The Oxford Student - Week 5 Hilary 2023

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The government has backed a ban on NDAs in higher education

Read our profile on Chris Patten, discussing Oxford, Hong Kong and free speech

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Thomas Harris explains the RuPaul’s Drag Race MTV debacle

Hilary Term, Week 5 | Friday 17 February 2023

OXFORD STUDENT The

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

Chaos in Magdalen as C entire JCR executive resigns Milo Dennison Editor-in-Chief

iaron Tobin has resigned as Magdalen JCR President in an email sent to the entire JCR. After coming under fire earlier today following the joint resignation of his Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary, he is

“The conclusion has been best to resign this week and to prepare a successor and to turn the term around. So, I resign from my position as President so that someone who can give the JCR total commitment can do so. Thank you for understanding during this time and I would encourage anyone with the time capacity to run.”

Read more on page 3

The email followed the resignation of Vice President Madeleine Blackburn, Treasurer James Melia, and Secretary Aaron McIntyre this morning.

Cherwell reported that, in an

Danial Hussain wins SU Presidency

Rose Henderson Head of News

Danial Hussain has been elected as Student Union President for the 23/24 academic year. 2355 votes were cast, with Hussain receiving 854 first preferences.

In total there were 2762 voters, with 21407 votes cast in all elections. Turnout was 10%, with Blackfriars winning the inter-collegiate prize for highest turnout (28.4%).

Hussain ran on a campaign

of “an Oxford that works for everyone”, pledging to reduce college disparities and make the SU more transparent and efficient. He wants to create an ‘Access Norrington Table’ which will reflect colleges’ private/state school divide, lobby for a reading week, and provide SU buses for club nights.

Hussain has previously been Co-Chair of the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) Read more on page 4

email to the JCR committee, they cited “alleged misconduct” and “ongoing welfare issues”.

In the email to the entire Magdalen JCR, they said they had “collectively resigned due to the emergence of untenable working conditions within the JCR Committee Executive.”

Before discovering that Tobin had resigned, one student at Magdalen commented “The JCR President’s conduct has been absolutely horrendous”.

Another said “I’d like to see an impeachment motion tabled”, while a final student commented “I literally cannot get over what has happened.

It’s not acceptable behaviour.”

Tobin took over as JCR President at Magdalen in December, having held a number of other roles on the committee previously, including JCR Secretary. He had been writing a column for Cherwell this term about JCR. In it, he promised “I will write about every aspect of JCR life, including the moments when things go wrong.”

However, Cherwell told The Oxford Student that they were no longer running his column.

“

I have not been able to work effectively with the Exec and have been rash and broken down in communication,

“

-sued the following statement: “I came into the job thinking I could balance all on my plate.

My Degree, My Sleep, and the JCR. I have not been able to. I thought I could still aim for a first and not fall into a terrible schedule of food and sleep, but I have. I am behind on Essays, and now JCR emails and duties.

I have not been able to work effectively with the Exec and have been rash and broken down in communication, since the weekend on my end without resolving it.”

- Ciaron Tobin, ex-Magdalen JCR President

2 | Editorial

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

HILARY TERM 2023 EDITORIAL TEAM EDITORS IN CHIEF Anna Davidson and Milo Dennison ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ayomilekan Adegunwa and Susie Barrows CREATIVE DIRECTORS Yii-Jen Deng and Blane Aitchison STRATEGY Dominic Enright (Director), Anmol Kejriwal, Jason Chau, Andrew Wang DEPUTY EDITORS Rose Henderson, Matt Holland, Dani Kovacs, Emily Hudson, Florence Allen, Martin Alfonsin Larsen NEWS Rose Henderson, Ayomilekan Adegunwa, Samuel Kenny, Anna Lee, Gabrielle Thompson, Ali Khosravi, Rosalie Chapman COMMENT Matt Holland, Ali Khosravi, Tara Earley PROFILE Matt Holland, Ryan Teo Chee Shan, Samuel King FEATURES Anvee Bhutani, Haochen Wang, Tara Earley, Rosalie Chapman IDENTITY Florence Allen, Vivian Gu PINK Blane Aitchison ENTERTAINMENT Martin Alfonsín Larsen, Natascha Norton, Cosimo Schlagintweit FOOD & DRINK Susie Barrows, Asmaani Shukla GREEN Emily Hudson, Jasmine Wilkinson, Anna Bartlett SCITECH Emily Hudson, Nicole Hasler, Archuna Mohan SPORT Dani Kovacs, Joe Sharp, Bradley Beck OXYOU Susie Barrows, Jack Meredith, Jack Jacobs COLUMNISTS Elena Buccisano, Matthew Taylor, Liberty Osborne, Blane Aitchison, Jonah Poulard, Amanda Li, Efan Owen

ford student theatre at the Fringe Festival. Reporting on the situation from Scotland’s capital, I would say all university students here seem to be from the home counties, so I don’t actually know how much it’s registered.

Like many Scottish students right now, I’m finding myself a bit disorientated and uncertain, having a few hours ago watched with shock as Nicola Sturgeon resigned after 8 years leading the Scottish parliament.

Thankfully, in moments of upheaval and frenzy such as these, there are some things on which you can always depend: Milo Dennison is asking where I am with my editorial.

I’m currently back home in Edinburgh, not to put my name down on the list of potential candidates for the vacated post, but to go through some archives for my thesis. I couldn’t have done this in summer of course, as I was much too busy staring at the ceiling and actively avoiding all Ox-

@theoxstu

@theofficialoxstu

issuu.com/theoxfordstudent

Thanks to the team, as always, for this week’s issue - which I think is a pretty brilliant one. Apologies to Milo, who has a Very Important Rowing Meeting I’m making him late for, and thanks too for being a joy to work with.

Thanks to Yii-Jen Deng: she could’ve sculpted David, but Michaelangelo couldn’t have perfected the InDesign graphic. Thanks to Rose (also Scottish), who is helping me through the stages of grief. Thank you to Ayomi and Susie, the senior editorial team, and the whole team in general, for their endless work and enthusiasm.

Thank you reader, and for those worried about political uncertainty, Matt Holland’s solution will be in week 7.

Editor’s Picks Sport

Should athletes ever be ‘neutral’?

31

Food and Drink

Stephanie Nourse gives us her Pesto and Pecorino Aubergine receipe

28

Anna Davidson, Wadham College.

Columns Balloongate, Box Office Drama

OxYou Three Men on a Voi (To Say Nothing of the Cost)

From the Editors

9

30

once again she’s laid in far more than me and made it look far better than I ever could.

Without her, OxStu couldn’t function.

L

ast week I walked into Tesco’s and passed the stand with the newspapers.

Pausing for a second, I saw the familiar cover of Private Eye and went over to have a look, avoiding the bent over woman flicking through another copy.

Reader, the bent over woman was Anna, and this is Week 5 of The Oxford Student.

Not only has Anna proved that Oxford student journalists are essentially all the same person, but she’s also hopped on a train to Edinburgh today, so I’m having to chase her editorial over Messenger rather than in person this week. I shouldn’t complain though:

It’s been a busy week on the news front and the Magdalen JCR story has once again shown that Oxford student politics can be just as sharp and brutal as national politics.

Only last summer it was Boris Johnson who faced numerous resignations before his resignation.

The whole team has been incredibly hard working once again: Ayomi, Susie, Rose, Matt, Blane, Martin, Emily, YiiJen and so many more have once again been essential to the paper’s success. Thank you all - I promise I’ll only chase you on Messenger for a couple more weeks.

Milo Dennison

Merton College

T

his week, I marked the halfway point of my time at Oxford. At the risk of sounding cliché, I do often find myself wondering where the time has gone. It was not that long ago that I was just a silly fresher, doing silly fresher things in a silly fresher way. Yet, over the last year and a half I have done so many new things, met so many new people and generally, had a pretty good time (economics still haunts me).

Time passes, and many things change, but there are still some things never change – like my love for the OxStu and my deep, deep appreciation for my colleagues. I hope that your enjoyment of this week’s edition of the paper also does not change.

Ayomilekan Adegunwa,

Worcester College

I

t’s fifth week of Hilary Term and there’s no Timothee Chalamet appearing in our libraries this year to alleviate any fifth-week blues or provide any useful editorial material. I’m tired. Please use your imagination.

Interesting thing happened to me this week! Incredibly insightful observation about that. I love OxStu!!!! People here are kind of cool, especially [BLANK], [BLANK] and [BLANK].

Editors-in-Chief are doing a semidecent job. Funny anecdote! Thank you to [BLANK] for doing X, thank you [BLANK] for doing Y (X but very slightly different), and thank you [BLANK] for doing Z (X and Y but put into Thesaurus.com). You should join the paper if you are interested in being as cool and fun as us! Pithy statement to take away.

Susie Barrows, Merton College

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

News | 3

NEWS

oxstu.editor@gmail.com

@TheOxStu

The Oxford Student

oxfordstudent.com

Contents News - p. 3

Columns - p. 16 Entertainment - p. 22 Scitech - p. 27 Pink - p. 29 OxYou - p. 30

Profile - p. 12 Features - p. 20 Green - p. 26 Food & Drink - p. 28 Illustration: Jonas Muschalski

Comment - p. 8

Sport - p. 31

Oxford SU to hold referendum on NUS Milo Dennison

The Oxford Student Union is to hold a binding referendum on whether it should remain affiliated to the NUS. The vote, which will be open to all Student Members, must be held within 8 term time weeks. Under the Student Union’s regulations, the question must be “Oxford SU is currently affiliated to the National Union of Students. Should it continue to be affiliated: yes or no?”.

The referendum will come after a motion to hold such a referendum was proposed by Ciaron Tobin and seconded by Mundher Ba Shammakh in Student Council this week. Both proposer and seconder are former NUS delegates, and, in their motion, they noted that they had seen the value of NUS over the last year.

The motion, which had previously been withdrawn from another Student Council meeting over concerns regarding the wording and wider issues, was passed by a significant ma-

jority, paving the way for the referendum. However, before it was passed, the motion was amended significantly: a point about the recent report into antisemitism in NUS was added in the “Council Notes” section of the motion, while the “Council Believes” section was rewritten so as to state that the council had a “duty to refer the question of affiliation to the whole membership”, rather than arguing that “The SU should disaffiliate with the NUS”.

both submit campaign statements to the SU’s Returning Officer, Joe Bell.

The vote will be held over a period of 58 hours to be determined by the Returning Officer, but it must start at 8am on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and end at 6pm on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

The last time such a referendum was held was 2016, which drew a turnout of 27.7%. The referendum was held after accusations of antisemitism were made against the then newly elected NUS President Malia Bouattia. In that referendum, 57.1% of votes backed affiliation, with 3409 votes cast in favour of remaining in NUS, while 2430 voted to disaffiliate.

As part of the referendum procedure, two Official Campaigns must be established, with one group campaigning for a positive response and the other a negative. These groups must have a campaign leader and they must

Ciaron Tobin, the proposer of the motion, commented on it being passed: “I hope to see the referendum as a needed debate no matter the outcome.” He further told the OxStu “I hope disaffiliation for even only a mere year will catalyse the NUS to make changes. Once these issues are solved, we should re-join the NUS.”

The 2016 referendum was beset by controversy after both

campaigns were accused of electoral malpractice. The Yes to NUS group used the New College JCR mailing list to circulate material, while No Thanks NUS campaigned in the closed Christ Church JCR Facebook Group.

This referendum will be held in light of the damning report into antisemitism within NUS that was published last month.

The report, commissioned by the NUS in May 2022, was conducted by Rebecca Tuck KC and laid out numerous incidents of antisemitism within the NUS. The report states that Jewish students were “subjected to harassment” and set out recommendations for the future.

Multiple incidents were referenced, including the failure to include Judaism on an official form in 2018 when all other faiths were listed and using a prayer room for political meetings. Other issues cited in the report were the election of candidates with a history of making antisemitic

comments and a motion to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in 2016 receiving opposition speakers.

The report cited testimony given to the Union of Jewish Students after the 2021 NUS Liberation Conference by a delegate, whose experience at the conference left them “personally shaking and almost in tears”. The NUS reportedly viewed some complaints as being made in “bad faith to try and avert pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel policy advocacy”.

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4 | News

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

Magdalen president sues the Times for libel Rose Henderson Head of News

D

inah Rose KC, the president of Magdalen College, is suing the Times for libel over a story about a complaint made against her to the Bar Standards Board.

The story was about her legal representation of the Cayman Islands government in their opposition to same-sex marriage, which attracted significant criticism, including from the Oxford LGBTQ Society and some Magdalen students. However, many lawyers, including the lawyer for the appellants in the Cayman case, supported her position.

Colours Caribbean, a gay rights group, complained to the Bar Standards Board, the barristers’ watchdog, that Rose should have rejected the Cayman instruction by using the ‘foreign work’ exception to the cab rank rule. The cab rank rule says that if you are a self-employed barrister who receives instructions from a professional client that are appropriate taking into account your experience and field of practice, you must accept the instructions ad-

dressed specifically to you, irrespective of the identity of the client or nature of the case. There are some exceptions to this rule, including that if accepting the instructions would require the barrister to do any foreign work or act for a foreign lawyer.

In a story in the Times last year, the newspaper reported that the campaign group had said that Rose “must apologise” for “recklessness” for claiming that she was obliged to take the case under the cab rank rule. The story quoted the Bar Standards Board as telling Colours Caribbean that Rose’s interpretation of the rules “might possibly amount to evidence of recklessness” if “taken at its highest”.

The Bar Standards Board later issued a clarificatory public statement saying that it had not found Rose to have been “reckless” and it had not taken any regulatory action against her, and that they apologised if this had not been made “sufficiently clear”. They said that criticism of her for taking on the

case was “misplaced” and that “barristers are not to be identified with the views of their clients”. The story in the Times was then taken down.

The Bar Council, a representative body made up of around 115 barristers, described the Bar Standards Board handling of the case as “unacceptable and inexcusable”. They said the fact that Rose had no opportunity to comment or be heard before the Board published a decision document critical of her was “inconsistent with the fundamental principles of fairness”.

At the time of the Times story, Rose tweeted that Times Law “were warned that they were taking a quote from a press release out of context, without the decision being available. They pressed on and published it, regardless.

I have instructed solicitors to bring libel proceedings.” Proceedings have now been issued against the Times and its legal editor, Jonathan Ames.

Rose first acted for the Cay-

man Government in 2019 in the Cayman Court of Appeal.

She successfully argued that the Court should overturn a first-instance judgement that ruled that two women should be allowed to marry. The two women, Chantelle Day and Vicky Bodden Bush, then took their case to the Privy Council in London, where Rose continued to represent the Cayman Government. The judicial committee of the Privy Council ruled in March 2022 that there was no right to same-sex marriage under the constitution of the Cayman Islands.

Rose was appointed as President of Magdalen College in February 2020, taking up her post in September. In a public statement, she said that she had disclosed her obligation to this case in her interview for the post. She added that the argument that her duties as a practising barrister were incompatible with being head of a college were based on “fundamental misconceptions of the nature of a barrister’s role.”

In February 2021, the Magdalen JCR passed a motion to put out a statement to affirm “the rights of the LGBTQ+ community worldwide (including their rights to marriage),the importance of not conflating the views of lawyers with those of their clients, the importance of equal legal representation for all and [to] reject any calls for Dinah Rose QC to resign.”

The Oxford University LGBTQ Society and the Oxford African and Caribbean Society condemned Rose’s actions at the time, with the LGBTQ Society saying on Facebook, “We do not understand how a College President can proceed on a case which is causing harm and distress to a part of the very student body she is supposed to be representing and protecting.”

When approached by the Guardian, Rose’s solicitor, Mark Lewis, said: “It is not appropriate for us to comment at this time.” The Times also declined to comment.

Danial Hussain wins SU Presidency Rose Henderson Head of News

Cont. from page 1

and of the Oxford SU Class Act campaign, and he was on the Oxford Union’s Appointed Committee. He was endorsed

by Class Act and OULC, and by the Oxford Period.

Hussain told OxStu: “It is an honour to be elected President of the Oxford University Student Union, especially as the first student from a foundation year background and Pakistani heritage to hold the position. My mission is to create an Oxford that works for everyone and I look forward to sharing how I believe this can be done in the coming weeks.

Results in full:

Chapman

President-Elect: Danial Hussain VP Activities and Community-Elect: Mia Clement VP Liberation and Equality-Elect: Kennedy Aliu VP Postgraduate Education and Access-Elect: Nick Harris VP Undergraduate Education and Access-Elect: Jenni Lynam VP Welfare-Elect: Rosalie

NUS delegates: Luca Di Bona, Leo Buckley, Anvee Bhutani, Anas Dayeh, Caleb Van Ryneveld, James Smith Student trustees-elect: Daniele Cotton, Eddie Jacobs, Flora Wilson Local RAG charities: Jacari and Homelessness Oxford National and international RAG charities: Malaria Consortium and Emmaus

News | 5

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

Government backs ban on use of NDAs in higher education

Rose Henderson

P

Head of News

arliament has voted for an amendment to ban non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in higher education. On February 7, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill entered its final stage and MPs backed an amendment to ban NDAs. The amendment originated in the House of Lords, where it was passed in December.

The new law will prohibit universities from entering into NDAs about complaints of sexual misconduct, abuse, bullying, harassment or discrimination. An NDA is a legally binding contract that is also referred to as a confidentiality agreement. The parties in the agreement agree that certain information will not be made available to others. However, an NDA might create the misleading impression that a person does not have the right to take a matter to court or tribunal, or that they cannot tell people such as the police, a doctor, or a therapist.

In 2022, a voluntary pledge was created for universities to sign up to after Michelle Donelan, the Minister for

Further and Higher Education, announced that universities must stop using NDAs for complaints about sexual harassment, bullying and other forms of misconduct.

72 universities have already signed up to the pledge to “commit to not using NonDisclosure Agreements to silence people who come forward to raise complaints of sexual harassment, abuse or misconduct, or other forms of harassment and bullying.”

However, due to Oxford’s collegiate system, each individual college needs to sign the pledge, as opposed to the university. Only LMH, Keble, and Linacre have signed the pledge, despite several other college JCRs and MCRs passing anti-NDA motions.

LMH was the first college to sign the pledge in April 2022, after a report in the Times described LMH as threatening an undergraduate with expulsion if she spoke out about the alleged assault she experienced and her subsequent experience of dealing with college while reporting it. At the time, Donelan said “now is the time for other Ox-

bridge colleges to stop dragging their feet and pledge to never buy victims’ silence”.

The Oxford SU Student Council has mandated the VP for Liberation and Equality (previously VP for Women) and VP for Welfare to continue their preventative work on colleges using NDAs in their Hilary 3rd week meeting. The Council mandated the VPs, both outgoing and incoming, “to continue the work of ensuring every college puts in place measures to prevent the use of NDAs” and “to organise meetings with college heads specifically on this issue.”

Layla Moran, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, welcomed the news, telling the The Oxford Mail, “I am delighted that the government has listened to survivors and supported an amendment to ban universities from using non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual abuse, bullying, or harassment. I have been shocked and saddened by the testimonies of survivors that I have heard, many of whom felt silenced by an institution that was supposed

to protect them. Survivors of sexual violence should never be prevented from speaking out about their experiences.

This change in legislation is a huge victory for the young women who have bravely spoken out about what happened to them. Their courage and tireless campaigning mean students will never again be told that their pain and their voice doesn’t matter.”

It Happens Here (IHH), the SU-associated anti-sexual violence campaign, has led the campaign against the use of NDAs. They have worked with Can’t Buy My Silence, an international campaign “to stop the misuse of NDAs so that they are ONLY used for the purpose for which they were created – the protection of IP and trade secrets” . IHH said in a comment to the Oxford Student, “We are overjoyed by the House of Commons passing the amendment to the Freedom of Speech bill banning universities from using NDAs against survivors of harassment and abuse.

Progress like this is hard-

Oxford responds to Turkey and Syria earthquake

O

xford colleges and students have responded to an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude affecting Syria and Turkey.

The earthquake has resulted in a death toll of more than 38,000. There are growing concerns over sub-zero temperatures, sanitation issues and hygiene which could impede Syria and Turkey’s recovery from the disaster. In Turkey, more than 1 million people have been displaced, with 5 million potential displacements in Syria. Issues in Syria have also been exacerbated by more than a decade of civil war, which has already resulted in significant internal displacement.

