Friday 10th April 2026
Blog Page 1019

Vacation blues: what to read when you’re missing Oxford

Laura Hackett
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Vacation blues: what to read when you’re missing Oxford

My first week at home was bliss; my own bed, a warm fire, home cooking, old friends. But round about now, two weeks into vacation, it all becomes a bit stale. Mum asking a million questions about your plans to go out, extended family forever asking, “How’s uni going?” – not to mention the inconvenient detail that you need to walk more than 15 minutes to get to your nearest pub, club, restaurant, library and Tesco. In short, we begin to miss Oxford. But how to return to the beauty of the dreaming spires when your college is probably renting your room out for conferences? Aside from taking patriotic refuge in the varsity meme war, there have been so many books written about and set in Oxford that you needn’t buy a train ticket. We all know the obvious ones; Brideshead Revisited, Inspector Morse, His Dark Materials, but here are some other literary treats I’ve enjoyed to remind you of the beauty (and insanity) of Oxford.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling

Oxford isn’t Hogwarts, as much as we wish it was. But even if you don’t go to Christ Church, re-reading Harry Potter as an Oxford student certainly introduces some parallels. The acceptance letter arriving in the post, being planted in a totally new and strange world, getting used to the lingo, your first formal hall. J.K. Rowling’s first novel will bring back all the ups and downs of your first term.

Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain

I know this is a huge English student faux pas, but I was drawn to this book after seeing the film a few years ago (and crying intermittently for several weeks). It’s a wonderful and heartbreaking true story of a girl from a provincial family who decides (much to her father’s horror) to apply to Oxford. The book tells of her acceptance and arrival at Oxford on the eve of the First World War. She finds and loses love, drops out to work as a nurse on the front line, and loses so many male friends from Oxford. Full of tenacity, bravery and perseverance, Vera became a role model to me (and made my decision to apply to Oxford over Cambridge).

Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy

Granted, this book doesn’t have festive cheer written all over it. The story of an Oxford hopeful, Jude, and his failed attempts to penetrate the elitism that looks down at his self-taught education, and his cousin-lover Sue, does not lift the spirits. However, it gives an outsider’s view of the city, and the perspective of someone who lives and works there (yes, people live in Oxford who aren’t students). What’s more, you’ll have great fun trying to identify the different pubs and buildings that Jude describes. If you read the Penguin edition, the notes will tell you (who knew that Jude’s reunion with Arabella took place in Turf Tavern?!).

Your vacation reading list

It has to be done, and it will remind you why you were so ready to come home after eight weeks. Trawling through Ulysses and remembering you’ll need to write an essay on it next term is enough to make anyone put up with anxious mothers, nosey grandparents, and the competitive undertone amongst your school friends as you all gush about how fantastic uni has been. Good luck getting through it and having time to read any of the aforementioned novels!

The ultimate soundtrack to your revision

Dom Saad
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The ultimate soundtrack to your revision

Nobody likes working in the vac, especially around Christmas when distractions are at an all-time high. If, like me, your productivity outside Oxford plummets to the point where you struggle to remember what subject you do or what a collection is, a bit of music to help you power through coursework, reading or revision (or if you’re lucky, all three) might be just what you need. I’ve picked out a few albums that should be your first port of call when you need some tunes to see you through the hours at the grindstone.

Jazz: Kamasi Washington, The Epic

There isn’t really another word for Kamasi Washington’s titanic 2015 record than epic. Sprawling across just under three hours with a good number of securely double-digit runtimes, The Epic is sizeable enough to handle any academic challenge you can throw at it (I can confirm this album saved me in prelims a couple of years ago). The lengthy tracks undergo considerable development and there are a lot of grand moments; favourites are the cosmic chorus of ‘Askim’, playful drums of ‘Leroy and Lanisha’, and the mellow organs of six-eight standout ‘Henrietta Our Hero’.

