Data collected from Britain and Sweden has shown that clever children from more privileged social backgrounds had double the chance of completing A-levels than children of similar intelligence but more disadvantaged backgrounds.

5,000 people, from the 1940s to the 1970s, were included in a study designed to establish the links between social background and educational attainment.

The waste of human resources was the key concern of the study. The organisers also highlighted the fact that, despite the headway made into social mobility, family resources were still the deciding factor for academic success.

A collaboration between Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention and the Swedish Institute for Social Research were responsible for the findings. They defined social background as made up of the following factors: social status, social class and the educational attainment of the parents.

The educational attainment of our parents plays the most important part in determining how well we will do in school, the study shows. It is a more important variable than natural ability, which was examined through cognitive testing on children aged between 10 and 13.

These assessments demonstrated the clear link between being bright and doing well academically later on. However, for the most able fifth of British children born in the 1970s, the most advantaged had an 80% chance of passing A-levels, while the prospects of the most disadvantaged stood only a 40% chance.

The findings rang true for children from Sweden as well as Britain, despite the oft-envied Swedish education system.

Lead researcher Dr. Erzsébet Bukodi, said, “We see that in both the British and Swedish educational systems, even the very brightest children are hampered if they come from a disadvantaged background.”

However, Oxford Professor John Goldthorpe pointed out some differences between the British and Swedish data. He explained, “In Britain, if the child was both bright and from an advantaged background, they did particularly well academically. While, in Sweden, we find children of low ability but from advantaged backgrounds do better than they would have done in Britain.”

St Anne’s medic George Gillett questions the study’s assertion that social background is the main problem, pointing towards the differing provision of education. He said, “The report ignores the fact that children from different social backgrounds will be more likely to go to different types of schools. Children from more privileged social backgrounds are more likely to go to higher achieving schools, which contributes to the disparity in attainment.”

Some, like linguist Evelyn Snow, find too narrow a definition of ‘success’ in the report. Snow commented, “People such as Alan Sugar have no ‘qualifications’ in terms of academics really but he is one of the most successful men of the previous generation. It is far more difficult now that so many more people are able to attend university as soon everyone will have a degree in something, even if something not previously seen as ‘academically viable’ which makes the already straining professional job market even more competitive.”

Somerville classicist Claudia Swan went on to suggest that the report’s measure of attainment, being A-level results, could have been flawed, saying, “The exams are so formulaic that without being instructed in what examiners are looking for intelligence is no guarantee of success.”

Rising prices at Wahoo have prompted a unique motion in the Hertford JCR to reimburse some of the cost of Hertford students’ drinks after nights out at the club.

Hertford student Omer Sheikh Mohamed proposed on Sunday that the Hertford JCR “reimburse students 50p for every double vodka Red Bull bought in Wahoo upon presenting a receipt to the JCR Treasurer”.

The beverage in question has recently increased in price from £2 to £2.50 at Wahoo, while entry costs have risen to £4. Sheikh Mohamed’s motion claimed that, “Wahoo is Hertford’s favourite night out”, and added that the price increases might discourage freshers from frequenting the club and harm the “access work and inclusivity” on which the college prides itself.

After an amendment to the motion, which compelled the JCR President to write to the manager of Wahoo “in opposition to the price increases”, subsidy-seekers’ hopes were dashed when the motion fell 16-22 in a vote at the Hertford JCR meeting. Those against the motion included JCR President Hugh Baker and JCR Treasurer Bhavin Patel, who allegedly dismissed it as “obviously a joke” during the course of the meeting.

English student Siobhan Dunlop was also against the motion. She said, “I am a finalist, so the closest I get to Wahoo is hearing freshers talk about it in the Tesco queue. When I read about the motion in the JCR e-mail, I had to do a double take. Seriously, I am staggered that anyone would believe in their ‘hert’ it is a useful way to spend JCR money.”

Yet Hertford students may not have to worry about affording their Friday nights in any case. Toby Beers-Baker, CEO of Shuffle Nights, clarified that the 50p rise in the price of a double vodka Red Bull only applies after 11pm. He told Cherwell, “Given the extremely high prices of rent and overheads in Oxford, we feel we do give extremely reasonable deals to students.”

He went on to note that on non-student nights, a double vodka Red Bull costs £6. He said, “We are providing student prices on a Friday – something competing venues do not do. There is also a fantastic atmosphere at Wahoo on a Friday due to the popularity and clientele of the night.”

When asked to justify the rise in prices, Beers-Baker cited expensive improvements to Wahoo, which include a new sound system, lighting rig, and dance podium.

The work of Pembroke’s Academic Director, Dr Mark Fricker, has been used in the making of the documentary film ‘Super Fungi: Can mushrooms help save the world?’

Dr Fircker’s research informs us that, “The whole organism is one single giant cell, albeit containing many nuclei, that can grow to be many centimetres in size.” James Rhodes, a first year student at New College, was astounded by this, saying, “These moulds seem more developed than I am – I wish I could grow a couple more centimetres whenever I wanted.”

Dr Fricker went on to say, “Although it has no brain or nervous system, its exploratory behaviour and the network itself is highly responsive and continuously adapts to whatever is happening around it.”

