

Applications will be available from OUSU’s Vice-President (Women) at women@ousu.ox.ac.uk, from Monday of 6th week to Friday of 8th week of Michaelmas Term.

Family Groups - facilitated small group discussions in which participants explore, exchange and unpack ideas and skills from the Community Group sessions.

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2 Arts & Lit

Arts & Lit

20th November 2014

Ciara Moloney on Curating Warhol and Morris Olivia Widdowson

St Edmund Hall Olivia: The ‘Love is Enough Exhibition’ is set to be a winter highlight in Oxford. What is the role of a curator of such an exhibition and what is it like to work with an award winning artist such as Jeremy Deller?

glamour and the Kennedy family. We researched Warhol’s fascination with celebrity from when he was a child and charted this fascination into adulthood, culminating in his paintings of female celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Joan Collins. Morris on the other hand was fascinated with medieval world.

At Exeter College, Oxford, he became friends with people like Edward

ing that published works were a way for them to produce and disseminate their worldview. For Warhol this meant setting up Interview Magazine so that he could design and edit all of the content. In doing this Warhol was really ahead of his time. He foresaw how prominent the idea of celebrity would become in contemporary society. Some editions of Interview Magazine will be presented alongside mate-

In this gallery we look at the ways Warhol and Morris stylised elements of the natural world […] and how these were incorporated within their prints and paintings. Morris’s 30 foot long matchpiece is a length of wallpaper which illustrates each stage of the printing process. Alongside we have a selection of flower prints by Warhol and archival material on loan from the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Again

Ciara: Modern Art Oxford’s Head of Programme, Sally Shaw invited Jeremy to curate the project. Sally and Jeremy have worked together for over ten years, including on ‘Sacrilege’, a bouncy castle modelled after Stonehenge in 2012. She knew that Jeremy was really fascinated by Andy Warhol and William Morris. He has actually done a few pieces of work on William Morris (such as his ‘English Magic’ installation at the Venice Biennale). When he was a teenager, he met Warhol and went to the Factory in New York. They are very different artists and they would not usually be linked together but their personalities and political stances are exposed through the process of their lives and works. We are looking at what they might have in common and therefore Jeremy’s role is in identifying specific themes that explore the overlaps and divergences between their work.

O: How can students relate to their works and in what way will this exhibition be attractive to students?

O: What was the over all conception of the exhibition and how does love tie into this theme?

C: Love is Enough is the title of a play written by William Morris. The play is written in the style of medieval morality play and it is something we come across in a lot of Morris’s work. He idealised the medieval period and he was very interested in the people’s labour and craft. He felt that this period reflected a more honest and true way of working; a world that was much more creative and closer to nature. The examples he would give would be the wood-worker, carving furniture for the church, rather than being in a mechanised production line as it would have been in the 19th century. According to Morris, medieval craftsmen really took care in their work and created goods that were natural and useful. The exhibition is not about romantic love; it is more about the love and passion for a particular way of life. Both Warhol and Morris pursue this throughout their careers in very different ways.

The conceptual direction for the first room is the importance of mythology to both artists. This room is has the title of ‘Camelot’. We look at Warhol’s fascination with celebrity, Hollywood,

on this one as the conception of the exhibition was his. Both the artists are really emblematic of the age they lived in. Morris was immersed in the rapid cultural, social, economic and technological changes of the 19th century, an era of widespread industrialisation. His is a voice that called for an awareness of what was happening, one that was asking people to consider the impact of this changing world on society and the negative effect industrialization had on the landscape. He cautioned against the effects of the factories, the pollution and repetitive, mechanised labour. I think that this is something we can relate to today. Warhol is very much associated with a particular era: the swinging 60’s. Again this age was dominated by mass production and mass marketing and so the iconic images of Warhol’s coke bottles speaks to what was happening in the West during this era. Warhol was fascinated with the celebrity, something that is so much part of our culture today. I think people at the time may have thought it was superficial but Warhol was predicted what was to come: a celebrity consumer culture.

PHOTO/Andy Warhol/Modern Art Oxford

Burne-Jones who shared his love of medieval poetry. We see this reflected in works such as the Holy Grail tapestry series, an example of which we have on display in the exhibition. We are proposing that these two men carried their childhood idealism of mythologies throughout the rest of their working lives.

The material in the Middle Galleries also explores how both men propagated their particular view of the world through publication and literature. Print was very important to both of them. So here we are argu-

rials from Morris’ publishing venture, Kelmscott Press. In fact, Exeter College in Oxford has lent the last book produced by the Kelmscott Press in Morris’s lifetime: The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer published in 1896.

The display in the final gallery, entitled ‘Flower Power’, catalogues the artists’ use of print, pattern, decoration and repetition. This will be one of the most visually spectacular spaces in the exhibition. The walls will be covered in wallpaper designed by Morris with a selection of incredible drawings and paintings placed throughout the space.

we can chart Warhol’s process of making his silk screens, starting from an original photo he took and looking at how that manifests into the final design. Here we are investigating how the two artists worked, each with their very different and distinctive styles, in juxtaposing their work the exhibition reveals many unexpected shared interests.

O: In what way were Morris and Warhol the voices of their generation?

C: I’m going to paraphrase Jeremy

C: We were at the V&A looking at William Morris works and the curator we spoke to said that the exhibition would be very popular with audiences.

Everyone knows Warhol and he is probably one of the most accessible artists - he used and copied all kinds of everyday objects and images and most people are familiar with his aesthetic.

Jeremy thinks that both of the artists had a democratic approach to art and art making, they both worked collaboratively and believed that every person should have access to their work. For Warhol this is best seen in his statement “A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the street in the corner is drinking.” Morris’ democratic approach is seen in his belief that everyone should have beauty in their life. He thought beautiful, finely made objects and interiors should be available to everyone. I hope then that the visual excitement of these two artists will draw in people from a range of backgrounds and age groups.

O: Finally, could you sum up the exhibition in a few words?

C: Through this exhibition Jeremy Deller offers an unconventional and passionate look at two very different artists who both believed that everyone should have access to art and beauty in their lives.

Arts & Lit 3

20th November 2014

Scarred/Sacred Water Their Lips Talk Of runs red at the Pitt Mischief by Alan Warner: Review Rivers Museum Alice Jaffe

Worcester College

P

PHOTO/Tanya Harnett/Pitt Rivers Museum

Anna Shepherd Christ Church

T

anya Harnett’s haunting exhibition ‘Scarred/Sacred Water’ in the Long Gallery of the Pitt Rivers Museum demonstrates, through six potent photographs, the depredation of natural landscape caused by subterranean oil and gas exploration on First Nations Land in Alberta, Canada. The photographs provide a testimony to the dissent, witnessed by Harnett first-hand, of local communities to water contamination, featuring contaminated water sources coloured with a deep red, projecting an image of corporeal damage to the world as a bleeding body.

The pressing issues raised by the images are of much contention: the photographs signify the plea of the rural First Nations for energy industries to re-evaluate methods of resource extraction, raising questions about the sustainability of alternative extractive methods. The problematic debate that the exhibition raises is not, however, merely localised; the photographs hold great relevancy to universal concerns in address of these issues, the debate in the UK, for example, on the risks of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ (the extraction of gas and oil from shale rock), emerging from fears that carcinogenic chemicals used in the process may escape and contaminate groundwater supplies.

By turning inward to the First Nation communities which the photos illustrate, their additional lack

of specificity in the generic nature of the landscapes which have been captured, forces us also to look outwards to more universal aims, emphasising that environmental degradation is an issue of great omnipresence and importance.

The image titled ‘Paul first Nation’, the site of a 700,000 litre oil spill, captures in the foreground a black curving wave with a bloody crest; in the background, the vague outline of looming industrial towers also, ironically, swathed in red. This anti-industrial image is powerful; it speaks of beauty contaminated and of disordered nature. In the artist’s statement Harnett speaks of the duty she felt to “speak in defence of the land”; a task apparently accomplished as the images visualise water contamination to establish it as a living reality in a long, monotonous schema of environmentalist concerns.

The pressing issues raised by the images are of much contention At first glance, the images appear as realistic impressions of the ravages of war, and of blood as a residual reminder of the horrors.

Yet, the inflicted pain in these images is not human; it is of the earth and subsequently exposes a stark reminder that human progression can be both devastating and tyrannical.

The photographs provide a voice of great salience for the inanimate, the contaminated and the poisoned.

The effect is symbolic, which is per-

PHOTO/Tanya Harnett/Pitt Rivers Museum

haps an obstacle for the literalist mind, exemplified by the comment overheard from a fellow viewer that the ‘illusion’ was ‘shattered’ upon the realisation that the images were not depicting literal rivulets of blood but in lieu, a perspectivist angle on a wounded landscape.

This contemporary work undoubtedly demands the viewer’s commitment to the emblematic function of the red colouring in the images and should be, as Harnett herself states, a series of artwork that ‘belongs to everyone’.

The exhibition is running until 3rd May 2015 at the Long Gallery of the Pitt Rivers Museum. Admission is free.

iled into one mid-eighties Acton flat are two protagonists, caught in the depressing trap of aspiring authorhood, parenthood and poverty. They suffer under the financial pressure of a ‘pasta and porridge’ lifestyle, having originally met in the unlikely setting of a local A&E ward. It is from this point forth that Alan Warner unravels the lives of these two men who have failed as students, but succeeded as dreamers. Added to the mix are Aoife, Llewyn or Lou’s Irish, Catholic fiancée then wife (who also happens to be a “menacingly beautiful” model), and their baby daughter Lily.

Through the lives of these characters, Warner manages to explore language, literature, image, family and politics, pushing the protagonists through their literary aspirations beyond the marked-up copy of the Oxford English Dictionary containing, what Llewyn describes as, “Great words. The words I’m going to use in my novel,” to the realisation of their dreams: “It was not what either of us imagined a publisher’s life to be like”.

Warner presents his characters with both literary and linguistic knowledge, paralleling the darker reality of their everyday narrative.

He captures and explores the political undertones of Thatcher’s influence, and indeed more modern political issues, given Douglas Cunningham’s (the second protagonist’s) Scottish background, and the recent referendum. Such ideas of unity, disunity and independence are only echoed in the martial rela-

Words by Natalie Harney Chicago based artist Jacob Van Loon’s work explodes ideas of geometric, nature and architecture, quite often fairly literally with much of his work tacking the aesthetic of the scientific exploded diagram because “technical drawings are weird”. Constructed out of layers and layers of watercolours, and occasionally other media, Van Loon’s work in its process mirrors the ever changing, ever reconstructed, facades of buildings he walks past and watches evolve.

“The other part of layering my images and leaving certain areas at a younger stage is that I’m still determining what actually finishes a drawing or a painting. The endpoint still evades me. ”

tions of Aoife and Lou, as well as the over-cooked and expected love triangle that immediately develops between the threesome sharing the flat, amusingly overlooked

by Aoife’s exhibitionist best friend who legally shares her address with Cunningham.

Indeed, the presentation of the main female characters as models with a self-proclaimed lack of interest in books, as well as the ‘something chaotic about a child’s primal appeal - its lack of language’, emits a female silence and passivity that contrasts sharply with the overriding presence and discourse of Thatcher in all her iron femininity.

Yet behind Aoife, Abby, and even Lily, lies a power in this silence, the ability to adhere to a fate that, like Lou’s wound, (which initially sent him to A and E) seems to reopen and bleed on repeat. They are presented as holding the ability to pacify the pain with aesthetics and beauty, rather than with the alcohol and undercut ambition seen in their male companions.

Perhaps more interesting and engaging than plotline, character or even the context, however, is the comments Warner makes on literature and literary tradition. He explores everything from the meaning of words and language, to the importance or insignificance of “dead authors”. He even manages to comment on the art of the book review itself. Fairly early on the reader is privy to Lou’s reading an old copy of the Times Literary Supplement; we are told: “‘He looked belligerent’ before telling Douglas ‘The book world is a big digestive system. The review pages are the anus at the bottom of the alimentary canal and the critics, Cunningham, are the haemorrhoids upon that anus’.”

4 Arts & Lit

20h November 2014

Orphans

By Thomas William Barnett Beneath the billboards, with hands held tight We crawl over concrete in shadow; Two f lies to wanton Postcard-Gods.

Their long, regular, gorgeous limbs Litter nonchalantly the f ine white sand Coils of sun-varnished elegant tan.

The grit would not stick To those exquisite automatons.

Glossily they have been waiting for years, The sun that once had gilded their skins, Now blisters their papery arms.

The wind peels strips and twists them to rags, Blowing multicolour shreds down the beach As the dust of their bones once swirled in the streets.

Still they grin out the grey with manic white teeth And glare glassily down at the masses beneath.

As Close as Can Be

By Lucy Diver

Again, again bells’ engine through the walls: ghostly, private. Actress at the dressing table, no make up. There. The hour falls and a whirring stirs up – pref iguring those muff led clangs behind cold stones: it’s now, in the quad below, bells sound – authority tempis fugit, tradition, take a bow et cetera.

But here in the old white attic, time f lees – it is desperate, lonely, striving, cold.

Father Time needs therapy, P and Q. His own old stories longing to be tolled.

They are long and lonely, though few.

Not that close, I overhear stutterings.

Not too loud, whisper me your mutterings.

The Feline Condition

Fantastic Attack

The door was open, So the cat ate the doughnut; Nothing Personal.

The unicorns come, Screaming along the rainbows.

Seeking their revenge.

Both by William Shaw

The Smoker

Hours after his departure

He exhales.

Whites and greys dance with the air.

Like impressionist art, the blurred lines slide and swirl.

Like oil in water they touch and stroke but do not join.

Like forbidden lovers, they twirl.

Caress.

Until smooth and slow they part.

Towards the sky.

Your stance unbalanced, Your thoughts unsettled, Your heart unsteady.

Your hands shake Your neck aches with the absence of his touch.

You hum a duet of longing, Such longing, and relief.

Though your mouth is dry.

Like your eyes.

Both by Indyana Schneider

We swelled the crowd by our small count of two, Their badly burned hands clutched desperate spades, Parasols, pinwheels and slim-picking picnics.

But there are no nets, for there are no f ish.

Small hands held toys and old hands held tight, A bedraggled but hopeful plastic platoon, marching.

So we too marched to the empty ocean, Faint echoes of blasts ring twixt our steps.

Your hand I hold concealed in my coat, And trace the tangled scars on your palm In time to the wheezing beat of the sea.

Sunset had broken open like a wound, The cool blue f lesh peeled back from the sky, And the clouds wept blood upon the waves.

Sun-bloodied water sluices about our four feet, Frothed, f lecked and impossible to staunch.

The sand is peppered with shrapnel of glass, Bitterly lurking to slice soft soles, These vengeful relics of a world that once was.

The mournful sea swallows the cruel shards, Rolls them around its cold and bloody mouth, To beautifully blunt and spit back ashore.

A subaqueous century to smooth the sharp edges, A mere century to suck smooth the memory.

We scuff silent through the tumbled wrack, Borne in from oblivious depths, Displaced from the nacreous nest.

What a world to be borne in to, And what a world to be born into; The orphaned carcasses we kick through.

Oh to dive back in and be never, forever, With them in the womb of another world.

So we sink, very slowly, to the powdery ground, To tenderly grapple with gentle disease.

But over your shoulder, a satellite sees.

A zero creeps into your eyes and we pause, The cybernetic sky swarms monstrous above, Till you stitch time back up with a surgical kiss.

Working softly over my ragged body, Your lips like a needle and thread.

Still the dead satellite watches us fuck, Watching us still, walking on through the night, Both long since lost in the indigo ether.

Watching us still, now searching for something – For what? For love? For a f ish.

A single, iridescent, miraculous f ish.

Circling in a rock-pool at the end of the world, With stupid salvation in its eyes, wiser than we.

Music 5

20th November 2014

Music Nasim Asl

Somerville College

T

he Scottish rock quartet Twin Atlantic released their third and most successful album to date, The Great Divide, earlier this year.

They began their European tour at the start of the month, and following their UK October dates I caught up with bearded bassist Ross McNae. The Great Divide hit the UK Rock Chart top spot and made it to number six in the UK Album Charts following heavy coverage from BBC Radio One over the summer. “No.” Ross laughed when I asked if they had anticipated the attention the album had received, “Those things never crossed our mind whilst we were making it. We were just excited about making another record.

After it was finished and we were sorting out the release date and that, then maybe it did…it doesn’t matter who you are, if someone says to you that they think your record may be able to get into the charts, it’s amazing. It’s amazing that people want to literally but into what we believe in.”

With this album, the band were mainly focussed on making music for themselves. “It’s the first time we’ve ever properly not actually thought about what anyone else thinks. With Vivarium we were just learning how to be a band, it was the first time we properly got a chance to record. We wouldn’t change it, same with Free, which was the first time we had anybody waiting to hear an album. There wasn’t that many, but there were a few and that’s such a different thing in itself. With the third album, we’d been working with an amazing bunch of fans so we’re lucky that we had people that we knew liked us and I think that gave us the confidence to be ourselves.”