Susan Brown, leader of the Oxford City Council, and Councillor Shaista Aziz, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities, expressed ‘shock and sorrow’ for the ‘devastating’ natural disaster. The pair stated that their ‘thoughts [were] with the Turkish and Syrian people and all those delivering the emergency response’ as well as ‘Turkish and Syrian communities in Oxford, who will be anxious about their family, friends and compatriots’.

Somerville College and

Wadham College issued statements in support of humanitarian efforts to respond to the earthquakes.

Somerville College stated that a ‘way we can all help is to contribute towards the relief efforts’, asking students to consider donating to charities endorsed by Salma Daoudi, Vice President of the University’s Arab Society, and Süleyman Selim Çınaroğlu, a member of the college’s MCR. Wadham College stated that ‘thoughts and sympathy’ were with those affected by the disaster. Mert Ayik, a first-year Law student at the College, commented on behalf of a group of Turkish students who collectively listed ‘reliable NGOs and initiatives which individuals might consider donating to’. The Queen’s College also shared a link to a JustGiving page in support of recovery efforts that was later removed.

Students and student-led societies have also been involved in efforts to provide aid. Four students, including İpek Şahbazoğlu, Hazal Bulut, Suat Baris and İrem Kaki, organised a bake sale which ran from the 11th to the 13th of February in Radcliffe Square and raised over £9000. 20

people in total were involved in providing baked goods for sale and managing the stand throughout various shifts.

Some of the funds raised from the bake sale were designated for the Syrian charity White Helmets, which helps to distribute aid to rebelcontrolled areas of Syria.

The Oxford Turkish Society also established a GoFundMe page which has raised more than £11,000 and the society will be collecting donations in the Oxford Union chamber on the 16th of February.

The society also promoted the student-led bake sale on social media. The Oxford University Islamic Society coordinated an emergency bake sale outside the Robert Hooke Building on Friday the 10th of February.

Arda Battalgazi, President of the Oxford University Turkish Society, commented that ‘the Turkish community here at Oxford is devastated many have friends and family directly affected by the disaster. We’re doing everything we can to fundraise and help them during this difficult time’.

Quotes and comments have been edited for clarity.

fought and hard-won. This has been the culmination of over a year of hard work by Can’t Buy My Silence, It Happens Here and incredible MPs and student organisations across the nation.

Most of all, Ffi Samuels has inspired us all with their leadership in this fight against NDAs, working closely and confidentially with survivors, opening difficult discussions with colleges and persisting against every obstacle. We are grateful for their incredible work and the benefits this will have for generations of students to come.

It Happens Here continues to urge every college to sign Can’t Buy My Silence’s antiNDA pledge, to show their dedication to supporting students and protecting the rights of survivors. We also encourage every remaining Common Room to pass our Anti-NDA motion, unifying the voices of students across the university in a powerful act of solidarity.”

Martin Alfonsin Larsen Senior Editor

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

6 | News

Oxford Union votes in favour of same sex marriage in the Church Martin Alfonsin Larsen, Ayomilekan Adegunwa and Anna Davidson

This Thursday evening, in a spirited debate – featuring a surprise appearance from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock – the Oxford Union debated the motion ‘This House Supports Same-Sex Marriage in The Church’.

The debate began with remarks by the Union leadership. President Charlie Mackintosh emphasised the importance of the debate, noting criticism from anonymous student forums but arguing that it was ‘Anglocentric’ to think that the motion was not worth debating, noting that 87% of the global population lives in countries where same sex marriage is outlawed. Librarian Disha Hegde and Treasurer Sharon Chau echoed these remarks.

Secretary Tom Elliott also announced the cocktails for the sides of the debate, with the proposition receiving ‘same sex on the beach’ and the opposition receiving an ‘old fashioned values’.

The Oxford Student approached speakers Calvin Robinson and Martin Gorick for comment on why they had chosen to speak at the debate. Gorick, a proposition speaker and the Lord Bishop of Dudley, remarked that he has been committed to equal marriage since he was 18 years old, and that he was more than happy to share his understanding.

Robinson, an opposition speaker, Deacon of the Free Church of England and a GB News commentator, stated that he ‘[believes] in the values of the Oxford Union’, such as ‘diversity of thought and opinion, honest and open debate, no cancel culture, free speech’. However, Robinson was drawn to ‘this debate in particular… because it’s about the orthodoxy […] of Christian faith, and I think we need to stand up for it and affirm it as much as possible, especially when we see heretics trying to drag the church into apostasy […] the danger of that is negligent’. A motion carried in November, ‘This House believes woke culture has gone too far’, was widely interpreted as affirming the principles that Robinson referred to.

Mackintosh also noted that every Roman Catholic bishop in the country had been invited, but none had agreed to speak.

Jennifer Heath (Secretary’s Committee, Oriel College) began the debate for the proposition with a stark dilemma for the Church, arguing that it had the opportunity to choose between a path of faith and love or a path of oppression. She also argued for a more ‘nuanced’ understanding of the Bible as opposed to a ‘black-and-white’ one, noting the importance of

love in the Bible and arguing that, while science had rendered the story of Creation false, the metaphor of God as omnibenevolent and omnipotent creator was still relevant.

Why, she argued, would gay marriage be any different?

Chloe Davis (Secretary’s Committee, Pembroke College) argued for the opposition, noting the ‘sensitive’ nature of the debate. However, arguing against the motion, she noted that it was ‘gravely oversimplified’ and argued that the real role of the debate was to determine whether the Church still had religious liberty in holding socially conservative views that exist in conflict with modern social liberalism.

Bishop of Buckingham Adam Wilson and Gorick spoke for the proposition.

Wilson argued that the Church had for a long time had no formal doctrine in marriage, with its first being established from 1922-1937.

Wilson also gave some of the most memorable quotes of the night, stating that ‘If you believe same sex marriage is wrong, please don’t marry a homosexual’. He argues that ‘9 verses out of 32,000’ were merely fine print, which contrast against the Bible’s overarching theme of love. Gorick argued that the only current choice for homosexuals in the Church was one of repression or sin, imploring the

audience to ‘choose mercy, choose love, choose life’ for homosexual people.

The tone of opposition speakers Ian Paul and Robinson was significantly more polemical, with both men not shying away from making big claims. Paul, a adjunct Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, California, argued that voting in favour of the motion was to detach the Church from the teachings of Christ and impose a ‘neo-colonialism’ of liberal social views on Christian nations in Africa and Asia. Paul also argued that voting for the motion would be to be in tandem with Nazi Germany in the imposition of secular authority over religious authority.

Robinson began his speech with a sign of the Cross and noted that he had struggled to sleep in advance of attending the debate. Robinson likened support of the motion to ‘sacramental sodomy’, arguing that 2000 years of Christian doctrine ‘cannot be altered to suit our modern views’. Robinson also argued that while ‘God is love […] he sets the terms, not us’, stating that the motion was ‘virtue signalling’. Robinson also asserted that he knew ‘many LGB people’ in his speech and ended his argument by stating that ‘if the world is against truth, then I am against the world’.

A series of floor speeches from Union members followed. Among them was former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who had given an address to the Union earlier in the day. Hancock remarked that he ‘came to listen, but [he] was moved to speak” in favour of the proposition – remarking that he had ‘never seen a debate worth supporting where the opposition cites history and Nazi Germany’.

The debate ended with two final speeches from proposition and opposition. John Inge, the Bishop of Worcester, spoke for the proposition, arguing that the Church’s current perspective on gay marriage was anachronistic, citing recent strides in representation for women within the Church and the remarriage of divorcees as examples of progress that the Church had made. Joe Finberg, of St. Edmund Hall, argued for the opposition, reasoning that marriage has always been a ‘legal institution’ meaning that the question is meaningless as the church can’t assign legal contracts. He illustrated his point by comparing the church issuing marriages to the church issuing driving licenses.

The motion was carried 181-41.

Some quotes and comments have been edited for clarity.

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

Chinese gene editing scientist visit postponed Rose Henderson

A

Head of News

visit by the Chinese scientist who said he created the world’s first gene-edited babies has been postponed.

Jiankui He was invited to give a talk by Dr Eben Kirksey, an Associate Professor at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, sometime in March.

However, despite being reported on by the Times and the Guardian, the university has said they “understand that this has been postponed until further notice”. Dr He has tweeted that he “will not visit Oxford in March” as he feels he is not ready to talk about his experience. When the Oxford Student examined the university’s events database, it could find no evidence of this talk.

Dr He was jailed for three years in 2019 for violating a Chinese government ban on carrying out experiments on human embryos.

He was also fired from his post as associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, and the Chinese Academy of Science released a statement saying it was “firmly opposed” to gene editing on humans.

Dr He was attempting to give the human embryos protection against HIV. It was when he announced the birth of gene-edited twins, called Lula and Nana, in November 2018, that he was placed under police investigation by the Chinese government and faced backlash from the international science community.

Dr Kirksey has written a book about Dr He’s research, The Mutant Project, which provides an inside account of Dr He’s laboratory in China that created “the world’s first children whose genes were edited with CRISPR-Cas9.”

CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary technology that allows scientists to edit genome components by removing, adding, or modifying DNA sections. It is much more precise and effective than other methods of genome editing. CRISPR was used for the first time on humans in 2016 when genetically modified cells were injected into a patient at a hospital in China with aggressive lung cancer.

Dr He spoke at a bioethics event in Kent at the weekend, where he frustrated scientists by refusing to answer questions about his controversial experiment. Dr Kirksey said to the science journal Nature that, “a publicity stunt like today shows he doesn’t have much credibility at least in the eyes of his

News | 7

Wolfson announce e-bike courier service

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rom the 6th of February, popular electric bike courier service Pedal and Post, ‘Oxford’s answer to fossil-fuel free deliveries’, will deliver packages to Wolfson College.

In an attempt to cut emissions and make the college safer for cyclists and pedestrians, Wolfson College has announced their plans to have one daily delivery by cargo bike, instead of many vans coming in and out of college throughout the day.

This only applies to regular packages, and for those who need same day delivery, or to receive a large delivery, things can still be delivered to Wolfson College as usual.

For Wolfson, this comes as part of the college’s efforts to reduce their Scope 3 emissions through behaviour and supply chains - which includes their deliv-

eries. Scope 3 emissions are emissions which people are indirectly responsible for, and often account for the highest proportion of total emissions while being the hardest to reduce. Wolfson are hoping that using an electric bike courier service will consolidate the emissions from their deliveries down into one emission-free delivery. Wolfson, a self-described ‘pioneering’ college, aim to reach net zero by 2024, and have already eliminated carbon emissions from their main site. This recent announcement is yet another step taken by the College in their attempts to care for and protect the environment.

The President of Wolfson College, Sir Tim Hitchens told the Oxford Mail that “Like many Oxford colleges with large student communities, we currently have something like 75 van

C

a spokesperson for the company saying: “Over half of our menu is vegetarian or vegan, with meat-free and vegan options accounting for 1 in 3 of our main meals sales.”

The shop officially opened its doors on 27th January, and it will be used as a hub of innovation for new meatfree offerings from the company. It will trial new offerings and exclusives only available at Veggie Pret as well as a range of vegetarian and vegan twists on Pret classics like the Meatless Meatball Wrap. The unique items include the No’Duja Toasted Foccacia and the Vegan Hoisin Mushroom Wrap, and a range of vegan and vegetarian bakery items like the Very Berry Croissant and the Vegetarian Cheese Twist. The offerings are all freshly prepared in the onsite kitchen. The branch will also offer exclusively dairyfree milk options for drinks, including soya, coconut and oat milk.

The Interim UK Managing Director at Pret, Guy Meakin, said: “We’re delighted to be opening a new Veggie Pret shop in Oxford with our franchise partner Dallas Holdings. Together with our other classic Pret shops across the city, we look forward to offering customers an even greater range of delicious, freshly prepared vegetarian and vegan options.”

The brand is looking to appeal to the wider Oxford community, stating: “Our mission is to make meat-free food so good it can be enjoyed by everyone (not just veggies).” The venture is motivated by a higher demand for meat-free offerings, with

The remodel comes as four Veggie Pret branches close in London, with a shop in Canary Wharf undergoing a rebrand to a classic Pret. This leaves only three London Veggie Pret shops, in Soho, Exmouth Market, and Shoreditch. The Oxford branch is now one of only 5 Veggie Prets nationwide, with the Oxford and Manchester branches making up the only Veggie Pret offerings outside London.

The company had originally planned to convert all Eat branches to Veggie Prets, but after the pandemic the plans were scrapped and the remaining Eat shops were per-

Associate Editor

deliveries per week during term time. This trial will aim over time to reduce that to just one delivery by bike per day. Not only is that a huge help to our college Lodge team who handle all those deliveries, but vit’s a significant reduction in the congestion and pollution that all those vans cause in the immediate neighbourhood and

Veggie Pret opens its doors

ornmarket Street’s Pret a Manger has completed its remodel, rebranding into Veggie Pret serving exclusively vegan and vegetarian food and drink.

Ayomilekan Adegunwa

around the city.”

Any Wolfson students with any feedback at the trial have been encouraged to share their experiences with the college at info@pedalandpost.co.uk, and to fill out the survey which will come out towards the end of the trial.

Gabrielle Thompson News Editor

manently closed. A spokes-

The rest of Oxford’s Pret lo-

person stated: “Our focus now is to keep growing our extensive vegetarian and vegan offers in every Pret shop, so we’ve decided to close or convert some of our current Veggie Prets.”

cations, located on Cornmarket Street, in the Westgate Centre, and the Oxford Railway Station, are expected to continue to serve meat options.

8 | Comment

Comment It’s in the Walls

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

Editors: Matthew Holland, Ali Khosravi (Deputy), Tara Earley (Deputy) oxstu.comment@gmail.com

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An exploration into how elitism is built into the bricks of Oxford

litism at Oxford is nothing new; a nearly 1000-year-old institution that produced 30 prime ministers, as well as some of the most prolific imperialists of the 19th century. The perennially controversial Rhodes statue seems to epitomise the university’s dark colonial past. Campaigners have called for the statue to be removed because of its commemoration of Oriel alumni and arch-imperialist Cecil Rhodes, one of the most recognisable figures of the British Empire. The statue is considered symbolic of imperialism and of institutional racism.

However, a closer look at the architecture reveals how the very bricks are impacted by this legacy.

The Rhodes statue is merely the front piece of what was originally the Rhodes Building, now home to the JCR and teaching centre of Oriel. It was built in 1911 and funded by the £40,000 left to the college by Cecil Rhodes, explicitly for this purpose. Not only was the building funded by imperialism, but its construction necessitated the demolition of 95-101 High Street, and the forcible eviction of its tenants. The construction of Rhodes Building was a physical reminder of who was welcome in the university, and who wasn’t.

The University of Oxford is famously picturesque, and certainly the stunning colleges and churches form part of the appeal of those who chose to come and study here. However, a closer inspection of these ‘dreaming spires’ reveals how the very architecture itself cements age-old ideas of who belongs at this university.

Professor of architectural history William Whyte points out, “buildings have agency; they do not merely reflect ideas but are designed to enforce them.” It is the grandiose beauty of the colleges themselves that reinforced elitist ideas of belonging. That elite private schools such as Eton and Westminster bear such striking similarities to colleges are not coincidental; they are a lasting reminder of the pipeline of elite,

by Georgina Morley

male students who have been historically bred for Oxford. Some of the architectural parallels are obvious and deliberately overt; Eton was created as a feeder school for King’s College, Cambridge and so was built to mirror the college.

The same applies to Westminster school and New College. The boys who followed these paths from feeder school to Oxbridge college spent the majority of their lives in the same grand and recognisable buildings.

Even when the link between elite private school and Oxford was not as formally established as this, the architecture of the colleges fed into the exclusivity that the university maintained. Basil Champneys, for example, who designed buildings for Winchester, Harrow and King Edward VII’s school was also the architect behind New Old Hall (LMH), Somerville Library, St Alban Hall (Merton) and the infamous Rhodes building. Thomas Garner, who designed Marlborough College was responsible for work in Christchurch, Magdalen and University College.

To those outside of the established elite, the buildings of Oxford are unfamiliar and intimidating.

Whyte explained, it “looks like a place built to keep you out.”

This was certainly the case for Paddy Coulter, who came to Queen’s in 1964 from a rural town in Northern Ireland and recalled being shocked that his college was “like a monastery”. Not only have these buildings been dramatically unrecognisable to those outside this private school circle, but they have also even been unlocatable.

Being told by his school to “knock of a wooden door” on High Street, Coulter knocked on “half-a-dozen doors”, including St Mary’s Church and All Souls College, before finding Queen’s. He points to this lack of college signposting, which have not changed since his days here over 60 years ago, as a parallel to the private clubs of London; only available to those supposed to know. Coulter argues that this “hangover” from Oxford’s history

is deeply symbolic of the exclusivity that has continued to permeate the buildings of the university.

Some people were “brought up to stroll in” and this sense of entitlement was aided by the familiarity of the colleges and “18 baths in a single bathroom.”

The architecture of Oxford is especially interesting when we consider how women were accommodated. Until the late 19th century, no women were allowed even on the property of the Oxford colleges. An exception was stipulated by St John’s in 1379 for the washerwoman, who was deemed “of such age and general appearance no sexual misdemeanour was likely to arise”. The Reformation posed the first architectural challenge to the all-male environment of the University, as it allowed the Presidents of colleges to marry for the first time. The discomfort with this presence of women is clear; the chapel of St John’s adapted by creating a closed box in which to enclose the President’s wife, allowing her to attend the chapel services without intruding on the wholly masculine space of the church.

Over 350 years later, the construction of LMH continued to reflect discomfort towards women in Oxford. After the success of its first 9 pupils in 1878, the hall attempted to expand into the neighbouring property to accommodate for a larger intake.

The landlord who owned the land and the house allowed this but insisted that the link made both be and look temporary, so that the buildings could be sold easily when what many viewed as an “adventurous experiment” inevitably failed. This landlord being, perhaps unsurprisingly, St. John’s. This “very draughty little walk between the houses” remained a physical reminder of this reluctance and scepticism towards women’s education.

Efforts were made by most women’s colleges to differentiate themselves from the masculine architecture of Oxford, and there-

fore from men’s education. Quads, for example, were deemed unfit for women’s colleges as they were “problematic” to “community life”.

Another change included the transition from staircases to hallways.

In men’s colleges, communal bathrooms were separate from the rooms on the staircase which meant a “run through the rain” to get to them, which was deemed improper for women who may be wearing only dressing gowns.

The emphasis on domesticity in women’s colleges further underlined the gendered beliefs that perforated the architecture.

Building designs for Somerville even specified that windows of the cottage-like rooms should have flower-balconies.

The colleges being reminiscent of either domestic architecture or women’s boarding schools (like LMH and St Hugh’s) reflects the late 19th century anxieties that higher education would render women incapable of being mothers and wives. An American doctor Edward Hammond Clarke suggested that the mental energy exerted by women in higher education would render them infertile, as the blood would be redirected away from their womb to their brain. An article in 1911 on ‘Women’s Education in Oxford’ echoed these fears, stating that “quite a large number return to their homes [to] make excellent wives and mothers”. This proved that higher education “does not unfit women for their natural duties”. These architectural choices were not simply a matter of aesthetic but reflected the deep concerns and barriers that confronted women in this period.

Interestingly, Girton college Cambridge took the complete opposite approach: designed to emulate a men’s college in its entirety, and to present a picture of women’s education being equal to that of men’s. However, what all of these women colleges have in common is their location. Women’s colleges were physically separate from the men’s colleges, and away from

the masculine city centre. This spatial distance further enforced a hierarchy between Oxford and women’s education that limited female students to its outskirts.

One student from LMH in 1928 recalled that they were allowed to walk in the country, but if they went into the city, “somebody was nearly sure to report such a thing and the student would receive a reprimand.”

The architecture of Oxford- the buildings, the libraries, the colleges- are not simply brick and stone. They are an ever-present reminder of where the university has come from, and where it has to go. Coulter, who is now a fellow of Green Templeton, points to the college as an example of how architecture can do the opposite of what Oxford has done for so many centuries, to include rather than exclude, to welcome rather than hide.

