Monday 1st June 2026
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Picks of the Week MT14 Wk6

Cherwell Culture
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Picks of the Week MT14 Wk6

Northern Lights, Friday, 7pm The Pitt Rivers Museum

Immerse yourself in an atmospheric Arctic soundtrack, including a specially recorded voice-over by author Philip Pullman, explore the darkened galleries by torchlight, and come face to face with polar creatures.

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Queerfest ‘14, Saturday, 6pm Wadham

One of the most popular fixtures in the Oxford calendar, this year Queerfest bring you five hours of eclectic music. Dress code: Let It Go. Free Noodle Nation before nine. After party at Plush. Get glittery.

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OBA Short Film, Monday, 4pm The Phoenix Picturehouse

An afternoon of shorts by budding Oxford film makers, including the winner of the Portobello prize, The Wishing Horse by Alex Darby. We can’t promise they’ll be good, but we can promise they’ll be short.

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Carousel, Monday-Saturday, 7.30pm Oxford Playhouse

Performed by the Oxford Operatic Society, Carousel is set on the New England coastline, and tells of the ill-fated love affair between charismatic carnival barker Billy Bigelow and innocent millworker Julie Jordan. When trag- edy strikes, Billy is given the opportunity for redemption, but is it too little too late?

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Hockney: Live from LA, Tuesday, 7pm The Phoenix Picturehouse

An exclusive gala screening of the highly antic- ipated new feature Hockney, followed by an in- depth conversation with David Hockney from his Los Angeles studio. The film chronicles his vast career, from his early life in working-class Bradford to his relocation to Hollywood.

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Ridley’s Choice, Tuesday-Saturday, 7.30pm The Burton Taylor Studio

A failing writer, frustrated by yet another ter- rible review, throws in the towel on society to pursue the simple life in a woodland cabin. But when his new lifestyle reaches the attention of the outside world, his ideological standpoint creates a sensation.

 

Buzz Aldrin, Wednesday, 8pm The Oxford Union

The Oxford Union welcomes the guy who’s gone down in history as the second man to walk on the moon. He will no doubt talk about comet landings, Mars missions, and the future of space exploration.

 

Supermarket, Thursday, 10.30pm The Cellar

The top alternative to Bridge Thursdays, Cel- lar may not have as big a smoking area (does it even have a smoking area?) but hey, you’ll look alternative. Hit the dancefloor to the backing of your favourite Pop/Disco/UKG/90s House. We know we’ve mentioned it before, but it’s just so good. £3 before 11, £5 after.

 

Interview: Stuart Skeates

Alex Stronell
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Interview: Stuart Skeates

“You should address him as ‘General’, or ‘General, Sir’ if you want to be extra polite”, a vaguely anxious Adjutant tells me before the interview. I am shortly to be introduced to Major General Stuart Skeates, the Commandant of Sandhurst, the British Army’s officer training academy, responsible for over- seeing the training of the Army’s next generation of leaders. With this direction from the Adjutant, I begin to wonder exactly what sort of blunt, gruff individual I am about to meet. Perhaps I should be on my my guard?

In fact, I am greeted by a grinning, friendly character. Meeting him is slightly awkward at first: he extends a hand to shake, and questions me on the prospects of my journalism career. He speaks in an articulate and confident manner, and — perhaps unsurprisingly — with an air of authority.

Skeates joined the Army in the tough economic climate of the late 1980s, intending it to be a stop-gap while he waited for better employment opportunities; but as he puts it, he hasn’t yet got around to leaving. Across his career he has witnessed the end of the Cold War, and served in the Gulf War, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Cyprus and Northern Ireland.

“When I reflect back on the 30 years since I joined the University of London OTC [Officer Training Corps], it’s remarkable how much change there has been,” he tells me. “Back in the mid-1980s, the Army was obviously significantly larger than it is now. It had a very clearly-defined role; countering the Soviet threat, and also conducting operations in Northern Ireland, and having something of a contingent capability to deal with situations such as the Falklands War.

“When I look at what we do today, I would say that the role of the Army has changed very significantly indeed. We have just come out of ten years plus of very busy operations, very demanding operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have challenged us physically, conceptually, morally, and has — I think — made us realise that the demands that we place on our people, particularly our officers in the modern British Army are far greater than they were 30 years ago.”

Skeates served for 18 months as a senior officer in the US Marine Corps; I question him about how the British and Americans do things differently. He pauses for a moment, apparently musing, and before proceeding to answer the question, issues a clarification, “One should never make the mistake of assuming the Americans are just like us because they speak the same language. America is a foreign nation, in the same way that France or Germany is. And the culture is different, and their outlook, and personal, national and individual backgrounds are very different”. 