“If someone says that they think your record may get into the charts. it’s amazing” The Great Divide definitely seems to have elevated Twin Atlantic into a sphere previously inhabited by musical legends. The band split recording of the album between Wales and LA. Ross described the former as “an amazing experience in this residential studio where all these amazing records have been made in the past – Coldplay, Oasis, Queen – just so many amaz-

ing people have been through those studios. In the country, looking out the bedroom window in the morning and that cows are looking back at you, it was just an amazing experience. In L.A. we got to work with these two amazing producers. They both had a very different style but they both had a rich musical past with massive bands and stories to tell us, wisdom to impart upon us. We fully immersed ourselves in the whole project.”

“We just rolled a piano into the middle of the room, the one that Freddie Mercury played in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’” Although L.A. is where multitudes of creative types and industry experts gather, Ross’ recording highlight has much humbler origins. “With ‘The Ones that I Love’, we were in Wales and it was late one night, it was dark outside on the courtyard and it was summertime. We were just gonna call it a night and do some stuff in the morning, but we just rolled a piano into the middle of the room – the one that Freddie Mercury played in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, and in all these amazing songs – and we sat and wrote it. It just felt like this amazing thing. I played bass on the song but there’s not much to do, it’s very quiet and simple.

It just felt very special, it was a special night and it just felt like we were making something special, a goosebumps kind of feeling.”

As far as bands and artists go, Twin Atlantic are definitely in touch with their fans. They recently ran a competition that allowed fans to submit their own flag designs for the band, as well as producing a ‘Brothers and Sisters’ video compiled of sibling photos that fans submitted. “We feel like we’ve been pretty lucky to build up people that we can call fans,” Ross explained, “When we have a show it’s this amazing experience where we feel like we know the people there now. It feels like there’s this connection there and a real energy between us. It’s something I’ve always found between me and my favourite acts when I was growing up.

Social media didn’t really exist then, so you didn’t really have a connection with the bands that you liked and I would have loved that. We all love just things. Apart from anything else we all love getting involved with people that like us, so any chance we get to

Getting passionate with Twin Atlantic PHOTO/ChuffMedia

do something like that we try to take.”

Twin Atlantic also have fans in high places – in 2012 Felix Baumgartner became the first person to break the sound barrier with his Space Jump to Twin Atlantic’s ‘Free’, a song he chose himself for the occasion. “It’s a crazy thing. We tend not to look back on things, or think about things until a good six months, a year, after.

I believe there were a few records out forward for it, and he said that the lyrics to ‘Free’ matched his emotions about what he was doing. That’s a real compliment to Sam and musically to us. It could have gone so badly wrong – the song’s talking about a body being set on fire so it can be free, that could have happened to the guy!

Maybe that’s why he chose it,” Ross mused. “I was watching it at home, Sam was watching it in Canada with his girlfriend and her parents, and it was on TV everywhere, a small event that had a world interest. It was a big thing to be part of.”

The last couple of years have seen some big Scottish artists emerge and take control of their genres. Biffy Clyro and Twin Atlantic both have

a recognisable sound, largely due to the obvious Scottishness of the band audible in the vocalists.

For Twin Atlantic and their stronger accents, this decision and Scotland itself are incredibly important. “Glasgow is where we’ve all grown up. Every experience that we’ve had that we’ve written about has come from, everything starts here for us. We’re really proud of it and it’s made us who we are. But in terms of the accent - I’m not slagging off other people cause each to their own, and I’ve been in bands in the past where I sang with a slightly Americanised accent. You try to imitate – it’s like a karaoke thing, where you try to mimic what you do, you’re trying to exercise and become it, but I think a lot of people maybe never really fully stop trying to be the version that they love.

“We’re really proud of it, it’s made us who we are” “When you really boil it all down and distil it, if you’re trying to tell a story,

or if I’m going to talk about something I’m passionate about I’m not gonna do it in a French accent, its fucking mad!

“I’m not gonna do it in a French accent, it’s fucking mad!”

“When you really think about it it’s the craziest thing ever. It took a realisation moment for us to think that this was the way to go, but once you have that thought in your mind it becomes really hard to listen to a lot of music when you know where people are from. That’s the hard part to listen to, bands from England or Scotland, and they’re not being honest. I really struggle with it.”

Sam takes a moment to clear his head before apologising for his raised voice – “I got totally heated there, sorry about that!” The rest of this year looks packed for the Scots. They’re heading to America, but with Sam’s recent announcement of another UK tour early next year, it’s not long before the Scottish tones we love will be back on a stage near you.

6 Music

20th November 2014

Is the traditional debut album dead or has it just changed form?

With surprise album releases becoming common, Henry Holmes explores the impact of Azealia Banks’ debut album

Henry Holmes

Wadham College

S

o Azealia Banks did a Beyoncé, dropping her album Broke With Expensive Taste out of the blue earlier this month. This isn’t exactly a new thing. Radiohead did it with The King of Limbs in 2011 then Beyoncé’s ridiculous drop of her eponymous album at the end of last year sent the entire world into emotional turmoil and was the fastest sell-

PHOTO/Tim Boddy

ing album in the history of iTunes.

The main difference though is that BWET is officially Ms Banks’s debut album, as opposed to Beyoncé’s fifth and Radiohead’s eighth. Seeing as most debut albums are subject to truckloads of marketing, the fact that this alternative strategy can still work and end up being very successful shows that the old paradigms of music distribution are rapidly changing.

The old paradigms of music distribution are rapidly changing

Partly as a result of the unusual production and release of the album, there are seventeen different producers listed for its sixteen-song track list, including Azealia herself as the executive producer. The massive range of genres she spans is really a testament to the fact that it’s essentially a compilation album; ‘Gimme a Chance’ was one of her first songs, written in 2008 under previous moniker Miss Bank$, and her breakthrough hit ‘212’ was released at the end of 2011 - both of these are presented alongside her newest efforts. Her single with Pharrell ‘#ATMJAM’ was announced as the second single from BWET but didn’t actually make the final cut, and there are several songs on the album that thematically and musically are very similar to those on her 2012 mixtape Fantasea, presumably meant to be a precursor to the

album. BWET was initially due to be released almost two years ago, and Banks notoriously has had a very difficult history with her label, last year claiming that she was ‘literally begging to be dropped from Universal’.

A lot of exciting music this year was released in formats that are radically different

Looking elsewhere in the music industry, it’s of note that the Mercury Prize this year went to relatively unknown (compared to recent winners PJ Harvey and Alt-J) Scottish hip-hop group Young Fathers. This happened after they won Scottish Album of the Year for their EP Tape Two - they followed the more traditional format of a few smaller releases followed by a critically acclaimed award-winning debut album.

However, a lot of exciting music this year was released in formats that are radically different to this model. Azealia Banks is one example of this, alongside Chance the Rapper, who, despite having been very much hyped up, has yet to release a debut album. Another odd point about BWET is that it hasn’t actually been released physically yet, another trend that is starting to become more and more widespread.

In a radically different sphere, the artist with the most singles ever in

the Billboard 100 is the Glee Cast, a fact that led to many lamenting the death of the music industry when they surpassed Elvis Presley in 2010. A lot of the criticism here seems purely reactionary and largely stems from musical elitism. This is all again linked to the rise of Spotify, and especially its recent inclusion in the Radio 1 charts. Taylor Swift recently pulled all her music off the service due to believing that “music shouldn’t be free”, but at the same time other artists, in the hip-hop scene especially, are abandoning this idea. Both of Run The Jewels’ albums have been released for free alongside a crowdfunding initiative similar to Amanda Palmer’s milestone-setting Kickstarter for her first album with her band The Grand Theft Orchestra.

It’s important and probably not that coincidental that Palmer’s Theatre Is Evil and Run The Jewel’s Run The Jewels and Run The Jewels 2 are very strong contenders for the best albums of 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively.

The debut album was traditionally a promising young band’s major foray into the scene

The debut album was traditionally a promising young band’s major foray into the scene, the value of which really had a major impact on a career but

this

is starting to change. Broke

PHOTO/Flickr-info_grrl

With Expensive Taste is an excellent album, but while it is Banks’s first official ‘album’, is in no way a debut - it has solidly cemented her position in the canon rather than establishing it, as before the role of such an album would be. There are a lot of changes to the nature of a debut album happening now, mainly due to the massive influence of the internet. This all means that the entire outdated big label model of the production and distribution of music is become more and more obviously broken and in dire need of radical change. Luckily, exciting and exceptional artists such as RTJ, Ms Palmer and Ms Banks are actually challenging this system and they can hopefully act as a vanguard to revolutionise the lumbering dinosaur run by the same reactionary group as there’s always been.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead offer album IX

Alexander Bragg is left disappointingly underwhelmed with the Texan’s unoriginal album, despite their potential

Alexander Bragg

St Hilda’s

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exas’ ..And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead are hard to describe as anything but extraordinary. In case you haven’t heard of them, they have managed over the course of eight albums to achieve the musical equivalent of nuclear fusion; the happy, if sometimes bickering, marriage of punk fury and progressive expansionism, while not sacrificing elements of either.

While the proportions of this volatile chemistry have shifted over the years, and in particular their last offering, 2012’s Lost Songs, was too much of a battering, relentless racket of politically charged post-hardcore, the best of both worlds has largely been thoroughly maintained. When they went abstract or conceptual, they cleaved to enough

punk bile to keep their feet planted firmly in both camps. Always daring, never predictable, and ever with the teeth to back up their convictions, the duo that form the multi-instrumental core of this outfit have time and time again shown us their versatility.

What a shame, then, that when my journey through their ninth offering, entitled IX (according to bandleader and mastermind Conrad Keeley, named after a planet from Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel Dune, rather than the more obvious, and probably less pretentious, assumption of a Roman numeral) reached the midpoint of the swellng instrumental ‘How to Avoid Huge Ships’, one little bastard of a word jumped into my head as I heard the arpeggiated movement of an overly prominent string section. That word was ‘ostinato’. Not ‘riff’, not ‘pattern’, but ‘ostinato’. Not the massive, crackling riffs we’ve come to associate from these lads, but a rather more tranquil entity that sums up the crucial problem here; even the album’s more raucous tracks suffer from the drawback of simply

not being raucous enough. The fact that this ostinato (ugh) was repeated ad nauseam, merely getting heavier in place of anything fresh or unforeseen, just served to rub salt into this wound.

Although IX is certainly fuller of surprises than its predecessors in places, it simply lacks their ‘crackle’; the tracks seem sedate, almost courtly in areas.

Indeed, the opener of the album, ‘The Doomsday Book’ seems almost selfconsciously restrained when combined with the fire of their previous albums; punk has been lost to the senses under the svelte moccasins of a particularly tame breed of art-rock.

To clarify; it’s hard to imagine the boys normally fond of smashing their gear onstage flailing about in quite the same way to the anodyne pop-rock of ‘The Dragonfly Queen’, and the odd time and tacked-on guitar flame-out of ‘Bus Lines’ doesn’t disguise the song’s stodginess; those of their fans who didn’t warm to 2005’s Worlds Apart for its ham-fisted attempts to forcibly integrate punk and prog will hardly be impressed with this.

However, the truly frustrating thing about this record is that, in some places, this synthesis is masterfully achieved.

We can look particularly to the album’s closer, the epic ‘Sound of the Silk’, as well as the rolling syncopated drums of ‘A Million Random Digits’ to observe the delicious unorthodoxy of yesteryear resurfacing. In addition, where ‘Bus Lines’ jerks awkwardly from movement to movement, ‘The Ghost Within’

moves seamlessly from sounding almost like Funeral-era Arcade Fire at its outset, to a blinding guitar racket at its close. Therefore, I’m not looking to condemn this album entirely. The band’s potential is still clearly visible, and the synthesis they are looking for is just as clearly within their grasp, but it’s only achieved convincingly in a minority of tracks here; the grit outnumbers the gold. Better luck next time.

Music 7

20th November 2014

It won’t be long before fans are running towards them

Jessy Parker Humphreys chats to up-and-coming new band Amber Run following their headline show at The Art Bar

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mber Run’s ability to create variety is surely one of the main reasons they were selected to headline Communion’s recent New Faces tour. Whilst songs like ‘I Found’ use slow harmonies to make them seem similar to Mumford and Sons, ‘Pilot’ shows a completely different side to the band, using rat-a-tat drums and guitar wash outs to change pace.

When I caught up with Joe (vocals) and Felix (drums) from the band ahead of their show at The Art Bar, they came up with a number of different descriptions for their music.

“Post apocalyptic funk. Bob Dylan meets Slipknot,” suggests Joe before Felix adds “pre credit crunch industrialism” to the mix.

“I really like it when people throw names or phrases at us, because to me, it’s just songs we wrote,” says Joe. “We often get told we have a similar sound to Coldplay or Bastille. Elbow is still my favourite.

“It’s very difficult as a listener not to pigeonhole something. I mean I do it when I hear a band. When you’re describing it to a friend you want to relate it to something. It is very flattering when people compare you to bands that have influ-

enced your music,” explains Felix.

“I think these days it’s much harder to get people to say “Oh, I can’t compare it to anything”.

“You can always compare it to something”.

Amber Run met at school and Joe, Tom and Will were already playing in bands throughout their teenage years. When they went to Nottingham University, the trio met Henry before Felix met Joe at Latitude Festival, where according to Joe, “he was dressed up as a woman”.

“When kids start singing words back, it blows your mind everytime” Felix’s only comment is that “it was a hectic weekend to say the least.”

“I kind of leeched onto the whole Nottingham thing,” Felix explains. “I didn’t go to uni there but I’d travel up and then we kind of formed the band in December 2012. We did some stuff in the studio, not assuming anything would happen. We were just doing it purely because we all love mak-

ing music. And now here we are in Oxford.”

The boys definitely seem keen to emphasise how much of a dream come true it is for them.

“It’s easy to sound heavily romantic with a capital R about all of these things but the whole thing really is great. As a little kid, you dream of going on tour. We’re still nowhere and still growing and building and trying to make it into a real career. And getting to do it like this is loads of fun. When kids start singing words back, it blows your mind everytime.”

The Communion tour is a unique opportunity to get to play with some of the brightest up-andcoming bands that the music scene has to offer. It also means bands on the tour end up spending a lot of time together.

“You get really close to other bands,” says Felix, “because you spend all day together and you all have mutual interests that you love making music and playing music.”

“Since we signed we got provided with the tools to go and really have a good go at making it as a band,” he adds.

Joe jumps in saying “in terms of this tour, in terms of Communion, everyone on it’s just a wicked

musician and we’re surrounded by that.

“When someone like that gives you the nod to say we want you to headline, we want you to play shows for us, it just inspires us to go on and do even more stuff.”

They certainly have even more stuff in the works.

“We’ve got a lot going on but nothing quite set in stone. We’ve got a Dingwalls show which will be

our biggest ever headline in Camden in February,” begins Felix.

“Our album will be coming out in the next year which will be really exciting and you know just keep on going, keep on tracking, working hard like everybody does,” finishes Joe. At the rate Amber Run are going, if they do keep on working hard, there will only be more people listening to them.

PHOTO/JackMargerison

Stornoway at the Sheldonian

Rediscovering Emmy the Great

Jessy PH

Gabriel Naughton

The Oxford band make a triumphant homecoming return ‘Swimming Pool’ makes a winter splash Jesus College

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s Stornoway enrapture the Sheldonian on Thursday night, it’s obvious that there’s much more depth to the band than has often been afforded to them. Coming to public attention at around the same time as Noah and the Whale and Mumford and Sons, they were easy to bundle into the twee band box, without truly analysing their musical integrity. It would be impossible to ignore that tonight as the band demonstrate a range of ability so great, most bands would be hard-pressed to compete.

With a variety of different instruments and sound effects, Stornoway manage to be more versatile than most of the orchestras who find their home in the Sheldonian. The band are the first, second and third pop group to play the venue, as they return five years after they initially played. They utilise bird sounds and a santur to add depth and intrigue to their songs, with lead singer Brian explaining which birds we can hear and how they relate to the music.

Stornoway are at their most impressive when they go acoustic.

Unplugging from everything, with bassist Oli taking up the double bass, the band stand in a close semi-circle, somewhat resembling a barbershop quartet. Despite the distracting noise from outside, they play a new sea-shanty and another new song, suggesting that we should be very excited about the forthcoming third album, due in early 2015.

Joined by the Oxford Millenium Orchestra in the latter third of the concert, the orchestrations once again bring another dimension

to the band. The violinists use the ‘col legno’ technique, most familiar from the beginning of Mars in Holst’s Planets suite, where they hit the instrument’s strings with the wooden side of the bow, creating tension at the beginning of the songs. Duets between clarinets and bassoons in the orchestra leave the hall in hushed silence. Yet as Stornoway begin to finish off their set, the Sheldonian does not stay that way. Greeted with a standing ovation in their home town, for everyone who forgot Stornoway, it’s worth revisiting them.

