Saturday 28th June 2025
Blog Page 1045

Car crashes into shop in Cowley

Colin Donnelly
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Car crashes into shop in Cowley

Cowley Road was cordoned off by emergency services after an out of control car crashed through the side of a shop just after 7am last Sunday. The vehicle, reportedly a silver Peugeot 207, first knocked over a lamp post in front of Tesco, and then drove into The Furniture Shop at the intersection of Cowley, Bullingdon Road, and Chapel Street.

“Thames Valley Police was called at 7.19am on April 17,” Lucy Billen of the Thames Valley Police media team told Cherwell.

Eyewitnesses told the police that they had seen two people, a man and a woman, get out of the vehicle after it crashed, and leave by foot. No injuries were reported, though there is still no word on the whereabouts or condition of the car’s two occupants. The police have kept searching for them and are concerned they may have been hurt, judging from the state in which the car was found. “The investigation continues,” Lucy Billen added.

The family-run shop however was seriously damaged in the crash, and the owners said it would have to be closed for at least a month as the owners repair and rebuild their business. As well as the shop window which was entirely destroyed in the accident, a brick pillar supporting the building was damaged.

Because this affected the structure of the shop, works started straight after the car was towed away by a team of around 20 firefighters. The family running The Furniture Shop have said the total insurance cost of the reparations could be up to “tens of thousands of pounds” and described the damage as “surreal” according to Oxford Mail.

“This is a big shock for us all and we are now counting the cost,” Omar Nawaz told an Oxford Mail journalist. The 35 year-old and his brother Kasim Nawaz help their parents run the shop which has been owned by the family for 30 years. “It’s the East Oxford spirit – you just get on with it,” Omar Nawaz said. “We have been here for a long long time, we don’t intend on going anywhere. It is all a bit surreal but you can’t hang around and not get on with things or you would be in the same position.”

Juliette Perry, a Somerville first year who will be living in Cowley next year, told Cherwell she saw the neighbourhood as a “friendly, relatively quiet” area. “Just like any city it has the odd incident but nothing too unusual. It seems very irresponsible and a real shame that people haven’t taken responsibility.

“However I wouldn’t be worried about cycling to and from Cowley next year when I’m living there – accidents do happen, does it put me off – no, it’s no more or less safe than cycling anywhere else in the city. I just think it was lucky that no one was hurt.”

Oxford’s future may lie online

William Long
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Oxford’s future may lie online

The future of the university may lie in offering online degrees, according to the University’s new official history. The book proposes that such a shift could expand Oxford’s public presence and improve the university’s appeal to students from a wide range of backgrounds.

The history, launched this week by Oxford University Press, is quoted in The Guardian stating that “it is only a matter of time” before the influence of computer technology begins to transform the way in which higher education is provided. The book warns of a future in which universities might become obsolete in their current form.

The author, Professor Laurence Brockliss of Magdalen, told The Guardian, “I could envisage 10 or 15 years down the road one of the newer universities developing online undergraduate degrees in a serious and creative way. If that were to happen and if employers – and employers would determine the success or failure of this – were to feel that the quality of the education was as good as residential universities were giving, then that kind of initiative would really take off.

“I don’t think we’re as good as we used to be at connecting with public. We don’t have as many academics who occupy the same kind of space that Sir Isaiah Berlin or AJP Taylor did in the past – people who were known among the population because they appeared regularly on radio and television and were able to bridge this gap.”

Brockliss argued that online degrees might help to transform the university’s image and encourage applications from students of more diverse backgrounds. “[Oxford] can take the lead and potentially enjoy a future where its influence is even greater than it is at present – and where the carping about the social profile of its graduates would be finally laid to rest”.

Harry Gibbs, JCR IT Officer at Jesus College, was wary of such a big change. “Such an important part of university is the people you meet, especially at Oxford. I assume online courses would be done outside Oxford (at home etc) – so how would these students meet people beyond those whom already know? How would their ideas be challenged?

“As for the idea of the university becoming private, again I’m not keen. It certainly won’t help dispel certain ideas of the place- people would likely get the wrong impression and view it on a par with private schools.

