The Oxford Student - Volume 75 Issue 2

Screen

Comment

Music

Should filmmakers make the move to digital?

Barack Obama must call for unity in the face of change

Oxstu predicts this years Brit award winners

Page 17

Page 13

Page 19

Stage

Alan Rickman, theatre can change the world Page 23

22.01.2016 Volume 75, Issue 2 oxfordstudent.com

YouGov results say Rhodes should stay Matt Burwood News Editor

A YouGov survey conducted earlier this week found that 59% of respondents thought the statue of Cecil Rhodes on Oriel’s High Street facade should NOT be taken down.

The survey, which gathered the views of the adult population via YouGov’s website on issues relating to the British Empire, presented the context of the debate surrounding the statue before posing the question: ‘Do you think the statue of Cecil Rhodes should or should not be taken down?’

The first Union event of the term was the highly anticipated panel discussion ‘Must Rhodes Fall?’

Continued on page 3

Image: The Oxford Union

Rhodes falls at The Oxford Union

• Union members vote Rhodes must fall with 245 ayes to 212 noes Megan Izzo News Editor

On Tuesday, 19th January, the Oxford Union welcomed a full chamber to its first event of term: the highly anticipated panel discussion entitled ‘Must Rhodes Fall?’.

The event brought together seven activists, academics, and journalists on either side of the controversial ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ movement. Local and national media, including Channel 4 News, were in attendance.

Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) is an international campaign that seeks to ‘decolonise education’ and eradicate Oxford benefactor Cecil Rhodes’ legacy of colonialism. A primary objective of RMF Oxford is facilitating the removal of a statue commemorating Rhodes at Oriel College.

Among the panellists arguing af-

firmatively for RMF were students Ntokozo Qwabe, a current Rhodes Scholar, and Athinangamson Esther Nkopo, both candidates for an MSc in African Studies and organising members of RMF Oxford.

Joining them were MBA student Yasmin Kumi, President of the Oxford University Africa Society, and Professor Richard Drayton, Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King’s College London.

Professor William Beinart, former Professor of Race Relations at the University of Oxford African Studies Centre; Professor Nigel Biggar, current Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Christ Church; and Sophia Cannon, a social justice and political commentator barrister, were the panellists arguing against RMF. Oxford Union President Stuart Webber facilitated the panel, prompting each of the speakers to give an opening statement on their

position. The RMF panellists emphasized that Rhodes’ statue is only one element—though a symbolic one—of an extensive, complex history of racism and colonisation.

“

Rhodes’ statue is only one element...of an extensive, complex history of racism and colonisation.

“It’s true that the statue is, for us at Rhodes Must Fall, emblematic of something that’s a lot more problematic”, Nkopo said in her opening statement. “We think that having a statue of Cecil Rhodes overlook us on High Street at the entrance of Oriel College, on a pedestal, is very problematic, considering that when Oxford University broadcasts itself to the world, it says that it is open, it is inclusive, it

is a leading 21st-century global institution”. Nkopo highlighted that the ways in which Oxford University portrays itself, and the ways in which it imagines itself, are tied up in how it relates itself to Rhodes.

For Professor Richard Drayton, to remove Rhodes’ statue is to “free the future from symbolic slavery”.

“Look at your classrooms, common rooms, curricula”, he told the crowd. His message: think critically about the position of colonised peoples within the university, and enquire about their experience—if you can even find one at your college.

Sophia Cannon, though seated in opposition to RMF, agreed with and added to numerous points raised by the affirmative panellists throughout the debate, but emphasized in her opening statement that “it’s no accident that I’m here on

Continued on page 3

Shoot: Fashion legacies See pages 25-27

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Editorial

2

Editorial

Editors: Ariane Laurent-Smith and Naomi Southwell

Hello

Hilary, 1st week

Friday 22nd January 2016 “You didn’t say anything useful in the tutorial, your opinions are too conservative, and you’re always late to class...

You’d make a great tutor. ”

Tutor comments

Oxford weather What’s cooler than being cool?

Anything in Oxford at the moment, apparently, as Cycling on Ice returns for another series. Perhaps the cold is God’s punishment for not taking collections seriously.

Watch out especially for frozen puddles of post-Wahoo urine on George Street. Following stormy clouds from the Union this week, the OxStu predicts a heavy Fall in the near future...

Conspiracy theories of the week You can reach Planet IX on land owned by St John’s College.

Now the vac is well and truly over and term has begun in earnest, with essays, tutes, lectures, you know the drill. The all-nighters that accompany this barrage of work... well, some work plus extracurricular stuff if you’re a historian, have unfortunately also arrived.

Pink Week

This is the week Oxford will turn Pink in support of breast cancer charities.

There are events running throughout Oxford including a special Pink Week Zumba session at St John’s on 24th January. Pink Week President Gina Sternberg told the Oxstu she was conscious of the problems with the colour pink and its role in reinforcing gender roles. However, the focus of the week will be on fighting “the severity of the disease and the lives of the people who are affected by breast cancer on a daily basis.

What’s on Don’t Hassle The Hoff at The Oxford Union on Monday Page 31

Donald Trump

Despite our predictions last week, Donald Trump is still alive and kicking.

Perhaps he has been invigorated by his catchy new song,‘Freedom’s Call’or his endorsement by Sarah Palin. Either way, his planned trip to the UK evokes nightmarish images of the Republican candidate incased in a stars-and-stripes popemobile, blaring out ‘Freedom’s Call’ as he drives across the country.

Match4Lara

As someone already signed up to the Antony Nolan trust, I am aware of how valuable their work is. The arrival of Match4Lara in Oxford this week increased their urgency. Lara’s case is particularly unique because mixed race people make up only 3% of the international stem cell register. It is infinitely harder for people of mixed race, like Lara, to find a good match.

Registering is simple and I would encourage anyone who isn’t already to get registered!

Vice Chancellor

Last week we reported on the new Vice Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson and her instalment ceremony. We will be interviewing the Vice Chancellor ourselves and we’d like to take questions from students at Oxford. To put your views to our new Vice Chancellor, tweet us your questions using #AsktheVC

Finally

A massive thankyou to our new team for staying awake and mostly sane through the long nights in the office.

The one redeeming feature is that our music taste appears to approved compared to some of last term’s bangers.

Here’s to a funky first week!

Fashion

Androgyny in fashion: An historical perspective Page 29

Art and Lit Oxstu celebrates Rumi’s grand and beautiful images of passion Page 23

OxStuff

Dan Haynes looks for love amongst OUCA’s finest Page 33

Write for us! editor@oxfordstudent.com

College telethons only fund more telethons, creating an endless cycle of cold-calling...

Alumnus of the week

Nigella Lawson Lady Margaret Hall

odds-ford bets.

‘Freedom’s Call’ to reach number one

50/1

Warehouse to announce it’s reopening as a garden centre

12/1

Town vs Gown to culminate in city-wide public brawl 9/1 Arts magazine to hold pretentious club night

1/1

The OxStu team Ariane Laurent-Smith and Naomi Southwell Jake Wiseman Scott Harker, Daniel Haynes, Flora Holmes, James Sewry, and Sam Sykes.

Matt Burwood, Megan Izzo and Jan-David Franke News Editors Laura Whetherly Investigations Editor Imogen Gosling and Ben Oldfield Comment Editors Chloe St George and Clio Takas Stage Editors SherryTan and Alice Townson Fashion Editors James Charter and Beth Kirkbride Music Editors Jasmine Cameron-Chileshie DavidtoParton Features Editors Oxford Unionand election be Art and Lit Editors Rosie Collier and Tristan Wilson conducted in harmonious and Screen Editors Daunish Negargar and James Riding Adam Hilsenrath and Ned Walker Sports Editor Toby Clyde and James Broun Deputy News Editors Deputy Comment Editor Louis Trupia Editors in Chief Online Editor Deputy Editors

Deputy Features Editors Deputy Arts and Lit Editor Deputy Music Editor Deputy Screen Editor Deputy Stage Editors Deputy Sports Editor Deputy Fashion Editors Profile Editor Chief Sub-Editor Sub-Editors

Robert Pepper and Jamie Russell Hetty Mosforth Katie Collins Robert Selth Georgia Crump Josh Stickland Xuemei Chan, Claire Leibovich and Alexandra Luo Nayra Zaghloul Elizabeth La Trobe Lizzie Evens, Joshua Dernie, Jei-Jei Tan, Jane Yu and Amelia Wrigley

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

News 3

Rhodes Falls at The Oxford Union Continued from front page on this side.” She believes that Rhodes’ legacy must be upheld as a reminder of his deeds, particularly for the sake of the African diaspora.

“In Britain, our statues are welded to our history, whether we like it or not”, Cannon stated. “I want my children’s children to see this statue and know who it is, and point and shout ‘shame’ at it”, she said, to applause from the crowd.

Ntokozo Qwabe, however, rejects the prospect of keeping the statue, even if supported by a correct history.

“That statue constitutes an erasure because it does not say anything about what Rhodes did”, he said.

“It’s obfuscating the actual issue…it’s problematic because of what we see right now [at Oxford University]”.

By “what we see” at Oxford, Qwabe is referring to the fact that Oxford’s own racial diversity reflects that of the UK at large. Of the 18,510 professors in the United Kingdom, 85 are black. Just 18 of those 85 are women. These statistics, from The Guardian, were raised by an audience member during a question in the second half of the debate. The panellists supporting RMF agreed that Rhodes’ legacy is a contributing factor to the institutionalised racism that persists in universities throughout the country.

One issue that was repeatedly raised was the question of whether RMF activists who are Rhodes Scholars, like Qwabe, are displaying hypocrisy by speaking out against the man whose fortune gave them their education. Professor William Beinart, while stating that he considers the statue a secondary

concern within the movement, asked Qwabe whether the monument of a man who “allowed you to get where you’ve got” truly had no significance to him. “Do we dispose of other statues from that era?” Beinart asked, “or do we use them as a medium to think with?”

One audience member, too, asked whether the RMF proponents thought it reasonable to denounce Rhodes’ legacy when they had in fact benefited from it.

Qwabe responded that Rhodes scholars “have challenged and interrogated the scholarship whether or not they are South African”, emphasizing that the backlash he has experienced from campaigning as an African Rhodes scholar has only proven that issues of racism and discrimination are still alive and well at Oxford. Recalling his own experiences of being cursed at and told to ‘go back to your continent’, he retorted, “You want to tell me that the problem has gone away?

Of course the problem hasn’t gone away”.

to the movement’s treatment of Rhodes. Biggar, in his opening remarks, had stated that by RMF’s logic, we should also denounce and remove statues of Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln.

RMF representative Brian Kwoba, posing a question to Biggar from the audience, asked, “When we say, ‘well, if you go after one statue, you have to go after all of them’, is that not

like saying ‘Well, we can’t catch all the criminals, we can’t go after all the war criminals’? And therefore we’re not going after the very most obvious one, that is standing over all of us?”

“If it were someone like Stalin, I’d agree with you”, said Biggar in response. Throughout the debate, Biggar had emphasized that given the historical context of British colonialism, he believes that Rhodes

“

It was great to see so much passion from not only the speakers but also the audience

“

“We are here to take back the money”, Qwabe announced, to loud applause.

“We are here to take back the money”, Qwabe announced, to loud applause. “I will not be told that I am a hypocrite for taking my money that was stolen from my people”.

Another controversial issue, raised

by Professor Nigel Biggar, focused on the treatment of other historically contentious figures in comparison

was not in fact a racist.

Notably, Beinart and Cannon, the other panellists opposing RMF, acknowledged respectively that the Rhodes statue could find a useful place within the Ashmolean Museum, and that the Rhodes scholarship fund should be utilised to bring to Oxford “the best and brightest from the African diaspora”.

At the conclusion of the debate Oxford Union members voted decisively that Rhodes Must Fall Image: Rhodes Must Fall

“Clearly this was a very important debate, as shown not only be the unprecedented media attention for an Oxford Union debate, but also what was essentially the calling for a new world order in terms of race and racism from the proposition”, said an anonymous Oxford Union member.

“It was great to see so much passion, knowledge and engagement from not only the speakers, but also the audience”, said Adam Rhaiti of Queen’s College. “I feel that the RMF proponents had the advantage over the ‘noes’, whose counterarguments such as ‘preserving history’ and ‘not all heroes are perfect’ were flawed. Indeed, Sophia Cannon and William Beinhart seemed to stop arguing directly against the statue in the end”.

At the conclusion of the debate, Oxford Union members exited the chamber on either side of the divided main door, voting with their feet.

Their verdict? 245 to 212: Rhodes must fall.

Should Rhodes Fall? YouGov respondents vote ‘No’ Continued from front page should or should not be taken down?’

In response to the related topic of the British Empire, the survey highlighted surprising deviations from what are perceived to be the prevailing attitudes at Oxford University. 43 per cent voted that the British Empire was ‘generally speaking’ a good thing, though a partisan breakdown offered some further points of interest. While only 28 per cent of those who voted Labour at the last election designated the Empire ‘a good thing’, the corresponding figures for the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and UKIP were 42 per cent, 55 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.

Differentiating by party on the specific question of the fate of the statue, the results were less polarised; only 18 per cent of the most sympathetic party to the demands of Rhodes Must Fall, Labour, said that the statue should be taken down. The highest level of support from any subsection of the public came not from a particular party’s voters, but from the Scots, of whom still only 19 per cent favoured removal.

Along age lines, the research found that nearly half of those aged sixty or over agreed that ‘Britain’s history of colonialism is part of our history that we should proud happened’, whereas only 30 per cent of 18-24

year olds took this favourable stance on colonial history, of whom 40 per cent also believe that we ‘tend to view our history of colonisation too positively - there was much cruelty, killing, injustice and racism that we try not to talk about.’

“

highest level of support.. came...from the Scots, of whom still only 19 per cent favoured removal.

The results of YouGov lend some support to the findings of the recent poll conducted by the Cherwell, which found that 54 per cent of students thought Rhodes should stay.

However, the new poll surveyed a far wider cross-section of the British population than just Oxford students, and thus gives us some indication of the views of those outside the Oxford bubble, contrasting starkly with the vote on the same topic at the Oxford Union on Tuesday, in which #RhodesMustFall won, with 245 ‘ayes’ to 212 ‘noes’.

The market research firm YouGov conduct their polling using demographically representative samples of the population from a panel of 4 million people worldwide, with 750,000 residing in the UK. YouGov claim to provide ‘a more

accurate, more actionable portrait of what the world thinks’. This poll posed the ubiquitous Rhodes question having introduced background details, so as to avoid ambiguity or accusations that those voting were not properly aware of the issue at hand: ‘Cecil Rhodes was an important British colonialist, politician and businessman in the 19th century, largely responsible for Britain’s colonisation of southern Africa. He founded the De Beers diamond company and died as one of the richest men in the world. As part of his will, he funded the Rhodes scholarship - a trust fund that pays for overseas students to study at Oxford University. There are several statues and memorials to Cecil Rhodes, including the front of Oriel College, Oxford. Some people think that Rhodes is symbolic of the racism and unfairness of British colonialism, and that is inappropriate to continue to have statues and memorials to him. They have called for the statue of Rhodes in Oxford to be taken down.

Do you think the statue of Cecil Rhodes should or should not be taken down?’

How would you vote?

Full methodology and results can be found on the YouGov website, www. yougov.co.uk

The survey introduced Cecil Rhodes in context to avoid any ambiguity and ensure participants were informed

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

News 4

Twice as many men as women to speak at the Union in Hilary James Broun

Deputy News Editor

There are more than twice as many male speakers than female in the Union’s Hilary termcard, which was released in full on Tuesday. Two speakers are yet to be confirmed for the seventh week debate on whether the Obama administration has been a success. Of the 26 who have confirmed their attendance at the Union’s weekly debate, eighteen are men and eight are women.

In a statement issued to the Oxford Student, the Union said that it “always strives to invite an equal number of men and women … in recent years, with this term being a particular highlight, leading women in their fields are speaking at the Union. It is, however, regrettable that we exist in a society rife with inequality and, as a forum that is committed to allowing everyone

to have their voices heard, we of course continue in our endeavour to rectify such issues.”

“

Controversial debates will feature Galloway and Hopkins The term opens in first week with the topic of Holocaust denial. The proposition, who will argue that denial should not be criminalised, include the esteemed academics Sir Richard Evans and Professor Deborah Lipstadt. They will be opposed by Professor Charles Asher Small and François de Smet. This sets the scene for a term of debates on a range of controversial issues, some old, some new. A few of the speakers have not escaped controversy either. Katie Hopkins, the Sun columnist, will speak against

Natalie Bennett will be debating trade with China versus human rights abuses Image: Rama

positive discrimination. The Respect Party politician George Galloway will propose in sixth week that the west has no responsibility to take military action against ISIS. A collection of academics, politicians, journalists and activists are joined by military and police officers, and businesspeople. In third week Sir Malcom Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, will oppose sacrificing trade with China over human rights abuses; across the dispatch box will sit Lobsang Sangay, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile, and Natalie Bennett, the Green Party Leader in the UK. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, will speak in favour of “prioritising public safety over the right to strike” in a topical debate coinciding with calls from the British Medical Association for junior doctors to strike.

In line with the debates, 32 of the 45 guest speakers in Hilary are men. Of the eleven politicians, only three are female, while neither of the two diplomats are women.

Seven actors (five male), four sportspeople (all male), and four musicians (split evenly between genders) follow as the next most popular categories. But a diverse range of talent is represented this term, spread across eighteen types of profession, from architects to royalty, and activists to speech-writers. There are more women activists and cooks than there are men in those categories, and an equal number of artists, musicians and radio/ TV presenters.

Amongst the big names from the stage and on the screen are the actors Sir John Hurt, David Hasselhoff, Shia LaBeouf, Mark Hamill, Laurence Fox and Frances de la Tour. Mary Berry, the cook of Great British Bake Off fame is due to speak in eighth

week, while the radio presenter Chris Moyles has yet to confirm the date of his attendance. Also set to appear in the last week of term is the musician Tom Odell, while Gabrielle Aplin should be speaking in third or fourth week.

The lyricist Sir Tim Rice has yet to confirm a date, but is set to appear this term too.

“

Politicians are the largest speaker profession

No fewer than five former or serving European Prime Ministers are also scheduled to make appearances: Charles Michel of Belgium, Antonis Samaras of Greece, Pedro Passos Coelho of Portugal, Bertie Ahern of Ireland and Isa Mustafa of Kosovo. Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, Thorbjørn Jagland, SecretaryGeneral of the Council of Europe, and Ali Babacan, former Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, are amongst the other politicians featured in the termcard. Perhaps lesser known in the political world is Jon Favreau, who served as Barack Obama’s official speechwriter; he will speak in fourth week.

A number of businesspeople make the list: Deborah Meaden, one of the ‘dragons’ in Dragons’ Den, Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment, and Bernard Arnault, who is chairman of LMVH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Harry Redknapp, the football manager, will speak in second week. Edwin van der Saar, who played for Ajax, Juventus and Manchester United football clubs, is set to appear in seventh week. Boris Becker, the German tennis player and Wimbledon champion, speaks in eight week.

Perhaps the most well-known and controversial sportsperson to make the list is Lance Armstrong, the US cyclist who

has been involved in doping scandals since 2012.

An eclectic range of other speakers are slated to appear.

Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein will attend in the same week as the trade unionist Len McCluskey.

Chris Patten, Lord Patten of Barnes, who is Oxford’s current Chancellor, a former Conservative Home Secretary and the last Governor of Hong Kong is yet to confirm the date of his speech. The Isreali Ambassador and the Iranianborn secularist and human rights activist Maryam Namazie will be in Oxford in seventh week, while the architect Dame Zaha Hadid will be at the Union in fifth week, along with Tariq Ali, the Pakistani writer and journalist.

Just under half of these speakers live in the United Kingdom and nine are United States citizens. The remainder come from nineteen countries, from Belgium to India, and Switzerland to Iran.

Image: Comic Relief 2013

Oxfam Report says richest 1% are wealthier than rest of the world combined Jan-David Franke News Editor

According to Oxford charity Oxfam, global inequality is rapidly increasing.

The top 1% now own more than the rest of humanity combined. The richest 62 individuals are even as wealthy as the world’s poorest 3.6 billion people combined. In light of that development, the NGO stresses the importance of legislating equitable taxation, increasing minimum wages, pursuing women’s economic inequality and expanding public spending.

1,760 billion dollars. That is the combined wealth of 62 individual human beings. It is equivalent to the possessions of the economic bottom 50% of the globe. In fact, while half of the planet have experienced a 41% decrease in wealth since 2011, the super-rich have expanded their fortune by another 44% since 2010.

In 2010 one still had to pool the combined wealth of the richest 388

people to equal that of the bottom half. Now, all the people necessary to do that fit in a X90 bus.

“

The richest 62 individuals are as wealthy as the poorest 3.6 billion combined While Oxfam praises the ‘fantastic progress’ that has lifted hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty over the last 25 years, it estimates that – had the gap between rich and poor shrunk instead of widened – another 700 million people would have risen above the poverty line. The vast majority of wealth accretion, however, has benefitted the upper 1%.

Oxfam warns that the significance of an ever-growing divide between economic classes should not be underestimated. “Growing economic inequality is bad for us all – it undermines growth and social

cohesion” and threatens to reverse progress made under the Millenium Development Goals.

According to the charity, “an economy for the 1%”, so the title of its report goes, is responsible for the concerning development. Instead of an economy that ensures universal and sustainable prosperity, we find ourselves in a system that protects the economic interests of the few from the many. Tolerating and even facilitating tax evasion for international corporations and wealthy individuals, for instance, has allowed them to avoid their economic and social responsibility. Oxfam estimates that a total of 7.6 trillion dollars are being hidden in tax havens around the world; money, that - if properly taxed - would allow governments to tackle poverty more comprehensively.

Oxfam calls upon policy makers to “start building a human economy that benefits everyone” by establishing equitable taxation: raising taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals and cracking down on tax havens.

Apart from that, governments should increase minimum wage, seek to close the gender pay gap, restrict corporate lobbyism and relieve regulatory constraints on the accessibility of medicine. Moreover, investments in the public sector, especially in health and education, should be expanded

The 62 people who have half of the world’s wealth could fit on this bus Image: Pinball Robin

to counteract growing levels of inequality.

Oxfam’s report was published just before the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which attracts political and business leaders from around the world. It can be accessed on the Oxfam website.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

News 5

Oxford Union trials new queuing system Caitlin Troutman News Reporter

The Oxford Union has implemented a new queuing system for its events. The organisation, which has a reputation for bringing popular international guests and speakers to Oxford, put the new policy into effect after the EU Debate during Michaelmas term. The queue for this event began several hours before, with some people holding spots in line for others. Many members, who pay over £200 in membership fees, have often been unable to attend such events because of the long queues. Complaints about the long waits in cold weather and lack of communication over seating prompted the union to reevaluate the system in place.

As the Union president Stuart Webber stated, “Although many believe that a first-come-first-served queue on the night is the fairest system, as it enables members to express how strong their preferences are for attending a certain event, the feedback made it clear that our members wished to trial something different.”

“

This new system was chosen as a compromise out of many options

In response to this feedback, Union members considered various solutions, including a random ballot system.They decided on a system that allows up to 200 tickets to be collected by members before the event, while still keeping 250 spaces open for individuals who wish to line up for the event on the day of the event itself. Those with tickets

must be seated by a certain time, after which time those at the front of the queue will have the opportunity to get seats.

During the “Must Rhodes Fall?” panel, an event that garnered much attention through social media and among Oxford students, the union did a trial of this new system. The queue began only 90 minutes before the highly-publicised function. Everyone in the queue was able to attend the event, and the Union plans to use this system again in the future.

This new system was chosen as a compromise out of many options.

“We hope that the new system finds the right balance between the conflicting requests of our members: for those who are unable to queue up on the day of the event itself, there is an opportunity to collect tickets at a different time; whilst the majority of spaces will always be available on the day for those who have the strongest preferences to attend,” said Webber.

While the trial of the event was successful, some students are still skeptical about the system. Third year Oxford student and member of the Union, Emma Buchy-Dury, said “I feel like people will queue for the tickets, so it’s just the same problem.

That didn’t happen [for the “Must Rhodes Fall” panel], but it might for, like, an A-list celebrity.”

The Union has hosted big names like Elton John, Hozier and Piers Morgan for speaking events in the past. In the future, such popular events will test the new system.

Concerning the system and members overall satisfaction, Webber said, “We [the Union] are committed to listening to the concerns of our members and working hard to improve their experience of the Oxford Union.”