PHOTO/Six07Press

St John’s College

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irst Love was the title of her debut album released in 2009. Five years later this single release from 30-year-old Emma-Lee Moss, aka Emmy The Great, sounds unrecognisable in comparison. There is a newfound emotional directness here. Gone, it seems, are the intricately literary tales of love, wrapped in pop cultural references and mixtape musings. Reverb-heavy guitars and plucked strings make this song more suited to a church chapel than a darkened club.

Such a transition between sounds is ably assisted by the guest voice of Wild Beasts’ Tom Fleming. If Emmy put out an advert in the back pages of Hustler – I assume that’s how it works in the biz – for a seductive, husky male baritone, she could hardly have found a more fitting applicant. His band have earned a reputation for their steamy subject matter and tremulous vocal range. As the chorus arrives

Fleming obligingly delivers the refrain, ‘Love is something that I always thought I could never go inside’. The balance between the two voices is perfectly chosen for a song centered around the singer’s uncertain relationship with a selfassured ‘rich kid’. Here’s hoping the EP offers equally sultry fare, as the cold winter nights set in.

PHOTO/Flickr-Vike

8 Screen

20th November 2014

Screen

the Huntsman testifies to the new orthodoxy: if something as basically silly as Batman can be turned into a raw, dark-toned, and, if convenient, sexually charged action film, then why not give the same makeover to anything else that springs to mind? Nolan’s influence pervades these movies, sometimes taken to unintentionally parodic extremes (laughter is the only legitimate response to Red Riding Hood). And what unites them all, the good and the bad, is their almost humourless sincerity – their expectation that we will not only take them seriously, but treat them as though they are realistic. Gritty earnestness prevails.

The Nolanisation of Hollywood PHOTO/Nico Padilla

Robert Selth

University College

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hen the late Roger Ebert reviewed Batman Begins upon its release in 2005, he neatly captured the essence of what made it different. “The movie is not realistic, because how could it be,” he said, “but it acts as if it is.” And he gave it the full four stars. As time has gone by, the prescience of Ebert’s assessment has only become clearer. Nearly a decade since that first instalment in director Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman films, his ethos has come to permeate mainstream American filmmaking.

At a stroke, he made redundant the self-referential cheesiness, the glossy, flashy sheen of slick production values, and the extravagant sensationalism that had hitherto been the norm in Hollywood action movies. The new norm is the style made fashionable by Nolan: ultra-serious, pseudo-realistic, and both thematically and visually dark.

Is the Nolanisation of Hollywood more of a good thing or a bad thing for cinema?

Within the superhero subgenre, this transformation has quite obviously been spearheaded by Nolan’s own work. The keystone was of course the phenomenal success of The Dark Knight, unprecedented for a superhero film both in being

taken so very seriously by critics and in achieving the kind of pop cultural integration normally reserved for the likes of The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. After The Dark Knight, superhero films could expect to be received as mature and worthy action dramas, not merely as the childish entertainment pieces that had dominated the genre in the past.

But Nolanisation goes far beyond superheroes. It’s a shift in the basic expectations to which blockbusters cater, and the crucial essence of it is still the thing that Ebert put his finger on: we expect these films to act as if they are realistic. Not to actually be realistic, because anyone paying close attention can still poke almost as many holes in Skyfall as can be poked in GoldenEye. But to act as if they are realistic.

The James Bond franchise is, in fact, a perfect example of this trend.

Would the rebooted Bond films – that is, from 2007’s Casino Royale onwards – have been possible without the precedent of Nolan’s rebooted Batman films? Both Batman Begins and Casino Royale effectively do the same thing: take a B-grade (albeit enduringly popular) franchise that has traditionally been the preserve of the cheerfully silly, and reinvent it as a gritty, earnest epic that feels firmly grounded in the 21st-century world. Attitude, with these movies, is everything. The new Bond films are not actually much more plausible than their predecessors, but when Javier Bardem escapes from prison in a scheme so convoluted that it requires him to have accurately predicted the exact locations and behaviour of several dozen different

people and institutions at precisely the right moment, we accept it very readily. That is because the film has such panache, such self-confidence, that we happily suspend our disbelief and call it realistic, seduced into accepting the illusion of plausibility.

At the less respectable end of the scale, the slew of lamentable reimagined fairytale films from Red Riding Hood to Snow White and

The question is, ought we to approve of this trend? Is the Nolanisation of Hollywood more of a good thing or a bad thing for cinema? Obviously, there is no simple answer. It is certainly true that there has been a deadening effect on some mainstream cinema – lightheartedness and exuberance are no longer in fashion, and so the quirky and the upbeat have been suppressed in favour of the deadly serious. Far and away the best thing to have come out of the Twilight franchise, better by far than any of the books or any of the subsequent movies, is the very first Twilight film, released back in 2008. It still isn’t particularly

PHOTO/Cheng Shing Yan

good, but it has a certain adolescent charm – epitomised in the famous Muse-soundtracked baseball scene – that is rooted in the feeling that the film doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Twilight plays as though the director is having fun with it, and having fun with it because she knows it’s pretty fluffy, inconsequential stuff. Yet that director, Catherine Hardwicke, was replaced after the first film, and the directors who followed her have perpetuated a painfully earnest, charmless and totally humourless morass of seriousness. Hardwicke’s take on the franchise was considered not gloomy enough, not sincere enough – in other words, not enough like a Christopher Nolan film.

The quirky and the upbeat have been suppressed in favour of the deadly serious.

But fashions in Hollywood ebb and flow, and sometime within the coming decade, the pendulum will inevitably swing back the other way. In the meantime, we can hardly complain when the current orthodoxy facilitates films like The Dark Knight and Skyfall – not to mention giving Nolan himself the artistic license from major studios to make some of the most ambitious and original blockbusters in recent Hollywood memory, Interstellar and the supremely creative Inception. The moment will pass, but while it endures, it is giving us remarkable cinema. Best to sit back and enjoy the darkness.

PHOTO/Brett Jordan

20th November 2014

Screen 9

The future of superheroes Luke Walpole walks us through Marvel and DC’s plans

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Pick of the week: Mr. Turner PHOTO/Cornerhouse

Anthony Maskell Trinity College

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ike Leigh has a gift for capturing the sublimity of the mundane, and that paradox is very much intentional. Whether he’s showing us the scrubbing of plates in the kitchen sink, or the hanging out of washing on the line, Leigh somehow manages to compel his audience into a near-catatonic state of captivation. The same is entirely true of his latest film, Mr. Turner, a sprawling biopic of the eponymous painter, J.M.W. Turner.

It may be set two centuries prior to director’s more familiar contemporary explorations of the modern day, but the elements and formula of a Mike Leigh film are all consistently present.

Leigh is a filmmaker interested in character. His pictures famously abandon traditional narrative in favour of lengthy and sustained vignettes displaying very little plot but bucketloads of subtle observation of the human condition. Mr. Turner is similarly a collection of such scenes: character studies about the extraordinary artist as he plods through his rather obliquely ordinary day-to-day existence. The misty opening shot of a magnificent Dutch windmill which pans slowly to Turner’s silhouette, hurriedly sketching away, tells us all we need to know about the man we will watch for the next two and a half hours. This is a man of vision.

Spall refuses to glamourise his interpretation of the artist or overplay his acknowledgement of the man’s own reputation.

If you’ve heard anything about Mr. Turner already, it is likely the critical acclaim that Timothy Spall is reaping for his gruff portrayal of Turner, and I cannot draw enough attention to quite how fascinating his performance is. Spall refuses to glamourise his interpretation of the artist or overplay his acknowledgement of the man’s own reputation, instead inhabiting a sluggish and introverted quietness that embodies every aspect of Turner’s modesty. His brusque demeanour,

curled lip and slight stiff underbite create a truly authentic and believable portrait for a performance in which every individual nuance of Turner’s character has been meticulously planned and executed. It should be noted, though, that there is a lot of coughing and spluttering. We become accustomed to phlegmy grunts in the place of colloquial and dispensable dialogue: Spall has trademarked a uniquely authentic mannerism whereby Turner simply does not see many things as worth wasting his breath upon, and we quickly understand why. He is either surrounded by insufferable sycophants or fierce rivals and critics, and the world we see through Turner’s eyes sheds both comic and tragic light on all of them. There are only three people in the film who truly appreciate Mr Turner for the man behind the talent itself: his father (Jesson), his housekeeper (Atkinson), and an amiably withered seaside landlady (Bailey), all of whom offer superbly acted support to Spall’s drudging lead.

Leigh seemingly refutes the allure of Hollywood when choosing the actors to grace his films. Mr. Turner employs many of his regulars in minor supporting roles, including Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville and Peter Wight – esteemed character actors throughand-through. He does not seek box office names and there is something remarkably effective about his doing so: unblemished and familiar faces would have spoiled this fantastically tangible Victorian world he has created. We can picture each and every one of his faces as blending into the bustling streets of the various English locations we encounter, and that is no insult to the actors’ appearance – it is a credit to their raw and exposed performances. Leigh has not made a period piece like this since 1999’s Topsy-Turvy (if you don’t count his delve into the slightly more recent past with 2004’s Vera Drake), but Mr. Turner exhibits a far more realised and palpable capturing of the era with which he is engaging. The production design, artistic team, costume and make-up departments deserve serious commendation; like one of Turner’s paintings, there is a furious attention to detail and no corner goes untouched.

The film focuses a lot on the creation of art and whether art and the artist are indistinguishably synonymous.

Turner, the creator of beautifully

sweeping and ominous paintings, is surprisingly humble and self-effacing.

His art may survive for generations, but the artist himself is very much a mortal being. He is not a brutish man, but at times we see Turner’s lustful appetite take over him beyond the point of control, especially when he takes sexual liberties with his housekeeper, and there is something sincerely tragic about his isolation. He is quite alone in the perceptive way he observes the world, and this is often the cause of his solitude. In one particularly harrowing scene, Turner is seated beside Effie Ruskin, the teenage bride of the upand-coming art critic, John Ruskin (hilariously played by Joshua McGuire in a deliberately pretentious and tongue-in-cheek caricature). Turner, embarrassingly drunk, turns to Effie and blunders to her quite pathetically about isolation. He tells her repeatedly, with startling feigned sincerity, that love “will come”. But we ask ourselves during this heart-wrenching moment: has it ever come for Mr Turner?

He is quite alone in the perceptive way he observes the world, and this is often the cause of his solitude.

Leigh famously undertakes a somewhat gruelling rehearsal and creative process when inventing his films. He begins with his actors, who are given very little information about the piece, and together they establish through months of brainstorming and improvisation the characters they will become. The entire screenplay follows in a similar vein: it is an amalgamation of ad-libbing and experimentation which Leigh has carefully formed into a smart and enchanting script. This extensive process has paid off once again for Mike Leigh. The actors’ intense rehearsal process is clearly evident in the film: they know their characters backwards, especially Spall.

Leigh has proved with Mr. Turner that he is undoubtedly worthy of his revered reputation, and we must all hope that he continues to work by his strict yet wonderfully rewarding standards. This is a biopic done right, and it deserves to be seen.

or a few weeks now, the hoods of anoraks across the world have been pulled back so nerdy ears can be attentive. First we had the announcement of DC’s slate for the next ten years – a diverse set of new films that will more than likely hinge on the success of Batman vs. Superman next year. Now, for many superhero nerds, either lovers of the comics or fans of the films, this was undeniably big news, but this was duly blown right out of the water by the media storm created by DC’s natural rivals, Marvel.

With casting news, new trailers and film announcements, Kevin Fiege and co have certainly pulled out all the stops; but what can we expect from the years to come, and is superhero fatigue a real possibility?

Let’s start with the big one. The trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron came screaming in the other week, and naturally the internet lost its mind. It does just look fantastic; the perfect mix of action, humour and jeopardy that we have come to expect from the studio now. Gone is the panache of Tom Hiddlestone’s Loki, instead we see the sinister robot Ultron, voiced by James Spader, a match that already sounds perfect.

There’s much more intra-Avengers tension and after the announcement of the films to come in Marvel Phase 3, that may just become the driving force behind the entire universe’s cinematic arc. For Marvel, Phase 2 delivered on seemingly every level.

There was the financial success of Iron Man 3, as well as the critical acclaim for the excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Indeed, even the studio’s biggest risk to date, Guardians of the Galaxy, has been an outrageous success. It appears that Fiege and his team still has the Midas touch, but can that really last?

On paper, all the indications lead you to think that their success is sustainable. At a glitzy event on 28th October, Marvel announced their own slate to rival DC, and once again the internet lost its collective mind. Nerds across the world sat up in their Dorito stained boxers to take in all of this momentous news. Eight new films, culminating with the second part of The Avengers: Infinity War in 2019. Moreover four of these new films contain new protagonists, adding to the already illustrious canon, as well as next year’s Ant Man. Incoming supers in-

clude the Inhumans, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Dr. Strange, who incidentally, is rumoured to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

All of this sounds good, with Captain America: Civil War sounding like it could be the most lucrative and impressive film that the studio has ever, and maybe will ever, make.

However, the simple laws of probability tell us that there is bound to be a chink in the armour soon.

If I had to put monopoly money on which film may not work as the studio intended, I think it may be Ant Man. The tumult over the director, as well as the fact that the guy’s powers seem pretty pointless and/or naff may just mean that it doesn’t attract the attention that the studio needs it to. With sprawling selections of films like this, momentum is key, and Ant Man comes right after Age of Ultron. Even if the script and storytelling is terrible for Ultron (which seems a ridiculous suggestion), the studio will be riding the crest of a financial wave supported by public adoration, Ant Man’s failure may curtail Marvel’s excellent reputation.

Is superhero fatigue a real possibility?

This is all speculation, but perhaps the more alarming question is how Marvel will continue to make their finales spectacular. In The Avengers, Thor; the Dark World, Captain America; The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, the ending, or main action sequence, has ended with a large spaceship falling out of the sky, so repetition may just be something to be wary of. Marvel needs originality to continue to thrive, but they’ve surprised us before, so I am reasonably certain they will do it again.

According to my superhero abacus, if you include DC’s films, as well as other studios, there will be 40, yes 40, superhero films in the next six to eight years. That’s a lot of spandex indeed, and the market will get very competitive. If Marvel continues to dominate, it would be astounding, but if the past few years have told us anything, it’s that the studio thrives under pressure and loves taking risks. Fasten your capes and get those pants over your trousers ladies and gents, the superheroes aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

PHOTO/Global Panorama

The Queen’s College

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aylor Swift. The name may ring a few bells. She is the bestselling artist since Eminem, the proud owner of five solo albums before the age of twenty-five and currently the most renowned female singer/songwriter in the world. It would be fair to say that Taylor is at the top of her musical game.

Yet moving swiftly on (Ahem. This will be the last ‘Swift’ pun. Promise.) from her chart-topping success, the release of her latest music video, Blank Space, which hit YouTube just last week and has already garnered over 40 million hits, was almost as much about her newly-evolved style as it was about the witty parodying of her critics.

Showcasing no fewer than 19 equally fabulous couture looks, those four-and-a-half minutes are a veritable fashion feast. From sashaying down the stairs to greet her latest suitor in an Elie Saab Spring 2014 gown, to quaffing champagne in pale blue couture from Jenny Packham’s ready-to-wear line and tearing down Dorian Gray-esque portraits in Oscar de la Renta, Miss Swift certainly knows how to play the part of a nightmare dressed like a daydream.

The role of a mascarastreaked, plant-

throwing damsel in distress has never looked so chic.

And let’s not forget the accessories; Linda Farrow cat-eye sunglasses (for those of you who are already thinking about your summer wardrobe, River Island are currently stocking a similar pair for a mere snip of the price), a black lace eye mask perched on her head as a hairband (resourceful), as well as a supremely adorable white cat (Taylor’s own pet, FYI) who is proffered in her right hand as she drives a dagger into an offending pastry.

The role of a mascarastreaked, plantthrowing damsel in distress has never looked so chic

The palace, the white horses, the image of Taylor wielding a golf club into a Shelby AC Cobra car, all these work in tandem with the beautiful couture, sleek tailoring (no pun intended) and 1940s make-up to create a caricature of the love life

artist herself grew from a teenage hopeful into a mature superstar, Taylor’s style got sharper and more defined and her make-up bolder and more daring.

PHOTO/Avrilla

Lisa Cave

20th November 2014

PHOTO/Sandy Wei

Fashion 10 Fashion

Everything you thought you knew about the country-loving, serial dater has just been turned upside down

Her now-famous red lip, which I originally suspected was donned simply to tie in neatly with the ‘Red’ theme of her last album (red guitar, red microphone, red everything - how wrong I was) has now become her signature look which she pulls off with great aplomb, a feat few mere mortals can achieve.

