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Blog Page 1236
Preview: The Oxford Revue’s Audrey
Following the success of last term’s Audrey’s at the Wheatsheaf, The Revue have moved to The Old Fire Station. I met Barney Fishwick and Dan Byam-Shaw, of The Revue fame, to talk about what to expect from their show this Tuesday and the subsequent Audrey’s in 4th and 8th week.
For those unfamiliar with the show, it was set up two years ago to fill the void of comedy nights in Oxford. The aim is to present a platform where new comedians/writers can find a way into the comedy scene at Oxford that, at the moment, is predominantly dominated by groups like The Imps and The Revue. By giving people who haven’t performed before the chance to do it alongside performers more experienced with the format, the hope is to make the whole thing less intimidating. Indeed, this is reportedly where former Revue president Jack Chisnall first got involved. The shows are open to anyone, says Byam-Shaw, so “if you want to audition, please email [email protected]”.
This reflects, according to Fishwick, Revue’s general change over the years; “there used to only be six members but this year our committee is made up of 15 members.” However, hard-core Revue fans shouldn’t worry as the format of the shows aims to strike a 50/50 balance between Revue content and fresh faces.
Of course when talking about the comedy scene in Oxford, it is difficult not to draw parallels with the thriving scene in Cambridge. The Footlights have hundreds of people wanting to get involved every year – something that both Byam-Shaw and Fishwick said they were aiming for for the Oxford culture. Byam-Shaw says the way to do it is with events like this, which can really help “foster interest”.
When I asked what they thought the change of venue – from last term’s Wheatsheaf to the Old Fire Station – would do for the nights, they were both excited about the prospect. “The Wheatsheaf was good in many ways with a relaxed pub atmosphere, which is good for stand-up,” however, they noted, “it was not so good for sketches.” This was to do with people talking at the back, a generally too-small capacity and a feeling of under-rehearsal. The hope, it seems, is that the more obvious theatre setting will make for a more rehearsed and “regular” format. When you increase regularity, quality and consistency improve along with it.
Fishwick also pointed out crucial the audience is, “if they are not laughing, then you have nothing to feed off.” As I’m told to expect “songs, sketches and slivers of stand-up” in a new-improved bigger venue, I’m sure this won’t be a problem. But make sure to book tickets for Audrey at the Old Fire Station on 20th January so they don’t look sillier than they planned to…
Free Education banner dropped from St Mary’s Church
Oxford Defend Education organised a banner drop on Saturday 17th January, outside Exam Schools. The banners, declaring ‘Fair pay now’ and ‘Education not for sale’, fell from a window opposite Exam Schools and from the top of St Mary’s Tower, in an effort to draw attention to what Oxford Defend Education describe as exploitative pay in universities for support staff and academics, as well as to protest against cuts to higher education.
The action also comes in the context of direct action at other universities, such as the occupation of a building by student activists at Warwick University in December.
The banner drop follows a social media campaign by Oxford Defend Education drawing attention to discrepancies in wages between Oxford’s Vice Chancellor and the University’s support staff.
On the Facebook event for the campaign, entitled ‘Andrew Hamilton – IT’S PAY DAY!’, Oxford Defend Education stated, “Before Hilary term even begins, he [Andrew Hamilton] will have earned the same amount as Oxford’s lowest paid full-time staff earn in a whole calendar year.’
According to Oxford Defend Education, this figure was calculated by comparing Oxford University’s lowest pay grade for full time staff (£14,959) and the Vice Chancellor’s annual total pay in 2013, including his pension (£434,000).
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The campaigners wish to see a reduction in the pay gap between the highest and lowest paid university staff to a ratio of 5:1 over the next five years. This would mean that the highest paid full-time staff would earn a maximum of five times the lowest paid staff. In addition to this campaigners also want to see the Living Wage paid to all employees, including those who are subcontracted, part-time and temporary workers, as well as action to reduce the gender and racial pay gap affecting staff.
Will Searby from Oxford Defend Education said, “It’s important to recognise that I think we’re seeing a far more organised student movement now than has previously been the case. 2010 obviously still looms quite large on the public consciousness, but it’s important to remember that 2010 was a massive defeat for students. What you’re seeing now is a student movement informed by people who learned lessons from four years ago, with a proactive, rather than reactive approach.
“That’s reflected in student activism, so whilst the protest in November of last year was only 10,000 strong, compared to the consistent 150,000 you saw in 2010, it had clearer aims, we’re not just reacting to attacks anymore, we’re fighting back, and as a result the demands are far more inspiring, students in 2010 were marching against a rise in tuition fees, now were marching for free education, which includes fighting casualisation of academic and support staff, addressing race and gender pay gaps, and generally fighting for the kind of education that inspires us.