The Oxford Union has hosted big names like Elton John, Hozier and Piers Morgan for speaking events.

Image: Barker Evans

Syrian starvation prompts protest in Oxford Toby Clyde

Deputy News Editor

Activists gathered in Oxford last Saturday to protest against the oppression of starving civilians in Syria.

Holding placards demanding “Syria needs food not bombs” and other messages over twenty people were present outside the Westgate Centre in Oxford.

The protest was in response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria where according to the UN there are at least 400,000 people living

According to the UN there are at least 400,000 people living under siege in Syria .

Images: Toby Clyde

“

This food is just for one city, for twenty days. It isn’t a solution. People are starving to death. under siege. A UN aid convoy was able to reach the Syrian town of Madaya a week ago but organiser Abdhullah Allabuani, a Syrian national who recently moved to Oxford, said this was not enough.

He said: “This food is just for one city, for twenty days. It isn’t

a solution. People are starving to death.”

Since the protest the UN has called for even more drastic action to help trapped Syrians. A senior humanitarian official wrote to the government yesterday saying, “all options need to be on the table” including air drops of supplies over besieged Syrian towns.

Campaigners from Oxford University, Oxford Brookes and the wider Syrian community came together at the protest.

The head of student-led group ‘Oxford for Syria’ Anna Simpson

who was also involved stressed how important the issue was to locals: “The protest demonstrated how many people in Oxford want to offer support and solidarity to people suffering in Madaya, as well as demanding those victims are not forgotten.”

Mr Allabuani however did mention his disappointment at the turn out: “We expected a few more people, although many of the students will still be at home.” Anna Simpson remained optimistic for a movement emphasising the importance of

these shows of solidarity: “As a recognisable and influential community I think it’s essential we continue to use our strength and resources to call for aid drops to besieged civilians in Syria, as the humanitarian crisis inflicted by the Assad regime is set to continue in the coming months.”

Indeed as Mr Allbuani went on to elaborate that “the main idea has been achieved - we were able to send the message that we are standing up for the Syrian people and putting pressure on the United Nations.”

Celebrating life outside of lectures, labs and libraries

27th February 2016 Exam Schools, High Street, Oxford This day long festival includes: 11.00 - 5.00pm

Clubs and Societies Showcase International Festival

7.00 - 9.30pm W online Nominate NO If you know of an individual or group that deserves recognition, nominate them for a Student Award now:

ousu.org/surveys/nominate2016studentawards/ You’ll need your Single Sign On details handy, to log in

To get your society involved in the Oxford Students’ Festival, visit: ousu.org/get-involved/oxford-students-festival

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

News 7

Oxfordshire County Council forced to make unpopular cuts to local charities

Oxford

Matt Burwood News Editor

Oxfordshire County Council has announced a further £23 million of short-term budget cuts, despite protestations from charities in the region who rely on their support.

The specificities of the savings are being decided in a consultation project called ‘Talking Oxford’, with the Council explaining: “As government reduces funding to local government, the County Council has to continue to make budget savings. At the same time demand for our services is increasing, partly due to our ageing and growing population, and increasing demand for children’s social care services is going up.”

The Conservative leader of the County Council, Ian Hudspeth, offered his apologies for the move, saying: “We are desperately sorry that we now have to consider these extensive savings.”

Mr Hudspeth previously made headlines last November in a row with the Prime Minister, after Mr Cameron wrote to say he was “disappointed” at the proposed cuts “frontline services, from elderly day centres, to libraries, to museums” in his Oxfordshire constituency. Mr Hudspeth replied, defending the specific choices made by the Council as to where the axe should fall, and expressed incredulity at the

Prime Minister’s view on the scale of the cutbacks, writing: “I cannot accept your description of a drop in funding of £72m [...] as a ‘slight fall’.”

Mr Hudspeth has said that he now intends to raise these additional cuts with the Prime Minister, telling the BBC that he’ll try “to make [David Cameron] understand exactly the situation for Oxfordshire and the impact it will have on the residents”. In October, coinciding with the launch of the consultation period, he reassured

residents that half of their budget “already goes on helping the most vulnerable two per cent of the population”, and that this would rise to three quarters by 2020.

Oxford Homeless Pathways, a charity established to help homeless and vulnerable people aged 22 and over, took a pessimistic view of the cuts, saying they were “gravely disappointed”, and commented in a blog post entitled ‘Enough is Enough!’ that “if cuts like this go ahead, organisations like our

Oxfordshire County Council has been forced to make unpopular cuts to charities.

Image: David Hawgood

will be forced to close and vital services for homeless people in Oxford will cease to exist”.

The charity has started a Facebook event page for a peaceful rally to be held outside the County Hall next Tuesday, coinciding with a full cabinet meeting of the Council at which the consultation on budget cuts will be discussed. This effort comes alongside a petition, calling for Oxfordshire County Council to “Save vital services for homeless people”, and a recent Christmas fundraising campaign to attempt to plug the gap left by the progressively shrinking budget for ‘Housing Related Support’, out of which funding for homelessness charities is found. At the time of writing, the petition has attracted over 5,000 signatures, while the Christmas ‘Gift of Hope’ appeal continues to surpass the £15,000 target.

An alliance of sixteen charities, also going under the slogan ‘Enough is Enough’, including Oxford Homeless Pathways and Age UK Oxfordshire, warned that vulnerable people would be worst-hit in a “cumulative and wide-ranging way” by the move.

The City Council explain on the consultation page on their website: “Local authorities across the country, as well as the wider public sector have, in recent years, been subject to a steady reduction in grant funding from central government, as well as facing the

impact of the recession. Between 2013 and March 2016, Oxford City Council will have had its government grant reduced by around 60 percent.

Further cuts have been signalled for future years, with grant expected to fall out by 2019-20. As a consequence, the Council has faced challenges in identifying efficiency savings and new income streams in order to protect and improve services.”

The Department for Communities and Local Government said it was providing a “long-term funding settlement for the first time allowing local authorities to plan with certainty”.

The burden of the savings has also been spread onto the taxpayer, with council tax set to rise by 3.99 percent come April.

The County Council has already saved or plans to save a total of £292 million between 2010 and 2018. The final budget will be voted on in February.

Analysis £23 m.

Budget cuts 5,000 Petition signatures £15,000 ‘Gift of Hope’ appeal 60% Cut in government grant 3.99% Increase in council tax £292 m. Total council savings

Researchers to aid obese women struggling with pregnancy • Trial seeks to test efficacy of weight-sensitive treatment during pregnancy Jan David-Franke News Editor

49 pregnant Oxfordshire women recently participated in a clinical trial on the efficacy of weight-sensitive treatment during pregnancy. In the UK, obesity is very prevalent among women of childbearing age. Being obese while pregnant can cause harm both to the mother and the newborn child.

“

According to official numbers nearly half of all UK women between 16 and 44 are overweight

According to official numbers, nearly half of all UK women between 16 and 44 are overweight (ca. 30 percent) or obese (ca. 20 percent).

“Overweight” is classified as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of between 25 and 30 and “obese” refers to figures on that index of above 30. Not only does obesity increase the risk of developing a variety of health conditions such as diabetes,

heart disease or cancer, evidence suggests that being obese while pregnant can cause problems during childbirth and increase the health risks for newborns. A north England study from 2007 found that the risk of miscarriage or infant death was three times higher for women who had been obese during pregnancy than for women who had not. Other analyses suggested a less drastic but still significantly problematic effect of obesity during pregnancy.

The Oxford study, which took place at the hospitals John Radcliffe and Horton General, seeks to establish whether being routinely weighed and consulting with midwives in case of weight problems can help women to avoid obesity during their pregnancy and thereby better the health of both mother and child.

Every one of the 49 mothers-tobe that participated was attended to with regular antenatal care and asked to complete a set of additional questionnaires. Dr. Lucy Mackillop, who is leading the study, said: “We are grateful to the women and their midwives for taking part in this study, the results of which will hopefully benefit many women and their babies.”

“This is just one of many studies taking place at NHS hospitals and in GP Practices around the UK to help us better understand the causes of obesity, and how best to prevent it”, she noted.

“

A study from 2007 found that the risk of miscarriage was three times higher for obsese women

The study receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and is supported by the University of Oxford. Its results are expected to be published at the end of the year.

Analysis

49 Women who participated c. 50% Women between 16-44

are overweight 25-30 BMI ‘overweight’ category >30 BMI ‘obese’ category 33% 10-11 year-olds overweight

The trial took place at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

Image: ceridwen

jailbreak W.245mm x H.320mm Full Page

The Oxford Student | Friday 29th January 2016

News 8

Economist Sergei Guriev speaks at Trinity College

Scott Harker Deputy Editor

Russia’s leading liberal economist, Sergei Guriev, stated his belief that Russia will one day be a prosperous and democratic country, in giving a mixed picture of the future of the Russian economy at an event hosted by the Oxford Guild at Trinity College.

Mr Guriev, who has recently been appointed chief economist to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD), fled Russia in 2013 after co-authoring a report criticising the conviction and imprisonment of the oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Prior to this, he had been acting as an advisor to the government of former President Dmitry Medvedev.

In his talk and a subsequent

question and answer session, Mr Guriev also touched upon the impact of corruption on the Russian economy and the possible worst-case scenario that could face the country over the next 3 years, as structural problems, low oil prices and western sanctions all continue to bite.

The worst-case scenario would see the Russian Federal Reserve exhausted by 2016 even if the government continued with its austerity programme and oil prices dropped as low as $30 per barrel. Even at $40 per barrel the reserve would be dry by 2017. The western sanctions imposed upon Russia following its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Russian economy is expected to contract again this year.

In addition to the current problems, Mr Guriev also pointed to long-term structural problems, such as a poor investment climate and a loss of human capital, which were also serving to hold back growth in Russia. Despite this, his talk also touched upon the fact that the Russian economy still has s lot of potential for growth in the future, many Western banks wish to invest in Russia and are only prevented from doing so by the current sanctions.

In replying to questions, he touched upon the psychological problems that had hurt

productivity in the economy since the of the USSR, which were driven by a

“

Russian collapse he said lack of

The worst-case scenario would see the Russian Federal Reserve exhausted by 2016

competition. He was not able to answer questions as to why the Russian economy had not been diversified in its boom years up until 2009 due to his role with the EBRD and links to the cabinet of the previous President.

Nikita Gladilin, Vice President Sponsorship at the Oxford Guild and organiser of the event said “Ultimately, the most important personal goal for me is to help students learn more about Russia, which I think is extremely under represented at this university.”

The ERBD was set up in 1991 to aid with the transition of post-Soviet countries to free market, capitalist economies.

Prior to taking up this role officially in the Summer, Mr Guriev is a professor at Sciences Po in Paris and is currently on the advisory board at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.

Sergei Guriev was recently appointed chief economist to the European Bank for Reconstruction. and Development.

Image: www.kremlin.ru.

Christ Church College TSK Teddy Bear Theft JCR Votes Against Abolishing ERM rep James Broun

Deputy News Editor

A motion to abolish the Ethnic and Religious Minorities representative on Christ Church’s JCR was rejected at a meeting held on Sunday. The minutes have not been published, so exact details of the debate are unavailable. According to sources close to the JCR, proponents argued that the office prevented equality.

The motion called for ‘The position of ERM Rep be abolished indefinitely’ and ‘The Constitution and Standing Orders be amended to

Christ Church College JCR created the role of ERM rep in 2015.

Image: OliBac

reflect this change.’

The Committee for Hilary Term 2016 includes a Gender Equality rep, a Disabled Students Officer who is yet to be appointed, an LGBTQ Welfare Officer and two general Welfare Reps. But there are also a range of more unorthodox offices, including Cake and Bar Reps, a “Space-Time Officer” and two “Tortoise Reps”. It is not immediately clear what these latter roles entail.

The JCR President, Luke Cave, was invited to comment but has so far not replied to our request.

A teddy bear of huge sentimental value was stolen from Turl Street Kitchen Friday last week. The bear was in the bag of its owner Jessie Saville at the time who launched a heart felt search for the teddy soon after it was taken.

She posted on facebook: “it would mean the world to me to get this little guy back, he’s the most valuable thing I have ever owned and ever will own”. TSK made clear its zero tolerance policy for the theft stating: “We take security very seriously and have informed the police”. Miss Saville is currently offering a £200 reward and urging anyone with an idea of its whereabouts, do get in touch with this number: 07770926106

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

News 9

Match4Lara: A Search to Save Lives Scott Harker Deputy Editor

A campaign to find a bone marrow donor for a 24 year-old student has become one of the largest ever of its kind and attracted support from the Prime Minister.

Match4Lara is a campaign founded to find a bone marrow donor for Lara Casalotti, a student from North London who was diagnosed with Acute Myleoid Leukaemia just before Christmas and now requires a donor before April in order to save her life.

Lara, who was assisting an Oxford University Professor with research in Thailand over Christmas, is halfThai and half-Italian and has been unable to find a donor after her only brother was found not to be a match.

Only 0.5% of the people on the Anthony Nolan trust’s donor register are from East Asian backgrounds and only 1.5% are from European backgrounds and so the search for a donor is particularly difficult.

The Anthony Nolan trust, which is the UK’s largest blood cancer charity, has however reported a fivefold increase in the number of people signing up online to the register since the campaign to find a donor for Lara went viral.

David Cameron has also thrown his weight behind the campaign at this week’s PMQs in response to

a question from Lara’s MP, Tulip Siddiq.

Tulip Siddiq’s question referred to the ‘spit drive’ that is happening at the o2 Centre on Finchley Road, North London between 2pm and 6pm this Saturday. Those who stop by can sign up to the bone marrow donors’ register and give a sample on the spot.

Miss Casalotti said: “I would like to thank Tulip Siddiq for bringing up the match4lara campaign at PMQs. “I sincerely appreciate David Cameron’s support to help raise awareness of increasing numbers on the bone marrow donor registries and the issue of needing to diversify the registries so that everyone has an equal chance of finding a donor.

“The event on Saturday will be a great opportunity to get as many people as possible signed up! It’s as simple as spitting into a tube!”

The shortage on the Anthony Nolan trust’s register is also reflected in a shortage of black and ethnic minority donors worldwide which means that only 1 in 5 people from BAME will be able to find a match.

Speaking after PMQs Ms Siddiq said: “I was very pleased to hear the Prime Minister give his support to Lara and the campaigners working hard to find her a match.

“Lara is an inspirational young woman and I hope my exchange with the PM will encourage many more people to sign up to the bone

marrow register.

“There is currently an underrepresentation of mixed race donors on the register, exactly the kind of people who could be a match for Lara.

“I hope today’s exchange provides the platform for a broader discussion on how to rectify this imbalance in the months ahead.”

She went on: “We are expecting big numbers on Saturday and I’d like to thank the Anthony Nolan Trust and the O2 centre for their help in making it happen.”

Match4Lara Oxford SUNDAY Venue: Jesus College: 12-3.30 (all welcome) St Anne’s College: 3-5pm (event only for St Anne’s students) More venues tbc Any questions or if you want to volunteer with us, pop us an email at Oxford@ukmarrow.org

News In Brief Magdalen Tech Crisis

New Train Stations Oxford could be set to gain 2 new train stations by 2022.

The proposal would see the stations being constructed at Cowley and Oxford Science Park. The proposals were mentioned by Oxford City Council leader Bob Price at a meeting with Chiltern Railways directors at the Saïd Business School.

At present, the current station at the Science Park is unused and the Cowley stop at the city’s Mini Plant is for freight trains only. Chiltern Railways have pledged to look at developing a service between the sites once work to link Oxford’s new Parkway station to Oxford Railway Station has been completed.

Only one week into term and the 558 year old college has been forced to defend itself from a new series of aggressive malware attacks. Meanwhile the main JCR website remains down after the old database was written off as “Gone for good”.

Attempts to update the existing website had stalled after it became obvious that a completely new set up was needed. However this comes just as the college gears up to reallocate over 500 students’ rooms for next term. This has left students unable to browse or choose rooms whilst the college has refused to postpone the room ballot. This has been followed by another round of Oxford wide malware-infected documents. Students have been warned to be “wary”.

Facebook friends of no use An Oxford academic has discovered that your Facebook friends are unlikely to be very much use in an emergency.

Professor Richard Dunbar’s research included two surveys covering more than 3300 people in total; the results found that fewer than 3% of your friends would actually help you.

When asked how many of their Facebook friends they would actually turn to in the event of an emergency, across the two surveys the numbers cited by the respondents were very low.

The survey also found that people consider only 28% of their Facebook friends to be genuine friends. Its purpose was to assess whether or not using Facebook enabled people to have more friends. The full results of Professor Dunbar’s work can be found in the Royal Society Open Science Journal.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Investigation

10

Investigation Investigations Editor

Oxford spends approximately £5.6 million a year on encouraging prospective applicants to apply, whatever their background. One of the key target groups for outreach work is “first-generation” students, those who are the first in their family to attend university.

But are Oxford’s efforts to reach out to students from first-generation backgrounds effective, and, more importantly, does the support that the university offers to applicants continue effectively while the students are completing their course of study?

Lynton Lees is the head of the First Generation Students campaign, which was set up in Trinity last year. “We were looking for something like this, which acknowledged first-generation students, and there was nothing,” she said.

“And we were just like: ‘this is bonkers!’”

Image: Lynton Lees

Lynton Lees, head of First Gen campaign “There’s an enormous cross-over between first-generation students and those from other ‘atypical’ backgrounds, particularly socio-economic ones. All we were trying to do was provide something for students like us to come to if they wanted to, and to make the issue generally more visible and get a conversation going.”

“We did interviews with a whole load of different first-generation students, and so many of them talked about feeling excluded in some way or another.

Often it was just flippant remarks from other students or tutors about people

“I just have never felt like I really fitted in or “know” how to do university.

Everyone else’s parents for the majority have been to university. Its quite hard to go home and readjust.

I don’t feel like I fit in here but I also now don’t fit in at home” Respondent, OxStu survey of First Gen students

Image: Daniel Enchev

who live on council estates or live on benefits, but actually, that’s real life for a lot of people, and it makes you feel like you just don’t belong.

“Even if you’re not from less privileged socio-economic background, being the first in your family to go to university still makes you different in a lot of ways”.

In a survey conducted by the OxStu, over half of first-generation students said that they had felt “excluded or different” at some point during their studies at Oxford. Student comments tended to pick on “social situations” as times when they had particularly felt excluded, but many responses also referred to a more general “Oxford mindset” which they felt separate from. One respondent described how “First-gen students will apply to Oxford because Oxford is Oxford. Even if they didn’t do any outreach work or otherwise. I say this also as a student of colour. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard etc. will always attract first generation students, however once here you will always feel left out.”.

The Oxford First Generation campaign is not just the first of its kind in the university, but also in the UK. In the US, Ivy League universities including Princeton and Harvard have increasingly been involved with providing support for first generation students: at Harvard, there is not only a campaign, but a First Generation Students Union, Alumni Network and First Generation Programme which claims to “direct college awareness for first generation college students”.

According to Lynton, the campaign at

THE RESULTS OxStu survey of First-Gen students 55%

Of surveyed students have felt “excluded or different” because of being first generation

61%

Of surveyed first gen students recieve additional financial aid from their college or the university

27%

Of surveyed first gen students felt the university is unsuccessful at encouraging first-gen applications, with 22% feeling the university’s efforts are sucessful

Image: Daniel Enchev

11

The interviews: Oxford, one term in

FIRST GENERATION • Four first generation discuss how STUDENTS students they’ve found their first at Oxford IS OXFORD term • More could be done to help DOING first generation students ENOUGH?

Oxford’s accessibility to First-Gen students Laura Whetherly

Investigation

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

The first term at Oxford is never easy, but for students from a firstgeneration background, the split between home and uni life can be even more difficult to bridge. We talked to four first years, all from first-generation backgrounds, about their first term: what was easier than they expected, what was harder, and what it was like going back home for the first time.

Although most of our interviewees were generally positive, particularly about their experiences in their different individual colleges, most mentioned that they felt more could be done in order to help students who were first generation, or at least to provide a community where they were able to discuss their experiences with other students in a similar situation.

Image: cpBrown

Oxford has been increasing in popularity since it was founded in Trinity 2015.

“It’s really new, but even just over the summer, we had three hundred people join our network. Having a stand at Freshers’ Fair was great as well, because we had so many people coming up us and saying ‘yes! This is relevant to me!’.

Instead of a negative, people were approaching it as a positive, and it was really nice to see.”

“Often being first generation and all of the fantastic opportunities that come with it can have a price tag, and sometimes I’ve felt completely alien from my life at home. It’s not that being first generation poses a massive, awful problem, but it can be difficult, and it’s just good to know that there are others out there in the same position as you.”

“I think there’s still a sense that, in talking about first generation, you somehow are undermining the achievements of students who aren’t the first in their families to go to university, which just isn’t true. Maybe because there are often class and economic elements involved, people don’t really want to talk about it. There was more backlash than I expected – my favourite was when we got called a ‘circle jerk of faux oppression’ on the internet, because it’s just not true.”

So what can the university do to support first generation students – and is it doing enough? The response from our survey was split with exactly 50% of respondents on each side. Although the First Generation campaign has recently been working with the university on

access and outreach programmes, they do not have the financial support that similar campaigns do in the US, and are also a student-run project which will fold if future students do not step up to help lead it in the future.

A common theme in the responses from first-generation students was a sense of “but what can the University do?”. Lynton pointed out that the last thing that was needed was “patronising” actions on the part of Oxford University, and that there was also reasonable financial support (in the form of the Oxford Bursary and Moritz-Heyman scheme) for those students who needed it most.

“It can do little to correct the imbalance that it is not conscious of and never will be simply because of the place that it is”, said one respondent.

There’s clearly an issue at stake here how can you help first generation students when the problem lies far deeper than just putting more money into outreach programmes?

According to the First Gen campaign, the answer lies in opening up a conversation and making sure that first generation students aren’t forgotten.

But the responsibility for this should at least in part with the university, as has increasingly been the trend in the US, to begin this conversation and to make a particular effort to include first generation students in their access efforts.

Perhaps surprisngly, given the amount of money spent on outreach, many of those we spoke to said that the university had failed to really engage with them

“I have had no additional support or recognition as a first gen student. I have actively involved myself with programs such as Pathways to encourage other students from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter higher education. Programmes like this are incredibly useful, and I have really enjoyed being a part of it. However had I not been searching for this opportunity, I would know nothing about it.”

Respondent, OxStu survey of First Gen students

Image: Daniel Enchev

when they were 16 - 18, and failed to to make it clear that there were other first generation students studying at Oxford.

Increasingly, though, the University has been working in partnership with the First Generation campaign, and colleges including Trinity and Corpus have also been in conversation with the campaign. So, although there is much to be done, perhaps within the next few years we will see a shift towards the US model, where first generation students are specifically supported not just during their application, but through their entire course of study.

Katie Maguire University College, Classics “I hadn’t thought about Oxford until I went to one of the Oxbridge Conferences, which was so helpful in encouraging me to apply. I think access events like these are probably the best way encourage students without a university background to apply – it’s a way to let applicants know that there are other people there who are like you.”

“I’ve found Univ to be really inclusive and friendly, with a real mix of people, but I think it would have been better if there’d been something pre-arrival just to reassure me and my family.

“My parents were probably more worried about me coming here at the beginning of first term than I was, because they didn’t really know anything about how university works. It took a while to adjust at first, and I felt like there was lots of pressure on me.”

“My parents had worked so hard to help me get where I was, and I didn’t want to let them down.”

Gurdeep Mall New College, Law with French “There’s obviously a lot of crossover between students who are first gen and those from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. I’m on the Moritz-Heyman Scholarship, and that’s been really helpful, because it offers you a kind of support network as well as financial help, especially when you meet other people from your college on the scholarship.”

“Even so, there’s always a feeling of you being a minority which is really difficult to shake off. Over the holidays, friends and family didn’t always understand the pressure of work, or the fact that our long vacations are more like glorified study leave.”

“At college you can sometimes feel isolated too, but I think that it’s something you put upon yourself, a lot of the time because you’re scared of not being good enough.”

“I have some friends in a similar situation at New College who I met at the Uniq Summer School, and I think we’re all driven to prove ourselves and probably work harder than others.”

“There’s always a feeling of you being a minority which is really difficult to shake off”

Lizzie Shelmerdine Corpus Christi, English

Gurdeep Mall

“Neither of my parents went to university, and my mum didn’t even finish school. It’s just really different when you come from that background, especially when you’re talking to people whose parents both went to Oxford.