He then goes on, “But actually the British Army is about as similar to the Marines as any American fighting force, and the reason for that is the Marine Corps see themselves as being a small force. Now, they are a force of 180,000, which compared to the British Army is very considerable indeed. They have their own aircraft, they have their own ships, they have many helicopters — far more than we do. But regardless of that, because they see themselves as a small organisation, they feel they have to do more with less, and that is a very similar outlook and mindset which we in the British Army have had, and have always had for many years. We have often found ourselves in circumstances where we have been up against it, either in terms of the mission, or in terms of the enemy that we are fighting in any particular campaign and we have had to try to achieve very significant, very difficult missions, with pretty modest resources. And that similarity we share very clearly, very closely with the Marine Corps.”

It seems natural that I should ask the Commandant of Sandhurst – an institution which, in Skeates’ own words takes “young people who have very little, if no military experience, and trains them to be leaders, to command soldiers who have got experience” — exactly what has stayed the same in the way they train their officers. 

“The constant is probably best defined by the Sandhurst motto, which is ‘Serve to Lead’”, he explains, “and it is the expectations that we have of our officers as leaders, which is timeless, and indeed probably hasn’t changed for a couple of hundred years.’

This notion of instilling a moral authority is a consistent theme whenever I raise the issue of leadership. “Clearly ‘Serve to Lead’ is largely about selfless commitment”, he remarks. “I think any treatise or book on military leadership from the past 100 years would absolutely bear out the fact that you put your soldiers first, your equipment second, and your own needs a very very distant last.

“But I also highlight courage, and particularly moral courage. Physical courage is a given, as far as being a soldier is concerned, and one is expected to demonstrate physical courage when required. But the far more difficult type of courage to display is the moral courage. The dilemmas, moral, ethical and professional that an officer is faced with every day, means that he or she is going to have to make good decisions based on sound moral or ethical principles.”

I get the impression that in asserting the importance of more abstract ideas about leadership, he is perhaps embellishing the realities of physically and intellectually demanding officer training; when I question the Commandant on the process of officer selection, a rather different insight into Sandhurst emerges.

“We look at three things really”, he explains. “Firstly, character: do you have the right personal qualities to be a good leader, particularly under duress, and in situations of extreme pressure? And we try to emulate stress in order to explore that in a little more detail. Secondly, we look at intellect. Officers really are our conceptual component, they are the ones that do the thinking, and who make the decisions, so we’ve got to make sure we’ve got bright and able officers. And the third issue is physical ability, really, in raw terms. And that is an element of professional competence.”

Yet, discussing selection, the impression the Commandant gives is very much that he is running a business, with a clear strategy to that effect. “Sandhurst is a brand which is recognised throughout the world,” he tells me. “And there are many other officer academies around the world which try to emulate precisely what we do. There are many civilian firms who beat a path to our door in order to understand how it is we turn young people into leaders.”

Indeed, when I question the General on employment, he replies, “I really sympathise with graduates today who really have to fight hard to get noticed by employers in a brutally competitive market to get jobs which are going to give them a degree of security, which are going to fulfil their ambition, which are going to make good use of their skills.”

Much like any other employer, he clearly sees his job as working to further the prospects of employees, explaining, “As a civilian employer, if you get a graduate who has been in the Officer Training Corps, or indeed has commissioned into the Reserves, their leadership training is ongoing, and it means that they will be in a position to take on greater responsibility and do more to the benefit of the company, far earlier than their peers.”

Concluding the interview, we look at what distinguishes military and civilian leaders. The General returns to the rhetoric of moral leadership. “I suppose the easiest way to define integrity is doing the right thing on a difficult day when nobody is watching”, he tells me.

“And doing the right thing is incredibly important in the long term, because integrity is as valuable a commodity in the way in which we conduct our operations, and the manner in which we are regarded by the public, by the population we are trying to help, and also, it has to be said, by our adversary.” 

Milestones: Prohibition

Isaac Goodwin
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Milestones: Prohibition

People have been getting drunk since the dawn of time. Most of the time, no one sees any problem with it. A cuneiform tablet discovered at the ancient city of Ugarit, now at least 3,200 years old, offers a recipe for a hangover cure. Clearly no one thought any less of booze then. Judaism can actually encourage drinking. At the festival of Purim, one is said to be meant to get so drunk that you can no longer distinguish between “cursed is Haman” and “blessed is Mordecai”.

Islam doesn’t look favourably on liquor, it is true, but as a rule, throughout history, drink has been universal. Until, that is, 1920s America. Never before had alcohol been completely banned in a culture that was used to drinking it, and America is still living with the consequences.

The promoters of the idea were of course various types of Protestant, mainly Methodists, who had been campaigning for the ‘temperance movement’ for over a century before the state actually gave way and outlawed alcohol altogether. With this move, American culture was changed forever.