Film Soundtrack: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Film soundtracks pair perfectly with work when you consider that they’re meant to add to the visual experience without drawing you from it. None are better than Reznor & Ross’ 2011 score for The Social Network; hit play and you too can pretend you’re Zuckerberg writing line after line of billionaire-quality code, when really you’re just trying to make sense of doodles you drew half-asleep in a Friday 9AM. ‘A Familiar Taste’ and ‘Carbon Prevails’ experiment with irregular beats and distortion, whilst ‘In Motion’ and ‘Intriguing Possibilities’ are particular masterpieces of Reznor & Ross’ arpeggiator-driven, sequenced sound.

Game Soundtrack: Disasterpeace, FEZ

If film soundtracks are great background tunes, video game soundtracks are designed to be repeated on loop for hours and hours without distracting from the experience. Disasterpeace’s charming, chirping accompaniment to FEZ is a wash of filtered drum machines and bit-crushed synths, and tracks like ‘Progress’ and ‘Flow’ will hopefully be eponymous with their effects. Not to mention, FEZ is a puzzle game, meaning its music needs to bring out the peak of your intellect: problem sheets and translations alike will crumble in the face of your newfound cognition.

Ambient: William Basinski, The Disintegration Loops

For the real 2AM isolationist experience, shut yourself away with The Disintegration Loops. This is literally the sound of the same repeated six-second taped sample progressively falling to actual physical bits over the course of seventy-four minutes. Some describe it as a statement on the fragility and temporary existence of analogue sound corrupted by a digital age; others would say it’s kerosene in the essay tank. Try not to draw too many parallels as you churn out two thousand words with the sobering sound of steady degradation in your ears.

Hip Hop: J Dilla, Donuts

For a more upbeat essay-writing experience, look no further than the undisputed master of hip-hop production’s posthumous magnum opus, Donuts. Tracks like ‘Workinonit’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Two Can Win’ are particularly inviting for rap talent, but sans-flows – as they are presented in Donuts – are uplifting anthems for study. Expect a wide array of inventive beats, catchy instrumental hooks and ingenious manipulation of samples.

Electronic: Bonobo, The North Borders

Bonobo’s trademark fusion of sampled instrumentation and clean, side-chained synths is perhaps its most effective in 2013’s The North Borders. Sprawling, harmonic soundscapes are crafted in ‘First Fires’ and ‘Emkay’. The thumping bass of single ‘Cirrus’ and garage beat of ‘Know You’ keep up the pace, whilst Erykah Badu’s vocals in ‘Heaven For The Sinner’ take a brief tour of the astral plane (a great place to pick up particularly far-fetched essay points).

Shoegaze: My Bloody Valentine, Loveless

From the moment the opener ‘Only Shallow’ thunders in with its less-is-more fill, there is simply so much noise present in My Bloody Valentine’s ’91 classic that to take any notice whatsoever of the outside world with it in your ears would be an impressive feat. As such, it silences any distraction and puts you firmly in your own personal bubble, from within which forty-eight minutes of blissfully uninterrupted productivity can sprout. In ‘Loomer’, the churning, revolving guitars grind out nostalgic chords, while the massive, ride-heavy drum groove of ‘Come In Alone’ keeps the midnight oil burning.

Folk: Nick Drake, Pink Moon

Sometimes a stripped-back, exposed acoustic guitar and the occasional tinkle of piano is all we need to keep us thinking. Nick Drake’s Pink Moon sounds as current as anything, but consider its 1972 release and you realise Drake’s genius was well before his time. Tracks like ‘Which Will’ and ‘Place To Be’ are warm, melodic, and serve as great background atmosphere (though have much merit as centrepiece songs in their own right), whilst the quicker rhythm of ‘Things Behind The Sun’ keeps the neurons firing.

Techno: Objekt, Flatland

There’s a special kind of panic reserved for rapidly-approaching deadlines when the odds are stacked against you. If you’re still blessed with forty-four minutes on the clock, fight back with Flatland, Objekt’s gritty 2014 record. ‘Agnes Revenge’ explodes in and bombards with drowning space-age synths, before the ticking time-bomb beat of ‘One Fell Swoop’ takes over. All guns blaze in ‘Ratchet’, while the relatively reserved ‘Interlude (Whodunnit?)’ provides a chance for a well-earned breather.

