Through 2013, Oxford’s photographers have caught all the highs and lows on camera. We take you through the year’s biggest stories in video form…
January: Anger over Assange talk at the Union
2013 was a controversial year for the Union. But despite all the backstabbing and (email) hacking, the most provocative move came in January. The society invited Julian Assange, leader of Wikileaks, to talk, despite him being wanted on suspicion of rape in Sweden.
Cherwell captured the anger of feminists across Oxford as they picketed the talk.
February: Galloway accused of ‘anti-semitism’ after Oxford debate
Bradford MP George Galloway “stormed out” of a debate at Christ Church on Wednesday evening, upon finding out that his opponent, Eylon Aslan-Levy, a third-year PPEist at Brasenose, was an Israeli citizen.
Galloway was accused by his opponent of “pure racism” for refusing to debate. He denied this, saying, “I refused this evening to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the Apartheid state of Israel. The reason is simple; No recognition, No normalisation. Just Boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the Apartheid state is defeated.”
March: The Boat Race
The 2013 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race wasn’t as dramatic as last year’s – no morons jumped in front of Oxford’s boat. Without Trenton in the way, Oxford stormed to victory.
Cherwell reported from the Thames.
April: Animal rights activists enraged
The year has been tough for Oxford’s animal kingdom. First we found out that horsemeat was being stocked in Oxford supermarkets, long after the dodgy burgers had been pulled from all other UK stores. Then animal rights activists expressed anger over Somerville’s plans to keep a life shark at their ball.
Through it all, the perpetual controversy over Oxford’s use of animal experimentation trundled on.
In April, Cherwell watched as animal rights protestors took to the streets.
May: Activists crash Shell dinner at Teddy Hall
In May, students protested the creation of a new partnership between oil-giant Shell and Oxford University. Environmentalists said the Uni shouldn’t take money from such a controversial company.
In the day, they shouted at Vice-Chancellor Andrew Hamilton.
And at night, a hard-core broke into the launch dinner at Teddy Hall.
Cherwell obtained a video of the crashing.
June: Bedroom tax protests
Summer brought even more protests, this time against the Coalition. Participating in a national demonstration against the ‘Bedroom Tax’, an odd combination of students and ageing lefties outlined their opposition.
Frank Macpherson reported from the scene.
The Long Vac: Shark Tales lands lawyer in hot water
Over the summer, Oxford trundles to a halt. Unfortunately for one Oxonian intern, law firms don’t. Shark Tales, Oxford’s flagship broadcast of drunk-people outside Park End, caught an intern with Clifford Chance saying, ““I’m a City Lad and I fucking love the ladness… The ladness is basically just fucking people over for money.’
His bosses at the law firm were not amused. In September, the company issued a statement saying, “The comments made are inappropriate and they are at odds with our principles and the professional standards we espouse as a firm. One of our trainee lawyers is the subject of our formal disciplinary procedures which may result in termination of the training contract with the firm.”
Watch the incident at 4:15 and 6:43 in the video above.
October: Students occupy Exam Schools
With a new academic year came more fury on the streets of Oxford. When the Universities and Colleges Union announced a strike over recent wage decreases, students showed solidarity with their tutors by staging an impromptu sit-in at the Exam Schools.
The (almost) revolution was televised in a Cherwell report.
November: L J Trup storms to victory
November saw the biggest election upset in OUSU’s history, when “joke candidate” L J Trup stormed to victory. His success owed everything to his videos.
In one, he re-enacted Braveheart scenes outside the RadCam.
On result night, Cherwell caught the euphoria in Brasenose bar as Trup made his winner’s speech.
December: the Ashmolean becomes Night at the Museum
The University’s annual festive video brought the Ashmoleon alive using low budget animation.
Watch out for more Cherwell videos in 2014 – if you’re interested in contributing to our Broadcasting team, email [email protected]
Happy New Year from all your chums at Cherwell!