People still wanted liquor, and organized crime grew up to supply it to them. We take this so much for granted that it’s odd to imagine a time when gangsters were not just an obvious stereotype. But the situation is worse than this. For the first time criminals could make big money, and Prohibition corrupted even the respectable institutions of society. Lawman on your tail? Pay him off or bump him off. Governor got a temperance bee in his bonnet? Run your guy against him and rig the election. And one doesn’t even need to imagine what could go on if a case actually went to court.

Banning alcohol ridiculed the state for another reason; if everyone’s doing something, how do you stop them? Well, for one, you overburden the system, and secondly, you don’t ever really stop them, despite overburdening the system. Suddenly, it became apparent just how ineffective the law was.

Prohibition also changed the way America (and probably the whole of the western world, by influence) drank. There’s a reason why you associate gin and bourbon with bootlegging rather than any other liquors: cheap to produce, and needing no time to age, the simple fact is that the high alcohol content of spirits makes them the ideal liquor to smuggle. And if you’re only buying hard liquor, you’re going to need to invent better ways to mix it, hence why the so-called ‘Roaring Twenties’ are characterized by the cocktail. It’s mildly ironic that it is thanks to the temperance movement that we all drink cocktails now.

Of course, the attitude to drinking in the US is still somewhat uptight — you can drive at 16, but only drink at 21. The result of this is the same now as it was in the 20s: more smoking. Tobacco consumption nearly tripled under Prohibition, and college students in the States still smoke far more than their British counterparts.

It’s hard to imagine an America without the effects of the temperance campaigners. Still, it wasn’t all bad. As the famous humourist Will Rogers said, “prohibition is better than no liquor at all”.

Review: The Jam Factory

Ching Lee
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Review: The Jam Factory

First impressions matter, and waiting for a table at the Jam Factory was awkward; with no one to show us the way to our table, we hovered tentatively. This was an unfortunate start, because once we had told them that we were staying, my friend and I were treated with warmth, humour, and enthusiasm.

Being in the Art Centre, we expected the decor to be chic and it didn’t disappoint. The seats were simple but stylish, and on the walls were hung a plethora of watercolours. The bright lighting and simple furnishings make it seem like you are sitting on the garden patio or a conservatory. The cutlery and water jugs were clean and heavy, the flowers decorating the table were real. Most impressive was the love and respect for the food, and even our waiter could talk at length about the very specific questions we had. He gave great service, and was very attentive, even though we were mere students. He explained that the menus were written up daily around which fresh ingredients were available. We ordered Nick’s Tongue and Cheek (£14.50) and Whole Cornish Plaice (£15.00) in the end. Prices were steep, but matched what we had been told about the creative efforts in the kitchen. And although the dishes were simple in presentation, and could have done with some vegetables on the side, the food itself was cooked to perfection.

My ox cheek was tender and glutinous after being slow-cooked for ten hours, and the tongue was not chewy but tender and firm. The mashed potato was smooth and buttery and superbly seasoned, laced with horseradish that you barely notice on the tip of the tongue but which then packs a punch at the back of your throat. This was all topped off with a generous portion of meat jus. My only complaint would be that the few salad leaves added for garnish brought nothing to the plate, and it seemed wrong for them to be served in a dish with gravy, which, of course, made them wilt.

We had already spent well beyond our miniscule student budgets but the mains were so tasty that we were persuaded by the waiter into having dessert. We followed our hearts and not our heads and opted for a plum crumble (£5.95) and a chocolate brownie (£5.95) in one of the quickest decisions we’d ever made. My crumble was neatly presented and colourful, and the flavours still worked well together, and the fruit didn’t turn mushy — I am often put off by the waterinessof crumble.

Finally we sat back, satisfied and ready to leave, only to discover that the evening does not end with the arrival of the bill. Rather, the instructions for how to turn your bill into a paper airplane helpfully distracted us from the cost of our meal, which was quickly covered up by folds and flown to and fro. Dinner at the Jam Factory is an expensive evening out, but not one that you will forget for a long time.

Bar Review: Mansfield

The Bar Review Team
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Bar Review: Mansfield

A couple of weeks ago, I berated The Tab for saying that Keble bar was the worst bar in Oxford. As I correctly stated, Keble bar is not the worst bar in Oxford. However, Mansfield bar definitely comes close. Walking in through a maze of fences, I see what looks like some kind of poolside country club patio. Unfortunately you can’t smoke in the entirety of Mansfield (which is approximately the size of a school football pitch anyway) and it was pissing down, so despite the fact that the courtyard could be quite pleasant if you could smoke in Mansfield, you can’t, this courtyard currently has no purpose. 