The college is centred around the famous Radcliffe Observatory, whose neoclassical structure remains a symbol of the greatness of Oxford architecture. But Green Templeton is much more egalitarian and open; there is not a chapel, but a space where people of faith can pray. Moreover, in the dining hall there is no high table; staff, faculty and students eat together.

And most importantly to Coulter, Green Templeton has a sign.

That the University of Oxford is rooted in ideas of racism, sexism and classism will not have come as a surprise. That the architecture itself is drenched in this history may have done. Buildings do have agency and they can uphold outdated ideas and beliefs long after they have been exposed and challenged. However, we should remain hopeful for Oxford’s future; we have the capacity to resist this agency and push the university to exist beyond its uncomfortable history. Buildings can just be buildings again.

Comment | 9

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

The Church and Same-Sex Marriage

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grew up in a church environment: religious schools and tea towel nativities. My grandma is on our local church council so I sometimes did the readings on a Sunday too. I stopped going before the pandemic, and I haven’t been since.

Quite a few people have done the same, my grandma told me, but it was not the people you would expect. It was the ones you could have imagined bringing a foldable chair and home Bible to the carpark if the building collapsed. They didn’t stop going because of the pandemic.

The church I grew up in had just voted in support of same-sex marriage.

The Church of England outlaws ministers from carrying out same-sex marriages but “your local church can still support you with prayer.” It represents the 1998 Lambeth conference, which welcomed a sea of bishops to discuss Christian ethics. Lambeth 1:10 found that homosexuality is wrong.

The church cannot sanction same-sex unions; it would be incompatible with scripture, since the Bible can be read to castigate any relation between two men. They fail to account that the Bible can also be read as accepting, and mandating love towards the marginalised.

It is inherently a book of uncertainty. The answers are not clear-cut. It needs to be applied to the world lived in today.

One approach saw the Oxford Union debate same-sex marriage in the church. A quarter of a century after Lambeth 1:10, the Union retained the narrative that homosexuality is morally debatable. It is worrying that their contribution is a debate, instead of a sole speaker event. They invited an LGBTQ+ activist just to counter her with the opposition’s hurtful rhetoric. Branding their bicentennial year as a celebration of Free Speech – where free speech seems code for provocation – means I guess we ought to be thankful that it was not just the opposition invited.

Discussions of homosexuality widely transcend the Union’s chamber. With the General Synod this month, where bishops have the opportunity to vote on recommended change, the topic has proven prevalent. Over a thousand licensed priests said they would conduct a service for same-sex couples, instill-

by Niall Hall

ing hope for a recommendation of same-sex marriages.

This would allow England to catch-up with other Anglican churches, such as in Scotland and America, where they already occur.

The bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, expressed support for same-sex marriage in the church. It would allow bishops to opt in or out, the same system used for marrying divorcees. The traditional view, he believes, must remain a “legitimate and honourable position.” That is those who opt-out – as the leader of the Anglican Church, Justin Welby, has said he would. Croft, by contrast, would opt in, due to his need to “acknowledge the acute pain and distress of LGBTQ+ people in the life of the Church.”

There was also involvement from MPs. Tony Baldry, a former Conservative MP, threatened that, should no progress be made, “MPs will soon feel the need to intervene.” Labour MP Ben Bradshaw professed the church to be “actively pursuing a campaign of discrimination” and Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons, wrote to her local bishop on the importance of recognising “the pain and trauma that this continues to cause many LGBT+ people who are left feeling that they are treated as second-class citizens within our society.”

It was confirmed, however, that the Anglican church will not give this recommendation.

They will not back the LGBTQ+ community in this way.

The 1998 view that marriage can only exist for a man and woman still applies. The difference is the recommendation of blessing a same-sex union.

This marks the church’s first recognition of LGBTQ+ existence. Bishops are to apologise for “rejection, exclusion and hostility” towards LGBTQ+ lives. The Archbishop of York claimed it a “real step forward” but “not the end of (the) journey.” Bishop Croft was “disappointed, as many others will be, that we’ve not been able to find a consensus to remove the barriers to marriage in C of E churches.”

Though a “step forward”, this decision is unsatisfactory.

Members of the LGBTQ+ community remain second-class citizens through depriving their right to marry in church. The

church cannot apologise for “exclusion” and then exclude further. It’s like apologising to your friend for not inviting them to your party before proceeding to do it again. Worse, you offer some tokenistic leftovers. You have acknowledged their existence, true, but you have failed to value them as an equal.

The Bible is not clear about a lot of things. Sexuality is one of these elusive topics. The church is hesitant to have an opinion, for having an opinion may automatically negate something in the Bible. One passage may uphold a view that another plainly contradicts. The Bible is open to interpretation. To learn from the Bible that homosexuality is a sin is disheartening. It means that one has enabled a homophobic rhetoric to prevail. Outlawing gay marriage treats gay people as inferior. Unworthy of resources, time and love.

Scripture does not teach that God loves all his children, but the straight ones a little more.

Theistic God loves everyone equally. To be selective with Biblical passages in this way, moulding them into prior views, is harmful and has realworld implications. Someone, I am sure, will claim this the other way round. One is actively seeking passages of love and acceptance. I fail to see the problem. It is not a deviation of Christianity, rather a manifestation of the golden rule.

The Bible is uncertain – there is a lot we do not know – and a lot to make sense of in this world. Failing to allow samesex marriages does not do this. It breeds hate, and that is incredibly frustrating. The church needs to recognise their impact upon real people in real time. LGBTQ+ people want to get married and the church will not marry them. So they ought not to expect LGBTQ+ people to stick around. The church cannot expect people of the opposing opinion to remain either, since the blessing of a same-sex union takes half a stance. This is clearly not the right end goal.

Perhaps naively, I do not think this was their end goal. It was a small piece to a larger puzzle.

At least I hope so. If not, people may begin to fold up their chairs, before the building actually does collapse.

Balloongate, Box Office Drama

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by Thomas Cowan

icture the scene. It’s early 2019. You’re settling into your cinema seat, popcorn in hand (Sweet and salty, because you’re not a philistine). As the lights go down, your excitement for the biggest blockbuster of the decade only grows. An eclectic cast of heroes, a seemingly unassailable antagonist, the fate of the world at stake: what’s not to love?

But, crucially, your shoes aren’t sticking to the Coke-covered carpets of your local Odeon.

Instead, you’re in a Wanda, China’s premier cinema chain.

And you’re not about to watch the record-breaking Avengers: Endgame. Rather, you’re waiting for the trailers to roll before Wandering Earth, China’s latest cinematic sensation.

Was it a great movie? Not particularly. But what it did do was break Chinese boxoffice records, quickly becoming their highest grossing film of all time. So, with the sequel only coming out last week, you can understand why many Chinese people had the movie on their minds. Thus, when news broke of an unmanned balloon appearing in American skies, Chinese social media users responded not with hysteria but with a novel nickname for the wayward rogue. The Wandering Ballon.

In many ways, the parallel is fitting. The situation has engrossed the viewing public.

And to many, the Wandering Balloon’s violation of American sovereignty seems to have raised the political stakes to blockbuster levels. China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng accused the US of ‘severely impacting and undermining the progress made by the two sides to stabilise relations’. From his side of the Pacific, America has gunned down a ‘civilian airship’ and now refuses to return Chinese property to its owners.

Whilst many have written this off as a whole lot of hot air (pun very much intended),

Xie’s demands to get his balloon back reveals a real concern for the CPC. They have always maintained that they are more upstanding than the imperialist West. A spokesperson for the foreign ministry repeated on Tuesday that the PRC ‘strictly adheres to international law and respects the sovereignty of other countries’. The fear amongst the CPC, then, is that analysis of recovered debris will give incontrovertible evidence that China plays just as dirty as the Americans. For the CPC, the moral high ground is at stake.

Similar box-office drama can be found if we cross the Pacific. Certainly, the explosive destruction of the balloon on Friday would not have looked out of place in the latest Top Gun instalment. An F-22 Raptor with one shot to land an AIM9X Sidewinder missile on a tiny moving target threatening the Land of the Free - no doubt the responsible pilot felt like Tom Cruise for an afternoon.

The greatest ramification of this existential threat to the American Way was, of course, the cancellation of Anthony Blinken’s visit to the PRC. Some western commentators echoed Foreign Minister Xie’s worries that this marked the end of warming relations, USChina cooperation seemingly destined to slip further and further towards Cold War levels. Many have drawn comparisons to the 1960 U-2 incident, where an American spy plane was shot down over the USSR. After the plane was downed, Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev cancelled the ongoing Four Powers Summit, plunging relations across the Iron Curtain into ever darker territory.

But the current situation isn’t like the plot of Top Gun, nor are we stuck in 1960. Back then, the U-2 represented the cutting edge of espionage. It was a U-2 plane that took the vital images that instigated the Cuban Mis-

10 | Comment

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

Suspended Students Campaign A perspective of the University

sile Crisis, saving the world from taking another step closer to Mutually Assured Destruction (or pushing us towards it, depending on your perspective).

Now, however, surveillance balloons are the least of anyone’s worries. More than 70 Chinese reconnaissance satellites are in orbit. The CPC’s international news outlet, Global Times, recently published a panegyric on these satellites. It showed the detailed images they had captured of the epicentre of the Turkish earthquake, vital to understanding the catastrophe. Any information that one balloon could have revealed pales in comparison to China’s globe-encompassing network of these state-of-the-art satellites.

Of course, the US government knows this.

In fact, their National Security Council revealed that this is apparently the fifth time an unmanned Chinese balloon has strayed into American airspace since 2017. And despite his recent midterm defeat and flagging approval ratings, President Biden has tried to distance himself from the balloon as much as possible. What could be an easy point for Biden to win over Republicans who want him to stand up more to the Red Menace has gone largely ignored. The President only alluded to the situation in his State of the Union address, and actively denied reporter’s suggestions that the balloon changed the nature of US-China relations.

America knows that the balloon doesn’t matter. For its part, the US military had ecently, I had the opportunity to over 150 reconnaissance satellites orbiting the Earth in 2020, a number that has meet with Gabriel Lazar, the Chair of the Suspended Students Camsurely only increased. Both sides know that aerial espionage has become a relic. The paign at the SU. We had a discussion surveillance game is now played in outer broadly about the University’s attitude space. And even that is becoming less and towards suspended students as well as less important in comparison to cyberspace the work which the Campaign had been doing and is planning on doing in the intelligence gathering.

So, maybe the best box-office analogy for future to help these students. I wanted this whole trivial situation actually comes to write this in part out of my wider frusfrom 2009. Like in the movie Up, watch- trations at this University as well as to ing this balloon-centred story unfold may give some exposure and publicity for the have begun sombrely, but the core of it is amazing work which these people do to actually pretty light-hearted. The come- give advice to those already suspended dic highlight, for me, was the Kansas City or those considering suspension. sheriff’s statement pleading with eager Meeting at Taylor’s in the Covered Marcitizens not to try shooting down the bal- ket, I began by asking questions relating loon themselves, offering some sage advice: to the University’s current policies and ‘What goes up will come down, including guidance, given that I, like most of you potentially, had very little knowledge of your bullets’.

But, no matter if you think ‘Balloongate’ suspension or this Campaign. Gabriel asbest resembles the high stakes of Wander- sured me that while the University treats ing Earth, the jingoist bombast of Top Gun, suspension as a punitive measure in all or the wonderful absurdity of Up, one thing cases, highlighting the obliviousness toremains true. This situation is a fiction. It wards their often toxic work environhas the appearance of something that might ment, most suspensions are voluntary. be real, that might affect present politics, Out of the 5271 students who suspendbut it is simply insignificant. This balloon ed between 2011/12-2020/21, 4948 has had a miniscule impact on international suspended either for personal reasons, relations and intranational politics alike. medical reasons, financial reasons or an Don’t take this as a statement of reassur- unspecified reason. Only 190 suspenance, though. The real reconnaissance, the sions in this time have been for discireal politics, the real drama, all occur off plinary reasons. These stats point to the of your timeline. The forces that actually reality that the main reasons students shape the world and its future reside in suspend are not anything to do with places we don’t see. So, when you’re next personal faults but simply because our getting comfortable to watch a movie, know University brings with it pressures and that the real show is taking place behind work loads which for many are simply the screen. unmanageable, especially when having to deal with external challenges such as medical issues or personal troubles.

The SUSCam have done incredible work to fill the void of assistance left behind by

R

By Matthew Holland the University, for instance by lobbying so that students retain their Bod cards and providing advice and support to these students, often in a very vulnerable state and desperate for this help. As Gabriel said to me, the University really is failing on its welfare provisions in more ways than one, but by taking this case example, they leave vulnerable students in the dark about how they can more effectively manage their degree, or receive financial assistance. Not only this, but their stretched and ineffective welfare services cause suspension themselves, as students often feel there is no help and therefore no other choice but to suspend.

Colleges are especially at fault for these issues. Many colleges have restrictive accommodation policies and give very little advice about financial support, while also removing JCR membership from suspended students, restricting their access to the college. The denial of the services which we rely on colleges for is a clear breach to me of the college’s responsibilities. Whether a student happens to be actively enrolled or not, they deserve the same rights that all students at that college may have, and certainly deserve access to libraries. The Campaign have created a draft JCR motion to address this issue, allowing students to retain JCR membership while they are suspended.

One point which Gabriel also made to me was relating to the issue of suspension being restricted to an entire year away from studies. Not forgetting how arbitrary this is given the wide variety of reasons for suspension, this also takes no account of individual circumstances regarding subjects and modules. The process would be much more simple of

course for a History student like me but for many subjects the idea of taking an entire year out could completely upset the run of modules and learning, taking away a consistent work environment for students. Quite why the University has decided you can’t simply take a term out, especially if your medical or personal reason is only a temporary issue, is beyond my comprehension. I suppose, like much of this University, it is probably some archaic legacy. After all, our University is more of a museum than a place of study.

I am one of the lucky ones. While I won’t pretend that my degree has been smooth sailing, and there have certainly been times when I questioned why I chose this Uni, ultimately I have never seriously been in the position that the students receiving support from this Campaign have. I have however, worked through illnesses, missed out on social engagements because of work, worried seriously about my ability to meet deadlines, and felt inadequate academically.

My guess is that my experience of this University isn’t unique. It is challenging beyond the point at times that seems acceptable, and it is so telling that I know so many other students who have suffered mental health issues, often attributed to anxieties about their degree. If you are considering suspension, know someone who is or are currently suspended yourself then I urge you to get in contact with the wonderful people of this Campaign. We all struggle and often the most difficult thing is to both recognise your struggle and to ask for help, but it is vital that we do in order to stay healthy and happy in this environment.

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

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“Complacency allowed the public schools to regroup like some terrible fungi waiting to come back.”

Richard Beard in conversation with Matthew Holland Richard Beard is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books including two recent memoirs, The Day That Went Missing and Sad Little Men. Having recently read his book Sad Little Men and enjoying every page, I took the time to speak to Richard about his experiences of the public school system and how he feels it shaped him and the boys of his generation.

MH: As your book is mostly about the negative sides of a public school upbringing, do you think there were any particular advantages for you personally or fond memories you have of your school days?

RB: There’s obviously advantages because that’s why the parents pay for it. All of the professional opportunities that come later because of that schooling.

It’s partly to do with the confidence of it and it’s also to do with the straightforward connections between public schools and some Oxbridge colleges. Then later on coming into media jobs, law, any professions really there will be people like you there who had the same education, and therefore in interviews they’ll warm towards people who have the same kind of mannerisms as them. I think publishing books is partly a dividend of a public school education, it makes it easier and it would be wrong to say that isn’t true. I think it’s important to say about this book that I was really into sport and I was in all the teams, and I was clever so I was top of the class and therefore I got the best out of it, yet I still thought it was a hugely damaging experience. I was not someone who was sniffling in the corner, being bullied and deciding I didn’t like it because of those reasons.

MH: Do you think the overtly patriotic messaging you received was purely a legacy of the colonial element of public schools, or was it a more sinister and political attempt to condition you?

RB: It was directly political. We had a school assembly in 1983,

where the headmaster wanted to bring everyone together to celebrate how wonderful the Tory victory had been, so he was training all those boys in that room, and they were all boys, to think in a certain way.

At the time, the Labour Manifesto did have the abolition of public schools as a policy and so there was clearly a direct sense of victory there for the schools themselves. That sense of being part of one section of society that voted in a certain way was overt I think. The patriotism is a throwback to colonial times; these schools were set up originally in the Victorian era to provide administrators for the empire among other things, and that sense of duty to the country was trumpeted. The patriotic duty was also very much tied up with personal advancement, so what was good for you was good for the country.

MH: How do you think you’ve managed to “break out” of the public school mentality and do you think this book is your way of “breaking out”?

RB: There are ways of “breaking out” and anyone who wants to write seriously enters into a process of extreme self-examination, if it’s a memoir or really any other book. That’s one way to get out it; to open your eyes to the way the world is, it’s not just the way the public schools think it is. Sport is another way to “break out”, because if you carry on doing sport and you go into a town or city sports club, you very quickly meet a wide range of people and they will change your views very rapidly. Your personal relationships change and the people you meet are going to be huge influences on you, and that’s one way your university experience can really change your views.

MH: You reference in your book the move away from the growing meritocracy of the 70s to a complete reversal of this in the 80s. Was this purely a product of the onset of a neoliberal society or was it a covert attempt

by public schools to rebrand and preserve themselves?

RB: I think it was partly a result of national complacency as by the early 80s, a lot of people thought the threat from public schools was over, with grammar schools producing a series of non-public school prime ministers from Wilson onwards. These grammar school kids are also coming to dominate the media as well through the satirical programmes and everything. This complacency allowed the public schools to regroup like some terrible fungi waiting to come back. There is of course as well a direct correlation between underfunding of state schools and applications to private schools, because if your local schools are underfunded you look to a private solution.

Education was underfunded throughout the Tory Governments, which allowed these private schools to build up their intakes.

MH: Do you ever feel personally responsible for other public school boys such as David Cameron and Boris Johnson?

RB: I don’t feel responsible but I feel ashamed when I look at them, because I recognise them as a kind of person I know and also the kind of person I might have been and that fills me with both shame and horror. What other people see as eccentricities, like with Boris Johnson, are actually really common among that certain type of person.

These people are just following tracks that have been laid down for them and it’s not a surprise that they’re not unique, but if we’re not careful more of these people will come through.

MH: I was thinking about this morning, that I wonder to the extent how different it is now that we have another Prime Minister who went to a public school in Winchester given that generational gap.

RB: I made the point in the book that I can only really speak to my generation and I started boarding school in the same year as

Cameron and Johnson, in 1975.

But I don’t think it’s that different or as different as the younger generation such as Sunak would have you believe. There are some things which changed after the 1989 Children Act, with just basic things like children had to have access to a telephone. At the same time there are some things which have never changed, given that you’re segregated from the rest of society and that you’re in this single-sex environment.

What struck me when Rishi Sunak became Chancellor was that this was a man who didn’t ever have to worry about money, he’d never have actually had cash in his pocket for instance.

MH: I detect from your book that George Orwell was a strong influence on you, as he certainly was for me as well. What is your favourite work of his, or the one that was most influential on you?

RB: For this book at least the two works which were most interesting were the Road to Wigan Pier, in which Orwell as an Old Etonian is exploring his class prejudices and I recognised those same prejudices in the 80s, and the other one is 1984, which you can put alongside Such, Such Were the Joys as him working out this strong autocratic system in which he had grown up.

MH: Is there any virtue in the modern day to a classical education as given at public schools, especially with the learning of classical languages?

RB: I think the simple answer is no, I mean for a very long time the classics have been a class indicator. You had to pass a common Latin exam to get into public secondary schools and so the prep schools had to teach Latin and one way to exclude people from public primary schools was because they didn’t have the Latin. When Johnson quotes

Latin or when Rees-Mogg does it, they are just marking their class and by indication they want the same historical deference that people with that education historically had. The argument is obviously that Latin is a great brain trainer, but there are of course other things which can train the brain and which don’t have to be class markers in the same explicit way.

The classics have a great history which ties to Imperialism, and the reason to study classics was of course that the Roman had this great Empire and therefore if you wanted to help out with the British Empire you had to know how the Romans managed theirs.

MH: In your book you mention that you went into teaching after finishing education. What do you think motivated you to remain in education?