Minimalism: Steve Reich, Music For 18 Musicians

Steve Reich’s iconic 1976 piece spans just under an hour, and yet is known to have defined a new concept of extended music. Blending classical instruments with synthesised sounds, Reich builds through a series of movements so subtly you’ll have to rewind to figure out at what point the music changed. Chimes trill, angels coo, and arpeggiated synths bubble in and out; all the while you take a leaf from Reich’s book and, in honour of the great composer, focus on your own minimalist approach to revision.

Review: The Grand Tour

Peter Edmondson
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Review: The Grand Tour

After three false starts, Top Gear is back – just under its new name, The Grand Tour. As every episode starts in the studio – or tent now due to legal reasons – this is where we must begin too, and it did not get off to a promising start.

The ‘fight’ scene with the audience in episode one was simply not funny. It was too scripted and dragged on for twice as long as it should have. Perhaps some viewers do crave this kind of humour, especially the American audience, however it is not the trio at their best. Their best is the off-the-cuff, self-deprecating, and dry humour that was the hallmark of the ‘news’ segment of Top Gear.

‘Conversation Street’ – its new name – has finally got back to this in episode four. Clarkson’s sly dig at Chris Evans for “trying hard but making a hash of it” is the perfect example – even if I did initially take it as a dig at Hammond’s new beard, an equally justifiable insult. It is quips like this that make the show unique. Therefore, I sincerely hope they do not revert to the style of episode one, in particular, for the rest of the series. Time will tell whether they do.

Disappointingly, the replacement of The Stig with ‘The American’ has proved to be a complete failure. The joke that he finds everything non-American to be “communist” was moderately funny the first time but after the 700th time? Not so much. He fills the rest of his roll with one-liners while testing cars on the new track. I am yet to hear a funny one. Clarkson’s reaction to the jokes, that interrupt his commentary of the lap, is usually that of disdain – and rightly so. Perhaps this is the comedy they are going for; if it is I’m afraid it doesn’t work. ‘The American’ needs replacing.

Luckily the test track sequences do not make or break the show, that role belongs to the films. Here, after three episodes of finding their feet, they have finally nailed it.

Episode one was very much car based. Probably a statement that despite all the money – £4.5 million per show to be exact, four times the budget of Top Gear – this is still a car show. It was still funny at times even if it was potentially less appealing to the casual viewer, a risk with it being the first show but it wasn’t a failure.

The second episode was like nothing we’d seen before on Top Gear. In fact, nothing we have ever seen before anywhere really. An almost hour long sequence, completely scripted, about rescuing the queen from a fake terrorist organisation. Can’t see the car link? Neither could they. It was an experiment worth doing but one that probably shouldn’t be repeated.

Episode three undertook a grand tour of Italy, reminiscent of the Top Gear of the past. However, there was one big issue. There were no challenges. Therefore, the trio had to make the comedy up themselves, not just let the usual chaos unfold. Hammond played the clown, doing a series of doughnuts in some of the most historic locations in Italy. This can be put down as another fairly unsuccessful experiment, but again not a complete failure.

So, it took four weeks, but with the fourth outing of The Grand Tour they finally got the perfect mix. Who would have guessed it would be the standard Top Gear ‘How Hard Can It Be?’ challenge? The scripting was subtle and you got the impression that many of the presenter’s laughs were genuine. That is what the trio, under whatever name, has always been about and what audiences love. Utter chaos, childish banter, and complete failure. I would suggest they don’t need to script that, it is just who they are, and long may that continue.

Recipe: festive gingerbread stars

Emily Beswick
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Recipe: festive gingerbread stars

This recipe takes advantage of two things that tend to be in short supply at Oxford: time, and decent ovens. Make the most of the Christmas vacation and bake these treats at home. These stars make great snacks, as well as potential Christmas gifts if you find yourself a bit broke.

Makes around 20 (depending on size)

Ingredients

  1. 50g butter
  2. 100g caster sugar
  3. 100g runny honey
  4. 225g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
  5. ½ tsp baking powder
  6. ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  7. 1 tsp ground ginger
  8. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  9. ½ medium egg
  10. To decorate (optional):
  11. Writing icing
  12. Sprinkles

Method

1 – Heat the butter, sugar and honey on a low heat in a saucepan, stirring until melted and smooth. Off the heat, add the dry ingredients and stir until crumbly, then add the egg and work to a dough (add a little flour if it seems sticky). Tip on to a work surface, and pat until you have a smooth ball of dough. Wrap in cling film and leave to chill for a few hours.