Upon entering the building, I am shocked by how void of life this place is. The interior is bleak. Half hospital canteen-half airport waiting lounge, this bar has all the charisma and character of an abandoned nuclear bunker. The lighting is so poor that I’m unsure as to whether they updated it when they did up the rest of the bar. The space is vast but the way the couches have been set up right next to each other in almost military-esque lines means that the space is tiny and you can’t really chat. It’s also not particularly private and conversation is kind of minimal, especially since the low ceilings and huge space create the worst acoustics possible, meaning you will need to scream in your friend’s ear to be heard but still manage to overhear those obnoxious drunken postgrads on the other side of the room.

Apart from this the actual bar itself is tiny, with a poor selection of drinks. The official drink is just a WKD with Sprite and the bartender wasn’t particularly friendly. Service here seemed to be less “the customer is right” and more “scowl”. My pint was pulled alright, but the prices weren’t fantastic for either drink and it took so long to get a drink from this tiny tiny bar that I couldn’t be bothered to get another round.

Next to the bar were a whole variety of breakfast foods on display (who eats yoghurt in a bar?) but apparently no one eats breakfast in here. I don’t know why they’ve created a bar with this set up but it seems as though they managed to get the worst of both worlds, with the people who seemingly were trying to study being interrupted by the people at the bar who were a little put off by the people in their pyjamas who weren’t talking to anyone but seemed to be really interested in their Spotify accounts.

Honestly, the one possibly dubious claim to fame for Mansfield is the fact that this is the only bar I have ever been to which sells sauerkraut in jars. With no pool table, no darts, and no real form of entertainment, there is no real reason to come to this bar, and to be honest, if I could give this a minus star rating, I would. The Tab definitely needs to get around Oxford more because of all the bars in Oxford that I’ve been to, this is almost without a doubt the worst. I won’t be returning soon.

Cocktails with Cai

Archive
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Cocktails with Cai

After the release of the Riot Club, it would seem that Oxford’s unfortunate reputation as drinking society mecca has reached new heights. Perhaps it is only appropriate, then, for this week’s cocktail to be named after a drinking society dating back even further than Prohibition — the Clover Club.
The denizens of the Clover Club were once described as the ‘distinguished patrons of the oak-paneled lounge’ of the Bellevie-Stratford hotel in Philadelphia. Captains of industry and politicos alike would meet in the Clover Club and enjoy this complex cocktail right up until the Prohibition, when the concoction suddenly fell out of favour.

After its fall from grace, the Clover Club cocktail never truly recovered, despite the recent renaissance in classic cocktails. Yet another cocktail incorporating egg white as a key ingredient, it can be recognised by the foamy pink head resting at the top of the martini glass. Fans of Ab Fab and other gin lovers will also be glad to note the principal spirit in the mix and the juniperberry harshness of a good gin works to combat the sweetness of the grenadine.

It was increasingly seen as a woman’s drink, replacing the Pink Lady as the cocktail of choice for the classy female cocktail-bar revelers of Twentieth Century America. Nowadays, you’ll be lucky to find it on any menu. Yet for those with a sweet tooth, the drink is the perfect after dinner dessert — as long as you shake it enough.

1.5 measures gin

1.75 measures lemon juice

Few dashes of grenadine

1 egg white

Mix without ice for an extended period, before shaking some more with ice in the mix.

Becky Howe wins OUSU Presidential election

Tom Calver
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Becky Howe wins OUSU Presidential election

Becky Howe has won the 2014 OUSU Presidential election with 1343 votes, beating her closest rival Will Obeney by 710 votes. 

It was a good evening for teamABC, with their candidate Cat Jones being voted VP for Academic Affairs and Access — despite receiving 719 first preference votes to Greg Auger’s 763, winning as a result of second, third, and fourth preference votes. Eden Bailey of Right to Education came third with 478, while For Oxford’s Flora Sheldon received 467 votes.

Ali Lennon, also of teamABC, was elected VP for Welfare and Equal Opportunities with 1551 votes. 

Lucy Delaney was elected VP for Women with 877 votes, while Emily Silcock was elected VP Charities and Community with 1633 votes.

Nick Cooper meanwhile was elected VP Graduates, with 337 votes.

An elated Howe told Cherwell, “I’m really happy and have totally enjoyed it. I’ve campaigned with some really close friends. It’s been stressful and an interesting experience.

“We were up against some pretty big opposition. There were some big slates out there, Right to Education in particular. We’re a pretty small slate, so winning is a massive deal. 

“Campaigning has been eye opening. I’ve realised people don’t really know what OUSU does; only as JCR President did I realise, I had absolutely no idea in my first year.”