They just seem to be at home straight away. “ “When I went back for the holidays, people can’t sympathise with you. I went to a grammar school, but I still felt like I was just thrown in at the deep end with studying.”

“The idea that you’re asked opinions by your tutors and that you’re encouraged to question them is something that I really struggled with at first, because it just wasn’t how we were taught in school.”

“I’m not sure what the university could do to help, except just making sure that there’s some kind of community, or someone to talk to.

There are JCR officers who are always happy to help, but it would be good to have someone specifically to help you.”

“It took a while to adjust at first, and I felt like there was lots of pressure on me.”

Katie Maguire

“When I went back for the holidays, people can’t sympathise with you” Lizzie Shelmerdine

“Leaving for the second time made me realise just how much I’d been missing home, even just being around people with the same accent as me”

Clementine Smith

Image: Daniel Enchev

Image: Oxford First Gen

Clementine Smith St John’s College, French “I went to school at a state grammar near Belfast, and going home for Christmas was more difficult than I’d been expecting.”

“Leaving for the second time made me realise just how much I’d been missing home, even just being around people with the same accent as me.”

“There should be at least something aimed at helping first generation students adjust, because there seems to be some things that you’re just expected to know, like how to apply for bursaries.”

“I’ve found the social mix here to be much easier than I ever expected, and no tutors have made me feel unwelcome or anything like that.”

“There just doesn’t seem to be a lot in place to help students who are first generation.”

Many thanks to Katie, Gurdeep, Lizzie, Clementine, Lyton and all of the other first-generation students who responded to our call for interviewees

Comment 13

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Comment

America must not resist change Asta Diabaté Staff Writer

On 12th January, Obama found himself delivering the State of the Union Address for the last time.

In his speech the President discused the economic recovery, the Affordable Care Act, climate change, and America’s standing in the world. But most importantly he talked about the future of the United States. In not so many words his speech was a plea for the American people to question what they envision America to be and what being American will mean in the future.

His speech summarised what the 2016 US Presidential election will be about: a referendum on American national identity.

The President is right. The

United States is facing a period of change, with uncertainty looming over its security and the place it has in the world.

China, despite its current economic turmoil, seems to be growing stronger and stronger.

Technology is changing our way of life and inequality is growing instead of shrinking. The President calls for unity in the face of change, and for America to overcome the fear of change.

“

The United States is facing a period of change

That unity is long gone, something exemplified by how little Republicans applauded during the President’s speech.

It seemed that Republicans found little truth in anything the

Obama’s final State of the Union address: a time of polarised politics.

Image: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President said, even when he had facts to back up his claims.

Republicans may claim that the current state of affairs is caused at least on their side - by Donald Trump, the billionaire turned politician who argues with braggadocio that he will make America great again. Trump has insulted Mexicans by stating that they’re all rapists, and Muslims by proposing to register them despite the fact that this might be unconstitutional.

What differentiates Trump from his opponents is that he does not speak in code to appear politically correct. He insults, he shouts, and the Republican base applauds.

“

It can decide to ride the wave to success and emerge stronger

All of this is symptomatic of a polarisation so extreme that Republicans and Democrats believe their counterparts may lead the country to ruin. “…Democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesn’t work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice. It doesn’t work if we think that our political opponents are unpatriotic or trying to weaken America.” Those basic bonds

of trust have been broken.

The country now finds itself with Democrats trying to be as inclusive as possible, and Republicans trying to go back to the 1950s (as they have been doing since Nixon decided to go after the South.)

This is the real problem.

America is at a crossroads. It can decide to look back and resist change or it can decide to ride the wave to success and emerge as a stronger and more respected global power as a result. It can decide to lash out against the world and to target “people because of race or religion”, in direct contravention of its values, or it can show the world how open and diverse it can be. There is little room for compromise.

“We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the ‘dogmas of the quiet past’” said Obama. He was referring to the numerous instances when America has found itself confronted with change. Come November, Americans will have to decide which side to take in what looks more and more like a tribal conflict. They will be voting in a referendum on their national identity. History teaches us that the ways of the past tend to lose out — whether they like it or not — to the forces of change. The old ways lost the battle when Jim Crow laws were overturned in the 1960s. They lost again when women fought

for their rights and more recently when the Supreme Court struck down DOMA. Republicans are fighting a losing battle. Some will argue that they might lose this upcoming election and position themselves on the right side of change. This would lead to less polarised politics and to the restoration of unity within the Union. But politicians have short memories. The doubts the party had about itself after Romney’s defeat in 2012 were quickly forgotten when the Presidential election cycle started. In fact, the Republican Party of 2012 was far less polarised than it is now.

Obama may be optimistic

“

History teaches us that the ways of the past tend to lose out to the forces of change about the future. This time, I am certain history will be on the side of the Democrats, as it was on the side of Republicans in the 19th century. But for the polarisation to end the Republican party will need to be so drastically defeated that the only way for them to survive would be to become champions of progressive, not regressive, change.

Until then, I hope the Democrats will continue to win the White House.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Comment Alex Lupsaiu Staff Writer

In his last State of the Union address Barack Obama renewed his commitment to “use every element of national power” to support the United States’ allies, and to “mobilize the world” to tackle matters of global security.

Although this statement seems straightforward enough, it begs the question: who are America’s allies, exactly, and who is President Obama seeking to mobilize? In particular, who are America’s allies in the Middle East, where it has been heavily involved for over a decade? The answer to these questions may seem clear.

The US is opposed to various terrorist groups and nations in the region. These include groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah, and nations such as Iran and Syria. The US is allied with various nations, and militant groups. These include the nations of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, and Jordan, and groups such as the Syrian National Coalition (Syrian rebels opposing Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria). What is less clear is why the US has the allies and enemies that it does, and no justification was given during the address for the foreign policy objectives those alliances are meant to service.

As a matter of fact, the US chose

“

The US has puzzlingly attempted to take on all corners

Foreign policy is complicated in Syria, where fighting one enemy can indirectly strengthen another.

Image: Bernard Gagnon

its friends according to the pursuit of two policy objectives: promoting the end of authoritarian regimes in the region, and ending Islamic terrorist activity. Allies such as Turkey date back to the Cold War, and certain others, such as Saudi Arabia, may have emerged for economic reasons. These two objectives played a significant role in dictating the most recent US involvement in the Middle East.

The rise of the Syrian opposition against Bashar al-Assad’s regime gave the US an opportunity to attack the authoritarian regime in Syria without the use of US military forces, by simply arming the rebel opposition. For similar reasons, and with the added motivation of preventing nuclear proliferation, the US pushed for economic sanctions against Iran. As regards the objective of ending terrorist activity, the US, and to a lesser extent its European allies, have conducted military operations for over a decade, most recently and prominently against ISIS. Taken separately, both policy objectives and the alliances they have engendered may be evaluated on their merits. Some may argue that promoting regime change in any form has a destabilizing effect, while others may argue that the existence of authoritarian regimes only stalls sectarian violence, rather than eliminating it. Some may agree that terrorist activity must be stopped, but maintain that air strikes and drone campaigns are not an effective strategy. However, when both policy objectives are implemented concurrently, as they currently are, US foreign policy suffers a deeper problem. Namely, it is self-defeating.

Comment 14

Why the tangled web of US foreign policy is doomed to fail Politics

“

The only possible outcome is that one extremist group triumphs over another

Taking the conflict in Syria as a case study, consider the concurrent pursuit of defeating terrorist groups in Syria while promoting the decline of Assad by backing the Syrian opposition.

The Syrian opposition is fighting both Assad and ISIS, and so in backing the rebels the US appears to kill two birds with one stone. However, Assad’s Syrian governmental forces are also fighting ISIS. Therefore weakening Assad amounts to weakening one of ISIS’s chief opponents, and thus strengthens the terrorist organization. On the other hand, fighting ISIS helps strengthen the Assad regime, which is officially an enemy of the US. It might be hoped that both Assad and ISIS will devour each other, which would ultimately lead to victory by the Syrian opposition. However, this would also be a problem. An important ally to the Syrian opposition is al-Qaeda, or more specifically alNusra, the Syrian branch of alQaeda that has recently split with ISIS over ideological and strategic disagreements. Al-Qaeda has been a major US enemy for decades, and in strengthening the Syrian rebels the US strengthens al-Qaeda. Thus, victory by the Syrian opposition might do little to end terrorist activity, and may indeed strengthen al-Nusra. No

matter what option the US takes in Syria, it is destined to lose.

US policy in Syria is doomed to fail because it attempts to achieve two goals that are at this stage incompatible with one another.

The ending of the authoritarian Assad regime and the ending of terrorist activity in Syria cannot be reconciled since the success of one objective entails the failure of the other. Worryingly, this problem is not limited to Syria, but extends to US policy in the entire Middle East.

The problem is that there are multiple terrorist organizations that oppose one another for ideological reasons, and many of them are backed by competing nations in the region, all of whom have authoritarian regimes that use these groups to vie for dominance in the region. For instance, as the major Shia power, Iran supports Hezbollah, a Shia extremist group. In contrast, major Sunni power Saudi Arabia backs Sunni extremist groups, including al-Qaeda. Fighting Shia extremists, together with the nations that back them, such as Iran, de facto strengthens Sunni extremist groups, and the nations that support them, by weakening an important enemy. Furthermore, fighting Shia extremism, and in particular opposing Iran, has led the US to ally itself with Saudi Arabia and overlook Saudi funding of Sunni extremism. The point has been made repeatedly, but the current military conflict in the Middle East represents the most recent instance of an ongoing conflict between the Sunni and Shia branches of the Islamic religion, and the major powers in the region that

represent these branches. While the US has not taken sides in this civil strife, it has puzzlingly attempted to take on all comers.

The US has attempted to fight Shia extremists, Sunni extremism, Assad and Iran, all at once. But pending the incredibly unlikely rise of a truly democratic force in the region, the only possible outcome is that one extremist group triumphs over another, and that one authoritarian nation triumphs over another. Either outcome represents a failure according to current US foreign policy.

Should the US, or indeed the

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US policy in Syria attempts to achieve two goals that are incompatible with one another

West, pick sides? No, it ought to identify which groups in particular are a genuine threat to domestic security, and guard solely against them. It is widely thought that ISIS is such a threat, and indeed it represents a sort of odd duck. Since ISIS is specifically a Salafi Sunni extremist group, and is opposed to other Sunni groups such as alQaeda, it does not receive direct support from major Sunni powers.

Thus, attacking ISIS would not embroil us as deeply in regional conflict. However, effectively targeting ISIS would require a realignment of US alliances, and a change in its foreign policy.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Conservatives versus climate Rachel Dunne Staff Writer

At the Paris Climate Conference David Cameron declared “we should be taking action against climate change today”, but this virtue is not reflected in his domestic policy. In the eight months since their election the Tories have made drastic changes to the energy sector with far-reaching consequences.

These changes are troubling for any hopes of a sustainable future.

The appointment of Amber Rudd, climate change action advocate, to the role of Energy Secretary soon after the election led to some optimism. A few commentators observed that if Rudd and the Department of Energy and Climate Change were allowed to dictate climate change policy then things were looking up.

At the same time, they cautioned that if the Treasury overrode the department’s decisions then there could be problems.

It became clear that the latter was the case when Osborne released his summer budget. The feature most pertinent to the renewable energy sector was the end to its exemption from the Climate Change Levy. This move saw him insist, ludicrously, that producers of renewable energy pay a tax originally designed to give them an advantage over their less climate-friendly competition. When questioned about this baffling decision, he was

State school access: the problem begins before Oxford Max Clements Staff Writer

Oxford’s admissions process has been intensely criticised in recent months by the national media for failing to admit enough students from state schools. The Social mobility and Child Poverty Commission, in a report published in December, found that although Oxford increased its intake of state-educated students by six percent between 2003/04 and 2013/14, a further 24 percent increase would be needed in order to meet the target set by the commission. These findings, which come in spite of recent efforts to widen access to the University, have led to calls for Oxford to follow the examples set by other leading Russell Group Universities, including Bristol, UCL, Exeter and Warwick, by reducing A-Level requirements by up to two grades based on students’ contextual data. This is not, however, the best approach to improving access to Oxford.

Instead, schools and sixth form colleges must do more to encour-

Comment 15 Politics

keen to direct attention towards the Conservative’s desire for a strong deal at the Paris conference in December rather than their actual policy. This attempted misdirection is typical of the Conservative approach to climate change: on the international stage they strive for big, bold but, crucially, long-term emissions commitments, while back home their actions move us in the opposite direction.

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The UK is not the only developed country guilty of hypocrisy

A number of other changes to the renewables sector were announced in autumn, including a reduction of onshore wind subsidies – the only cut that actually appeared on the Conservative manifesto mandated by the voting public. Most disturbing were the ramifications for the renewables sector, with solar firms going bust and community projects having to be scrapped.

One such casualty of the Tories’ cuts was the Balcombe solar farm.

Originally intended to be the site of major fracking, the residents decided that instead Balcombe should be entirely powered by a new solar farm. An inspiring fundraising effort ensued and the community overcame a number of bureaucratic hurdles. Then, the age academically gifted students to apply to Oxbridge and more must be done to dispel the unhelpful stereotypes that dissuade state school pupils from applying here.

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More must be done to dispel the unhelpful stereotypes of Oxford

The state-private imbalance cannot be explained away by talking about Oxford’s admissions process or comparing attainment levels in private schools and state schools, because the main barrier between state school pupils and Oxbridge is rooted in a lack of emphasis on applying to Oxford and Cambridge in comprehensives. Having attended a comprehensive secondary school before moving to a grammar school for sixth form, I never considered applying to Oxford until I reached a sixth form which made me feel like it was a real possibility for anyone who could achieve the entry requirements. It was evident to me that my secondary school, despite in many cases possessing equally capable students and a similar quality of teaching, did not encourage the highest achieving students to consider applying.

The accusation that Oxford’s admissions process is failing

Present day US politics has a tendency towards Cameron’s new 12-seat extremism majority have moved quickly to change benefit policies The Conservatives’ climate change goals have not been reflected in policy.

Image: Harald Pettersen/Statoil

Tories ended tax breaks for solar projects in November, forcing local energy groups to pull out.

For Balcombe residents, the dream of an entirely solarpowered village was ended. In November, Rudd announced that the Conservatives aimed to close all coal-fired power plants by 2025.

However, rather than replacing these with renewable sources, they are to be replaced by natural gas and nuclear plants – a somewhat unsatisfactory and short-sighted solution.

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The UK’s façade of a strong commitment to climate action at the Paris Climate Conference has inevitably led to numerous accusations of hypocrisy.

Commentators were especially critical of Osborne’s scrapping of a £1bn fund for carbon capture and storage. Such technologies are likely to play a critical role in meeting COP21 targets. The conference, unfortunately, seemed to have no effect on the Conservatives’ harmful approach to climate policy: soon afterwards a 65 percent reduction in solar energy subsidies was announced. The usual explanation of reducing renewable energy producers’ reliance on government help was reeled out. However, the large and increasing subsidisation of the better-established fossil fuels sector in the UK

reveals that this is not the true priority.

The UK is not the only developed country that can be accused of hypocrisy. The overriding aim of the Paris treaty is to keep global warming well below two degrees, but countries’ individual commitments will lead to global warming of around three degrees.

Disparity between long term goals and short term action is, regrettably, a widespread global defect, and one that must be resolved if we are to succeed in combatting climate change.

Nevertheless, this does not make the anti-environment actions of the Tories any more excusable. If there is any hope of living up to Cameron’s impassioned declarations in Paris, the Conservative Party needs to rethink its domestic policy.

state school pupils is misguided.

Talk of contextual offers, by the media and by the universities themselves, serves only to patronise state school pupils and to perpetuate the unhelpful image of Oxbridge as unattainable, as well as potentially compromising the universities’ reputations for excellence. In truth, the problem lies with the assistance, or lack thereof, given to pupils by their schools and sixth forms in preparation for entrance tests and interviews, with private and grammar school students far more likely to receive this kind of advice than state school students.

The admissions process is not designed to be intimidating, and to make sure that it isn’t, all schools should have a system in place to

support students through it.

This is not to say there aren’t areas in which Oxford can and must improve. The University needs to ensure that the proportion of state school pupils to private school pupils remains similar across the colleges. Certain colleges need to improve more than others: Christ Church, Trinity, St Peter’s and University College are the worst offenders, all taking under half of their students from the state sector. As for access, the University already has a fairly extensive outreach programme, as colleges offer summer schools and send representatives to schools and sixth form colleges in various parts of the country.

Programmes such as these, which present Oxford as an inclusive

environment where students from any background can come and study, need to be expanded nationally to ensure that as many talented state school students as possible consider Oxford in the future.

Oxford cannot hope to meet the Commission’s targets for admission of state school pupils unless it sheds its false reputation as an elitist institute for privately educated students. This myth must be dispelled lower down the educational system, while Oxford’s outreach programmes should be implemented to their full potential to attract the best academic talent from the state sector.

This attempted misdirection is typical of the Conservatives

Colleges such as Christ Church take under half of their students from the state sector.

Image: Bloody-libu

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Screen

Screen

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NetflOx and Chill We watch it so you don’t have to!

Feature

James Riding Screen Editor

Image: Marie-Lan Nguyen

Remembering Alan Rickman (1946-2016) Ella Harold Staff Writer

Last week, one of Britain’s most recognisable and beloved actors passed away. Ella Harold pays tribute to an enormous presence both on stage and screen.

For a long time, you’d have been forgiven for associating Alan Rickman with the typecast “bad guy”. His career certainly started that way, with his seductive portrayal of the mordant villain Valmont in Christopher Hampton’s 1986 stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. His arrival on the film scene, too, saw him play a trio of baddies: he was Hans Gruber, Bruce Willis’ sardonic, cowardly rival in Die Hard; the cruel, corrupt Sherrif of Nottingham in Robin Hood; and Rasputin, the Russian mystic in the acclaimed 1995 film.

We know him best as Professor Snape, who prowled through the eerie corridors of Hogwarts and into our nightmares, perhaps with the occasional characteristic sinister swish of his cloak. Even in the feel-good Love Actually, his character Harry’s foolish endeavours led to one of the most heart-breakingly sad scenes in British cinema. Rickman’s part may not quite have been a villain, but Emma Thompson’s tearful

reaction to his gift of an “emotional education” and her devastatingly stoic attempt at self-preservation paint him as a very bad guy indeed.

But there was a very different side

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Rickman was a feminist, a philanthropist, a gentleman to Rickman. It’s a side that stood in complete contrast to his badguy roles, although we might have seen hints of it when he played the modest and honourable Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility. He was born, he said, “a card-carrying member of the Labour Party”, and devoted much of his time to helping others. He was highly involved with charities Saving Faces and the Performers’ Aid Trust, which support artists in developing and poverty-stricken countries. Just two months ago, he recorded the voiceover for a fundraiser video for Save the Children, “This Tortoise could save a life”, which went viral. Rickman was a feminist, a philanthropist, a gentleman. That he was never once nominated for an Oscar was not, for him, a cause of disappointment or offence. “Parts win prizes,” he said, “not actors”. He was also not one to flaunt celebrity.

He married Rima Horton in 2012 after fifty years together at a secret

ceremony in New York, far from any watchful media eye. Not many people were aware of his struggle with pancreatic cancer, or the stroke that preceeded it. He died surrounded by family and friends.

The first of J. K. Rowling’s hugely successful Harry Potter books began its transition from page to film long before the later installments were written. The directors, as they worked on the early films, knew no more about the plot’s eventual resolution than we did. Rickman, however, had the upper hand.

Rowling had entrusted him, and him alone, with the knowledge of the plot point that arguably explained the whole saga: Snape was a double agent. He had been working for Dumbledore all along.

Rickman was not playing a villain as such, he was playing a character who was playing a villain. “It was quite amusing,” recalls series producer David Heyman. “There were times when a director would tell Alan what to do in a scene and he would say something like, ‘no I can’t do that – I know what is going to happen and you don’t”. Rickman’s commitment to his part, to his art, was staggering. To watch the earlier films in the series and understand, with the benefit of hindsight, his hesitation, his lingering, the sadness in his glances, is to marvel at his artistry. He kept Rowling’s secret subtly, and absolutely. He convinced

us, as Snape convinced Harry, of his dark allegiances, and yet paved the way for the eventual revolution to be wholly believable. His role was perhaps more crucial to the Harry Potter films than any other, and he executed it masterfully. Rowling was not alone in thinking him a worthy confidant.“He was the ultimate ally,” said Emma Thompson, many-time colleague and long-time friend on Thursday. “I trusted him absolutely.”

“People create perceptions of actors based on the parts they played,” wrote Daniel Radcliffe in his personal tribute to Rickman.

Radcliffe’s intention – to tell the

For every great film that makes it to a multiplex or student society near you, roughly 500 woefully conceived, poorly executed or just plain bad ones are released into the vast wilderness of the internet. Thanks to the power of Netflix, we can now witness these debacles like never before - after all, as much as it’s worth thinking about what makes a good film good, it’s also worth considering what makes a bad film bad. And I’m not talking any old bad films: these are the worst of the worst, dredged from the darkest corners of the internet and dissected for your delight.“We drilled too deep!”

Jurassic Shark (Brett Kelly, 2012) is the kind of film that couldn’t have been more low-budget if it tried: a Jaws knockoff which looks like it was filmed on a VGA flip phone, hilariously trying to pass off a placid lake for a roaring ocean of “sand and surf ” and with titles that look like they were made in Windows Movie Maker. When our titular megalodon finally rears its rubbery head, it is hammier than a CGI cutscene from the first Tomb Raider game. For the rest of the film’s mercifully short running time, I found myself captivated by the weird dress-looking tank top one of the characters was forced to wear, and marvelling at Canadian director Brett Kelly’s shameless advertising of local beer. Did the company consent to having their product violated in this manner, or did Brett have some deep-rooted beef with them, and want to damage their business irreparably by associating them with this dreck? Yet perhaps my most surprising observation about Jurassic Shark was that several of its scenes pass the coveted Bechdel test, as our poor bikini-clad heroines make small talk about the recovery of a priceless painting which is somehow undamaged despite being at the bottom of the ocean. Does that make this otherwise objectifying mess of a film some kind of subversive feminist triumph? Nope.

This film is a triumph of nothing.

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His role was perhaps more crucial to the Harry Potter films than any other, and he executed it masterfully world what a nice man the face of Snape really was – was sweet, but unnecessary. We had long been captivated by him. We had already watched and noted the development of his prolific career. We had already been charmed by his deep sultry voice, which he said a drama teacher had likened to a sound “coming out of the back end of a drainpipe”. He was charismatic, distinctive, unique.

That Rickman was a wonderful man was something we all already knew.

‘Jurassic Shark’: We’re gonna need a better movie.

Image: Brett Kelly Entertainment

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Film: Out of touch with the reel world?

Luke Walpole

Screen Debate

Staff Writer

Filmmakers should switch to digital

Film should exist alongside digital

Technology is a fast-moving thing. Old newspapers were typeset by hand, whilst music has gone from chunky vinyl to pieces of data which float around the ether.

Technology progresses at an impressive rate, and as a society we are somewhat brutal in discarding anything which is considered surplus (looking at you, 5ive). Sure, some of us - myself included - own and cherish a vinyl player, but does anyone really covet their Betamax tapes? Does anyone really pine for the return of dial-up internet connection,or for terrestrialTVs which only show five channels? The answer for most of us, I suspect (hoarders aside, naturally) is no. It’s due to this principle that we need to thank ‘film’but now embrace the digital age.

Shooting pictures on film has an undeniably long and evocative history.

The deep focus which is the calling card of Orson Welles’Citizen Kane or the beautiful texture of The Godfather movies is testament to the merits of film. J.J. Abrams, a director who made his reverence for classic and tactile film-making in Star Wars: The Force Awakens plain for us all to see, commented to the Wall Street Journal that there’s “something about film that is undeniably beautiful, undeniably organic and natural and real”. Abrams is not alone.The release of Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight on 70mm and the Coen brothers’ decision to shoot their upcoming picture Hail! Caesar on film in order to achieve a contemporary aesthetic both form a defiant statement of intent. One which suggests film isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

All of this is well and good, and perhaps film will replicate vinyl as the purists’ choice of medium. However a broader switch to digital would be beneficial not just for filmmakers but also at the independent level, where wannabe directors will find it much easier to replicate the ‘industry standard’.

Equally,the likelihood is that if the great and good of Tinseltown convert to digital then technological improvements will come at a much speedier rate. Digital filming already has the benefit of immediacy, and although the transition to digital will not be instant, it is definitely a step that leading film-makers should take.