2 – Preheat oven to 180°c/160°c fan/gas 4 and grease two baking trays.

3 – Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 2mm and cut out stars.

4 – Bake for about 12 mins until golden. Immediately after taking them out, loosen from the tray and place on a wire rack to cool.

5 – Decorate and serve!

Review: Black Mirror Series 3

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Review: Black Mirror Series 3

Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology series has returned with a batch of six new realities to explore. Each episode adopts a new premise – usually centred around the dangers of a nascent technology – and follows it to its logical conclusion. Here, Brooker continues to use technological advancement to explore some of the most uncomfortable recesses of the human character, revealing how new inventions can permit us to carry out horrific crimes by abstracting us from our victims.

Shut Up and Dance is by far the most disturbing episode: set in a world that is the same as ours and featuring technology that already exists, this episode tells the tragic story of Kenny. Caught in a compromising situation by his laptop’s webcam, an anonymous harasser blackmails him into performing increasingly dangerous activities. The disturbing feasibility of its premise leads to a horrifying episode punctuated with moments of the blackest humour. The endless, slow-build of tension and the gut-wrenching final moments cement it as an episode which is deeply unpleasant and difficult to come to terms with. This is Black Mirror at its peak, an unremittingly bleak look at the way in which technology can allow us to mistreat our fellow humans. It trades on all of the show’s usual tropes: the abuse of technology, ideas of voyeurism, showing us a character’s punishment before detailing their crimes. While these elements may be familiar for fans of the show, they are put to such excellent use here that they seem completely fresh.

However, this central thematic through-line – of technological abstraction permitting inhumane cruelty – does not in itself guarantee success. Men Against Fire (an episode in which sensory augmentations facilitate a programme of ethnic cleansing) takes this idea to its extreme and yet lacks bite. It moves methodically towards its foreseeable twist, trudging through forty minutes of uninspiring, limp action and bland machismo, without ever landing an emotional beat. It is further weakened by the blandness of its visuals. While it is evidently trying to mimic the gritty style and gloomy colour palette of action horror films, the entire thing ends up being a forgettable mess. The run’s second episode, Playtest, also suffers from major issues. While better than Men Against Fire, its conclusion sacrifices narrative logic and thematic fulfilment in favour of a final shot which falsely suggests profundity.

In fact, this series’ standout episode is San Junipero, a bright, colourful instalment which categorically rejects the show’s usual message. For the first twenty minutes of its runtime, it is unclear whether the episode will even feature a technological twist. Instead, it seems to be the story of a blossoming lesbian romance in 1980s California. Had this been the sole premise, it still would have been an unmitigated success, sensitively depicting a heart-warming story with a winning visual style. Its ultimate support for technology and the good that it can do results in an uncharacteristically uplifting episode of the show.

 Black Mirror’s third outing is unarguably flawed. As Men Against Fire and Playtest demonstrate, not every episode can balance emotional resonance, biting satire and deep discomfort. Nevertheless, when the show flies, it soars: episodes like Nosedive, San Junipero and Shut Up and Dance show that Black Mirror has lost none of its edge, none of its darkness and – most importantly – none of its heart.

May must guarantee rights of EU citizens in UK, says Mansfield Principal

Felix Pope
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May must guarantee rights of EU citizens in UK, says Mansfield Principal

A report released this week by the House of Lords EU Justice sub-committee, chaired by Mansfield College Principal Helena Kennedy, states that the British government ought to unilaterally agree to respect the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK before the Brexit vote.

The committee took evidence from a range of experts, EU ambassadors, overseas Brits and EU citizens, in order to establish whether EU citizens would hold any ‘acquired rights’ after Brexit.

The report concluded, “The evidence we received makes very clear that the doctrine of acquired rights under public international law will provide little, if any, effective protection for former EU rights once the UK withdraws from the EU.”