When asked what advice she’d give for campaigners, Howe suggested, “Stock up on vitamin C, do your work in the first half of term and surround yourself with good people. You’ve got to believe in them.

“I’m happy Cat’s won as well. We are best friends so it’s amazing we can do this together. I’m so excited for what lies ahead. Overwhelmed and thankful. Thank you Oxford for placing your trust in me. I’d like to thank the rest of the alphabet.”

Successful candidate for VP for Welfare and Equal Opportunities Ali Lennon admitted, “I’m not an expert campaigner. But we had such a positive reception to our ideas. I’ve learned a lot about Oxford. Like don’t give someone a leaflet when studying in the Bod. Like, I’m so happy right now. So happy for Becky and Cat. They did an amazing job — I’m elated and relieved!”

Next year’s VP for Academic Affairs and Access Cat Jones was equally ecstatic, declaring she was “delighted to be working with Becky”, adding, “Tonight we’ll get smashed. Tomorrow the work begins.”

Team ABC were quick to thank their supporters on Facebook, posting, “Thank You to everyone who supported us! We love you all so much. We’re excited for next year and we’ll do you proud. Lots of love, Team ABC Xxxxxxxx” (sic).

For Oxford’s Will Obeney, second in the Presidential race with 633 first place votes, was bought champagne by friends from St Johns after his defeat. He told Cherwell, “I’m pleased with how the campaign went. I’m pleased it was a good natured campaign as well, I enjoyed every minute of it. Eden [Tanner] is the best candidate for trustee and I am so glad she won by such a wide margin.

“I’ll be sad to not help OUSU continue getting better in the way it represents and supports students. I only came to OUSU a year ago, but I think it does great things, and people don’t know about it. I felt like I could help it grow.

“Obviously it’s a shame, but Becky is certainly not a person I mind losing to. I think she has some good ideas, and I think she’s going to do a good job.”

When quizzed about plans for next year, Obeney added that he is currently “quite far” into a Civil Service application.

For Oxford’s newly elected VP for Graduates Nick Cooper, meanwhile, was more somber, telling Cherwell, “I have no complaints. It was a win, but also not a win. We always knew it was going to be close between Becky and Will; Becky will do a good job, but it’s a shame about Will.” 

For the six NUS Delegate positions there were only five candidates as a result of the rule that no more than four candidates from a single slate may run for a single position — Shana Caro (456 votes), Annie Teriba (330), Ella Richards (217), Barnaby Raine (204) and Robert Walsmsley (127) were therefore all elected. 

For Oxford’s Julia Coyne was elected Academic Affair Campaign Officer with 1408 votes, while Henna Shah, also of For Oxford, was elected Access and Admissions Officer with 1448 votes.

Nikhil Venkatesh was elected BME & Anti-Racism Officer with 1367 votes, while Right to Education’s Will Brown was voted Clubs and Societies Support Officer.

Joe Reason was elected Common Room Support Officer with 732 votes to Omar Rana’s 694, For Oxford’s Lindsay Lee was voted as Disabled Students’ Officer with 912 to Right to Education’s Emily Di Dodo on 569, and For Oxford’s Marina Lambrakis is the new Graduate Academic Affairs Officer with 355 votes.

Zuleyka Shahin (Right to Education) is the new Graduate Women’s Officer with 135 votes, David Parton was voted Health and Welfare Officer with 1347 votes, while For Oxford’s Jenny Walker gained 834 votes to beat Right to Education’s Jessy Parker Humphreys to become the new LGBTQ Officer.

Team Women’s Aliya Yule is the new Women’s Campaign Officer with 761 votes, while Right to Education’s James Elliott (522), Will Neaverson (376) and For Oxford’s Eden Tanner (552) have been elected as Student Trustees.

Preview: The Crucible

Fergus Morgan
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Preview: The Crucible

“Mass hysteria is a compelling spectacle. So is the supernatural. Consequently, everyone losing their shit over some alleged witchy stuff makes for one fucking watchable play.” Thus wrote Arthur Miller in 1996 on the release of the film adaptation of his 1953 play, The Crucible. Okay, I’m paraphrasing (only slightly, honest) but the point is still pertinent; Miller’s dramatisation of the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s deals with the eternally fascinating machinations of a community convulsing with fear.

St Hilda’s Drama Society is staging the play in the college’s Jacqueline Du Pré Auditorium in 7th Week. David Meijers stars as John Proctor, a married man whose brief affair with young Abigail Williams (Mary Higgins) has triggered escalating hostility between himself, his erstwhile concubine, and his wife Elizabeth (Alice Gray). Accusations of witchcraft soon begin to fly and Proctor is caught in the throes of a dilemma: to protect his wife or his name?