Another evolved beauty staple is her sharp bob and blunt side-fringe.

Gone are the flowing curls from her ‘Love Story’ era and the delicate sideplait from her ‘Fearless’ years; Taylor’s current style is giving me serious bob envy.

However if you were beginning to

From country to couture: a swift style evolution

that the media purport to be her reality.

So far, so not what we were expecting.

Whatever happened to the wannabe cheerleader who wore hipster glasses ironically and made fun of her own sense of style in ‘You Belong With Me’?

Back when Taylor was in her ‘Tim McGraw’ days, it was all about simple styling and crimped hair galore. In her videos, she stuck steadfastly to bootcut jeans, messy ponytails and ripped t-shirts to reflect her stories at seventeen, nineteen and twenty years old.

Yet as her albums continued to go in a pop direction and as the

think you had pinned down Swift’s current fashion, her recent cover and spread in Wonderland magazine may have you thinking again. In an unusually stripped-back photo shoot, Taylor plays with nearly every decade imaginable, from the sixties cocktail dress and pointed shoes to the eighties fringe brushed back into curls, and from the crocheted jumper that is reminiscent of a nineties Calvin Klein billboard ad to the dark eyebrows that are so very now.

As her album continued to go in a pop direction, Taylor’s style got sharper and more defined The incredible versatility and natural beauty showcased in this one shoot throws in a final curveball to complete Miss Swift’s style evolution. She has come a long way from her country days and her style is just one of the many factors that reflect how Taylor has grown and evolved into a serious force to be reckoned with.

The ‘Blank Space’ message can be heard loud and clear: everything you thought you knew about the country-loving, serial-dater has just been turned upside down. Taylor Swift, we salute you.

PHOTO/vaneacosta17

PHOTO/Philip Babcock PHOTO/Jana Zills

Fashion 11

20th November 2014

Jennie Graham Christ Church

I

f there is one important lesson to be learned from Don’t Tell The Bride (OK, who are we kidding, there are many), it is this: it is all about the dress.

On countless occasions, brides have screamed, cried and even questioned the marriage itself at the first sight of satin or glimpse of gossamer. Sure, there have been some truly horrific offerings, boldly chosen by sheepish-looking fiancés desperate to please. There have been fishtails, cutouts, high-low hemlines and all manner of sartorial sins committed on the way to the altar. But the fact of the matter is, you just don’t come between a bride and her dress.

The bridal business is something that has captured the hearts and pocket books of young girls and their families ever since people could afford such extravagances.

From cream Victorian lace to bloodred silk in the 1930s, the opulent and lavish collection currently on show at the Victoria & Albert Museum, ‘Wedding Dresses 17752014’, is enough to coax even Bianca Jagger into a corset. But although this is the stuff of fashion fantasy, these dresses do have something real to say. They may be glad rags, but this is no laughing matter. For all their romanticism, the frocks in this exhibition show us that wedding dresses have always been about making a serious statement, whether about wealth, status or style.

For example, in the eighteenth

Clementine Haxby Worcester College

H

not to follow), my friend and I were officially on the list for Longchamp’s New Bond Street Store Reopening, in celebration of 20 years of their classic bag design, ‘Le Pliage’.

Of course, as “sartorially passionate art historians from Oxford”, we were basically obliged to travel in style…so at 3.30pm we clambered aboard the Oxford Tube (clutching our five-pound vouchers from the

Freshers’ fair naturally) and began our traffic-filled journey to London. After changing outfits in the toilets of Victoria station, losing our debit cards, Oyster cards and all sense of laid-back chic/dignity, we hopped onto the underground, disembarking one stop early so we could regain some fashion credibility by getting a three-pound taxi to the door of the shop. Classy.

Wear virginal shades, don daring red or, hell, even go all Tracey Emin and wear a dress embroidered with the names of everyone you have ever slept with

PHOTO/Clementine Haxby

aving filled our RSVPs with a pack of over-exaggerated truths about ourselves (I’m apparently currently researching for an article on chic but affordable designer student book bags…article

The way I see it, brides on their wedding day fall into three distinct camps. The first: those engulfed in a sea of tulle, possibly wearing Wang, probably unable to fit through standard doorframes.

This bride most likely has a mood board stashed somewhere and will inexplicably manage not to get spills on her train, despite it covering the surface area of a small European country. This girl may orgasm over organza, but she’s no fool; she’s had this wedding sussed since she was six years old.

Then there is the bride you can’t help but look at on account of the sculptural headdress/bright red hip bustles/thigh-high boots she is sporting. This bride wants you

to look. And knows you know she wants you to look. The wedding invite has a hashtag and the groom may or may not have choreographed a dance routine. If this girl’s outfit could speak, it would say: “Hell yes, I do.”

The third group consists of those brides who eschew the traditional dress-veil formula and opt for a trouser suit, skirt suit or something short and unfussy. This type of bride would sooner drink non-organic coffee than get married in a church, or inside for that matter. It doesn’t matter what colour the outfit is really, as long as she can wear it with brogues come winter But whether you are a traditionalist, an exhibitionist or a modernist, the great thing about getting married in western society today is choice.

And who’s to say you can’t be all three of the above? A crisp white tux with a canary yellow cape? Yes, please. Frou-frou frills and flats?

Go for it. Unlike our sisters of yore, so beautifully represented by the collection at the V & A, we are not constrained by convention and forced into sleeves or corsets. By all means embrace some whalebone, but I will be squeezing myself into Spanx come my big day, thank you very much. Tyrannical mothers or mothers-in-law aside, we have the freedom to wear whatever we damn well please on our big day. Wear virginal shades, don daring red or, hell, even go all Tracey Emin and wear a dress embroidered with the names of everyone you have ever slept with. That’s sure to make for some interesting wedding photos.

But one thing’s for sure when it comes to today’s bride, it’s certainly not all white.

century, the colour white was apparently a symbol of wealth and connection to the court. In the nineteenth century, it came to represent purity and virginity. We may have less of a social statement to make these days, and standing a few feet from one’s grandmother certainly isn’t the time to be broadcasting one’s sexual history, but where you fall on eggshell versus ecru can still be very revealing. So what does your choice of wedding dress say about you?

Not only did we get a week’s worth of food in inhuman sized portions for free, but I got a new Instagram follower

55 minutes late (very much planned, obviously), we remembered the reason we had made such an effort… free champagne. Excuse me, I mean a lifelong dedication to Longchamp.

With canapés left, right and centre, and photographers actually asking to take our picture, we had stepped,

PHOTO/Paris 17

And the bride wore ...

in our stupidly high and embarrassingly cheap heels, into the world of fashion bloggers, stylists, and the horrendously wealthy. And it was fab. Following a few shameless selfies, we popped our names in the prize draw, our only hope, we thought, of ever owning a Longchamp bag and joined a queue (a queue?!) to have our photo taken in front of those cool screens you see all celebs in front of - to make ourselves feel a bit less tragic we concluded that Alexa Chung would have been in the same boat (apparently her RSVP wasn’t quite up to scratch though so she didn’t make it.) We were, however, made to feel a little less lame when Suzi the fashion blogger asked if she could put us on her blog, to which I sadly had to say no due to contract restrictions with my modelling agency. (Just joking, I wish we made it to her blog, and you’ll be glad to hear I was rocking a vintage Japanese kimono I had purchased from none other than the Gloucester Green Open Market.) So not only did we get about a week’s worth of

A night in the life of a fashion blagger

food in inhuman sized portions for free, but I got a new Instagram follower who called me her #stylecrush - I think she had drunk a little too much champagne...classic Suzi. But then again, so had we, clearly, because we decided it was a sensible idea to do a bit of shopping and, after half an hour of total stranger’s complimenting a bag you are holding up in the mirror, its yours. Easy.

After all though, the Le Pliage is a timeless classic, and having saved on the Oxford Tube and received a free silk Longchamp scarf in the giftbag, I was practically breaking even…

Having saved on the Oxford Tube and received a free silk Longchamp scarf in the giftbag, I was practically breaking even Despite a slightly depleted bank balance, this free event has totally converted me. It’s official, I’m a fashion blagger and I’m telling you all to try it. But perhaps leave your debit cards at home.

Fashion 12

20th November 2014

Curiouser and curiouser ...

20th November 2014

Fashion 13

Photographer: Ying Zhi; Model: Nataly Filvarova; Concept and Styling: Demie Kim and Jennie Graham; With thanks to Scriptum.

14 Stage

20th November 2014

Stage

At Cuppers: dirty underwear, Quasimodo, and Macbeth gone wrong Anastasia Carver Corpus Christi College Queen’s – Dirty Linen Christ Church – Q&A at Six St Catz– Don’t Say Macbeth St Hilda’s - The Last Leaf Worcester - Quasimodo

I

t’s only 7pm, and the steward in the BT is asking to see my underwear.

It’s day three of Cuppers, the freshers-only inter-collegiate drama competition; for their performance, Queen’s have rejected conventional paper tickets in favour of lacy thongs. A few people look bemused; most, like me, are gleeful with their acquisitions. Sadly, we’re asked to return them as we enter the theatre, but disappointment is soon forgotten as we find ourselves in a meeting

room in the House of Commons. Papers litter the conference table; a portrait of Her Majesty hangs rakishly on the wall.

This is Tom Stoppard’s Dirty Linen.

The farce revolves around a committee of MPs in the House of Commons, meeting to address the latest tabloid sex scandal in which members of the House have been implicated. All of them, it soon transpires, are at pains to cover up their own illicit meetings with the new secretary, Miss Gotobed. Alibis clash, clandestine sex takes place behind the door, and the committee disintegrates hilariously into bedlam. All the actors are clearly having a riot of a time; Nils Behling and Lewis Pope in particular are in their element as MPs Cocklebury-Smythe and McTeazle, prancing around like something out of Wodehouse, perfectly counter-balanced

by Chloe St George’s sphinx-like Miss Gotobed, enticingly indifferent to her clothes falling off as the play progresses.

Queen’s proved the success that can be had in taking an existing script; still, part of the fun of Cuppers is seeing new writing, often put together in just a week or two. Worcester’s Quasimodo adapted Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Mrs Quasimodo’ for stage; the script floundered a little where it deviated from the poem and attempted dialogue, but it was well-staged, with seamless, thoughtful choreography and live music that brought the poem to life.

Catz’s Don’t Say Macbeth, presenting a disastrous opening night of the Scottish play, felt rather disjointed at times, but

IMAGE/ Alice Troy-Donovan

show-cased some promising talent; Anna Livesey’s Lady Macbeth in a Serbian accent is not to be missed.

One show stood out far beyond the others. Christ Church’s Q&A at Six, which sold out with queues spilling into the street, invited us to be the studio audience for a chat show interviewing ‘Thought Theatre’ writer Vernon Quebec.

Our only instruction: ‘obey Brian’, the shy cue card holder who, mocked for his stammer, ends up derailing the entire programme to great hilarity. As in Dirty Linen, we were privy to some steamy backstage romps, this time followed by a much blacker twist; but it was the achingly funny performances of ‘clips’ from Quebec’s films that proved the highlight of the play. I was left weary with laughter and in awe of such a concentration of dramatic talent in one college. Tom Curzon’s writing is slick, the staging incredibly entertaining and impeccably paced; there was not a single weak performance among the actors.

Charlie Tyrer must be mentioned for his brilliantly repulsive portrayal of Quebec, but every cast member deserves singling out.

Christ Church took three wins last year with Lamorna Ash’s play The Twin Paradox; it seems the college may have done it again. Whatever happens, Q&A at Six will undoubtedly be asked to reperform on Saturday as part of the ‘Best of Cuppers’ showcase. I’d advise getting there early.

A flawed fantasy: His Dark Materials falls short of its own ambition Alex Hartley Queen’s College

Wright’s stage version does a good job of capturing the diverging strands of the complicated story, but the result inevitably risks feeling scattered and

bitty: unfortunately, that was often the case here. Scene changes often dragged, although a few were smoothed over by sound or intelligent use of the

P

hilip Pullman’s enchanting tale of a world populated by dæmons, Dust and armoured polar bears has gripped readers’ imaginations ever since Northern Lights was first published almost twenty years ago.

In fact it’s surprising that it has taken so long for Oxford students to put on a production of Pullman’s fantasy trilogy—especially given the adeptness of Nicholas Wright’s stage adaptation, and the books’ heavy focus on Oxford, with many early sections revolving around the fictional “Jordan College” (read: Exeter if it were as rich as John’s). Perhaps it is because of the epic scope of the books: presenting such a multitude of scenes and characters is a daunting task.

PHOTO/ Amalia Bastos

multi-level stage. Perhaps because of the uneven soundscape, or just underrehearsal, pivotal moments often felt somewhat hollow. Hopefully scenes such as the ending of the first half, or the bear-fight, will improve as the cast gain confidence through the run.

Puppetry, used to portray dæmons as well as the armoured bears, played a major role in this production. The puppets themselves were exquisite; unfortunately, though, it was difficult for the audience to focus on them precisely because the puppeteers, and cast, mostly didn’t. A leopard’s head hovered to and fro, about six inches off the ground; puppeteers had conversations with actors, apparently forgetting to notice the cardboard animals they were holding. At one point, an actor asked a dæmon a question and the puppeteer responded by nodding his own head, leaving the puppet to dangle irrelevantly.

Despite all this, Theo Chavalier deserves credit for a spirited, raffish and often laugh-out-loud vocal performance as Pantalaimon. His rapport with

Lyra (Alexandra Sage) is at the very centre of the play, and their excellent chemistry kept the action driving forward throughout. Sage herself gives a standout performance: with boundless, childlike energy, she hurtles herself around the stage for three hours, never flagging and capturing the subtle arc of Lyra’s character from start to end. She is very ably supported by a convincing Tom Lambert as Will, and it is a shame that (this being just Part I of the full play) we did not see more from him.

The ensemble is one of the production’s real strengths. The huge number of characters means that doubling was necessary, even with such a large cast; they rise to the challenge well, sharply differentiating between their different roles. Rebecca Hannon’s onpoint costume design helps here, and Christian Bevan and Hamish Forbes give particularly strong performances.

This is ambitious student drama, and, though rather rough around the edges, an enjoyable plunge into the oddly familiar worl

Stage 15

20th November 2014

Henry triumphs in the “vasty fields” of Worcester Alice Troy-Donovan Magdalen College

M

uch as we like to talk of the ‘immersive’ experience of theatre, as transporting us to another place, it is in fact no easy task to make a theatre feel like the bloody fields of Agincourt. The one-man Chorus of Henry V knows this when he asks at the beginning of the play “Can this cockpit [i.e. the theatre] hold / The vasty fields of France?” Luke Rollason’s production of the Shakespearean history boldly answers in the affirmative.

In Rollason’s exhilarating promenade production of Henry V the transportation is literal as well as figurative, as the audience is led through the “vasty fields” of Worcester College Gardens by an assured, fantastically mobile cast.

The Chorus calls on us to use our “imaginary forces” to conjure up the military forces of the battlefield, but there’s no little to pretend here. The exhortation is oddly redundant in this production, as the audience, integrated into the play as the king’s army, are marched, shoved, and politely ushered around the Gardens.

A promise of intimacy is there from the start, with only 30 people in the audience per performance. Rubbing shoulders with the king as he disguises himself and furtively slips into audience,

the dissolution of the barrier between audience and cast seems to mirror the hierarchical boundary which Henry transgresses in the play.

The production’s orchestrated immersion is not always so thoughtful, though: being close to the cast is, at times, simply good fun. If you’re lucky you’ll be roped into dancing with a flirtatious French “gentlewoman” (hilariously played by the cast’s male contingent), or almost floored by a scrappy soldier.

Pushed, beckoned, and shouted at, the soldier’s plight becomes a physical reality for the audience rather than a feat of imagination; throughout we are quite literally pulled into, and brought out of, the action of the play.

And it’s not just physical movement which is mastered by Rollason and his extraordinary cast. Each scene establishes its ownw idiosyncratic tone, moving from the rousing patriotism of Henry’s Saint Crispin’s Day speech to the bizarre comedy of Pistol (a belligerent Tom Dowling) being battered with a leek, to Henry’s bashful courtship of Katerine at the end. The explosive energy of each scene is enough to override any sense of disjointedness, ever a danger in promenade productions.

It is a production which asks you to keep moving – our ‘tour’ begins and ends in the College Chapel, framing a journey through the Gardens whose meanderings make the space seem vaster and more intricate than it is.

As a result the most powerful, occasionally poignant, moments are

those glimpsed on the way, in the space between scenes. A glance to the left as the audience begins its final march back to the chapel will reveal the stern Duke of Exeter reciting the Lord’s Prayer over a dead soldier’s body, half-concealed behind the garden’s greenery.

