The Oxford Student - Week 5 Michaelmas 2022

Green

Read Milo Dennison’s guide to COP27

Sport

Dani Kovac’ looks ahead to the Qatar World Cup Group stage.

Entertainment The ultimate debate: Drake Vs Megan Thee Stallion.

Michaelmas Term, Week 5 | Friday 11 November 2022

OXFORD STUDENT The

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

Anvee Bhutani and Dominic Enright

O

ver 70,000 university staff at 150 universities will strike for three days later this month over attacks on pay, working conditions and pensions.

The National Union of Students

(NUS) has backed the strikes, which will be the biggest ever to hit UK universities and could impact 2.5 million students.

The UCU have voted that the full strike dates in November will be: Thursday 24 November, Friday 25 November and Wednesday 30 November.

Staff will also begin industrial action short of strike action from Wednesday 23 November, which includes working to rule, refusing to make up work lost as a result of strike action and refusing to cover for absent colleagues.

As the UCU general secretary Jo Grady stated ‘Campuses across the

Read more on page 3

UK are about to experience strike action on a scale never seen before.

70,000 staff will walk out and make clear they refuse to accept falling pay, cuts to pensions and insecure employment.’

The strikes come after UCU members overwhelmingly voted ‘yes’ to industrial action last month in two

Applications fall for University of Oxford

Chris Collins

The University of Oxford has recorded a slight decline in the number of applicants for 2023 undergraduate entry, the first time the numbers have fallen in eight years.

Around 23,000 applications were received, marking a drop of 2.6% on the year before. With c. 3,300 undergraduate places on offer, this represents an applicant-to-place ratio of approximately 7:1.

The news follows a deepening cost-of-living crisis, which risks put-

ting the financial cost going to university out of reach for many students. Repayment rules for student loans are set to tighten beginning with students admitted in the next application cycle, with the Government lowering the salary threshold for repayments from £27,500 to £25,000. While current loans are due to be written off after 30 years if not repaid, new loanees will be required to make repayments for Read more on page

“

Read more on page 4

Campuses across the UK are about to experience strike action on a scale never seen before. 70,000 staff members will walk out.

“

UCU to hold biggest ever university strikes

historic national ballots over attacks on pay and working conditions as well as pension cuts. This is the first time a ballot by any education union has passed the legal threshold of 50% turnout across the country - enabling it to call a national strike - rather than in individual universities, which would have allowed only staff in those institutions to strike .Despite the result, vice-chancellors have not made any improved offers.

In the pension dispute, UCU is demanding employers revoke the cuts and restore benefits. The package of cuts made earlier this year will see the average member lose 35% from their guaranteed future retirement income. For those at the beginning of their careers the losses are in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The UK university sector generated record income of £41.1bn last year with vice chancellors collectively earning an estimated £45million. The UCU argue the sector can more than afford to meet staff demands.

However, Universities are very unhappy by this decision and fear the disruption it could have on higher education.

A spokesperson for the higher education regulatory body in England, the Office for Students, said: “We are very concerned about the potential impact of these strikes on students. It cannot be right that students face further dis-

- UCU general secretary , Joe Grady

2 | Editorial

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

MICHAELMAS TERM 2022 EDITORIAL TEAM EDITORS IN CHIEF Jason Chau and Dominic Enright ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anna Davidson and Blane Aitchison CREATIVE DIRECTORS Yii-Jen Deng, Andrew Wang and Elias Formaggia DEPUTY EDITORS Ayomilekan Adegunwa Adi Kesaia Toganivalu, Chris Collins, Anmol Kejriwal, Ciaron Tobin, Dani Kovacs, Emily Hudson, Joe Sharp, Jonah Poulard, Matt Holland, Milo Dennison, Susie Barrows NEWS Ayomilekan Adegunwa, Chris Collins, Adi Kesaia Toganivalu, Anna Lee, Anvee Bhutani, Blaise Mcnestry, Charlie Aslet, Ciaron Tobin, Matt Holland, Rose Henderson, Sam Kenny, Samuel King, Sarah Raza, Tim Green COMMENT Anna Lee, Ali Khosravi Ciaron Tobin, Harrison Gates, Samuel Kenny, Matt Holland, Rose Henderson PROFILE Anmol Kejriwal, Ayomilekan Adegunwa, Charlie Aslet, Lay Mohan, Samuel King.

FEATURES Anna Lee, Charlie Aslet, Ciaron Tobin, Dani Kovacs IDENTITY Anmol Kejriwal, Ebrahim Osman, Emily Hudson, Siddiq Islam ENTERTAINMENT Carla Messinger, Coral Kim, Duoya Li, Jonah Poulard, Susie Barrows FOOD & DRINK Duoya Li, Jonah Poulard, Nina Holguin GREEN Katie Hulett, Milo Dennison, Siddiq Islam SCITECH Emily Hudson, Nicole Hasler SPORT Dani Kovacs, Joe Sharp, Matt Holland OXYOU Milo Dennison, Susie Barrows, Alex Foster COLUMNISTS Joe Wald, Blane Aitchison, Dania Kamal Aryf, Coral Kim Joe Sharp, Lay Mohan, Nina Holguin

I

t’s a time of reflection and anticipation for the OxStu as we cross the halfway mark of the term. We are improving our operations everyday, creating a fair, collaborative and enjoyable working environment as much as possible for our team. Our news and investigations team are also hard at work to deliver the best scoops, with more updates coming soon on that front!

This week, I want to personally thank Rose and Ayomi this for their over-andbeyond dedication to the paper. They have demonstrated what true journalism is with their incredible work ethic and their passion for reporting. It is a privilege to have them on the team, and watching them work inspires me to be a better journalist everyday. They are,

@theoxstu

@theoxfordstudent

issuu.com/theoxfordstudent in all seriousness, relentless superstars.

Special thanks to Kesaia as well, for being a responsible leader; To Andrew, the sage of OxStu who is holding everything together with his determination and calmness, even in times of extreme pressure. To Sam Kenny, for being a fearless reporter, willing to speak to truth to power; And to Chris, Blane, Yii-Jen, Anmol and Anna, who choose to spend their Wednesday nights in the OxStu office, trying to publish the best paper and articles every lay-in week.

In terms of events, we are honoured to have Tom McTague, staff writer at the Atlantic joining us for a talk this week. If you’re reading this on a Friday morning, please come to the talk, especially for those interested in journalism. It’ll be an opportunity to meet an established, acclaimed writer with an incredible insight into politics in the UK and beyond.

There is much to do, with more stories, more scoops, more events, and most importantly, more fun in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for our reporting.

Editor’s Picks Comment

Britain Enters its Weimar Era: A Historical Comparison

8

Sport

Entertainment

Drake Vs Megan Thee Stallion

23

The best is yet to come.

Jason Chau, St Antony’s College.

Dani Kovacs’ Group Stage Look Ahead

SciTech Can fast fashion be made sustainable?

From the Editors

Hey all, I hope you enjoy this print edition this week, with some really great writing. We were blessed this week with COP27, and the upcoming World Cup that means that we have plenty to write about. Do read the previews written by Milo, Joe and Dani.

This was another outstanding week for entertainment who delivered a stellar comparison between Drake and Meghan Thee Stallion.

All the Editorial Team are feeling the effects of 5th week blues, with most of us working from home. Week 5 will always remind me of the Blue

Cheese and Blue Spark night at Benet’s which sadly will not pick me up this year. However, I replaced it with a game of ‘Où est le Poulet’ organised by former editor in Chief, Elias Formaggia. We didn’t win but it was the journey that mattered Thanks again to the whole editorial team, to Blane, to Anna and especially to Jason for another successful Print.

If you are interested in Journalism, please come to our event today, with the journalist Tom McTague from the Atlantic at the Harris Lecture Theatre at Oriel College - it should be a good way to pick you up from those 5th week blues.

Dominic Enright

St. John’s College

L

ast week marked the first anniversary of my very first article for The Oxford Student, so instead of the usual bravado, I’m going to write something more sentimental this week. I’m forever grateful for the OxStu for providing me with a place to ramble on about whatever’s been on my mind lately, and even more grateful for Amina for editing and publishing my very first articles, for Dania and Elias for suggesting I start a proper column and making the amazing Blane’s Style Files banner that accompanies it, for Anna, Jason and Dom for being a continually helpful and supportive Senior Editorial Team, and for you, the readers, who, for some reason, are still reading this, and the other drivel .

Yours, stylistically early but fashionably late,

Blane Aitchison,

The Queen’s College

30 27

J

ason and Andrew are discussing human rights policy while blasting the Butterfly Boucher rendition of David Bowie’s ‘Changes’; it must be another OxStu nightime lay-in. We’re over halfway, which is bittersweet. On one hand, I’m loving the exciting pieces which our team tirelessly produce every fortnight, as well as the constant inspiration of Jason, Blane and Dom. On the other hand, I’m becoming increasingly concerned that one of them is going to have a heart attack from the stress. So before then, I’ll take this opportunity to thank everyone for their brilliant work once again, and let them know that their efforts are always appreciated. I would go on, but they’ve started playing ‘Can’t Take My Eyes off You’, so I’ve decided to attack the rest of laying-in with renewed vigour. Enjoy the issue, we’ll see you in two weeks!

Anna Davidson,

Wadham College

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

News | 3

NEWS

editor.oxfordstudent@gmail.com

@TheOxStu

The Oxford Student

oxfordstudent.com

Irish Taoiseach: “Putin fears democracy

Contents News - p. 3 Comment - p. 7 Features - p. 12

far more than military threat” Kesaia Toganivalu News Editor

Profile - p. 15 Identity- p. 17 Columns - p. 18 Entertainment - p. 23 Food & Drink - p. 25 Scitech - p. 26 Green - p. 27

OxYou - p. 28

Gen Z - p. 29 Sport - p. 30

O

n 2nd November 2022 the University of Oxford’s most prestigious public lecture was given by the head of government of the Republic of Ireland.

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Illustration: Jonas Muschalski

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In it he spoke about the ongoing war in Ukraine as well as the UK’s relationship with Ireland, and the collapse of the power sharing agreement in Northern-Ireland.

The Taoiseach for the Republic of Ireland, Micheál Martin TD for Cork South-Central, and leader of Fianna Fail, gave a talk on the threat of populism to liberal-democracies. He is the first head of state to deliver the Romanes lecture. Michael Martin was introduced by the Vice-Chancellor, Louise Richardson, herself an Irish political scientist specialising in terrorism.

Martin’s talk, titled ‘The Centre will hold: Liberal Democracy and the Populist Threat’ focused on shared liberal val-

ues, as well as their “illiberal” opponents. The Taoiseach spoke about the need to “reclaim” the word liberal, arguing it had become tainted by the spread of misinformation.

Whilst, he understood that the values of liberal democracies, such as tolerance and free debate, were under threat, the positives of the political model would succeed.

The Irish head of state had also recently met with Prime Minister Sunak, and said the two had settled on a blueprint of unity for the future. Taoiseach said they had agreed a “new positive agenda across borders”.

Whilst Martin avoided mentioning specific states in depth, arguing the underlying point of the lecture was larger than specific countries. The Taoiseach did however discuss the war in Ukraine and the relationship between Britain and Ireland. The Taoiseach stated that Vladimir Putin “fears democracy far more than military threat” expressing his sentiment and solidarity with the people of Ukraine. He argued Putin’s military acceleration of the war was motivated to prevent liberal ideals succeeding in a formerly imperialist state.

The President of the Oxford University Irish Society, Nicole Reid, gave a statement on the club’s behalf:

Afterwards, the Taoiseach held a drinks reception with members of the Oxford University Irish Society.

“We were incredibly grateful to our Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who gave the Irish Society at Oxford a personal meet and greet with him as part of his trip to Oxford to speak at this year’s Romanes Lecture, held at the illustrious Sheldonian Theatre. Our Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, was exceptionally generous with his time, and we had a very engaging and cordial evening with him, where

the Irish Society committee members were able to meaningfully converse with the Taoiseach on all matters politics. As ever, it is a credit to our nation that we have such an accomplished statesman, our Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who is erudite and exceptionally wellversed in all political spheres.

From a personal point of view, I, Nicole Reid, as the President of the Irish Society, was personally thankful to the Taoiseach and his team who carved out a significant proportion of his evening to spend time with the Oxford Irish Society and its members. For a world leader who is exceptionally busy, it is indicative of the value he places on the young Irish diaspora abroad. Our conversations were wide ranging, covering a vast array of topics, pertaining to Ireland, economics, the Irish diaspora abroad and one of the major assets Ireland has always possessed, being that of a wellinformed and educated youth.”

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

4 | News

UCU to hold biggest Applications fall for University of ever university strikes Oxford

Cont. from page 1

Anvee Bhutani and Dominic Enright

(Cont) that students face further disruption to their studies, and we would urge the employers and trade unions to work quickly so that any industrial dispute does not materially affect students.”

But UCU members want a pay rise to take the rising cost of living into account - much like unions in other sectors which have pushed for strike action in recent months.

Inflation - the rate at which prices rise - is close to 10%, the highest level for 40 years. That means workers’ living costs are rising faster than their wages, leaving them worse off.

In the pay-and-working-conditions dispute, the UCU wants staff to receive a 12% pay rise, or Retail Price Index plus 2%. It also wants to address “dangerously high workloads” and scrap zero-hours contracts.

The pensions dispute is about a valuation of a pension scheme called the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), used by academic staff. The UCU says the valuation is flawed and could lower members’ guaranteed retirement income by 35%.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady commented on the strikes that “‘This is not a dispute about affordability - it is about choices.

Vice-chancellors are choosing to pay themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds whilst forcing our members onto low paid and

Cont. from page 1

insecure contracts that leave some using foodbanks. They choose to hold billions in surpluses whilst slashing staff pensions.

‘UCU members do not want to strike but are doing so to save the sector and win dignity at work.

This dispute has the mass support of students because they know their learning conditions are our members’ working conditions.

In support of the strikes, the NUS vice president higher education Chloe Field said: ‘Students stand in solidarity with the 70,000 university staff across the UK who will strike later this month. Staff teaching conditions are students’ learning conditions, and we must fight together for a fairer, healthier education system for everyone who works and studies.”

At Oxford, UCU strikes have not taken place since Hilary 2021 A spokesperson from Oxford University commented ““The University notes the outcome of the national UCU ballots in favour of industrial action over the national pay settlement and USS. We understand the concerns many staff have on pay, as well as on pensions. We also have a duty to ensure our education and research activities continue as far as possible and will therefore have contingency plans in place to minimise the impact of any industrial action on staff, students and visitors.”

Chris Collins News e ditor

(C ont)The news follows a deepening cost-of-living crisis, which risks putting the financial cost going to university out of reach for many students.

Repayment rules for student loans are set to tighten beginning with students admitted in the next application cycle, with the Government lowering the salary threshold for

repayments from £27,500 to £25,000. While current loans are due to be written off after 30 years if not repaid, new loanees will be required to make repayments for 40 years: an additional decade.

According to UCAS statistics, the overall number of people participating in the 15th October early applications round,

which includes all students seeking to apply to Oxbridge and to certain courses such as medicine and dentistry, was 77,810. This was an increase of 1.1% from last year’s figure of 76,940. However, the University of Cambridge also noted a decrease of 5% on its overall applicant numbers.

Oxford noted a particular decrease in overseas applicants, with a 6.4% overall decline in applications from abroad and a 12.2% decline in applications from the European Union.

In the University’s May Admissions report, Vice Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson said: “On a less positive note, these pages also reveal the steep decline in students from the EU. This decline was expected as a result of the changing fee regime occasioned by Brexit but it is stark.

The numbers admitted from the EU had dropped in half, from 8% to 4% and from an average of over 260 for the past four years, to 128 this year.”

With of rise of tuition fees from EU going from £9,250 to £28,950 and £44,240, it is perhaps no surprise that EU students are seeking to study elsewhere this year.

Oxford Students organise campaign ‘Against Repression in Iran’ Matt Holland

by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This comes following widespread protests which have engulfed the country and echoed around the world following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

The group stand in solidarity with the protesters, many of which are young people and University students, calling on students and young people around the world to raise awareness for the plight of those suffering at the hands of the Iranian Government.

Indeed, their statement includes a direct message towards the protesters, saying that the group is “inspired by (their) courage”.

They particularly recom-

mend people to contact their local MPs or Representatives to condemn the violence which has been used to suppress protests.