“The technology is there (and growing- the potential for virtual reality is huge), and it could be adapted to suit these sorts of things, but there’s no way it can match the experience of being here.

This follows a string of attempts to offer online education in the US. Harvard and MIT paired up to launch EdX, which charges huge fees for courses, while a group of Stanford professors started CourseRA to offer certified college courses to the masses.

Arizona State University has been offering online degrees for years and the California State system recently scaled back a plan to enrol a quarter-million students in online degrees when few people showed interest.

Daniel Kodsi analyses Brockliss’ claims here.

 

Oxfam sends teams to Ecuador after quake

Nathan Chan
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Oxfam sends teams to Ecuador after quake

Following the recent 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Ecuador’s northwest region, Oxfam has deployed a seven-person team to Ecuador as part of its humanitarian response.

The team, consists of water, sanitation and hygiene experts as well as logisticians to assist the Government response. “We will coordinate with local authorities so that our actions are complementary to government agencies”, said Simon Ticehurst, Oxfam’s director for Latin America and the Carribean.

Oxfam, in coordination with the Spanish government, has also sent its first two-ton shipment of aid, as part of a multi-agency airlift, to secure basic hygiene and clean water among affected communities.

“The most urgent need is for safe drinking water and storage, as well as shelter for thousands who have lost their homes,” said Enrique Garcia, Oxfam humanitarian coordinator for Latin America and the Carribean.

“Our main purpose now is to get to the people who are most vulnerable to worsening health conditions, because sanitation services have been badly affected and in some cases destroyed. We will also promote preventive measures to help people avoid diarrhea and other vector transmitted diseases,” he added.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expects at least one million people to be affected by the earthquake. At least 500 lives have been claimed, with over 4000 injuries. Hundreds are still missing.

“The best way to help right now is to donate”, said Tania Escamilla, Oxfam regional Media and Communications Coordinator of Latin America and the Carribean.

Oxfam has launched an emergency appeal and is already receiving donations for its humanitarian response, which can be done online.

The Oxford Students Oxfam Group told Cherwell that they will be fundraising over Trinity Term.

“Of the money that we raise generally for Oxfam, usually half goes towards current emergency appeals, which may, this year include Ecuador but if not, [they] will nonetheless be for very pressing and worthy causes,” they said.

St Johns crushed in University Challenge

Nick Ridpath
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St Johns crushed in University Challenge

St John’s college lost the University Challenge final 215-30 on Monday evening, after an incredible performance from Peterhouse College, Cambridge brought an end to their impressive run. Having beaten a long list of contenders, including Bristol, Liverpool, and other Cambridge colleges on their way to the final, St John’s faced Peterhouse for the second time. Having very narrowly lost the first meeting between the two colleges in the quarterfinals, St John’s seemed to have a fair chance to win. However, an impressive display from the Peterhouse team left St John’s and their captain Angus Russell playing catch up very quickly.

A few good answers from theology student Charles Clegg on the Fairy Queen and Shostakovich as the final drew to a close ensured that St John’s were not shut out completely. Historians Alex Harries and Angus Russell, and chemist Dan Sowood were unable to build on their performances earlier on in the season. Instead, Peterhouse’s team of three historians and a geologist were able to dominate the final, with geologist Oscar Powell and captain Hannah Woods putting in particularly strong results.

St John’s now have the unfortunate record of being the institution to reach the final the most times without winning in the Paxman era. This is their third time taking part in the final, having lost to Imperial College London in 2001 and to Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 2010.

Captain Charles Clegg , discussing the difference in the two encounters between St John’s and Peterhouse, told Cherwell, “We were off form and Peterhouse – a strong team in any case – were very much on form. In a way, it’s reassuring to know that we could never have won that match on that set of questions.”

The trophy was presented to Peter house captain Woods by Marcus de Sautoy, the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a fellow at New College. He called the final a “phenomenal performance” and a “well-deserved” win for Peterhouse.