Shooting on film has become a novelty where it was once the industry standard.

Just two years ago,it had become common to call a movie shot digitally “a film”. Some even had the auadacity to qualify “digital film”. The term “film” no longer means anything to mass audiences except as the result of “filming”. Film, then, was forgotten. That is, until Christopher Nolan successfully campaigned to prolong Kodak’s existence. Film lives to see another day, but it continues to attract scepticism: what’s it worth? In light of Tarantino’s new 70mm film, I argue that it is important to maintain film in Hollywood practices.

Working on film requires great skill and talent.Film prints offer a range of deep and vibrant colours; digital cameras produce sterile grey-washed imagery. Film has a real presence in the cinema: you can feel its materialityasittickersthroughtheprojector, smell the burns on its reel, and sometimes even taste the dye couplers.Film forms the very fabric of cinema. Of course, it is not my desire that digital filmmaking practices perish. Digital filmmaking is an exciting prospect that offers new ways to tell stories and allows many amateur filmmakers opportunities to break into areas of the industry otherwise inaccessible to them.

However,there is no reason film cannot coexist with digital. Directors should be able to choose which medium through which they prefer to tell their stories rather than have it forced upon them.

Why, then, is digital filmmaking currently so dominant?The answer is often not informed by artistic decision. Nor has it been implemented at some filmmakers’ request. Digital was, in fact, introduced by businesses for businesses, as it makes distributing, transporting, projecting, and, for the most part, filming movies much easier than film.In film print, each frame is an exquisite image that can be closely studied. One of the true thrills of the cinema, one that must be preserved, is its ability to trick us into seeing movement as it physical moves through the projector to create the illusion of movement on-screen.

Film simply is one of the most astonishing things to behold.

The Hateful Eight, filmed on 70mm film, reignited the film vs digital debate.

Image: The Weinstein Company

Dickensian: What the Dickens?

Robin Geddes Staff Writer

Scrooge, Mr Bumble and Miss Havisham together at last – it was the best of times! For entertainment value, Dickensian has lived up to the hype, with the colourful array of characters providing comedy and drama, as one would rightly expect from such impressive source material and such a stellar cast. Yet for the hardcore Dickens fan, something has been lost in translation.

Let’s start off with the good things - it’s straightforward, enjoyable escapism. There’s a sense of home comfort, its debt to Eastenders, where series creator Tony Jordan made his name, evident. All the characters live together in the same street and frequent the same pub, and know each other like a close-knit bunch, as in Midsomer or Cranford. A host of recognisable faces bring something new to age-old

This Week At: Another Gaze What’s On

Daniel O’Neill

Staff Writer

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favourites like Nancy and Tiny Tim. Stephen Rea steals the show as Inspector Bucket, brilliant as ever with his intimately precise facial movements and enunciations, presenting a very Dickensian combination of humility and self-assuredness. Caroline Quentin as Mrs Bumble and Pauline Collins as Mrs Gamp stand out for their comic interventions.

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For the hardcore Dickens fan, something has been lost in translation The overarching plot of the series is actually a well-trodden TV storyline, surprisingly simple given the ingenuity of the premise. Jacob Marley is murdered, and everyone from Mr Bumble to Fagin is a suspect. Like all whodunnit specials from the shooting of Phil Mitchell to Mr Burns, various characters are given the motive and opportu-

nity, leading to a host of suspects. And this springboard for the drama is where the show falls down, at least for those already familiar with Dickens. Such is the wit and invention of the premise that it’s not clear how to engage with personalities retrofitted for this murder mystery.

The characters arrive in this story with a lot of baggage from their previous tales, and so they are often not properly developed through the actual events of the television show. In Dickensian, it’s not clear whether we are expected to bring all our prior knowledge to the table, and if so, how that impinges on our understanding of the characters’ narratives as they play out on screen.

Take Scrooge; is he an out-and-out villain, and to remain like that for the whole twenty episodes, or will he experience some Pauline conversion as in the original text? We know about his troubled childhood and romantic past from A Christmas Carol, but there’s little room for sympathy with the Eben-

Daunish Negargar Screen Editor

Another Gaze is a feminist and LGBTQIA+ focused film club which holds screenings at 8pm on Wednesdays in Somerville College Chapel. Mainstream cinema far too often neglects female, LGBTQIA+ and non-Eurocentric narratives, and we’re aiming to change that through the films we choose to screen. Our selection this term begins in Iran and ends in America.

For our second week screening (27th January) we’ll be showing Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons.

Released in 1988, it tells the tale of French aristocrats entangled in a web of passion and betrayal, showcasing the talents of the then relatively unknown Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman. Following on from this, our third week screening will be the 2014 documentary Mala Mala, exploring the lives of trans individuals living in Puerto Rico, starring April Carrion.

All are welcome to attend, learn and enjoy.

2nd Week Screening: Dangerous Liaisons Image: Warner Bros

Review

ezer on display here and it’s difficult to engage with such a hostile figure.

Dickensian may find it difficult to

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It’s a bright idea that might just run out of steam

sustain itself for ten hours of TV drama. It’s a bright idea that might just run out of steam. The episodic nature of the show is not helped by the BBC messing about with the scheduling – they’ve set a precedent for this with Bleak House and Little Dorrit. A brilliant twist on the standard period drama, Dickensian teeters on the edge of falling into a sketch show of figures from Dickens’ Rogues’ Gallery, a Victorian version of The League of Gentlemen played straight. For now, there is enough in Dickensian to keep watching, not least to find out who did it. My money’s on Mrs Cratchit.

Mr Bumble, one of the many characters to appear in Dickensian.

Image: Library of Congress

Music

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Music We knew a cracking Owl Sanctuary

gleeful madness, the sense that something strangely intimate was going on was undeniable.

Every shouted lyric, every failed dance move, every last glorious stage dive had to be savoured and enjoyed; venues like this are a rare breed which makes moments like this extra special.

But the allure of smaller venues and DIY shows stretch beyond dingy rooms with dodgy PAs. The true joy of the indie venue is the relationship that the institution has with the music. These venues are labours of love. Tim Hopkins, of Cellar fame, lives through music. His knowledge is expansive; his patience when dealing with inadequate promoters is endless (trust us on this); his commitment to the music is absolute. What truly makes the scene so special is how everyone chips in - punters,

musicians and promoters alike.

We don’t do this for money, which makes us a little vulnerable (and out of pocket). These venues are often in wealthy, downtown areas and the land they occupy is prime real estate. A combination of unyielding tenants and unreasonable noise regulations has seen many venues close, and threatens many more. Only last year we saw Manchester’s iconic Ducie Bridge close its doors.

The co-operative, who own the land, say that it could be ‘office space’ within the next few years.

This follows the closure of The Cockpit, in Leeds, and The Roadhouse (also in Manchester).

Gentrification of our cities is threatening the vibrant culture that made them so desirable.

The argument to keep indie venues is not solely based on bleary-eyed idealism, however, rather independent venues are a mainstay in making the touring of today and tomorrow’s musicians financially viable. The muchlauded American punk rock band Bomb The Music Industry! were famously reliant on independent venues to keep going. Despite recording all their music without a record label or producer, the Long Island band were able to remain a professional band because of the cheap ticket prices and smaller shows offered by these venues.

From a hard-nosed financial mindset (sorry), we can see that these venues are a necessity and not a luxury. To this end we need to work to prevent a repeat of what’s happened at The Owl Sanctuary - we want to make it clear that this will not happen in our city.

This brings us to Independent

Image: David Gourlay

Image: David Hallam-Jones

Image: Paul Tipping

Album Review: Blackstar - David Bowie

of what we have lost, but also what we should celebrate. For a while, their death paradoxically vivifies

What that means and why you should be outraged Adam Kellett Staff Writer

Take your eyes away from the Oxford bubble for a moment, and let’s transport ourselves to the exotic paradise of Norwich.

A local venue, the Owl Sanctuary, has been bought without the knowledge of its owner and is closing its doors on 31st January.

Over time, it has grown into a great DIY venue, which has found international acclaim thanks to its music-focused ethos.

The venue has become something of a pilgrimage for anyone in the alt-rock and punk scenes (to use this in extremely broad terms), and has helped launch many of the scene’s current big bands such as The Skints, Reel Big Fish and Neck Deep. The news of the awkward circumstances of the purchase of the venue, along with the likelihood of the Owl Sanctuary being bulldozed, has unsurprisingly created a backlash within the scene: a perfect

James Chater Music Editor

Edward Saïd once remarked: “The late works of artists are in but oddly apart from the present.” Something about a great artist’s work changes when they die. In an instant, they and their creations are plucked from the world of temporality and

demonstration of how highly people value venues like this.

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The venue has become a pilgrimage for anyone in the alt-rock scene In truth, these venues aren’t all that far removed from Oxford at all. Beneath the grandeur of the dreaming spires, the gloriously unregulated underbelly of the UK music scene ticks away. Here punks rub shoulders with grime producers whilst Balkan beats are fused with Jamaican grooves, all to the end of producing music that is as creative and progressive as it is obscure and mysterious.

From this thriving melting pot the stars of tomorrow are rising, and our city has led this assault.

From Stornoway to Radiohead, from Foals to This Town Needs Guns, Oxford has produced

committed to a domain that is, for all intents and purposes, timeless.

In the age of social media, our perception of this change is even stranger. For illogically, in the period following their death, when the artist is firmly rooted in our collective consciousness, they have never seemed so alive. Their songs, paintings, novels and poems permeate our screens, reminding us

critically and commercially successful bands in spades.

You get a sense of why our music scene has spawned such notable bands when promoting shows at these special venues.

Last November, we held our inaugural ska punk show within the hallowed confines of The Cellar. As the sweat dripped from the walls whilst the skankers and moshers moved in ever wider circles on the dancefloor, sucking the uninitiated into a vortex of

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Gentrification...in our cities is threatening their vibrant culture

“

Their death paradoxically vivifies our experience of their work.

our experience of their work.

What is initially strangest, is that when we speak of them, it can only be in the past tense. Simple perhaps, but we all know that the implication of this unassuming restriction is vast.

Amy Winehouse will forever have only written Frank and Back to Black,

and Beethoven will forever have only written nine symphonies.

Posthumous works are often apocryphally shrouded in mystery.

Because although we are acutely aware that the distinction of life and death is a binary one, there is a sense in which we think that the work has somehow cheated the latter. The sequence of events that have surrounded David Bowie’s death and the release of his twenty-seventh and final studio album Blackstar seem to indicate a self-conscious desire to aspire to this aim. The titles of the tracks – ‘Blackstar’, ‘Lazarus’, ‘I Can’t Give Everything Away’ – have gained an almost supernatural quality following his death. “Look up

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Venue Week, a week celebrating

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Independent venues are a necessity and not a luxury all the wonders of independent venues across the UK. Oxford is particularly blessed, with The Bullingdon, The Cellar, and The Jericho Tavern all producing gigs for local and up-and-coming talent year in, year out even with, in our experience, the difficulty of getting the University to give support: asking every college to put on a small set was met with a whopping six shows last term.

As small promoters promoting a relatively unnoticed scene, independent venues are the perfect medium for us to exhibit the new bands we love. All three venues have gigs on during Independent Venue Week, which we highly recommend going to for a heady cocktail of scenesupporting, feel-good vibes, and excellent music. We have mainly worked with The Cellar, but have attended The Bullingdon and The Jericho and can attest to their brilliance as venues.

See if a band you love is playing, or come down and find something new: either way, you’ll have a whale of a time and maybe rekindle the love for live music that we believe exists in everyone.

Joe and Adam run Dreaming Squires Promotions. Independent Venue Week is running from Monday 25th to Sunday 31st January.

Image: Amazon

here - I’m in heaven”, he sings.

It would be easy to label someone who turns their own death into art hubristic. Yet with Bowie, whose life resembled an artwork perhaps more so than anyone else, nothing could be further from the truth.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Music 19

Top artists to watch in 2016 • The SSS, RATBOY, Hinds, Gengahr, Two Door Cinema Club and Nai Harvest are the names to look out for in 2016 Bethany Kirkbride Music Editor

The start of a new year is always a good time to have a bit of a clearout, by donating any clothes that have sat in the bottom of your wardrobe all last year to charity, and getting rid of any films or CDs you’ve outgrown. You can almost justify buying yourself new stuff.

The start of a new year is the perfect time to update your iTunes library with promising artists for the year ahead. The following list is a selection of some familiar and not-sofamiliar faces that you’re bound to hear a lot about in 2016.

The SSS

Brooding, pensive, mysterious just three words which you might use to describe the live presence of Sheffield band, The SSS. Their sold-out hometown show last year was a testament to the care taken in the band’s music; releasing a single here and there, their catalogue is growing into a carefully composed discography – any of which have the potential to be big hits, if only the band secure themselves some airplay.

The release of their EP Love.

Lust. Loss last year only added to the band’s blossoming cult status. Branching out from the familiar territory of Sheffield’s music venues, The SSS have been gracing other major cities in the UK with their presence, from London to Aberdeen.

Maybe this is the year that they’ll break into the bigtime?

Who knows? Watch this space.

RATBOY

Jordan “Essex” Cardy, also known as RATBOY has exploded onto the scene since the release of

his mixtape back in 2014. Since then he’s been booked for the NME awards tour, and will play alongside Bloc Party, Drenge, and Bugzy Malone. Whilst he’s by no means a newcomer on the scene, he’s a highly talented artist you should keep your eyes on this year.

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There’s chaos to be found at his live shows

Cardy’s knack for capitalising on the disillusionment many young people feel with the Tory government and his infectiously catchy lyrics “young, dumb, living off Mum” are his main appeal.

With a sloppy delivery style similar to Jamie T, there’s chaos to be found at his live shows. Fans can expect RATBOY ’s debut album this year, so keep your eyes peeled for anarchy near you.

Hinds

Spanish pop quartet Hinds released their debut album Leave Me Alone at the turn of the new year. It’s a captivating record which oozes strong feminine charm. From the jangly guitar in the song ‘Garden’ to the slightly grungier sounding track, ‘Castigadas en el Granero’, there’s a smorgasbord of sounds and emotions evoked by this record, which combine to highlight just how talented Hinds are.

2016 will see the girls touring with the album – they’ve already sold out a number of shows – so if you’re a fan of the angst of bands such as Blondie and the Runaways or you just want a good excuse to shout your heart out, get yourself down to one of their live shows.

Image: Glassnote

Gengahr

North London band Gengahr released their debut album A Dream Outside through Transgressive Records on June 15th last year. It boasts romantic, intoxicating melodies like ‘Heroine’ and ‘She’s A Witch’ which beg the listener to lay down on their bed and immerse themselves in the captivating vocals of frontman Felix Bushe.

Bushe’s mellow vocals have the same lingering quality as Orlando Weeks of the Maccabees fame, yet Gengahr’s sound remains distinctly their own.

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Gengahr’s sound remains distinctly their own

Emotionally fragile narratives paired with assertive groove is a tried and tested recipe for success, and it looks like 2016 could be the year that

Gengahr really take the festival scene by storm, cementing themselves as a household name.

Two Club

Door

such a radical change in sound from their first to second album.

Nai Harvest Cinema Also from Sheffield, lo-fi duo

Although this Irish band are far from new, having been on the scene since they formed back in 2007, 2016 looks set to be a good year for TDCC fans as there is the promise of new music.

The band have been quiet since 2012 when they released their second album, Beacon, an album which saw the duo transform into indie-disco stars as they cast off the bashful nervousness of their debut, Tourist History.

The new release might include some collaborations, with the band’s bassist, Kevin Baird, telling a local Irish paper: “Collaborations are always something we’ve seen merit in and if it’s the right person for the right thing, then definitely.”

If that’s what’s happened with the new record then it will be interesting to hear the direction the band have gone in, after

Nai Harvest (made up of Lew Currie on drums and Ben

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The energy that emanates from this two-piece is bordering on unbelievable Thompson on guitar/vox) released their sophomore album, Hairball, last year. Emerging from the MySpace emo scene in 2011, the band’s sound has expanded to incorporate aspects of shoegaze, indie and altrock, and the effect is incredible.

The energy that emanates from this two-piece is bordering on unbelievable, so if you get a chance to see them this year you definitely should.

Spotify: Brit Award Predictions Best female solo artist: Jess Glynne

Image: Robin Pope

Best male solo artist: Mark Ronson

Image: Nguyen Thu Nhi

British group: Foals

Image: Neil Krug

British breakthrough act: Wolf Alice

Image: Emily Cheng

Best album: 25 - Adele

Image: Amazon

Art & Lit

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Art and Lit In Defence of Art Rosie Collier

Art and Lit Editor Throughout school peers and some teachers never considered me as ‘intelligent’ and ‘brainy’ but I was ‘creative’, and ‘artistic’. There’s no doubt this is a gender issue: where boys are more likely to be described as brainy and intellectual girls are creative and imaginative, and this division manifests in their subject choices and decisions. To take maths as an A Level subject make you smart. To take Art makes you creative. Not only does this correlate with the gendered pattern of who takes art as a subject, but it is also because art is perpetually dismissed and degraded as a ‘soft’ subject.

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To take maths as an A Level makes you smart.

To take art makes you creative.

It is perceived as requiring little intellectual engagement and is nowhere near as demanding as solving equations and performing chemical experiments. It is so regularly met with prejudice in national media, and if you enter “art” into a Google search engine, the question ‘is art a soft subject?’ is one of the first to crop up. At points of making GCSE and A Level subject decisions I was bombarded with rumours that no top universities would take a look at me if I had art as a subject. Even my own father, the most creative person I know, a man who dragged me around art galleries since I was little, would encourage me to draw since the day I could hold a pencil, and covered

the fridge in Pre Raphaelite post cards from the National Gallery gift shop, was anxious that taking art for A Level would “close doors” and limit future opportunities. This is an apprehension one can understand: we live in an age where the art world is attacked by government cuts and receives nowhere near enough funding. It is constantly met with prejudice by government ministers and depicted as a “less significant” aspect to the national curriculum. Around the time of sixth formers applying to university newspapers are guaranteed to expose what subjects to avoid if you want to gain a place at a prestigious Russell Group; one of them, of course, being art. As a result school careers advisers, teachers, parents and children latch on to these messages that permeate throughout the media and we enter a cycle of art prejudice.

The truth is, and something I only came to learn after I cowardlily abandoned Art after AS level, partially out of my personal struggle to prove to people I could take a difficult subject and I was “clever” and also out of a slight fear that I would close those doors I believed were so present- is that Art as an academic subject does not limit future opportunities. In fact, and more importantly, the value of art extends beyond that written on my GCSE results sheet. I’ve met many individuals, and indeed some of my closest, most creative and most intelligent friends with art as an A Level in Oxford and beyond who have in no way been penalised or discriminated by their A Level decisions. More than “closing doors” it equips the person with a critical way of thinking and demands the capacity to be challenged. It enables the ability to reflect, to create and

to think in ways you never thought were possible.

Rather

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Rather than a ‘soft’ subject, it was in contrast my most demanding.

than a ‘soft’ subject, it was in contrast my most demanding. This intensity it entails is perhaps a reason I wasn’t cut up for taking it on an extra year. Art requires a level of emotional investment and for an eighteen year old balancing essays, pressure of A grades and friendship problems I was incapable to deal with this emotional component to the subject. The necessity to pour yourself into the artistic form and dedicate yourself emotionally was something I shamefully didn’t feel quite capable of doing. Unlike the

feeling of finishing a History essay, there was no switch off from the omnipresent demands and constant modes of thinking. Yet it is this that makes art so vital as an academic subject. There is no passive relationship between student and teacher, and it demands levels of communication and interaction that would never be seen in a maths classroom (although I haven’t set foot in a maths classroom since the age of 16 so feel free to challenge me on that one). The sharing of ideas, the discussions of forms and the daily challenges and discoveries make art a subject in which the individual can develop both emotionally and intellectually.

The way art interrelates with different forms: literature, history and politics demands a level of intellectual engagement. These intersections provide a platform in which art can encompass social and

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political issues, intertwining these with its aesthetic beauty. A year on from taking my A Levels and dropping the subject altogether, I continue to engage myself in the artistic process; submerging myself in creating, visiting galleries and writing about art. It is a subject that never really leaves you. To deny it academic credibility is to deny the feeling and sensation it can evoke in the individual. It is to deny the significance of its contribution to society and it is to deny the struggles and the emotional investment put in by the individual. The value of art reaches beyond the value of any GCSE or A Level grade.

The OxStu is looking for Fine Artists to profile and publicise, so email us at oxstu.culture@gmail.com if you are interested in being featured! A touch of celebrity never goes amiss.

Spectacles: a memoir The faceof of poetry with parts her lifeis ischanging very much controlled. On occasion, the reader is even offered a script for their virtual Staff Writer re-enactment. Her most recent Sue Perkins’ memoir, Spectacles, is professional endeavour filming ‘The a hilarious yet poignant journey World’s Most Dangerous Roads’, through life of the bespectacled half all be it entertainingly recounted at of one of our favourite comedy duos. the end of her memoir, does leave Our narrator is just as theatrical you trudging through a treacle like and playful in print, in a beautifully narrative comprised of successive written work which delights in anecdotes, recounted in what seems its tales of joy, pain, the brilliant to be real-time. and the utterly embarrassing, all complete with Sue’s childhood drawings, and animated with little dialogues between herself and the Sue Perkins brilliantly cast of her life so far. endows her memoir The book itself is swaddled in an with a rawness and frank elegant ivory cover, decorated with her famous jet black quiff, beauty honesty spot, and, of course, the namesake spectacles themselves. The sparsity Yet, whole areas of her life, of its appearance is mirrored in a which must have greatly moulded frequent denial of specificity where her, such as university and being it is most important; its title in the President of Footlights are only sometimes blinkered and skewed touched upon. They are given no lens lent to the reader. Her writing, more than a few, curt splodges of and the attention paid to certain ink which primarily focus on other

Olivia Lynch-Kelly

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the growthorof casts slam poetry students, a momentary silhouette of a very general, student existence. It seems to be referenced purely for the sake of chronology, before she swiftly leaps into her next anecdote. Perhaps her denial to talk about this comes from her modesty, and unwillingness to acknowledge her brilliance, both academically and as a comedian.

However, I felt that the odd skewing of perspective and telling of events came from a desire to conceal moments of great privilege in her life. Sue’s unemployment and mentioning of her home town, Croydon, so frequently referenced, come across more as little verbal weights employed to tip the scales away from acknowledging a life peppered with wonderful moments of privilege and success, and as such feels a bit laboured and staged. She comes across as slightly embarrassingly inauthentic in her yelps about South London, which seem more like the product of embellished stereotype than actual

experience. Indeed, it’s moments like these that disappointed slightly as she seems much more concerned with how she will be remembered rather than honestly depicting the memories themselves.

Having said that, Sue Perkins brilliantly endows her memoir with a rawness and frank honesty on many occasions. She deals with her father’s cancer, the eccentricity of her parents, break ups and breakins in a way which doesn’t overload the reader with information yet masterfully manages to capture sentiment and pain. Indeed, the memoir is quite novel in how it creates a sense of familiarity between the reader and those who have made up her life. We are presented, at the beginning, with detailed sketches of personalities, who are then developed in the careful cataloguing of stories. They cease to be the puppets through which her life is told, and come to seem just as quirky and hilarious as our narrator.

Art & Lit

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

For your leisure...

Landmark my face has the sullen implacability of a cow, fallen over in a field in Devon. lips, rich to a thickness, that is not quite reached. my eyes amongst the white, sleep heavy, dark holes in the snow.

I could be a skull, I, cheekbones of androgyny, nose like a bill hook teeth, pegs clunky and biting like stones in my mouth. dentures like a tombstone, or so my grandmother would say. it’s the queer ugliness of the smile that gets me, that sweetness there the childish hopefulnesswith a hint of red, the piggy eyes, the vast expanse of forehead, a territory waiting to be conquered at great expense. my face, a map my nostrils, stars flaring to a river of gold, I scent the chase I was sent to discover, white musk, on fox gloved skin.

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Notes from a Gulag: Varlam Shalamov Felix White-Thomson Staff Writer

Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982) is probably the best-known Gulag writer after Solzhenitsyn, spending twelve years in labour camps. He wrote lots of short stories about his experiences.

This one is from his collection The Resurrection of the Larch, and describes his arrival at a remote prison camp.

The Berth of Hell (1967) The heavy doors of the hold opened before us, and we slowly ascended the narrow iron stairs, one by one, to the deck. The guards were arranged in a thick line along the railing at the stern of the steamboat, rifles aimed at us.