“That’s not to say the threat of defeat isn’t still there – our own Vice Chancellor is one of a number of people lobbying to raise tuition fees to £16,000 a year, but there’s far more hope now, and a far clearer understanding that our fight is only one aspect of an across-the-board attack on Higher Education and society at large.”
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In response to the issues raised by the protest, a University spokesperson told Cherwell, “For many years, Oxford has ensured that everyone employed by the central University is paid the Living Wage. The University has been considering further steps on the issue of the Living Wage and hopes to make an announcement in the next few weeks.
“The Vice-Chancellor’s salary as of August 2014 was £339,000. This represents a one per cent rise on the previous year, in line with the one per cent rise for all University staff. The Vice-Chancellor’s annual salary, benefits and pension contribution totaled £442,000 as of August 2014.
“Oxford is one of the great universities of the world, making a major contribution to the economic prosperity of the UK as well as to tackling global challenges through its research. Its research output is vast, it has an almost billion-pound-a-year turnover not including the colleges and Oxford University Press, and it has great institutional complexity. The University must remain globally competitive and its Vice-Chancellor’s remuneration needs to reflect that.”
The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) have called for further action across university campuses on January 31st.
Voices from the Past: Robert Browning
Hearing an author read his or her own work can be an odd experience, particularly if (as is very often the case) it’s a far cry from how you imagined the work to sound in your head. But it’s also thrilling, enlightening and often rather funny – some authors are definitely much better writers than speakers. Many of the nineteenth and twentieth century’s most famous authors were recorded reciting poetry or reading extracts from their novels, sometimes in a single, unique copy. This week the Cherwell spotlight falls on Robert Browning, the famous Victorian poet and Honorary Fellow of Balliol College. This crackly recording of “How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix”, made in 1889, is one of the very oldest by a major poet.
Unfortunately, having been put rather on the spot, Browning forgot the words to his own poem: “I’m terribly sorry but I cannot remember my own verses.” Nevertheless, it’s easy to sense his admiration for this newly invented machine with the power to capture the human voice, and the shouted ‘signature’ at the end suggests a man unsure if he’s speaking, writing, or both. Browning died just eight months after this recording was made, and when it was played to a gathering of his admirers on the anniversary of his death, it was said to be the first time a person’s voice “had been heard from beyond the grave.” Had the development of the Edison Cylinder been delayed by just one year, the voice of this great poet would have been lost forever.
Home bursar’s claims dismissed
AN EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL has rejected a number of complaints made by former home bursar Jean Wright, who sued St Peter’s College for unfair dismissal, public interest disclosure, and disability discrimination.
However, despite the Tribunal’s decision to dismiss the multiple complaints about the college, including discrimination and whistle-blowing, it did agree that St Peter’s could have explored the notion of repairing the relationships that had been damaged by Mrs. Wright’s behavior.
In a statement released by St Peter’s, college master Mark Damaze and current bursar James Graham were keen to underline that “this is the only matter, a procedural one, on which the Tribunal did not rule in the college’s favour.”
Mrs. Wright was dismissed from her role in 2013 after 12 gross misconducts allegations were made against her.
Mr. Graham and Mr Damaze told Cherwell, “The Tribunal’s judgment was supportive of the view that the College had reasonable grounds for inquiring into Mrs. Wright’s behaviour and for instigating disciplinary procedures.”
“It also found that the college had reasonable grounds for believing her behaviour fell significantly below acceptable standards on a range of issues. Further the tribunal accepted and understood that the reason why people complained about Mrs. Wright arose from genuine concerns about her behaviour on a number of fronts – and were not connected to any other issue such as the Claimant’s complaints of discrimination which all failed.”
According to the Daily Mail, College Master Mark Damazer – a former controller of BBC Radio 4 – told the Tribunal in Reading that the allegations were “untrue and without foundation”.
He declared that “the College has sought at all times to deal with the claimant’s behaviour and the complaints about her in a fair and ap- propriate way but could not simply ignore so many staff in distress.”
“While I was not directly involved in the decision making process I believe that the claimant was shown on the evidence to have acted in a way which was not only reprehensible in itself but an abuse of power in respect to her subordinates.”
Mrs. Wright had also declared that she had been suffering from a condition which made her disabled under the Equality Act 2010, although the college said it was not aware of the disability at the relevant time and that, in hind-sight, it was difficult to see what else could have done to accommodate the claimant.