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With its rare combination of genuine drama and timeless relevance, The Crucible is regularly labelled a masterpiece of 20th Century American writing. Yet it was not always so. The original 1953 Broadway production was criticised for being ‘too conscious’ of its pretensions to social commentary.

This was the era of McCarthyism and widespread fear of closet communists lurking under the mattresses of the nation. Miller himself was hauled in front of the Committee on Un-American Activities and convicted of contempt of Congress for his refusal to co-operate. The parallel Miller drew between the literal witch-hunts of the late 17th Century and the metaphorical ones of the early 1950s certainly no secret.

Since then, productions of the play have been seen as oblique commentaries child sex-abuse scandals in California in the late eighties, on President Bush’s ‘war’ on terrorism (a 2011 production even adorned the set with a paraphrase of Georgie-boy’s notorious ultimatum: ‘either you are with us, or you are terrorists’), even – goodness gracious! – on the media furore surrounding the recent revelations about the late Jimmy Savile’s sexual proclivities.

In fact, rare is the production that does not attempt to obliquely reflect some contemporary phenomenon. So what social comments does director Helgi Clayton McClure hope to smuggle into this production? A sly statement about the shameful persecution of Geography students, perhaps?

“I don’t really want to get into that side of things”, he tells me as we discuss the play post-rehearsals. “I want to make it historically authentic. I don’t want to over-emphasise the contemporary relevance. People will either get that or they won’t, but I want them to enjoy the play in its own context.”

I’m handed a booklet about the upcoming production that says as much: “As it the case with much dramatic work, it is ultimately down to individual interpretation what aspects of the human condition are most sharply thrown into relief.” Evidently McClure and his cast are focussing on producing an engaging piece of drama and intend to leave the audience to draw their own conclusions.

The rehearsals I witness reveal more. There is an evident attention to authenticity above all else: somewhat convincing New England accents, an era-appropriate uprightness, and frequent displays of piety that only occasionally veer towards Gospel choir (“Praise the Lord!”, indeed).

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Pressure is far from palpable in the scenes but there is a definite modicum of tension, particularly evident in Meijers’ performance. Beneath his indecision and uncertainty, there is an endearing earnestness that makes his plight all the more distressing. I ask Meijers how he considers Proctor: is he playing a hero?

“I think he is a very nuanced character. There is a scene early on in the first act where Proctor tells Abigail that their affair is over, but he is simultaneously being quite challenging and flirtatious. To me he is a good man with a bad side.”

McClure agrees: “I want to see Proctor as a hero but he just isn’t as simple as that. He has that fatal flaw that makes him such an controversial figure. But that’s one of the brilliant things about the play. Because it tries to portray the breadth of a community in under twenty characters, it has so many interesting characters.”

I ask McCure about the play’s aesthetics. Is he keen to embrace authenticity here as well?

“We’re trying to keep things very simple. I want to echo the play’s puritanical theme so the set is just a table and chairs, and the cast are dressed in monochrome. Everyone wears exaggeratedly frumpy outfits apart from Abigail, our femme fatale, who has a sexier, burgundy dress. Proctor will also have some symbolic red on him, a neckerchief maybe.”

McClure clearly has a powerful vision for his production and the enthusiasm to pull it off. He talks with conviction about the journey it has taken.

“I found a paperback copy of the play being given away in a box of books on someone’s front lawn. I read it on a train and it was as simple as that. I was really attracted to the nuances of the characters and, as St. Hilda’s nearly always puts on a comedy in Michaelmas term, I thought it would be bold to do something that is decidedly not.”

#OUSU2014 live

Cherwell
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#OUSU2014 live

22:20 OUSU elections never seem to disappoint (at least the two I’ve followed haven’t). 2014 might have had fewer scandals than in previous years, might have been friendlier, and had a lower turnout but it’s still been exciting to follow.

Congratulations to the successful candidates and commiserations to those who lost. It’s been great fun live live-blogging (although I’m never going to forgive Jack Matthews for his unprovoked attack on my “vomit of blog”). Hopefully this’ll even serve as a record of events for the future. Thanks for reading to the end and have a great night.

21:56 Here’s some more ‘best of Twitter’

21:55 Wow that was close:

 21:44 OUSU’s VP Women:

21:42 I embedded that as a tweet because I’m getting so good at it now that it would be a shame not to.

21:41 Credit to the RO. The full results and breakdown are available here:

21:35 “I’d like to thank the whole alphabet”, Becky on winning. I’m going to share that photo again, because it’s great.

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21:30 More twitter reaction:

21:27 Unsuccessful candidate for Access and Academic Affairs Flora Sheldon tells Cherwell, “Oxford’s really amazing, they’ve got fantastic representation now. I wouldn’t have run with anyone else.” Graceful in defeat. A lot of respect for that.