In addition, they recommend fellow students to contact their University Administrations and urge them to join in condemning the particular attacks against students which have occurred in Iran.

So far their campaign aims centre around the importance of raising awareness and educating other students on the very topical issues. Importantly their statement ends with their hope that the protests will help to “build a free Iran based on democracy and equality for all”.

Image credit: https://twitter.com/Oxford4Iran

A

group of Oxford Students from Iranian backgrounds have formed a campaign group, ‘Oxford Students Against Repression in Iran’, in order to coordinate Oxford Students wishing to stand up to the repression shown in Iran towards women and young girls.

Pages on both Instagram and Twitter have already begun sharing posts from students and others who have spoken out against the repression of women in Iran and the failure of some to stand up against it.

Their press statement which has been received by the Oxford Student begins by condemning the use of “state violence”

News | 5

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

Oxford University supports proposed traffic filters Dominic Enright Editor in Chief

T

he University of Oxford has written to the Leaders of Oxfordshire County Council in support of their proposed traffic filters.

In a Official letter sent on the 22nd of September, Dr David Prout, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Resources stated that “the University supports actions which aim to free up the limited road space in and around Oxford and improve safety, connectivity and air quality whilst tackling the climate emergency by reducing congestion.”

The support of Oxford University (which employs 14500 people) for proposed traffic filters is significant as the University is the largest employer in the area. The letter adds that the proposals in the Council’s Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan will have the effect of “facilitating and encouraging walking and cycling, improving public transport and…we stand ready to work with you as these proposals develop”.

The proposal on the County Council’s website would add six trial traffic filters on key routes across Oxford to improve bus services and journey times, reduce walking and

cycling accidents and improve air quality across the city. The council would introduce them under an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) from summer 2023.

Traffic filters are designed to reduce traffic levels, and operate by preventing access to private cars without a permit. All other vehicles including buses, coaches, taxis, vans, mopeds, motorbikes and HGVs will be allowed at all times.

Residents in Oxford and some areas just outside the city will be able to apply for a permit allowing them to drive through the traffic filters on up to 100 days per year. A map of this area can be found on the Council website.Traffic filters will be monitored by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

The current proposals by the council include six traffic filters.

Three of these will be located in the city centre on: St Cross Road (immediately south of its junction with Manor Road) Thames Street (immediately east of its junction with Blackfriars Road) Hythe Bridge Street (immediately west of its junction with Rewley Road) The remaining three filters will be located on:

St Clements (immediately east of its junction with Boulter Street and Jeune Street) Marston Ferry Road (immediately west of the access to The Swan School) Hollow Way (between James Wolfe Road and Dene Road) A map of the location of these can be found online.

The council states that the intention of this proposal is: “Across our county, we want to reduce unnecessary journeys by private vehicles and make walking, cycling, public and shared transport the natural first choice. This will help us deliver an affordable,

sustainable and inclusive transport system that enables the county to thrive whilst protecting the environment and making Oxfordshire a better place to live for all residents.”

This comes after more than 3,400 people have signed a petition against new traffic filters for Marston Ferry Road and Hollow Way. However, polling released on the 23rd of October showed that people in Oxford support measures to install traffic filters in the city by a margin of almost two to one.

A separate letter, signed by the Oxford Bus Company, also supported the proposed plans, saying that

“To keep customers moving and ensure deliveries on time, we’re supporting plans such as the proposed traffic filters and a zero emissions zone. None of these plans will stop people driving to anywhere in the city. But it will mean our buses are quicker, and cycling and walking is safer. We want to get Oxford moving. We hope others do too.”

Oxford county council cabinet will make it’s decision on the 29th of Novermber, and if approved, the traffic filters will be introduced under an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) next summer for a minimum of six months.

New displays open at Oxford University Museum of Natural History Chris Collins News Editor

T

he Oxford University Museum of Natural History has announced the first significant changes to its permanent displays in two decades.

The new exhibits focus on biodiversity, evolution, and the history of the Earth. They include a gigantic Japanese Spider Crab and meteorites as old as the solar system itself. A selection of “weird and wonderful creatures” make up an ‘animal diversity’ display, and a ‘great and small’ exhibit focuses on the vast range of scale found in the planet’s largest group of animals, the arthropods

(including insects, spiders, crabs, and lobsters).

A ’life and water’ display tells the story of the emergence of life deep in the ocean, and a ‘tree of life’ created by the Museum visualises the diversification of life from a common ancestor. Evolution will be given a practical illustration through specimens of modern whales and their ancestors, showing the development of mammalian limbs, teeth, and nostrils.

For the first time, the Museum’s permanent exhibits will examine the human impact on the environment. A ‘future in our hands’ display will feature sculpted

hands, each cast in the Museum from people connected to conservation, cradling threatened or extinct species, including the famous dodo.

The project, which completes the second phase of the Museum’s ‘Life, as we know it’ masterplan that commenced in 2018, will continue with a further 16 new exhibits opening in the spring of 2024.

Professor Paul Smith, Director of the Museum of Natural History, commented: “With their striking, contemporary designs and a focus on core scientific ideas, these displays are a big step forward for the Museum.

“In them, we are taking a broader look at the complex interactions between life and the environment, both today and across geological time.

“And we are also offering an opportunity for visitors to reflect on our impact on the biodiversity of the future.”

IMAGES CREDIT: Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

6 | News

Merton gown survey sparks debate

Milo Dennison

T

he anonymous survey, which was presented to JCR members as a method through which the JCR committee could be aware of JCR opinions when “reviewing the policy”, asked students whether they had already sat their Prelims and whether they would describe the current gown policy as “fair” or “unfair”.

Currently, students at Merton are required to wear their gown for formals and various other college events, including the famous Time Ceremony.

However, in practice, at least at formals, this rule is very loosely enforced: many Merton students turn up to formal without a gown and are not sent away or asked where it is. Moreover, there is no requirement for those who achieved a first in Prelims must wear a scholar’s gown and indeed some who were given a first make the decision to keep their commoners gown.

However, many students at Merton do wear scholar’s gowns; Merton is a college that performs strongly academically, with over a third of all students achieving a first in their Prelims and over half achieving a first in their finals in 2022, so scholar’s gowns are a common sight. It has been noted in the past that these gowns serve as a very visible symbol of the academic pressure that students at Merton can find themselves under.

The survey sent out addressed this: questions asked about the effect of the current policy on students’ mental health, daily college life and the academic culture at Merton. At the end of the survey there was also a question about whether a policy in which gowns become optional would be preferable.

It was this question that has caused much of the controversy. Within a few days of the survey being sent out, Oxfesses began appearing

accusing the JCR committee in increasingly vitriolic language of attempting to ban scholar’s gowns or even gowns completely. One post on the popular Facebook page read, “See the sad, bitter weirdos at Merton trying to get everyone stripped of gowns…actually embarrassing”.

This sparked a number of posts for several weeks on the site arguing for both sides of the supposed debate. Yet as the Merton JCR President made clear when asked for

comment, “banning gowns at college events is not something being considered by the JCR”. He points out that the intention of the survey was simply to get a, “stronger appreciation for [Merton JCR members] views on the college’s current gowns policy”.

For many Merton students, this debate has simply demonstrated the problem with platforms like Oxfess where rumours can circulate and grow unchecked. At

a Merton JCR OGM last weekend, two students submitted and got passed ‘The Oxfess Losers Motion’, which noted amongst other things that, “posting on Oxfess rather than communicating with the JCR over an issue you care about is the action of a coward”. This seems to be the prevailing attitude amongst Merton students, who are in large part shocked that a relatively innocent survey has been dragged so far out of context.

were keen for advice, ranging from how to find a boyfriend to asking where her boots were from (Yves Saint Laurent). She was also asked to deliberate between Nicki [Minaj] or Cardi [B]. Bregoli concluded that it was disappointing to see the infighting among female rap artists, asking “what happened to women supporting women?”

She hoped that if she ever became as established as Nicki Minaj in the rap industry, she wouldn’t waste her time getting into petty arguments with smaller artists.

Bregoli also spoke about her relationships with male industry figures. She cited Kodak Black and Lil Yachty as two friends that have given her invaluable support. Lil Yachty was her first feature, and she appreciated their lack of condescension when she was starting out in music, given her background of being made into a meme. She also revealed that Lil Yachty has had a baby.

Bregoli left the chamber with an audience invitation to Atik, as well as one to the Union Bar.

Bhad Bhabie visits the Union Rose Henderson

R

apper, philanthropist, and internet sensation Danielle Bregoli, known professionally as ‘Bhad Bhabie’, visited the Oxford Union for a much anticipated interview and Q&A on the 2nd November.

Audience members waited patiently in the rain before Bregoli’s appearance, filling the Union’s chamber to the brim.

Her arrival was greeted with whoops, cheers, and applause as she entered with her entourage.

Bregoli was an unexpected guest for the Union to invite, but from the reaction of the crowd, not an unwelcome one.

Bregoli rose to fame via her appearance on ‘Dr. Phil’, where after being laughed at by a member of the studio audience, she challenged them to a fight.

Her challenge - “catch me outside, how about that?” went viral and resulted in her being signed by a music manager.

Ahmad Nawaz, President of the Union, conducted the initial interview. Bregoli spoke movingly about her desire to move beyond her image as the ‘troubled teen’ on reality TV, and how she has tried to express that in her music.

Despite Bregoli’s success, she was candid about her traumatic upbringing, describing her mother, who reportedly had been emailing Dr. Phil about a potential appearance since

Bregoli was two years old, as ‘batshit crazy’. She also spoke about her experience being imprisoned on the TurnAbout-Ranch, a facility for badly behaved youth in Utah.

Bregoli was passionate in her opposition to such institutions, citing the inhumane conditions young people are kept in, such as physical restraints, censored communications with the outside world, and lack of access to ‘privileges’ such as better food and mattresses.

Hits such as ‘Gucci Flip Flops’,

‘Hi Bich’ and ‘These Heaux’, as well as her career on OnlyFans, have proved remunerative for Bregoli. Forbes have estimated that in 2021 she earned more than $49 million dollars solely from her activity on the platform. In her Union appearance she revealed that the first thing she bought with the money was a Bentley - but that is not all her money has been used for.

After receiving numerous requests via Instagram DM from fans asking her to pay for their college tuition fees, Bregoli has since set up a scholarship programme called ‘Bhad Scholarship’. The $1.7 million scholarship provides full tuition grants for students, as well as postgraduate entrepreneurial funding. In response to one audience member asking how to apply, she told them to check the website.

Various audience members

Editors: Ciaron Tobin, Matt Holland, Anna Lee (Deputy), Rose Henderson (Deputy) comment@oxfordstudent.com

Comment

Comment | 7

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

Despair; In Spite of Everything I Still Have Hope

Matthew Holland

A

s I write this COP27 is under- and corruption difficult to ignore way and seems set to descend despite the excitement which comes into an endless debate about for football fans with the world’s the legacies of colonialism and the most prestigious football competiresponsibilities of the polluting, de- tion. The world’s largest democracy veloped nations in addressing the constantly teetering on the edge of damage their actions have caused a fascist takeover of its institutions. to the developing world. ‘Loss and The Global Economy suffering from damage’ is the key phrase which is the effects of all these issues, causing being discussed at the Summit, a widespread inflation and recession term which refers to the demand on a scale not seen since before the by these developing nations for Second World War. reparations for the damages caused by ...when one looks at the What seems actions which they world, the picture be- most dehave no responsi- comes one of despair. pressing of bility for. This year’s all is that I’m COP also comes in a 20 year old the shadow of worrying reports by student and rather than worrying some of the world’s leading Climate about my essay deadlines or my reScientists that unless drastic action lationships or even worrying about is taken in the next few years, targets the plight of Manchester United, my for limiting global temperature rises worrying has been occupied exclucannot be feasibly met and will begin sively as of late by the state of the to lead to climate breakdown. world I have inherited. For the first time in probably my family’s history, This is enough to petrify and de- and certainly in its last 100 years, press even those with their heads my standard of living will likely be buried deepest in the sand, but when lower than my parents, despite the one looks at the world, the picture fact neither of my parents went to becomes one of despair. Evidence University and I am a student at already of climate breakdown with Oxford University. It seems wholly flooding, drought, extreme temper- wrong to me and difficult to underatures, and wildfires across every stand and come to terms with that continent in the world. War and hu- fact, which is made all the more difman rights abuses galore in Ukraine, ficult by most other anxieties about Somalia, Yemen, Palestine. Soon the the future I will experience.

Qatar World Cup begins, with the evidence of migrant exploitation Despite what my friends may say of

me, I consider myself to be a naturally optimistic person, and I believe that has always helped to define my political and philosophical beliefs.

When the Coronavirus Pandemic began, I approached it with a determination and an optimism, hoping that soon my life would return to something resembling the normality I had always known. The tipping point for me came with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It felt as though every assumption I had about the world, every certainty, was nothing but a lie that I was being fed my entire life.

economic challenges as pressing as and oil have been sharply and plainly they are now, global war looming described to us. much as it seems to be now, the military-industrial complex engulfing The invasion of Ukraine representnations, and race hatred becoming ed a turning point in human history, a catch-all scapegoat for all the prob- with the direction still to be deterlems ailing society. I do not mean mined by the changemakers of today. to belittle or disIt highlighted our respect this event ...the degradation dependencies and and time in history, of my assumptions our weaknesses which should bring about the world have in the globalised, a reflection for all been necessary to modern world, and of us of the lessons therefore presents showing what us with the opporwhich history can must be done to tunity to either teach us. change the world. learn from this or Perhaps it’s my continue to make It has been a real challenge to me fundamental belief in the importance the mistakes of dependency which to reconcile with these fundamen- of learning the lessons of history have put us in the crisis era which tal challenges to which keeps me op- have created for ourselves. While it my optimism ...I have ultimately timistic at this time. may have initially caused anxiety for and my happi- been of the opinion There’s still many in me, the degradation of my assumpness, but I have that while the world this world, like me, tions about the world have been ultimately been who have tried to necessary to showing what must be may despair, there is learn those lessons done to change the world. of the opinion that while the no benefit in me join- and strive to prevent world may de- ing in that despair. the mistakes of the My anxiety is not now one of the spair, there is no past being repeated. breakdown of my assumption of norbenefit in me joining in that despair. In Timothy Synder’s essential book, mality, but that the lessons which Black Earth, he argues in his final have become fundamental to my As a historian, it is always a crumb chapter that the Holocaust and Na- political and philosophical develof comfort to be able to pluck at a zism were fuelled by the desire for opment may not have been as funcertain time in history where my the control of resources necessary for damental for those with the power counterpart would’ve had even sustaining living. In this he predicted to change it. I don’t want to spend more challenges to their optimism. that unless we learnt the lessons of my 20s in despair; I am too young I write this on the 84th anniversary the Holocaust, society risked some- for it. For as long as it’s possible, I’ll of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken thing similar being done in the age remain optimistic that a better world Glass. I imagine how it would’ve felt of the climate crisis, when the impor- is possible. to have lived during that time, with tance of resources such as natural gas

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Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

A Defence of The House of Lords Adam Arnfield

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details in law. Abolish the current House of Lords and lose a culturally enriching influence on our politics, which is also uniquely positioned to temper the sometimes-extreme moves made by the House of Commons.