RB: I didn’t remain in it very long. I got a job in TEFL in Hong Kong through a company that wanted to recruit Cambridge graduates to teach English to children in Hong Kong before the end of British rule. When I came back I went to work at the Dragon School in Oxford, because again I was the right sort of person, as they needed someone to teach cricket. When I went to the interview I knew exactly the sort of person they wanted who would be a safe pair of hands for their private school children. I got into it simply because it was easy, and that again is an example of the advantages of the trade and an example of how those pathways are just opened to you.

Full interview on oxfordstudent.com

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

Profile | 13

Chancellor Lord Patten on

Free Speech, the Vice Chancellor and Hong Kong

”

“The answer to bad free speech is good free speech.”

The Oxford Student sat down with our University’s Chancellor to discuss the selection of Prof.

Irene Tracey as the new ViceChancellor, the challenges Oxford faces, the debate over free speech on university campuses and his views on the future of Hong Kong and UK-China relations.

OxStu: We’ve just appointed a new Vice Chancellor and Professor Irene Tracey was ultimately selected. As you had a role in that selection process, what made Professor Tracy stand out and what made her the best candidate for the job?

Chris Patten: My role in the selection of a Vice Chancellor is that I chair the nomination committee. It’s about the only executive thing I ever do, but I’m busy. Chairing the nominations committee is not straightforward because everybody is elected, including representatives from the student union, MCR and researchers, which was a step forward.

Getting a team with varied interests and backgrounds over the line in favour of the same candidate could be quite testing, but when you’ve got an outstanding candidate, it’s much easier. And Irene was certainly an outstanding candidate. We had a very good field. We used the best academic headhunter in the business – Perrett Laver.

And we had some good people from other universities, one or two academic stars. Although quite often the problem with stars is you can’t quite imagine them being prepared to get their hands dirty and some, as you have to do if you are running a disparate university like this. I think she got the job because she’s got a terrific academic reputation, because she understands Oxford probably better than almost anybody else.

She’s made in Oxford, born in the Radcliffe, went to a local primary school, went to a local comprehensive, went to Merton, then Harvard, then back here, Pembroke, Christchurch, Nuffield Institute. Of course she’s got an external background as

well. But she’s just spectacularly understanding of Oxford and loves Oxford, and she’s one of those people who manages to be both nice and decisive.

OxStu: There’s been a lot of talk recently about wokeism on campus. Do you think free speech is at risk?

CP: Look, I’m an old-fashioned liberal and I believe that free speech and tolerance are one of the most important values in an open society. If universities aren’t bastions of free speech, who’s going to be? And it means that, ‘No platforming’, a pretty graceless phrase, should be anathema. When people talk about safe spaces intellectually at universities, it’s mad. It’s oxymoronic. That’s not what universities are all about.

When I was an undergraduate a hundred years ago, my moral tutor was a Marxist atheist, and there was I, a Catholic scholarship boy from a moderately right wing, lower middle class family.

Did that ruin me? Did that astonish me? The truth is that I think what you should learn at university, among other things, is that an argument isn’t the same as a quarrel. And that an argument and people who have a different point of view to you are not challenging your identity. They may have views about your identity.

And I hope what we do at a good university is to give people the intellectual confidence and ability to argue tolerantly with people who don’t agree with them.

We’ve got [in Oxford] the Voltaire Foundation. What the F are we supposed to take from the Voltaire Foundation, except among other things, a belief in free speech. Doesn’t mean that there is no such thing as hate speech. There is hate speech, but you define hate speech under the law, [such as] attacking gender or people’s sexual preferences or whatever. But [ultimately], the answer to bad free speech is good free speech.

OxStu: There’s increasing competition from US universities which have more funding and more research and larger endowments. Do you think univer-

sities like Oxford can still attract European students who now have to pay more post-Brexit and who might be considering the US instead?

CP: Well, you say universities like Oxford, there aren’t many universities like Oxford without being vain.

The competition with American universities will continue to be steep. And there are two things I would say about that. It’s not usually the pay which attracts somebody to leave here to go to an American university, but [the allure] of a bigger research budget. Despite that, we’re still attracting more than we’re losing on the whole. The area where we have to be particularly pro-

active is in raising money for postgraduate scholarships. A lot of the time we don’t have a big enough financial package to support them. Colleges have to do even more to raise money from alumni and big philanthropists.

The issue about undergraduate degrees is a different one. I don’t think we should take people just because we get international rates for what they pay.

We should take people because they’re the best. And the overall position on undergraduate funding is going to remain difficult.

The Labour Party has gone back and forth about what to do with student fees and grants, and I’m not criticising them because it’s very difficult. There are so many other things that they’re going to be under pressure to provide money for.

I’m just afraid that higher education and further education haven’t had the public expenditure settlement that they de-

serve for 20 years. When we increased the number of students at universities, we paid for it by halving the amount of money spent on every student. While I hope that the government gives more money to higher education, the biggest need is actually in further education. The funding for further education has gone down dramatically.

Why do we have so many Polish plumbers or Albanian carpenters or Bulgarian electricians – because we’re not educating ourselves enough.

OxStu: Moving our conversation away from Oxford to Hong Kong and China. Is there something you’d like to say to the Hong Kong people, to both of those who support the Democratic movement, but also those who worked with you but are now in power with Beijing’s backing? Do you have any words for John Lee? CP: John Lee is a policeman who made his reputation by supervising the, to put it politely, rough handling of demonstrations. I think that the John Lee approach to people who disagree with you, which is to fire tear gas or plastic baton rounds or water cannon at them rather than talk to them, is not a way you actually encourage stability or progress in any society.

Hong Kong was by no means perfect when we left, but it was in pretty good shape. It had an extraordinary mixture of economic and political freedom. It also had an outstanding public service, which was not politicised or corrupt, unlike many.

My five years in Hong Kong with my family most of the time was the happiest and most rewarding period of my life.

What you’ve seen since, under Xi Jinping, is the vengeful and comprehensive assault on the freedoms which people took for granted, whether its freedom of assembly or freedom of speech, let alone the ability to choose who governs you. So I feel very sad about Hong Kong, and I’m delighted that we in this country have given homes to approximately 140,000 of them. They’ll

make a fantastic contribution to the country.

In terms of what will happen to Hong Kong? I don’t know, but it’s pretty true historically that dictatorships never end well. When they go, they go bloody fast.

OxStu: So looking back at your years as governor, do you think you or the British government then, whether it’s Thatcher or John Major, do you think they were too naïve about China? Do you think there was a miscalculation? And do you have any regrets about your time there and anything you might have done differently?

CP: It would’ve been nice if we’d done more earlier, having agreed the joint declaration on ‘one country, two systems’ and the treaty at the UN. I think at that point we could have done more to embed people’s rights, rule of law, and to make fast progress in democracy. It’s astonishing how I was so vigorously attacked by the Chinese for such a modest package of changes that I made. We did what we could in order to not only hand Hong Kong over in good shape, which we certainly did with a GDP per capita higher than this country; but we also with all the freedoms guaranteed and some progress towards democratisation, in that the majority of seats in the legislative council were democratic and elected.

Were we wise in the way we handled China or are handling China today? I think there are two delusions that Westerners have. Firstly, we deluded ourselves to think that [the Chinese Communist Party’s view of reality is compatible with ours, when it’s fundamentally not.] Secondly, there was this delusion, fed by the hubristic notion when the Soviet Union collapsed, that it was the end of history, to quote Francis Fukiyama, where economic and political freedom had won the day and nothing else was going to beat them.

Full interview available at oxfordstudent.com

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Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

Arts Week 2023 27th Feb-5th March A week dedicated to celebrating all things art at Oxford University!

What to expect: Workshops from theatre to photography Events Performances Guest Speakers

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

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NUS REFERENDUM

In seventh week, a referendum will be held on disaffiliation from the NUS. You will be able to vote on the question “Oxford SU is currently affiliated to the National Union of Students (United Kingdom). Should it continue to be affiliated: yes or no?”, with the options ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Abstain’. The outcome of this referendum will be binding on the SU.

Find out more!

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16 | Columns

B

ritain doesn’t cope well with nudity. Unless you are an avid attendee of life drawing classes, it is unlikely that you have ever seen someone completely naked in a public setting, let alone been naked yourself. Thus, in true British fashion, when I was first informed that the hot springs in Taiwan offered both an indoor, nude pool and an outdoor, clothed option, I assumed I would always be sticking to the latter.

My year abroad in Taiwan thus far had been stuffed with new experiences and going out of my comfort zone, but the Brit deep down inside of me still recoiled at the thought of stripping down and sitting in a pool alongside twenty odd other unclothed women. Eating cured jellyfish I could just about manage but being naked - God forbid!

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

twentieth century when the island was ruled by Japan.

Sitting at the convergence of two continental plate lines, Taiwan’s volcanic geography allowed the colonisers to import their hot spring culture, with the most famous site being that of Beitou, just north of Taipei and at the foot of the Yangmingshan mountains.

Nowadays, the Beitou we arrived at still appeared as an idyllic Japanese village, as if we had been transported back in time to early twentieth-century Kyoto. Dotted with rich wooden buildings and tea houses, and mainly frequented by the elderly, the town was sleepy and beautiful, an unlikely location for our own personal nude revolutions.

It took the arrival of a friend from home, a little bit of silliness, and a strong determination to show her the ‘Authentic Taiwanese Experience’, for me to finally sum up the courage to give it a go, dragging Leah along with me. After all, what’s the point of doing something at all if you don’t do it properly?

The disrobing process was admittedly a little painful, as after a commitment to being open-minded, Leah and I suddenly found ourselves standing in the changing room in a joint giggling fit, aware that just around the corner we were being harshly judged by those more sophisticated than ourselves. Eventually, we mustered up a veneer of composure and walked in.

Along with sushi-train restaurants and bullet trains, hot springs in Taiwan are a remnant from the era during the first half of the

The entire focus of the hot springs was the definition of self-care; to soak in the goodness of the warm water and spend an hour

or so caring for your body.

The room was filled with ladies practising aerobics or performing the gua sha routines we all wish we had.

It didn’t matter one bit that their boobs and vaginas were hanging out for all to see – they didn’t care and so why should we?

People often say that nudity can be liberating, but I had always thought that required a bold gesture leading to a grand, sudden rush of freedom and empowerment. This, however, was no I Capture the Castle moment. Instead, it was a slow process – as I sunk into the steaming pool, I also sunk into the comfort of not feeling self-conscious about my body. For most of my life, nudity has been sexualised, yet here, it was amazingly normal.

by gender. Not to mention, public baths across the Ancient Roman Empire were also attended en masse in the nude.

I am still very much a Brit when it comes to nudity.

I am not about to sign up to be a model for Oxford’s life drawing classes, nor do I plan to acquire a public indecency conviction by strolling around with no clothes on. The thought of entering a sauna packed with naked German men also still terrifies me. But, for an hour or so in the Beitou hot springs that Friday, my skin felt softer, my mind an inch more ‘year-abroady’ and, if asked to go back, I would in a heartbeat.

“For most of my life, nudity has been Taiwan is not abnormal for having nude hot springs. sexualised, As mentioned, the tradition originated in Japan, whilst a yet here, it similar nude sauna culture exists in several European was countries, including Finland and Germany, where sauamazingly nas are sometimes entered naked regardless of whether normal.”

Not to mention, it is very hard to find nudity sexual when surrounded by ten or so butt-naked elderly Taiwanese women arguing over water temperature.

or not they are segregated

Columns Columns

Columns | 17

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

W

hen I looked at my calendar the other day and saw that I only had three weeks left in Paris, I will admit that I freaked out a little bit. The time has genuinely flown by and my bucket list of things I want to see and do in Paris is not yet all ticked off. Not to gloat, but I have done quite a bit, there were just a few stragglers remaining, mainly to experience the Parisian theatre and music scene, see some plays, concerts etc. So, I’ve made it my mission these last weeks to complete my list and make the most of the city - as usual it’s

not exactly going to plan…

1. The Theatre Scene In an effort to tick this one off, I booked to see a few plays in various theatres across Paris and dragged my somewhat unwilling friends along with me. Given our student budget the plays were leaning more on the side of amateur drama, with my friends and I often being some of the only audience members (I won’t lie it was slightly awkward.) The plays ranged from romantic dramas about cheating partners to Beckett’s classic En attendant Godot – what they all had in common however, was their liberal use of nudity.

One key cultural difference which has become more blatant is that the French attitude to nudity is definitely different to us prudish Brits. I hate to admit that I was basically the only one

in the audience suppressing my giggles when a 70 year old man stripped naked on stage in one of the scenes – I diverted my eyes to look directly at my friend who then burst out laughing attracting some of the most piercing death stares I’ve ever seen.

(The French are the masters of the aggressive stare.) On the whole, they are much less phased by nudity than the British and seem to actively embrace it. Perhaps we need to take a leaf out of their book. Unsurprisingly, my attempts to absorb French culture by watching Beckett’s classic En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot) were not much more successful. Firstly, technical issues meant we were literally waiting for Godot for thirty minutes to start with and anyone familiar with the play knows that at the end Godot never shows up - and then in an ironic turn of events the play was cancelled. We are still waiting for Godot.

2. The Music Scene I had really hoped that my efforts to see some live music would be slightly more successful. When I saw that Loyle Carner was playing in Paris I jumped at the chance but with the tickets selling out in 10 minutes my friend and I tragically ended up on the waiting list. A week later I found out that I had made it off the waiting list ! But I was

facing my first solo concert (gulp.) I was apprehensive to say the least - but with the encouragement of my friends to go and be the main character I arrived at the concert hall nervous, excited and way too sober to deal with the reality of my aloneness. So, I got a few glasses of wine down and braved the crowd.

I knew I had to befriend some poor, unsuspecting individuals and after sussing out some fellow English speakers I accosted two Londoners who agreed to make me one of the lads for the evening. To my surprise, I would actually recommend everyone experience a solo concert at least once - I’m not sure how soon I would do it again but I did feel quite ‘adult’.

of pretension. Le Violon Dingue is a truly humbling experience. As you stumble out of the dungeon-like setting with a Long Island in hand at about 5am and probably with a French man trailing behind you, it almost reminds you that in the great city of Paris you are only really worthy of Le Violon Dingue.

“In the great city of Paris, you are To top off the week’s musical exploits, my friends and I de- only really cided to make a return to one of our favourite shitty Paris worthy of clubs - Le Violon Dingue (The Crazy Violin - great name I Le Violon am aware). In Oxford terms I would probably describe it as Dingue.” a blend of Bridge’s tunes and Plush’s underground, slightly claustrophobic setting with the addition of a significant number of older feral French men. Why do we so often end up back at this excellent institution?, you may ask. It may be because of its fond resemblance to Oxford clubbing but I think it’s mostly because of its complete lack

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18 | Columns

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

Jonah Poulard

EASTERN EUROPEAN EXPEDITIONS

Warsaw, and the Problem of ‘Old Towns’ After my rather petulant excursion to Nida, I spent some time in Vilnius. It was good, but I didn’t appreciate the over-20 drinking age. The city is an exemplar of the beauty of Baroque architecture, with some lovely churches and a very jazzy university complex. In Vilnius there exists something else very exciting.

A micronation!

each plaque in a different language. The plaques are stainless steel, so that when reading you are confronted with your own reflection, because, after all, Uzupis is for everyone. How nice. So nice, in fact, that the Dalai Lama has visited twice, planting a tree in 2018 that still grows through a bundle of prayer flags today.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love micronations, and the Republic of Uzupis is one of the finest there is.

Situated in the former Jewish quarter of Vilnius, it is cut off from the main Old Town by the Vilnia river – the name just means ‘over the river’ in Lithuanian. Through the leafy bank of the river you can glimpse a couple of churches, but the separation ensures the place feels distinct, special. The micronation, like many others, is founded on principles of love, respect and creativity, exemplified by the pieces of modern sculpture and graffiti at every turn. Beyond the private little oasis of green that is the water’s edge, Uzupis boasts something even more enchanting: the largest array of constitution plaques in the world. Along a long wall, the Constitution of Uzupis, comprising 41 idiosyncratic commandments, is displayed about 25 times,

Micronation aside over, after a quick visit to Lithuania’s favourite castle, Trakai, it was time to move into Poland.

To save on accommodation I elected to take a night bus, although its arrival time in Warsaw somewhat countered the money saved. Pulling in to the central bus station at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am, I was stuck at a loose end of what to do. However, soon my tired eyes were blessed with the answer: the golden arches of a 24 hour Maccies. I grabbed some sustenance off the breakfast menu and sat down to enjoy with an insane view. The McDanks faced directly on to the Palace of Culture and Science, a gigantic Soviet Gothic structure built in Stalinist times in the same style as Moscow’s Seven Sisters. In the dawn light, it was both beautiful and terrifying.

After finishing my breakfast,

some edgy teens, presumably struggling after a heavy night out, asked me what the hell I was doing there. “Searching for inner peace”, I said.

It wasn’t far from the truth.

Hunger sated, I took a stroll around the behemothic building before getting accosted by an inebriate. I set off for my hostel in the utterly fanciful hope that they would have a bed or at least a couch I could kip on. Kindly enough, they let me drop my bags before telling me to get lost and come back at a normal time. I waited out the long hour until Costa opened on a bench then drifted off in the safety of the coffee shop.

Eventually Costa staff turfed the weirdo asleep on the sofa out, so I started exploring. My first destination was Lazienki Park, a gorgeous space with several Victorian villas dotted about. I saw a couple of red squirrels too. I made it up to the Chopin Monument, which had a silly number of benches around it. I counted 58.

That’s more than you need.

From there, I took a stroll around the hostel’s local area, Srodmiescie Poludownie, or ‘South Downtown’ if Polish orthography makes you uncomfortable.

This was my favourite area of Warsaw. The massive blocks

in grand post-war socialist realism style that lined the boulevards certainly pandered to my aesthetic bias. It could be that, in opposition to the quaint Hanseatic cities that I had been in previously, the feeling of being in a big city was welcome to a Londoner. It was nice not to feel like a tourist and simply experience the normal, functional side of a city. The epic lampposts were a plus.

The next day I set off north first to the National Museum and then on to the Old Town, finding myself in the enormously colourful and lively Castle and Market Squares.

In the former someone was playing smooth jazz on a saxophone. However, something about it didn’t sit entirely right with me. Due to the entire area being flattened during WW2, it’s all been anachronistically rebuilt. It’s an understandable decision, reclaiming the country’s culture and seat of history would have had an invaluable effect even during post-war Soviet occupation.

The meaning of reconstructing the Old Town, even at the expense of coming across artificial, is on solid ground. Yet I found that a difficult thing to reconcile with my impression of the Old Town, which

to me appeared purpose-built for tourism and shameless profiteering. Although by that point well-versed in the Old Town phenomenon, the vibe in Warsaw was distinctly different. It could have been the busyness, but I do feel like the aforementioned artificiality was at the head of the issue. I felt similarly in Krakow, even though that Old Town hadn’t really needed to be rebuilt, the city has of late turned into a party destination where people try and usher you into strip clubs the day you return from concentration camps.

Both felt disingenuous, the present at odds with the past.

Perhaps that’s the issue of tourism in more popular places, especially those with as tragic a past as Poland. It’s paradoxical, the balance between preserving a destroyed past and making money off of it. So therein lies the Problem of ‘Old Towns’. Still go, Warsaw’s a brilliant place and I regret not spending more time there. I was going to tell you about the terrible haircut I received there too, but there isn’t the space. You’ll have to wait for that one. See ya.

Columns Columns

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

I hit a jackpot with my first interview, two men who were having a chat while cleaning up a microphone and guitar setup. Caleb Cryer had just finished his set, his first in Oxford. It was a Thursday afternoon, not the best for busking. The crowds were almost nonexistent and the few buskers who were there seemed to be searching for an audience almost as much as I was searching for them. When I approached Caleb and his friend Sri Hari, the vibes seemed chill like the day itself. We were all eager to chat despite the biting wind.

Caleb, despite also being from the US (he’ll probably be mad if I don’t shout out Texas specifically), had only busked in smaller towns in the UK like Ellesbury before hitting Oxford. He noted that people are more friendly in smaller towns, and the small crowd that day made him regret not coming out on busy weekend days. It was mostly older people who interacted with Caleb, especially with his folk covers, but being in a city filled with younger students definitely made busker conversations more rare in his sessions.