They have therefore advised that Theresa May has a “moral obligation” to make the first move in guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens who have lived in Britain since before the 23 June vote, irrespective of whether British citizens living in Europe are given the same protections.

Baroness Kennedy QC said, “I also believe that such a gesture will stimulate reciprocal commitments from the other EU countries where UK citizens are currently living.

“For the last six months, the lives of EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens living in the EU have been shrouded in anxiety. Their rights to live, work and reside in their country of choice are now so unclear that people have no idea how, or even where, they should plan their futures.”

The committee further advised that the administrative burden of assessing individual cases would be “vast”, and therefore that a single status for all EU citizens in Britain before a certain point had to be established.

Kennedy recommended in an interview with the Guardian that EU citizens living in the UK collect evidence of their residency.

The Labour peer said, “Make a file now with proof of your presence [and] supporting letters from people who’ve known you, you have taught you or who you have had business dealings with.”

Currently 2.9 million EU citizens live in the UK, while 2.1 million UK citizens live in Europe. The question of what will happen to them after Britain has left the EU has been of the most contentious debates arising from the Brexit vote.

The government’s position is that no safeguards can be given without reciprocal agreements from EU member states, but this has led to accusations that people’s lives are being treated as “bargaining chips”.

Baroness Kennedy QC is an eminent British barrister and Labour peer in the House of Lords.

In 2010 she was elected as Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford. She had previously served as the Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University and as President of the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Mansfield College has been contacted for comment.

Westgate Oxford confirms five rooftop garden restaurants

Ethan Croft
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Westgate Oxford confirms five rooftop garden restaurants

The Westgate shopping centre’s redevelopment team has confirmed the names of five new bars and restaurants in the new rooftop garden, which opens in October 2017.

Alongside The Alchemist cocktail bar, the rooftop garden will play host to Cinnamon Kitchen, Polpo, and Pizza Pilgrims which offer Indian, Venetian, and Italian food respectively.There will also be an outlet of The Breakfast Club cafe chain.

Three units remain vacant, and Leisure property agent Davis Coffer Lyons is currently conducting advanced negotiations with interested parties.

The rooftop garden promises panoramic views of Oxford city centre, a grass quadrangle, and a canopy area where live performances and cinema screenings are expected to take place.

First year historian Oliver Loeb-Mills told Cherwell, “The Westgate redevelopment may well be outside of the normal student budget and given the wide range of cheaper food options in Oxford, the ‘rooftop garden’ may not prove too popular.”

The rooftop garden is one part of an 800,000 square foot redevelopment of the Westgate centre costing a £440 million, which will open its doors in Michaelmas term next year.

It will comprise over 100 retails stores including a 100,000 square foot John Lewis, along with 25 restaurants, bars, and cafes. There will also be 61 residential units located on the site, and 1,000 new cycle spaces for Oxford residents.

The Westgate redevelopment’s other retail outlets include will Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Michael Kors. The centre will also contain Oxford’s fourth Blackwell bookshop.

The Westgate shopping centre was contacted for comment.

Nativity in art: Gaddi and Botticelli

Ewan Davis
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Nativity in art: Gaddi and Botticelli

With Christmas just around the corner, we turn towards artistic depictions of the event that started it all. The Nativity Story has repeatedly been represented by artists and in this feature we will explore a selection of these. This week we take a look at 14th and 15th century Europe.

Annunciation to the Shepherds, Taddeo Gaddi 1332-1338

gaddi_taddeo_announcement This fresco decorates the Baroncelli Chapel of the Church of Santa Croce, Florence. Surrounded by other frescos, also painted by Taddeo Gaddi, it almost has to compete with the splendour of the other works to elevate its own. However, it does this by employing simplicity instead of gaudy opulence. Gaddi uses a sculptural landscape, inspired by the works of Giotto (1266-1337), the narratorial figures being elevated by the barren hills.