Instead of embracing this diversity within our system, Brown This means that Gordon would rather establish a second Brown’s proposal to create a House of Commons, making all House that defended the consti- members elected, perhaps due to tution is an alien idea for Britain, a perceived elitism in the Lords. one imported directly from the The Declaration of IndependUSA. A supporter might point ence’s ‘all men are created equal’ to the aforementioned Supreme seems more fitting to New LaCourt, which famously declared bour’s way of government. The Johnson’s proexistence of bishrogation of ops in the Lords is Parliament un- Abolish the current also likely offenlawful in 2019, House of Lords and sive to the Amerias evidence lose a culturally en- can ‘separation of that the British church and state’, riching influence on which is, again, a This year, Gordon Brown, constitution our politics America’s poodle’s poodle, has is a real thing concept alien to returned to combine the worst as- that can and British politics – pects of Blair’s nightmare triplet has been used the historical and of reforms into one monstros- in legal judgements. But a flick ceremonial importance of the ity. His proposal would abolish through the famous prorogation Church of England attests to that. the House of Lords and replace judgement sees the court spend it with a ‘house of nations and most of its time trying to justify While the House of Lords cerregions’ to safeguard the consti- its own right to make such a tainly needs reform – the appointtution and request reviews from judgement and effectively begin- ment procedure, for example, is the Supreme ning the creation of a obviously open to abuse and corCourt. codified constitution ruption – worries about the abOur refusal to ever as it goes. Brown’s sence of democracy in the House This would lay down in law any ‘house of nations of Lords are truly overblown. The undoubtcomprehensive set and regions’, being reforms of the early 20th Century edly be the a house in Parlia- removed the ability of the Lords last nail in of rules for our gov- ment, rather than a to veto any bill put forward by the coffin of ernment has allowed more distant court, the Commons, meaning that they the project us the flexibility we would be making this can now only delay bills, and even in pragma- need to adapt our kind of constitution- this power has come under threat tism that is ‘constitution’ to mod- creating decision on more recently. The fact that the Britain’s poa day-to-day basis, Lords agreed to this reduction in ern times litical system. quickly petrifying their power is indicative of their Our refusal to Britain’s dynamic appreciation of democracy and ever lay down in law any com- system. their strange position in Parliaprehensive set of rules for our ment. In recent years, the House government has allowed us the The House of Lords contains a has demonstrated this by putting flexibility we need to adapt our huge variety of members who are forward its own reports regarding ‘constitution’ to modern times. in some ways better suited to rep- modernisation. Rather than perFor example, after the Prime resent the public than the average secuting the Lords for its unique Minister was recognised as the MP. The relative independence heritage and trying to dramatirepresentative of the people, the of Lords from party whips, along cally replace our upper house royal prerogative powers previ- with the extra-political expertise with an American import, Brown ously held by the crown were they have, be it religious, cultural, should consider these more modsilently transferred to the gov- or business-related, allows them est reform proposals, embracing ernment. Similarly, as Britain de- to have a finer grasp of public instead the British way – reform, mocratised, Parliament was able needs and the impacts of small not revolution. wenty-five years ago, New Labour were first let loose on the British constitution, and Tony Blair, America’s poodle, set about turning our political system into a knockoff of the USA’s. Firstly, the devolution of legislative powers to Britain’s constituent nations sacrificed the safety of the union in order to mimic the federalism of America. Secondly, stepping towards establishing a British Senate, Blair ended nearly a thousand years of history by removing hundreds of hereditary peers from the House of Lords. Thirdly, in 2005 he secured his crowning achievement in the establishment of a Supreme Court to interpret Britain’s constitution, seemingly forgetting for a moment that it is not in fact codified like in the USA.

to remove the ‘rotten boroughs’ that gave unrepresentative influence to some wealthy figures. A codified constitution would have elevated such decisions to the status of ‘constitutional amendment’, requiring immense political effort to effect.

Britain Enters Its Weimar EraA historical comparison

Matthew Holland

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western world; exemplary of the complete collapse of the security and stability which political systems are designed to preserve. It would have disastrous ramifications for world politics. The emergent NSDAP, or Nazi Party for short, would capitalise on the instability by building up their power in the Reichstag before carrying out the plans which would see Weimar Germany was charthem seize complete control of acterised even before the the machinery of the German Wall Street Crash by political Government. Quick, simple instability unmatched by any solutions were peddled as the other country at the time.

While Britain was experiencing answer to everyone’s problems, with one size fits all policies minority Governments which that would target and demonise would last a few years, Ger- This era for Germany those deemed has long been seen unworthy. many instead ith trust in politicians at an all-time low, 3 Prime Ministers in a matter of months, MPs being physically forced to vote a certain way, record inflation, interest rates at a decade high, and a partridge in a pear tree, Britain is truly embroiled in an era of instability and uncertainty akin to the collapse of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s and ‘30s.

saw coalitions as a warning to the rise and fall in western world; ex- Alan Moore’s dramatic fash- emplary of the com- V For Vendetta ion. The years plete collapse of the graphic novel depicted a Britain in 1919-1929 security and stabil- which a totalitarsaw 8 different ity which political ian state was built Chancellors systems are designed by a fascist coup from 3 differto preserve. or the rise of an ent parties, two outwardly fascist of whom were party in Parliament. Instead independents. Gustav Stresewhere the Conservative Party mann, renowned in history for his skillful diplomacy and work became infected by a disease of fascistic tendencies which in stabilising the economy, saw would see a collapse of indihis premiership cut short after viduals’ freedoms, the suppresjust 109 days, while the shortest reign of any Chancellor was sion of political dissidents, and the demonisation of minorities that of Herman Mueller, who in society. If you’re reading lasted just 86 days. that last sentence and thinking it sounds eerily prescient, This era for Germany has long that’s because it is. And if you been seen as a warning to the

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

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read my description of the instability of Weimar Germany and also drew comparisons to the present, then you’re also getting the point.

The post-2008 era has seen a complete breakdown of the certainties of western civilisations following the second world war. Even during the surge of neoliberalism during the 1980s, our welfare state remained relatively intact, our democratic institutions were respected as valuable to preserving stability, and we could trust to some degree that our politicians were motivated in part by a belief in the necessity of public service.

For as much as many can fault Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, those principles held firm against the breakdown of many other certainties such as full employment “by the stroke of the Chancellor’s pen” as James Callaghan predicted in his 1976 Labour Party Conference speech.

We have just seen Liz Truss resign as Prime Minister after just 44 days in office. Many others will write more interesting accounts of her rise and fall than me, I care more about the degradation of stability that her resignation is a symptom of.

Imagine a world in which our leaders attempt to avoid ever having to hear what the public thinks of them. Where they assume that as soon as they come to power they are a dictator. Where one party is able to stay in power for 12 years despite crisis, scandal, and a failure to address the issues they set out to. Where an attempt is made at turning our most senior positions of Government into a revolving door, and where those who walk inside are driven exclusively by greed and ensuring the interests of the paymasters that put them there. Where our rivers run brown and our countryside turns as black as oil. Where slowly but surely, our freedoms are curbed, our rights stripped, and minorities are blamed for it at every step of the way, until finally they become the targets of the frustration and anger which people feel at the society they live in. And you are imagining Britain, our Britain, as it descends into a state of despair.

Like many others, I am terrified. War, disease, climate breakdown, the fall of democracy; all these things terrify me to a point of utter despair. But I will not rest while I see these things happen, I keep up a fight that others may abandon because I will not live in the world that seems to be coming. “I shall not cease from mental fright, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, until we have built Jerusalem, on England’s green and pleasant land.”

“I hope I see the day in my lifetime when all girls have access to education”: Malala addresses Oxford Anvee Bhutani

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ducation activist, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and Oxford graduate Malala Yousafzai came back to her alma mater tonight to address a crowd at The Oxford Union.

There was much enthusiasm and excitement for her event. Queues for the 8pm address began over two hours in advance as students struggled to get a seat at what is seen as one of the highlights of the President Ahmad Nawaz’s Michaelmas Union term card.

Before her official address, Nawaz showed Yousafzai to a smaller meet-andgreet room and upon arrival she was met with applause from the room.

“The last time I spoke here was in 2013,” Yousafzai said, “I had no idea how Oxford and the Oxford Union worked back then but I did know I wanted to study here.”

The recent graduate studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) from 2017-2020.

The conversation between Nawaz and Yousafzai marks a historic moment as Nawaz himself survived a Taliban terrorist attack whilst at Army Public School (APS) Peshawar and has since spoken about youth empowerment, education and anti-radicalisation. The two have been well acquainted for a while.

“I honestly didn’t think I’d be back this soon but Ahmad is from the same province in Pakistan as me and in my culture, once someone you know invites you to something, you can’t say no.”

Yousafzai was joined by her husband Asser Malik whom she got married to nearly a year ago. Malik is a cricketer who now sits on the Pakistan Cricket Board, the country’s cricket governing body.

In the meet-and-greet, several students took the opportunity to share the personal impact Yousafzai had on them.

Ana Diamond, a human rights activist from Iran and Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, mentioned how powerful she found it that Yousafzai publicly supported the cause in Iran. Yousafzai reaffirmed, “It’s not about the outfit a woman wears, it’s about the right for a woman to choose what to wear. We are all allies of Iranian women. Those on the ground are all hope for change as they raise their voice.”

Another student also shared that she was inspired to work in the field of education statistics after she saw the importance of Yousafzai’s work.

Yousafzai then made her way to the Union chamber for her official address. She began by reflecting on her time at Oxford, joking, “I visited the Union so many times.

I’ve sat in nearly all the seats in an attempt to find which seat gives me the best view.”

More seriously, though, she had mixed feelings about Oxford. Whilst she was re-

ally grateful for the experience and really enjoyed her college and the friends she had made, she also added, “I’ll be honest – I do not look back. I always try to focus on the next things in my life.” She was candid about the workload pressure of Oxford and how often it was difficult to manage.

Born in the Swat region of Pakistan, Malala started campaigning in 2008, writing a blog for the BBC under a pseudonym and featuring in several international documentaries to highlight the tough situation in Pakistan. A few years later in 2012, she was shot by Taliban gunmen on her way home from school as retaliation for her activism. This started an international outpouring of support for her and eventually fuelled her rise to prominence as a global activist. When the Taliban took over in her area at the age of 11, there was a lot of gender-based discrimination. “I had no option. I had to speak out because I could not imagine living like that forever.

Silence meant that things would stay the way they were,” she said. Telling her story was a form of activism for her.

Yousafzai also touched on the issues in Afghanistan, the neighbouring country to Pakistan. “[Leaders] should ensure that the rights of women and girls are a nonnegotiable in any negotiations with the Taliban.” She explained that children’s education in Afghanistan oftentimes lacks critical thinking and analysis, especially by way of science subjects. “When you take away some of these important subjects, it becomes not an education but rather an indoctrination,” Yousafzai declared.

Nawaz asked what ordinary people can do to help some of these crises. “Go and talk to people that are directly affected by these problems and they will tell you how best to support them.”

Yousafzai also commented on the United Nations and whether it is a good organisation for making a difference. “There’s always potential and possibility through these big international forums and if enough people are willing to come forward, they are able to make significant change,” the activist shared. She caveated this, though.

“I’d say it’s really important for [the UN] to bring people who are impacted by these issues to the stage” Yousafzai added. She elaborated that whilst the UN does comment on issues around the world, numbers and figures are not enough, and actually, it’s important for an audience to hear directly from people at the frontlines.

“I’m 25 now, I’m not a young girl anymore,” Yousafzai added, “But this year when I spoke at the UN, I took young girls with me.”

Yousafzai also touched on some of her plans for the future, including the recent

launch of her production company, Extracurricular. This partnership with Apple TV+ last year has now unveiled the first line-up of film and TV projects including dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation, children’s series and more.

The banner has already teamed up with Oscar winner Adam McKay’s production house on a feature film.

“I’m really excited about the production company. I believe we need to give the opportunity of storytelling to more people so they can tell us how they see the world”.

Whilst she highlighted all the work she was doing, Yousafzai also took this chance to give a down-to-Earth account of what she did in her free time at Oxford. “I’m a big fan of entertainment. I grew up watching Bollywood movies…and I’m a big fan of Cartoon Network.” She shared that she often found herself binge-watching her favourite TV shows like Big Bang Theory or Friends when procrastinating on her academic work.

Catching herself though, she added, “Focus on your studies guys. Make sure you don’t leave your essays to the last minute.”

The chamber erupted in laughter.

Yousafzai also clarified some of her comments about marriage which had caused controversy in the press. In her British Vogue interview last year, she casually said, “I still don’t understand why people have to get married.” This led to widespread criticism, with social media users reminding her of her Pashtoon origin and calling her out for ‘promoting western culture’. However, since then, the newlywed has had a lot of reflection about marriage, especially with her husband, Malik.

“We had a lot of conversations about what marriage is, whether that be friendship or companionship. It’s really about two people deciding to live together to support each other.”

One student wondered if Yousafzai still had ambition to enter into Pakistani politics. Hesitantly, she responded, “Right now my focus is girls education. I decided at age 11 I wanted to become the Prime Minister but with time you realise there are limitations to what politicians can do and right now for me it’s all about activism and girls education.”

Yousafzai came full circle when she ended by speaking about those who inspired her, much like people had told her she inspires them. “I was 10 years old when I first spoke on television. At that time, my biggest inspiration was my father, Ziauddin Yousafzai,” she said. Yousafzai’s father is a prominent activist for education himself who protested against the Taliban as well.

Yousafzai concluded, “What really influences you and impacts you is the action you see around you.”

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Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

Why COP27’s Climate Finance Discussions Must Prioritize Africa

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Anna Lee

he COP27 summit officially commenced change will lead to “higher food prices and To avoid an outcome like the COP26 sum- to enhance implementation.” The United Nathis Sunday, marking the 30th anniver- therefore lower affordability of food, reduced mit’s, wealthy countries must find a new so- tions describes an NDC as “a climate action sary of the United Nations Framework calorie availability, and growing childhood lution to help developing countries without plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate imConvention on Climate Change. This year’s malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa” (Ringler adding to their debt crisis. Currently, loans pacts.” An effective NDC factors in climate acsummit will take place from the 6th to the et. al, v). have only added to tion with other press18th of November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. the debt crisis in deing demands, such as Along with new energy projects and transiFacing growing concerns about water and veloping countries: “...global emergencies, like poverty, agriculture, tions to cleaner alternatives, climate finance food security, the agricultural sector, and natu- OxFam found that the war in Ukraine, have re- and the economy. will be one of the main topics. Agreements ral disasters, African countries have repeatedly loans dominated sulted in significant blows to However, for Africa around climate finance, emphasised their need for “over 70 percent to reach and impleAfrica’s economy.” especially pertaining to climate finance support. provision ($48.6 bilment their NDC goals “Africa is one of the However, wealthier econo- lion) of public climate the African continent, by 2030, they will need will be key for this sum- least responsible con- mies, such as the U.S. and finance,” which has only exacerbated debt an estimated $3 trillion. All of these commitmit’s success. Any other the European Union, have burdens in developing countries. COP27 must ments rely on receiving adequate financial tributors to global outcome could prove minimised the importance address and abandon the current climate fi- support, without the burden of repaying debts warming in the world, of Africa’s climate crisis. At nance system based on loans, and account for or prioritising one policy over another. disastrous or irreversible for the climate and global contributing just two to the COP26 summit, Afri- climate-unrelated attacks on Africa’s economy. three percent of global can nations successfully COVID-19, for instance, resulted in an esti- The implications of Africa’s climate stabileconomy. secured a fraction of do- mated loss between $173.1 billion and $236.7 ity will not only help vulnerable communiemissions.”

Africa is one of the least nations from wealthy coun- billion between 2020-2021. Other global emer- ties in the African continent, but the entire responsible contributors to global warming tries, but were still far off from reaching the gencies, like the war in Ukraine, have resulted global economy. However, wealthy countries in the world, contributing just two to three necessary funds. Wealthier countries have also in significant blows to Africa’s economy. In and economies must fully commit to suppercent of global emissions. It is also the least failed to uphold their other words, wealthier porting developing countries, and abandon climate-resilient continent in the world and longstanding pledges, nations should antici- their current system of debt-based loans. Just particularly vulnerable to the impacts of cli- such as the $100 billion “Facing growing concerns pate and be willing to as the issue of climate change is becoming mate change. The Congo Basin, for example, plan aimed to help de- about water and food se- contribute funds to ad- increasingly urgent, the African continent is the largest carbon sink in the world, absorb- veloping countries ad- curity... African countries dress the full extent of must receive the right technical and financial ing far more carbon than it emits. Climate dress climate change. building support to adapt to the impacts of have repeatedly empha- the problem. change has also seriously impacted rain pat- Earlier this year, leadclimate change. It is deeply unfair that Africa terns throughout the continent. There are ers in Africa criticised sised their need for climate The COP27 summit contributes so little to climate change, but finance support.” shorter wet spells (resulting in droughts) and rich nations for failing has the potential to sup- still absorbs the emissions and impacts of it longer and heavier rains (resulting in floods), to fulfil the plan, export Africa’s measures the most. In previous summits, global leaders affecting crop yield and the livelihoods of mil- pressing concern for future funding promises. against climate change, or to push African have failed and neglected to address the crises lions of African farmers. African governments Even if this plan is fulfilled, the African De- economies past the point of help. As Mr. in Africa. Wealthier countries, especially those currently lack the resources to tackle these cli- velopment Bank and International Monetary Ephraim Mwepya Shitima told the United Na- with extraordinarily high emission rates, have mate issues, which has stalled socioeconomic Fund predict that Africa will have to mobilise tions, “COP27 should be about advancing the an obligation to assist Africa this time around. growth and sustainable development. The a much larger $1.6 trillion between 2022 and implementation of the National Determined International Food Policy Research Institute 2030 to fight climate change.