Now, readers, here is where I will admit that I got completely sidetracked in my interview (don’t blame me, I was sick…) and we ended up spending half an hour just talking about music: our loves for music, the instruments we play, and some discussion about songs and artists.

Hari learned guitar by himself when he was in 9th grade, later learning to produce songs. What fascinated him was the ability of using things like samples and soundscapes to create

music even without traditional instruments. Made sense, given his progressive rock background, though my experience of sampling in music was limited to Steve Reich and Daft Punk.

Caleb, on the other hand, was more of a bluesy guy, loving folk music and some lighter rock from a very young age.

We discussed his use of the term “indie”, as it’s really shifted throughout the years. Let’s be honest, most people would think about Clairo more than Neutral Milk Hotel when we think about indie, and the three of us agreed that the term has come to be the umbrella of a lot of different genres. The rise of bedroom pop and social media publicizing has led to lots of people being able to put out music they love. We agreed that it was great that more people could enter the music industry, but the rise of socalled “bedroom pop” has decreased the need to publicize originals, or even good covers, in public ways such as busking. However, performing live added an aspect to music-making that publishing recorded music never could do, as Caleb noted: “It’s enjoyable… It really helps your self-confidence, especially if something ends up good, like if there’s a fiver in your guitar case. Plus, roughly put, there’s less effort, production that goes into it.”

Hari added, “It’s more raw.” Perhaps that is why it feels so different listening to a busker cover your favorite song vs the original studio version. To paraphrase Hari, there’s something in the imperfections of having people try to stay in time and make music on the spot together that a good studio mix could never recreate.

We then got sidetracked with talk about Leonard Cohen, original songs, and pub culture, and somehow got to the UK’s obsession with “Sweet Caroline,” Oasis, and ABBA. Good times never seemed more good, until I checked the time and realized that almost forty five minutes had passed and I was very, very late. Yet I felt that I had created a wonderful bond with these two people, who, despite never having busked in Oxford at all, had contributed so positively to the bustling vibe of the city in just one day.

We’ve all been there – you have to trek across Oxford to get some obscure book for your essay, so you decide you’re going to stay for a while whilst you finish your essay. Then, you think to yourself “What am I going to wear!?” The trick to dressing for the library you’re visiting is to dress in a way that matches the vibe of the library, whilst also staying true to your own style. With any luck, you won’t feel out of place, but you will have an original outfit that’ll make you the best dressed student wherever you choose to study.

The Bodleian – Minimalism Contrary to popular belief, minimalism doesn’t have to be boring. Although classic minimalism is mostly comprised of colour-blocking black, white, and grey, try wearing your favourite colour, or colours that complement each other. The trick to minimalism is not to overdo it with the accessories – simple stud or hoop earrings work best, but if you feel like your outfit is too boring, try wearing things of contrasting textures to make it more interesting The Radcliffe Camera – Dark Academia This library is the perfect backdrop for a dark and mysterious outfit. Doc Martens are a must, and these would go well paired with patterns like houndstooth, plaid, or tartan on a blazer or trousers. Combine these with things that are in dark or muted tones, like black, beige, and taupe or dark colours, if you want some variety.

The Radcliffe Science Library – Techno-Grunge Pairing neon colours with black statement pieces will easily make you the coolest geo-astro-bio-chemist Oxford has ever seen. A Matrix-style leather trench coat is a must have and contrasting this with a bright neon shirt will make both pieces stand out. Be sure to add shiny silver jewellery to increase the technological vibes!

The Sackler – Maximalism Gone are the days of less is more, to stand out in this library, you’ll have to go all out! Try something with a funky print in a bright colour, that cool pair

of trousers you found in a charity shop and some chunky, sparkly jewellery for your ears and hands. This outfit will also help you be found more easily when you inevitably get lost in there.

The Taylorian – Y2K Channel your inner Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan while you translate those texts! Dig out your crop tops, mom jeans and chunky trainers and utilise pastel colours to emulate your fave early 2000s icon. A kitschy purse will really tie the look together, and whilst you’re at it, pop into Claire’s accessories and buy yourself one of those plastic flip phones with lip gloss in it. Iconic!

English Faculty Library – Cottagecore A warm and fuzzy feeling is imperative here. Muted brown and green tones, as well as floral prints and overalls, will help you feel like you’re living your dream of running away to a live in a little cabin in the countryside. Accessorise with a pair of quirky earrings and get reading!

Computer Science Library – Nerdy The goal for this one is to look like Steve Jobs reincarnated. Put on a turtleneck, a pair of high waisted black trousers and some loafers, and if you’re feeling really dedicated, pop the lenses out of an old pair of glasses to take the look to another level of nerdiness. No hoodies allowed, especially not the ones you’ve had since sixth form!

Music Faculty Library – Retro Flared jeans, corduroy, ABBA. If you want to do a Beatles’ hairstyle, think again. Enough said.

Law Library – Preppy Cardigans, blouses, blazers, and pleated skirts will all help establish you as Oxford’s answer to Judge Judy, and striped, checked, and tartan fabrics will make all of the other bland law students cower in fear! For a more masculine look, boating blazers, white trousers and boat shoes are the obvious choice. If you don’t have any of these things in your wardrobe, just use daddy’s credit card!

What to wear, according to which library you’re stuck in

This week has proven a bit unsuccessful in terms of finding fixtures of Oxford buskers to interview. After being rebuffed by the violin lady, turned down by the guy playing the guitar on Cornmarket, and coming home an hour after a wild goose chase for the guy playing the big machine with the handle that turns, I decided to speak to some of the newer buskers in the area just to see how their perspective shifted from those who’ve been doing it for forever.

Columns | 19

Features

20 | Features

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

Editors: Haochen Wang, Rosalie Chapman, Tara Earley Deputy Editors: Anvee Bhutani features@oxfordstudent.com

to Get An Oxford Campaign for How Involved: A Anna Davidson, editor Jonathan Tiley, secondyear History and Politics student at St John’s College, has recently launched the Oxford Campaign for Assisted Dying. He spoke with me about his reasons for launching the campaign, ambitions for a future vote in parliament and the ways in which students can become involved.

I began by asking Jonathan his reasons for starting the campaign, which he tells me begins, in a personal sense, with two rather sad stories; “with my grandparents, I’ve seen how with endof-life palliative care, there’s one way that you want it to be, and there’s the reality of how it actually is.” In 2016, he witnessed his late grandfather suffering intense pain during cancer, pain which could have been relieved were it not for the laws about increasing morphine levels. “This” he says, “obviously caused a great deal of stress to myself, my dad, and my brother, to see such a proud, dignified man, who had lived an inspirational, active life - he was a proud cyclist, proud business owner - towards the end of his life going through this immense amount of pain. The palliative care, and the pain relief he received, was limited due to the law on assisted dying. That’s when I was first made aware that this didn’t quite seem right.” This sense, he suggests, was intensified by his family’s experience of saying goodbye to his great-grandmother.

A remarkable woman who had lived the last 10 years of her life without fluent speech, who was the object of much love and affection from family, friends and those

caring for her, struggled as she found herself bedbound, living “a life in her last 3 months where she wasn’t in control of her own destiny.” As a result of “a very archaic law which isn’t compassionate,” Jonathan feels keenly the difference between his chance to say goodbye to his great grandmother a few weeks before she died “while she remembered me and could understand what was going on, when she was able to be loving and wasn’t in pain” while his family “saw her deteriorate, saw her living a life she frankly didn’t want to have and an end she didn’t deserve.” This hit a nerve, he says, causing him to realise “people who have given so much to their communities, families, proud dignified people…our law doesn’t allow them a compassionate death.”

In terms of the need for a campaign, Jonathan stresses that there is nothing wrong with trying to create change here and now, rather than doing it long-term after university. He wants to be able to raise the profile of an issue in a way which will cause parliament to take note, eventually leading to a free vote. “It’s the issues that rumble on, that affect people’s day-to-day, that get all the media attention and political debate - quite rightly, issues concerning the NHS and cost of living crisis do get the political space - but issues like assisted dying don’t. I concede it doesn’t affect everybody, but when it affects you, it really affects you. It takes hold of you in a way you can’t expect: you feel guilt, you feel shame, you’re forced to look your relative in the eye and question why they

Assisted Dying

can’t get the ending that they deserve.” When you strip the debate back, “you realise that all the arguments against seem to fade away. Taking away the statistics, if you really strip it back it’s about people, people who are suffering, who are not allowed a dignified and compassionate death. And it’s about the families.”

I’ve seen how with end-of-life palliative care, there’s one way that you want it to be, and there’s the reality of how it actually is.

I ask Jonathan what he is specifically campaigning for. His objective is to champion debate about the issue from a variety of angles. There’s the political side of the debate, there’s “the question of why this has not been brought to parliament in seven years, if there’s opinion polls which support it - which we’ve seen recently, with YouGov saying 75% of the population support assisted dying? You’ve got a situation where you have an issue which really bridges party, drawing both Conservative and Labour voters. At a time when we’re so divided, it’s an issue which people come together over. So why isn’t it getting the political oxygen that it needs?” There is also the legal side, which Jonathan envisions as looking into the legal dynamics of recent cases to examine the need for change. He describes one recent case involving a man called Duncan, who wanted to take his own life but was unable, due to motor neuron disease, to do so in a way which

would be fully classed as suicide, “So even though he fully laid out to the police that this was his choosing, his wife Susan had three months when she was investigated by the police. While grieving for her husband, she also had to go through this incredibly difficult, painful legal process, which I think highlights the many questions that this topic brings up.” The third side he’s also keen to discuss is the medical side of things; “Yes people have this debate over morals, about society beyond living, but also fundamentally this comes down to a medical question. If assisted dying became legal then it will have to be those in palliative care that administer that. I think it would be a really interesting speaker event to try to get someone who would likely be someone to administer the legal injection, and to discuss how that would play out.” Doing the campaign in this way, he suggests, encourages people to look at the debate from a multitude of angles.

As Jonathan seems keen to see the debate from multiple perspectives, I ask him what he finds to be people’s most common concerns about the issue, and how he would aim to tackle these. He lists three major concerns: coercion; care; palliative care funding.

In terms of coercion, Jonathan understands why people have this concern, and feels it needs to be addressed. “But” he tells me, “in the countries where assisted dying is legal, study after study has shown that this isn’t the case. A good indicator of that is the number of people who choose to go for assisted dying but then decide against it,

which indicates a sense of decision. Coercion, rushed process, the cases of this are incredibly low, in the minutia of cases.

People don’t take this decision lightly, this isn’t some sort of free-for-all state-sponsored suicide, this is a decision which people take a great deal of time and effort to really carefully consider, and that’s shown in the countries in which it’s legal.” In answer to the concern that such a system might be exploited, he responds simply that “if you really think about it, when it comes to any palliative care or structural care the NHS provides, its always open to exploitation. It’s about trust, the relationship between doctor, patient and nurses is one of trust.

I think it would be a sad indictment of society and the medical profession if we wouldn’t legalise assisted dying because of lack of trust. I don’t believe in that as a defence.” Finally, he rejects the idea that funding for palliative care would be reduced if assisted dying were to be legalised, which he says simply isn’t the case. “pallative care has to be improved.

But currently, palliative care can reduce suffering but it can’t end it. With assisted dying, there is a time and place for pain to be ended.” The statistics, he says, show that as many as 12 terminally ill people a week commit suicide, a phenomenon which causes immense trauma and distress for those involved. “Whereas if this was done in a hospital setting,” Jonathon suggests, “it would reduce these to a simple process, which would mean the hardship and the trauma that the family and emergency services receive would be reduced.”

Step by Step Guide

1.

Follow the campaign on Facebook & Instagram

@oxfordcampaignforassisteddying

2.

Look for the campaign

in your JCR page - maybe join the committeee at the end of Hilary!

3.

Watch for Trinity’s

termcard - go along (and take your friends) to debates, speaker events and socials

21

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

The campaign itself will consist of a twofold approach through speaker events, socials and debates, with one aim to increase the profile of the debate, and the other to push for a vote in parliament on the issue.

Oxford Ukraine Peace Rally

Friday 24 February 1-2pm Radcliffe Square

ebruary 24th marks a yto the day since the Kremlin’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine began. The poignancy of this day is immeasurable. In the space of 12 months, almost 8 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland, some 11,000 have been injured and over 7,000 have lost their lives. The true number will be far higher and the emotional trauma is unquantifiable. In the early weeks of the war, the world watched in horror at the scenes unfolding in Donbas and Luhansk the coverage dominating every front page.Yet, news cycles are inexorably finite as readers crave the shock factor elicited by fresh tragedy and so, much like COVID, it feels as if the conflict has gradually faded from public consciousness. While the occasional flare up might reach the front page, the coverage is peripheral in comparison to a year ago. The world has accepted the war. Readers’ memories are short. Russia is, and has always been at war with Ukraine.

There is therefore no better time to reflect on the events that precipitated the conflict.

The supposition that February 24th was the beginning of the conflict is a misconception; the smouldering tension between Russia and Ukraine has lingered since 1991 and the consequent genesis of their respective sovereignties. These embers have, however, been attentively stoked since Putin’s tenure as president began in May 2000.

Pre-2014 Russo-Ukrainian relations were, if not amiable, at least tepid, with

Putin having issued a statement to then-Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko expressing his ‘sincere congratulations’ on Ukraine’s 16th anniversary of its declaration of independence.

He went on to talk of a ‘RussoUkrainian partnership’ and becoming ‘truly strategic partners’, the unificatory rhetoric of which is tragically foreboding in hindsight.

Though Yushchenko served as a proponent for both Ukrainian NATO membership and more comprehensive ‘European integration’, it was following the appointment of his presidential successor, Viktor Yanukovych, that Russo-Ukrainian tensions were truly ignited. Yanukovych, former governor of the now partially annexed Donetsk region, commenced what would be a distinctively pro-Russian, albeit short-lived presidency in February 2010. To the surprise of the rest of the democratic world, his 2010 victory was apparently untainted by allegations of election fraud, an all too familiar staple of Russian-backed political candidacies, athough the same cannot be said for his 2004 campaign… Yanukovych’s presidency proposed what he called a ‘balanced policy’ in relation to Russia and the EU. Yet, his advocacy for Russian as the second official language alongside his vehement declaration that joining NATO was ‘an unrealistic prospect for our country’ betrayed his supposed commitment.

Yanukovych’s blatant proRussian stance reached its ulti-

mately politically fatal height in November 2013, when his last-minute refusal to sign the EU association agreement and ratification of a new trade deal sparked the early protests that would become the Ukrainian revolution. By February 2014, protestors demanding

the very European integration Yushchenko had originally promised stormed Kyiv, overthrew the Ukrainian government, and ousted Yanukovych.

Naturally, Russia responded.

On 20th February 2014, almost 8 years to the day before Russia’s invasion of main-

land Ukraine, the Russian military invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean peninsula. The invasion brought widespread conflict to eastern Ukraine, a precursor of what was to come, and led to the formation of both the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR/LNR). Russia had shown its hand. The west had been warned: Putin was unafraid of escalation. Russia’s war in Ukraine had begun.

Though the intervening seven years between the ‘two phases’ of Putin’s invasion were fraught with conflict of their own, the regular skirmishes and pockets of pro-Russian sentiment (primarily in the Donbas region) was ultimately contained to territory officially recognised as Ukrainian. The DNR and LNR separatists were Russianbacked, but there had yet to be an official Russian invasion of the Ukrainian mainland. This, obviously, did not last.

After an eleven-month amassment of both troops and arms, including leveraging the Kremlin’s close ties with Minsk to secure armament on the BelarusUkraine border to the North, Russia had Ukraine surrounded from three sides. Yet, despite the blatant preparations for invasion and wide-scale coverage of said preparations in Western media, the Kremlin remained staunch in its denial of impending military action. On February 21st 2022 the Kremlin issued an hour-long ‘address to the Russian people’ in which Putin claimed Ukraine as a ‘part of our own [Russia’s] history, culture and spiritual space’. He went on to officially recognise the DNR and LNR as ‘legitimate’ republics, something he cited as being ‘long overdue’. The address, riddled with mendacious dogma, and culminating in the denial of Ukraine’s

statehood, did however serve as the Kremlin’s justification for the events of the coming days.

In the early hours of Feb- ruary 24th a second televised address followed, prolonged and commensurate in deceit. With the recognition of the DNR and LNR, Putin was able to quote a ‘request for help’ from said republics as the pretext for his ‘special military operation’, aiming for the ‘demilitarisation and denazification’ of Ukraine. Within minutes of the address, the first missiles made landfall on Ukraine. The second phase of Russia’s Ukrainian offensive had begun. The full extent of the ensuing events, owing in part to their sheer magnitude, are beyond the scope of this article, though reflecting on recent signs of hope and the cracks emerging in Putin’s Kremlin is worthwhile.

Both President Zelenskyy’s and the people of Ukraine’s resolve has been nothing short of resolute, unwavering in the face of a much larger and more heavily armed aggressor, all the while defending Kyiv without direct NATO support. Despite the early signs of rapid advancement, the Russian infantry have been repeatedly obstructed, with the level of resistance mobilised by Ukraine seeming to take Moscow by surprise, in turn exposing their naivete.

Though belated, the UK, US, and (finally) German armament supply announced in the last week will hopefully only impede the Kremlin further as they increasingly turn to personnel-based warfare. The number of tanks supplied may pale in comparison to the amount required to facilitate anything resembling an upper hand, but the principle laid down by the move is significant all the same: the West is, to an extent, prepared to act in a military capacity outside of their NATO obligations.

In facing an uncertain and murky future, undoubtedly characterised by prolonged conflict, Ukraine does not stand alone. Слава Україні. Слава Украине. Glory to Ukraine.

Patrick Groves

Image credits: Mohamed_Hassan via Pixabay

“We want to look at what sort of society, and what sort of care, and end of life, we want to give to many people in this country. If the campaign could achieve that, I think it would be really worth it. That’s why I’m very keen to do this, and I hope people reading this will also be keen to get on board.”

Jonathan’s pleased to tell me that he’s already received a lot of support and enthusiasm for the campaign, that “It has really warmed my heart and given me a lot of hope that so many people have reached out and said they want to get involved and help out in any way they can.”

To get involved, he says, you can follow them on Facebook or Instagram (@oxfordcampaignforassisteddying), watch out for the Campaign on the JCR pages, and get involved in events when they start in Trinity, and bring their friends with them. He emphasizes that you don’t have to agree with assisted dying in order to get involved - “The aim is to raise the profile of the issue, and get the discussion going.

There are obviously people that are against it and people who disagree with it. As much as I have a right to start this campaign, people have a right to come along and respectfully, compassionately disagree.” Ultimately, he wants to raise awareness and encourage debate, as well as showing, in his opinion, that assisted dying gives people a way to die which is “loving, compassionate and free from pain.”

F

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

22 | Entertainment

The Top Ten Albums of 2022

Kieran Wetherick

3. Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers 2022 saw Kendrick return for his fifth studio album and he did not disappoint.

In “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, Kendrick is introspective, turning his knack for storytelling onto himself. This is an untidy album, with the polish of “Damn” and the sprawling nature of its stories eschewed for a chaotic skittishness that reflects Kendrick’s state of mind on this record. But it is this messiness that makes this album so raw, and its almost crooked production feeds into that soundscape.

Enter tainment

Editors: Susie Barrows, Martin Alfonsin Larsen, Natasha Norton, Cosimo Schlagintweit

Bangers are still to be found, such as “N95”, “Silent Hill” (featuring a clean verse from Kodak Black), and “Rich Spirit”.

On “We Cry Together”, he is joined by Taylour Paige to dramatically recreate a toxic and abusive relationship. It recalls earlier Kendrick tracks that are equally theatrical such as “For Free?”. Yet, the keys and syncopation give it a seriousness that feels like a more sophisticated Eminem song. This is an emphatic return by Kendrick to his place at the top of the hip hop hierarchy, and proves he is still capable of innovating whilst remaining true to his sound.

The major drawback of this album, however, cannot be ignored. On “Auntie Diaries”, Kendrick tries to clumsily tell a redemption story of understanding his relatives’ experiences with gender…only to completely miss the point by using a slur. This is inexcusable.