Mrs. Wright could not be contacted on the matter.
"We’re at the bottom of the power chain"
Part of C+’s investigation into the treatment of College Staff
I came to England five years ago, and I’m in my third year here. I don’t want to speak too negatively about the staff and students at my college because on the whole, I do feel respected by them. There was one instance when a staff member called the scouts “greedy pigs” because we took too much of the free lunch allowance, but comments like that are quite rare.
The management make a good effort if it’s your birthday, for instance. We get on well with the other departments – before Christ- mas some of the scouts and catering staff went on a night out with the porters. One of the more senior staff members and I do a good Fawlty Towers sketch together.
It’s hard to say whether we’re listened to.
Management hold a few liaison meetings with us and there’s a suggestions box in the basement where our main office is. The main problem is that we’re pretty much at the bottom of the “power” chain. You often feel like your suggestions won’t be acted on when they’ve got their own ways of how to run the place.
There’s been a bit of a shift in the past few years – a lot of colleges, mine included, have been seized with a kind of “managerial spirit”. There’s a big focus on making money. If you’re a manager you need to ensure results. People don’t necessarily like or need change for change’s sake.
Also, before this managerial era you could rise up through the ranks. Someone here started out as a scout about 30 years ago and has now made it to one of the managerial positions. I don’t think you can do that anymore – it’s a shame, but I guess you need a degree to do nearly everything these days.
I guess it’s just that a lot of colleges are trying to keep up with the zeitgeist. We hosted conference after conference this summer, and I don’t think there’s necessarily a bad thing, just as long as it’s translated into more pay for us. We do get a bonus over the conference season though, and there are plenty of extra shifts going.
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There has been a noticeable change in my pay this year, whereas before that they’d often add on just one per cent. I just fear that the college, having matched this Living Wage rate, will think ‘that’s that job done’. You’d have thought they could at least pay us a few pence above that, to show that they’re not just concerned with hitting targets? £7.85 won’t get you very much in Oxford.
My frustration is perhaps more with the town itself than the College. Rent and bills are extortionate – personally, I think that the council should put a cap on it. It makes me furious when estate agents with flashy iPads show me round tiny cupboards that they ex- pect you to buy and live in! A colleague of mine has to work three or four hours at college, then another few hours at a school as a cleaner. It’s unavoidable if you’re raising a kid by yourself and you’ve got a mortgage to pay.
Still, it’s an enjoyable job if you go in with the right attitude. I feel – I hope – that the students respect me. You’re never going to win over everyone – I’ll mainly speak to the same ones again and again, particularly those who started at the same time as me and are now in their final year. The scouts who don’t talk to students often don’t speak much English or they’re naturally a bit shy.
A friend of mine who struggles with the language joked to me this morning, “I must come across as crazy for not talking to the students.”
Another told me that she feels insecure talking to students whose parents might be rich bankers or famous actors. These problems will crop up every now and then, and it’s a great shame, but the students themselves aren’t usually responsible. That said, more students should acknowledge that many scouts have had to go through things in their lives that undergraduates are too young to even imagine.
"Most felt like their opinions didn’t matter"
Part of C+’s investigation into the treatment of College Staff
I’ve worked with the scouts about five months in total and I can’t say that I have been mistreated. On the contrary, whenever I had some issues (meal entitlements not being fair between the different types of student workers, for example), the Lodge Manager and Bursar helped me more than I could have hoped. However, the way the scouts see the college is completely different to the way the students do.
When students are in college, everything is nice and quiet. Each scout has to do the same job over and over again and they normally work with the same group of students. So far, the only issue I can remember was when people leave a big mess at the end of term and it’s a bit tricky to clear it all up. They do get extra help in those cases.
However, things get a bit out of control during vacations when the workload ranges from nothing to not humanly possible. There is very bad communication between the Domestic Bursar, Lodge Manager and conference coordinators, and it is often the case that they get told to do something when in fact they have to do the complete opposite.
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A particularly bad experience was when there were two events happening consecutively and the changeover was supposed to be on a Sunday. Everyone knew about it, and the scouts got all the rooms ready by Friday. However, after Housekeeping closed that day, the conference team booked another 30-40 arrivals for Sunday. It ended with one scout working until 11pm, having been in since 9am – there were no apologies, nothing.