Contributions (NDCs), including adaptation predicted that the agricultural effects of climate and mitigation efforts and delivery of finance

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

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Editors: Ciaron Tobin, Dani Kovacs Deputy Editors: Anna Lee features@oxfordstudent.com

TW: Gun Violence, School Shootings

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n Wednesday, the 2nd of November, Nikolas Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This ruling came four years after Cruz shot and killed 14 students and three teachers in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, South Florida).

I was a sophomore in a public U.S. high school when the Parklandshooting took place. Now, in my third year of my undergraduate degree, I can confidently affirm that nothing has changed: there have been 133 school shootings in the U.S. since 2018. Outside school grounds, there’s still the threat of gun violence and mass shootings everywhere: nightclubs, churches, music festivals, or even the grocery store.

Even in the home, there’s the possibility of domestic gun violence or unintentional shootings. A third of U.S. homes with children have guns, and from 20152020, there were 2,000 unintentional shootings by children.

Since I was educated under the constant threat of gun violence, bombing, and assault, I’m used to practicing extra security measures, like active shooter drills and avoiding certain areas when the sun goes down. I’m privileged to have never experienced a mass shooting, or losing a loved one to gun violence.

No Guns, No Fear:

Why Oxford Feels so Safe to an American Exchange Student Anna Lee

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The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

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However, when the threat of such a powerful and lethal weapon was such a central part of my upbringing (as it is for most young people in the U.S.), it inevitably brings up a lot of anxiety.

So, when I came to Oxford for a year abroad, the most “culturally shocking” part of England was not the people, food, or the direction of traffic, but the absence of this paranoia and anxiety. To be clear, I’m still extremely vigilant about threats of sexual violence, hate crimes, physical assault and theft - these will be issues no matter where I travel. However, without the constant threat of gun violence and the possibility that almost anyone might be carrying a lethal weapon (and in public, in all 50 states), this fear is much more rational and manageable. While there have still been incidents of gun violence in England, policy reform has made its threat much more contained and improbable.

To understand gun policies in the U.K., I traced a rather devastating parallel between responses to school shootings in the U.S. versus the U.K. Since the fatal Dunblane primary school massacre in 1996, there has not been a single school shooting in the U.K.

“I hadn’t realized how stressed and hyper aware I still was over gun violence until I came to Oxford...”

Parliament banned private ownership of most handguns, banned semi-automatic weapons, and instituted mandatory registration for shotgun owners through the Firearms Amendment (No.2) Act of 1997. In 2018, a group of Dunblane survivors and their families wrote an open letter to the Parkland survivors, issuing a push for hope. Unfortunately, the U.S. is operating under a very different group of politicians. Although the majority of Americans favor gun reform “common sense” laws, Republican senators are incredibly reluctant to support these proposals. Ironically, many of them have proposed that to combat gun violence in schools, teachers ought to possess their own firearms as a

line of defense.

Since I’ve gotten rather pessimistic about gun reform in the U.S., I never imagined how different my life and education would be without firearms. As a student at Oxford, I’ve realized that learning in a safe environment makes an extraordinary difference.

“...there have been 133 school shootings in the U.S. since 2018.”

Although guns and education should never be associated with each other, they preoccupy many discussions in U.S. schools. When students spend their time in the classroom wondering about their escape plan, chronically stressing over the possibility of a shooting, and feeling unsafe in a seemingly “safe” institution, thriving in the classroom becomes a difficult task.

If students aren’t plagued by a surge “in depression, anxiety, and suicides,” they can go emotionally numb (American Psychological Association).

I hadn’t realized how stressed and hyper aware I still was over gun violence until I came to Oxford. Places I’d typically avoid because of their association with gun violence - such as parks, open public areas, even the sidewalk late at night (for fear of drive-by shootings) are no longer a glaring threat. In school, I find myself feeling extremely comfortable studying and interacting with other people.

Many of these factors have helped make my integration into the Oxford student body much smoother.

My focus on my education and my will to travel and explore has never been more passionate.

While I’m sure there are multiple factors contributing to the overwhelming

safety I feel in Oxford, I am certain that the absence of guns is a leading one. For all of the differences between the U.S. and the U.K., they are far more similar than I anticipated but the glaring absence of guns and the threat of gun violence is by far one of the distinguishing characteristics. Although I’ve only been studying at Oxford for a little over a month, my experience so far has revealed much more to me about guns in the U.S. than I ever learned while living there.

Illustration credits: Yii-Jen Deng

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022 Editors: Anna Davidson, Marietta Kosma Deputy Editors: Ciaron Tobin features@oxfordstudent.com

Marietta Kosma Section Editor

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

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

During my first year of studies I really started coming up with a plan on how to navigate my research and I also have started developing a backup plan in case something goes wrong.

What I would suggest to start thinking in detail how you ended up pursuing this topic, what questions you hope to answer in the course of your DPhil, and (to the degree that you can) what texts, histories, document will

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

I believe that it is also worthwhile for DPhil students keeping an eye on what’s being published in the

marquee scholarly journals focused on their area of studies and also closely adjunct fields. The Bodleian subscribes to most of the best journals. Many of the key journals offer a service where they email you an alert with the table of contents of each new issue.

It would also be worth browsing the catalogues of the major presses in the field, most of which are available online: Harvard University Press, University of Chicago Press, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Duke University Press. Keeping an eye on the journals and presses, even if it’s only to quickly read the titles and

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

abstracts of what’s emerging, can help us as student establish a view of what world we will be speaking to when we begin publishing our own work.

I also try to look out for meetings, conferences and even possible travel awards. It is important to present your work in public because conferences will help you learn what is your filed and can also help you build connections by networking with other scholars in your field.

Grad school can be incredibly grueling and isolating however; you are not alone. Doing a DPhil is an ongoing project for the next years.

Even if you feel like quitting remember that you are not completely on your own.

A DPhil is worth fighting for. Ultimately, feelings about quitting prove to be only fleeting but the satisfaction from enhancing human knowledge is not. image credits: Jonas M via Wikimedia Commons

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Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

The University of Oxford:

A medieval University in the 21st century Dominic Enright

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n the mid 13th century, 250 years before the Protestant Reformation, the first colleges of Oxford were founded.

The University itself cites the reason for this as the rioting between the townspeople, and the teachers and pupils that populated the town. The intention being that by having places of learning which provided food and board to students, the members of the University would not be subject to violence. Nearly 750 years later, this division of University and College has remained the same, despite no town versus gown riot for centuries. Is it fit for purpose, or should we look for a more modern system of governance?

One thing that remains true is that this division is central to the “Oxford education”; every student is both matriculated as a member of the University, and as a member of one of the 36 Colleges, 3 Societies or 5 Permanent Private Halls. It may be worth asking what exactly these different bodies have control over? The University website describes the division of decisions and responsibilities as such: Colleges, societies and halls: select and admit undergraduate students, and select postgraduate students after they are admitted by the University provide accommodation, meals, common rooms, libraries, sports and social facilities, and pastoral care for their students are responsible for students’ undergraduate tutorial teaching and welfare The University: • determines the content of the courses within which college teaching takes place • organises lectures and seminars • provides a wide range of resources for teaching and learning in the form of libraries, laboratories, museums, computing facilities, etc • admits and supervises postgraduate students

• •

examines theses sets and marks examinations • awards degrees One can already see the system of governance getting more complicated. The Colleges are involved in the teaching and admissions processes of the University, while also remaining separate from this body. So the Central University may publish Undergraduate admission figures, but it is up to the Colleges to actually admit undergraduate students.

of the University could open private halls within one and a half miles of Carfax as “licensed masters”. After the 1870s, this became used by non-anglican Christian denominations (nonconformists and Catholic) to set up halls at the University which would teach students of those denominations.

“I will admit that I don’t know whether the approval of our new King really makes The other question that arises a difference... out of this division, is what these but it does show Societies and Permanent Private how the UniverHalls actually are? Well, the Sosity of Oxford cieties of the University seem, at remains medifirst glance, just to be the newest eval in constitucolleges. On their websites they tion.” call themselves colleges, they offer almost identical services to any college, and even their names have “college” in them (Reuben College, Kellogg College and St.Cross College). To be sure, they only take graduates but so do other colleges like Green Templeton, and some colleges like All Souls don’t even admit students. The actual difference is archaic: none of them have Royal Charters yet.

Similarly, Permanent Private Halls act for all intents and purposes like colleges in miniature: They are responsible for admissions, accommodation/ facilities, and for the tutorial teaching of the students. However, unlike the governance of the Colleges which is done by Fellows, PPH’s are governed by the corresponding Christian denomination. The origin of the Permanent Private halls are earlier than the Colleges, in which the University encouraged Masters of Arts to lease property in Oxford and rent property to students rather than rely on private lodgings. If these principals reported annually to the Chancellor of the University, thier lodging would gain the status of Academic Hall. These Medieval Halls have died out either by becoming Colleges or by being incorporated into Colleges.

However, in the 1800s, to combat the expense of living in the Colleges, the Government put into law that MAs

For example, Regent’s Park was originally a Methodist PPH that would teach students of that denomination. Gradually over time, these have become more and more secular until today, where very little of the Regent’s Park student body are Methodist. Even Regent’s Park calls itself “Regent’s Park College” despite its PPH status. These irregularities remain, even as most forget the original

reason for the division.

Even the University itself is divided between the various academic departments, who are given responsibility over the organisation of curriculum, lectures, and examination marking. While there is an initial division of four major disciplines (Humanities; Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; and Social Sciences), these bodies are further divided into various faculties. These sub-faculties can be fairly broad themselves, like the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, which encompasses study from Algeria to Japan, the bronze age collapse to the Arab spring. This complicated structure causes headaches when it comes to multidisciplinary degrees, in which members of one faculty have little to no communication with members of another. Thus, students of these degrees will be assigned academic work by multiple departments, without due consideration to the expectation of the other department.

For example, student representation is done both by MCRs and JCRs, their collective decision, but also by the Oxford

SU. Disability services involve both the Central University (as in DAS), the devolved departments in implementing a correct SSP (Student Support Plan), and the Colleges, Societies and PPHs in making correct accommodation internally.

Degree ceremonies, admissions, welfare, finances, and bursaries all involve so many bodies that I am unable to detail them all here. I doubt this patchwork was the intention of the 13th century Fellows afraid of town and gown riots.

The current system reminds me of a Palimpsest: a manuscript, which is erased and written on again but still bears the marking of earlier writing.

Oxford too, has been refashioned and remade by each generation, leaving behind traces of an earlier constitution. To some, this has made the system over-bloated and out of date.

Others would argue that this continuity makes the system special. There is an argument for both. However, any reformer of the system will have to bear this in mind: it is a Medieval university that you are bringing into the 21st century.

Friday 11th November 2022 | The Oxford Student

15 |Profile

Deputy Editors: Ayomilekan Adegunwa, Anmol Kejriwal Section Editors: Charlie Aslet, Lay Mohan, Samuel King

OXWIB:

I

t was around 11 a.m. last Monday when I received a message from Caitlin MacClay, the President of Oxford Women in Business (OxWiB).

She told me that her lecture had finished and she had got to the Society Café early for our interview - I, on the other hand, had only just woken up. Whilst she sat patiently, I frantically put socks on and brushed my teeth, all at once putting the wrong shoes on the wrong feet whilst combing my hair. Her business-like efficiency was already more than apparent.

I forewent a coffee and, fumbling with my computer, got straight into the interview.

I asked her the classic questions as though we had met at a party; what college she goes to, what degree she studies. She’s at LMH studying Biochemistry in her third year. Not the first degree that springs to mind when people say business, she says, but she is eager to break the stereotypes for women in business: ‘people stereotypically think of consulting, finance, law. But

Charlie Aslet chats sustainability and skills with Oxford Women in Business President Caitlin McClay

it’s like, well if you’re an art dealer, you’re in business. If you write poetry, you’re in business. Anything that you are being paid to do is business.’

I was curious how Caitlin got involved in the society. She’s a third year, like me, and we reminisced about the struggle of trying to join societies online, all the zoom socials and socially distanced events. She got involved in Hilary of her first year by simply becoming a college rep for OxWib and all she had to do was post on her JCR page. This was a great way for her to test the waters of the society without it being a large time commitment. From there she became Director of Marketing, then Vice-President to now.

As President, she has clearly made quite an impact on how the society conducts itself.

Each OxWib presidency is centred around a theme. The last President’s theme was ‘Legacy’, she reveals, and they formed an excellent outreach programme. When it came to

her time to decide what to do she wanted to do something that was close to her heart.

She chose ‘Sustainability’.

Catilin has taken firm steps in this direction as President.

She completely revamped and updated their sponsorship programme to reflect the changing attitudes of the society, dropping many of the society’s sponsors in the process. Of course, she couldn’t give me any names, but she told me about a company sponsoring OxWib that she didn’t realise was heavily invested in fossil fuels. It ‘sparked the conversation’ around what the society wants to stand for and eventually they ended up dropping this sponsor.

The society ‘need[s] the money to be able to put on our events, but we try as hard as we can to be selective about where that comes from’. As opposed to big corporations, she says that the society is now focusing on getting sponsorships from smaller ‘B Corps’: corporations whose purpose

is to meet environmental sustainability standards. This is evidently not a decision that is taken lightly. Some of OxWib’s sponsors, I note from their website, include giants like Amazon, HSBC and American Express.

But for Caitlin, it is not only the idea of environmental sustainability that is so important but also the broader issues revolving around sustainability in business. ‘I think as someone in business, you have to be able to, if you want

to go into a high performing job, sustain being in that job and looking after yourself’.

Clearly, OxWib does not just provide people with opportunities to interact with companies they wouldn’t otherwise have access to, but also gives people the skills to thrive in these workplaces.

As we wrap up, I stupidly ask what she thinks she has gained from OxWib, as though the preceding achievements were not enough for me. ‘I think the main thing has been

“I think as someone in business, you have to be able to, if you want to go into a high performing job, sustain being in that job and looking after yourself.”

The Oxford Student | Friday 11th November 2022

oxstu.profile@gmail.com

Profile

Profile | 16

of the week

How Stem Cell Donations Saved Zac Giles’ Life - Twice my confidence, you know.

Even with this interview, before the pandemic,’ she says, ‘I would have just said ‘Oh, sorry, I’m busy’.’ I was amazed at this admission; it didn’t show at all that she had struggled with her confidence before.

I ask her what she will be doing next – a dreaded question for myself, but an easy answer for her. She is going to work as in sustainability marketing at the B Corp that her mentor founded. The society has helped her get this connection with its mentoring programme where you can meet people in the industry that you want to go into.

Caitlin is eager that more people should take advantage of this – it is such an amazing way to gain connections for after university, and it has helped her tremendously with the next stage in her life.

Z

ac Giles is much like many other Oxford PPEists – from a young age he became interested in politics through observing the Brexit referendum, the 2017 election and the 2019 election.

However, Zac watched both elections from hospital, which is unlikely to be something many other Oxford PPE students experienced.

When Zac was 9, he was diagnosed with a rare lifethreatening and life-limiting genetic condition called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

This is a condition in which your bone marrow essentially stops working and you have underdeveloped lymphocytes called lymphoblasts. The best way to treat this is by a blood stem cell transplant, which can be hard to find – only 1 in 3 will find a donor in their family. Zac didn’t find a donor in his family so had to turn to DKMS, a charity which helps people find stem cell donors.

We spoke to Zac about his experiences with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, how he’s

finding Oxford and why he’s passionate about stem cell donation One of the first questions I had for Zac was about what difference he believes that his condition has had on him.

Understandably, he said he couldn’t really imagine life without it – after all, he’s been dealing with it for about half of his life, and for most of his conscious existence. He did say that his time in hospital gave him an appreciation for how much effort the NHS workers put into their work – not just the medical professionals, but the cooks and the cleaners too.

Due to his illness, Zac missed much of Years 5, 8 and 11, spending that time in hospital.

When I asked him about the effects of missing this amount of school, he was generally not too concerned about it – saying that Years 5 and 8 aren’t too important so missing them is not the end of the world and since his GCSEs in Year 11 occurred in the year when everyone got their pre-

dicted grades, he was not too disadvantaged. I still think it necessary to recognise the achievement of making it to Oxford despite that.