The light in this piece is relatively unique, being an experiment in night light, rare in 14th century Italy. The supernatural light that falls from the angel is realistically placed, reaching the outer canopy of the trees that crown the mortal world, indicating the all-reaching importance and beauty of this Christ-related event. Gaddi was known for his experiments with light, with the solar eclipses of the period being suggested as the reason for this fascination. An eclipse may have inspired the natural-unnatural ambiguity in the piece’s light. Interestingly, yet somewhat ironically, while studying an eclipse in 1339, Gaddi suffered serious eye damage.

Adoration of the Magi, Botticelli, 1475

Magi Botticelli

Housed in the Uffuzi, Florence, the ‘Adoration of the Magi’, is a popular part of the nativity. Botticelli was commissioned to paint at least seven other Adoration scenes (other depictions can be seen in the National Gallery, London). Initially the scene seems to create a focus on the newly born Christ, being positioned just slightly above centre in the scene, with the assembly of people gathered mostly all turned toward Mary and the child. Above the child the unusual sourceless burst of light points downward indicating the holy nature of the baby.

However, this is not all that this painting does. It gives some illumination to contemporary Florentine society. Commissioned by Guasparre di Zanobi del Lama, a wealthy banker, it features portraits of Guasaparre himself, as well as several members of the influential Medici family, most of whom had died by the time of painting. So whilst having religious meaning and intentions to honour Christ, it also honours and compliments the mortal societal power that the Medici family possessed. Interestingly the figure on the far right, almost looking at the viewer, has been suggested as a self-portrait of Botticelli—positioning himself amongst the religiously and societally powerful.

Next time: El Greco, La Tour and Rubens

Nineteen Eighty-Four in 2016

James Lamming
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Nineteen Eighty-Four in 2016

Over the past fifteen years, the political writings of George Orwell have become increasingly relatable, and pertinent to our current situation. At the turn of the century, the relevance of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm had begun to fade in Europe and America; the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 had clearly sounded the death knell for its own oppressive brand of communism, while the elections of Blair and Clinton seemed to herald what Francis Fukuyama hoped would be the “end of history” and the transition of all societies towards liberal democracy. Since then, 9/11, Erdogan’s Turkish power grab, and Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations have all elicited comparisons with the horrors of Big Brother, Newspeak and the Ministry of Love. However, no recent event has provoked quite so much Orwellian analysis as the 2016 presidential election; the Atlantic, USA Today, and the Huffington Post have all run opinion pieces on the subject. So, why does the impending Trump presidency have so many journalists running for their copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four?
The reasons are clear: Trump, more than any American politician is the past fifty years, resembles an Orwellian caricature. The similarities between Big Brother’s government of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Donald Trump’s presidential plans are at times distressingly clear. As Bill Weld, Libertarian Gary Johnson’s running mate, noted earlier this year on American talk-show Morning Joe, Trump’s rallies resemble the Two Minutes Hate imposed by dictator Big Brother. In the novel, these gatherings serve to create national solidarity through hatred of the Other, foreign soldiers and alleged enemies of the state. Consider the following quote in Orwell’s chillingly relevant prose:
“Before the Hate had proceeded for 30 seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room … In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the top of their voices … The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate — that’s the name of the exercise — was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in … And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp.”
When one considers the cries of “build the wall!” and “lock her up!” which echo round the walls of every Trump rally and the frequent scapegoating of Muslims and Mexicans, these gatherings seem less like Orwell’s Two Minutes Hate, and more like Trump’s Two Hours Hate.
There is also Trump’s tendency towards historical revisionism. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, protagonist Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, which ironically deals with the biased rewriting of history and Newspeak propaganda slogans. Just as the Ministry of Truth rewrite the past to accord with the predictions of Big Brother, so Donald Trump is quick to gloss over past contradictory statements on Iraq, Clinton, abortion, healthcare, Libya, immigrants etc. by flat-out denying having ever said them. Indeed, the three slogans “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” painted in great letters on the Ministry of Truth would not be totally out of place on the walls of Trump Tower. Many think that Trump’s use of such Orwellian lies heralds a new, “post-truth” era, where objective truth has become less important than strong emotion and irrational belief. In his autobiographical essay Looking Back on the Spanish War, Orwell saw this same disturbing phenomenon at work:
“I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories …This kind of thing is frightening to me, because it often gives me the
feeling that the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. After all, the chances are that those lies, or at any rate similar lies, will pass into history.”
It is easy to read such a paragraph and marvel at its apparent prescience of the current post-truth, Trump era. People are often quick to hail Orwell as a prophet of the modern age, and even quicker to use Nineteen Eighty-Four in particular as a predictor of one-off events. Journalists write that Orwell “predicted” the proliferation of CCTV cameras, or the online misdemeanours of the NSA. Perhaps this is because of the title. Many people thought that Nineteen Eighty-Four was Orwell’s dramatic prediction of the state of the world in the year 1984 itself. Here, words taken down on Orwell’s deathbed by his publisher, Frederic Warburg, are the best rebuttal:
“It has been suggested by some of the reviewers of Nineteen Eighty-Four that it is the author’s view that this, or something like this, is what will happen inside the next forty years in the Western world. This is not correct. I think that, allowing for the book being after all a parody, something like Nineteen Eighty-Four could happen. This is the direction in which the world is going at the present time, and the trend lies deep in the political, social and economic foundations of the contemporary world situation.”
In other words, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a warning, a shot across the world’s bow, cautioning us to change our ways. The more relevant and relatable Orwell’s work becomes, the more apparent it should be that something is wrong. Suddenly, many people can glimpse the totalitarian shadow of Nineteen Eighty-Four looming large in Donald Trump’s imminent four year term. Much like Big Brother, his authoritarian streak is no secret, nor his nationalist leanings. Perhaps somebody should remind the president-elect that Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel, not an instruction manual.