21:23 Has it sunk in?

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21:19 A successful slate:

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21:15 Here’s some twitter reaction to the results:


21:07 Here’s a photo of Robert’s crew:

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BREAKING: BECKY HOWE WINS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

21:00 RESULTS:

Total voters: 3143

Turn-out: Around 14%

President: (vote share is first preferences, not total)

Becky Howe: 1343

Will Obeney: 633

Adam Roberts: 461

RON: 182

Winner: Becky Howe

ACAF: (vote share is first preferences, not total)

Greg Auger: 763

Eden Bailey:478

Cat Jones: 719

Flora Sheldon: 467

RON: 91

Winner: Cat Jones (due to second, third, and fourth preference votes)

Other results to follow soon.

20:55 Nervous now. And I’m not even running. We’ll bring you results in full ASAP, of course.

20:50 Results are in. They’re keeping them secret until 9:00 though. Ten minutes. Ahh.

20:47 Oxide presenters seem to have left their Facebook notification noises on, which are being broadcast live. Seriously debating sending them all messages to see who it is.

20:43 Apparently Louis Trup is to blame for what has been called “a bad bop set” on Oxide by Twitter. Here’s the justification for his music choice:

20:38 Ahh Oxide what did we do to annoy you? 

20:36 Interesting stats here:

20:32 Barnaby Raine tells Cherwell, “Jack Matthews has a low threshold for what counts as fun”.

20:30 Only 30 minutes left until the announcement. That is if the time we’ve been given is correct. “Before or at 9:00” is the official line according to James Blythe.

20:28 Here’s a prediction for you:

  pic.twitter.com/LNqBdZmI6N

20:24 Breaking news, but it comes too late to sway the results. Hussein the kebab provider officially backed For Oxford in the campaign.

20:23 Flora Sheldon tells Cherwell, “This week’s been so much fun. We’ve been to 27 colleges, it’s been such a great team building thing. And we haven’t overeaten or overdrank at all. We are all definitely still sane.”

20:21 Here’s a message from Tom Rutland in full:

“Good luck to all the candidates running today – it’s tough putting yourself and your ideas up to public scrutiny and they should all be proud of the positive campaigns they’ve run”

20:19 Friendly message from Team Women to the other candidates:

20:17 It’s getting exciting now. Here’s some gossip for you. Tom Rutland has wished all the candidates good luck. That was nice.

20:15 And here are the scenes in For Oxford’s campaign centre:

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20:12 Out in deepest darkest Cowley Right to Education are having their gathering. Nervous but optimistic our reporter reckons.

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20:05 Here’s an update from the Adams camp. According to our reporter Elliot Burns the team is “in quite high spirits”. Is that because Nick Clegg seems to have joined them or a reference to the (neccessary) drinking that is going on?

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19:57 Fantastic enthusiasm from our news reporters covering election HQs. Suzie Marshall, covering John’s, has just told us “eee I’m actually really excited” and Harry Gosling, hanging out with Right to Education says he’s tempted to buy a bottle of wine to fit in. Enjoy it guys.

19:55 Think music choice is very revealing of Oxide presenters. Just putting it out there.

19:52 Dubious connection there.

19:47 15% is Nick Cooper’s ‘guestimate’ at turnout levels. Less door-knocking will be a contributing factor, he says

19:44 Sorry Rowan, Carlos couldn’t be reached for comment.

19:40 Oxide Radio (and Jack Matthews) you’re coverage is not loud enough! Can’t hear you at all.

19:38 Nick Cooper responds to our earlier post about his election strategy…

 19:37 Just got dinner. Nothing between me and the election results now.

19:06 I’m not the only one having that thought…

 19:03 Jack Matthews is playing Robyn on Oxide Radio and no one knows why. 

18:58 Well that was exciting. I’m sitting in the middle of Cherwell’s Election Coverage HQ listening to a repeat of last week’s Oxide election broadcast (I am probably the only listener) and suddenly Louis Trup comes on the air. He says it’s chaotic in OUSU offices. There are chocolate wrappers and empty bottles everywhere apparently. If he thinks that’s “absolute chaos”, then he probably doesn’t want to visit the Cherwell offices.

18:55 Just to let you know that we have teams covering all the slates and as many of the independents as possible. We’ll share photos, quotes, and whatever else we can get our hands on as soon as we get hold of them.

18:53 Here’s a brief round-up of what’s happened in the election campaigns as of yet:

  • Nominations closed two weeks ago. 8 positions have no candidates running and 19 are uncontested. Veterans of OUSU will be able to tell you how unusual this is.
  • Hustings took place across colleges, all the information we have following these suggest the elections will be tight.
  • Polls closed at 18:00. We now wait in suspense.