Zac has thrown himself into Oxford life, joining the RPG Society and also making time to attend some Oxford University Labour Club events. I asked him how he was finding the infamous Oxford workload and he described it as ‘high but manageable’, although noting that there was less structure than he was used to previously.

Zac is very passionate about stem cell donation – it quite literally saved his life. In 2017 he received his first stem cell transplant but due to complications, he had to find a second donor in 2020. Both Zac, and the charity which found his donor (DKMS), are very keen for people to sign up for stem cell registry. When I asked Zac to say how he would encourage someone to join the stem cell registry, he was keen to emphasise how easy it was – all you have to do is

Ayomilekan Adegunwa Deputy Editor

swab your cheeks and send off that sample and you will join the stem cell registry. Only a small number of people need these transplants, so being on the registry doesn’t mean that you will be called up to give straight away. DKMS also allow you to back out whenever, meaning that if you change your mind about supporting the charity, you maintain that option. If you are a match, and are called upon to donate, then the process is painless – in most cases it’s as simple as just taking blood.

If you want to help people like Zac, getting onto the stem cell registry is the best way you can do this. It’s really easy and can save a life like Zac’s.

If you want to know more, the blood cancer charity DKMS is doing great work.

Identity

The Oxford Student | Friday 11th November 2022

17 | Identity

Deputy Editor: Anmol Kejriwal Editor: Siddiq Islam identity@oxfordstudent.com

A Glimpse of representation at the US Midterm Elections The US Midterm Elections this year have witnessed an unprecedented degree of representation and seen a surge in LGBTQIA and Ethenic Minorities representation in the Elections, from both parties. In this piece, the OxStu seeks to underscore a few of the pathbreaking candidates that contested the elections this term and encourages you to find out just how many others have broken records this year.

Republican George Devolder-Santos became the first openly gay candidate to be elected as a representative of Long Island.

Summer Lee is the first ever black woman to be elected as a US House representative for Pennsylvania.

James Rosener became the first openly transgender person to be elected to the slate legislature in the US.

Alex Padilla is the first Latino to be elected by voters to the US Senate. He previously filled in Vice President Kamala Harris’s seat in California in 2021, calling it a victory for ‘every Californian who believes in the American dream.’

44 year old Wes Moore is the first Black Governor in the history of Maryland.

Zainab Mohammed has broken so many records in being elected to the Senate for Minnesota. She is the first black woman, the first Somali woman, and the youngest ever to be elected to this position.

Maura Healey Healy is the first woman to become the governor of Massachusetts and the first openly lesbian to be elected to this Office. She previously served as the Attorney General of Massachusetts.

Maxwell Frost has made history for Floridans and for Gen Z by becoming the first Gen Zero elected to serve in the US Congress, representing the 10th Congressional District of Florida.

Becca Balintis the first in Congress to represent Vermont and be openly gay.

Robert Garcia, who won a US House seat in California, is the first out gay immigrant to lead for Congress. Garcia is originally from Peru and dedicated his triumph to his late mother, a hard-working clinician who he called a ‘true immigrant’.

ssnnm muullooC C

18 | Columns

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

Driftenschriften 3: The Immatrikulationsbescheinigung At the end of September, I travelled 700 miles to attend a university which three months previously had rejected my application.

Wow, it feels great to get that off my chest. I’m afraid that over the last six weeks, though I have been faithfully documenting my experiences abroad, I have omitted to mention the thing which has consumed more of my time and energy than anything else, perhaps ever. I am referring to the fact that the university where I intended to spend half of my year abroad rejected my application, and I didn’t notice.

It began on the day that I moved in. A friendly German student was showing me around my flat and mentioned that the university had recently sent an Immatrikulationsbescheinigung, matriculation certificate, to every enrolled student. “Every enrolled student!” I said vacantly, taking the usual satisfaction that I do as this delightfully silly word nested in my ear.

After a few seconds I replied that I didn’t think I’d received anything. He told me that I should check, but that it would probably be fine.

A brief search through my inbox led me to the email.

Received 21st June 2022, the subject heading read ‘New message’. The main body was two lines long, informing me that I had a new message in the portal and offering me a

link to log in and view it.

Now, in almost every sense, this is my fault. However, if I was rejecting somebody from a university on the grounds that one document was missing from their academic record, I would choose a considerably more panicked subject heading, something like ‘I’ve rejected you!’, or ‘Not you!’, or simply ‘No!’. As it happened, my ‘new message’ arrived three days after the end of Trinity term, and one way or another, I did not see it.

The letter of rejection which I found in the portal offered me a second deadline by which to submit the missing document and still be accepted. This generously gave me six weeks from my initial rejection; unfortunately, it had now been twice that long. My degree in Oxford did not hinge on my acceptance into a university, but my student visa did, not to mention the fact that my student accommodation would kick me out when I failed to produce a matriculation certificate on demand. And so, it appeared, on day one of my year abroad, I was completely and utterly screwed.

The three weeks that followed were like a long game of naked cricket: 95 percent uncomfortable boredom, 5 percent extreme fear. For 23 hours a day there was nothing I could do besides bite my nails and ponder whether I should be look-

ing for a job, and the stress that this brought with it was a brain-squeezing sort of stress: a discomfort with the persistence of undersized pants and the overbearing doom of knowing that you’ve forgotten something, but not knowing what. I knew that I had a huge problem, but I could do little more than sit in my undersized brain-pants and wait for my world to implode.

However, the university’s International Office did have slender calling hours during which I was permitted to practise saying in German that I was ‘really very sorry’ that I had missed the deadline by twelve weeks. After my third call on two consecutive days, I was allowed to summarise my situation in an email and send it to the office, who claimed they would ‘forward it’ to somebody. This was the furthest I had got since arriving but when I received no reply within an hour I decided, with little more to lose, that it was time that I shave, smarten up, and surprise my friends at the International Office in person.

As the proud wearer of a disappointing adolescent beard, I shave with an electric razor to shorten, but not completely remove, my beard hair. This technique tends to result in quite a lot of debris, and so I tend to stick my head out of the window when I shave. This, to me, makes perfect sense. Under

my current living conditions, however, in an inward-facing fourth-floor room of a threesides-of-a-square student accommodation block, my shaves have taken on an exhibitionist element which they have never had before.

This bothers me less than it should and, towel around my waist, I assumed the position, gave a nod to one of my neighbours who was on his balcony smoking a cigarette, and began. By the time I realised that my beard hair was blowing into the open window of my downstairs neighbour, it was far too late. In the shock of seeing the head appear from the window, I recoiled, hitting my elbow on my windowsill and predictably dropping my razor, still buzzing, from the fourth floor. The downstairs window closed before I could stammer out a German apology and I looked up to meet the eyes of the smoker next door, who had watched the chaos unfold and was laughing uncontrollably.

Unsettled and half-shaved, I arrived at the university main building and approached the ‘international affairs’ desk. When I spoke to someone there, I was treated with sympathy and kindness and quickly realised that I was in the wrong place. Unable to help me, they told me with trepidation, “you could always try asking… downstairs…”. The International Office.

Standing in the corridor outside, I read the laminated red sign which had been stuck twice on the door, in case I missed it the first time: “NO ENTRY WITHOUT APPOINTMENT”. I read it again and checked the time. It was ten minutes until the phone lines closed. Perfect.

“Hello, I’d like to make an appointment please.”

“You can’t do that over the phone. There’s a form on our website.”

“To be honest, I’m outside.”

She soon realised that I was the same person she had spoken to not one hour before. “We waited three months for you to respond and you can’t wait 45 minutes!”, she shouted, so that I could hear it both through the phone and the door. I decided that this was fair and left.

About two weeks later, I received my Immatrikulationsbescheinigung. Somewhere, somebody rescued me and I am still here, at least until I hear the result of my visa application. So ended one of the most stressful experiences of my life and, as is human nature, I almost immediately forgot what it felt like. I do hope I’ve learnt something from it though, if only that I should start filing my emails.

Columns Columns

Columns | 19

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

Feeding your Flat with Nina Holguin - Egg Fried Rice Vegetable/Meat Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

(V, GF, DF, Low FOD MAP)

Cooked cooled rice for 4 (I find it best to cook rice the night before, spread it out on a plate and refrigerate that for the next day)

Serves 4

A mixture of meat and or veg suitable for frying (this could be chicken breasts, bacon, spring onions, garlic, ginger, peas, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, courgettes)

Egg fried rice is the ultimate leftover meal- if you can fry it, you can put it in. Any time I cook rice for a meal, I always cook extra ready for egg fried rice the next day. The best bit, however, about this recipe is how flexible it is, depending on diets and preferences.

One of the problems I find with cooking egg fried rice at University is that the hobs in Halls or student houses are never hot enough to cook lots of rice at the same time, as it gets claggy and overcooked.

To get around it I cook it in batches in the widest pan my flat, or with multiple pans on the go, all on the hottest heat the hob has.

By all means, this isn’t a revolutionary recipe, but it has helped me cook reliably good egg fried rice, with my limited University student means.

Health and safety mention: rice can cause food poisoning. When reheating rice, it is important to fully reheat it to a high temperature (you can tell this by if it is steaming all the way through and if it is too hot to touch). If you are using rice the next day, it must be stored in the fridge as soon as possible, ideally within an hour of cooking it. Rice shouldn’t be reheated more than once.

Equipment: Wok/Big wide bottomed frying pan/multiple pans A hob (or a couple)

3 eggs Sesame oil Sesame seeds Soy sauce (GF if needed) Chopped fresh spring onions (optional) Method: Chop the meat/veg into small cubes (maximum 1cm!) and beat the eggs in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the pan with the oil and when hot add the meat and veg.

Quickly stir fry until the meat is cooked through but the veg is still a bit crunchy. Add a few splashes of soy sauce and mix.

Push the stir fried mixture to one side of the pan and in the empty side, pour the egg into the pan.

As the egg cooks, mix it around with a spoon so it cooks and cooks into scrambled-egg like pieces. Once the egg is almost fully cooked, mix it in with the stir fry mix.

Add the rice and a few more splashes of soy sauce to the pan and mix and toss until the rice is steaming hot and everything is too hot to touch.

Serve with sesame seeds, spring onions and soy sauce to taste.

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

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21 | Ad

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

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Entertainment | 23

Drake vs Megan Thee Stallion Drake sides with Tory Lanez ahead of Megan Thee Stallion shooting trial Charlie Bowden

D

rake has become the latest in a long line of artists to accuse Megan Thee Stallion of lying that she was shot by Tory Lanez.

On “Circo Loco”, a track from his recently-released collaborative album Her Loss with 21 Savage, Drake raps “this b***h lie ‘bout gettin’ shots but she still a stallion / she don’t even get the joke, but she still smilin’”, which many have interpreted as a dig at Megan. She responded via Twitter, imploring male rappers to “stop using my shooting for clout” and arguing that they “dog pile on a black woman when she say one of y’all homeboys abused her”.

For the uninitiated, it was reported on 12th July 2020 that Canadian singer Tory Lanez had been arrested and charged for carrying a concealed weapon in his vehicle after leaving a house party in the Hollywood Hills. Megan, who was in Tory’s car at the time, was initially reported to have sustained a foot injury from broken glass, but she later revealed that she had actually been shot in the foot and required surgery to remove bullets from her feet. After a back-and-forth between the two artists including accusations of smear campaigns and a full album by Lanez addressing the allegations, he was formally charged with assault with a semiautomatic firearm on 8th October 2020. If convicted of the felony charges he faces a maximum sentence of 22 years and eight months in prison. In an op-ed for The New York Times published days after Tory was charged, Megan wrote of her disappointment that “Black women are still constantly disrespected and disregarded in so many areas of life.”

Ever since the initial allegations were made over two years ago, Megan has faced relentless abuse online from (typically male) rappers and their (typically male) fans accusing her of lying about the shooting. This only worsened after Lanez was charged with assaulting her with a gun. Although numerous well-known rappers such as Chance the Rapper, Bun B and “WAP” collaborator Cardi B spoke out in support of Megan after the shooting incident, more and more artists have seemed to take Tory’s side since the event. In 2021, Megan hit out at DaBaby, who featured on her debut album, for collaborating with Lanez and bringing him out at his Rolling Loud Miami performance.

Jack Harlow was also criticised for

Enter tainment

Editors: Susie Barrows, Jonah Poulard, Duoys Li, Charlie Bowden, Martin Alfonso Larsen, Carla Messinger

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

including Tory and DaBaby on a remix of his hit song “Whats Poppin”.

Harlow responded that “it doesn’t feel right as a grown man to speak for other grown men all the time,” stating that “one thing’s for sure, is that Megan got shot, and I wish her nothing but love and respect.”

Where does Drake fit into this picture? The Canadian rap star hasn’t always been on the best terms with Lanez, having reportedly rejected numerous invitations to collaborate with him over the years, but they seem to have resolved their issues if Drake’s lyrics are anything to go by. While he has not publicly responded to

the social media firestorm his words created, Megan’s attorney Alex Spiro commented that “despite the irrefutable evidence that Megan was a victim of gun violence, the ignorant continue to support her attacker.” Tory, who is currently under house arrest awaiting his trial in Los Angeles later this month, tweeted a shrugging emoji in reply to the renewed attention the situation is receiving. One peculiar element of this story is that Megan herself has a writing credit on the opening track of Her Loss, “Rich Flex”, because it interpolates her breakout hit “Savage”. Was this some kind of crude joke? It’s notable that interpolations (which differ from samples in that they are rerecorded portions of existing songs instead of direct reusings of them) are commonly used when an artist or record label declines to licence the original song for sampling. It wouldn’t be surprising if Megan did not allow Drake to use her song if she was aware of his feelings before the release of the album.

The shooting story has been progressing gradually since it came to light in July 2020 but Drake’s status as one of the most popular musicians in the world caught the attention of many more people. It’s important to remember that Drake’s fan base far outclasses Tory’s or even Megan’s in terms of numbers and his involvement has become a thorn in the side of those who support Megan. Podcast host DJ Akademiks tweeted that “Meg gotta keep her beef wit Tory n Tory alone... we not cancelling Drake no matter wat.

Ur the stallion… he’s the GOAT.” Meanwhile, others questioned the role of mi-

sogyny in Drake’s statement. Media studies professor Marc Lamont Hill wrote that “if Drake released a song with “clever” wordplay that mocked the shooting of a male rapper, or any man for that matter, the same people defending him would be outraged.” Both tweets have a similar amount of likes, making it unclear whether there’s a consensus online about whether Drake was in the wrong.

While Lil Yachty, who has production credits on Her Loss, stated that the line was not about Megan, many would argue the implications of the lyric are quite clear.

It is rather shocking that two years on from the initial situation and Tory Lanez being charged months later, artists still see fit to come out of the woodworks in defence of him. Megan Thee Stallion has experienced remarkable success over the past few years but the shadow of the shooting still looms after all this time. She cannot seem to catch a break because for all her chart-topping singles and awards,

she has to deal with these accusations every few months which fly in the face of the general consensus that victims should be believed until proven otherwise and are rooted in the misogyny of the rap scene.

It’s true that people would probably be up in arms if Drake made a joke about a prominent male rapper getting shot in a song. Because of people like him wading into a situation which can only be dealt with professionally in the courts, the stain of the shooting will mark Megan for the rest of her career no matter how the trial goes. She will be immortalised as one of the many people Drake has taken aim at in his lyrics over the years, her trauma a weapon to be inserted into a ‘killer’ bar on an album many will flock to listen to. We will have to wait to see how these men react to the result of the trial which, based on witness testimony corroborating Megan’s version of events, will probably not go well for Tory.

It is rather shocking that two years on from the initial situation and Tory Lanez being charged months later, artists still see fit to come out of the woodworks in defence of him. Megan Thee Stallion has experienced remarkable success over the past few years but the shadow of the shoot ing still looms after all this time. She cannot seem to catch a break because for all her chart-topping singles and awards, she has to deal with these accusations every few months which fly in the face of the general consensus that victims should be believed until proven otherwise and are rooted in the misogyny of the rap scene.

It’s true that people would probably be up in arms if Drake made a joke about a prominent male rapper getting shot in a song.

Because of people like him wading into a situation which can only be dealt with professionally in the courts, the stain of the shooting will mark Megan for the rest of her career no matter how the trial goes. She will be immortalised as one of the many people Drake has taken aim at in his lyrics over the years, her trauma a weapon to be inserted into a ‘killer’ bar on an album many will flock to listen to. We will have to wait to see how these men react to the result of the trial which, based on witness testimony corroborating Megan’s version of events, will probably not go well for Tory.