They also don’t get paid overtime properly. Supposedly, if college needs people to work more than usual, the scout can choose to get a day off, or get paid time-and-a-half. However, despite this being a rule that the Domestic Bursar made very clear in a meeting with the scouts and the Lodge Manager, it has happened quite a few times that the scouts didn’t get paid their well-deserved extra money at the cut-off date.
Another thing which shocked me were the feedback forms they had to fill in. Most felt like their opinion didn’t matter or that there’s no point writing what you actually think of the job because the manager is going to question it and make you feel like you’re in the wrong.
Finally, this summer the scouts’ contract was changed, and they are no longer allowed to have lunch unless they stay for 30 minutes longer. They were extremely upset about this for a good few days.
Hall staff "reduced to tears" and forced to wear makeup
On Tuesday 16 December, Oxford’s Living Wage Campaign announced that Hertford had become the first college to be fully accredited as a Living Wage Employer, committing to pay the Living Wage (currently £7.85) or above to all staff, year after year as the rate increases with inflation.
The news was leaked – the college has yet to officially confirm the decision, with an announcement expected later this month.
While it’s a huge step forward, C+ investigates some of the issues still facing scouts and hall staff – the lowest paid groups of staff in most colleges – as well as student attitudes towards them.
We found some alarming allegations of bullying, intolerance, and staff not being paid for overtime.
Other articles in this Investigation:
- “Increasingly unfriendly” environment at Jesus – a former employee talks about the bullying she experienced at the college
- Scouts “not getting paid overtime” – a student working as a scout over the summer discusses his experiences
- “We’re at the bottom of the power chain” – an anonymous scout discusses the realities of living in Oxford
“It seems like everyone is keen to pretend that they don’t exist”
The above comment was left by a Somerville student responding to our survey, and it highlights the issue of “pretending” which I encountered throughout this investigation.
Some of the scouts and hall staff we spoke to allege that some colleges have previously pretended that staff have been paid in full, when overtime pay was still owed.
Other colleges give staff the chance to provide feedback through liaison meetings and forms, but the staff we spoke to felt scared to do so, feeling that their suggestions “won’t be acted on”.
Perhaps the worst pretending act we heard of, as detailed in Samuel Rutishauser-Mills’ feature, was when college authorities supposedly forced staff to go by different names when they work because their birth names sound “too foreign”. One staff member shrugged it off when I asked him about this, as though it was common practice, yet there are surely few things more demeaning than depriving someone of their own name.
Fair pay
It goes without saying that these alarming issues must be addressed by the colleges in question. If they are truly concerned with the wellbeing of their staff, they can begin by respecting them through the wages paid.
Reassuringly perhaps, at least 16 colleges now pay their staff the Living Wage, yet only Hertford is accredited as a Living Wage Employer (meaning that they guarantee to pay all staff, including contractors, the Living Wage as it increases with inflation). This discrepancy is alarming, and represents a reluctance to commit to provide staff with the financial security they desperately need to live in one of the country’s most expensive areas.
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While the national rate has recently been set at £7.85, Oxford’s excessively high housing prices and general cost of living means that the minimum Living Wage rate is, at best, a bare minimum.
As put by one of the scouts I spoke to, “You’d have thought they could at least pay us a few pence above that, to show that they’re not just concerned with hitting targets?” If employers are taking the needs of their staff seriously, they should acknowledge the fact that Oxford’s cost of living is comparable to that of London, where the Living Wage rate is £9.15 per hour.
Colleges “aware” of the Living Wage despite not paying it
Two of the colleges who admitted they didn’t pay all staff the Living Wage were keen to justify themselves by listing some of the other benefits available to their employees. St John’s, for instance, which pays its staff £7.47 if they don’t have an NVQ Qualification, told us that they offer “a generous non-contributory pension scheme after one year of service”.
They assured us, “For comparability with other colleges who place their employees on the Oxford Staff Pension Scheme, the equivalent rate of pay with an employee pension contribution of 6.35 per cent would be £7.95 for staff without NVQs.”
St Antony’s, meanwhile, assured us that its rate of £7.21 “does not include a number of employee benefits such as extensive annual leave, very good pension contributions… and an annual bonus.
“We are also in the process of initiating an overall College pay and benefits review.”
Worcester, who did not tell Cherwell exactly what their minimum wage paid to staff is, explained, “Worcester is aware of the living wage and continues to actively review the salaries and other benefits of its staff in relation to both local and regional standards.”
Elsewhere, St Hilda’s – paying some of its staff £7.65 – is “aware of the situation with regards to the Living Wage”, and told us that they “continue to give it active consideration”.