The cast are called on to act and move as a whole in order to bring unity to scenes scattered throughout the Gardens and over two countries, England and France. Not only do they excel at this, but also manage to convey with strength the individuality of each character –

there are no invisible, undeveloped figures, even amongst the lowest rank of soldier. All is held together by the effortless movement between humanity and regality of James Colenutt as Henry, who is forcefully engaging at all times.

Recommended without reservation.

PHOTO/ Alex Wood

Assassins preview: an American Dream?

Helena Wilson Mansfield College

S

tephen Sondheim’s Assassins is set to arrive at the O’Reilly with a bang in 7th week. First performed off-Broadway in 1990, the revue-style musical presents nine would-be assassins in murderous attempts (only three of which are successful) spanning two centuries of American history.

The scenario is intriguing. An eerie Proprietor (Femi Nylander), who shape-shifts into an executioner, has the nine characters in limbo; the musical presents imagined encounters between the assassins which are charged with a disturbing and comic energy. Presiding over them all is Niall Docherty as the ghostly Balladeer, who guides the audience around the narratives and functions alternately as a silent judge and devil-angel conscience of the characters.

The cast are thrillingly good.

Docherty in particular seems set to shine, stalking the stage with a manic energy while maintaining a superb vocal performance. Further excellently controlled performances come from Luke Rollason as a hauntingly defeated Guiteau, Jasper Gold as the manicdepressive Samuel Byck, and Sammy Breen as John Wilkes Booth, assassinator of Abraham Lincoln; all three offer poignant portrayals of fatally deluded

characters. Much attention has also been paid to the group scenes; the horribly difficult four-part harmonies of ‘The Gun Song’ are executed to perfection, while the Ensemble are self-consciously

of the “cheesy musical-theatre” tradition until a revelatory moment towards the end of the musical, producer Emily Lunnon explains.

Working alongside Lunnon is director

Silas Elliott, who has exciting plans for how Assassins will take advantage of the O’Reilly’s space. Elliott plans to have a multi-levelled rostrum, which will alternately function as a viewing platform

PHOTO/ Dina Tsesarsky

for the spectral Presidents, an electric chair and more. He also explains that a projector screen along the decking is part of a plan to “embrace 21st century technology” in order to evoke the distinct periods of each assassin as vividly as possible.

Lunnon points out that the production does not really need an overt agenda or ‘new angle’, as the musical “speaks for itself”. Certainly, if Assassins is performed in its entirety with the same sensitivity that I saw in the preview – committed to a nuanced presentation of characters who could very easily become unsympathetic caricatures – it will powerfully show how the American Dream fails people. Moreover, the production team are planning to display biographical information in the foyer; this is a production intending to make people curious about its characters’ fascinating stories.

It is also evidently a project that has been carefully thought through by the cast and creative team, and looks likely to create thrilling, thought-provoking theatre.

Assassins will run from 26th until 29th November at the Keble O’Reilly Theatre

become a

leader! nominations are now open

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OxStuff 17

One to watch

If you’ve seen The Wishing Horse or Round and Round the Garden, then you’ve already watched the work of up-and-coming director Alexander Darby. And we’re sure you’ll agree he certainly is one to watch.

Already Alexander’s creative portfolio is jam-packed with a mosaic of projects and accolades, from winning the prestigious Best London Film award at the Portobello Film Festival to undertaking an intensive fivemonth directing internship with Veniamin Mikhailovich Fil’shtinkii at the St. Petersburg

State Academy of Theatre Arts.

As if this wasn't enough, he is also a talented playwright.

Following attending the Royal Court Young Writing Course, he penned numerous successful plays which were performed by some of Oxford’s finest young thesps – remember The Blind Spot, Arabian Nights and Vagrant? Add to this his accomplishments as a photographer and current status as co-president of the Oxford Broadcasting Association, and it seems there really is no end to the talents of this fourth year Russian and philosophy student.

PHOTO/Alexander Darby

20th November 2014

PHOTO/Facebook

Alexander Darby, New College

OxStuff

Cliterary Theory

M

ost public sex is essentially dull.

“Ooooh – you gave him a blowjob in a park? A park? Wow!” It just doesn’t ring true – nobody really cares if you orgasm in the vicinity of what might at the appropriate time of day be an area densely inhabited with people who, if present at the time of your orgasm (which they never are), would nonetheless probably lack the appropriate line of sight to your eruptive apparatus, thus exposing you to nothing more than the disapproving gaze of your Gods, and perhaps a sign aimed at dog owners which says “no fouling!” or similar.

In Oxford, however, all of that changes. Students are awake, everywhere, all the time – as the lawyers leave the library, the rowers leave for the river; as the Bridge crowd return, the Wahooers begin pre-drinking etc etc. To get away from the constant hubbub of University life, you would have to go to Port Meadow or some similarly remote neighbouring country, and frankly, most people would probably rather forego sex than undertake the halfhour walk, probably only to realise that they forgot to pick up the relevant sexual health supplies from their pidge and spend the evening sobbing quietly at their own organisational inadequacy (as is Oxford custom).

Do you see the climax I’m building to here? The university provides the perfect

environment for genuinely exciting public sex.

Ditch the bed for the Bod. Get your bell to the bell tower. Take it from the dorm room to the law room.

In all these places, there are students going in an out constantly – and what could be sexier than going in and out constantly?

To get you started, here are some preliminary ideas. Libraries are, of course, old favourites. For the more ambitious and audacious, pidge room sex adds greater risk of porter interference and papercuts, but I guess for those with certain preferences this is much to be welcomed. The laundry room will often be handily whirring and vibrating with the perpetual spinning of other people’s underwear such that you needn’t necessarily even introduce a partner to enjoy it. The college computer room brings its own challenges – you

Now rapidly ascending to the heights of superhack, R.O.N.’s levels of multitasking even rival those trailblazers who are simultaneously running in OUSU and editing newspapers. This week, as well as being an option for all the major OUSU positions, he is now also set to take Hack Central by storm. Since the Oxford Union changed its rules last Thursday, R.O.N. is now excitedly preparing to run for several positions at the famous bastion of free speech. His ambition truly knows no bounds. If he wins, will that be another example of the dominance of cis white men in politics?

R.O.N.

+89.6

HackDaq -189

OUSU's voting vid

This video has its heart in the right place, but it really is rather cringey. To make matters even worse, if one pauses the video in the right (or wrong, depending on your view) place, the unfortunate iris wipe (that’s a growing circle for you non-cinematography-buffs) means the faces of our beloved Sabbs and RO become weirdly morphed. It’s quite a sight.

you can’t be entirely sure what you might accidentally end up photocopying/ scanning as you get down

to it.

For those who find college life insular and want to explore the possibilities the wider University has to offer, the Bodleian provides obvious opportunities. But this almost seems vanilla. Branch out. Explore. Discover. We look forward to hearing of your adventures, and The Tab looks forward to reporting on them.

Ivana Dogg PHOTOS/OUSU

18 OxStuff

Lectures

21st November Oxford Diwali Ball Oxford Town Hall

21st November Deborah Cameron: Language and Gender

Presidential Address

Mark Schünemann Pembroke College

Sarah Hopkin Scottish Dancing Society President

PHOTO/DING HUANG

OxDigs

19th–22nd November Orlando Keble O’Reilly

Balls

17th–23rd November Queerweek Wadham College

Drama

Festivals

OxStuff Pick of the Week

20th November 2014

How would you sum up Scottish Dancing society?

Why should people get involved?

Fun! Dancing! Great company! Great exercise!

What more does one need?

Sounds amazing - sign me up! But wait, do you have to be Scottish to join?

Definitely not, all welcome.

Some rooms present a carefully curated aesthetic, with the curtains matching the carpet matching the quilt matching the coffee cups. Mark Schunneman, Pembroke theologian and free thinker, goes for a more multifarious look. “I just

And have you ever considered seceding from the University to create an independent Scottish dancing utopia?

like being eclectic. And frightening. An eclectic frightening.”

Certainly, the décor is both – the centrepiece is a large, slightly unsettling poster of a Dalí paiting, somewhat appropriately above a clock that ticks anti-clockwise. Nothing is quite what it seems – the glistening handle of a samurai sword turns out to be attached to an umbrella, colourful tribal patterns appear on a formal tie (“I never wear them anyway”). Everything is shifted slightly off its expected axis. There is a theme, though, although not one you might immediately spot: “These artworks are by my uncle.This? My best friend gave it to me.” Eclectic, frightening, and deeply personal.

I have a plan as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University...

Do you feel a sense of rivalry with the other dancing societies such as salsa, lindy hop, and, most importantly, Irish Dancing Society?

Only when our stall is next to them at Freshers’ Fair.

But then again, I’ve missed out one of the most important ones of all: Pole Dancing Society. So how about it - would you ever consider doing a joint session with them?

Hmm... perhaps... although I’m not sure pole dancing in a kilt would work very well.

PHOTOS/James Waddell

But if I want to join, I’m going to need to get a decent work-out from it. Would you say that Scottish dancing is better exercise than a session at the gym?

Definitely, especially highland dancing or an energetic ceilidh (an evening dance... and no, I didn’t have to look up how to spell it).

Do you have any special event nights?

Every dancing class is special! We practise on Tuesdays at Wesley Memorial Church Hall, and have a dance at the end of every term.

23rd November OBA Short Film Screening The Phoenix Picturehouse

What you were reading on oxfordstudent.com PHOTO/Rosie Shennan

Rosie's Recipes Rosie's Recipes

22th November Oxford Caledonian Society Ball

Societies

21st –22nd November Oxford Revue Christmas Party Simpkins Lee Theatre

Balls

Comedy

Christmas

21st November Carols in the quad 17:30, Hertford College

Ultimate foodie Rosie Shennan shares some of her student-oriented recipes this term to help you battle freshers’ flu, 5th week blues and get in the Oxmas spirit. Follow her on Instagram @a_scone_atatime or her blog asconeatatime.wordpress.com

Ingredients

Super Salad

1. ‘Abortion Culture’ debate provokes student outrage Adam Dayan 2. Preview: Assassins Helena Wilson 3. Review: Interstellar Tom Roles

Add 700ml of boiling water to the couscous in a saucepan.

Leave for 10 mins or so, until the water has all been absorbed

Deseed the peppers and chop with the carrots, then add to the couscous. Drizzle the olive oil and squeeze the lemon, season and mix well. Before serving, mix in the rocket and seeds.

4. Varsity Rugby 2014 Dan Smith 5. Friday at Cuppers Ella Luo

Puzzles

Bag of Rocket 1 red and yellow pepper 2 carrots 400 g couscous 2 tbsp olive oil Half a lemon Sesame seeds Pumpkin seeds Sunflower seeds

Easy

See our What’s On Calendar on oxfordstudent. com for event listings

OxStuff 19

20th November 2014

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Comment 20th November 2014

Comment 11

All is not lost for the Democrats

PHOTO/ RON COGSWELL

Matthew Moriarty Somerville College

F

or a second-term President, the so called Mid-terms – the US elections for a third of the Senate and the whole of the House of Representatives held every two years – never go well. The party of the incumbent President almost always has a net loss of seats in the House and the Senate.

In fact, this has been the case for every President since Woodrow Wilson except Bill Clinton, whose Democrat party managed to gain five seats in the House and stay even in the Senate.

Barack Obama has been no such exception to the general rule. The Democrats were thoroughly trounced at the midterms held on 4th November.

Talk is moving towards Republican candidates for President in 2016

More than just the federal positions were up for grabs however; 36 governorships of various States were elected, with 24 of those going to the Repub-

licans, a rise of three from previously.

Lastly, in the state legislature elections, the Democrats were left controlling the fewest legislatures since the Great Depression. Overall, Obama and his party took what he rightly described as a “shellacking”.

Mid-terms almost always go badly for the President's party, and Obama is no exception

The election also had a big impact on those national political figures. Mitch McConnell, the new Senate majority leader-to-be, swam through his reelection to the Senate, and now will lead the fully Republican-controlled Congress’s fight against Obama, alongside Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner.

The mid-terms, however, did not reflect so well on Hillary Clinton, the person on whom all eyes are fixed regarding a potential bid for the Presidency in 2016. She had backed numerous Democrat candidates, including governors, who failed to win their elections. Republican Scott Walker, newly elected governor of Wisconsin,

spoke about how she “embodies that old, tired, top-down approach from the government”. Walker, a possible Republican candidate, implied that he thinks Clinton is part of the old guard, and he, and other younger Republicans, would be a better choice in 2016, as the electorate clearly thought in the mid-terms.

The Republicans’ successes have also dragged the talk about 2016 away from Clinton and towards Republican candidates; Rand Paul, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie are all said to be potentially in the running. Clinton, who will only want the 'will she-won’t she' hype to increase in the run up to her self-imposed decision deadline in January, should be worried about being left behind by a more exciting Republican race (where people actually make decisions about whether they will or won’t).

The mid-terms reflected badly on Hillary's own personal popularity

And for Obama himself, things look bad from here. With a hostile Congress in both chambers, he will find it hard

to pass legislation, and risks becoming a lame duck President, limping on towards the end of his term. Having lost control of the Senate, he will also find it difficult to push through any controversial appointments which require their approval (and he’s really in trouble if a position on the Supreme Court comes up). Obama has two more years to make his final legacy, with the knowledge he is young enough to have to live with it for many years. With unsympathetic lawmakers, however, he will find it difficult to achieve anything else he wants to do.

All in all, this seems like a fairly grim picture for Obama, Clinton, and the rest of the Democrats. However, there is some consolation. There is usually a low turnout among women and young voters in mid-term elections; these groups also tend to vote Democrat. It is likely therefore that a result could be different in a Presidential election.

Also, the losses for the Democrats were not as bad as they could have been. The Republicans only gained 13 seats in the House, and eight in the Senate; things could have been much worse.

Lastly, in terms of diversity among politicians, the mid-terms were an election full of firsts. The youngest woman was elected to Congress, the youngest

elected official became part of the West Virginia legislature, the first female combat veteran was elected to Congress, and the first Haitian-American person was elected to Congress.

With a hostile Congress Obama will find it difficult to make his legacy So what can we take from this?

The Republicans gaining control of the whole of Congress means that Obama now risks uselessness up to 2016, and the momentum in the runup to the Presidential election is now firmly with the Republicans. But the Democrats can recover. Their defeat this month was not nearly as bad as it could have been, and a different voter spread in 2016 will benefit them. What the Democrats need is a non-divisive primary (rather than one that exposes all the Democratic candidates’ weaknesses), selecting a strong nominee who can take on whomever the Republicans throw into the ring. She may not have secured many Democrat victories this time, but my money’s firmly on Hillary.

Comment 12

20th November 2014

Gaming has a long way to go to gender equality William Shaw

Corpus Christi College

Y

ou may have heard of GamerGate, the controversy which has rumbled on in feminist and video game circles, particularly online, for the last few months. The movement has been very active on social media, and has garnered a surprising amount of attention from the mainstream press. If you have heard of it, you may have some inkling of its association with the online harassment and abuse of certain prominent women in the video games, as well as the claim made by its proponents, the so-called GamerGaters, that their concern is with “ethics in games journalism”. As someone who has followed games journalism for a number of years, and thus had a front-row seat to this phenomenon, I feel qualified to inform you precisely what GamerGate is, and why it’s important.

There’s an almost Lovecraftian horror to the utter lack of reason or rationality

But I warn you: this won’t be pleasant. Researching this article is easily the most demoralising experience I have had in my brief journalistic pseudo-career. Attempting to study GamerGate is like staring into a swirling vortex of human depravity.

There’s an almost Lovecraftian horror to it – the utter lack of reason or rationality leaves the mind reeling, unable to comprehend a world where such a thing could even exist, let alone make sense in the minds of the perpetrators. This nonsense has to be seen to believed. But I beg you,

if you value your sanity, don’t look.

Let us begin at the beginning; earlier this year, the ex-boyfriend of independent game developer Zoe Quinn made an angry blog post about his ex-partner, in which he accused her of having sexual relations with a journalist working for the gaming website Kotaku, in order to get a good review for her game.

The main ethical concern seems to be the inclusion of more female voices in games media Now, this accusation was patently ridiculous; regardless of whether there actually were any sexual relations between these people, the journalist in question had never written about Quinn’s work, and the allegation was clearly unfounded and ludicrous.

And this is where the madness begins.

Many self-identified “gamers” pointed to this spurious accusation as an example of corruption in video game journalism, and the refusal of most of the large gaming sites to report on this non-story was seen as indicative of a conspiracy to repress negative coverage of female video game professionals.

This came to a head when Adam Baldwin (yes, him off of Firefly) started the twitter hashtag #GamerGate, and so-called “GamerGaters” rallied around it as part of a concerted social media campaign to, as they saw it, improve ethics in games journalism. Their main ethical concern seemed to be inclusion of more female voices in games media, due to idiotic perceptions that “traditional” male gamers were being downgraded in importance.