Illustration credits: Veenusha Kirupakaran

24 | Entertainment

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student of ‘Hello You’, which resembles a he told NME that the music Album review: polished ‘My Propellor’ off their would ‘never be like ‘R U third album, Humbug, survived scrapping come the album’s recording in 2021. ‘Big Ideas’, a deliciously confused downtempo trip-hop highlight that would not be out of place in the Portishead discography, summarises his inability to deliver what the band wanted, namely a pulsating rock drubbing for old time’s sake.

But he

Illustration credits: Veenusha Kirupakaran

Soft-Boys to Soft-Men:

Arctic Monkeys mature with classy new album The Car Joe Wald

I

t’s official, Alex Turner has murdered rock. With the remorselessness and nauseating perversion of a Michael Myers Halloween rampage, Turner has taken a knife to the sound which propelled Arctic Monkeys to rock godhood in the noughties, dismembering, dicing, and reassembling his victim as a displaypiece to shock and appal.

Indeed, he inserted the blade in 2018 with the band’s long-anticipated sixth album, Tranquillity Base Hotel and Casino, but four years on he has dug it in and twisted.

The Car, a glossy lounge-pop odyssey, marks the continuation of the softer, deluxe sound which Arctic Monkeys debuted in Tranquillity Base to mixed reviews from critics and the fanbase. After a five-year break following AM (2013), their most successful and heaviest rock album to date, frontman Alex Turner retired thecrunchy guitar thrashes and thick-set drum thumps, favouring dapper cosmic synthesisers and

sparser, sundry percussion. The number of instruments used by the band trebled, as did the number of musicians on stage. ‘Softboys’ whose childhood years were underscored by the band’s chunky simian angst were bewildered, enraged by what Turner had done to the group they loved and doubtful that they would ever see it again.

At the very least, the arrival of The Car has cleared up some of the confusion. Turner tantalised fans upon the announcement of the album in August, promising ‘louder’ tracks, and claiming that the musical foray into space was over. Lovers of AM had fair reason to expect that the band was set to reinject the rock and pick up where they left off before their brief psychedelic interruption.

However, now that it’s here, The Car has driven home to fans that the change is permanent.

According to Turner, his attempts to revive the old style ‘almost seem[ed] like a spoof’, and the music simply ‘didn’t want to go there’. He trialled a rockier sound in pre-pandemic Paris sessions, but nothing except a demo

hasn’t entirely moved on: the Sheffield boys’ classic sound can be found at intervals throughout the album, often muted as if playing from the next room. At the end of ‘Big Ideas’, plaintive overdrive transfixes gushing string backing in resigned coexistence, and the guitar solo at the end of ‘Body Paint’, while by no means dripping in distortion, is a raw noise not dissimilar to what we heard back when the Monkeys’ world was little larger than knackered Reeboks and dirty dancefloors. Past and present collide frequently, and the through-the-wall feel of such guitar moments is laced with Turner’s conflicted melancholy that times gone by cannot be retrieved.

“Turner has taken a knife to the sound which propelled Arctic Monkeys to rock godhood in the noughties...”

Pivotal to the recent evolution of Arctic Monkeys is the spotlighting of its frontman at the expense of the other members. In many ways this can’t be helped; Alex Turner has written almost every song that they have released, and his voice, face, and lyrics are undeniably the band’s foremost distinguishing features. Nonetheless, the move towards more complex music (unplayable live by just four people), and the Cohen-esque foregrounding of the vocal line, has seen the rest of the band step further into Turner’s shadow. Bassist Nick O’Malley only features on eight of the ten tracks and drummer Matt Helders is relegated to humming the backing in ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’.

Likely stifling the tears,

Mine’ again’. Turner himself claims that the rest of the band is becoming incrementally more supportive of his vision, imparting the pearl of wisdom, ‘if you’re the one not playing, you’re still the one not playing, you know?’. Not really, Alex, and watching guitarist Jamie Cook stare at the floor, sway like a simpleton, and touch his guitar perhaps twice during their performance of ‘Body Paint’ on Jimmy Fallon, I’m not sure he does either.

“The Car has driven home to fans that the change is permanent.”

Turner’s lyrics have always intrigued, a delicate blend of curious images, moreish cadences and relatable simplicity, and in this album he gets more personal than ever before. He thematises the plastic world of Los Angeles notoriety (his home from 2013 to 2020) in tracks such as the tongue-in-cheek ‘I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am’, which describes a star-studded jolly on a yacht in the French Riviera, attended by ‘stackable party guests’.

Turner feels out of place, but his existential musings are repeatedly interrupted by tacky cocktail music, represented by the lurid wah-wah sound of the lead guitar line. The title track is lyrically similar to Turner’s earliest work, choosing as its light subject the unpleasantness of a classic English holiday. However, there is something deeper within this feeling of captivity, and the semi-autobiographical ‘Mr Schwartz’ tackles the pres-

sure Turner feels to stay ‘strong for the crew’, pulled in different directions by the many different people that his life requires to him to be.

Ultimately, Turner is unapologetic. He’s changed and he’s honest about it, and he hopes we’ll understand. The brilliant opening lyrics of ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’, the ice-cold, hypnotic first track replete with gorgeous keyboard melody and string line which would fit seamlessly into a Bond film, offer something like an explanation: ‘Don’t get emotional / It’s not like you / Yesterday’s still leaking through the roof / It’s nothing new’, before addressing his misled disciples: ‘I know I promised this is what I wouldn’t do / Somehow giving it the old romantic fool / Seems to better suit the mood’.

Food and Drink | 25

FOOD&DRINK

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

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

Editors: Jonah Poulard, Nina Holguin, Duoya Li oxstu.food@gmail.com

Cocktail Time

Shaken not stirred?

Jonah Poulard

N

o drink, let alone cocktail, quite exudes the aura of class that a Martini does.

When we say Martini, we think of James Bond, or other suave men in tuxedos. It’s the most potent of all cocktails, essentially just neat spirit depending on how you make it.

Almost as famous are vermouth magnates Martini, with the most iconic logo in the world of booze. Think Bottas at Williams.

The Martini has been around for at least 100 years, although the origin of its name is a bit of a mystery.

Some say it took the name of vermouth makers Martini, as ver-

mouth is essential in making a Martini. Also, a popular take is that it’s a riff on the older cocktail the Martinez, which has a fairly similar recipe. Either way, it’s a very old and storied drink.

However, since the Martini is so famous and recognisable to the ear, there are a lot of myths to be busted. We’ll start off with the most famous: shaken not stirred. I love

007, but I can’t forgive Ian Fleming for spreading this lunacy.

Every proper cocktail is either shaken or stirred, and it’s very easy to know which to do. A spiritonly cocktail is to be stirred, and one with other modifiers like syrups or fruit juices are to be shaken.

Both serve the purpose of chilling and diluting, but when a drink is stirred, no aeration is added, maintaining the desirable smooth texture of ice-cold

our James isn’t actually getting drunk, which is obviously stupid and wrong. Sorry, I get emotional about such things. Don’t get me started on Stanley Tucci’s Negroni recipe.

Anyway, beef with pop culture aside, let’s get into something far more important: wetness. You may have heard Martinis being ordered ‘dry’, ‘wet’ or even ‘dirty’.

Wetness corresponds to the amount pe: i c e r of dry vera is into dd: h t t u a mouth addLet’s p ixing glass, m ed to the Into a better outh. e . h s t r r e base spirit. m t bigge ge bit ry ver ce, the tle, or no d hes of oran I Confus• s it odka v r ome, l , or zero da ne (don’t) o S ingly, the • i r gin o ne, tw me olive br our of eithe O more ni o • p Marti aybe s oz (60ml) r o M l i dry • y2 cockta or a lime d e sturd l l i A , h t verc is • in into lemon tw a cocktail a r t S . a ith get s on STIR Then, d garnish w ber of olive e looking to n n m ’r h a t r a ou nu glass n odd is point, if y othing othe tini. a r o , twist . At th literally n ake a Mar e imple m pick. S red but hav ce, you can mouth, i e d m n ham in a g d n the wetter.

A ra own b ‘wet’ Martini would usually spirits. call for 0.5oz (15ml) of vermouth, Shaking, on the other hand, whereas ‘dry’ roughly one bar introduces aeration resulting in a spoon (5ml). ‘Very wet’ would be coarser texture but does mix the about 1oz (30ml), although that’s contents better, which is especially not a common request, and ‘extra needed when dealing with ingre- dry’ is literally just pouring some dients of varying density. vermouth into the mixing glass, stirring with ice, and then discarding, leaving only the aroma.

“When we say Martini, You could also rinse the glass we think of James Bond, instead (pour in, swill, disor other suave men in card). ‘Perfect’ means equal tuxedos. It’s the most sweet and dry vermouth, and potent of all cocktails...” ‘dirty’ means a bit of olive brine.

It’s a no-brainer then, that such a spirit forward cocktail should be stirred. There’s a reason we have the iconic line “Shaken, not stirred”, and that’s because no bartender in their right mind would shake a Martini by default. I heard some idiot on Instagram saying it was because when you shake the water stays on top so

That’s just the main modifications, there remains another important question: gin or vodka?

Gin is more traditional, and its herbal and juniper notes work well with higher amounts of vermouth, whereas vodka has less flavour, especially

when chilled, and so makes the cleanest of all cocktails when ordered extra dry. You can also add a dash or two of orange bitters, for some more subtle flavour, but this is very much optional.

“Don’t get me started on Stanley Tucci’s Negroni recipe.”

I want to bring up the Vesper Martini, but this article is already long enough, so you’ll just have to google it. If you actually care, that is.

Cheers!

Illustration credits: Yii-Jen Deng

26 | SciTech

SciTech Can fast fashion be made sustainable?

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

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

The modern fashion industry is complicated. It relies on both political and economic processes that enable globalised supply chains and on human psychology, which drives us to desire new clothing on a regular basis. The industry is environmentally damaging in almost every possible way, on top of being notorious for greenwashing. There is a vague vision of building a circular economy, which aims to reuse and recycle existing products as long as possible, but upon closer inspection, this model bears strong resemblance to the failed project of plastic recycling.

Constructing a circular economy would involve addressing three main issues: materials, design, and reuse. Recycling is part of both the “materials” and “reuse” parts of the cycle, in that manufactures must make clothing with recyclable textiles and in that consumers must dispose of these textiles in appropriate ways. An op-ed published in Nature highlights the importance of recycling in the circu-

lar economy, and recommends a rapid expansion of technologies for both recycling and sustainable manufacturing of textiles. In addition to expanding recycling technology, clothing should also be designed to facilitate recycling, for example by inserting zips in a way that allows them to be easily removed when clothes are recycled.

At the same time as the circular economy is being heralded as a potential saviour of fast fashion, we’re beginning to come to terms with the failure of plastic recycling.

An analysis of the failures of plastic recycling, titled “Circular Claims Fall Flat Again,” was published by the environmental non-profit Greenpeace USA in late October.

The study states five reasons for the failure of mechanical and chemical recycling of plastics: that it is difficult to collect, impossible to sort, environmentally harmful to reprocess, made of and contaminated by toxic materials, and not economical. Given that synthetic textiles are plastic-based, what

How does it all work?

Zooming in on the James Webb Telescope

T

he James Webb Space telescope (JWST) has been sent up into the stars to help us answer questions about the nature of outer space. These questions span from cosmology, at the very birth of our universe (if there even was one!) to the future, with the telescope keeping a keen eye for planets that could, or perhaps even may already, play host to life. This task is not a simple one. Even the most keen-eyed person cannot see light in the infrared spectrum – therefore the procedure is not so straightforward as simply taking photographs to be analysed back on earth.

The secret is in the Integrated Science Instrument Module – known more comfortably as the ISIM. This is the heaviest part of the telescope, and the main reason it’s up there. The hexagonal pattern may look pretty but the primary mirror would do little for us without the help and processing of its instruments and cooling

systems. The ISIM is composed of four main instruments: the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam); the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec); the Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and the Fine Guidance Sensor combined with the Near Infrared Imager and a slitless spectrograph. All of these are the culmination of two decades of designing and fine-tuning to painful precision. The star of the show, behind all of these instruments, is the cooling system that makes them all work.

Different instruments require different operating temperatures, which means that the cooling system is designed to facilitate temperatures from a range of around 37 Kelvin (- degrees Celsius) to a low of 7 Kelvin. Some of this cooling is passive, which means that the telescope can reach a temperature of 37K quite naturally by radiating heat into outer space.

The main component of the telescope which helps this happen

makes us think that recycling these products would be any different?

More fundamental, to my mind, is that even “recyclable” products and materials are extremely difficult to collect. The Greenpeace analysis states that even the plastic and recycling industries admit that collection of plastic waste from consumers is a significant obstacle to plastics recycling.

While the industries involved claim that a lack of curbside recycling bins and collection is the main issue, California’s low plastic

recycling rate suggests that this is not the whole picture. Curbside recycling has been the norm there since 1989, to little avail. The fact that individuals struggle with recycling even when collected from their homes suggests that textile recycling, even if it were made more widely available, may not

be successful. Even if we develop technologies that biodegrade or can be made into new products, the legacy of plastic recycling suggests that these products will end up in landfills regardless.

The second reason for the failure of plastics recycling, that mixed plastic waste is difficult to sort and cannot be recycled together, is also relevant to the application of recycling to fashion. Clothing items, like plastics, are often made from many different components, such as natural yarns, synthetic fibres, plastics, and metals. A BBC article states that this mix of components makes the fibres hard to separate to allow them to be recycled. This sorting of textiles into different fibres and material types by hand is labour intensive, slow, and would require trained workers. All these factors mean that the economic feasibility of such recycling may not be very great, an issue which was another of the major pitfalls of plastic recycling.

There is always an element of

uncertainty when it comes to environmental solutions. In this case, however, 30 years of failed plastic recycling demonstrate that reducing the environmental impact of fast fashion by recycling alone is wishful thinking.

Although there are other suggestions, such as biodegradable fashion, the failure of compostable plastics suggests this may also not be effective. While the circular economy appears to consist of top-down solutions involving infrastructure development and technological innovation, it ultimately relies on individual action.

This seems to suggest that fast fashion cannot be sustainable, in that as soon as a clothing item enters an individual’s possession, it cannot make it back into the supply chain without the willing participation of that individual. Thus, behavioural change will have to be part of the solution.

is the sunshield, which is the size of a tennis court, and blocks the sun’s light from heating the telescope. With no heat sources, the telescope can only radiate.

Other cooling technology – referred to as cryocoolers – are required to take some of the instruments to a lower temperature.

Engineers faced one main challenge when designing this: the fact that the JWST cannot be serviced.

The Hubble telescope is cooled using liquid helium, which is taken up to the telescope in shipments from Earth. This is doable because the Hubble is in low-Earth orbit, unlike the Webb telescope which sits some months away from Earth.

Whatever cooling system the Webb used, it had to be something that did not consume resources, as finite resources limit the lifetime of the telescope. This, clearly, is where the innovation comes in.

The physics behind cryocoolers is hardly different to how our home refrigerators work. It’s the same principle: move heat from a cold area into a warmer one, operating against what physicists call the temperature gradient. Heat will naturally move from warmer areas to cooler ones, the trick of a refrigerator is to get in the way of this happening, consistently. Prior to the Webb, cryocooler technology happened, at best, in two stages.

The Webb uses three stages, using its huge size to its advantage. A phenomenon known as the JouleThomson effect means that as a gas expands, it cools down. The Helium, cooled by mechanical means in the first two stages, expands on its way to the MIRI, moving from a temperature of 10K to around 6K, meaning that the MIRI can reach its operating temperature of 7K. It is able to expand because of the 10 metre distance between the cooler and the instrument, which also insulates the instrument from the vibrations of the cooling system.

The MIRI needs to be so cold because it is this that detects the longest (and therefore oldest) wavelengths. The MI stands for mid-infrared. As discussed in a previous article, these wavelengths are the hardest to detect, as oftentimes the instruments themselves can emit radiation (waves) in a similar range of wavelengths to the light they are trying to collect.