But no one paid any attention to them. Someone shouted, “Hurry, hurry.” The crowd pushed around like on any station platform. The way ahead was only visible to the one at the front – along the rifles to the wide ramp onto the barge, and from the barge by another ladder to the ground. Our voyage had finished. Twelve thousand people had been brought along on our ship, and until they were discharged there was time to look around.

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Cold, drizzling rain fell across the dark, offwhite, monochromatic sky

After the hot, autumnally sunny days in Vladivostok, after the pure colours of the far-eastern sky at sunset - immaculate and bright, without halftones and transitions, remembered for a lifetime...

Cold, drizzling rain fell across the dark, off-white, monochromatic sky. Bare, treeless, greenish stone mounds stood right in front of us,

and in the clearings between them at their very feet curled shaggy, dirty grey, broken clouds. They covered this dark, mountainous region like the shreds of a huge blanket. I remember well: I was quite calm, ready for anything, but my heart was hammering and clenching involuntarily. And, looking away, I thought - we were brought here to die.

My jacket slowly got wet. I sat on my suitcase, which, by my eternal

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The world here was unfriendly and gloomy human vanity, I had seized from my house during my arrest. We all had our things: suitcases, backpacks, folding blankets…

Much later, I realised that the perfect outfit for a prisoner was a small canvas sack with a wooden spoon in it. Everything else, be it a pencil stub or a blanket, only hinders you. We learned to hold everything in contempt, even personal belongings.

I looked at the steamship clinging to the pier, so small and swaying in the grey, dark waves.

The dark silhouettes of rocks surrounding the Nagaevo bay stood out through the grey mesh of rain, and only there, from where the ship had come, could the endless, bumpy ocean be seen, like a great beast, lying against the shore, sighing heavily, with the wind ruffling its fur, damp from the scaly waves, shining in the rain.

It was cold and scary. The hot autumnal brightness of the colours of sunny Vladivostok remained somewhere out there, in another, real world. The world here was unfriendly and gloomy.

There were no residential buildings anywhere in sight. The only road, enveloping the hill, went away upwards somewhere.

Tales of a Mystic Tristan Wilson Art and Lit Editor

Islam has a negative reputation here in the West; and whilst Western views of Islamic societies are often prejudiced and caricatured, grounded in a certain unwillingness to engage with the nuances of Islamic tradition, it is certainly true that the Annie Hayter Islamic governments of places such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen, amongst others, are incredibly repressive with regard to age-old vices such as the The Oxford Student is looking for consumption of alcohol and ‘unholy’ carnal passions such as fornication talented poets to submit original or homosexuality. content for the Art & Lit section; Islam does not have to be like this, however; the Salafi/ whether you are a prolific poet or an occasional scrawler, get in Wahhabi doctrine from which the touch with us at oxstu.culture@ aforementioned governments derive their interpretations of the Sharia’a gmail.com! is predicated on a faulty reading of the Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophet, and over the course

of Islamic history many Muslims have turned away from such conservatism.

The Persian Sufi mystic and poet known as Rumi was perhaps the chief exponent of that kind of alternative, more esoteric worship of God, and his differing behavioural codes, which earnt him and countless Sufis since terrible persecution in the more conservatively Islamic societies of the time, provide an insight into the diversity and multi-faceted nature of the religion. Rumi used grand, beautiful images of love and passion to characterise his relationship with a God whose denizens are generally seen as overly ascetic and sexually repressed by Westerners.

Rumi’s followers were known, for example, to drink wine in order to attain a state of contemplative contentment, and several Sufis, in contrast to mainstream Islamic

Finally the unloading was completed. It was already dusk, and the unit slowly moved into the mountains. Nobody asked anyone anything. A crowd of wet people crawled along the road, often stopping to rest. The suitcases became too heavy, their clothes wet.

Two turns in the road, and then next to us, on the ledge of the hill overhead, we saw rows of barbed wire. People were pressed against the wire from the inside.

They were shouting something, and suddenly loaves of bread flew at us. The bread was thrown over the wire, we caught it, broke it and shared it out. Behind us lay months of prison, forty-five days of train journeys and five days at sea. We were all hungry. No one had been given money for the trip. The bread was eaten greedily.

One lucky man, caching the bread, shared it between everyone who wanted it, showing a nobility from which we permanently lost the habit three weeks later.

We were all led further along, higher up. The rest stops became more frequent. And there were the wooden gates, barbed wire, and within it rows of rain-darkened canvas tents - white and light

schools of thought, saw alcohol as an aid to the achievement of fana, the “annihilation of the self ”. Rumi speaks in his poetry of spiritual ecstasy induced by alcohol, whilst he uses images of love between humans, or even between animals, to evoke an idea of his love for God. Central to the Sufi experience is not the intellectual love and veneration of God which mainstream Islam espouses, but direct, immediate experience of God; it is this characterisation of a relationship

green, enormous. We were divided up, filling one tent after another.

The tents had a wooden doubledecker bunk-bed system - one bunk for eight people. Everyone took their place. The canvas leaked and there were puddles on the floor and benches, but I was so tired (and everyone was as tired as I was – from the rain, the atmosphere, the transport, soaked clothes, suitcases) that, curling up somehow, not even thinking about getting my clothes dry, or indeed where to dry them, I lay down and fell asleep. It was dark and cold.

You can read more of Felix’s work at http://yetanotherdropintheocean. blogspot.co.uk - he is on his Year Abroad in Russia and regularly translates short stories from Russian.

Varlam Shalamov was imprisoned shortly after the war for counterrevolutionary Trotskyist activities; during his 5 years in the Gulag he amassed enough experiences for his Kolyma Tales, which were f inished in 1973, and he died in 1982. between God and the world which have led Sufis to be ahead of their time in regarding sex as, to use the phrase of the Reformist Salafi Ziauddin Sardar, “natural and wholesome”. Modern, mainstream commentators are starting to come round to the Sufi way of thinking, with several thinkers such as Sardar and Tariq Ramadan taking a more liberal attitude to issues of sexual morality, whilst (perhaps understandably) criticising the excess to which Westerners sometimes go.

Rumi’s poetry might seem distant to the secular ear; intensely mystical, full of raw feeling for God and a kind of piety which still manages to appreciate the mundane, for even the mundane is part of God; and with the proliferation of yoga, trantric practice and New Age theology in the Western world, perhaps Rumi will come more into the spotlight too.

Rumi’s poetry can be found in Blackwell’s of Broad Street.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Stage

On Alan Rickman’s philosophy of theatre Opinion

Alice Robinson Staff Writer

After the tragic news of Alan Rickman’s death hit, a certain quote started doing the rounds on social media: “When I’m 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I’ll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, ‘After all this time?’. And I will say, ‘Always’.” Yet, as lovely as this image is to contemplate, and whatever poignancy it lends to his untimely death at 69, it has been discovered to be a misattribution. But let this mistake not overshadow some of the fantastic things that Rickman did say, particularly: “Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.”

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Actors are agents of change.

A film, a piece of theatre... can make a difference Now this is a claim often made by those, like me, who love theatre so much they continually try to persuade others to come along with them and enter the magical world of the lights, the costumes, the set, the stage. But can theatre, which is of course only seen by a limited number of people, really change the world?

Modern technologies such as National Theatre Live cinema broadcasts have certainly helped, open-

ing up theatre productions such as Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet, Tom Hiddleston’s Coriolanus, and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Everyman to far larger audiences than ever before. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London has also been bringing its own Hamlet to every country in the world over the past three years as part of its Globe to Globe tour.

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To truly change the world through theatre I feel we need some newer political dramas...

These particular plays, however, all of them well-known shows dating from around the Renaissance period, are perhaps not the best example of how theatre changes the world. Yes, Carol Ann Duffy’s interpretation of Everyman did pick up on the contemporary themes of waste and the environmental issues; and indeed Globe to Globe has achieved much during its travels, bringing the play and its universal themes of family and the pains of being human to countries which haven’t seen live theatre for years. But to truly change the world through theatre I feel we need some newer, political dramas as well.

For this we could look perhaps at the recent trend of plays focusing on little known historical players, attempting to rewrite the past by bringing the public’s attention someone who had previously been

Preview: Rent Alex Taylor Staff Writer

Loosely based on Puccini’s opera ‘La Bohème’, Rent is an intense musical, set in the gritty deprivation of 80s New York.

Larson’s lyrics convey a diverse array of emotions and hard hitting issues such as AIDS, addiction, poverty and the deaths of loved ones; it’s a lot to take on. But the sheer energy on display at the preview suggests to me that the cast and crew of this term’s Oxford Playhouse production of Rent are not shying away from such a mammoth task. In fact, they’re relishing it.

This student production has decided not to change the original setting. I was sceptical, but producer Nicole Evans explains that so many of the issues are integral to the setting, plus it’s the 20th anniversary and in some ways a bit of an homage to the original

production.

Director Georgia Figgis is the main source of energy for this production, pushing her cast to create their own identities, and interpret the music without the aid of Broadway or film recordings.

She has encouraged each member of the cast to be spontaneous, and give real feeling to each of the songs, to avoid cliché and a bland production.

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They’re not shying away from such a mammoth task.

In fact, they’re relishing it The fabulous title number ‘RENT’ is big, bold and packed with energy: its here you really appreciate the detail in her direction, and how naturally the cast interact. Choreographer Ed Addison has provided a new lease of life to the musical; his

Stage 22 forgotten; The Scotsboro Boys is a great example of this, (dealing with the experiences of nine African-American teenagers wrongly accused of rape) as is Photograph 51, starring Nicole Kidman as Rosalind Franklin. Other examples include the RSC’s Oppenheimer, about the creator of the nuclear bomb; the Globe’s Blue Stockings, focusing on the first women to go to Cambridge; Dr Scroggy’s War, celebrating Harold Gillies, the father of plastic surgery; the hip-hop inspired Broadway musical Hamilton (after Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers). Aptly showing at the Theatre Royal Haymarket (the theatre founded by the play’s protagonist) is Mr Foote’s Other Leg, about the one-legged actor of the eighteenth century, Samuel Foote.

By putting these people to the forefront, writers can hope to broadcast these historical achievements and biographies to a larger audience, providing both remembrance and inspiration. An Inspector Calls

by J.B. Priestley, so often studied at GCSE, also attempts to change people’s perceptions this time through an extreme social example, whilst in Skylight David Hare allows his characters to debate in order to make us think about our society.

Now, these are all great examples of theatre-makers’ attempt to change the thoughts and therefore the behaviour of their audience, and there are countless more, but really what I think Rickman is saying is that, everyone has their own potential theatrical ‘moment’ out there. No one can tell exactly when and where you might find it, although as theatre critics we criticise the techniques, the directorial decisions, the acting, the proficiency of it all. Despite all this, even if a piece of theatre – univerperceptive choreography and movement throughout gives a more emotional take on the classic songs. The sensitive choreography of the beautifully performed ‘Without You’ (Eleanor Shaw’s voice is breath-taking - her simple performance as Mimi will have you in tears) is moving and changes what is traditionally a transition song into a highlight of the show.

Everyone’s favourite, ‘Take me or leave me’ is sexy and angry, with Kitty Murdoch’s Maureen owning the stage with her sass and rich voice. The sensational musical veteran, Annabelle Mutale Reed, matches Murdoch with a formidable portrayal of Johanne. Their chemistry on stage is riveting; as they bounce off each other it is clear that the casting has come into its own for this pairing.

Holding up the show is the narrative role of Mark, portrayed

by Connor Diamond, who has reinvented the typically soppy or ‘vanilla’ role. Instead he’s witty and engaging, using Mark as the fourth wall. I was particularly struck with his masterful performance in the ‘Tango Maureen’, navigating comedy and difficult music with apparent ease – he has also

Image: Marie-Lan Nguyen

sally criticised by all but one audience member - affects this one person, it has still changed the world.

And theatre is uniquely placed to do this, by placing its viewer within a whole world of sounds, sights,

even smells, which exaggerates the effect of its message upon the watcher. Rickman is right, a piece of theatre can make a difference. It can change the world – even if that is the world of only one person.

Image: Lena Garrett

conquered the American accent seamlessly.

The strength of the cast’s vocals, their energy and their real interaction and understanding of the issues dealt with in the show is palpable.

I can’t wait to see them perform ‘La vie boheme’- I have a feeling that it will definitely be the one to look out for, giving the cast the

opportunity to explode on stage and relish the wittiness of Larson’s lyrics. I’m glad that I’ve booked my ticket already.

Verdict

I’m completely sold. I’m certain that Rent will wake up your dull and wintry January.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

THESPS’ DREAM ROLES

The Fastest Interview in the Universe...

Image: Sarah Ackerman

It’s difficult to pick! Ironi cally, I’d pick the Phantom himself, both for the glorious tenor lines and the fascinating, tortured character.

Otherwise, Jean Valjean is tough to beat!

Jack Morris

The Fastest Clock in the Universe (2nd Week)

Interview

Interview

Stage Editor

Phantom of the Opera (5th Week)

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Chloe St. George Laurence Jeffcoate

Stage

Q:

Hello! Who are you and what have you got on this term?

A:

I’m Alexander Hartley, and I’m directing The Fastest Clock in the Universe, which is on at the BT Studio in second week. It’s a dark, claustrophobic, overwhelmingly nasty play, so if that sounds like your cup of tea, then come along for some bedtime brutality. 7.30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, second week.

Q:

What’s so great about black box theatres? Does it work especially well with this play?

A:

Everyone talks about how you can’t hide anything at the BT. That goes for the set, the actors, and the audience. We haven’t got all that much by way of staging tricks—the whole set is clearly laid out from the beginning, it’s quite transparent: a cluttered flat. The actors are so close to the spectators, it’s like a constant close-up for two hours—it’s almost cinematic. So it’s very intense, and the actors have got

nowhere to hide: every detail of their performance is going to be seen and picked up on. The third aspect, and the most exciting, is that the audience have got absolutely nowhere to run, and that’s why the BT is perfect for this play. We want the audience to get swept up in the nastiness, in the cruelty, to be so close to it and unable to run away. In many ways it’s an unsettling play, an unsettling experience.

Q:

You’ve decided to cast a woman in the role of a boy. Do you think that more casting should be done ‘gender blind’ as Emma Thompson has said, or would it not always work?

A:

I don’t know about ‘gender-blind’ casting: everyone is constrained by the various prejudices socialised into them, and it’s dishonest to pretend you can ignore those prejudices when casting. More honest is to try to face up to them and work against them. Casting a girl to play a boy is a political action, but so is casting a boy to play a boy. In this case, there is so much in the play about sex and gender—there’s a male character who is utterly uncomfortable, in fact unable to speak, when there is a woman in the room—and by

casting Emily to play a boy we’re trying to develop and comment on these ideas that are already there in the play. But the audiences will be free to make what they will of that.

A: Q:

Why do we enjoy watching violence and the deranged on-stage?

That’s a question with pedigree! We love to watch violence partly, I think, because it’s not happening to us, it’s happening to someone else. If the play’s any good, we’re getting caught up empathetically in what’s going on, so you feel like it is happening to you, but then you get to stand up at the end and dust yourself down and you’re fine. It’s like virtual reality. You have the pain without the damage. There’s the relief, at the end, that you’re undamaged.

But putting yourself in that position is what makes theatre so exciting.

Q:

What has been the biggest challenge to overcome whilst putting on this play?

A:

Definitely the fight sequence: it’s a brutal thing to have to act, but it has to come off even worse for the

Image: Daniella Shreir

audience—they have to believe it’s actually happening. Fights are a strange thing because you have to have them choreographed in minute detail, but for the actors it all has to be felt in the moment. I’m really happy with where we’ve got to, though: every rehearsal is exhilarating to watch.

Catch The Fastest Clock in the Universe at 7.30pm, Tues-Sat of 2nd Week at the BT Studio.

‘The Spaces Between Words’: fifty years of Pinter’s ‘Homecoming’

Review

Image: Clio Takas

It would have to be Baby in Mojo

by Jez Butterworth. It’s such a fun, dark and gritty play: the character manages to be damaged and vulnerable but simultaneously so deadly and threatening.

Kathy Peacock

Phantom of the Opera (5th Week)

Image: Coincidental Dandy

Playing Kathy in Singin’ In the Rain was a dream come true!

Something like Eliza Doolittle as it demands a lot of acting and, of course, voice... and anything Julie Andrew has played!

Clio Takas Stage Editor

Just over 50 years ago Pinter’s The Homecoming opened at London’s Aldwych Theatre.

After years of criticism for his absurdist style, this was the play that not only was considered by Pinter’s closest friends to be his best, but also finally secured his status as a celebrity playwright.

This is why director Jamie Lloyd is reviving the Nobel prizewinner’s 13th play at Trafalgar Studios in London, till the 13th of February.

Set in the cigarette-fumed North London house of 70-year-old Max the play presents a coarse and vulgar working-class family, each member fighting to be at the top of the pecking order. To complicate this power-struggle further, estranged son and academic Teddy returns from America with his wife, Ruth.

Ruth feels too much at home in Max’s house for Teddy’s liking; what ensues shocks and disturbs both Teddy and the audience.

The script is a masterpiece.

Behind each story the characters

tell, lies a force, an attack to bring down their rivals in the family hierarchy. It is a comedy of menace, a play that as Lloyd puts it, “crawls under your skin” but makes you laugh in equal measure; it is as repellent and sad as it is funny.

Lloyd’s production is an extremely powerful one, and I highly recommend you all jump on the Oxford Tube to go see it.

He compared his presentation of Pinter’s play to Stanley Kubrick’s style of direction. But there was also something almost Tarantinoesque about it: as the characters made their entrance in Act II, smoking in sync and looking badass, the opening of Resevoir Dogs came to mind.

It was extremely atmospheric as red lights, dramatic soundeffects, and the smoke of smoke machines and cigarettes melded beautifully with the script. It’s easy to overdo it with special effects in a play as raw and language-driven as The Homecoming, but Lloyd does not fall into this trap. This was a refreshing new aesthetic applied to Pinter, as most productions, including the classic 1973 Peter Hall film, tended to present the

Image: Clio Takas

play as naturalistic as possible.

However, I felt let down in that Ruth’s character (despite Gemma Chan’s obvious talent) was presented by Lloyd as so emotionally vulnerable. In the beginning she was nervous, gasping for air and near the end was breaking down in tears.

This is very different from the way Vivien Merchant (Pinter’s first wife) played the role – she was cold, composed, the most powerful character on stage.

Because it is important to be surprised and confused by Ruth’s

behaviour in the way we are by Merchant; she’s not a victim who simply stepped into the wrong house - she’s somehow destined to take it over.

The problem with Ruth’s presentation stems from Lloyd’s more general attempts to show the audience what the characters were truly feeling.

At various points the characters would freeze to allow for one character to cry or scream.

Though this was executed brilliantly and would have been stylistically wonderful in any other play, I feel that there is a reason the Lincoln Center Festival’s celebration of Pinter’s works was called “The Spaces Between the Words”: the spaces left by Pinter’s ambiguity, absurdity and constant use of ellipses in his works do not need to be filled.

But I cannot urge you to go see this play enough, if only to see Ron Cook’s unmissable performance as Max. Bound to blow you away, he perfects the effect Max is meant to have on the audience: he is amusing, repellent, and as observably vulnerable as he needs to be. It’s as if he was born for this role.

The Student Advice Service live chat facility is now available on the OUSU website during term time Tuesday 3:00pm-5:00pm Thursday 11:00am-1:00pm

The Oxford Student | Friday 5th February 2016

3 under ÂŁ25

Photographer: Valentina Pegolo Model: Mary Higgins Concept & Styling: Alice Townson Make-up: Alexandra Wong

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Fashion 25

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Fashion Legacies Photographer: Valentina Pegolo Models: Alex McKendrick & ChloĂŠ Delanney Concept: Alexandra Murray Luo Styling: Alice Townson Make up: Alexandra Wong

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Fashion 26

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Fashion 27

Fashion 28

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Fashion

Street style: 1st week’s best dressed

Gender in question Sherry Chen Fashion Editor

This week the world has been saddened by the loss of two great men, David Bowie and Alan Rickman. As Oxford greeted the residents with its first snow of 2016, we have decided to incorporate some artistic elements of David Bowie into our articles and shoots. Our brilliant staff writer William Shaw discusses the fashion of Blackstar, one of David Bowie’s last works in which he even approached his death in an extremely artistic way. Claire Leibovich, our Deputy Fashion Editor, presents her thoughts on Jaden Smith becoming the new face of Louis Vuitton’s Spring/ Summer 2016 perfume collection as the brand keeps pushing the gender revolution in the fashion industry. Our talented Fashion Editor Alice Townson writes about

the history of androgyny, and how it has always existed in fashion, calling our attention to the looks that were traditionally considered gendered but do not actually fit into the categorical definition of gender or sexuality. And finally, we welcome a new contributing writer for the Fashion Section, Yussef Robinson (who was featured in the 0th week’s street style if you remember!).

Yussef first scrunitises the trendy term of “gender neutral clothing”, and reveals how it actually draws a binary distinction between style and fashion by portraying men’s fashion as more eternal and logical than women’s fashion. In the shoots for this week, we pay our greatest respect to David Bowie by recreating some of his famous works. It is a horrid winter out there, so take some time for a cup of tea, and dive into our discussion about fashion and gender.

Name Rohini Singh We met Rohini on Cowley Place when she was wearing this lovely Dorothy Perkins coat. This coat, along with her black and white shirt, looks very warm and cozy on a chilly winter day, and its colour goes well with her dyed hair.

Name Ally Pugh Ally was wearing this bright orange GAP jumper when we ran into her on Cowley Place, which seems to be another fashion hotspot. She was only wearing a jumper and leggings, but her big smile brightened up our day!

Name Xixi Yu Xixi was enjoying her day off on a sunny Friday afternoon as we spotted her wearing this Jack Will’s coat outside famous local pub, The Bear, at the crossing of Bear Lane and Afred Street.

Jaden Smith: the new Blackstar: the fashion of Bowie’s farewell face of Louis Vuitton William Shaw Staff Writer

Claire Leibovich

Deputy Fashion Editor

The press and social media have been buzzing since the release in early January on Instagram of a few shots of Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2016 campaign. The actor-rapper Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, is the new face of the designer’s womenswear collection. Alongside women models that include Jean Campbell, Rianne Van Rompaey and Sarah Brannon, the teenage celebrity is wearing female clothing, including a metal embroidered skirt. Although this might seem like a typical commercial trick benefiting both the fashion house and Jaden Smith’s, it is not based on gratuitous provocation because it raises the increasingly important question of gender in fashion.

Designers have in the past already explored gender boundaries: JeanPaul Gautier caused a controversy in 1984 when he included skirts in his male runaway, Riccardo Tisci chose the transgender women Lea T. in 2010 to model his womenswear range, and Sonia Rykiel’s 2015 prefall runaway presented “womaninspired men’s wear”. 2015 was a crucial year in the progressive blurring of male and female dress code, first on the runaways of Rick Owens and Alessandro Michele of Gucci, but also for more mainstream brands like Acne. Selfridge, in London, has selling space dedicated to genderfluid brands.However,Louis Vuitton’s campaign represents a step further in the gender revolution in fashion.

This is neither a man dressing-up as a woman nor modelling clothes that both genders could wear. While playing with gender boundaries, these options still maintain them.

On the contrary, Jaden Smith

represents the suppression of the gender limits because he is a straight self-identified male who takes over clothes conventionally intended for women. The actor himself resumed this appropriation last year when he Instagrammed a photo of himself in a dress with a caption saying: “Went to Topshop To Buy Some Girl Clothes, I Mean ‘Clothes’.” Men taking over skirts and dresses would be like women adopting trousers and jeans. The artistic director of Louis Vuitton Nicolas Ghesquière might be dreaming of being the new Coco Chanel...

At this point it is hard to assess the importance of this gender blur in fashion history; if it is a revolution, part of a slow translation towards a complete suppression of gender boundaries, or only a passing trend.

Maybe this ideal of no gender limits would allow fashion to be guided by aesthetic criteria only. Women wearing trousers was scandalous in George Sand’s time and is completely normal now, at least in our society.