Track of the Album: Father Time Lyric of the Album: “My life is a plot, twisted from directions I can’t see” – from “Father Time” 2. Black Midi – Hellfire According to Geordie Greep, Black Midi’s emblematic frontman, whilst their previous album Cavalcade “was a drama”, Hellfire is “an epic action film”. He is certainly correct. This album is an incredible journey in both subject matter and genre.

Prior to this record, Black Midi were already renowned for their chaotic mix of experimental rock,

...according to a pretentious man

j a z z , post-punk, and avantgarde reflected in their ranging instrumentation and virtuosic capabilities.

On Hellfire, they take this to another level.

Conceptually, Hellfire is a story of war, but not in a conventional sense.

Greep, and Cameron Picton in his excellent vocal performances, tell the stories that occur behind the frontlines. Tracks such as “Eat Men Eat”, where Picton tells the horror of two men in love being poisoned by their Captain and having their stomachs pumped for the produc-

tion of red wine in a desert mine facility. Similarly, on “Welcome to Hell”, Greep tells of the superficial freedom of shore leave, where soldiers are encouraged to engage in depravity to distract themselves from trauma. Greep’s character, Private Bongo, instead declines and sinks deeper into his mental health issues. Thematically and lyrically, this is a creative masterpiece that pushes the boundaries of delivery within contemporary rock music.

Sonically, the boundaries are further pushed. Song structures are pushed aside for theatrical shifts in keys, tempo, and volume. In terms of genre, it is impossible to pin down.

The opening track begins with a march rhythm, pushing on to the curtain raising “Sugar/Tzu” that has a distinct cabaret feel.

Greep’s vocal delivery continues the theatrics, evoking black-and-white Hollywood newsreels in wartime or a classical Hollywood actor. “Still” sees Picton establish almost a western feel that continues the windswept desert theme established in “Eat Men Eat”, whilst “The Defence” has a bossa

nova feel before descending into dramatic cinematics with full orchestra.

This album continues the band’s epic and unpredictable development.

Thrilling, fast-paced, yet beautiful in its serene “numbers”, this is a record I won’t easily forget.

Track of the Album: Welcome to Hell.

Lyric of the Album: “As a farmhand I had/No aversion to killing/But to murder a man in cold blood/ Was something entirely different” – from “Dangerous Liaisons”

1. Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There A certain type of music fan says all modern music is trash. Nothing good has come out since the 1990s.

It is all the same old rubbish. They are wrong.

Black Country, New Road have proven them so very wrong. Their second album is, in my humble opinion, easily one of the greatest albums ever made.

Much like Black Midi, who happen to be the band’s good friends, BCNR are boundary-pushers loosely within the post-punk bracket. Unlike Black Midi, whose weapon is abrasiveness, humour, and dramatics, BCNR instead are cripplingly sad. The intensity of the album, felt in every note and every lyric, was so much that chief songwriter and vocalist Isaac Wood immediately left the band after its release this year. Ants From Up There therefore comes with a strong warning. But in its desperateness, you find beauty.

Woods’ lyrics and vocal delivery set the standard

of this record. It is characterised by reoccurring metaphors such as Concorde, introduced properly in the song of the same name. Here, Wood uses the metaphor of this expensive and seemingly futile project to anxiously reveal his unrequited love for a past partner who has moved on. He would do anything to be with her, to have even a chance to get her back, but she does not feel the same. In “Good Will Hunting”, Wood continues the theme of anxious attachment to a disinterested lover. He dreams of a future together, with children teaching them to play piano, despite only spending a weekend together. In “The Place Where He Inserted The Blade”, Wood once more can’t let go as this woman permeates all his thoughts. Every time he tries to “make lunch” for anyone else in his mind he ends up picturing her.

The epic closer “Basketball Shoes” summarises the key themes and metaphors in one last despairing plea. On first listen, I was wiped out.

Musically, the album rises and falls, rumbles dramatically, softens delicately, and screams in agony throughout. The saxophone on “Mark’s Theme”, an instrumental dedicated to a family friend who had passed, is heart-wrenching. As is the almost incessant free jazz drumming on “Snow Globes” that gathers pace and volume as Wood screeches its lyrical motif that “snow globes don’t shake on their own”. The piano intro on “The Place Where He Inserted The Blade” is reminiscent of Mozart and portrays in its duplicitous innocence the very nature of Woods’ delusional romance. “Chaos Space Marine” uses a traditional pop song, inverted with a rising chord progression structure to build momentum to a crashing chorus with the entire band introducing the key musical and conceptual themes of the album into the outro.

It is perfect. If you have made it this far, please, please listen.

Track of the Album: Basketball Shoes Lyric of the Album: “Your generous loan to me, your crippling interest” – from “Basketball Shoes”

Entertainment | 23

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

Better Yesterday review: a slowly unravelling tragedy Charlie Bowden

Autumn, 1977. Harold and Sylvia, celebrated actors, return home from yet another performance of Macbeth. The explosive events of the night unfold in real time as the couple’s exchange swings from kittenish to cruel, teasing to torturous. A bitter tragicomedy of two broken people, their feverish marriage and the parasitic public and press, Better Yesterday explores what happens when love becomes self-destructive.”

So reads the description on the Oxford Playhouse page advertising Better Yesterday, a play written and directed by Anna Stephen. On its opening night, the show didn’t disappoint in its depiction of a destructive marriage.

The play is set in the kitchen and living room of married couple Harold (Murray Whitaker) and Sylvia (Katie Peachey). After a whirlwind romance and three years of marriage, the kinks in their actor’s ar-

mour have begun to show.

The characters constantly switching in and out of lines from plays they’ve appeared in before gives the play a unique referential style and emphasises their dramatic pasts, individually and as a couple.

Whitaker and Peachey’s chemistry is the glue which holds the show together.

Their ability to play off of each other’s constantly shifting emotional states makes them a thrill to watch, to the point that the brief moments where one actor is offstage feel empty without the couple’s electricity. They have a great dynamic and deliver Stephen’s often poetic dialogue naturally. Harold’s flagship response to the couple’s woes, that “we learn from what happened”, feels freshly applicable to their problems every time it is uttered.

Better Yesterday’s set design features only the necessities – the kitchen table the couple argue at, the bottle of ‘tap water’, the telephone which rings three times throughout the play and is answered only once – but aptly transports you into the nexus of the couple’s complicated

home life. Their fancy living room chairs, kept separate by an ever-glowing fireplace, make a statement about the nature of Harold and Sylvia’s marriage before the actors first appear. Throughout the play, they spend far more time separated (one standing while the other sits, one in the kitchen, the other in the

living room) than together. Even the 70s furniture feels as though it’s on edge, readily divided into infinite halves.

The open-plan stage still effectively communicates the claustrophobia of the couple’s situation. Whitaker frequently moves to the edge of the stage to look into the distance or stare at a wall in contemplation. Their home feels lived in, like they really have been there for years.

Both characters’ repeated wishes to go outside and get some fresh air remain unfulfilled. The yellowish lighting which sprawls across the stage feels inescapable. Every element of the production signifies the couple’s discomfort and frustration with their lives.

Doom and gloom don’t completely dominate the play, however. There are

plenty of awkward jokes or puns peppered throughout the script which remind the audience of Harold and Sylvia’s humanity.

Whether they laugh or cry, kiss or fight, their feelings are transient and Stephen keeps the audience on their toes with constant changes in tone or intensity.

Better Yesterday was a thrilling and emotive deconstruction of a complicated celebrity marriage backed by strong performances from its cast and effective stagecraft. Its seventy-minute runtime seems to whizz by as the audience remain on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. It’s a slowly unravelling tragedy which makes you think about the human experience and the role of actors within that experience. When Harold asks Sylvia if she feels like they’re constantly being watched, it’s far from just a metafictional flourish.

Image Credit: Anna Stephen

Review of “Six Degrees of Separation” Cosimo Schlagintweit

“Six Degrees of Separation” is a piercing play that masterfully explores the themes of identity, class, and race with a deft touch.

It was written by Paul Guare and inspired by a true story. First performed in 1990, it is a timeless piece that was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and continues to resonate with audiences today. The production, put on as part of the St. John’s College Arts Week 2023, was directed

by Elspeth Rogers and produced by Letty Hosie.

The play begins with Flan (Cosimo Asvisio) and Ouisa Kittridge (Annabelle McInroy), a wealthy, NewYorker art dealer couple, hosting an acquaintance

at their home. The evening takes an unexpected turn when a young man with a stab wound knocks on the door. His name is Paul (Marni Wilfred), an apparent friend of the Kittridge’s children, whom he knows from Harvard. Paul is interested in art, showcases excellent cooking skills and shares that he is the son of the famous film director Sidney Poitier. However, Paul is not who he pretends to be, as the Kittridges will soon find out. Through his interactions with the various characters, the audience is given a window into the biases and prejudices of the upper class and the fragile nature of their social constructions.

The opening night was

performed in front of a sold-out audience and was well executed, remaining faithful to Guare’s script.

Over its 90-minute running time, the performers delivered a captivating and multi-faceted performance that left a lasting impression.

in the supporting role of Dr. Fine, the divorced obstetrician who is an embarrassment to his son, was spot on.

Sol Woodroffe, who took on the two substantially different roles of the billionaire tycoon Geoffrey Miller and then later as the young and naïve Rick, showed notable The audience favourite adaptability. was Marni Wilfred as Paul.

He connected especially By keeping the set design well with Annabelle McIn- nuanced, Antonia Sundrup roy, giving Ouisa Kittridge exceeded in making the a special touch in her por- background look fitting for trayal of a well-heeled, all the different locations middle-aged, New-York of the play. However, differsocialite of the 1990s. The ent choices in the costume comedic timing and overall design could have faciliperformance of Cosimo As- tated a clearer differentiavisio as Flan Kittridge was tion between class, age, also outstanding. and role of the characters.

David Street’s light design Hal Gavin’s performance was particularly praisewor-

thy during scenes where the Kittridges directly addressed the audience, creating a special athmosphere.

John Guare’s script is a tour de force that was brought to life with great success by the talented cast of the St. John’s Drama Society. Anybody that appreciates thought-provoking and socially conscious theatre will have enjoyed the performance, which left theatregoers reflecting on its themes long after the lights faded out.

24 | Entertainment

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

An interview with Luke Nixon, star of Cruelty Natascha Norton

I had the chance to sit down with Luke Nixon, the actor cast in Gabriel Blackwell and Coco Cottam’s upcoming play, Cruelty, showing at the Burton Taylor Studio from the 21st to 25th of February. Luke and I sat down on a worn out leather sofa in The Queen’s College common room to discuss his feelings about the unique pressures and experiences of acting in this one man play.

NATASCHA: I’ve had a look at the synopsis for the play and it’s very intriguing. What specifically drew you to Cruelty and what made you want to audition for the play?

LUKE: I thought the synopsis was really cool and I loved the idea of getting involved because Cruelty has a lot to do with theatricality, and it’s obviously a massive dream for an actor to do a one-man play. I also loved the phrasing of the call-out announcement and it felt quite right for me as an actor. It’s quite gritty and creepy but also introspective as well, which I really liked. They sent one of the first monologues in the play as an audition extract about the theatricality of the city. The play is set in a seaside town, and it’s about the ugly side of the city and watching that side of it. Gabe’s writing is also beautiful. He has such a way with words and the voice of Oli, the character I’m playing, is so strong. I think it’s brilliant to have someone like that in new writing.

NATASCHA: You said you’ve started the rehearsal process now. How is it compared to plays that you’ve done in the past, where you might not have had such a heavy role on your shoulders? It must be quite a pressure to be carrying the play solo.

LUKE: Yeah, there was quite a lot of pressure that I felt at first. I remember when I first got cast, I was in the library and I was super excited and then I was like, “Oh my God I’m going to have to learn pages and pages of script”, but the rehearsal process has been brilliant. By working with the text on my own and alongside the two brilliant co-directors Coco and Gabe, it’s become an amalgamation of all our voices. To have such a personal script and be able to be the first person to perform it as well [is something rather special]. I did Carrie: the Musical in Trinity and played Helmer in Dollshouse, both of which had me playing well-known characters, so it was cool to create Oli in Cruelty and to build him around Gabe and Coco’s experiences to bring it all together.

NATASCHA: So you’ve found it quite flexible in the approach to Cruelty so far?

LUKE: Yeah, it’s quite exciting because the script lends itself to being performed. It’s going to be different every night because it’s just going to be me on stage. Gabe and Coco have been really great with letting me play with it and are open to changing it up every time I work with it. It’s just going to be my instinct as an actor. A lot of the play is very theatrical and fun and conversational with the audience. It’s also a very funny script but there are bits that tip funny into creepy and weird so it’s interesting to see how different audiences react to that and how that moulds my

character. Lots of the tensions come from the relationship between the actor and the audience and the power they have over each other.

NATASCHA: When I was reading the synopsis it said Cruelty was going to be quite pared back. There’s not going to be much staging, setting or lighting change.

How are you approaching the material from a different perspective in those scenes

when you don’t have the tactile stimuli of props or costume change?

LUKE: I felt quite a lot of pressure but it’s been a good visceral pressure. There’s a lot of pressure, because a lot of the beats that need to be hit come from me and I have to be able to see this world so clearly around me for the audience to get immersed in it. I’ve had to create these sets within my head and make sure I know what’s happening, where things are and react to that because a lot of live theatre is so reactive. I have to be the one to create those things to react to, which is all super cool but scary as well.

NATASCHA: Just from the synopsis there seems to be some intense, dark and introspective scenes in the play. How has the team approached those topics?

How do you as an actor feel about having to take that on?

LUKE: We have a really brilliant Welfare team on the crew who’ve been present since the first readthrough. We had the readthrough at the beginning of term and I thought it was going to be me and the two directors, but all the crew turned up and there were around fifteen of us in the room.

It was such a wonderful atmosphere.

I had a l s o read the script before so I knew what was coming up. There are a lot of dark moments and quite horrific images that Oli witnesses and is witnessed creating, but it hasn’t been too harrowing for me because there’s this kind of a barrier in the text as there’s points where it becomes self-referential as a play. It’s nice to fully get into the emotions of the show but there’s always that little wall at the end which is like ‘this is acting’.

There’s this note that Gabe’s put at the beginning of the play. I can’t remember it verbatim, but it says something like ‘‘remember you are acting happy, not being happy. You’re acting sad, not being sad.’

You should never be being these things. Gabe’s message is the fact that it is just theatre; there’s a line about

halfway through, “that’s all it is theatre, it’s a series of directions on the page”. Oli is a theatre student and likes studying theatre because he doesn’t want to watch it. When it’s on the page he can take everything that’s nasty, but when it becomes real for him that’s when it gets bloody and horrific.

NATASCHA: Those serious moments seem to also be balanced with high moments in the plot. Oli seems to go out clubbing quite a lot. I was wondering, now that you’re embodying the character, where do you think Oli would go clubbing in Oxford?

LUKE: He one hundred percent goes to the Curve floor in ATIK. There’s no doubt in my mind. I don’t know if you know, this is so niche, but there’s that mirror on the right. He is dancing just before the edge of the dance floor. There’s that space and he’s not quite in the space but he’s near the space. He’s there until lights up and goes alone and watches.

NATASCHA: I’ve got one final question just from what you’ve said there. Is there a specific thing you do to help you get into character?

LUKE: I actually have a playlist of techno beats. I think that will make sense when you come to see the play. Before rehearsals or when I’m reading the script or learning my lines just having those techno beats in the background because Oli is quite intense outwardly. It’s nice to feel that outward intensity and juxtapose that with an inward insecurity and introspectiveness.

Cruelty will run from the 14th to the 18th of February (week 5) at the Burton Taylor Studio.

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

CAMPAIGN ELECTIONS Nominations close 5th week, Friday 17th Feb at 8am Voting opens in 6th week, Monday 20th Feb at 8am Voting closes in 6th week, Thursday 23rd Feb at 6pm Results announced on Friday 24th Feb. Any student that identifies with one of the Campaigns is able to join as a member. Find out more about each campaign and their elections below:

Advert | 25

Green We are all climate deniers,

26 | Green

Friday 3rd Februrary 2022 | The Oxford Student

Editors: Emily Hudson, Anna Bartlett, Jasmine Wilkinson oxstu.green@gmail.com

but what if we weren’t? Anna BARTLETT

W

hen the UN says 1.7⁰C of warming equals extreme food shortages for at least half of the world’s population in the next 6 years, and we are currently on a trajectory for nearer 3⁰C, it doesn’t take a genius to work out there’s a problem. The simple fact is that we cannot continue with the status-quo, and yet that is exactly what we’re doing.

Not only have we, as humanity, not stuck to our 1.5⁰C pledge from 2015, we have absolutely trampled all over it, in the most shocking collective crime in history. Current Western lifestyles are completely incompatible with preserving life on earth, and as long as we carry on living as we are, we are denying the realities of the climate crisis.

Call it doublethink or cognitive dissonance, ultimately we can only claim to have accepted the science when we all begin living by its summons.

My dear reader, fellow child of mother earth, I do not write this in an attempt to fear-monger, nor do I intend to place the impetus upon individuals rather than governments and corporations. My objective is to build a mutual understanding of our place in the order of things and solidarity with all beings that share our living home.

Let us look outside of ourselves to

what creates and sustains us. Let us be placed not at the top of some artificially constructed hierarchy, but a sparkling node in the beautiful web of life; a small part of a vast constellation bound up in ties of mutual appreciation and dependence. We are not separate from the living world, our life depends on it.

If there’s one thing we know about the climate crisis it is that we are not doing enough. We know the extent of the technological and societal change that it demands of us, and yet we find ourselves plagued by an overwhelming inertia. What ‘adequate climate action’ entails is not simple or easy.

It will be the most radical and farreaching transformation of human life in history, entailing destruction and rebirth of every aspect of life as we know it, from the economy to food systems to media and education, politics, transport, science, and social behaviour.

It is agreed that we need monumental changes to industries and the structures under which we live, but it is also impossible not to accept the extreme personal lifestyle changes that we will eventually have to accept; the ‘Western lifestyle’ must come to an end.

We need to reduce our average carbon footprint from 8.5 tonnes CO2e to 2.5t by 2030 if we are to limit global warming to even 1.5⁰C. For the Western world, which has

far higher emissions per capita than the rest of the world, this will be the biggest reduction. To you this may seem like an abstract number, so let me give it some context…

Picture this: it’s the year 2015 and the Paris Climate Agreement has just been signed. In this parallel universe, the leaders genuinely intend to stick to every aspect of the pledge they just made as they understand the devastating consequences of failing to do so.

“It will be the most radical and far-reaching transformation of human life in history “ They agree that putting the myth of economic growth above everything else must be brought to an end. They get legislating. First to go are the dirty industries: coil, oil, gas, mining, phased out quickly by carbon pricing and effective capture, and are replaced by green technology and new expansions of research and infrastructure for renewable sources of energy.

Your home is given a complete insulation refit, and local repair and recycling centres pop up in your community.

Next, attendance of new ‘climate

schools’ for all ages is encouraged and incentivised; you learn more about the importance of the changes being made and feel more connected to your environment.

Cars for private transport are being phased out, but you don’t mind because new bus and train services have started running reliably and in places they never had before, and communities are redesigned to be walkable. You rediscover the joy of riding your bike. Meat and dairy becomes restricted in shops/ cooperatives, as well as fresh exotic produce, but lots of alternatives are arriving on the shelves, and your community garden has expanded, providing more than enough for you and your neighbours. New regenerative farming practices have encouraged wildlife back to your hedgerows and waterways, while making produce more tasty and nutritious.

Shopping centres and other hotspots of consumerism are repurposed as community centres, swap-shops or nature centres, and new laws ensure your gadgets and devices are repairable for life.

Every corner you turn the streets are being rewilded and nature is returning - you see a bee for the first time in years. You are able to visit your family overseas from time to time, but your previous frequent business flying has been banned. The air feels cleaner and

the news on TV is slightly more bearable.

While this world is still possible and desperately needed, it is far from the current reality. In the West, we are all guilty of lifestyles incompatible with climate targets, so long as we continue flying, eating meat, engaging in consumerism and living out of touch with the earth that sustains us, we are denying the lived realities of those already starving and dying due to the climate crisis, in extreme weather and brutal conflicts over scarce resources like clean water and food.