The MIRI includes both a camera and a spectrograph (device that measures the distribution of light according to wavelength) tuned to the mid-infrared range of wavelengths: it sees heat. This enables us to cut through the gas and dust surrounding far-off galaxies and resolve them in far finer detail than ever before. It is this

camera that produced the breathtaking images we’ve seen thus far. These photos offer far more than their beauty, though: scientists use these images to find out more about far off-galaxies, comets and newly forming stars. Closer to home, images taken by MIRI are used to examine the Kuiper belt – a doughnut-like disc on the outskirts of our solar system which plays host to Pluto and scores of other interesting remnants of the early solar system.

The second range of wavelengths cosmologists are interested in is the Near-Infrared (NIR) range, to which the two remaining instruments on the ISIM are dedicated.

The infrared camera covers the wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 microns. A micron is a tenth of a millimetre - quite long for a light wave!

For context, the wavelength of visible light is over 100 times smaller than these infrared wavelengths. .

First, the camera: ultra-sensitive, and importantly, able to look at the same little squares of space for a very long time. Secondly, the spectrograph, much like the MIR setup. The camera and spectrograph work together and have been designed to overcome the unique challenge of sending the JWST far beyond human reach for servicing... Continued online

by Emily HUDSON

“...these products will end up in landfills regardless.”

Christina MACINTOSH

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

Editors: Milo Dennison (senior); Katie Hulett, Siddiq Islam (section). oxstu.green@gmail.com

Green

A Guide to COP 27

by Milo Dennison

A

s all Conservative Prime Ministers of late seem wont to do, Rishi Sunak has started off his premiership by making an embarrassing U turn.

After declaring that he wouldn’t attend the COP27 climate summit this November, he changed his position days later, announcing that he would in fact attend after coming under significant pressure in the diplomatic community.

The summit, which takes place in Egypt from the 6th to the 18th November, is set to be another crucial point in the global fight against climate change and another significant make or break moment.

World leaders including António Guterres, Joe Biden, and Ursula von der Leyen will hope to sign a raft of new agreements and deals aimed at preventing global temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C. The last summit, COP26, which took place in Glasgow last year, led to various agreements be-

ing signed, including the Glasgow Climate Pact and the Paris Rulebook. Yet these agreements didn’t stipulate what each country must do and weren’t legally binding, and in the meantime the situation has only worsened. With the cost-ofliving crisis and the war in Ukraine both significantly impacting energy costs, oil and gas companies have already made record global profits this year.

Thus COP27’s aim is to try and implement the pledges that have been made at previous climate summits, finally taking action rather than just issuing more statements. One of the major discussions that will be had is around a financing mechanism to compensate developing countries for the loss and damage that they’re suffering as a result of extreme weather phenomenon caused by the pollution of developed countries and resulting climate change.

Raised at the end of COP26, any

kind of financing mechanism has been pushed back against strongly by developed countries including the US, who fear they could be writing a blank cheque for huge amounts of damage in the future. Yet this is an issue that hasn’t gone away and now a group of developing countries have requested that it be added to the agenda.

This will mean that countries will have to vote on it, providing what could be an early stumbling block in negotiations. China and the US’s rocky relations at the moment also won’t help: after Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, China are no longer keeping

Misconceptions About Our Food Systems

by Oliver Fletcher

A

s someone personally invested in the UK’s food systems, I find myself disheartened by the standard of debate regarding what we should eat at this university. Informed by several years’ practical experience on various farms, I attempt here to briefly delineate some basic agricultural facts in the hope of remedying some of the most common misconceptions.

Organic food and vegan food are mutually exclusive Nutrients in the soil allow crops to grow, but with each harvest,

nutrients consumed by the crops are lost to the soil. To prevent a fatal degradation in soil fertility, these nutrients must be replaced – this is a fundamental principle of sustainable agriculture. There are only two ways to do this, either to use organic manures, a by-product of animal agriculture (and therefore not vegan), or to use synthetic fertilisers (which are not organic).

To consume products that are both vegan and organic is to endorse an inherently unsustainable system of agriculture whereby nutrients are removed from the soil without being replaced.

food systems could support – human civilisation rests on the merits of fertiliser and without it our food supply would collapse.

Organicism is not the answer; just look at the suffering and instability caused by the recent Sri Lankan experiment.

Animals die for all food, even if it’s vegan Farms producing staple crops like wheat must store their grain and protect it from infestation. This is generally done with insecticide, poison sprays used in grain stores to indiscriminately kill any present creatures that may threaten the crop. While some food systems may be considered ethically preferable, death is an unavoidable (if unfortunate) consequence of sustaining the human population.

Organic food can’t support our population

The biodiversity crisis < the climate crisis

Synthetic fertilisers do have some environmental disadvantages.

Precision application and supplementation with organic manures should be used to reduce these.

However, the global population is already about double what organic

The biodiversity and the climate crises are distinct, and the former rests on the latter. Policies that increase wildlife without reducing emissions will likely see their advancements unwound when the gulf stream collapses and all our

climate negotiations separate to other issues, using it as another bargaining chip in the growing cold war between the two countries.

Other discussions will also take place at the summit, particularly

Green | 27

able to the pledges they made at COP26 and the climate finance commitment made in 2009 by developed countries, which promised $100 billion per year to developing countries in order to help them fight climate change.

There is also a hope that more countries will strengthen their 2030 emissions targets in order to better align them with the 1.5°C goal.

In sum, COP27 promises to play host to numerous vital discussions about the future of our planet over the next couple of weeks.

Often accused of being too slow a forum for proper change, relying only on gradual incremental actions, it still remains humanity’s best hope of winning the climate fight. We must all pray that it is a productive summit.

around holding countries accountnative bee species freeze to death.

Further, conservation efforts must keep a careful eye on the bigger picture. The reintroduction of the red kite is hailed in Oxford’s Natural History Museum as ‘one of the great conservation successes of recent years’, yet on my family’s Leicestershire farm, kites have been quite damaging.

Our grasslands used to have an abundance of toads, which supported thriving populations of three different species of owl (I’m no ornithologist but we had the ones that hoot, those that shriek and those that ‘twit-twoo’). Kites decimated the toad population, out-competing the owls and leading to a situation today in which we have no owls and only the occasional visit by a kite, as that is all the lower toad population can support.

Grasslands are intrinsic to the countryside While consumable crops are generally more efficient per acre than grass-fed meat production, vast swathes of Britain can’t be used to grow crops due to topography, soil conditions or climate. On this land

there is no practical alternative to beef and mutton production. Port meadow, for example, can’t grow cereals because it floods. Feeding livestock with this land increases our food security, turning pastures into an incredibly efficient protein source, while keeping our grasslands in good health and acting as an invaluable carbon sink.

Grazing animals also have plenty of ecological benefits ranging from the merits of manure to wildfire prevention, as tightly grazed patches of grass act as firebreaks between combustible areas of heather, scrub or crops.

Vegetarian diets create meat Meat is a necessary by-product of laying hens and milking cows, as it is left over when those animals die. Milk production also requires cows to produce offspring to induce lactation and half of these will be male, only useful for beef. No diet including milk can exist without beef production – this must be taken into account when reviewing our consumption patterns either as individuals or within colleges.

Illustration credits: Harriet Ho

28 | OxYou

Editors: Milo Dennison, Susie Barrows

OXYOU

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

Oxford Libraries: The Good, The Bad and The Glink Milo Dennison We’ve all been there - it’s a Thursday morning, you’ve got an essay due in 6 hours and you haven’t even opened the reading list, let alone written a word. Panic sets in as you sit in your room staring at your laptop, trying to work out how on earth you’re going to do this on your Park End-induced hangover. Chances are, you’ll probably start thinking about going to a library: one of the best ways to force yourself to work is to surround yourself with a bunch of other stressed people who’ll definitely judge you if you sit on your phone and probably write an Oxfess about you if you even cough. The problem is though that there are just too many to choose from: luckily for you though, OxYou is here with the definitive guide on where to go if you want to be productive, want to have a cry, or, if you’re wearing a certain college puffer, want to watch, uh, questionable videos…

The Upper Radcam The vibes are immaculate: it doesn’t really matter whether you end up writing your essay or not, because the main character energy you get from sitting right up at the top will more than make up for the breakdown you have to your tutor later in the day. You’re not doing this properly if you don’t spend more time subtly taking photos for your

story than actually working.

The Lower Radcam I’ve been told that this is actually a very productive place to work, with its massive shared desks, but I’ve never worked here. I just think that if you’ve got the Upper Radcam upstairs and you choose to stay downstairs, you’re doing Oxford wrong.

The Bodleian Intimidatingly large (no that’s not what she said) but the collective peer pressure of hundreds of people all looking far more studious than you has a wonderfully shaming effect that can’t help but make you want to

BEST OF THE ROAST

start reading. As with the Radcam, Upper over Lower every day of the week.

Your college library Look, let’s be honest here, we all know what this means. You’re bored and lonely and don’t actually want to write your essay, so you’re hoping that you’ll wander in and find a friend who’s got gossip to share, so that two and a half hours and a lot of whispered tea later, you can move from the bargaining to the acceptance stage of your essay crisis.

The Union Library I’ve never been able to get a seat in here, and at least once in the process

I’ve been accosted by someone I’d never met trying a little too hard to become friends with me. It’s a beautiful building and I’m sure it’s very productive, but the nest of vipers you have to cross to get to it doesn’t really seem worth the risk.

The Taylorian I’ve never met a modern languages student who isn’t a little bit pretentious, and that I think sums up the Taylorian. A delightful building, but you can’t help but feel a little bit inferior as you wander in in your slightly dodgy outfit that you put together from the only clean clothes (clean is a stretch: worn less than 5 times is probably better) you had left that morning.

The Said Business School Library Mainly just including this in here to flex that as an E&M student I actually get access, but I’ve received testimony from multiple different friends that this is the place to be. Spacious desks and a gorgeous view onto the Park End roundabout system are bound to get you feeling productive, and if not the lunches at the Business School cafe will more than make up for this.

The Glink Perfect if you’re from Christ Church and want to watch a certain type of video: a deeply scarring experience

Rordon Gamsay

Fifth week has arrived, and for some students it’s been made much worse by what they’ve been served at formal recently, as Rordon details below: it was all over Oxfess this week, so of course Rordon’s written about it. He couldn’t very well have original thoughts about Oxford life. Read on to see what else Oxfess has been talking about this week.

SHOCK: KEBLE SERVES TRADITIONAL BRITISH DISH Reports have been flying around the university this week about a formal dinner at Keble College where, in a move that shocked and betrayed British and international students alike, British food was served.

‘I just can’t believe they’ve done this to us,’ one student complained as Rordon investigated the matter. ‘I spent the whole meal stressed that I’d caught Covid because I couldn’t taste anything – but it turned out they’d just served beans on

toast.’

‘To be fair, it’s better than the sh*t they call ‘pasta’ here because at least this time they’re not pretending it’s good food,’ another student from Sicily concurred.

Rordon extends his sympathy to those affected and hopes Keble will discover the existence of herbs and spices soon.

WOW: COLLEGE JCR PRESIDENT BECOMES PRIME MINISTER A rumour has been going around that an unnamed college is changing their constitution to make their JCR President Prime Minister of the UK. After deciding that the motion to make them God Emperor of the world was a little excessive, they settled on Prime Minister (appropriately, a U-turn).

Speaking to Rordon, one student of the unnamed college said they ‘weren’t sur-

prised, as it seems anyone can become Prime Minister these days, and frankly a 19-year-old who has no relevant experience beyond going to an exclusive boarding school would be just as good as a 42-year-old who has no relevant experience beyond going to an exclusive boarding school.’

Rordon looks forward to, in the words of his ex, seeing how long they last in this position.

WOW: MERTONIANS LEAVE LIBRARY While everyone else was tucked up in bed last Saturday night (third week seemed to be hitting hard), something funny was going on within the hallowed walls of Merton College: something that, if one were to observe it with no context, looked almost… fun. Hundreds of undergraduates donned their subfusc and walked backwards around a quad for an hour in order to preserve the ‘space-time continuum’ – or so they say.

Rordon went to the scene to investigate further, and can now report the real motivation behind the event: an elaborate social experiment to determine whether Mertonians really do want to get rid of gowns. It turns out that if said Mertonians have drunk half a bottle of port each, they don’t actually care what they’re wearing. Rordon can’t wait for the next big debate at Merton to kick off: he’s heard a rumour that some Mertonians now want collections twice a term.

OH NO: FIFTH WEEK BLUES HIT Fifth week is here, and Rordon is feeling very down on life. The work is piling up, the nights are getting darker and Rordon’s favourite fresher doesn’t seem to be quite as keen on Rordon any more.

There’s still hope though – Rordon hears there are meant to be welfare alpacas this week. Check back in next week to see whether Rordon’s been cured.

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November

Gen Z | 29

Blane’s Style Files

GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE Blane AITCHISON EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z eing someone who loves to GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN talk about fashion, I someZ GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE times get asked “What fashEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z ion advice do you have for me?” In N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z the heat of the moment, I almost GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN never know what to say to such Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE a broad yet personal question, so I’ve decided to compile an EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z and abridged anthology of advice that N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z you can refer back to if you ever GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN feel lost about what to do or what Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE to wear.

EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z Want to look GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN taller?

Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z Wearing the same colour on your GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN top and bottom half draws the eyes Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE up, creating the illusion of added Suits are great for this, and EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z height. the recent trend of coordinating N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z sets allows you to use this trick in GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN a more casual way. Clothes with Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE vertical stripes can often have this EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z effect too, and so can matching N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z your shoes to your trousers.

GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE Want to look EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z shorter?

N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE On the other hand, wearing difcolours on your top and botEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z ferent tom half causes the eyes to focus N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z on a certain piece of your outfit GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN rather than it coming across as Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE one block of colour, making you EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z seem shorter than you really are.

N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE Want to spice up your black tie?

EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z BLANEGEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEAITCHISONGEN Z EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z N Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GE EN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z GEN Z

Speedy Style Solutions

B

Accessories are great for this!

Rings, watches, and lapel pins/ brooches can be the perfect finishing touch for your black tie, whereas a colourful bowtie, waistcoat or cummerbund can really change the vibe of your outfit. Charity shops often have a selection of patterned bowties and ties, so they’re a great place to look for a quick and cheap way to change it up.

Want to spend less time working out what to wear?

ours in the print in the other things you’re wearing. For example, a green jacket to go with a tropical leaf-print shirt, or pink shoes to match a floral dress. I’ve heard it said that picking out a darker, more prominent colour in a print can make you seem slimmer, while picking out a paler, less noticeable shade from the print can make you seem bigger, but maybe take this with a grain of salt.

How do I make a successful colour block or print clash outfit?

The standard way to organise a wardrobe is to have all clothing of the same type (e.g., shirts, trousers, jackets, dresses) grouped together, but if you know that you usually wear a certain shirt with a certain pair of jeans, or you always wear a certain jacket with a specific dress, then try hanging them together in your wardrobe.

This way, you’ll see outfits rather than just clothes when you open your wardrobe and it’ll make your mornings easier. To eliminate any final indecisive moments in the morning, lay out your outfit the night before so that it’ll be ready for when you roll out of bed.

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

Worried about a clashing outfit?

Bored of your current look?

If you’re worried about your outfit clashing, try to base it around no more than three main colours, or if you’re wearing something with a bold print, try to wear pick out col-

Why not try to develop a new signature style? Think about what you own that you love to wear and makes you feel confident, and then see if you can find other similar

pieces in new colours, cuts, and styles. Alternatively, try something you’ve always wanted to do, but have been putting off – like a brand-new hairstyle, a different hair colour, or a new piercing!

In need of some outfit inspiration?

The best way to come up with an idea for a new outfit is to look at other people’s outfits, decide what you like and don’t like about them, and then adapt them so that they align more closely with your personal sense of style. The trick here is to look at as many outfits as possible, so social media like Pinterest can be really helpful for this if you know some search terms that sum up the sort of style you’d like to try. Alternatively, assessing outfits that you see on TV is an even easier way of doing this.

Not sure when to get rid of clothes?

As a rule of thumb, get rid of clothes if they’re damaged beyond repair, if they don’t go with anything else you own, if you haven’t worn it in 6 months, or simply if it doesn’t make you feel confident, or you don’t like it anymore. Of course, if the clothes are still wearable, try to donate them to charity instead of just throwing them away so that someone else can wear them after you.