Student Survey Results
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Review: LÃ¥psley – Understudy EP
★★★★☆
Four Stars
If her new EP, Understudy, is anything to go by, then Holly ‘Låpsley’ Fletcher is clearly one to watch for 2015. Since her appearance on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury, her career has really taken off, and her record deal with XL Recordings signed in October was the first step in what promises to be an exciting 12 months for the eighteen year old singer-songwriter.
Her sweet, folkish voice speaks for itself, and is showcased throughout the EP though perhaps best of all on ‘Dancing’, the EP’s final track. These tremendous vocals are laid over simple percussion and synthetic beats, creating an understated yet incredibly powerful sound.
While the first track, ‘Falling Short’, might be the song grabbing all the headlines with its wailing vocals, the second song, ‘Brownlow’, is perhaps the most exciting, and its complexity and maturity suggest that there is a lot more depth to come from Låpsley in her future releases.
Låpsley’s lyrics belie her years and show great emotional intelligence, with the EP taking on an almost mournful tone overall, and sounding like the work of a much older and more experienced musician. All in all, this is a hugely exciting beginning to the year, and we’ll undoubtedly be hearing more of her in the months to come. Let’s hope her future releases won’t fall short of the promise revealed on Understudy.
2014: the year in film
Last year was, like any other 12 months in cinema, a mixture of highs and lows. Early in the year we saw the usual glut of Oscar contenders, with January releases of the utterly harrowing 12 Years A Slave and Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street, a film whose ultimate moral was lost under mountains of coke and hookers and obscured by the fact that once again, Leo was snubbed at the awards. February saw the surprise highlight of the year, The Lego Movie, which amazed and delighted at every turn. March’s The Grand Budapest Hotel was, by contrast, less than impressive. Wes Anderson swapped substance for style and upset the careful balance that had made his films brilliant since 1998’s Rushmore: there was little emotional punch in this chocolate box of a movie. Bushy beards were the flavour of the month in April with the darkly comic Catholic drama Calvary and similarly biblical Noah. Superhero season got underway tentatively with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, then continued in earnest in May with X-Men: Days of Future Past. Time travel was central to X-Men’s plot, but it wasn’t handled nearly as well as Edge of Tomorrow, the true standout sci-fi movie of the year. Gripping performances from Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt helped reconcile elements of Groundhog Day, Saving Private Ryan and video game aesthetics for thrilling results.
Summer began with a fallow month, as June witnessed the release of 22 Jump Street, a placeholder of a movie, and the trainwreck that was Grace of Monaco. Transformers: Age of Extinction did nothing to lift the quality of summer blockbusters, despite becoming the highest grossing movie of 2014. All was not lost, however, as Boyhood emerged as the most moving movie of 2014 and the boldest undertaking of the past ten years. Though far from flawless, the triumph of artistic endeavour over real-life practicality which it represented was hugely significant. July then ended as it began, with another, better, blockbuster, in the form of Guardians of the Galaxy.
August was a month of sequels where originality was thin on the ground. Inbetweeners 2, Sin City 2 and Expendables 3 were all forgettable. Nonetheless, Marion Cotillard offered a moving performance in the quiet gem Two Days, One Night. In September, Oxford’s PR department soiled itself as The Riot Club singlehandedly destroyed decades of access work, whilst Philip Seymour Hoffman’s last hurrah, A Most Wanted Man, did similar damage to the reputation of the CIA in the War on Terror. The feel-good award for 2014 went to Pride, before David Fincher took things firmly back to his disconcerting best in October with the ice-cold Gone Girl. This, and the disturbingly stylish Nightcrawler, stood in contrast to the lukewarm offerings of the mawkish Love, Rosie and Brad Pitt’s Fury, before Mike Leigh topped off an excellent month by trying his hand at something different with Mr. Turner.
The quality continued into November with the mind-bending Interstellar and a brilliant turn from Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game. Hailed as the best British film of the year, anything less than a nomination for Cumberbatch from the Academy would be a travesty. It was also the beginning of the end for the Hunger Games franchise, as Mockingjay: Part 1 flew the nest to decent reviews and $675m in box office takings. The following month, there was another conclusion in the form of the final Hobbit film – a spectacle of suitably epic proportions that proved too much for some. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings came under attack for alleged racist casting whilst The Interview came under literal attack. In all, 2014 proved that cinema is in a healthy state. From the billion-dollar blockbusters to the grainy arthouse charmers, creativity is fomenting, formulae are being perfected and ideas are cross-pollinating. Here’s to an even better 2015.