As with the rest of the series, almost all of St John’s, including Clegg, Sowood, and Harries, packed the TV room to watch the final questions together, with one John’s first year student describing it as taking place in a “good atmosphere” despite the defeat. Both teams ventured to the bar together following the final. As one Merton student who was present said, “They lost by an arm and a Clegg – if it had happened to me, Sowood I.”

The reception of the results at Peterhouse was more jubilant, with students overflowing into the bar to watch the final, and free drinks for the team all night. Julian Sutcliffe, an historian on the Peterhouse team, was overjoyed and told Cherwell, “It was only really at the end when I was convinced we’d won it and it didn’t feel real.”

Clegg also said, “I have been recognised quite a few times – which never fails to make me smile – and the team have been sent some lovely letters of support by St John’s alumni. I’m sorry St John’s didn’t bring the trophy back to Oxford this year, especially as it’s on the wrong side of the Fens.”

LMH launches outreach scheme

Sophie Jordan
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LMH launches outreach scheme

Lady Margaret Hall will be welcoming 12 students to take part in the college’s new programme next year, a foundation year to support students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds before they apply for undergraduate study at Oxford University.

This pilot project is designed to mirror Trinity College Dublin’s equivalent which has been running successfully for 17 years. The college will recruit participants in selected neighbourhoods from which children rarely go on to Oxford or other universities after school.

Alumni were called to come in help of the project financially and only three subjects will not participate in the scheme.

The Principal of LMH Alan Rusbridger stated in his blog, “there are groups of young people today who are markedly under-represented at Oxford, even if it is not quite right to call them “excluded”.”

Emma Andrews, current president of LMH JCR, said the JCR would ensure “all the foundation students feel welcomed and supported.”

Interview: Hannah Sykes and Daniel Pascal Tanner at the Oxford Fashion Week

Jordan Greenwood
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Interview: Hannah Sykes and Daniel Pascal Tanner at the Oxford Fashion Week

Hannah Sykes

Hannah Sykes studied fashion design at the Manchester School of Art and she showcased her graduate collection “Razzle Dazzle” at the most recent Oxford Fashion Week. This AW16 collection featured innovative use of ink and the combination of screen and digital print for a unique effect.

imageHow well do you find technology fuses with fashion?
I used innovative inks and technical pattern cutting in my collection. The outerwear has the ability to change into a functional rucksack, plus they change colour in the rain… What more technology would you want? Well, my next collection is going to involve even more intelligence. Just wait…

What was the inspiration behind your collection?
My AW16 collection initially started when I was fabric-sourcing in China. A particular pattern of the fabric initiated my research into the razzle dazzle camouflage, used as a defence on the World War I ships. This created my story of a woman pretending to be a man so she could be with her husband at war. Soppy love story, I know.

I finally created image (1)my own interpretation of the dazzle camouflage in a variety of colours to help to disguise the identity of the woman by disrupting the outline of her figure. I then combined this WWI camouflage with my innovative colour-changing ink, which changes colour in the rain.

What inspired the youthful energy of your collection?
My collection was solely in screen print with a small amount of digital print, which gave an overall impact with my double print and the reflection of colours throughout my collection. Even though I am a Womenswear designer, my work reflects an androgynous aesthetic so it is still accessible to men. I wanted to bring a cool urban element to my collection, so it doesn’t look like another military inspired collection.

 

Daniel Pascal Tanner

Daniel Pascal is a London-based designer who graduated from The London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London in 2014. His designs are instantly recognisable from his innovations in traditional textile and craft techniques.

image (2)What was your inspiration for this collection?
Funnily, it began by seeing two five year olds fighting over a princess dress – one of them was a little boy! I found the child’s strength of character courageous! I was astonished by how much gender classification is already embedded in a child’s development by the age of five with the statement made during the tussle: “pink is only for girls!”

I began looking into the portrayal of the Fairy Tale Princess. Eventually my research led me to recontextualised fairy tales, such as My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis. In these tales, the characters set out on a journey or quest, so I looked for garment references and imagery of female pioneers who challenged the female gender norms throughout history as well as traditional European folk costume, street style photographs of people who dress in a gender-neutral way, and 19th Century cabinet photography, in which historians could only tell the gender of the child by the style of the curls in their hair.