And these (overwhelmingly white, heterosexual and cisgendered male)

gamers addressed these concerns by... viciously abusing female video game professionals, a number of whom were not even journalists.

One of the movement’s targets was feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian, who has been the target of such attacks ever since she began her Youtube series, Tropes vs.

Women in Video Games, in 2012.

She, along with Zoe Quinn, received multiple rape and death threats from self-identified “GamerGaters”, and caused a stirring in the mainstream press when she was forced to cancel a talk at Utah State University after somebody threatened a mass shooting unless she backed down.

But wait! There’s more! GamerGaters have also repeatedly engaged in “doxing” of prominent female figures, a practice involving private information and contact details (addresses, phone numbers etc.), often

obtained via hacking, being made public over the internet. This, along with the aforementioned threats, has forced Zoe Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian and prominent female game developer Brianna Wu to flee their homes.

A movement with a foundation of misogyny is not valuable or redeemable But, GamerGaters argue, all of these crimes are irrelevant; the movement is concerned with “ethics in games journalism”, and this vile behaviour is simply the actions of a vocal minority.

This argument, obviously, is bunkum. GamerGate is a phenomenon which began with misogynistic abuse,

and the idea that a movement with that kind of foundation is in any way valuable or redeemable is sickening, as well as demonstrably wrong.

So, to return to the title of this article, why is this important? Well, as Brianna Wu has pointed out, for as long as this kind of harassment and abuse continues, more women will be deterred from entering the game industry. After all, who wants to enter a line of work where unfettered abuse is acceptable? GamerGate has caused real and lasting damage to the media it claims to protect, and in doing so has further contributed to the misogyny and hostility of certain online spaces. It’s not about ethics in games journalism.

It’s about bullying women out of games journalism, and my respect and admiration for those women who continue their work regardless knows no bounds.

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Ed should take a leaf out of Boris Johnson’s book Sian Bayley

Mansfield College

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ecent polls show that less than half of Labour voters approve of Ed Miliband’s leadership. At the same time, the Twitter account @ Odd_Miliband, which posts hilarious images of the Labour Leader acting strangely, has risen in popularity. This is particularly unusual considering the fact that Boris Johnson is hugely popular in the UK because of his ‘bumbling fool image’ which he appears to embrace wholeheartedly. One only had to watch Paxman’s last ever episode of Newsnight to see the love people have for ‘BoJo’, which transcends political allegiances, rendering Boris the most popular Tory politician of the day. Yet, despite the amusing memes centred around Ed Miliband on Twitter, he isn’t liked by the people, and fails to connect with them.

So why is this? Well, I can’t profess to be much of an expert in this field, but it seems to me that Boris Johnson is aware of his image, and “wise enough to play the fool” in a Tory government which is perceived as privileged and uncaring.

Whilst it is certainly true that Boris himself harbours these tendencies as a politically astute Mayor of London, he

gives the impression that he is a silly middle-aged man who gets stuck on zip wires, and this is what makes him unthreatening. ‘BoJo’ is a unique force in the Tory party, and appeals to voters because he is so different from the bland, boring and banal front benchers who dominate the current government.

Conversely, Ed Miliband is ‘acci-

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dentally funny’. He didn’t deliberately eat that infamous bacon sandwich in a strange way, nor can he help the fact that he looks uncannily like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit, and because he’s not playing the game, he’s screwed over by it.

Voters are fed up with politicians who are spouting the same old spiel and constantly failing them, leading to the rise of the political personality. Part of the reason for Nigel Farage’s popularity is the fact that he resembles the bloke in the local pub. People may not truly understand the implications of his policy on Europe (or have any idea about what else UKIP stand for), but he’s got the charisma that Labour and the Tories are distinctly lacking. Likewise, Scotland may have voted ‘no’ in the recent referendum, but the significant minority who voted ‘yes’ illustrate the power enthusiastic politicians such as Alex Salmond have over the electorate.

Traditional politics is dead because our current politicians are out of touch with the general public, and this is what Ed Miliband needs to focus on if he

wants to get elected in six months.

Considering the extent of opposition to Tory cuts it looks as if Labour will get in purely because they are not associated with the Tories, but Ed Miliband’s image needs a lot of work. Currently Ed is regarded by the public as a laughing stock, but by embracing the ‘bumbling fool’ image he could use it to his advantage. Try as hard as he might, David Cameron can’t crack a joke, and is widely regarded as overly-privileged, alienating a significant proportion of the electorate. This is where Ed needs to step in and show people that he is approachable by doing more casual interviews and making the most of his naturally amusing face. However, as a potential future Prime Minister, Ed will need to guide Britain through a particularly difficult time both economically and socially, and it is for this reason that he also needs to convince the electorate that he knows what he’s doing and is capable of controlling his party. To do this he needs to take a stand against those that are questioning his leadership. He needs to act now.

13 Comment

20th November 2014

Labour should stick to its guns and keep Miliband Katharine Plummer

Lady Margaret Hall

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n a recent Ipsos poll it was found that 49 per cent of voters think that the Labour Party would be better off without Ed Miliband. Forty-three per cent of Labour supporters agree, overall making Ed Miliband more unpopular than both Nick Clegg and David Cameron. But what does this mean for the Labour Party?

Of course, if they want to be elected, which they do, it is important to listen to public opinion. And with public opinion so against Miliband it seems an obvious solution would be another leadership election, to rejuvenate the party’s image and make it fresh and ready to attack the Tories in 2015.

Ed Miliband has the intelligence, ideas and experience to be Prime Minister

But leadership elections take time. It is all too easy to remember how the party stagnated between May and September of 2010 as they desperately battled it out to choose Ed Miliband in the first place.

And with little over 6 months left before the general election, shouldn’t the Labour Party focus on other issues, like policy?

The Labour Party needs to appear strong and united if it wants to become

the party of government in 2015. It needs to have a clear set of strong policies that will galvanise the public, and that they will remember on the way to the ballot box. They have this strength, with Miliband announcing his plans to freeze energy bills for 15 months back in October, and his pledge to scrap the hated Bedroom tax. Furthermore, the party needs to highlight the weaknesses in the coalition to tear it apart. Once again, they are proving to be successful in this endeavour, as they stand by and watch the EU divide the Tories, and UKIP bite at their heels.

Therefore, choosing a new leader would detract from these obvious strengths that the party has. It would not make it look strong by listening to public opinion, but it would make it look weak and split into factions. This would disillusion the public further and would not be conducive to electoral success.

What’s more it is not in the Labour Party’s nature to make leaders step down.

Whilst the Tories have a history of brutal coups, such as John Major taking over from Margaret Thatcher, Labour are different. This is the party, after all, that kept the controversial Michael Foot with his radical agenda. Thus, it is almost a part of Labour’s constitution to stay true to its leaders, and so to ditch Miliband would be wrong.

More importantly, Ed Miliband has the ability to be the Prime Minister. He is intelligent, has many great ideas about the future of the country, he is a good public speaker, a good manager of the party and has a lot of experience. The public misunderstand and underestimate him due to the vindictive right wing press that seeks to undermine him at every turn.

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They belittle his appearance, his voice and even his ability to eat a bacon sandwich. It is wrong to give into this pressure when these are not the things that matter when choosing a leader.

After all, Ed Miliband has more than proven himself. He was the first out of himself, Cameron and Clegg to stand up to Rupert Murdoch and helped to expose the phone hacking scandal. As Climate Change secretary in 2009, he was an integral part of the Copenhagen Summit, helping to create an agreement when it looked as if the conference could unravel.

Furthermore, statistics and polls are only useful up to a point. They are interesting to try and gauge the general views of the public but focussing too much on them is time consuming and counter productive.

There are statistics to prove anything, the media has just fixated itself on this particular set as it makes for an interesting story. For example, there has been little mention of the fact that the percentage of people who think Ed Miliband is ready to be Prime Minister has increased from 29 per cent to 35 per cent. Labour still has a three-point lead over the Conservatives

and those who wish to oust Ed Miliband are not even clear about who they would want to elect instead.

It would damage the Labour Party greatly to make a change in leader this late. It all comes down to whether politicians should teach the public about issues, and hope that this makes them electable, or give in to popular myth, and compromise their ideology for the sake of voters.

The second option is lazy, and frankly immoral. And for this reason alone, the Labour Party should stick to their guns and keep Ed Miliband.

Nehru’s legacy is an air-brushed history of India Sid Venkataramakrishnan

Pembroke College

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ast week saw a number of historic commemorations: a particularly poignant Remembrance Day, 100 years on, and the 25 year celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall perhaps most notably. It also saw the 125th birthday of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaha-

rlal Nehru. Nehru, alongside Gandhi, is perhaps one of the only political figures to feature in India’s founding myths, as loyal subordinate and progressive politician. The truth is distinctly less clear cut, and though the ramifications of Nehru’s premiership are still felt across India, the myth of the air-brushed freedom fighter persists.

Richard Attenborough’s masterpiece Gandhi is a piece of true cinematic brilliance, but it’s hard not to feel that the image is somewhat biased today. Certainly, it plays rather kindly to the Indian National

Congress (INC), the party which Nehru and his dynasty have lead for much of India’s nearly 70 years. The internal politics which was seen even before the Second World War is greatly ignored, notably the resignation of former INC president Subhas Chandra Bose. A freedom fighter and revolutionary with fewer reservations towards violence or allying with the Soviets and Axis, Bose led numerous attempts to free India from British rule with backing from Germany and later Japan. Though thankfully a poor military leader, the work of Bose and his supporters still seems to have helped convince the British government that the Raj was less sustainable in the post-War climate.

The conventional narrative of Nehru’s life has become a political tool

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Nehru’s run as Prime Minister was also considerably less smooth than the traditional hagiography. Even ignoring the fairly pervasive rumours of relationships with married women, the socialist ideology which ran through Nehru’s policies did not bear fruit, leaving India stagnating for years. It is equally hard to ignore his disastrous approach to China, which culminated in the 1962 Sino-Indian war – a crushing defeat for India by all accounts.

Whether we take the traditional account – that Nehru believed in Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai (China and India are brothers), and was thus taken unawares by Chinese intrusions, or the more recent evidence that India’s proactive policy simply goaded a far stronger force into an easy victory, the results are not terribly pleasing. Debate continues today as to whether Nehru’s deputy, Vallabhbai Patel, was a better choice, and whether Gandhi’s decision was a considerable error.

The issue is that the conventional narrative has become entrenched for the sake of politics. The line which extends down from Nehru seem somehow endowed with a ‘prerogative’ to rule which is passed down through blood. Furthermore, criticism of a figure as revered as Jawaharlal Nehru is tantamount to being unpatriotic, and his memory has become used by Congress to attack the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Laying claim to national freedom fighters is bad enough, but the Congress Party’s use of an air-brushed, falsified figure extends further, to other members of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. The multitude of awards and foundations named after Indira or Rajiv Gandhi – figures whose actions lead to anti-Sikh pogroms which put the 2002 Gujarat Godra anti-Muslim riots to shame – seems a little disingenuous. This image of India’s independence struggle – driven by clean-cut, secular figures – has

been helped in a large part by the BJP and Indian exceptionalism. A staunch conservatism which pervades large parts of the party – and indeed, Indian society as a whole – has allowed Congress to paint itself as playing the kind of politics which is amenable to the West. It’s rather easy to paint the BJP as caricature monsters when the former Health Minister offered yoga as an alternative to sexual education, in a country where attacks on women are both hideously commonplace and all too often played down or responded to with victim blaming.

Yet this doesn’t make the Congress Party’s reimagining of India’s past and present any less unpleasant or deceitful.

The multitude of corruption scandals which have dogged the party over the years cannot be ignored nor explained away by pointing to a statue of Nehru, even if he had been a perfect statesman.

Indeed, there is something deeply unpleasant about using the memory of an earnest freedom-fighter in a cynical attempt at political immunity.

If Nehru were alive today, even at 125 he would be able to see that the use of his image by his great-grandson is as pathetic as it is disrespectful to his efforts. Nehru fought for India’s freedom, not to protect the Indian National Congress from all criticism. Remembering the actions of our heroes is one thing, but turning them into saints for personal goals is another kettle of fish.

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Elizabeth Freeman

St Hugh’s College

“Y

ou should never call yourself a philosopher.” Coming from the co-founder of The Philosopher’s Magazine, such an opening is surprising, to say the least. Instead, Julian Baggini, who has gone on to author numerous books aimed at a wide audience on topics as varied as personal-identity, ethics, and atheism, prefers to describe himself as simply “a writer.”

Yet despite his viewing the term “philosopher” as too evaluative, leaving it as something “for other people to judge,” there is no denying that philosophy forms the primary concern of Baggini’s writing.

Given this focus on challenging the unexamined assumptions that shape our understanding of the world, one may be surprised at his claim that “philosophy by itself isn’t necessary of much use outside of philosophy.”

Yet this is more than a throwaway comment from a self-deprecating academic. Baggini underlines throughout our conversation the importance of feeding philosophy into other areas, in order to truly reap its benefit. “It contributes that theoretical clarification and habit of

tenuous than it may initially appear.

It relates, Baggini argues, to the concern common to both philosophy and eating with our humanity, as “to live as a proper human being we can’t, ignore our physicality and pretend we’re just intellectual.”

Brushing aside what he considers to be the equally absurd assumption that we “ain’t nothing but mammals,” (“In saying that the guy is proving he’s wrong, because animals do not use rhyming language in order to communicate”), Baggini outlines the importance of a way of living in which “we accept our physicality without descending to the level of an animal.” If this suggestion seems unnecessarily highminded to apply to a process that ultimately serves to keep us alive, it is perhaps more convincingly articulated as “adopting an attitude to our eating which is appreciative.”

Being aware that with food nothing is permanent, and accepting this in a way that doesn’t result simply in “a desperate scrambling to keep hold of a moment” is one way he proposes this can be done.

If philosophy can now be seen to permeate even into what Baggini puts on his plate each morning, his first encounter with it gave little hint of what was to come. “I grew up in England in the 1980’s, philosophy didn’t exist to us then.”

Features 15

PHOTO/ DonJones

Features 20th November 2014

Of food and philosophy: meeting Julian Baggini rigorous interrogation of ideas to make sure they stand up, but it has to then blend with other things [...] to be of real use.” This “blending” can be seen, on an everyday level, in the way political philosophy combines with more concrete knowledge of human nature to shape our understanding of the political sphere, yet more surprisingly, perhaps, it is applied to eating in Baggini’s most recent book, The Virtues of the Table.

“Philosophy by itself isn’t of much use outside of philosophy” Here, our conventional assumptions about food and eating, ranging from the benefits of Organic, Fairtrade and PDO status, to the loaded debate about vegetarianism, are re-evaluated, often leading to unexpected conclusions. Throughout this process the question of “how we ought to eat” is shown to lead to a broader, more inclusive answer to the more fundamental question of “how we ought to live,” in a connection which reveals itself to be less

After taking three A-levels with a “philosophical dimension to them” he went on to study the subject at university, yet was distinctly underprepared for what followed: “I didn’t really know what I was applying for, like most people, I turned up to do philosophy and was shocked to discover logic.” He soon, however, found himself hooked, remembering how, on finishing his undergraduate degree, he felt as if he’d “only just started going.” A PhD, in which he focuses on issues surrounding personal identity, followed, proceeded by the co-founding of The Philosophers Magazine, a quarterly publication that aims to present in-depth philosophical discussion approachable for a wider audience .

According to their website, Baggini is a “distinguished supporter” of British Humanist association, but he is tentative in describing his connection to the body, viewing himself more as “kind of an awkward friend,” citing his discomfort with “everything that seems to come out of organised humanism” as the reason behind this, most notably the focus on defining themselves too greatly in opposition to religion.

Indeed, since his Very Short In-

troduction to the topic in 2003, the atheist landscape has changed noticeably. With the arrival of the collectively termed “Four Horsemen of Atheism” (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and Dennett), has come a shift in the “public rhetoric” of those who reject belief in God, and it is these attention-grabbing titles and provocative interviews which Baggini takes issue with.

“I turned up to do philosophy and was shocked to discover logic” Questioning the value of atheists reading these books simply looking for “confirmation” of what they already believe, his reminder that “you don’t automatically become more intelligent or a better critical thinker by giving up belief in God” could serve as a useful one for those who take a more militant view against theism, which, he suggests, non-believers can still learn

something from.

Unlike those with religious belief, however, he does not consider belief in a higher being to be necessary for moral values. “It’s so evidently the case that people do have moral values without God, and certainly people find life meaningful and purposeful without God too, yet so many people can’t get their head around that.” He does, nonetheless, seem concerned that taking this approach to the other extreme is unproductive, citing discomfort with the way that “people become so keen to counter the idea that without God everything’s miserable, that they just give the upbeat message too much.”