This raises another question about the relation between fashion and social conventions; does fashion adapt to social changes, provoke them, or is it a form of art detached from reality that belongs to imagination and, beauty alone? Maybe all three…

Image: El Seven

It speaks to the particular genius of David Bowie that he approached his death as, first and foremost, an artistic opportunity. The man who created, adopted, and eventually outgrew Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke icons that have spoken to generations of music lovers and fashion followers alike - found himself tasked with adopting one last persona, the mask he would wear for his final curtain call. His performance in his last two videos forms a kind of apotheosis; infused with a raw, seething energy, grinning maniacally, belting out lyrics whose full meaning only became clear in hindsight: “I’m dying to/ Push their backs against the grain/ And fool them all again and again.” The Bowie of these videos is melancholy and introspective, but brimming with the energy of a mad trickster god. It’s an image that has gone relatively unremarked-upon in the media coverage of his death; most obituaries carried photos of his younger days, generally photos from his glam rock “heyday”.

Few of the recent Bowie tributes have highlighted the artist that actually presented himself to us in his final moments; a fashion icon with as much style and charisma as any number of sparkling starmen or malnourished aristocrats, deserving of a tribute of his own.

Given what we know in retrospect, it’s surprising how alive the video for “Blackstar” feels. At the centre of it all is Bowie himself; or rather, three of him. Bowie moves from priest to heretic to nightmarish scarecrow, the instability of his identity reflecting the oddness of the lyrics.

We never get a proper look at any of these characters; they’re shot at odd angles, cut between frequently enough that we are never allowed to get comfortable. But the most

intriguing of Bowie’s characters is the one we first meet; nicknamed “Button-eyes” by the director, the character wears the same worn and shabby-looking suit as the others, accessorised with a white blindfold with, well, buttons instead of eyes.

Lovingly ripped off from Coraline, it’s a look of almost poignant simplicity; after decades of radical image-changes, Bowie’s final character is created out of scraps. But it’s a look that implies, not blindness, but a different kind of sight; he knows something we don’t know.

“

This is the Bowie style; keep changing, keep moving, keep finding new things to do, even in death.

Button-eyes appears again in ‘Lazarus’, the last video Bowie ever recorded. He’s lying in a hospital bed, his black buttons standing out against the whiteness of the sheets.

This contrast forms the main motif of the video; once we see Bowie with his blindfold off he’s wearing a monochrome jumpsuit, jerking awkwardly as if trying to remember how to dance. What initially look like shafts of weak daylight are actually thin stripes of white, reminiscent of the outfit from his 1975 photoshoot with legendary photographer Steve Schapiro. But that sense of introspection is tempered

Image: Daniel Ruiz Lorente

with a fierce strain of modernity; the camerawork feels straight out of Christopher Nolan, and the aspect ratio is reminiscent of a smartphone’s vertical video, Bowie’s face filling the screen in the manner of a selfie. Bowie was a trend-setter, but he was also, always, a trendfollower. One of the first rock stars to embrace the internet, Bowie demonstrated a constant awareness and appreciation of modern technology. ‘Lazarus’ could only come from a man who completely understands the culture into which he is releasing his final statement.

‘Lazarus’ ends with Bowie retreating into the dark, literally making his final wardrobe change. The consummate performer, walking off the stage. Of the many epithets tossed around regarding Bowie, “style icon” is one of the most common.

This is almost, but not quite, completely inaccurate; Bowie was not one icon, but several; undefeated David, inscrutable to the last. And while the fashion world is poorer for his loss, it’s important to keep the future in mind. Because while Blackstar is a self-eulogy, it’s one which emphatically insists upon life. This is the Bowie style; keep changing, keep moving, keep finding new things to do, even in death.

It’s the means by which he becomes more than human, and he makes a point of bringing us along. Even as he departs, the door’s left ajar.

Fashion 29

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

A history of androgyny: from the 17th century Alice Townson Fashion Editor

Androgyny has always existed, and it’s important to clarify that in this article where the terms ‘androgyny’ and ‘androgynous’ are used, I will be talking about clothing, appearance and playing with traditionally gendered items of clothing to create a look that doesn’t fit comfortably into the categories of masculine and feminine; not gender or sexuality.

People have been experimenting with androgyny in the way they dress for a long time. Although many more designers are starting to push the boundaries much more frequently in their collections, the idea is really nothing new. Take, for instance, 17th century Western European styles of dressing; men looked particularly androgynous when they were sporting towering wigs, white stockings, petticoat breeches, which were so baggy they looked more like a skirt, and copious amounts of ruffles and lace. In the 18th century, the Chevalier d’Éon, a French diplomat, soldier, spy and freemason, spent much of his life donning both masculine and feminine clothes. Amantine-LucileAurore Dupin, otherwise known by her pseudonym George Sand, caused quite a stir in 19th century Paris, where she wore masculine jackets and trousers, though she mixed this with other more traditionally feminine characteristics such as her long hair.

1920s’ women’s clothing was also extremely androgynous, especially considering the flouncy skirts and cruelly exaggerated waistlines that had gone before it during the Victorian period. A boyish silhouette took over, leading some young women to bandage down their breasts to achieve the fashionable flat chested look.

The Symmington Side Lacer was a

particularly sought-after corset that helped to achieve this look. Hair was usually bobbed short, but women still continued to mix these more masculine traits with fabrics like chiffon and lace. Furthermore, the Land Girls or the Women’s Land Army during the First and Second World Wars helped to push for the acceptance of women wearing more traditionally masculine cuts and fabrics, such as brogues and knitted fisherman’s sweaters, for practical reasons, as well as actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn helping to popularise suits for women in 1930s Hollywood.

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Music has helped to popularise what was going on in the fahsion world Elvis Presley and James Dean are often cited as being two of the first androgynous figures in popular culture, due to their penchant for wearing make-up. Hippy men began wearing their hair long and flowing, alongside their floral smocks and tunics. 1966 saw the release of Yves Saint Laurent’s Pop Art collection, inspired by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, including the iconic tuxedo for women, Le Smoking. Famously, Le Côte Basque restaurant in Manhattan turned away New York socialite Nan Kempner because she was wearing the tuxedo and said, “Pants look very nice on some women but they do not belong in a restaurant like La Côte Basque any more than swimming suits. We will continue our policy: no pants.” Other French designers like Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges released collections featuring much more box-like shapes, much like what had gone before in the 1920s but with mini lengths and synthetic fabrics. Mick Jagger

went even further in his androgynous style when in 1969 he appeared on stage in London’s Hyde Park wearing a Mr Fish dress and Twiggy helped to popularise a more masculine, waifish figure for women, again a reaction against what had gone before during the 1950s with Dior’s New Look.

Music, as ever, helped to popularise what was going on in the fashion world during the 1970s. Vivienne Westwood wore the same ripped t shirts, safety pins and jeans as her muses The Sex Pistols, and David Bowie appeared on the cover of his 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World in a Mr. Fish dress, like Mick Jagger before him.Two years later, he and Andy Warhol went on to create his most famous alter-ego, Ziggy Stardust, who was characterised by his flaming red mullet and lightning bolt make-up. Marc Bolan and Jimi Hendrix also experimented with bellbottom flares, platforms shoes, sequins, headbands, and plenty of ruffles. The vogue for women’s tuxedos, started by Dietrich and Hepburn, was mimicked

by Diane Keaton in Woody Allen’s classic film Annie Hall wearing a suit.

Annie Lennox’s iconic orange buzz cut on the cover of the Eurythmic’s 1983 album Touch and suit attire created a huge buzz around the idea of androgyny. Lennox told US Vogue in March 2015 that her androgynous appearance was all about “taking a sort of masculine power as a woman who didn’t want to be objectified.”

Women’s workwear capitalized on these ideas and Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino began offering jackets with large masculine shoulder-pads. Jean Paul Gaultier’s 1984 collection ‘And God Created Man’ saw the debut of skirts for men, which he followed up in 1985 with a collection called ‘Une garde-robe pour deux’, where he showed a tuxedo jacket draped over a bustier. Gaultier continued to push past and challenge the gender bound-

aries surrounding fashion and in 1992 he was photographed by Paolo Reversi wearing a cone bra. Comme des Garçons were also key purveyors of the androgynous trend in their 1988 Autumn Winter collection, featuring masculine dark jackets over flouncy, pale and girlish dresses and skirts. The 1990s also saw the rise of a South Korean trend called the Keo-Peul-Look in which couples dressed to match.

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Androgyny has become commonplace in designer’s collections

All this ground work throughout the 20th century has meant that from the millennium onwards, androgyny has become commonplace in designer’s collections. Key brands and designers include Vivienne Westwood, J.W. Anderson, Jean Paul Gaultier, Meadham Kirchoff, Céline and Prada, who all produce mannish tailoring for women and even high-heeled boots for men. Balenciaga’s Spring Summer 2011 show featured androgynous models and Selfridges even opened a pop-up store named Agender, featuring brands like Haider Ackermann, Ann Deuelemeester, Rick Ownes, Raf Simmons and Tomorrowland.

For the 2015 collection Meadham Kirchoff cited Quentin Crisp as an icon and said they wanted people to “make their own alternate worlds and ways of expressing themselves.”

The recent men’s shows in London featured many more androgynous looks, like Gucci’s pussybow blouse and beret combination. Androgyny has always been a part of fashion and always will be, as long as creative designers continue to try and break out of the confines of gendered clothing.

Image: Ashley Van Haeften

Image: Southbank Centre

Image: The Coincidental Ðandy

Why are hegemonic men scared of fashion?

Yussef Robinson Staff Writer

David Kuchta has claimed modern men seek to communicate “masculine conceptions of industry and frugality” through their clothing. While Kuchta appears to be neglecting the racialized aspect of this self-presentation, as highlighted by the sociologist Erynn Masi de Casanova, they still foreground a phenomena present in the general ‘men’s style’ community. The sartorial engagement of men is often intentionally limited, on clearly gendered terms. Even a substantial portion of those men interested in clothing are locked in a desperate struggle with a profoundly fragile masculinity to ensure that neither they nor anyone else considers this interest even slightly feminine.

A Guardian article on the rise of gender-neutral fashion ironically highlighted this gendered division aptly. Two writers who are both discussing their use of gender neutral clothing and yet still the woman writer, Alice Pfeiffer, is described as a “fashion writer”

while the male, Dean Kissick, is a “style writer”. To be very clear there is not a coherent distinction between these two terms, in fact I only see attempts to use the latter where men are seeking to reaffirm their prohibitive masculinity which shuns “fashion”. Masi de Casanova interviewed seventy white-collar men in America who reject all attention to what they wear, highlighting how even through making the decision to be “anti-fashion” they are in fact exercising a form of hegemonic masculinity and a sense of fashion.

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If the suit distracts from the standard, white man’s humanity, it has failed While Normcore, where rich white kids try to dress almost aggressively “normally”, should be viewed as a clear expression of white privilege (those still unsure should examine the attire of the average Cellar-attendee).

The default human is a man. They

are white. Until explicitly stated otherwise they are the default human being. This helps to explain the unwillingness for even those men engaging with fashion to call it as such. One of the most prestigious tailors in the UK, Anderson & Sheppard, consider a suit a failure if it looks new out of the door. In other words if the suit distracts from the standard, white man’s humanity, it has failed.

An interest in fashion is at least a partial subversion of the performance of hegemonic masculinity, however, through criticising fashion in gendered terms and rigidly claiming to have an interest in style the performance’s illusion is restored.

The most popular British men’s’ fashion blog calls itself “Permanent Style”, presented in opposition to impermanent fashion. The message here is clear; style is masculine, eternal, logical, fashion is feminine, ephemeral, and irrational.

Masi de Casanova also found that men of colour are more comfortable discussing clothes and using the word “fashion”, although many of course still cling

desperately to style, and suggests this may be due to already being judged for their appearance.

“

Black men are able to feel a sense of liberation And of course these groups are not capable of performing European hegemonic masculinity.

Dr. Enrica Picarelli discusses how “blipsters” utilise a syncretism of classic and informal menswear to perform cool and thus “proactively occupy the street” within the “Western metropolis”.

They are explicitly and defiantly “fashionable”, this is an act containing layers of subversion.

Unashamed male sartorial interest competes with the hegemonic masculine opposition to “fashion” and it serves to undermine the ludicrous style/fashion dichotomy; additionally, open black male sartorial expression serves to challenge racist presentations and intentionally asserts black

presence as humans wholly capable of creative self-expression. This is even more the case for black men engaging in what Picarelli describes as “Afrosartotrial politics” in sites of formerly explicit white domination. Thus the power of the ToneSociety collective, a group of nine black South African men, engaging in afrosartorialism is heightened immensely due to its location in District Six of Johannesburg.

Where previously tens of thousands of black South Africans were forcibly relocated by the apartheid state, now these black men are able to feel a sense of liberation and proclaim the validity of their dreams and truths, according to the photographer Imraan Christian. This highlights the subversive potential of fashion, and an embrace of its label. The reappropriation of self-expression and self-definition by black men, through pointed engagement with fashion, only undermines the foundational racialised and, of course, gendered facets of prevelant toxic masculinity.

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

What’s on 31

Pick of the Week

Pick of the Week

RENT

Burning Down the House: A Night for Bowie

The Oxford Playhouse 27th-30th January, 7.30pm £18/£15/£13/£11.50

The Cellar Wednesday 27th January, 10pm-3am £5/ £3 before 11pm

New York, early 1990s. Eight young friends dream of a life where love, art and hope triumph over the shadow of poverty and the AIDS epidemic.

1st-2nd week 22nd - 29th January

22 Sat 23 Sun 24 Mon 25 Tue 26 Wed 27 Thu 28 Fri 29

theatre

going out

Fri

Oxford Charity Play in Day 24 hours to write, direct, tech and perform a show.

7.30-8.30pm Michael Pilch Studio. Tickets £5.

DON’T ALL RELIGIONS LEAD TO ONE GOD? | A World in Colour Talk by Nabeel Qureshi hosted by OUICCU. 1pm, St Aldate’s Church.

Jack Little @ O2 Academy 22 year old folk artist from Oxfordshire, 23rd Jan, 7.00pm, £7.05

OxHub Sunday Session Tickets include free cake, tea and one session of facepainting/henna.

2-5pm, OxHub, £4

Positive discrimination is the best solution to an unequal society Featuring Katie Hopkins.

8.30pm, The Oxford Union

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The Fastest Clock in the Universe STRICTLY 18+ ONLY, 26th-29th Jan, 7.30pm, BT Studio, £5/6

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Harry Redknapp, The Oxford Union Has spent over 30 years as manager in the Premier League, beginning as a player for West Ham. 8pm

Gin and Phonics: the Hilary Edition A night of artistic tonic for everyday sin. Freuds, 8pm. Tickets £5.

Deborah Meaden, The Oxford Union Highly successful British businesswoman who also appears on Dragon’s Den. 8pm

The BIG GIG: FUNKY WONDERLAND One of Oxford’s biggest charity bashes. £6 / £7 on the door, including a free cocktail, Freuds, 9pm

David Hasselhoff, The Oxford Union Also known as “the Hoff”, this actor has starred in Baywatch and Knight Rider. 8pm

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th

misc.

The Oxford Trobadors A lively celebration of songs and instrumental music from the Troubadors. 7.30pm, Holywell Music Room, £15

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th

music

Chancellor Patten at the Blavatnik School of Government Talking on ‘China and Europe in a Less Certain World’. 6pm, free

nd

rd

speakers

Playing David Bowie’s songs from beginning to end as well as the normal 80s/NEW WAVE/ DISCO/GLAM/SYNTHPOP.

Slag by David Hare, A Rehearsed Reading and Q&A session 28th & 29th January at 7:30pm , Michael Pilch Studio, £3 on the door

Effective Altruism: why don’t we do the best we can?

4-5pm on Wed 27th Department of Experimental Psychology, £2

The Cellar & BBC Introducing in Oxford present Independent Venue Week 7.30-10.30pm, Tickets £5.50 LIVEFRIDAY: HEROES AND VILLAINS Special late night at the Ashmolean with Oxford Comic Con (OxCon).710.30pm, £5/£7

The Oxford Student | Friday 15th January 2016

OxStuff

OxStuff

Screaming Spires

Tourists... Get off my college lawn!

RUDE INTERRUPTIONS

James Sewry, the face of a man slightly irked by tourists

There I am on a frosty winter’s morning peacefully walking across my college quad, stunningly beautiful in the early (for a humanities student) morning light when, suddenly, a pack of tourists confront me. Startled, I compose myself ready to carry on with my stroll. Alas, they come armed: the selfiestick is the most formidable of weapons. They proceed to erect a temporary barrier as they attempt to squeeze twenty five people into one photo. You manage to dodge the selfie-stick’s range before coming across a group of squabbling school children. I mean, please, I’m just trying to go to my tutorial!

IGNORANCE IS BLISS The worst is when tourists are entirely ignorant of the magnificent institutions they’re visiting. I mean, the question, “Where is the university?” is simply offensive. Yes I know you mean Christ Church, but other colleges do exist you

know. How can you be so ignorant of the history of this fine institution? And as tourists stand marvelling at the Radcliffe Camera, thinking it’s named after our dear friend Daniel, I’m not sorry that I just photobombed your selfie snap.

My essay on 12th century monastic advocacy just cannot wait.

LIBRARY LAMENTATIONS But further pain awaits once you make it into the library, usually considered a sanctuary. The hallowed halls of reading and essay writing. But be prepared to be photographed at your desk… for some reason the image of an Oxford brain whirring away at work is worth taking.

You think it’s just the rich and famous who are the sole targets of the long angled lense? Think again. And, before you ask, No I won’t let you borrow my Bodcard to get in the Rad Cam. I need to get in there to take my overdue books back . It’s not all glamorous you know.

Bloody good sex: Period sex for beginners

Period sex is the last great taboo in this sexually permissive 21st century.

No-one bats an eyelid when topics such as fisting, anal and pegging are brought up over supper. Yet mention menstrual love making and that eponymous scene in the film Carrie alights the minds of your fellow dinner guests.

The stigma and protestations of ‘Ewwww!’ that surround the mere mention of period sex are unlike any other sex act.

But I say, “No more!” Let’s put an end to this insipid duo of body and sex shaming right now. Without bodily fluids what is sex anyway?

wash off. There are other practical plus points to consider.

Having sex on your p e r i o d m e a n s t h e re ’s less need for lube.

It can also help alleviate cramps and make your period shorter.

Trying period sex and being ‘adventorous’ in this respect might also inpsire you to try out some new positions, expanding your sexual repertoire.

To some, period sex isn’t such a radical concept. Many actually enjoy it. One of my past partners at the first mention of eating me out pulled out my tampon with their teeth and proceeded to go down on me. It was hot. It was also incredibly intimate. Of course it is. You are basically saying to your significant other : you are the chosen one. I don’t let

OXSTU LOOKALIKES

TOURIST TRAP Some claim that the money tourists generate make the annoyance worthwhile. I beg to differ. When you’re happily walking to a lecture with a friend, deep in conversation, it’s really not okay for tourists to be walking five abreast at a snail’s pace. Not everyone wants to take photos of cobbles or touch them. If tourists are such a lucrative cash cow, the extra income should be used to fund special tourist lanes to free up valuable walking space. Alternatviely, colleges across the university should invest in obstacle courses, featuring an Oxford general knowledge quiz, so only the most committed tourists are allowed to enter these dreaming spires.

But as it stands currently, I may have to resort to gently protesting, waving my Bod card in the air and crying ‘Tourists... get off my college law!”

Cliterary Theory A similiar revulsion is reserved for sweating during sex. However, often if you are doing it right, you will be sweating.

If you are grossed out by said fluids, maybe sex isn’t for you. Period sex is just an inclusion of the most underrated of these fluids. If you find someone attractive enough to repeatedly bump your genitals together, then the monthly things their body happens to do should not be a problem. Vaginas are wonderful sites of neverending pleasure, even when they happen to bleed.

Granted, there may be some preparation involved for the act itself, acquiring towels for instance or perhaps not using your favourite 100% Egyptian cotton sheets. But even if it does happen to get a little messy, that’s nothing a hot, steamy shower won’t

32

ELIZABETH BENNET Elizaebth Bennet finds her Mr Darcy in the end. Dodging the advacnes of a number of slimy suitors in the process. However, Lizzie Bennet has never had to compete in a union election. I fear her upright principles may not stand her in good stead against her fellow Union hacks. She’ll have to truly STEP up her game if she wants to find her true match.

STUART WEBBER just anyone frolic around in my own blood. There’s also something incredibly hot about someone who wants to have sex with me so badly that they simply doesn’t care about social ‘taboos’ and the fear surrounding menstruation.

Let’s get one thing clear, most women are damn horny around the time of their period so why should a bit of menstrual blood get in the way? If we are going to take those rolling blading, ice skating, non-stop partying women seriously in the Bodyform adverts, the ones who say we can do anything on our periods, then fornication is the last frontier.

Disclaimer: if you or your partner is not into period sex for serious and personal reasons that’s obviously completely fine, your sex life is your own business. But, I’m sure many of the wary who give it a try might just be converted to getting sexy at that time of the month.

Hopefully you’ll be too busy having a bloody good time to even care.

Stuart is yet to find his Mr Darcy, you’d think being the President of the Oxford Union, suitors would be falling weak at the knees. Instead he’s had to court the big names of politics, business and entertainment. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Union president has to hack his way to the top.”

GOT A LOOKALIKE?

email us at: oxstu.editor@gmail.com

The Oxford Student | Friday 15th January 2016

OxStuff

Flashback Friday

COLLEGE HIT BY SMALL CONDOM CRISIS Brasenose College plans to order extra-large condoms following complaints from students that the condoms provided are too small.

Safex condoms, available in the dispensing machines, are reported to be “a little on the small side”, according to an email circulated

by Rhiannon Williams, the Brasenose Welfare representative.

Chrsitine Quigley, Brasenose JCR president, confirmed that several students have made complaints about condom sizes. “The condoms we give out are supplied

by OUSU. The Safex brand they have started to stock do appear to be a tad smaller than other brands”.

However, Safex have stated that their condoms

conform to legal standards and claim to be the same size as Passante condoms, the brand that OUSU used to supply. Williams reports that she closely exmained the condoms and compared the two brands. “When compared to Passante condoms they are actually the same length and width.”

However, after the condom inspection Williams concluded the lubrication used on the two brands of condom differ slightly. Williams believes the Safex lubricant may make the condom feel smaller.

Francesco Ciardi, a member of the Brasenose welfare committee, told The Oxford Student, “I have a massive schlong and small condoms just aren’t good enough.” “I

Volume 44 Issue 4 11th May 2006

am very concerned by the dangers a small condom poses and the possibility of conceiving another illegitimate child.”

However, the Safex company has confirmed that all their condoms are tested electronically and held to a high standard.

Other Oxford colleges have not been experiencing condom size complaints.

A student at Wadham, wishing to remain anonymous, said: “I don’t know what all this fuss is about condoms being too small - I find them huge, I wish OUSU would start stocking trim sizes.”

Rhiannon Williams said, “The decision to change was made on the basis of serious complaints which effect student welfare.”

“I received several comments that the Safex

‘normal’ condoms were smaller/tighter than other brands, and a more serious complaint where a condom had split. Obviously I took this seriously, as condoms splitting is worrying and distressing for a couple involved and potentially could have serious implications.”

While many students have found the call for extra-large condoms amusing, some are keen to stress the importance of using safe contraception.

Oli Garthwaite, a languages student at Brasenose said, “Condoms prevent diseases and save lives, even if a really hot girl begs you not to use it, you should say no”.

If OUCA were your girlfriend...

Overheard in Oxford “The first quarter was

an experience, the rest was an ordeal.”

“I want Nigella Lawson to be my dominatrix. I want a lot of people to be my dominatrix.”

“Literature that does not include the Bible is not worth reading”

“Eternal bliss wouldn’t

just be like jacking off all the time.”

w e r e w e r e If OUCA y o u r If OUCA y o u r girlfriend, she wouldn’t be a friend girlfriend, start booking time off with benefits. None of that working-class nonsense, oh no. She’d be a friend with trust-funds.

If OUCA

Dan Haynes looks for love amongst OUCA’s finest

w e r e y o u r girlfriend, every argument would be Port & Policy on steroids. She’d get blackout drunk then charge you a fiver for the privilege of being shouted at. But there’d always be make-up sex afterwards. When you reached orgasm you’d both shout ‘SOUUUUND’ - but if you still weren’t over it yet, the neighbours would hear sobbing, and cries of ‘SHAAAAME’.

If OUCA

w e r e y o u r girlfriend, forget Netflix and chill.