Do you believe that clothing should be gendered?
I think people should be able to wear whatever they want without prejudice! I get a sense that things have changed for the better in cosmopolitan cities and in younger generations, however I still see such gender paranoia with parents smothering their children in that awful synthetic pink colour for girls and basic blue for boys! I don’t think gender is as dichotomous as society portrays, I think gender is more on a spectrum and this should be reflected in the clothes and fashion available to choose from.

How do you strike the balance between creativity and drawing from previous fashion traditions?image (3)
I use photography, filming, drawing and collaged stop animation to combine modern and historical references from my research. My muse and mood for my collection emerges from my artwork like a character! I guess this way of working has evolved from my past as a West End dancer, surrounded by characterisation and costume. I couldn’t be a designer who just draws- I’d get too bored!

Why do you see fashion as empowering?
For me, fashion is empowering as it’s about crafting your unique identity. With an understanding that 60% of our communication is non-verbal, what we wear says a lot about us.

Preview: Orphans

Oscar Haines
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Preview: Orphans

“How far would you go to protect your family?”

Dennis Kelly’s Orphans is a play fundamentally concerned with questions, and after a brief preview and discussion with the director (Georgia Bruce) and cast, it’s apparent that this is a production which intends to ask these questions directly, and without compromise. How far would you go to protect your family? When can violence be justified? What response is there to make when those closest to us commit unspeakable acts? Familial loyalty, collective guilt and intense violence are brought from the script with great skill and awareness in this production, by a cast which appears uniquely in tune with the emotive demands of the play.  

Opening with a bold scene, Orphans immediately drags the audience into the action at hand. A married couple, Helen (Mary Higgins) and Danny (Cassian Bilton), sit eating dinner in their London flat, until Helen’s brother Liam (Calam Lynch) appears in the door, drenched in blood. The wordless reactions which follow mark the beginning of a long night for Helen and Danny; the pretences of domestic security are stripped, one by one, as the truth of the violence which has occurred begins to emerge. The stumbling, awkward dialogue of the trio, full of repetition, false starts and modern idioms, feels intensely real, and in itself removes the typical distance that we might expect between the stage and audience. As director Georgia Bruce explains, a great deal of the direction involved removing these traditional barriers: “We want to create a sense that the audience is in the room”. The modernity and realism of the dialogue plays in a large part in this, but so too does the set design; staged in the round at the accommodating Pilch, the production invites the audience in through its considered approach: “The placing of kitchen furniture – the fridge, the cupboard – will blur the edge between stage and audience.”, writes set designer Grace Linden. The feeling is of absolute engagement, and with that engagement comes complicity; we soon find our initial thoughts and reactions challenged as the play develops.  

As the cast say, there is a great deal at stake here. Issues regarding urban violence, racism and Islamophobia certainly haven’t disappeared since the play’s 2009 debut, and in dealing so directly with such contentious topics it would be easy to stray into overtly moral or political territory. This was something the creative team were aware of, and were at pains to avoid, says Calam: “We can never provide answers. It’s not didactic, it’s not moralising.” Certainly, the cast is experienced in this regard, with both Calam and Cassian playing roles in the acclaimed production of Pentecost at the Playhouse last year. The central issues of Orphans are no less pressing, if more universal in scope. The distinct lack of moral prescriptivism is particularly interesting in this regard, allowing the audience to form their own judgments and also challenging them. It’s a fine line to walk, but it does seem to work; not only does it allow a deeper exploration of the subtleties of these issues through the actors’ performances, but it also involves the audience to a far greater extent than a more Brechtian approach might. It is the capabilities of the three leads which define this aspect of the play; with such an intense focus on such a small cast, this performance promises to be a true showcase of talent in student theatre.