This desire to balance optimism and realism frames the approach of his forthcoming book on freewill, where he is eager to reformulate the problem in terms of a freewill “worth having.” Paraphrasing Morecambe and Wise in a classic example of his merging of the philosophical with the quotidian, he argues that this well-trodden area of philosophy is one in which “all of the things that need to have been said have been

said, but I don’t think they’ve been said in the right order.” In this, like any of the subjects he addresses, “it’s a question of putting it all together in a way that makes sense to people and really gets to the core of why it matters to us.”

“It’s a question of putting it together in a way that makes sense to people” In the light of this approach, his earlier claim that “people say there can be philosophy of anything, to which I always think: Yes, but what would be the point?” begins to make more sense. The value of philosophy for Baggini, then, is neither as an abstract discipline confined to its stereotypically stuffy libraries, nor something we “stitch on” to everyday subjects for added profundity, but in the right contexts, can force a new perspective on the everyday.

16 Features

20th November 2014

Rising to the challenge with baking royalty Martha Collison Kirsty McLeod Worcester College

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xcited murmurs fill the Worcester JCR. It’s a charity bake sale, but people aren’t really here for the cake. Well, maybe they are, but many are also anticipating the arrival of Martha Collison, the 18-year-old who recently became the youngest ever contestant on the Great British Bake Off. Love it or hate it, it’s a show that has gripped the nation. And, perhaps surprisingly, it has gripped the younger generation in particular.

Rustling up a Victoria sponge is no longer something that only your Granny does

Trying to play it cool, I give it at least ten minutes before I sidle up to chat with Martha. She blends in effortlessly with the rest of the JCR – those who don’t spend their Tuesday nights glued to the screen could easily mistake her as another student on a library break.

“I never thought I’d get in,” she says when asked about applying for the programme, “but my friends told me to go for it.” Collison was eliminated just before the semi-

final in ‘advanced dough week’, after producing a distinctly raw Povitica. Nope, never heard of it either. But her performance in previous weeks was enough to win high praise from judges Mary Berry and Paul Holywood, as well as from national media. They were quick to point out that Collison’s technical prowess was admirable for someone so young.

“I started baking when I was about eight. As my Mum and Grandma are coeliac there was no cake in the house, so I decided to plug the gap.”

Her self-taught skills were bolstered

by Food Technology lessons at school. At the age of 16 she baked a wedding cake for a friend.

Collison’s shot to fame is indicative of changing attitudes to baking.

Rustling up a Victoria sponge is no longer something that only your Granny does. A recent survey traced the shift that has seen more people under the age of 34 baking at home than those aged 65 and over. It’s a classic chicken and egg case, but the Great British Bake Off has, at least, propelled all things sweet to our attention. Yet it undoubtedly has also done something deeper: it taps into that nostalgic yearning for all things domestic and comforting.

Fans of the show will know what I mean: the familiar notes of the opening tune, the homely pastelcoloured bunting, and, of course, the wonderfully innocent and grandma-like Mary Berry. It’s a

world of safety and nice things.

In a world of essay deadlines and high expectations, getting your hands covered with flour symbolises a return to the simple life. Unsurprisingly, studies have shown significant links between baking and stress relief.

That is, at least for watchers of

Like a child desperate for parental affirmation, I timidly offer Collison a brownie a friend and I have made for tonight. “Mmm, very good,” she remarks immediately. Actually, they’re distinctly under-baked, but appearing on the show has clearly

taught her the art of diplomacy.

What’s next for her? As well as touring the country trying mediocre bakes, Collison hopes to study Food Science at university next year.

Watch this space, young bakers.

“I’d spend at least five hours a week trying to master whatever was coming up next”

the programme. Collison juggled her appearance on the Bake Off with studying for A-Levels, an experience she described as particularly intense.

“We had to be at the Bake Off tent every weekend, but then during the week we had to fit in all our preparation. The show stoppers were obviously the hardest – I’d spend at least five hours a week trying to master whatever was coming up next.” The gap between ideal and reality will strike anyone who takes the plunge into baking at some point. There you are, blissfully whittling away the day constructing your next masterpiece, only to then be faced with a impenetrable mountain of washing up and an hour in which to read and write your next essay. But at least you have cake to get you through.

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More than just midges and moors: Scotland’s creative side Rheanna-Marie Hall St John’s College

and yet The Bookshop hits just the right note between arty and pretentious, and falls comfortably into the category of charming.

Not too many miles away is The Artists’ Town, as well as Scotland’s designated Food Town

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estled in the countryside of Southwest Scotland, there is a small place marked on the map as Wigtown. It has a town hall, many cafés, a good pub (or two), and a co-op for all your basic needs. It’s essentially another quiet rural retreat in Scotland, with enough to live on and some interesting history to lure any passing tourists in for a cup of tea and a story.

The town - and its inhabitants - live and breathe books

That doesn’t explain though why its town square is full of people roving this way and that, diving in and out of shops, when I alight from the car with my own map in hand. While Wigtown is quiet and rural, it also has a reputation which makes it a popular visit. Wigtown is Scotland’s National Booktown, and it boasts an array of shops dedicated to the selling of second-hand books.

Transformed just over ten years ago, in order to revitalise a town whose two major employers had closed, Wigtown is now an unparalleled haven for book lovers. Ranging from the collection specific to out-of-print, children’s literature to non-fiction, there is a bookshop for everything. Even the cafés

PHOTO/Rheanna-Marie Hall

participate; there is always a shelf stacked with popular fifty-pence paperbacks to peruse while you wait for your scone.

The town – and its inhabitants – live and breathe books.

As an English Literature student, Wigtown was easily a must-see in Scotland. It may seem like a contrary way to spend the vacation, as reading lists dictate my entire degree, but the point of vacation is not to avoid books. It’s having the freedom to choose exactly what books you want to read (my vacation list was at this point still on hold, buried in a folder somewhere, being saved for a rainy September day). So, for the week we were in the area, I was an absolute nightmare to my family. To prise me away from a shelf of penguin paperbacks was no easy task. Getting me to choose between two ageing travel journals, both

slightly overpriced, was an agonising decision that required thought – a lot of thought. I was close to becoming a resident of Wigtown merely for the amount of time I spent there. Soon my family gave up trying to help; they went for refreshments, and waited it out.

The place most difficult to tear me from, which very quickly became my favourite haunt, was The Bookshop. An obvious name, but a true one nonetheless. The Bookshop is a delightfully eclectic mix of genres, spread out and organised across nine rooms of an old house. Furnished to resemble a cosy personal library, there are fireplaces decorated with literary quotes, old-style ladders running up the sides of shelves, and armchairs randomly placed. In the corridor, a skeleton playing the violin hangs from the ceiling. It should feel put together,

Business is steady; The Bookshop is rarely empty. When it gets too crowded for a short while, I head for the Garden Room, which no one seems to find.

When it gets quiet again, I’m back in the main body of the shop, weighing up the pros and cons of a new find. Then I’m distracted by a sign pinned to a wall. It is a new idea being tried by the owner, and I’m sorely tempted. In essence it is a random book club, where once a month a package will arrive at your door.

The contents could be anything from a rare first edition, to a guide on sewage disposal. If only Student Finance knew, then maybe my loan would stretch to cover the cost of it. Though perhaps it’s for the best. My hidden reading list lurks unhealthily at the back of my mind.

A week in Booktown: an enthusiastic English student’s paradise. From a sleepy town with little commercial future, to a popular visit along the Southwest coast of Scotland, Wigtown is one aspect of Scotland’s creative side that is too easily missed amongst the tropes of haggis, kilts and battles on misty moors. Not too many miles away is Kirkcudbright (kircoo-bree), The Artists’ Town, as well as Scotland’s designated Food Town, Castle Douglas, slightly to the north.

If you’re in need of creative therapy not too far from home, then just over the border is an area of Scotland bursting with possibilities for a relaxed break of ‘being artsy’. Plus there is still the odd castle here and there for when the sun does come out.

PHOTO/Rheanna-Marie Hall

Features 17

20th November 2014

Behind the glitz and glamour: the reality of staging a Ball PHOTO/Mark Rivkin

An interview with the St. Hugh’s Ball President gives a rare insight into the world of committee life

Georgia Evans St Hugh’s College

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amed for their extravagance, overflowing with drink, and remembered for years: it could only be an Oxford ball. Every year thousands of students flock to various colleges for a night of debauched entertainment and riotous fun in what is one of Oxford’s most famous traditions. As someone enjoying the ball, it can, however, be easy to forget that an enormous amount of work goes into making the night magical, and that behind the scenes a dedicated ball committee will be working hard to ensure that the evening goes with a bang, and without a glitch. I caught up with the St Hugh’s Ball President Matthew Shaw for a look at the hidden world of planning a ball…

Firstly, the most important question for someone in your role: what does a Ball President actually do?

A Ball President’s main job is coordination, ensuring a dialogue between college, the ball guests, and the committee itself. With a team of 17 there’s obviously a lot of delegation but it’s important for the President to be directly involved. For example, I’m responsible for the production side of the ball: staging the acts, lighting up the grounds, and ensuring that everything looks stunning.

Talking of lighting and staging, I’d imagine that one of the biggest difficulties a Ball faces is the logistics of putting on such a big event outside. How do you cope with that?

It is a challenge. You’re putting on what you hope will be an incredible event on a surface that is obviously not designed for it, before you’ve even factored in the possibility of bad weather!

The main way to address it is to simply have a plan for everything, and I imagine that in the run-up to the ball the team will be watching weather reports very closely!

St Hugh’s is a big site for a Ball. Does this raise any specific logistical challenges?

As anyone who has ever made the journey up north to Hugh’s will know, it’s a beautiful college (one of the biggest in Oxford), which has fantastic gardens, and so is perfect for our ‘Enchanted Forest’ theme. However, the size does present problems. Security issues are every ball’s nightmare, and it is a worry making sure that only ticketed guests can get in, and those that do have a great time while staying safe. However, like preparing for the weather, you just have to stay on top of things; we’ve been meticulous in our site planning and prepared for every eventuality.

What are you enjoying most about being Ball President?

Imagining the end result which all your hard work will bring is enormously satisfying, and I get excited walking around the site and imagining how it’s going to look! Also great fun is working with the food and drinks teams.

I’m particularly looking forward to the tasting that we’ve got planned for next term …

And, on the other side of things, have

there been any particular stresses?

Some people have the idea that attractions at the ball just drop out of the sky, but in reality getting everything onto the grounds is a real obstacle (shockingly most Oxford colleges were not built for big twenty-first century balls). St Hugh’s also only has a ball once every three years, so apart from a handover document we have very little information from previous years to support us, particularly as many of the college staff who were involved in the last ball have moved into different roles. The advantage of this is that it gives us the freedom to create a unique experience and stand out from the last ball, but it can also be challenging. We’ve all had to learn the ropes of running a Ball independently.

You mentioned that your committee has 17 members. Is it difficult to coordinate so many people?

We’ve been lucky with the St Hugh’s Ball Committee this year because we all share the same vision, and so communication is generally strong. Having lots of people is also a bonus because it makes it easier for everyone to share the work and juggle their other commitments.

You’re obviously working incredibly hard.

Will you get to enjoy the Ball on the night?

Everyone asks me this! It will be a very different experience to the other balls that I’ve been to because I will be working to ensure that everything goes smoothly, but I think the satisfaction of seeing what we’ve achieved will give me a great night.

Would you encourage others to get involved in balls, whether it be their college ball, RAG ball or a Union Ball?

Definitely. Personally, I’m keen to go into events planning in the future, and the ball obviously provides fantastic experience for this because you have to be involved in so many areas - bars, entertainment, ticketing, security - the list goes on. You learn different skills, from drafting contractual terms and conditions, to running a main stage, to time management. But if organising a ball is good experience, it’s also great fun. If you think that going to a ball is exciting, imagine what it’s like to decide on all of the things that make it such a great night!

As Ball President, what has been your most exciting moment so far?

Getting Governing Body permission in the first place was a big plus! But apart from finding out that we were actually getting a ball, the public launch was really exciting, although a little nervewracking, as it’s the first time that other people can react to your ideas, and you don’t know how they’ll go down. Luckily Hugh’s Ball has had a fantastic response, and the feedback has enabled us to make it even better.

Based on your experiences, what do you think makes an Oxford ball stand out?

Oxford balls have become very samey over the years, so when there is something unexpected it’s always great. A ball needs to be unique. It’s a special night, and you want it to be full of things that

you’ve never done or seen before, and possibly won’t again. It’s also important to have a good launch night - I’m hoping that ours (in eighth week at Bridge) will be one to remember!

Do you think that it’s possible that the extravagance of Oxford balls confirms some of the stereotypes about the privilege and debauchery of Oxford students?

There’s no denying that a ball is a very luxurious affair, and there is always the possibility that they will confirm certain ideas that some people have about Oxford. However, balls are a tradition for a reason. They’re special occasions which will be remembered for years afterwards, and just as most Oxford students don’t conform to the stereotype, neither do the balls; they can be forces for good.

This year, St Hugh’s Ball will support the charity Oxford Homeless Pathways.

Guests can make an optional donation to the charity when they buy their ticket, and we are raising awareness of a serious problem in our city even as we enjoy ourselves.

Why should we come to St Hugh’s Ball?

St Hugh’s has a great reputation for throwing balls, and the Enchanted Forest Ball will be the biggest black tie one ever held in Oxford! Without giving too much away there are going to be great music acts, entertainment from all genres, the menu looks great and the bar will be well-stocked. We’re also priding ourselves on the attention to detail that we’ve shown so far, which will manifest itself on the night and ensure that the event is flawless!

Sport 18

20th November 2014

Victory as Blues edge past Coventry Squash: a niche sport?

James Baker

Alexandra Vryzakis

St Anne’s College

St Hilda’s College

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splendid team effort gave Oxford their third victory of the season on Wednesday afternoon, well and truly cementing their place as strong contenders in this year’s race to the top of the Midlands 1A league.

Although having to start without quite a few first-team players, Mickey Lewis’ team started positively, creating most of the chances early on, no doubt helped by Coventry’s bafflingly high line. While play was generally scrappy at first, with both teams clearly eager to get off the mark, it was Oxford’s patient and intelligent passing out of the defence that began to have an impact on the game. The defence and midfield linked up nicely to cause trouble for the already nervous Coventry defence.

While most of the chances did fall to the Blues in the first half, Coventry managed to counter-attack effectively at times, and in the 14th minute saw their appeals for a penalty waved away by the referee, after a seemingly reckless challenge on a Coventry forward on the edge of the box by Tom Hobkinson.

A few minutes later came the breakthrough that Oxford’s play had been promising. It was Peder Beck-Friis (pictured right) who scored with a terrific header, thanks to Ezra Rubenstein’s perfectly weighted cross from the right wing. The Oxford captain looked in commanding form, and the assist was richly deserved.

Luckily, Oxford goalie Ben Szreter was on top form After the goal, Oxford began to get complacent, sitting quite deep and allowing Coventry to attack almost at will, which could well have cost them. As play began to become more stretched, the Coventry attack bombed forwards, forcing Hobkinson into a few last-ditch defensive headers.

Then in the 29th minute, disaster struck. Oxford’s Will Smith went to

S PHOTO/OUAFC

ground in what seemed like a perfectly admissible challenge on the Coventry forward in the box, but the referee controversially decided to point to the spot.

Whether the decision was affected by the previous penalty claim or not, the penalty seemed soft at best. Luckily, Oxford goalie Ben Szreter was on top form, saving the well-struck shot by diving low to his right, before bravely blocking the Coventry follow up.

After that momentary blip, the Blues saw out the rest of the first half with some of their most impressive play to date. Strikers Beck-Friis and Edward Mole combined well up front, while the defensive duo of Hobkinson and Smith kept things tight in defence. Right-back Dan Williams in particular was having a storming half, terrorising the Coventry right wing, before being forced to make an early exit after picking up a slight hamstring injury in the 38th minute.

Szreter continued to play exceptionally well, singling himself out as a worthy Man of the Match.

Coventry were also slightly unlucky to be hit with a fairly serious injury right before half time, with one of their defenders sliding into a tackle a little too forcefully, and ending up with a dislocated shoulder that forced him out of the game.

The second half was a much different story. An unconvincing start by the Blues gave Coventry the opportunity to run at the defence, with their right winger easily sidestepping the chal-

lenges of the Oxford left-back Dark.

Coventry tried their best to use their superior possession to their advantage, but again the Oxford defence matched them well, with Szreter making some vital saves to keep the Blues’ lead.

talking points. I’ll give you a few: 1) Castleford surprising everyone with the season of a generation, ending up one game away from two major trophies. 2) New South Wales ending the eight-year Queensland dynasty in the State of Origin series. 3) Australian superstar Jarryd Hayne moving to the NFL. 4) The ageing Golden Generation at Leeds Rhinos finally managing to win the Challenge cup.

ciate other events and aspects of a game that has a lot to offer.