18:43 Surprised (joking) to see #ousu2014 is not trending on twitter, but I predict it’ll pick up as the night goes on. There are jobs and futures at stake here, remember.

18:41 We’ve heard (from a fairly credible source, I think) that the count has begun. I don’t know how much counting is involved in a digital vote, but something is underway.

18:37 We’re used to candidates trying their best to stand out from the crowd (although with 8 positions unfilled and 19 elections uncontested this year, it’s a stretch to call it a crowd), but I’m not sure we’ve seen animals feature this heavily in an election campaign before…

18:32 Here’s a trip down memory lane (or, if you’re a fresher, a history lesson) in the form of last year’s live blog: http://www.cherwell.org/news/oxford/2013/11/19/ousu-elections-live-blog. I think it’s quite interesting.

18:27 One fresher, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cherwell they’d felt, “underwhelmed” by the elections. “I’m glad I voted, as I think it’s important that our SU is representative, but it’s a bit worrying that there’s so little fuss made”, they added.

18:23 Did you vote? Did you decide not to? Who did you vote? Why? How has this election shaped up to expectations? Let us know any of your election-related thoughts by tweeting or commenting below and we’ll share them.

18:17 Polls are closed now, of course, but in case you wanted to see what you’ve voted for, Cherwell produced a video debate between the candidates for OUSU President.  

18:12 Here are some more stats from our survey, as promised (these are the highlights):

  • 70% of people who did vote agreed ‘I believe that it is my duty as a student to vote for the student Union’
  • 40% of people not voting said they ‘did not have enough time to find out about candidates’
  • A quarter of people voting did so because a friend asked them to vote for them

18:08 Candidate for BME and Anti-Racism Office Nikhil Venkatesh of Corpus Christi tells Cherwell he was “really well-received on the doorstep today, very excited for what looks like being a very close set of elections.”

18:07 So what happens until results are announced on Oxide Radio at 9:00pm? Well, Cherwell will fill you in on what’s happening across the slates and all the candidates. 

18:00 Polls are closed. That’s it. No more voting. The fates of candidates are sealed. Will it be relief or nerves hitting them now? We’ll be hearing from candidates in a second…

17:55 Are things getting desperate? Or is a student politician showing a sense of humour? 

17:54 Other people are just as excited it seems. Here’s a tweet from Chris Pike, although obviously it’s only five minutes (five!) until polls close now.

17:45 There’s only 15 minutes left. The suspense is getting to me now. 

17:44 More stats to come! Don’t worry.

17:38 We published an article earlier showing there was confusion about this year’s voting process (see it here), and a Cherwell poll (of just over 200 students) subsequently shows that around 1/5 of those who voted experienced some sort of difficulty. That’s breaking news. 

17:33 Cherwell’s conducted a poll to help you gain an idea of what might happen in these elections which we’ll be sharing in a moment, but in the meantime if you fancy some reading, checkout this piece Alex Bartram (who was a presidential candidate in last year’s elections) wrote for us: http://www.cherwell.org/news/oxford/2014/11/17/ten-thoughts-on-this-years-ousu-elections 

17:32 … as does (rather predictably) the official OUSU twitter account 

17:31 Greg Auger, an independent candidate for VP Access and Academic Affairs reminds people to vote:

17:27 There are lots of unknowns in this year’s election. Will this be the year that proves ‘mega-slates’ are a thing of the past? Will turnout be as low as expected? Predictions have been made and debates had, but the only conclusive answers will come at around 9:00, when the counts are published. Stay in touch until then.

17:23 40 minutes left and candidates will be knocking on their last doors, and phoning up the last of their contacts. If you haven’t voted, do so here: http://ousu.org/representing-you/elections/2014/. We don’t want to be setting records for turn-out for all the wrong reasons.

17:15 The official hashtag for this event (in case you didn’t get it from the headline) is #ousu2014. 

17:14 It’s all getting exciting as the deadline approaches. Candidate for VP Graduates Nick Cooper seemed to be looking forward to the end as long as two hours ago…

17:03 But before any of the results come in, don’t forget that there’s just under an hour left to cast your vote. Make sure you excercise your democratic right! You can do so here: http://ousu.org/representing-you/elections/2014/

Start, 17:00 It happens once a year towards the end of the year as the weather turns colder. No, it’s not Christmas (although to some people it’s just as big a deal), but OUSU elections. By around 9:00 this evening we’ll know who will be representing us next year. Get in touch and we’ll feature you here, but make sure you keep refreshing this page for the latest updates too.

Shark Tales: S4E04

Freddie Money
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0
Shark Tales: S4E04

http://youtu.be/yWuL6lvrW0w

 

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