Friday nights are for prank-calling Student Finance and tricking them into believing that you’re running out of money. Other cute couples’ activities include: listing Trident targets in order of preference, setting fire to food banks, and rating PMQs on their tie game. w e r e If OUCA y o u r girlfriend, she’d open your mind

to erotic experiences like never before. Just picture spending evenings preparing your mineshaft to face the full force of her lustrous, metallic strap-on - they don’t call it the ‘Iron Lady’ for nothing. w e r e If OUCA y o u r girlfriend, you’d be the sharpest

couple in the city. Your (matching) red corduroy trousers would be the talk of the town.

for the election campaign trail!

Imagine a romantic weekend away, except with fifty other pairs of red trousers. w e r e If OUCA y o u r girlfriend, she’d assign you Activist

Points for being a good boyfriend.

To get on her good side, do the laundry and the washing up. Fold and sort her John Major undies for bonus points!

were your If OUCA girlfriend, Sundays are for going to Church. Or rather, whinging about the decline of Anglican values in Britain today, praying to Our Lord and Saviour Dellingpole and wailing into to well-thumbed copies of the Speccy.

w e r e If OUCA y o u r girlfriend, you’d have to be OK

with a bit of infidelity. Walked in on her in bed with the president of the Lib Dem soc? Not her fault the public voted for it, mate. The Coalition just got sexier. w e r e If OUCA y o u r girlfriend, she’d move in without

asking, take up all your space, steal all your food, make you read the Bible every day, make you carry all her shit around, and take you on long unplanned boat trips to the Americas. And when she leaves, taking baby Cecil with her, she’d insist that what she did was for the best - and aren’t you glad that she gifted you with her modern values?

“You know when you

cut someone up, it smells like barbeque.”

“You have to have

some mould in your room, then you won’t ever be alone”

Yak of the week “I heard you like rebels and bad boys?

Well I take food into the library”

33

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Features 35

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Lifestyle

The Lone Wolf: Being Single at University

Sex & Relationships

Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe

Features Editor Romantic relationships. These are two words that have never really held any significance for me. Of course, I have watched my friends fall in and out of ‘love’, attended family weddings and had the occasional and brief fling, but in all honesty my longest and most enduring relationship has been with Netflix and my trusty £4.95 bottle of Sainsbury’s house Zinfandel Rose Wine.

“

Being ‘single’ in Oxford, does not equate to being alone.

In fact, until my first year of university I had never categorised myself as ‘single’, I was just me, Jas. Yet by the first weeks of term, I knew who was single, in a relationship, who identified themselves as bisexual, straight or gay, who was a northerner, who was an international student, who went to private school and so on. Whilst university created the perfect freedom in which to reinvent one’s self, I found it at times to be a restrictive environment whereby labels and categories are easily tossed

around in conversation. Indeed, my first year was a rollercoaster of excessive drinking, clubbing and scattered one night stands, all of which were supported by the knowledge that for this golden year alone my degree counted for squat all. Being single was blissful, carefree and enjoyable and throughout all of this, I marvelled at those who still managed to function in college relationships let alone outside of university.

Then second year rolled along.

Suddenly, I had actual bills to pay, a degree to be working on, the allure of Wahoo had long since dissipated, but most terrifyingly people who had ‘just been friends’ were now in relationships and it seemed that over the summer vacation people had grown up, settled down and were now coupled up.

Meanwhile, when visiting family and friends at home, I was increasingly bombarded with the question ‘have you met someone yet?’. The expectation was that, much like my parents who met whilst at university, subsequently got jobs, got married, had children and are now planning retirement, I should have found my respective other half by now.

There are times when I can’t help but agree coming home

drunk and alone to a single bed after a heavy night of drinking is nothing short of grim. Though I have been reminded by many people that university is the only time in my life where I will be around such a large concentration of like minded, ambitious and attractive people.

Interestingly, however, I have found that being ‘single’ in Oxford, does not necessarily equate to being alone. Whether I am engrossed within my studies in a packed Oxford library, busied by student journalism or caught up in my relationships with family or college friends, I am always engaged with and surrounded by other people. It is sustaining the relationships that has kept me sane throughout the past terms.

Moreover, from experience, being able to find someone who wants you, a relationship and has the time to commit is truly down to circumstance, timing and luck. For the most part, I find it terrifying yet empowering to have the freedom to go wherever and do whatever, with-

out having anyone to answer to.

As cliched as it sounds, whilst I fully respect and appreciate my coupled-up friends and love them as individuals, for me university is about figuring myself out, my interests, passions and ambitions and actually attempting to become the best version of myself. In effect making myself whole, rather than finding another half.

The retail world is now gearing up to push a commercialised, idealised version of love into the minds of consumers and has made the sharp transition from Christmas cards and tinsels to Valentines Day cards and chocolates. As for me since starting university I have spent a ridiculous amount of time and energy frantically questioning: ‘will I get the career of my dreams?’, ‘will I do well in my degree?’, ‘will I ever get into a relationship?’. But for once this year I am just going to work hard, enjoy myself but most importantly, simply trust that eventually everything will fall into place.

Deputy Features Editor It can be difficult making a room in college feel like home, with so much else to do, so many restrictions on what is allowed, and the need to completely vacate after eight weeks. With the stress of work and extracurricular commitments, though, it is important to have somewhere to go back to at the end of the day where you feel comfortable.

Taking time out to make your immediate surroundings a little more liveable can also be hugely cathartic in itself.

Build a good rapport with your scout by making conversation and keeping the room relatively tidy. While this is a decent thing to do in the first place it also means that when they come in to clean it won’t feel like a stranger letting themselves into you room. What’s more, being friendly with your scout could mean they turn a blind eye if you

decide to bend the rules regarding what you can have in your room.

“

While there is often limited scope, small changes can make great differences A good place to start is getting comfortable and rearranging your furniture to suit your style of working, you can even draft in friends to lend a hand. Whilst scope for this is often limited, small changes can make a great difference. For instance, turning your desk away from the window if you want natural light, although you could procrastinate by people-watching.

Decorations are a means of being creative. They should suit your budget and tastes but also be easy to store or dispose of at the end of term. Photos are nice to have around and can look

Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe

Features Editor

Before, I had even figured out where most of my lectures were in Michaelmas Term, suddenly everyone seemed to be in the know about houses, roommates and the exact number of house parties they wanted to throw. Not one to get left behind by week five I had already ensnared myself into a 12 month contract. 6 months into my tenancy and now in the height of winter, I have to say living out hasn’t been as fun as anticipated. So, using the benefit of hindsight, here are some things that I wish I knew before before enduring the ordeal that is student housing:

“Good” houses will not “run out”:

Part of the reason why houses and housing groups were decided so quickly into term was due to the untold fear that somehow, all of the ‘good houses’ would run out. This of course is a cruel myth fed to students, already over-burdened with the new found excitement, stress and chaos that encompasses Oxford life; thus encouraging hasty decision making.

There is no such thing as a “good” student house

Image: Ed Gregory

Ultimately, nothing will come near to the ease of college accommodation: having your whole year group and the canteen at your accessible convenience. Meanwhile the beauty of home, complete with free central heating, a full fridge of food, and family love is genuinely irreplaceable. As a student you will either find yourself living in a cheap poor-quality student house with damp, thin walls and pealing paint or living in a beautifully furnished but ridiculously expensive student house, or most probably living in an expensive made cheaply using sheets of ill furnished, dirty and barely-legal wrapping paper. Some designs building. Repeat after me, there is no (particularly those available at such thing as a ‘good’ student house.

Last Bookshop) make great posters as they are, while oth- Diplomacy is key ers take a little embellishment Diplomacy, honesty and tact is the with a marker and a few witty key to a happy household, whether quotes from your favourite au- it’s negotiating the cleaning rota thors or good friends. This up- with your housemates or the rental cycling approach can be used to agreement with the landlord, nobody make a variety of cheap room likes arguments, passive aggressive decorations. While hoarding messages or general unpleasantness. rows of empty Lambrini bottles may give the wrong impression, bottles that once housed an exotic spirit or post-exam prosecco can make a quirky vase for some fresh or dried flowers.

The lose pages of particularly exhausted books can also make eye-catching artwork by printing black and white images over the text. Cleaned jars can make handy desk storage for pens and pins or even (somewhat cliché) drinking glasses.

However you chose to liven up your space, all that really matters is that it can provide an escape Image: Annatjie

How to make a home away from home Jamie Russell

Things I wish I knew before living out...

more sophisticated and grownup in free-standing frames or adorn walls and notice boards for a more “student-y” feel. If these prove difficult then a piece of string can be strung along a wall and photos hung with clothes pegs or paperclips to give an attractive, bunting-like display.

If your college are particularly finicky about things being stuck on the walls then a little masking tape or even a post-it note stapled onto the back of photos is the safest way to avoid marking walls. For a more pragmatic use of wall space a dry wipe wall planner can be put up back to front to produce a handy whiteboard.

“

Up-cycling can be used to make a variety of cheap room decorations As well as printing out your own photos, posters can be

Features 36

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Food

What did the critics think?

Not the most tasteful of articles Rob Pepper

Deputy Features Editor My kitchen in college measures two metres by one metre, barely enough room to swing a decent sized rodent, let alone a cat. With ten undergraduates desperate to make toast and swing cats, the situation is somewhat problematic. I, for one, can’t stand feeling chivvied when I’m chopping chives, or being kettled when I’m just trying to use the kettle.

In its appliances, at least, the kitchen encapsulates the real advances of the twenty-first century. By this I mean that there is neither hob nor cooker, both having been exposed as relics of the distant past, simpler times when folk worshipped the sun and lived in huts and let their food heat for longer than three minutes and twenty five seconds.

Alternatively, the deliberate parallel of the number of appliances which the kitchen does boast, a toaster, kettle and microwave, with the three courses of a meal could be

interpreted as a kind of challenge.

No stranger to a challenge, having once reached a high score of 250 on Bop It Extreme 2, I endeavoured to construct the most complex meal possible, using a different appliance for each course. Embracing the task with relish (Branston Caramelised Red Onion, in case you’re interested), I collected some mugs and then collected some more mugs, called Tom, Max and Jake (Dick and Harry being busy), who would act as food critics. When they had grudgingly agreed to overlook the high chance of being poisoned, I was ready to begin.

Toaster teaser: Homeade Garlic Bread

The same as garlic bread you buy in a shop, except not. After dolloping some fresh garlic butter onto a few slices of crusty French bread, I used tin foil to create toaster friendly packages. Then in a very toaster unfriendly way, I rammed the packages inside the burning metal mesh with a knife. The results were electrifying.

Jake commented “I like the postmodern irony of serving a starter in tin foil at a Michelin Star restaurant.” He probably knew that he wasn’t eating at a Michelin star restaurant, but said it anyway as a joke.

Max, eager to represent the voice of minority groups, pointed out that the dish would be a “nightmare for vampires.”

Tom, wanting to join in the fun, plaintively wailed that “some fish sauce wouldn’t have gone amiss.”

The Real Pot Noodle

I like Pot Noodle as much as the next person, unless the next person likes Pot Noodle. With a nest of noodles, a chew of chorizo, a splodge of passata and just a shred of basil, however, it’s possible to recreate your favourite pot based snack in the comfort of your home. Place all the ingredients in a mug and add boiling water. You could also make up some collective nouns for added fun.

Over to the critics:

Tom, with a look of surprise and suppressed fear, exclaimed “this is actually good!”

Jake, determined to continue his witty banter, declared “it’s like a big lukewarm shot.”

Max’s response cannot be disclosed in a respectable newspaper.

In the microwave: ‘Pears and

Oxfood: a culinary Odyssey?

Sam Sykes

Deputy Editor Unbeknownst to most students, there are other places to eat in Oxford besides the glorious kebab vans dotted around the city, those hallowed places of drunken pilgrimage. In the unlikely scenario that you have some money spare, and are not deep-sea diving into your overdraft, Oxford offers an embarrassment of culinary riches, for anyone anywhere on any spectrum, from the painfully sober to the dizzyingly drunk, the edgy to the mainstream, the junk-lovers to the gourmands.

To aid you in your culinary explorations, dear reader, I present to you a survey of some of the best places to eat in Oxford, seasoned with the truth and wisdom only a jaded third year can convey.

“

There are places to eat in Oxford besides the glorious kebab vans

SANDWICHES ATS (Alternative Tuck Shop Holywell Street) Hidden away on Holywell Street, opposite New College, this is a godsend for hungry students. Speedy, easy, friendly, they offer a smorgasbord of paninis, bagels, baguettes and ciabattas (tomato and spinach), with a delicious array of fillings.

Sadly shut on weekends.

Taylors (High Street) Lurking at the Magdalen end of

the High Street, this offers a bit more of a corporate take on the Oxford sandwich scene, but still has its charms. I recommend the hot flatbreads, especially the mozzarella and pancetta one.

Olives (High Street) This is the one, the one and only.

Nestling amidst touristy tat and tobacco, opposite Exam Schools, this is the crème de la crème of Oxford sandwiches.The bread (especially their baguettes) is a large part of what makes them special - it tastes wholesome and authentic. Be as inventive as you like with ingredients – somehow the bread just makes it work. They also have a fabulous range of ingredients - pasta, jams, etc. - on offer, if you’re not on a budget. The perfect post-lecture munch.

RESTAURANTS GBK (George Street) I’m going to start sounding dangerously mainstream here, but this Antipodean chain’s George Street outpost is a stone-cold classic. The burgers simply ooze flavour, swaddled in their luxuriant brioche buns - try the Don, the Avocado and Bacon, or the Mighty, and you’ll see what I mean as the taste wraps you in its cocoon of succulent fantasy. The chips, whether you go for chunky, matchstick, or sweet potato, are perfectly calibrated creations; garlic, chilli, and bacon mayo add their own frissons of delight. Of course, GBK ain’t cheap, but with the app, you can actually make some surprising savings. I’m still praying that they’ll resurrect the two burgers for £10 deal from 2014....

Atomic Burger (Stockmore Street) Here’s an edgier counterpart to GBK, for all those consigned to the wastelands of Cowley, like me. The burgers are fantastic, but what this place is really about is the experience. It’s like being in some kind of hyperactive shrine to American nerd culture, with a menu where the burgers are superheroes (or supervillains), walls covered in lurid stickers from Comic-con, and glass cabinets full of toys and action figures and Star Wars memorabilia. Tastes like imagination and innocence. Gets fully booked prety quickly though Atomic Pizza further down Cowley road has the same menu and vibe.

“

The taste wraps you in its cocoon of succulent fantasy Pret (Cornmarket) A bastion of bourgeois culinary sensibilities, this one. I’ve always thought it a testament to how bourgeois Oxford really is that there’s a Pret at both ends of Cornmarket (bad luck radical socialists...). Still, they do delicious food and ethical practices, maintaining the admirable policy of giving their left-over sandwiches to the homeless, so I love ‘em. We’ll just try and forget about how they’re owned by MacDonalds…

Nandos (George Street) Catapulted to even greater fame by some inexplicable connection with the virtuoso flautist we all know and

That’

After an initial attempt to make crumble, I was afflicted with low quality margarine. Bloody Tories.

Fortunately I had the agility of mind to sprinkle the chopped pear with sugar and chocolate chips and claim that it was a novel creation.

Well done me. If this inspires you, as I’m sure it will, all you need to do is fling the aforementioned ingredients in a mug and zap them for two minutes in the microwave. You’re welcome.

pun, said “on a scale of one to ten, I’d give you pi.”

Max, somewhat inexplicably, suggested “it ain’t cotton candy, but it ain’t Gordon Ramsay.”

There you have it; it is indeed possible to cook a three course meal using a toaster, kettle and microwave.

It is, however, a bit time consuming, not to mention boring. Maybe have some crisps instead. Quavers are quite nice.

“

I like Pot Noodle as much as the next person, unless the next person likes Pot Noodle

Customary critical commentary:

Upon his first bite/slurp, Max declaimed “A mixture of fruity wonderment and smouldering smooth suffocatingly salacious sauciness.”

All other potential responses became irrelevant.

The verdict:

So, what did my acquaintances think about the meal which I’d so kindly cooked for them and not charged them £2.50 for?

Jake, sensing a chance to ingratiate himself with me, described it as “very, very enjoyable Robert.”

Tom, never likely to miss a food revere (Azeem be praised), Nando’s has long been beloved for its policy of refillable drinks and frozen yoghurt, and remains a ripe target for hungry and exploitative students.

Just remember - all the cheeky, all the time.

Zizzi (George Street) With elements of Pizza Express, Ask, and something distinctively its own, this funky Italian restaurant just feels cool. If I had to decribe it, I’d say it had the quality of extra virgin olive oil. Versatile too - a lovely place to take a friend, parent, or significant other.

Itsu (Cornmarket) Perfect for anyone who likes clean eating, they offer high-calibre sushi and hot noodle dishes (‘hotsu potsu’), among others. You’re guaranteed to feel good and fresh after you eat at Itsu. Of course, it’s not cheap, but they start selling all the fresh stuff that has to go half-price from 21:30 onwards, so get there a bit before then and you can make some mad savings.

Noodle Nation (Gloucester Green) Excellent Chinese restaurant, of which there are surprisingly few in central Oxford (more in Cowley).

Well worth a go; they also do takeaways.

ESSAY CRISIS SAVIOURS McDonalds (Cornmarket) Mainstream again, but this is a safe bet when you’re sleepless and hungry at 3AM. My policy is to get the 20-nugget sharebox, and then vehemently refuse to share it ( Joey doesn’t share FOOD!). Also get the chips – for all of Maccys’ other faults., their chips live up to an al-

Image: Rob Pepper

most Platonic standard of culinary excellence.

Hassan’s (Broad Street) Poised on the corner of Turl and Broad Street to snap up any hapless (read: bevved) wayfarers through the twilight of the dreaming spires, this wondrous white van offers a whole host of delights. If you haven’t already, you will soon come to feel a great fondness for the oily chips sizzling away in their oily jacuzzi, for the mysterious but delicious leg of doner meat rotating hypnotically on its spit, and for the stalwart men themselves. For similar delights in other locations (though I will always be loyal to Hassan’s, try Achmed’s, Ali’s, and the High Street Grilled Van).

Has the added benefit of being one of the most prominent meetingplaces of the inebriated hordes - up there with Park End on a Shark Tales night.

Pizza Stazione (Gloucester Green) The subject of minor scandal, when it transpired that their ‘pepperoni’ was in fact processed turkey meat, this little-known pizza van on Gloucester Green is basically like Dominoes, but better and at a much much more reasonable price.

And they deliver. Win. Kebab Kid (unknown location in Cowley) Buried in the depths of Cowley, this cavern of kebabs and chicken can match any KFC rip-off, whether it be ‘What a Chicken!’, “Favourite Chicken’, or ‘Chicken Surprise’.

That concludes our roundup: in future weeks we will be covering the delights of the Gloucester Green market and the Covered Market.

Features

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Travel Ten days with my long-distance girlfriend Miranda Reilly Staff Writer

On 28th December 2015 I boarded a plane to Montreal, Canada. I was about to travel 3300 miles to meet my girlfriend of six months for the first time.

I met Keri through a fandom for a video game called Life Is Strange. I had never met anyone I got along with so well before.

Within a month we were talking – typing – to each other for hours a day. I felt completely open with her, we had conversations about everything from depression to cat farts.

I spent the first two months of our relationship holding onto pessimism. I expected it to end: it was my first romantic relationship; those never last.

Nothing lasts. I was afraid to think about the future in all aspects of my life, I lived week by week because the future was too murky to imagine. There was no point, anything could happen.

But slowly, that changed. Keri became my best friend, the label of girlfriend wasn’t even necessary for me – that was just another aspect of our friendship.

She helped me to be truly happy for the first time in a long time

and I helped her. We know everything about each other.

I finally started to imagine the future again and so, weeks before I began at Oxford, I booked a plane ticket for December.

“

I burst into tears on New Year’s Eve, knowing that we only had a week left At 3.30pm EST and 8.30pm GMT I arrived in Canada, alone and stepping off a plane for the first time since I was ten years old. I was about to physically meet the girl I had spent so much time with through instant messages and Skype.

Although I had cried (many times) imagining this moment, I had already warned Keri that my feelings might not translate into the actual event. And I was right. I saw Keri and she grinned and hugged me and was so happy but I felt nothing except sick and dehydrated. We drove into the night for two hours to reach her home in Ottawa, Ontario, and I wondered if I would be cursed to only love her in writing, the only

world where I felt 100% myself.

In the physical world I felt like a reduced person defined by my severe shyness and a stranger to Keri. When her friend, who was driving, parked the car I opened the door to the night air and was immediately sick in the snow.

In her house I recovered from the travel sickness. Overnight it had snowed and was still snowing when we went out in the morning.

20 centimetres settled but people were still driving as if it was rain.

We spent the day holding hands and I felt myself warming up to Keri all over again. I tried my first root beer: it tastes of PeptoBismol. I will never drink it again.

The next day we went to the Canadian Museum of History on the Quebec side of the river.

From the window we could see the parliament buildings, which looked like a Disney castle: turquoise roofs on top of a snowcovered hill against the water.

But when we actually visited them days later the weather had dropped to -10 degrees Celsius and so their greatest attraction turned out to be the heated toilets.

In the museum I tried a BeaverTail. Contrary to the name, it is a deep-fried piece of dough with various sweet toppings. Both it and poutine, Canada’s famous chips with cheese curds and gravy, had my definite approval, unlike the root beer.

I burst into tears on New Year’s Eve, knowing that we only had a week left. It had taken three days but my love for Keri had finally caught up with me in Canada.

We spent every moment together. A highlight of my trip turned out to be visiting the Ottawa Humane Society twice, similar to the RSPCA, where I fell in love again. This time it was with a 13-year-old cat named

Image: Keri Walker

Fifa who fell asleep on my lap.

We named the snowcat we built after him.

My final day was heartbreaking. Before arriving, I had focused on getting to Canada, not leaving it. I cried about six times that day and later at the airport my dread of leaving made me sick again. My flight wasn’t until 9.50pm and so we spent the day trying to distract ourselves.

I took photos in the field by her house: the last few days of my trip were beautifully sunny and the snow hadn’t melted. In the ten days I was in Canada, I took

Breaking the Year Abroad Myth Beverley Noble Staff Writer

If we learnt anything about social media in 2015, it’s to be a bit more selfie-sceptic. From hipster Barbie on Instagram to nomads posting exotic vistas, it’s time we admitted that our virtual lives are rose-tinted. So when you see the digital published life of your friends abroad, seemingly idyllic and cosmopolitan, there may be more to it.

One of the biggest options for third-year language students is the British Council scheme, whereby students work part-time in schools abroad for 7 months. Their webpage is awash with language assistants abseiling past misty mountains and singing their praises in front of the Eiffel Tower. But what if, like me, you’re in a town of around 12,000 inhabitants in the middle of an agricultural region? When my work colleagues suggested that the berrichon people could be a little reserved, I simply brushed this off as a natives’ self-depreciation. It’s true that the French are polite people, there’s a chorus of “Bonjour!” every time you walk into a room, but I soon realised that doesn’t necessarily translate into friendliness. Although many people

initially took interest in me (“What are you doing here though?” and “Do you know the Queen?” were typical), once the novelty wore off I wasn’t sure whether I’d made any friends. At the beginning I was so glad that I’d managed to rent an apartment that I didn’t even realise how isolated I really was. Nonetheless, my blog was full of roasted chestnuts and daytrips to local chateaux. I think, maybe without realising it, I was editing my whole life to fit into a preconceived idea about the year abroad experience.

Social media does, of course, also help year abroaders to combat their loneliness. This is where blogging platforms such as Wordpress have made their mark: increasingly I’ve seen posts which take an alternative look at the year abroad experience, and try to give an unvarnished account of what it’s really like to be living in a foreign country. From lease agreements to medical emergencies, people feel comfortable to ask about a wide range of situations, which are difficult, disheartening or downright hilarious by turn. There’s always another year abroader experiencing the same unforeseen difficulties, which helps you realise that you are not the only person to be confused by this, or clueless about that. So as much as social media pages can be a great

way to pool knowledge and find solutions, they also have the potential to be great sources of reassurance. Just by their existence, they prove how vital it is that year abroaders support one another. They’re also a way to celebrate the little victories, such as successfully ordering your coffee like a local, or grasping the usage of that most elusive of filler-words, “quoi”.

However, as important as it might be to keep in touch with friends, it can never fully substitute the support networks which we build around ourselves in our daily lives. I’ve opened up to all sorts of opportunities since I arrived here, including being a tutor, joining local societies and even going to American-style dance lessons. For a while I felt that I had failed at my new independent francophone life, when I realised that the real failure would be to not make a change. I decided to move out of my one-bedroom apartment and am now sharing accommodation, taking on the experience of living with les français fulltime. Maybe I’m still waiting to meet those many Brigittes and Bernards to sip espresso with in philosophical cafés, but I’m getting there. So whether the year abroaders you know are your friends or just people you used to see on your staircase, stay connected. You never know when they might need it.

