Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, visited Oxford and Oxford Brookes universities on Wednesday, to hear about Oxford research into commercial applications which benefit the economy, health and the environment.
During his visit, he saw the development of next-generation solar cells. Oxford scientists are currently experimenting with a variety of surfaces and materials to allow the delivery of affordable solar power at the scale of many terawatts.
Cable was also shown how engineers and medics have created a OrganOx device (pictured) that can keep organs alive outside the body, using blood at normal body temperatures. The OrganOx technology allows livers to be preserved for up to three days, which is more than three times longer than is possible by conventional cold storage, meaning that more organs will now be available for transplants.
Cable said, “Oxford University is a powerhouse of science and research covering a wide range of academic disciplines. Today I saw how it is also bridging the gap between the lab and the marketplace by turning its leading expertise into cutting edge new products.”
In the evening, Cable addressed an audience of 100 students at Lady Margaret Hall College for an event co-hosted by Oxford University Liberal Democrats and LMH’s PPE Society, the Daisy Circle. The talk and discussion was centred on governing under coalition and austerity.
Cable defended the coalition government’s existence, stating, “The economy helps explain the current political system.”
He continued, “Instead of talking in abstract, I’ll try to relate that to the experiences of young people and the prospects you have. One of the big underlying shifts in Britain has been a shift from young to old. My generation has become extremely wealthy, not through the result of doing anything very much but simply because of who we are and where we are in relation to the young. There has been an enormous transfer of wealth through the property market. For young people, the average age at which it is possible to buy a house is 35 across the UK.
“The job market has changed, certainly. My generation looked forward to stable employment, rising increments every year, secure and substantial pensions; all that has gone, almost.”
After the talk, Cable was questioned about relations between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in government. Cable argued, “The British system in many ways has considerable advantages over the American system,” but noted the ideological differences between the parties.
He stated, “Britain is a highly unequal country in income and wealth; the Conservatives would, I think, be fairly relaxed about that but we are not relaxed about it.”
Cable claimed, “We’ve had what Marx would call a ‘crisis of capitalism’. But both the Right and the Left are in denial about it. The right are in denial about it because, well, they would be, wouldn’t they? The left are in denial about it because it was on their watch. Neither of them are dealing with the issue. It’s our job to make it clear that they are both wrong.”
One first year student told Cherwell after the talk, “He has made me remember why I study PPE.”
However, not all were as receptive to Cable’s visit. Hours before Cable was scheduled to speak at LMH, a Facebook event calling for an emergency demonstration outside the college was created. The organiser, Nathan Akehurst, told Cherwell, “Vince Cable colludes in a government which is destroying higher education as we know it. University applications are falling, students are being saddled with a lifetime of debt whilst courses are closing, jobs are being cut and education privatised.
“This is why we do not feel he is welcome at institutions that value academia and will protest the presence of coalition ministers when they visit.
“Whilst we did not protest at LMH in the end because of some logistical issues, activists made their presence felt to him at Brookes earlier, not without sympathy from many staff.”