Live review: Biffy Clyro at London’s O2 arena

Romilly Mavin
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Live review: Biffy Clyro at London’s O2 arena

The Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro close their UK arena tour at the O2 in London, following the release of their most recent album Ellipsis. Supported respectably by New York band Brand New’s mournful vocals throughout the tour, the band showcase their polished performance- but not to the point of artificiality, instead maintaining a rawness of emotion and a huge sense of gratitude towards the spectators.

The show opens with one of Biffy Clyro’s latest singles, ‘Wolves of Winter’. Before they begin to play, the trio stand motionless and face out into the immense crowd of the O2, peacefully preparing for the task at hand. Ear-splitting screams ensue from behind us as the eerie, echoing first lines begin.

The gig doesn’t really get started, however, until the lead singer Simon Neil, smiling, begins the opening strums of ‘Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies’. Anticipation builds as these strums seem to extend eternally; the crowd is desperate for the seductive first line “Come on baby do you”, but are teased instead with yet another climax.

Following the relentless noise of ‘Wave Upon Wave Upon Wave’ Neil is handed an acoustic guitar; there is a sigh next to me as a girl states matter-of-factly “well fuck, now I’m going to cry, aren’t I”. Grinning I turn my attention back to Neil who ascends to a high point at the centre of the stage and begins ‘Medicine’, a song taken from the most recent album. The crowd is given a moment of respite from the intense energy that inhabits many of the band’s songs and it seems too that Neil settles for a moment. There is a deep sincerity that contrasts the almost manic excitement that possesses the lead singer in the upcoming ‘Animal Style’. He prowls back and forth across the stage, twisting his body around his guitar; the band’s bare skin and intensity on stage does seem to make them animalistic.

Throughout, the band accommodates the vastness of the crowd, moving across the stage and continually changing levels; whilst Ben Johnston remains central on his drum kit, Simon Neil and James Johnston move between platforms. Nearing the end of their set the two Johnston brothers leave the stage and the audience is treated to another acoustic performance from Simon alone, this time a rendition of ‘Machines’. The lead singer somehow creates the feeling of intimacy one expects from small gigs, not from an audience of 20,000, as he comes to the edge of the stage and explains that we are to “sing this next one together”.

The closing night of Biffy Clyro’s Ellipsis tour is truly spectacular. Whilst maintaining a strong set-list in terms of beloved older material (from the like of Puzzles and Only Revolutions), there is clearly a celebration of the new. The band showcases the highlights of their most recent release; and songs such as ‘Howl’ and ‘People’ fit comfortably among the likes of ‘Bubbles’ and ‘The Captain’.

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