Review: The Good Delusion

Antonio Gottardello
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Review: The Good Delusion

The task of discussing broad, abstract topics like ‘goodness’ is hard enough on print, let alone on stage and, as I sat down on my seat, with a cloying tune playing in the background, I sensed a sort of theatrical romcom was in the offing.

My expectations, however, were to be pleasantly disappointed. For, whilst retaining a friendly and sobering atmosphere, writer-cum-protagonist Tina Senderholm achieves something far more complex. Using her own life story, from pious child to driven equestrian to man-hunting bachelorette, as a backdrop, she manages to put forward an agreeably peculiar vision on the pointlessness of being ‘good’.

According to Senderholm, goodness is not something natural. Rarely does it bring any benefits, particularly as far as the individual who shows it is concerned. Rather, it is a fictitious construct perpetrated by parents and religion (and perhaps the latter’s failure in the play explains the title’s allusion to Professor Dawkins’ bestselling work). A split-personality struggle à la Jekyll and Hyde then ensues, with Senderholm finally realising that the side of her she previously called ‘evil’ is, in fact, nothing but herself.

But despite allowing the development of meaningful and novel ideas, the light-hearted framework seems to hamper any deeper philosophical development. Granted, ‘goodness’ may be of little worth to the individual, but what about its impact on others? What would happen to our search for success if we were just to ‘be ourselves’ for the rest of our life? The final metaphor of the play, that we should live our lives as a dog would, fails to tie up the loose ends raised throughout the production. A more substantial conclusion may be too much to ask of a 50-minute play, but Senderholm’s message is almost as shallow as the myth she sets out to demystify. One wonders whether ‘The Good Delusion’’s lack of ambition is in fact a consequence of the conduct Senderholm advocates.

And yet, even by evoking such an obscure and seldom-pondered issue, the production achieves its main objective: the re-definition of what is ‘good’ for oneself, putting members of the audience in a state of self-examination as they leave the venue. This being the final performance, one feels the central theme could have been more developed, and the production extended. Nonetheless, Sederholm’s performance conveys an equivocal point with great humour and charisma which, despite some slight aesthetic flaws, made the experience well worth the hour and eight pounds spent.

The Good Delusion returns to Oxford on 22-23 May at the Old Fire Station, George Street.

Unheard Oxford: Laura Cracknell, Pembroke Librarian

Sophie Dowle
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Unheard Oxford: Laura Cracknell, Pembroke Librarian

I wish there was a typical day for a college librarian here at Oxford. Obviously all the books have to go back on the shelves, the library has to be tidied up and all the new books that come in have to be catalogued, stamped and tagged. We also do a lot of project work, which a lot of people don’t realise. Then there’s all the email queries from students. Tutors often put classic works on their lists, so if they were published in, for example, 1975, you can’t just turn up to Blackwell’s and buy them. Then you have to make sure that you’re getting the best value for money for what you buy. There are lots of micro-decisions that you have to make.

We also get many external visitors because we’ve got the only copy of a book in Oxford, or because they want to look at our rare books collection. My favourite is the Nuremburg chronicle, it’s an early printed book published in the 1490s. It was one of the earliest books to combine print and woodblock pictures. It’s this amazing book with a fold out map of the world at the back. It’s also got pictures of cities. However, because they had a limited number of woodblocks for the cities, all of them look more or less the same, and they all look like small towns in medieval Germany.

My favourite thing about being a librarian here is the students, definitely, and I’m not just saying that. Being able to answer questions is by far the most satisfying aspect of the job.

The strangest book request I’ve ever received is for a book called The O Mission Repo, and it’s a book of poems that have been created by blacking out words from the report on the mission to find Osama Bin Laden. We had to contact the publisher directly for it, who was really helpful and let us have a PDF copy early, because it wouldn’t have shipped here from New York in time for the student who needed it. The actual book arrived about three weeks later, but when it arrived I didn’t realise what it was. I opened it and flicked through and I thought “ugh! They’ve sent us a duff copy!” It took me about five minutes to realise that it was supposed to look like that! I also once had a historian working on medieval mystics, who asked me how to cite God. We settled on citing the person who had quoted God.