Change of the scale required to prevent the destruction of life on earth will not be comfortable, but there is no way of escaping its necessity. It is only by pushing the bounds of what we see as socially possible that we can be enabled to address such issues and discover our potential. After all, there are no limits to human imagination or what we can achieve together, as Nelson Mandela put it: “It always seems impossible until it is done”.

And on this note, I leave you with the stark point that ultimately until we see genuine action on the climate crisis and radical changes to the way we live, we are all climate deniers.

Everything you need to know about COP15

T

he next time you’re forced to drag yourself out of bed for an early morning lecture, take a second to listen to the morning birdsong.

But something’s not right. Is it that the morning chorus has gotten… quieter? This stealthily growing silence has sinister implications. The dampening of birdsong may seem great to those who enjoy waking up late in the afternoon, but the harsh reality is that bird species in the UK have been in decline for 30 years, with some close to extinction.

The massive worldwide decline in biodiversity is fittingly described as the ‘silent crisis’, so named ‘silent’ for its re-

markable ability to go unnoticed, as we fail to recognize the absence of animals we once took for granted, and so named ‘crisis’ because of the intense dangers that follow from it.

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, with 1 million animal and plant species threatened with extinction by 2030 and the planet experiencing its largest loss of life since the dinosaurs. In 2022 a survey from the World Economic Forum ranked biodiversity loss as one of the three most severe risks for the next decade since the very existence of humanity rests on it.

Biodiversity is absolutely vital to life on our planet. It is the life

support system of humanity.

Nature underpins the world’s food system: provides fresh water, sustains the quality of the air and soils, regulates the climate, provides pollination and pest control, absorbs carbon emissions, and reduces the impact of natural hazards.

“...1 million animal and plant species threatened with extinction by 2030” If we harm too many of these ecosystems through human behaviour, we risk preventing them from providing basic life support services. And that is exactly what’s happening. Bio-

diversity is declining faster than at any time before in human history, according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

The significance of the crisis makes the UK Prime Ministers’ response an even greater source of concern. After his embarrassing U-turn following COP27, Rishi Sunak has once again displayed his indifference to the Climate Crisis by failing to attend the COP15 Biodiversity Conference, instead sending the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, in his stead. This came after seven members of his own party wrote private letters to Sunak,

begging him to attend. Sunak does not have the best track record for his commitment to the environment, originally declaring that he wouldn’t be attending the COP27 Climate Conference in November last year, before making a U-turn when he learned that his predecessor Boris Johnson would be in attendance. His seeming disregard for what the government’s chief nature adviser, Tony Juniper, described as the ‘best and last chance’ to halt and reverse the decline of nature doesn’t bode well for the UK’s future green policies.

Continued online...

Jasmine WILKINSON

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2022

Editors: Emily Hudson, Nicole Hasler, Archuna oxstu.science@gmail.com

SciTech

SciTech | 27

Will A.I. help us find our first E.T.?

‘Are we alone?’ is perhaps one of the most profound questions, asked repeatedly by humanity since the dawn of space exploration. Now, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, we may be one step closer to knowing the answer.

Artificial intelligence (AI), or machine learning, has long been used in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics due to its ability to spot patterns and sift through huge data sets. Now it’s being put to the test in the search for extraterrestrial life.

In a paper published at the end of last month in Nature Astronomy, a group of scientists lead

by Peter Ma from the University of Toronto outlined the result of their AI-based search for intelligent life beyond our planet.

The AI algorithm they built was designed to sieve through data from telescopes that detect signals from space at radio frequency and identify anything that could not have been produced by natural astrophysical processes. This data was then sorted through and sig-

nals that could be due to manmade interference (common in the radio frequency band due to GPS, Wifi, satellites and phones) was disregarded. They were left with eight signals that were not natural or man-made, leaving the potential that these could have been produced by some technologically advanced society light years away.

The basis behind this search is that any society advanced and intelligent enough to have

“while we do not know the origins of the signals, they are not constant throughout time.” built communication devices will be emitting what’s known as technosignatures, which our telescopes would be able to detect. Conversely, another intelligent society may be able to detect technosignatures coming from planet Earth and be able to identify us as intelligent life.

Radio frequency was chosen out

of the many frequency bands that signals could be emitted at due to its ability to easily propagate through space and the relative ease of constructing radio receivers and transmitters. There is however always the chance that some far-off society is communicating at an entirely different frequency or at signals too weak to be picked up by our devices.

Before any signals from extraterrestrial intelligent life could be detected, the algorithm had to be trained to spot them. AI algorithms are not able to understand or think for themselves.

They just do what humans programme or teach them to do. Since we don’t possess any genuine alien radio signals to teach them with, a training set of simulated technosignatures was created in order to show the algorithm what to look for.

After it had been trained, the algorithm was fed more than 480 hours of telescope observation data from 30 to 90 light years away, initially identifying 20’515 signals of interest. These

signals were then manually inspected and whittled down to eight signals from five different stars. The primary reason for the rejection of signals was due to human radio interference, the main challenge associated with the search for extraterrestrial life using this method.

Despite locating Earth’s radio telescopes in radio quiet zones where they are far from major sources of radio signals, the issue is still prominent. The hope is that future algorithms will be able to filter out these manmade radio signals.

The eight signals identified as potentially being from extraterrestrial life forms had never previously been detected and were of great interest. Unfortunately, when re-observation took place to try and verify these signals, researchers were unable to detect them. It’s likely that these signals were also due to man-made radio interference and are not a sign of intelligent life far away, but the findings were not conclusive. All the scientists were able to say was

that while we do not know the origins of the signals, they are not constant throughout time.

While the search for extraterrestrial life has not yet been successful, the use of artificial intelligence is definitely a big step towards data-driven astronomy. Detecting nothing does not mean we are alone: with more sensitive future telescopes and pioneering algorithms, hopefully we will soon be able to identify a definitive signal of intelligent life beyond our planet.

Olivia ALLEN

To leave or not to leave: that is the question: an introduction to space ethics

S

ince Galileo, and even before then, humans have enjoyed a correspondence of sorts with outer space. We stare up at the void, and the void stares back. Until recent years, however, stargazing was just about all we could do as a civilisation. This was uncomplicated, and space ethics as a field remained a discussion of hypotheticals. As technology evolved, humans have begun to slowly, steadily transform some of these hypotheticals into realities.

This brings relevancy to the questions raised within space ethics, as their answers inform decisionmaking when it comes to space exploration, and, perhaps someday, settlement.

Space ethics shares ground both with business ethics and astrobiology, as well as numerous fields in between. The most pertinent questions, currently, can be distilled to be: “Is it ethical to send humans on a

one-way trip into space? And if so, is it right to build a settlement on a planet other than Earth?”

“Can anyone ‘own’ places in outer space? (Must space be subject to similar laws to those we have imposed upon our own Earth?”)

Any question on space ethics warrants essays and correspondence solely concerning itself. In light of this, this essay will primarily explore the broader principles which unite them.

The question of eventually sending humans into space on a oneway trip is ultimately a decision on which principle dominates: the preservation of human species versus the preservation of extra-terrestrial worlds as they have been for millennia, sans human interference. The prioritisation hinges on what moral value one believes humans to have, when contested with other living things, and even inanimate objects. This is broadly considered to be the foundation of

environmental ethics; the principal viewpoints are generally classified as follows: Anthropocentrism: The view that only humans have moral value, and therefore the needs (and even whims) of humans can be placed above those of all other things and beings. If one took this view, then this would justify actions not only of space exploration, but also of space mining and settling, even if there is life already present on the host planet. This would make space colonisation permissible, regardless of the resource cost back on earth. This also would justify the Musk-esque(ref) view that eventually, earth will no longer be habitable for humans -- because some societies will have entirely exhausted it -- and that the step would then be to live in outer space. It is important to note that anthropocentrism usually is not manifested in such an extreme manner. People tend to modify the view to things such as

“Zoocentrism” and “Ecocentrism” which temper anthropocentric views with pragmatic points about the place of humanity in the wider context of nature.

Is it ethical to send humans on a one-way trip into space?

Zoocentrism: The view that anything alive and conscious has higher moral standing than anything that is not alive, or plantlike.

This puts humans at parity with animals, and both above moon rocks and martian soil. This view, on earth, is part of the justification for vegetarian- and veganism, but is generally modified in cases where animal activity poses human threat to life. In practice, this is expressed as: human needs are greater than animal needs, but animal needs are more important than human non-needs. In the context of

space exploration, this would suggest that it’s morally fine to settle on another planet, provided that life, if at all present, is of lower complexity than the animals we see on Earth.

Ecocentrism: The view that all life must be respected, regardless of complexity or sentience. Under this regime, it would be permissible to colonise another planet if and only if no life at all was detected. If life was found, even microbial life, it would take moral precedence over the needs of humanity extending beyond earth.

Preservationism: The view that things, as they are, have intrinsic moral value and therefore it is immoral to change them. This would forbid making changes to the character of anything in space, ergo prohibiting the construction of human habitats on another planet.

Extraqcted from a larger piece by Emily HUDSON

FOOD&DRINK

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

28 | Food and Drink

Editors: Susie Barrows, Asmaani Shukla oxstu.food@gmail.com

S

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

torm in a teacup: the queer delights of the Mad Hatter

Asmaani Shukla

Though there are many different characters of pubs in Oxford – from the displays of college crests in Chequers Inn or Turf Tavern, the favourite of Oxford’s historic BNOCs – none offers as unique a nocturnal adventure as the Mad Hatter, a speakeasy in Cowley.

If you’re sick of overhearing discussions on the realities of libertarianism, the anatomy of a mushroom, or the best CV format to land a graduate job with a salary of over 45k, step through this looking glass and indulge in the unique experience offered by the Mad Hatter. Whether you’re craving a midnight tea party, a boozy karaoke session or a drag queen bingo night – this is the place to be if you want to get away from Oxford chat.

Through the purple haze of this bar, its whimsical nature comes alive as you sip cocktails from teacups, removing the

Crack Baby’ and ‘The Head in the Clouds’ are both vodka shots that have a fruity twist to ward off the wince from shooting pure liquor.

The Mad Hatter also provides a range of events. Perfect for a birthday party is their Cocktail Masterclass, where you can learn the secrets behind the concoctions of an award-winning mixologist. Live music is another special treat, from the

garb of intellectual pretension and donning that of delightful absurdity.

Each aspect of this establishment is authentic: the bar’s walls are littered with eccentric decor of rabbits in waistcoats; the fantastic staff, who are often dressed as mysterious witches conjuring potions behind the bar; and the inexhaustible list of unique cocktails, served in dainty crockery.

This bacchanalian bar boasts rare beverages, with drinks named after beloved characters such as ‘The Tweedledum’ and ‘The Tweedledee’ – dangerously drinkable cocktails served in comically large teapots. There are also drinks with delightfully named puns such as ‘The Bread and Butterflies’, which actually tastes like a slice of toast with jam, as well as enticing shots. ‘The

up-and-coming bands of Oxford on a Friday night and live jazz and a reggae DJ on a Saturday. This wonderland, however, is ruled by Rusty Kate, Queen of Drag (and many hearts). This Queen, an Oxford graduate, is pursuing a career in drag across the South of England and their cheeky set is filled with laughter, music and bingo.

So why not swap the mortar board for the Mad Hat(ter) this weekend and indulge in the surreal and fantastical delights of Cowley’s Mad Hatter?

LUNCH BREAK

This Week: The Alternative Tuck Shop

by Susie Barrows

A firm lunch staple since my first term here, this independent sandwich shop offers a wide range of, yes, sandwiches. Ranging from about £3-6 on average, the options are almost limitless, from hot, melty paninis and toasted bagels to soft, doughy ciabattas. Make sure to bring cash, though, as their minimum card spend is £5 - but if you forget, their baked goods are a delicious way to get over the card spend limit. The carrot cake is one of the best I have ever had!

If you go often enough (totally exposing myself here), the staff begin to recognise you - even if I’ve not been in a while, they always say hello and ask how I’m doing, an impressive feat in such a busy shop with such a quick turnaround. And don’t be put off by the queue: the shop itself is very small, and the queue moves very fast, so you won’t be standing on Holywell Street for long.

The OxStu recommends…

Chicken, cheddar cheese and avocado on plain ciabatta (£4.95)

Veggie-friendly Midweek Meals: Pesto and Pecorino Aubergine Stephanie Nourse

Each week Stephanie Nourse provides a new veggie-friendly recipe for midweek meals - check our website for updates!

All ingredient quantities are for one portion, but by all means scale these up to cater for your flatmates (or for delicious leftover lunches).

First in this series is my pesto and pecorino aubergine recipe.

Inspired by Delia’s roasted salmon fillets with a crusted pecorino and pesto topping, this vegetarian alternative is just as delicious. Serve with broccoli and

new potatoes, couscous or rice for a nutritious, Mediterranean midweek meal. This dish can be made vegan by using vegan pesto and either omitting the pecorino or using an alternative such as the Violife parmesan.

juice ½ lemon 2 tbsp breadcrumbs (fresh or dried) olive oil salt and pepper

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 50 minutes Cost per serving: £1.77 (excluding oil, salt and pepper)

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Wash and halve the aubergine, and use a knife to gently score a criss-cross pattern into each half - this will speed up the cooking process.

3. Place the aubergine halves onto a baking tray. Drizzle with the lemon juice and a little olive oil, and season well with salt

Ingredients: 1 aubergine 1 tbsp grated vegetarian pecorino cheese (e.g. Tesco’s own) 2 tbsp vegan pesto

Method:

and pepper.

4. Roast for around 40 minutes or until soft when pricked with a fork.

5. While the aubergine is roasting, add the pesto to a small bowl along with half of the breadcrumbs and mix to form a paste.

6. When the aubergine is done, allow to cool slightly and then carefully spread the pesto mixture onto both halves.

7. Top with the remaining breadcrumbs and pecorino and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes or until crisp and golden.

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

Editor: Blane Aitchison oxstu.pink@gmail.com

Pink

Pink | 29

RuPaul’s Drag Race Vs The Real Friends of WeHo:

Thomas Harris

I

n December of 2022, it was announced that Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race would air on MTV. This marked the third different network that had hosted the show, although fans were outraged for a different reason: the episodes were shortened from their usual 90 minute run-time to just 60 minutes in order to fit its new show The Real Friends of WeHo into the schedule.

This anger was even visible in the ratings – only 20,000 people watched the first episode of The Real Friends of WeHo according to a tweet

by MTV, compared to the premier of Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race which had over 700,000 viewers.

But why didn’t it work?

Firstly, RuPaul’s Drag Race is such a beloved show because it appeals to so many people. It’s a reality show and a game show. It has people from all sorts of different backgrounds, including casts of contestants that are increasingly noncis. It’s consistently engaging for the audience, and even when staples like the Lipsync For your Life segment or the Snatch Game are shown, it never feels

formulaic. The reason why RuPaul’s Drag Race has won so many Emmys probably isn’t just for its entertainment value – there is something innately informative about the program because of the exposure to LGBTQ+, and specifically Queer Black and Ethnic Minority culture in the USA, the likes of which haven’t been seen in media since Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning in 1990.

“There is something innately informative about the program because of the exposure to LGBTQ+, and specifically Queer Black and Ethnic Minority culture in the USA.” Because of this, taking away even just a fraction of Drag Race in order to put The Real Friends of WeHo on the air feels insulting – despite the often-criticised editing of RuPaul’s Drag Race that can make certain contestants come across as more or less likeable to the audience, the humanity of the contestants is always evident, and it is both humbling and heartbreaking to hear what some of the queens have experienced in their lives.

The MTV Debacle .

Secondly, The Real Friends of WeHo is not, despite MTV’s assertions, a particularly novel idea for a show. The format is very obviously a spinoff of the Real Housewives of *Insert Location Here*, which is a very tired TV show in and of itself, and it also has the unique problem of making everyone ask “who are these people?!” MTV says that the show includes “some of Hollywood’s most influential and successful LGBTQ+ celebrities, personalities and entrepreneurs.” But if that’s the case, then why are none of them in the adverts, or even in the show itself? The most well-known cast member of The Real Friends is by far Todrick Hall, a singer, dancer, and choreographer who has worked with the likes of RuPaul and Beyoncé, and he became notorious after being accused of not paying his dancers and not paying his rent in recent years.

This, coupled with the fact that almost the entire main cast seems to be trying to sell you something (whether that’s James Vaughn’s gay travel agency, Joey Zauzig’s skincare line or Todrick’s music (and his attempts to mitigate the lingering damage from his previous scandals)), makes for a cast of

rather unlikeable people.

Of course, in reality TV, you don’t necessarily have to be nice in order to be liked by fans – the catfights on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Abby Lee Miller’s tantrums on Dance Moms, and the constant shade on RuPaul’s Drag Race are part of why those shows are so well received, but there’s something about The Real Friends of WeHo that means these moments aren’t endearing, or even all that entertaining.

This might be because the cast of The Real Friends all come across as a bit too curated. Unlike Drag Race, when the queens are constantly being critiqued by RuPaul, the other judges, their fellow queens and themselves, there’s a lack of genuine self-reflection in The Real Friends of WeHo that forms a barrier between the ‘Friends’ and the viewers. We cannot empathise with them because there is nothing to empathise with.

“We cannot empathise with them because there is nothing to empathise with.”

Perhaps the strangest thing of all in this reality TV night-

mare is that when The Real Friends of Weho’s 4-week run has concluded, the old format of 90-minute Drag Race episodes will be returning, according to MTV. Was this always the plan?

Was the backlash so strong that they decided not to film more episodes of The Real Friends? Was there another show that was supposed to air in that slot after the 4-week run of The Real Friends had ended? Most importantly, where is the 90-minute edit of the Snatch Game episode?!

Image Credits: VH1/World of Wonder Productions, CillBill, Trending Report via WikiMedia Commons.

30 | OxYou

Editors: Susie Barrows, Jack Jacobs, Jack Meredith

OXYOU

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

Three Men on a Voi (To Say Nothing of the Cost) Jericho MORRIS

T

he OUCA meeting concluded with rapturous applause. We set forth from the Port Mahon at sundown, and made haste on a westward heading.

Buffeted by the elements, our vessel swayed and heaved, threatening to be run aground, but we swiftly rounded the Cape of Good Hope and raced past Sainsbury’s Local. Out of Cowley and into Oxford.

The positioning of three men on one Voi is a careful arrangement, that will be familiar to readers of the Adrenaline Junkie’s Kama Sutra. With the constant threat of oncoming traffic, the footwork is a lot like Prince Harry applying cream to his todger, in that it’s difficult to focus on what you’re doing down there when your mind keeps going back to a car crash.

Our crew happens to be the regular trio from back at Eton: Montgomery, Montmorency, and me. As usual, Monty 1 roars “Faster, J!” and Monty 2 shrieks for me to slow down, a regular quarrel that makes their companionship most distracting.

We thunder past the Botanic Garden now. The generators of the kebab vans are seductive siren calls from the shore, but we are held back, like Odysseus bound to the mast, by the tangled one-dimensional Twister game at our feet. This route has its hidden temptations too: the Piers Gavestone bus idles gently in the High Street.

Those onboard are raring to set off for an exhilarating shag in a field; their treasured annual excursion.

They smugly fly in the face of the agreement between all people to have their sex in private, an idea so old that quite literally Adam and Eve came up with it. I’ve heard from several sources that the society’s president once referred to the trip as his Magical Mystery Tour, but one wonders if it’s more of a desperate Please Please Me. Or The White Album for that matter.

I make note of each establishment that crosses my line of sight. The Covered Market is home to innumerable coffee shops with names like The Gulp of Wall

Street and Chai Hard. The Varsity Club inside, I decide, is home to Oxford’s only club floor where you might actually feel some adrenaline, albeit by falling over the railing to your death. Much further up the High Street, the cavernous maw of Westgate throws us into shadow. Its name could be a tabloid’s headline for a Kanye scandal, and it’s retailers could be much less expensive.

The Voi takes us further still, swerving neatly around each corner. Worcester Street now, and a smooth cut-through before we’re up and over the stream. A certain nightclub stands proudly: a club that has in my mind done more damage to the reputation of the word “Bridge” than the Tacoma Narrows disaster. The Said Business School is here too, so called because its students never stop talking about going there.