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Image: Eric Bennett

992 photos.

Being thousands of miles and five hours’ time difference away from each other again, we still miss each other – even though we talk every day. We’re hoping to see each other again in April but realistically it may not be until the summer. I can’t imagine us ever running out of things to say to each other but if we do break up in the future it won’t be because of the distance. Although living so far apart has its difficulties, we get to experience new things and it doesn’t make us want to give up.

Sport

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

Oxford Sport

In brief...

Victory for tennis blues teams The Oxford women’s tennis team won three valuable points in a 10-2 victory over Exeter 2nd in the Premier B South, keeping them in 4th above Cambridge 1st and just a single point behind Bath 2nd.

Meanwhile, the men’s team continued their stay at the top of the Premier B South with and 8-4 victory over Portsmouth, leaving them 5 points clear of LSE 1st. The Men’s penguins unfortunately succumbed to a 12-0 defeat against Nottinham 1st in the Midlands 1A league, whilst the men’s Polar Bears lost by the same scoreline to the Cambridge 2nd team.

Men’s volleyball with 100% record

The Oxford University Men’s Voleyball team ran out 3-1 winners against University of Birmingham to extend their stay at the top of the midlands 1A league with a 100% record.

The women’s team held onto 3rd place by beating Cambridge 1st by a comfortable 3-0 scoreline.

Oxford basketball success Oxford Blues

62-51 Bath 1st

Oxford Women

Queen 67-47 Mary 1st

Oxford Twos

Oxford Women’s Twos

De 68-71 Montfort 1st

50-13 Wolverhampton 1st

Oxford Lancers continue perfect season

Facing the Canterbury Christchurch Chargers, Oxford’s American Football team, the Lancers, extended their season to 3-0 and +49 points differential after routing their opponents 428, having held a half time lead of 34-0. Quarterback Will Szymanski threw four passing touchdowns and ran in two rushing touchdowns as the Lancers continued in their dominance of the South East 2a division, holding onto top spot. Undefeated in 2015, the next stop on Oxford’s American Football season will be at Essex.

Sport news to share?

Contact us at: sport@oxfordstudent.com

38

Calling time on the English national anthem Adam Hilsenrath Sport Editor

“Til we have built Jerusalem, in England’s green and pleasant land” Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has put forward a bill suggesting that England change its national anthem from ‘God Save the Queen’, sparking the age-old debate once again. Only this time, everyone’s differing opinion as to whether ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’ would work best as a replacement for the 271 anthem that rings out today as English men’s football team predictably fail to show any kind of passion before an international.

Perkins’ bill has received initial support from his fellow MPs, despite opposition from some corners, most notably Jacob Rees-Mogg, and were it to progress to the public vote that many seem to think would be the likely result, international sporting fixtures may never be the same again.

Some sports already have their unofficial anthems. The England cricket team’s fans belt out Jerusalem, an early frontrunner as potential replacement to ‘God Save the Queen’. At Twickenham, England’s rugby team find the words of ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’rolling across the pitch, though it’s not exactly seen as a traditionally patriotic piece. These melodies are unifying, an unrecognisable call to arms that drives on whichever team plays under English colours.

However, ‘God Save the Queen’ has often come under criticism as a tune lacking in the required heart-pumping, spirit-raising tune that the famed national anthems of some rivals seem to

have. Germany, France and Italy all have something a little more fast-paced, as do our American friends (this is if you put to one side the notion that, if played twice the speed as it once was, ‘God Save the Queen’ would avoid such harsh criticisms).

Regardless of where you fall in the ultimate debate of sporting patriotism, there has been a decline of support for our national anthem in recent years. If an anthem is going to fulfil its role as the final motivational tool before play begins, filling players with adrenaline and fans with energetic pride, then perhaps it needs a little more popularity than it appears to.

International sporting stars should not need to be told to sing the national anthem as, most notably, the England football team have been on occasion.

Aside from the functionality that comes with selecting a new sporting national anthem, Perkins was keen to highlight that there is a positive political motivation behind it. Currently, the overlap between the British and English national anthems could be construed as an elevation of England to represent Britain as a whole above its fellow home nations.

Just think of the Murray-conundrum, otherwise known as the supposed eternal switching between the labels of Scot and Brit dependent on success levels. When athletes play for Britain, there should be no need for distinction of origin. The home Olympics in 2012 demonstrated the benefit of getting behind the national team in a single, unified voice; if having the same anthem for both England and Britain gets in the way of this in any way, as some make the argument that it does, then perhaps it is best for England to

Opinion

England Cricket fans have long sung Jerusalem Image: airwolfhound

take an equal place with its neighbours and select its own anthem.

Indeed, it is rather bizarre that in England’s most heated international rivalries (see Wales versus England or Scotland versus England in virtually any sport), their opponents proudly sing out their own tune, whilst England play one that in actuality represents both teams.

When England is represented by its own team in international sport, rather than by a unified Great Britain and Northern Ireland team, it is meant to be a celebration of English sport, and English sporting achievement alone. Just as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are able to celebrate their success and their team individually through their anthems, so too should England; however, ‘God Save the Queen’ does not represent only England.

The move to replace the national an-

them is not one of disregard for any kind of unity with fellow home nations. ‘God Save the Queen’ would and should be sung out proudly when Britain comes together, at the Olympics, the World Championships. It would merely be a celebration of English sport, and an attempt to add a little more spirit into its national sides.

As for which song, if any, is to replace ‘God Save the Queen’, ‘Jerusalem’ was overwhelmingly selected by a public vote against ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ and ‘God Save the Queen’ to be England’s national anthem for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, and continued to be so for the 2014 games in Glasgow.

If all progresses swiftly, William Blake’s 200 year old poem might well be heard across France when England’s men play in (at least) the group stages of the European Championships this summer.

The rise of Irishman Conor McGregor Continued from back page

and then broke the viewership record on Fox Sports 1 when he beat Dennis Siver. It was safe to say that at this point McGregor was on the precipice of becoming one of the biggest superstars in the sport. Following the Siver fight, the UFC announced what McGregor and his growing legion of fans had been demanding for months: a fight with Jose Aldo for the Featherweight Title.

Jose Aldo was not regarded as a fighter, he was seen as almost a trascendent warrior, an amalgam of technical brilliance and calculating ruthlessness.

His record was astonishing; he was the only champion in the history of the UFC featherweight division and undefeated for the last decade. The consensus amongst many fans seemed to be that McGregor had bitten off more than he could chew.

Moreover, McGregor faced a tidal wave of criticism from fans who suggested that he had benefitted from favourable match-making as he had fought no notable grapplers on route to his title shot, due to his status as commercial golddust for the profit-chasing UFC franchise. Many European prospects have been beaten on the ground as soon as they face a high-level grappler, due to a lack of any solid grappling discipline. Accordingly, the UFC failed to gain the same level of marketisation as it did across the pond and in the Americas. In the eyes of many fans, the fact that McGregor had been given a title shot without first facing a grappler in a division so saturated with them reeked of the UFC trying to protect McGregor’s record.

After the Aldo fight was postponed due to the Brazilian breaking a rib in training , Chad Mendes, an arguably the best grappler in the division, filled in for Aldo and, despite the short notice, McGregor accepted the fight.

This was it: the grappler. The strong, athletic wrestler who was supposed to be McGregor’s kryptonite. The moment the bell rang McGregor sprinted across the cage met Mendes seemingly without fear, and for the first few minutes was winning on the feet.

Then Mendes took him down. After passing his guard with ease, Mendes pummeled him with elbows, opening a huge cut above McGregor’s right eye.

When the round ended McGregor sat up and laughed - but had the facade of invincibility been exposed? w The second round looked much like the first,with Mendes taking McGregor down almost immediately and raining down on him with a barrage of elbows.

However, towards the end of the round Mendes failed a choke attempt, allowing McGregor to get back to his feet, and with seconds left in the round McGregor knocked out Mendes in one of the best comebacks in recent years. After the fight it was revealed that McGregor had re-tore 80 per cent of his ACL a few weeks prior, yet had fought despite being severely injured: the heart of a fighter was revealed to exist under the veneer of braggado.

Finally, the Aldo fight happened on the 12th December 2015, billed as the biggest pay-per-view event in UFC history. The MGM arena was transformed into a cacophony of sound, the Irish contigent as vociferous and inebriated as ever. Thirteen seconds later

Mcgregor stood towering over Aldo’s unconscious body. It was over. For the first ten seconds the two had attempted to gauge each other’s rhythm and timing, before Aldo had leapt in with a wide left hook which McGregor countered with a left of his own. Aldo’s brain had shut off before his body hit the floor, In thirteen seconds Conor McGregor had beaten a man who had won every fight for the last ten years, and had secured his spot as MMA’s biggest superstar. Asked about his rise to the top of the sport in an interview after the Aldo fight, McGregor described it with his characteristic brevity as a journey “from nothing, to something, to everything”, and when you take a step back and look at his career as a whole, it’s hard not to agree with him maybe McGregor’s story is not quite the Disney archetype, but it is a testament to the power of perseverance.

Despite being fresh off the heels of his last fight, McGregor is taking no time

McGregor and Aldo pose before their record breaking fight.

Image: Andrius Petrucenia

off. His next fight is scheduled for the 5th March against Rafael Dos Anjos, the Lightweight Champion, and it truly is McGregor’s biggest challenge to date. McGregor is looking to do something unprecedented in moving up a weight class and becoming the first person to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously. However, the man standing in his was is not one to be taken lightly. Dos Anjos is a different category of fighter. An insanely athletic martial artist, relentlessly pressuring his opponent when coming forward and crucially, much more of a physical match for McGregor, who has held a large height (and thus reach) advantage over his last opponents. Perhaps this time Icarus really has flown too close the sun, and will be brought down to earth, a concussion to go with his singed wings. But if there’s one thing that McGregor’s exponential rise to stardom has taught us, it is that he is not to be underestimated.

Sport

The Oxford Student | Friday 22nd January 2016

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2016 promises a great year for cycling Jack Evans Staff Writer

2016 promises to be a stellar year for Britain’s cyclists, and not simply due to the tantalising prospect of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In August, household names Laura Trott (team pursuit and omnium) and Lizzie Armistead (road race) will both be in the hunt for those precious gold medals. For Bradley Wiggins (team pursuit) and Jason Kenny (team and individual sprint), an Olympic medal seems a tantalising prospect this year.

However, in the more professionalised men’s side of the sport, there are focuses and big prizes elsewhere. Many of Britain’s male track stars have successfully made the transition to the road and race full time with professional teams, whereas in British women’s cycling Lizzie Armistead cuts a relatively lonely figure in bucking the trend by swapping the track for the road.

a sensational career in which he became the first cyclist to win an Olympic gold medal and the Tour de France in the same year.

Meanwhile, Cavendish is targeting Tour de France stage wins to add to his collection, along with the world championships in Doha, as well as an Olympic track gold.

Sky teammates Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas have outlined the Tour de France as their main target this year, but the double Tour champion has done his homework on the Olympic road race and time trial course and looks to be taking Rio seriously.

In the hilly road race, Froome will most likely be joined by Thomas and the Yates brothers, all of whom could mount a challenge for individual honours or contribute

to a team success.

Despite Lizzie Armistead’s victory in last year’s World Championships road race, she is more of a puncheur (a rider best suited to rolling terrain and short, steep climbs) than a climber; the Olympic course might mean that victory in Brazil is beyond her.

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British talent competing in Rio may well round off a truly remarkable year However, 2016 has much to offer in the way of cycling action before the start of the Rio games.

Froome is hot favourite to win the Tour de France for a third time

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Cavendish and Wiggins have been tempted back onto the track by the lure of an Olympic medal Yet as both edge closer to the end of their careers, Cavendish and Wiggins have been tempted back onto the track by the lure of an Olympic medal. Wiggins is looking to go out on a high after

Froome could complete a hat-trick of Tour de France titles this year Image: Utter Rugby Rant

in July on a course that includes the usual high mountains as well as two individual time trials, during which he could well pull away from his rivals. He would become the first rider to win consecutive titles since Indurain in 1995, after Armstrong’s wins were annulled. Nairo Quitana, who pushed Froome hard in the Alps last year, is no time trialist, which may be his downfall, whilst an aging Contador would stun everyone if he could seriously challenge Froome. The greatest threat to Froome could come in the form of Holland’s Tom Dumoulin, a former time trial specialist who proved his Grand Tour potential at last year’s Vuelta a Espana, spending a large part of the race in the leader’s jersey.

However, Froome should still see himself as this year’s favourite.

Last year Geraint Thomas served as Froome’s lieutenant, but is expected to eye a top spot himself, possibly even on the podium after a strong performance in 2015 that only faded in the final few stages.

A similar dynamic in Team Sky in 2012 between understudy Froome and team leader Wiggins strained team relations almost to breaking point when Froome was thought at one stage to have forsaken his support role for individual glory. Froome has admitted to a burgeoning rivalry between him and Thomas, although he tried to dispel suggestions that they will fall out this year. If Froome falters or withdraws, Thomas may well be given free rein as team leader.

On a more sombre note, both riders will face the inevitable questions about the legality of their performances, which came in the form of urine at one point on the 2015 tour. Of late, members of the cycling community have expressed disbelief at the duo’s rapid rise to the top of the sport. PostArmstrong this is understandable; until 2011 Froome was virtually unheard of and only after the London Olympics did Thomas switch from the track to the road.

There is still much to look forward to in the calendar preceding the tour, namely the Spring Classics: a series of oneday races held in the Ardennes and Flanders. Raced over a variety of terrain including cobbles, paved roads and steep, sharp climbs, it is hard to overstate their importance to cycling, nor their popularity with fans: thousands of them will cram excitedly along the roadsides.

A win in one of the ‘monuments’ immortalises a rider in the sport’s pantheon.

Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard will lead the British charge for Team Sky in the flatter, partially cobbled Flanders races. The undulating Ardennes races suit Adam and Simon Yates’ climbing prowess and both stand a chance of claiming a breakthrough win.

Although the Olympics loom large in 2016, British cyclists could have enjoyed tremendous success before they even start.

The plethora of British talent competing in Rio may well round off a truly remarkable year.

Clubs out for crucial January transfers Clayton Stone Staff Writer

After months of waiting, the January transfer window has finally arrived.

Big clubs in need of reinforcements can reach into their large pockets and splash out on big-name players whilst those struggling a little lower down the league will seek to hold onto their key man and snap up that one player who could be all the difference between relegation and a mid-table finish.

Arsenal, sitting pretty at the top of the Barclays Premier League but facing a tough run of league fixtures followed by a mouthwatering tie against Barcelona in the Champions League, are up first. The Gunners have lacked depth at times this season and Arsène Wenger could feel the need to bring in a few fresh faces this month, having added little besides goalkeeper Cech in the summer. FC Basel midfielder Mohamed Elneny has been heavily linked with a move to North London, but the club may still need to sign another top-class striker. Borussia Dortmund star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bayer Leverkusen forward Javier Hernandez, formerly of Manchester United, are amongst those linked in the gossip columns, and the Gunners might just pull the trigger on one of these players if they hope

to end a decade-long title drought.

Leicester City, the surprise (or one of many) of the Premier League this season are second in the table after being in the relegation zone this time last year. Unlike their fellow frontrunners, the Foxes do not have to worry about European competition this term, a fact which should help their comparatively smaller squad as the season wears on. Having already wrapped up the signing of England youth international Demarai Gray from Birmingham City, Leicester could still use another signing to solidify their side as they push for a top four finish and Champions League football next season, but their priority will surely be holding onto the league’s joint-top goal scorer, Jamie Vardy, along with playmaker Riyad Mahrez.

Manchester City have had an inconsistent season and could be in the market for a few new signings, and are already linked with a move for Real Madrid’s Isco, a creative midfielder who could slot right into Manuel Pellegrini’s side, however Zinedine Zidane’s recent appointment as Real Madrid manager may put a dampener on any departure for Isco from the Spanish capital. Another name hot on City fans’ lips is Schalke midfielder Leroy Sané. The 19 year old is already a full German international and has

played some sensational football this season. Reports are circling that City are planning a £40m for the youngster, though Schalke may be a little too desperate to hold onto him. City are being linked with a host of attacking players, but the weakness revealed in the absence of captain Vincent Kompany has through injury and defender Martín Demichelis may well lead to a bid for a new centre-back, not a creative player. If City opt for young talent over veteran experience, Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte or Schalke’s Joel Matip might walk through the doors of the Etihad.

In the red half of Manchester, United look out of sorts and have struggled to score goals this season.

The Red Devils lack a creative presence in midfield and need another striker to take the load off the underperforming Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial. Louis van Gaal’s position as manager remains in doubt so whether or not he will be given funds to spend this window remains to be seen. However, if United do dip into their transfer budget, a player like the oft-linked Southampton’s Sadio Mane seems more likely, someone who has the ability to both score goals and create chances for his teammates. United have been reported to be planning a £30m move for the Senegalese international, and I would not be

surprised to see Mane swap the South Coast for Manchester this January.

Chelsea have had a torrid time this season and have already sacked their manager. Just a few weeks ago many would have said that Chelsea need a whole host of signings to turn their fortunes around and yet the Blues have had something of a resurgence under interim manager Guus Hiddink, whose side played well in a comfortable 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace and should continue to climb up the table. If Chelsea were to make a signing, it should be a player who can bring some of the flair and creativity Chelsea have been sorely lacking this season. Shakhtar Donetsk star Alex Teixeira, who leads the Ukrainian Premier League with 19 goals this term has already been linked with a £30m move to

Austin’s arrival may open the door for Mane to leave Image: Werner100359

West London and would fit in nicely alongside fellow Brazilians Oscar, Willian, and Ramires.

Buying players in the January transfer window is always a gamble.

Managers often have to pay over the odds to get their man and cannot be sure how the player will fit into a squad that has already played together for half a season. However, great deals can be had in January, with Nemaja Vidic, Luis Suarez, and Kevin De Bruyne all having been signed during the winter window.

This Premier League season is as close as ever, and any number of teams could make the top four, win the title or, at the other end of the table, slip into the bottom three and face relegation. All it takes is one inspired signing to change a team’s fortunes or one misguided sale to throw an entire season away.

January transfer targets Clayton Stone, Page 39

Looking ahead to 2016 cycling Jack Evans, Page 39 Image: Jaguar MENA

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Conor McGregor: from plumber to MMA global star Kapil Tyagi Staff Writer

Sturridge is one of several Liverpool players to suffer injury setbacks this season Image: Dean Jones

Klopp’s fixture list whining should stop Adam Wills Staff Writer

It would be fair to say that Jürgen Klopp is still getting used to English football. Not only did he bemoan the lack of a Christmas break in the Premier League in December, but he has now warned Pep Guardiola, who looks set to manage in the Premier League next season, that the biggest challenge of managing in England is the busy fixture list, “The number of games is the biggest difference [between England and Germany],” he said, “When I came here, I didn’t know there were two rounds [legs] in the semi-final of the Capital One Cup. In Germany, when you tell people that if you draw in the FA Cup, you play again, they say: ‘What?’ Here you have penalties and extra time, but only after the second game.”

“That’s the thing, it’s the number of games... football, football, football.”

Klopp’s frustration is understandable. Indeed, many managers have expressed similar sentiments. Liverpool have limped through the festive period stricken by an injury crisis that, at the time of writing, sees nineteen players on the sidelines (though it must be noted that Liverpool already had

the longest injury list in the Premier League when Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers).

Yet the busy fixture schedule is an asset to English football. When faced with a run of several games in a short period of time, managers are faced with the challenge of having to rest their players but still win games. This adds another element of skill to the game and makes English football all the more enthralling.

Some managers choose to use a rotation policy, a policy which involves calculated risks that could end up backfiring. Jose Mourinho was able to play his first XI in almost every game last season because he let his players train less during the week.

A manager’s decisions with regards to coping with a busy fixture list can make or break a team’s season.

In recent years it has also become common to claim that the busy fixture list adversely affects English performance in the Champions League. This is simply a poor excuse for the dismal performance of English teams in the Champions League recently.

In the five seasons from 2004/5 to 2008/9, 12 of the 20 teams in the semi-finals were English. Where were the complaints about the busy fixture list then? If English teams were able to cope with the high number of games then, they should be able to cope now. Barcelona played 63 games last season, but still completed the treble, winning the Champions League, La Liga and the Copa del Rey. When Guardiola won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2011, they played 62 games. Despite Klopp’s concerns, I suspect Guardiola will be able to

cope with the fixture list in England just fine.

To put it simply, the best teams can cope with the fixtures.

Klopp has previously only managed in Germany where they have only one domestic cup competition, the DFB-Pokal, in which matches go to extra time and penalties if the teams are drawing at the end of ninety minutes. The English system, with both the League Cup and the FA Cup and the use of second legs and replays, is,therefore understandably alien to Klopp. But it is also better than the German system.

The FA Cup is quite simply magical.

Replays are undoubtedly a nuisance for Premier League teams, but they can be fantastic for lower league teams. Without replays, the result between Liverpool and Exeter would have been decided at St. James Park in extra time and penalties. With replays, however, the Exeter players now have the privilege of playing at Anfield. In Germany, such a situation would never happen. Which other competition provides fourthtier teams like Exeter such great opportunities?

Additionally, replays increase the chances of lower league teams being able to cash in on TV money, which can make a huge difference to them. Exeter is set to make at least £500,000 from their two games against Liverpool. For clubs without millionaire owners, this money is a blessing - Exeter is already planning to use the TV money to improve their stadium and training ground.

And whilst the League Cup is derided by some as a ‘Mickey Mouse’ competition, it provides a crucial opportunity for smaller teams to

get their hands on some silverware.

Recent winners of the League Cup include Birmingham and Swansea, who are now in the Championship and battling against relegation in the Premier League respectively.

The smallest team to win the German Cup in recent years is either Schalke or Wolfsburg, both teams of Champions League quality.

The League Cup is also crucially important for younger players, who are often given a chance to impress their manager. It is already extremely difficult for talented youngsters to break into the first team at many Premier League clubs, and without the League Cup this task would be even harder.

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Yes, Mr Klopp, in England it is just football, football, football

Most importantly, the busy winter fixture list is incredibly entertaining for fans. Football is central to English culture; it is by some distance the most popular sport in the country.

Boxing Day football is special, and a Premier League season with a winter break just would not be the same. Having two domestic cups also provides fans of lower league sides with the chance to watch their team play at Wembley. The two domestic cups keep that wonderful dream of a trip to Wembley alive for the fans of lower league sides.

So, yes, Mr Klopp, in England it is just football, football, football. But that’s what makes it so great.

When Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in thirteen seconds there was chaos. The cheers of the estimated 4,000 Irish fans, who had needed no prior encouragement for their revelry, were deafening, the smaller cohort of Brazilians sat in silence. Standing in the middle of the ring was Conor McGregor, now a veritable Celtic Tiger, the undisputed Featherweight Champion of the world and the biggest star in MMAthe man whose career trajectory sees him destined to become the first nine figure athlete in the history of the sport. Although he is far more interesting than that, McGregor’s life reads like the cliched rags-toriches sporting narrative - the date that he stood triumphant in the MGM Arena less than three years removed from a semi-professional career in Dublin, whilst also working as a plumber. Following a steady rise through the doldrums of the MMA world in tournaments such as Cage Warriors, in 2013 McGregor signed a multi-fight contract with UFC. His opponent was an American, Marcus Brimage. This was an opportunity for him to announce himself to the MMA world at large, and he did so emphatically.

After causing his opponent to chase shadows in the early stages of the fight McGregor caught Brimage with a looping uppercut as he charged in which finished the fight.

While the performance was certainly impressive, what really made him memorable was the post-fight press conference, where he revealed that he had been living on social welfare until the week prior, and displayed a level of showmanship and humour which caught the interest of potential fans just as much as the fight itself. Not only had McGregor announced himself as a fighter, but a commercially viable one at that.

Following his victorious debut McGregor rose through the ranks at a meteoric pace, combining a series of spectacular wins with a brash and entertaining brand of trash talk and strong marketing by the UFC. Over the next two years he beat the upand-coming Max Holloway despite tearing his ACL in the second round, knocked out Diego Brandao upon his return from injury in his hometown of Dublin, scored a first round knockout over Dustin Poirier, his first top five ranked opponent,

Continued on page 38