Interview: Khalid Abdel-Hadi

Sophie Dowle
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Interview: Khalid Abdel-Hadi

The Skype video crashed again, the picture froze and the voice at the other end crackled. After about 15 minutes of Skype failing to connect, we decided to give up on video and just chat. The bodiless voice came through: “Can you hear me now?” I could, so we finally began to talk.

The voice belonged to Khalid Abdel-Hadi, founder and creative director of My.Kali Magazine, one of the first LGBTQ magazines in the Middle East and the first in Jordan. More than eight years ago a group of LGBTQ people came together and founded a magazine for their community in Amman; over the years it has expanded to become a regional platform for LGBTQ issues.

My.Kali has survived the regional turmoil and continues to give the community a voice. It has seen increasing acceptance of LGBTQ groups in some countries, as well as growing violence in others. Since its foundation in 2007, it has been running features on pop culture, the underground LGBTQ scene, and interviews with some of the biggest young stars of the Middle East.

They’ve interviewed Hamed Sino, the openly gay singer of Mashrou’ Leila, a popular Lebanese band, alongside other celebrities such as Yasmine Hamdan, Alaa Wardi, Hana Malha, Zahed Sultan and many more, all of whom support gay rights and liberation movements across the region. My.Kali recently began to be published in Arabic as well as English, and has gained followers from across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.

Now the technical issues were resolved, we had a laugh about the slow Jordanian internet, then discussed the role of the magazine in raising awareness of LGBTQ rights in the Middle East.

“There are lots of negative things going on in the Middle East with regards to the LGBTQ community, for example in Saudi Arabia and Egypt,” Khalid tells me. “So when you see the magazine in Jordan you see that there is hope and possibility, it counters the negativity.”

The need for hope is a continuing theme throughout our conversation. It is clear that Khalid dared to found such an unprecedented webzine out of a desire to provide support to all those struggling to be LGBTQ in a society that is generally hostile towards those who express homosexuality.

“During the time when everything started off with the magazine, we were literally one of the first outlets to be discussing homosexuality in Jordan. We were also one of the first platforms to bring a discussion of LGBTQ people into the Jordanian media. This was sort of a shock to us, to all of us, because we were sort of put out there by Islamist papers and then we were forced to deal with that. But the publicity around our initiative helped the visibility of the LGBTQ scene in Jordan and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.”

Khalid tells me that My.Kali’s success “is a sort of retaliation” to the homophobia and negativity surrounding the issue of LGBTQ rights in the region. But he also explains that the issue goes beyond the Middle East: “We’re suffering from orientalist imperialism, so we can’t help but be brushed off by the Western LGBTQ movement.”

It is clearly a difficult balance for the LGBTQ community to remain a part of their culture and also express their sexuality and identity. This balance is one that the community, and My.Kali, is slowly starting to find. Khalid explains that the dialogue surrounding LGBTQ issues was always in English and Westwardlooking, but now it’s moving more and more to Arabic and realising that this dialogue can actually fit it into an Arabic and MENA context. The Western perspective is no longer needed.

This new independence in the movement is coming out of a deeper understanding of religion among the community. “A lot of LGBTQ people are coming out and saying ‘I am Muslim and I am also LGBTQ.’ These individuals, including myself, then search more within religion to form an understanding of our existence and identity within the faiths of the Arab world. This helps people to understand that there is space for an LGBTQ Muslim movement.”

I ask Khalid what the future for LGBTQ people in the Middle East looks like. His response is heartening. “It certainly looks positive. This may sound contradictory in this hectic time of war, but in Iraq last year the first LGBTQ publication opened [IraQueer]. Recently in Tunisia a student was arrested for being gay after incriminating texts were found on a phone but public protest and a petition forced the government to reduce his sentence and release him. More LGBTQ voices are breaking out.

“We’re not challenging religion, on the contrary, we’re challenging the stereotype. We just want an inclusive, non-discriminatory society and we want to be accepted as not rebelling against our religions. The older generation is not very happy and don’t want things to change, they don’t want things to be shaken. We’re shaking things up.”

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