Carrying on straight, I watch The Oxford Mound soar past. I remember it during its renovation, when I had scaled a fence to sit drinking scotch at the hilltop, and it occurred to me that since it had officially reopened, I’d never thought once about going back up. You can put up a barrier in any arbitrary place and people are desperate to be there on the other side of it.

Perhaps if they’d taken the security fences away from Downing Street there wouldn’t have been quite so many Conservative leadership contests.

Finally, the scooter is decelerated.

Our journey concludes at the railway, where not only are the trains delayed, but now the station is too- so say recent headlines. The Voi is parked; our weary sea legs disentangle. Letting the vehicle settle on its kickstand marks the end of our perilous journey, and I am ecstatic at the thought of the comparative comfort of the train.

To allude to a previous analogy, it would seem to me that the electric scooter is much like a certain royal himself: entrepreneurial, far too open, and consistently ready to throw someone under a bus.

payday of two million pounds. One last job and you’re set up for life.”

in sewage has evident benefits to the immune system, and that we don’t even know the long term effects of the chemicals used to treat sewage. “Intelligent people of Oxford, make your own judgment.”

Image Credit: Jack Lucas Smith on Unsplash

THE BEST OF THE ROAST Rordon Gamsay

Having sold his left kidney for a Union lifetime membership, that will almost certainly never be used beyond Oxford, Rordon is pleased to have got some value for money this week. The evening debates are his favourite, especially ones that are even more ludicrous than the speakers themselves (hard to find, we know). That said, he does enjoy when everything goes “balls up”. Oh, and a certain Tory politician made an appearance, although for those that saw his desperate plea for freedom on the Union Instagram, you will be pleased to hear Rordon has set him free from committee captivity.

Rordon hopes he doesn’t find out he’s redundant himself, and as always, he’s here with some bad news and some irrelevant news.

TESCALATED OUT OF CONTROL Having signed up for a Cupid Date, Rordon was slightly confused with where to take his lucky lady. So, in the fine tradition of his culinary namesake, he settled for the meal deal aisle of Tesco’s.

“You can be the Naked smoothie in my deal,” he explained to his mysterious date, “and I’ll be the deli meat feast of a sandwich.” Fair to say, she was not best impressed, and left swiftly after.

THE LEBANESE-INDIAN JOB With a Lebanese-Indian crewdate spot facing closure this week, its staff were just days away from retirement. That was when Rordon burst into the place with a proposal. One last job – the biggest crewdate they’d ever have to pull off – and they could come in from the cold.

“Get lost Gamsay, we’re out of the game,” he was told.

“There’s nobody else I can trust to get a job like this done,” Rordon countered.

“This crewdate’s got to have live animals, it’ll have fireworks, and I hear the committee’s in talks with Lionel Richie’s agent. It’ll be tricky as hell, and I haven’t even mentioned the blindfolds-“ “What’s in it for us?”

“With this college? You’re looking at a

“We’re in.”

THIS HOUSE WOULD MAKE THE WATER TURN BLACK While it is true that Rordon attends Oxford debates for the singular reason of throwing his shoes at the speakers, he still feels obliged to comment on a recent event.

The motion at hand? “This House Would Continue Dumping Raw Sewage into Port Meadow”. And if that isn’t pushing the difficult questions in the virtuous pursuit of free speech, then Rordon doesn’t know what is. The proposition were Ronnie McMahon and Kenny McClure, representatives of the Sewage Ain’t So Bad conservative think tank.

“I see one clear correlation here,” McClure declared, “The Thames contains more sewage than any other British river.

Is it a coincidence that all the smartest people in the country choose to live along it?” The duo also argued that swimming

The opposition didn’t turn up.

EARTH, WIND AND FIRE Another term, another Union ball, and Rordon did not hold back. Yet the theme of “ice and fire” left an acute confusion; for Rordon, it was about as compatible as his RAG blind date.

That isn’t to say he didn’t satisfy the concept at play – he certainly stoked the fire in forcing the standing committee into their worst fear, namely returning to social reality. Quick to save himself from being hacked to death (quite literally), he then put on the ice with a rendition of September, which provided a convenient distraction to release a certain Tory politician from his Union hostage. As Rordon summarised in rhyme, “All in all it was a successful ball”.

The Oxford Student | Friday 17 February 2023

Deputy Editor: Dani Kovacs Section Editors: Bradley Beck, Joe Sharp email: oxstu.sport@gmail.com

Should athletes be “neutral”?

I

Sport Sport | 31

Noah Hudson

n December, the Fédération sonal and political grievances are, women’s suffrage, when she threw Internationale de l’Automobile for a short moment, forgotten. herself in front of the King’s horse.

(FIA) introduced new legislaWhy, then, do the worlds of sport Sport grasps our attention like tion that prohibits “the general and politics remain inseparable? nothing else, inevitably providmaking and display of political, One reason is that sport emerges ing a scene in which your politireligious and personal statements out of the social structures of socie- cal message cannot be ignored. or comments unless previously ap- ty, leaving it inextricably tied to the Given the communication poproved in writing by the FIA.” This political context. This remains evi- tential sport holds, it is likely that has come in response to a rise in dent at the height of sporting com- no one recognises the influence the prevalence of political state- petition today. The geographical of sport in politics more than the ments being made on the podium. division between rugby league and likes of Mohammed Ben Sulayem, Most notably, Lewis Hamilton has rugby union reveals its class-based the president of the FIA responsiprotested against racial inequal- foundations and the Glaswegian ble for the recent ban on political ity during the Black Lives Matter rivalry between Celtic and Rangers statements by F1 drivers. Powprotests. As well as this, Hamilton is rooted in religious sectarianism. erful political figures often enter wore a rainbow-coloured helmet Sport grasps our attention like the world of sport with this very at the Qatar Grand Prix, amidst purpose. It is no surprise that accusations of human rights vio- nothing else, inevitably providing emerging countries often go to a scene in which your political great lengths to represent themlations against LGBTQ+ people in the region. The attempts to selves at global sporting events. message cannot be ignored. restrict drivers from using their This gives them an opportunity to platforms to make personal and Sport organises the masses showcase their nation as modern, political statements raises ques- around a single spectacle, in- successful societies and align themtions about the connection be- fluencing how social attitudes selves with universal values for tween politics and sport. Should are formed and reproduced. fairness, discipline, and inclusion. athletes be politically neutral It is no surprise, then, that in JanuIn Formula One, China, India, the whilst representing their sport? ary this year banners with the mes- UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have There exists a history of athletes sage “support the strikes” were seen all hosted their first Grand Prix’s making political statements at at Anfield and Celtic Park and only in the past 20 years during a time global sporting events. US sprint- last week chants of “f*** the Tories” in which they share ambitions of ers Tommy Smith and John Car- were overheard during the BBC’s increasing influence on the global los famously protested in support coverage of Wrexham’s FA Cup tie political stage. Whether the power of the Black Power movement at with Sheffield United. This serves of sport is being manipulated by the 1968 Olympic games, raising as a reminder that for all those states in attempts to enhance their black-gloved fists on the podium who wish politics would stay out reputation as a form of sportswashwhile The Star-Spangled Banner of sport, there are those that aren’t ing, or whether it is a genuine deplayed. Similarly, Muhammed willing, or able, to draw the line. sire to be involved with the world’s Ali’s influence in boxing stretched What is more important in the most captivating spectacles, those beyond the sport, seen in his una- debate surrounding athletes mak- at the top are under no illusion pologetic activism during the civil ing political statements, however, about the utility of sport in achievrights’ movement in America. is the power of their position and ing change.

More recently, the Iranian national the potential for sport as a vehicle A restriction on political messages football team refused to sing the for political change. Elite sport- being platformed by athletes is not national anthem in their opening ing success brings the opportunity a move in favour of the idea that World Cup match against England to make a political statement that sport ought to stay separate from - in support of nationwide anti- resonates with people around politics. Rather, it is an attempt government protests in Iran fol- the world. A political demonstra- to maintain control of the political lowing the death of Mahsa Amini. tion on the world’s largest sport- image of the sport in the hands of Running parallel to the history ing stage is an opportunity like those at the top. Lewis Hamilton of political signalling by athletes, no other to seize the attention of said he would “rather not race” however, is the plea amongst millions of people. Thus, the rea- than not speak up for what he befans to ‘keep politics out of sport’. son that Lewis Hamilton chose to lieves in. Though not all athletes For these fans, sport is a realm wear the rainbow-coloured hel- will feel the same, no athlete should in which disparate communities met at the Grand Prix is the same be forced to be ‘neutral’. Any atjoin to witness and celebrate hu- reason that Emily Davidson chose tempt to do so is simply a reminder man achievement. Politics acts the 1913 Epsom Derby as the of the power of sport in politics. merely as the invasion of division stage for her protest in support of into a world of unity. The projection of human excellence within elite sport, it is argued, ought to transcend the political and social differences in everyday life. It does this through a shared admiration for the world’s greatest athletes - an appreciation of their skill, commitment and teamwork regardless of their background or political beliefs. For many fans sport is escapism. It is the place that per-

Will Will Still still continue his incredible run? Purav Menon The prospect of a 30-year-old Englishman, a fan of the video game Football Manager who has never played a single game of professional football in his life, being a top-flight professional manager for a club taking on the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé on a weekly basis, sounds like the kind of story a football fan would conjure up in the wildest of dreams.

Yet, it is reality for William Still.

The young manager has been coach of French Ligue 1 team Reims since 13th October 2022, and, at the time of writing, has yet to lose any of his thirteen matches in charge.

And, to make things even more implausible, his team faces a fine of £22,000 every time he steps into the dugout, as he has not yet obtained the necessary coaching qualifications. It is a truly remarkable rise for Still. But where did it all start?

Still was born in Braine-l’Alleud, Belgium, to British parents, in 1992, and was raised in England. After an underwhelming youth career with several low-level Dutch clubs, Still decided to return to England and become a football coach, based on his experience playing Football Manager and Championship Manager - aged just 17 years old. Beginning his career as assistant manager of the under-14s at Preston North End, Still spent the next decade building up his experience, bouncing between assistant managerial jobs at Belgium clubs Lierse, Beerschot and even top-flight Standard Liège, before a couple of spells as an assistant at Stade de Reims in the French top-flight saw him promoted to permanent manager in October 2022, following the dismissal of his superior Óscar García after just 1 win in the season prior.

And, despite the hefty fee Reims are forced to pay for Still every week, it seems to be paying off - the club was 17th when he took over, and is now in 10th, having not lost a game since, and is in a good place for the rest of the second half of the Ligue 1 season. Their striker, Folarin Balogun, a 21-year-old loanee from Premier League leaders Arsenal, is currently the top scorer in the league. His tally of 14 exceeds that of the two greatest players in the world, World Cup stars Messi and Mbappé, as well as seasoned professionals like Neymar, former Arsenal men Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez,

and other rising Ligue 1 stars.

Still is not the first manager to have gone straight into coaching without a playing career - the likes of whom include former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, Rangers legend Bill Struth, and even current Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann, who ended his playing career aged 20 due to injuries. Yet none experienced such a meteoric rise as Still, and none have done it in such relatable fashion for football fans around the world.

It seems unexpected even for Still himself, who admitted to Drivetime that his position was “ridiculous… if you told me about five or six years ago I’d be standing there telling my defenders how to defend against [Kylian] Mbappe, [Lionel] Messi and Neymar, I think I’d have probably said punch me in the face, because it sounds completely stupid.” Yet, for all its ‘stupidity’, his defenders were indeed able to hold Mbappe and Messi’s PSG to a 1-1 draw, courtesy of a late Balogun equaliser. A video of his team-talk ahead of the game went viral for his effortless alternating between his native French and his “f*cking stay focused” English.

It is remarkably easy for someone like Still to get carried away.

None experienced such a meteoric rise as Still, and none have done it in such relatable fashion for football fans around the world.

But, while his aspirations can be sky-high for the next decades of his managerial career - after all, he is 33 years younger than current Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti Still remains humble, telling TalkSport “I’m 30, I’m just Will and I’m trying to win a few games of football.”

Reims’ move to place Still in charge was an incredibly risky one, especially given the weekly fine, and one that has yet to be concretely proven - there are still 12 matches of the season to go. Yet it is hard to argue that Reims do not have an extremely bright young prospect on their hands, one that will inspire countless sofa tacticians to believe they, too, could take on Messi from the touchline. Reims fans will be hoping that Will Still will still be the man to lead Reims to a successful season - and from the looks of it, they are in for a treat.

Sport

Friday 17 February 2023 | The Oxford Student

32 | Sport

My first Super Bowl

Sports editor Bradley Beck details his experiences from watching the Super Bowl for the first time on Sunday

O

n the night of Sunday 12th January, the Philadelphia Eagles faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 57th annual Super Bowl – the finale of the National Football League season. The Chiefs entered the match-up as favourites and emerged victorious, with a narrow 38-35 win. This year’s Super Bowl was my first time watching a live American football fixture, and the following points were what jumped out at me the most as a new spectator.

The kick-off time cannot be trusted.

The twenty-minute window of delay between the announced start time of 11:30pm and the Eagles’ first play gave a perfect opportunity for a swift tutorial on the rules of the game.

Every detail matters, even before the game.

Just after the emotional scenes during the American national anthem had ceased, it was brought to my attention that the last eight winners of the Super Bowl coin toss all went on to lose the championship – a staggering streak. This made the Chiefs’ success in the flip seem significant, however they went on to break the curse.

There are breaks at every possible moment.

Each time the ball left the field; a change in possession occurred or a touchdown was scored, the cameras left the field and returned to the studio for a discussion of the play. This happened to an extent that the hosts were analysing the game for a greater duration than the match itself. Nevertheless, I was grateful for these intervals of explanation – as opposed to the relentless stream of commercials that fills these gaps in the American broadcast of the game.

The margin for error is miniscule.

The quality on display during the Super Bowl made up for the frequent stoppages. Watching rapid, pinpoint passes reach receivers making evasive runs on

a consistent basis was fascinating. In a way, these staggering athletic feats justified the breaks – as the players entered each play refreshed and ready to repeat.

This high standard made errors such as “fumbles” huge turning points, with rare Eagles lapses were the cause of two of the Chiefs’ touchdowns.

The halftime show is a big deal.

This was a point that I already knew going into the game, but the advertisement of the halftime show between each play indicated how central it was to the whole event. A Google search of “Super Bowl” encapsulates this well, as Rihanna’s performance and subsequent pregnancy announcement takes top spot – above the result of the game itself.

It’s in the hands of the quarterback.

A more general observation of the sport itself was how pivotal the role of the quarterback is. My initial perception of the position was that the quarterback was the primary ball handler, looking to pass the ball at a given opportunity. The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes both exceeded this expectation, pulling off mazy runs and gaining yards that led to the game’s defining moments – most significantly seen in the final plays, with Mahomes’ brilliance sealing the Chief’s success.

As the time approached 4:00am, the stoppages in the final quarter left me fighting sleep – yet the bursts of actions with the game tied 35-35 never failed to keep me focused. This Super Bowl has been described by many as a “classic”, and has cemented the reputation of MVP Mahomes as one of the NFL greats. While I have nothing to compare it to, I was drawn into the highly tactical nature of the sport and the grandness of the event – making the experience thoroughly enjoyable.

The best of times, the worst of times: A tale of Man City Joe Wald

L

ast Monday, the Premier League announced that it had charged its current holders, Manchester City, with over 100 counts of regulation breaches committed over the course of almost a decade. The accusations, if upheld, would constitute the most severe offences by a club in the competition’s history and possible penalties include expulsion from the league.

The allegations are vast, and their impact could be too. Manchester City has been English football’s star performer over the last ten years, winning six Premier League titles since 2011-12 (2011-12; 2013-14; 2017-18; 2018-19; 2020-21; 2021-22), two FA Cups (201011; 2018-19) and six of a possible eight League Cups between 2013-14 and 2020-21. Although the Champions League continues to elude them, the club sits at the top table of European football and is revered worldwide.

Indeed, there is much to be admired about the way that Manchester City is run. In three years following the 2008 takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Abu Dhabi United Group, the club leapt from mid-table mediocrity and a yo-yoing history in England’s top three divisions to a first ever Premier League title (2011-12).

On the final day of the season, Sergio Aguero, assisted by commentator Martin Tyler, etched his name into Premier League history; a fall-off-your-chair moment which instantaneously became English football folklore.

With the club performing well in the league, CEO Ferran Soriano was working to turn Manchester City into a ‘franchise club’, and in 2013 they began building a worldwide football empire in the form of the City Football Group.

Starting with New York City FC in the US’s Major League Soccer, City’s owners began the rapid founding or acquisition of subsidiary clubs worldwide, stretching Man City’s scouting net and proliferating its fanbase across the globe. Now twelve clubs in total, about half wear the skyblue strip with a round white badge and ‘Etihad Airways’ plastered across the front. The garish glister of football’s biggest brand.

Impressive, if a little sinister.

With the arrival of management mastermind Pep Guardiola, the formula was complete, and the result was inevitable.

City romped to the top and

dug in, leaving rivals and silverware strewn in their wake, whilst making eight-digit profits yearly. The club’s annual report from the 2021-22 season related a £613m revenue with a record profit of £41.7m, and it has won four of the last five league titles with the lowest net transfer outgoings of the ‘big six’ English clubs during that period.

In the summer, City signed the world’s second most valuable player, Erling Haaland, currently sit second in the table and yet boast a net profit in transfers for the current season. As a football club and a business, it is slick and lean, a winning machine.

But it seems this story may be too good to be true.

As of last Monday, Manchester City are charged with failing to provide accurate information “that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”, not disclosing contractual payments to players and managers, and with failing to cooperate with Premier League investigators, all of which are conditions of participating in the competition. UEFA Financial Fair Play, and Profitability and Sustainability regulation violations compound the allegations which will be heard by an independent commission in private.

Undisclosed “manager remuneration” is thought to refer to a ‘secret second salary’ paid to Roberto Mancini during his time as City’s boss, where it is alleged that Mansour more than doubled Mancini’s income through a contract arranged with Al Jazira Club, Mansour’s own football project in UAE. It is also believed that the club’s owners disguised direct payments into the club as sponsorship income using Emirati companies such as Etihad and Etisalat.

Allegations of this scale are unprecedented in Premier League history. If they are true, Man City have knowingly circumvented the rules put in place to assist in evening out the wealth disparity between clubs, rules instituted to keep football fair, to keep football about football. They would have acquired the most capable players, managers, and staff in the game simply because they were able, illegally, to pay them more than anyone else could.

As far as financial misconduct goes, any wrongdoing must be punished. The Premier League Handbook offers docked points, suspension and expulsion from

the league, but the commission, headed by Murray Rosen KC, is at liberty to issue any penalty it sees fit. The 101 charges and four-year investigation will now be painstakingly unpicked over the course of a hearing which will drag into next season and possibly the one after that.

Discussions of what should happen to City and what the impact of potential punishments would be are tempting but premature.

But it is impossible to resist the question: what of the last ten years of football? If the charges are upheld, are all of the victories, the trophies, the surreal moments immediately invalid?

The simple fact is that the investigations must not stop at City.

Guardiola condemned his competitors’ vindictive hounding of Man City in a press conference last Friday, claiming that they have pressed hard to see the club destroyed over this “without being innocent” themselves.

Pep undermines himself by saying this, but perhaps he has a point. Fans cannot see exactly what is going on behind the boardroom door, but it is hard to view Chelsea’s January transfer outgoings of €330m (more than every club in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy’s top divisions combined) as financial fair play, at least in the subjective sense.

To some extent, the validity of City’s recent footballing success can only be fully assessed once there has been an investigation into financial conduct across the entire Premier League and the overall picture becomes clear.

Manchester City claim to have “irrefutable evidence” which will exonerate them. In defence, as an alternative to the calm heads of John Stones and Ruben Diaz, is Lord Pannick KC. Pannick in defence has not been an unfamiliar sight at City recently (irresistible) as he guided them through the successful appeal against UEFA’s two-season ban in 2020, also for financial violations.

Fans of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal may be heard loudly revelling in Man City’s misfortune over the coming weeks and months and calling for the most severe punishments available. Perhaps they are right, but this is just the beginning. Point fingers, bay for the blood of the Blues and haul the skeletons from their closets; but maybe check your own first.