But let’s be honest, you’re still probably not interested. Whilst the odd eye-catching try (see Brett Morris “flying”) might temporarily pique a few curiosities, why do most still not care?

According to the BBC Rugby League is the fourth most popular team sport in the country.

Quite simply, it’s the international game. Few can contest the hypnotic draw of high-profile, competitive international sport. And it is no coincidence that the three sports with higher placed tabs on the BBC page, football, cricket and rugby union, all have strong international games. The Premier League may have a freakish omnipresence, but there are still those whose only football comes in the form of the World Cup. Union has occasional World Cups but

Oxford were well worth their win, playing convincing and engaging football

During the latter stages of the half the Blues began once again to find their rhythm, with Coventry tiring after their earlier exertions. Mole and Beck-Friis combined well a few times to create some interesting opportunities, while Coventry were forced to push three up front in their desperate search for an equaliser.

In the end, Oxford managed to hold on to their 1-0 lead, despite a tense few minutes of added time, during which Beck-Friis was replaced by James Tunningley as the Blues attempted to disrupt their opponent’s rhythm and run down the clock.

Oxford were well worth their win, playing convincing and engaging football from start to finish against a Coventry side who never seemed to be able to keep up, and with a big game against a confident Nottingham Trent side up next, there was no room for error.

quash is usually thought of as a bit of a niche sport. It’s played in a large cube with a little rubber ball which both players alternately hit against the wall until one of them wins the point. Put like that, it probably sounds a little pointless. But there are so many different levels to squash, and at every level of play there’s something to enjoy. At the higher levels it’s often described as physical chess. It’s fast, fluid, intense, and tough. International squash players run approximately 1118 metres in the 16 and a half minutes the average squash game takes them to complete, with well over 500 changes of direction, whilst hitting the ball at speeds of up to 175 mph. During this they’re trying to outplay, outmanoeuvre, and outthink their opponents, so the description seems apt. But even as you filter down through to the beginner levels or are just playing for fitness, squash is challenging, enjoyable, interesting, and a little different to the standard fare.

Squash at Oxford is an ever growing community. The college leagues, club ladder, and club box leagues are thriving, enhanced by the fact that a large proportion of Oxford colleges possess squash courts, and the club sessions run by members of the uni-

versity squads provide a good source of coaching. Most colleges have teams and anyone interested in playing need only ask their sports reps for how to get involved, or go to the Oxford Squash website. However one of the most interesting developments is the new Big Hit scheme. This is a nationally funded scheme which gives people access to six to eight weeks of professional coaching for just £15! Aimed at beginners this is a really great initiative and a brilliant way to try and get people involved, allowing them to have a go at squash (and racketball) in a fun, friendly environment. This has had a great reception nationwide and, with enough interest, will run here at Oxford, so anyone interested please get involved by emailing andrew.lindsay@ jesus.ox.ac.uk.

The Oxford squash teams have had mixed terms so far, an unfortunate side effect of the Oxford terms starting partway into the BUCS season. The Men’s Blues have played 5 and won 2, whilst the Women’s Blues have been more successful, playing 4 and winning 3. Both second teams have played 2 and lost 2. The standard of play has been high throughout though, with squad places well contested and hardearned, and top class coaching from Ben Rosec meaning that the squads will only keep improving on the road to varsity.

Anyone that’s interested in trying it, please don’t hesitate to have a go, I promise that you won’t regret it!

PHOTO/Daniel Murrelll

Is Rugby League more than just a northern game?

Billy Saundry Lincoln College

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hat happened this year in the world of Rugby League?

Well, I guess Sam Burgess did some big hits and hurt his cheek.

Ben Flower punched that guy while he was on the floor. Oh yes, and there was that funny commentary on YouTube.

These are all noteworthy, but, as an actual fan of the game, forgive me if I am a little bit frustrated when an outstanding year in the sport is forced into a pigeonhole consisting of the ‘Next Big Thing’ for rugby union, a thug that represents a violence problem in the game, and a funny Northerner. It’s not like there’s been a shortage of other

The sport is often forced into a pidgeonhole of violence So what should we be talking about?

It seems I’m telling us to not just talk about the union-related, bad, or funny stuff; let’s widen our vision and appre-

also frequent Six Nations, and cricket has test series. This keeps up a general level of interest from the public and mainstream media, one which filters through and enthuses new generations and keeps the game thriving.

International Rugby League isn’t there yet, but it’s coming. You could sense it at last year’s World Cup; the impressive organisation of the tournament, the successes of teams such as Scotland and the USA, or England’s modern classic against New Zealand. And again, this year, there is excitement.

Australia were rattled in both of their opening two matches of the Four Nations, whilst “fourth” nation Samoa have been a breath of fresh air. Perhaps this will cause Australia to look outwards, away from their self-indulgent State of Origin obsession, and upon the future, which surely lies with a strong

international programme. If they needed any further convincing to find ways of making League more attractive, the NRL has just lost three of its very best players in Hayne, Burgess and Sonny Bill Williams.

So in summary, what are we to do?

Well for those who dismiss League without giving it a fair viewing, I say give it that fair viewing. It deserves it and you will find it worth your while.

For those in power, I say prioritise the international game. Let’s start developing smaller nations, and hold regular, well-organised and well-publicised international events. And for those like me, who fall into neither category? I suppose we’ll be spending our time badgering both camps to see the light.

For all its failings, Rugby League is a positive and beautiful thing. That’s what I’m talking about.

Sport 19

20th November 2014

OUQC Chimeras take home the Southern Cup

Claire Evans & Kanta Dihal

Somerville College & St Anne’s College

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s a sport for non-wizards, quidditch came into existence in 2005 in Vermont, USA. Three years ago, the sport made its way to Oxford, leading to the founding of Oxford University Quidditch Club (OUQC) and its

two teams, the Radcliffe Chimeras, who are currently both British and European champions, and the Oxford Quidlings.

Rather than cosplaying, quidditch players have replaced wands and capes with tactical insight, speed, and in some cases, brutal force.

A team consists of three chasers, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker, who must work together and understand each others’ roles in order to play well. The chasers and keeper run, pass and tackle the other team’s chasers with the aim of gaining possession of the quaffle (a slightly deflated volleyball) and scoring hoops, each

worth ten points. The keeper is also responsible for guarding the team’s hoops against the opposition’s attack. The beaters compete for possession of the bludgers – three slightly deflated dodgeballs - which they then use to ‘beat’ members of the other team: if you are hit with a bludger you must dismount your broom and run back to your own hoops before rejoining the game. The seeker’s aim is to catch the snitch, which is a person with a tennis ball in a sock tucked in the back of their shorts. The seeker’s job is to grab the sock, thus ending the game and earning their team 30 points. The

winner is determined by the number of points, not the snitch catch itself, thus adding a highly tactical element to the role of seeker.

Last weekend both the Chimeras and the Quidlings competed in the Southern Cup, held at Southampton. Eight teams competed in the tournament, with group stages held on Saturday and a knockout competition on Sunday. Despite poor weather conditions and losses to the more experienced teams from Falmouth and Southampton, the Quidlings’ morale remained high and they achieved an impressive 220*-20 win against the Norwich Nifflers (the asterisk denotes the snitch catch). The Chimeras placed first in their group, beating the London Unspeakables, Bristol Brizzlepuffs and Reading Rocs, only conceding one hoop throughout the day. On Sunday, the Quidlings lost in a close match with the London Unspeakables, knocking them out of the competition. The Chimeras beat Norwich and Falmouth before defeating hosts Southampton 140*-30 in the final to take home the trophy, in a tense and dramatic match in which two red cards were given. Over the course of the weekend, the Chimeras only conceded five hoops, while scoring 115 themselves.

OUCQ will be holding their annual Christmas Cup on 29th-30th November

Despite not coming home with a medal from the Southern Cup, the Quidlings now hope to use the experience of working as a team and playing competitively to achieve success in the Nightmarish Tournament at Nottingham next week,

The Radcliffe Chimeras will be defending their title as European champions, which they obtained in Brussels in 2014 against an estimated 30 teams from across Europe.

For anyone who is keen to see some quidditch but just can’t wait until April, OUQC will be holding their annual Christmas Cup on the 29th and 30th November in South Parks, hosting players from all over Europe. The 204 player slots were filled within an hour of registration opening. The February 2015 Valentine’s Cup, also hosted by Oxford, is looking to be an even bigger event, with OUQC expecting around 450 player signups. Both the Christmas Cup and Valentine’s Cup are ‘fantasy tournaments’, meaning that players sign up as individuals and are then drafted to teams, giving them a chance to play independently from their usual team and develop as an individual player. This is a great opportunity to see quidditch in action and to get involved at a comfortable level. Alternatively, OUQC practices as a club every Wednesday and Saturday at noon for a couple of hours in Uni Parks, and all are very welcome!

this time last year when there were four British drivers in the grid, (Hamilton, Button, Di Resta and Chilton). As a result, Lewis has a big responsibility to maintain British interest in the sport and victory would help maintain popularity back home.

Similarly, it could be argued that success for Rosberg would help to reignite interest in Formula One in Germany where people have continued to turn off since Michael Schumacher’s first retirement. However, the failure of Sebastian Vettel - a charismatic

home-grown talent with four successive championships to his name - indicates that Rosberg, who holds dual GermanFinnish citizenship and spends most of his time in Monaco, would not have any greater success.

The 2014 season continues to excite both on and off the track with just one race to go and there are many incomplete stories that will reach their resolution this weekend. Hamilton has said that he is going to go into the last race to try and win and Sunday promises to be a thrilling affair.

Having won a bid against Paris and Rome, Oxford will be hosting the European Quidditch Cup

PHOTO/Amalia Bastos Photography

which will be the first tournament the Quidlings will have attended without the Chimeras.

The highlight of this season for OUQC is set to be the European Quidditch Cup, the largest quidditch event that the UK will have seen to date, which will take place in April 2015. Having won a bid against Paris and Rome, Oxford will be hosting the competition.

The battle of the Mercedes – Hamilton or Rosberg?

David Barker

Somerville College

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here is no denying that Formula One has been in a calamitous state for the past few weeks. From debate surrounding the enormous costs involved in running a Formula One team to great uncertainty surrounding engine regulations and three car teams next year; off-the-track events have arguably been as tumultuous as those on-the-track.

However, the scintillating battle between 2014’s poster boys, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg - whom have shared victories in all but three races this year - has gone right down to the wire. Hamilton leads on 334 points with Rosberg trailing on 317 points.

Bernie Ecclestone’s Frankenstein creation, the double point’s rule, means that this year 50 points are up for grabs for the victor in the last race of the season. So what does this mean for the championship decider in Abu Dhabi?

All Hamilton needs to do is ensure a second placed finish and regardless of Rosberg’s performance, he will take the championship. Considering the performance advantage of the Mercedes over the rest of the pack throughout

the season, this seems to be an easy undertaking. However, Hamilton has told the media he takes ‘no comfort’ in his championship position, which considering the reliability of the car is probably a wise attitude to take.

The Brit is arguably a more deserving winner based on his performance across the season in the face of some runs of incredible bad luck. He has amassed ten race wins compared to Rosberg’s five, despite the German taking three more pole positions across the season, demonstrating Hamilton’s superior race-day performance. Both drivers have experienced their share of technical problems on Sundays, with Lewis forced to retire in Australia, Canada and Belgium and Rosberg failing to finish in both the British and Singapore Grand Prix due to technical issues. However, Hamilton’s bad luck in qualifying and subsequent race performances arguably proves that he is the more deserving winner. In Germany and Hungary, he was forced to start way down the pack after problems in qualifying, managing spectacular podium finishes on both occasions and on the track he has always had the better of Rosberg in some memorable battles across the season.

Abu Dhabi will be Hamilton’s fourth shot at the world championship on the final day of the season. His successful attempt in 2008 featured one of the

most dramatic season finales in the history of the sport, when on the last-lap, after seemingly having lost any chance at taking the title he passed a struggling Timo Glock, giving him the point he needed to win the title. He was the favourite to take the 2007 title in his rookie season but ultimately fell short following a gearbox failure towards the end of the race handing the title to Kimi Räikkönen. He also played a marginal role in the 2010 championship finale where Sebastian Vettel took the first of his four championships. Contrastingly, Rosberg’s championship CV has been less glittering, placing a highest of sixth last season over a career that started in 2006, although this is arguably down to the cars he has been given to drive.

Championship success for Hamilton would be a very popular result not just in the UK, but across the paddock.

Bernie Ecclestone has publicly stated that he thinks Hamilton would be a better champion for the sport. Indeed, Lewis has huge exposure in the US – not exclusively because of his relationship with Nicole Scherzinger - where F1 has traditionally had trouble finding popularity, and is a significant name in popular culture internationally. In contrast, Rosberg’s world presence is far more subtle. In addition, it is increasingly likely that Lewis will be the only British driver next year, compared with

PHOTO/Formula Uno

20th November 2014

Blues narrowly miss out against Worcester Alex Tyndall

St Peter’s College

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gritty first half performance was not enough to save the men’s rugby union Blues from sliding to a 5-9 defeat against Worcester Warriors at Iffley on Tuesday. Under drizzly conditions which made ball control difficult, Oxford took the lead through Ed Doe’s first-half try, only for Worcester to kick three penalties in the second half that consigned the Blues to a second home defeat in a row.

Ed Doe did brilliantly, scrambling down the right wing and falling to the turf to draw first blood

Oxford began well, with scrumhalf and live-wire Sam Egerton bursting clear of the Worcester defenders, only for his offload to be knocked on as he was tackled.

Handling the ball proved to be a

problem for both teams throughout the match – perhaps due to the blanket of slow-falling rain that was dumped onto the pitch from kick-off. Worcester pressed well from the start and enjoyed the early territory as Oxford’s pack struggled, at first, to get to grips with their opposite numbers. Worcester’s early pressure, however, came to nothing as handling errors in the breakdown offered the Blues a lifeline. Having settled into the game, Oxford enjoyed a period of possession camped in the Worcester half, and on the quarter-hour mark their persistence paid off. Winger Ed Doe did brilliantly, scrambling along the right wing to receive a chip behind the Warriors’ defence and falling to the turf to draw first blood.

The Warriors reacted well to falling behind, and responded by throwing the kitchen sink at the hosts. Just after the restart, hooker Jack Singleton charged towards the Oxford try line on a tank of a run improbably put to an end by Sam Egerton. Worcester kept ploughing onwards but an infraction in the breakdown put an end to their attacks. By this time Oxford’s pack

were well in their stride, pushing hard against the Warriors’ forwards and causing them problems in the breakdown. George Cullen had a huge opportunity to double the Oxford lead on the half-hour as he intercepted a wayward pass and charged towards the Worcester try-line, only to finally go down within five metres. Frustration began to show among the guests, and so it was little surprise that prop Alex Cordas was sin-binned after 33 minutes for an infraction in the ruck.

Oxford’s pack began to look tired and struggled to cope with the guests’ intensity

After the break it was the Warriors who came out fighting.

The guests’ strongest attack of the match began when winger Josh Watkins gave replacement Basil Strang a welcome-to-the-match tackle and Worcester set off on a charge towards the Oxford right wing. After a series of scrums on five metres, no. 8 Richard de

Carpentier had the ball grounded, but the linesman ruled the score out for a knock-on. They did not leave empty-handed, however, as Oxford gave away a penalty thirty metres out which captain Tiff Eden stroked between the sticks to put points on the board.

The guests were now firmly in the ascendancy. Oxford’s pack, having performed so well in the first half, began to look tired and struggled to cope with the guests’ intensity.

After 50 minutes, Josh Watkins was clear through on the left-hand side and chose to give it to Max Hills to bundle over the line, but the flanker spilled the ball wastefully and let Oxford off the hook. Oxford were committing fouls with the ball on the ground, and not making nearly as much ground as they had in the first half. They were holding on, but making little threat towards their opponents’ territory. It was perhaps unsurprising, then, that Worcester, when given another kickable penalty on seventy minutes, went for the sticks rather than kicking for the corner. Tiff Eden put the kick neatly away for another three points and Worcester’s lead. Five minutes later the lead was 9-5,

PHOTO/ Imogen Ridley

Sport as another penalty was conceded outside Oxford’s 22. For the last five minutes Oxford pushed relentlessly to try to claw back their lead, and looked as though they might have it at the death. Henry de Berker took a quick penalty as the match died and released Basil Strang on a desperate charge, but he was brought-down by a fine last-ditch tackle that extinguished Oxford’s hopes.

The Blues could take heart in a defensive performance that forced the guests to kick for points

A disappointing loss this may have been, but the Blues could take heart in a defensive performance that forced the guests to kick for points rather than going for the line. Tough conditions made this game not into a festival of slick running play but a battle of attrition and defence. On this occasion the Blues were beaten into second place.