Image Credit: Mike B via Pexels

Sport 30 | Sport

Group A:

The hosts (as usu1. Netherlands al) have managed to 2. Senegal avoid the toughest 3. Qatar quartets, yet are still 4. Ecuador considered the weakest in Group A. Then again, the home advantage has come into play before and could do so doubly when playing in the sweltering desert heat. It would be a major surprise to see Qatar progress to the knockouts, but they will prove a tough enough opponent in the group stage.

The Dutch will be happy with this group; they missed the World Cup last time out so have a lot to prove and a top squad to prove it with. One of the teams to watch for in Qatar for sure - Van Dijk & Co. should go very far in the tournament this year. Don’t count out Senegal though, coming to Qatar with a real ‘golden generation’ headlined

by Sané, Koulibaly & Mendy. This is one of the strongest squads ever seen from an African nation in the World Cup; could they become the first ever team from the continent to make the semis? Ecuador had a solid qualifying campaign, denying nations like Chile or Colombia a World Cup spot, but the main tournament itself is a different level. With a squad of mostly relatively unknown players, they could prove a forgettable side.

Southgate’s lads can have no complaints about the draw. If the Group B: Three Lions mean 1. England business, they should 2. USA likely be sweeping 3. Wales this group without 4. Iran any major hiccups. A strong squad can certainly be assembled, and last year’s Euros run should give the fans some confidence, even if this year’s winless Nations League performance has undermined that somewhat (0-4 to non-qualifiers Hungary at Molineux in June was not a good look). Not to worry, Southgate always delivers at the big tournaments… right? The USA has a young squad no doubt looking to make the main impact in 2026 when they’re hosting, but that’s not to say they won’t want a solid run this time around, especially to make up for missing the tournament in 2018. Wales will be making its first appearance in the World Cup since 1958 (!) and getting to the last 16 is certainly within reach; fans will be hoping Gareth Bale will be on his Wales, Golf, Madrid (now LAFC) priorities. Iran topped its qualification group above South Korea and will be heading to Qatar with some optimism but are probably nevertheless the weakest in this group on paper.

Lionel Messi has confirmed that Qatar 2022 will be his last Group C: World Cup; the last 1. Argentina shot for the icon to 2. Poland capture the only tro3. Mexico phy missing from his 4. Saudi Arabia collection. Argen-

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

Dani’s group stage look ahead:

Sports Editor Dani Kovacs gives you a group-by-group rundown and prediction for this years world cup in Qatar

tina is not among the favourites this time around, but with a little bit of Leo magic, who knows? Mexico and Poland are both tough opponents who will challenge the South Americans for the top spot in the group – the Poles have their own ageing star for whom this may be the last appearance at the showcase tournament in Robert Lewandowski, while the Mexicans are a perennially solid side and always have the capacity to pleasantly surprise. Saudi Arabia are certainly the underdogs here, but qualifying ahead of Japan and Australia tells the rest not to underestimate them.

Group D:

1. Denmark 2. Australia 3. France 4. Tunisia

The last 3 champions of the World Cup would all fail to make it out of the group stage at the sub-

sequent one.

Will France suffer from the same curse?

Les

Bleus certainly got a favourable draw – Denmark is of course always a threat, but a squad of the caliber of the French should dispatch Australia and Tunisia relatively easily. Then again bigger surprises have happened at the World Cup and history does tend to repeat itself… Speaking of the Scandinavians, after a memorable Euros run all the way to the semi-final last year, they have kept a strong form for 2022, with wins over the French both at home and away in the Nations League! In recent years, the Vikings have become a force to be reckoned with and they are a very solid shout for the ultimate dark horses this winter. Australia and Tunisia are outsiders in this group, they will be hoping a disappointing showing from the Europeans can allow them to pick up some surprise results. The interesting fact here is that save for Tunisia replacing Peru, this is the exact same group as group C in the 2018 edition. There, the order went France, Denmark, Peru, Australia. How different will it be this time around?

Here we have another group with two clear favourites to Group E: progress. Costa Rica 1. Germany has shown in 2014 2. Spain that it should never 3. Japan be counted out (they 4. Costa Rica topped a group including England, Italy, and Uruguay), but outside of PSG keeper Keylor Navas, there is not really any huge names in the squad this time around. Japan’s fans will no doubt be among the best (their passionate but polite showing in 2018 was exemplary and was one of the headlines of the tournament), but despite a decent squad it would be a surprise to see them progress. This group should belong to the two football superpowers of Spain and Germany, both among the favourites to take the crown this year. The Iberians finally seem to have confidently settled in the post-Xavi & Iniesta generation and were only penalties away from the Euros final last year.

They have the

squad to beat anyone, and that is exactly their goal. Admittedly, choosing Jordan as their final opponent to warm up for the World Cup is an interesting decision… For the Nationalelf this will be the first major tournament after Joachim Löw and new boss Hansi Flick is looking to make an instant impact. Gary Lineker famously said ‘football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.’ Could the statement ring true once again?

Another group of expected European dominance, but with mayGroup F: be a bit more chance 1. Belgium for some surprises.

2. Croatia Belgium of course 3. Canada are the favourites and 4. Morocco should be taking the top spot but it is hard to guess just how far they can go this year.

For the past decade now they have come to each major tournament with huge hopes but could never quite realise them… Maybe this

is that year – it has been a long time coming.

Croatia were runners-up four years ago, but their squad has been ageing and does not look as strong this time around. While they are always capable of a solid tournament, this could be one to forget for the Checkered Ones. Morocco have big stars like Ziyech or Hakimi but have been lacking memorable performances at big tournaments in the past years - hard to see that pattern changing. Canada are among the hardest teams to nail down this year. Many football fans would struggle to name any of their players outside of Alphonso Davies, and we are accustomed to seeing their name at the ice-hockey World Cup, not the football one.

And yet, with them hosting in 2026, they are looking for a big showcase here and might just surprise everyone (probably including themselves).

Brazil should top this group, they are the odds-on favourites of Qatar 2022, with a ridiculously star-studded squad. Nonetheless one can’t help feeling Group G: that they will trip up 1. Brazil in the knockout stag2. Switzerland es and exit earlier 3. Serbia than their fans (and 4. Cameroon certainly the players) would expect to. Or it could be a repeat of 2002 and a sweep of the tournament worthy of the big favourites – the Seleção are certainly capable of either. Their games against both Serbia and Switzerland should be top ones, the hardest decision of this prediction was the 2nd-3rd place of this group. It really is a toss-up between the two: both are incredibly solid European sides capable of posing a big challenge to any team in the world on a good day. Expect the Serbia – Switzerland match to be one of the hidden gems of the tournament. Cameroon do look the weakest on paper here, Chupo-Moting has found his goalscoring boots in Bayern lately though.

Let’s see if he wears them for the Group G clashes as well.

Like his big rival Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo is also likely looking at Group H: his last-ever chance of 1. Portugal World Cup glory, but 2. Uruguay it will be a mountain 3. Ghana to climb. So was Euro 4. South Korea 2016 though and we know how that ended.

For a chance of a repeat of the glory in Paris, winning this group is a must. Uruguay are the first ever winners of the World Cup, but going all the way here would be a miracle.

Cavani and Suarez will nonetheless be looking to bow out of the showcase tournament with a memorable run. Ghana and South Korea will be putting up a fight and it is not inconceivable that they could grab one of the top two spots but it will be a challenge, especially for the East Asians who are missing their #1 star Heung-min Son. Illustration credits: Yii-Jen Deng

The Oxford Student | Friday 11 November 2022

Sport Sport | 31

What do you think?

sports editors team

We asked a number of OxStu editors and other Oxford students what they thought of various outcomes at this year’s World Cup.

Which country will win the World Cup?

Can Brazil return to the top of the world?

Are we just being typically pessimistic?

Will it ever come home again?

Biggest disappointments?

Surprise of the tournament?

Can Mane bring his Liverpool success to Senegal?

Player of the tournament?

Is this finally Messi´s year?

How far will England go?

Not a single response said England would win...

Sports Editor Matt Holland gives his say on how he sees this World Cup playing out

Best player/most anticipated: Memphis Depay - His record for the Dutch national team over the past few years has been incredibly impressive, with 21 goals in his last 22 appearances for the Oranje. His season so far has been blighted by injury which has kept him out of the Barcelona first team, although with players across Europe collecting injuries which are ruling them out of the competition, this may be a blessing in disguise for Memphis, who will be fresh for the World Cup.

like a completely different team since the success of 2018, and the poor luck in the past of the Cup holders puts them in a position of psychological inferiority.

While Benzema may just have won the Ballon d’Or, he only managed two goals at the Euros before France were knocked out by everyone’s favourite dark horse in every tournament, Switzerland. With Denmark in their group, they are likely to encounter solid opposition early on and may even struggle to finish 2nd.

Best team: England - Call it blind optimism but I have every belief that England are the team to beat going into this World Cup. This is an England team which didn’t concede a goal until the Semi-Finals of the Euros and only conceded two goals in total over the whole tournament. It took penalties for Italy to reign victorious over England in the final, but with them not qualifying for this tournament, England should be considered favourites.

Dark horse: As the good Dutchman I am, I will always put them in an outside chance of winning every competition they qualify for. In contrast England, the Netherlands have always been the overachievers, falling short at the later hurdles, having reached 3 World Cup Finals and have reached 2 World Cup SemiFinals and 4 Euros Semi-Finals.

An incredibly dominant qualifying has shown that a winning combination has been found, Louis van Gaal and the Dutch national team.

Biggest disappointment: France - They have looked

Joe Sharp’s England XI

Top goalscorer?

Or will the little magician be let down once again?

Plighted with injury on both fullbacks Engalnd are forced to choose two 2nd choicers. Whilst Trent might be the first shout, his defensive weaknesses have been too exposed this year to justify a start.

Whilst Foden might seem the form winger, Southgate´s loyalty means Sterling will inevitbaly start

Sport

32 | Sport

Friday 11 November 2022 | The Oxford Student

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

Should we boycott the 2022 FIFA World Cup?

A letter from Qatar

Ieuan Bevan

M

ost arguments against boycotting the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup are either born of moral inadequacy or ignorance. Contrary to Gareth Southgate’s suggestion that England boycotting the tournament would achieve little if unaccompanied by other teams because the ‘tournament would go ahead’, it would send a powerful message against the way FIFA has made a mockery of the inclusivity and diversity it purports to stand for, through awarding the tournament to Qatar. If individual players – say Mbappe with his 73.1 million Instagram followers - were to drop out of the tournament, railing against the sheer moral, human, and environmental cost of the whole affair, it would help ensure nothing like this ever happened again. If communities, or just individuals, were to reject the tournament altogether, it would go a long way towards undermining the Qatari regime’s attempts at sportswashing. Put simply, if teams, players, fans, and of course the media, were to come together to boycott the tournament – to reject participating in an event which is both tacitly and directly complicit in the persecution of the LGBTQ+ community, discrimination against women (unable to marry, study abroad, work, or travel in Qatar without the permission of their male guardian), and the deaths of over 6500 migrant workers - this would undoubtedly be a force for good, and it takes individuals to take a stand in order for this to happen.

Other arguments against boycotting the World Cup are equally untenable. The idea the tournament can be used as a force for good – through the moral condemnation of the world at large, and FIFA promoting change locally – are undermined by the likes of the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly saying visitors should be ‘respectful’ of Qatar’s repressive attitude towards LGBTQ+ people, the former FIFA President Sepp Blatter joking that gay people should ‘refrain from any sexual activity’ at the tournament, and current FIFA President Gianni In-

fantino opining that migrant workers have earned ‘dignity and pride’ in their work. Quite where the ‘dignity’ in being forced to work in 50°C heat, for 12 hours a day, for the equivalent of $1 an hour, having been made to pay illegal recruitment fees upon entering the country, and having no legal means of escaping this work due to the Kafala System is, where the ‘dignity’ in living in overcrowded labour camps with inadequate water and sewage treatment systems is, and where the ‘dignity’ in thousands of families losing their loved ones with no ability to achieve any financial compensation is, remains unclear. Though the Kafala System has been removed, and a minimum wage has been introduced, the notion that these semi-enforced improvements can ever be said to outweigh the thousands of lost lives when weighing up the pros and cons of this tournament is deeply repellant. Furthermore, the suggestion it is ‘too late’ to boycott the tournament merely offers an excuse to still participate in this immoral event. On the contrary, any player or team which chose to boycott at this late stage would cause maximum disruption, helping contribute to shining a light on FIFA’s deep negligence towards human life.

Ultimately however, though the German ProFans Alliance are right to label this tournament ‘a lavish football festival on the graves of thousands of migrant workers’, though Eric Cantona is right to say the tournament ‘makes no sense’, and though French cities such as Paris, Marseille, and Lille are right to not broadcast the tournament in public spaces, no mass boycott is going to take place. No major teams or players, few media outlets, and only a vanishingly small minority of fans will actually boycott the tournament. It is not individual’s players fault for wanting to fulfill their life’s ambition of winning, or merely playing at, a World Cup; it is not their fault that the backdrop to this tournament is a scourge on the game they love. In the same way that we do not go about reprimanding people for supporting PSG, Man City or Newcastle (teams whose recent success is almost entirely due to funding from repressive

dictatorships), it is unfair to blame fans for ultimately concluding that choosing to spend time with their friends and family watching the tournament together, an experience which only comes round every four years, is a greater moral and practical imperative than a personal boycott which will have absolutely no effect on the world at large. I will reach that conclusion myself – even though I’m fully aware that the issue is everyone thinking in that way.

Though boycotting the tournament would probably be the best way to protest against the injustice, moral bankruptcy, and misery this World Cup represents, there are still ways of making a stand against the tournament without forgoing it altogether. First and foremost, football associations, players, and fans must come together to ensure that FIFA sets up a compensation fund for workers who have been forced to pay illegal recruitment fees and have not had their contracts properly fulfilled by their employees, alongside bereaved families who have lost their primary breadwinners.

This could easily come from the $7 billion revenue the tournament is expected to produce, $450 million of which is set to be given out in prize money. Alongside this, Qatar must not be allowed to use the tournament for sportswashing purposes. The media is key to this – in highlighting the day-to-day struggles faced by LGBTQ+ people, by women, and by migrants in Qatar, by not allowing the country to project a positive image of itself in the same way Putin’s Russia did during the 2018 tournament. Players and coaches have a role to play.

Glib notions about how migrant workers are ‘united’ in wanting the tournament to go to Qatar should be avoided: instead players and coaches should use their platform to promote the cause of LGBTQ+ rights, of gender equality, of tackling repressive working practices both on and off the pitch, helping provide a critical view on the realities faced by people in Qatar and at least making an attempt to effect change locally. This will ensure that the casual onlooker such as myself never loses sight of the backdrop this tournament is being played against.

Correspondant Sharp gives you a satirical insight into how to view this year’s World Cup as a traveling fan..

H

ere in Qatar the men’s football world cup is right around the corner. A celebration of the beautiful game.

We’re in for a hectic 3 week experience full of colour, pageantry, highs, lows, and most importantly… football.

But it’s hard to get excited for this world cup however.

“I’d love for football to come home, but I’d also love for Fifa to go far, far away.”

So Qatar have got some tips:

healthcare.

Drinking fans. Think of it as a sober retreat. Where the pints are 11 pounds, smoking is illegal and and it’s an offence to be drunk in public.

Blue collar workers, think of this as a world cup celebrating the triumph of the working man. Much like Wembley whose arch is filled with Middlesbrough scarfs and programmes, an homage to the workers from Cleveland Bridge who constructed the stadium, the arenas in Qatar are similarly littered with memorabilia of those who built them.

Of course, in this case it’s the bodies of the near 6.5K migrant workers who died building the stadia, but nonetheless it’s a thoughtful sign of respect to the working class fans who grew the beautiful game into what it is today.

Of course I joke.

LGBTQ+ fans be gay and be proud, but don’t be too gay…

In the words of UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, have a bit of ‘flex and compromise’ around your sexual identity. Perhaps try being heterosexual for 3 weeks.

Like undercover spies. Make it fun.

Think of it as a holiday from your sexuality. An adventure.

Female fans, think of it as a fun return to medieval times. A time where you needed permission by your male guardian to marry, to study, to travel abroad, to work in government or to receive some forms of reproductive

To paraphrase Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal, ‘ FIFA say we are going to [Qatar] [to] help develop football…that is bulls***’.

I’d love for football to come home, but I’d also love for Fifa to go far, far away.

Their corruption means we have a World Cup with no inclusivity in stadiums built by slaves. Arenas of joy and spectacle now graveyards.

Illustration credits: Harriet Ho