This results in these moulds’ extraordinary ability to solve certain abstract problems, such as the shortest path through a maze, and raises their possible use in communication. One third year student took well to this, “I want to communicate via mushroom – no one uses the inter-college landlines anyway.”

The film ‘Super Fungi’, partially based upon Fricker’s work, has already received much critical acclaim, winning two awards at the 2013 Pariscience International Film Festival. The documentary is about the possibilities that fungi open up for development, and to overcoming challenges which so far have not been solved by the synthetic creations of humans.

In the film’s description, examples of a variety of different fungi and their uses are given, from Laccaria Bicolor – which allows trees to grow in deserts – to Fomitopsis officinalis, which can be a last chance drug for sufferers of incurable diseases. Indeed, they are promising so many applications that American mycologist Paul Stamets asserts, “Mushrooms will help save the world”.

The short trailer to the documentary reveals little-known facts about fungi, explaining, “The fungi kingdom is one of the largest in nature … comprised of giants larger than a white whale, to Lilliputians the size of a speck of dust.”

Arieh Frosh, a second year fine art student, was somewhat confused by this news, saying, “I can’t believe there are mushrooms bigger than white whales, I struggle to eat the little ones. Who’s hiding these massive mushrooms?”

The Oxford branch of the International Criminal Court Student Network (ICCSN) hosted two major speakers in the world of International Justice this week.

Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor to have presided over the Nuremburg Trials, and current Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court James Stuart both spoke to large audiences of students.

Ferencz, a 93-year-old who recently declared himself “too busy to die”, has been nominated for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. He spoke on Tuesday to an unexpectedly large audience of 200 students, and discussed lessons learned during his career. He also made forecasts on the challenges that will be faced by international justice in the coming decades.

On Saturday, students amazed event organisers with their decision to forgo the delights of ‘Matriculash’ to hear James Stewart speak. Stewart is currently prosecuting both the President and Deputy President of Kenya (Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, respectively), in a landmark case, the first instance of the International Criminal Court taking action against an incumbent head-of-state.

He was quick to reassure anxious parties that, despite his wife being Kenyan, this had not so far resulted in too many awkward silences at the breakfast table.

Reflecting on the two events, Oxford’s ICCSN president, Sophie Scholl, a second year studying Law at Exeter College, said, “The two events attracted a much higher turnout than anticipated. In the case of Benjamin Ferencz, we had to change venues at the last minute to accommodate everyone who turned up, and many were crammed at the back of the lecture theatre.

“It was a real honour to have such an incredible historical figure in international criminal justice come to Oxford to speak to us, and whilst his speech was very witty, Ben impressed upon us that he needs us, the future generation, to carry on his work. It goes without saying that we couldn’t be happier with the success of these events, which shows a high level of interest in international criminal law amongst students.”

Brian Chang, a student at Queen’s and the brains behind the coup to secure James Stewart as a speaker, was ebullient after his visit. He told Cherwell, “James Stewart is the most senior prosecution personnel we’ve had visit us in the last five years, and his presence was a great honour for all three student-led groups involved – Oxford Lawyers without borders, Oxford ICCSN, and Oxford Transitional Justice Research Group.”

The talks marked the designation of Oxford as a key player in the UK’s ICCSN proper. The organisation liaises closely with the UN Security Council, and has seen a markedly increased workload in recent years, as global economic depression and the Arab Spring wreak havoc on international diplomatic processes.

Oxford ICCSN have been working on raising support for the ratification of the definition of ‘Crimes of Aggression’. This would empower the international community to take more stringent measures against heads-of-state who actively and knowingly violate the UN charter. By means of an internet petition, they are trying to get the 100,000 UK signatures which would be enough to force a debate in the House of Commons. Once 30 countries have accepted the definition, it can be signed into International law.

The Oxford Chapter of the ICCSN was also declared a ‘Point of Light’ on Saturday; a title which is given to higher education institutions worldwide who contribute to the research undertaken on International Criminal Law. Oxford ICCSN was re-founded last year under its present committee and, as a new society with an old and inherited mandate, faces the same challenges as the ICCSN proper and its affiliated organisations – it must strike the balance between traditional methods of campaigning for peace through justice and finding new ways to tackle new outrages against international human rights.

Boris Johnson visited China last week in a campaign to promote London and entice over a few more Chinese students. With his customary extemporaneous, Boris tempted Chinese audiences with Harry Potter and London’s ‘Communist’ bike scheme. Never one to go under-the-top, he pitched London as an “incredibly diverse, cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, polychromatic, polymorphous city”.

Johnson also joked about the times he and George Osborne has sung songs after banquets, in an apparent reference to their days as members of the infamous Oxford University Bullingdon Club. The Chancellor is also visiting China this week as part of a trade mission with other Government ministers.

At the mayor’s headquarters, Johnson asked Wang, “Obviously I’m delighted to hear that you were at Oxford. Did you enjoy your time at Oxford?”

To which Wang replied, “It was a very pleasant time for me and I learned a lot. Every night we would have a banquet session and at the end we would all sing songs. It was a very happy time.”

Johnson then told Wang, “We used to do that. The Chancellor and I used to do that too.”

A second year PPEist was unimpressed by Johnson’s reference to his time in Oxford, telling Cherwell, “If that’s something he decided to bring up with the Mayor of Beijing I’m not too impressed. Why couldn’t he have just talked about the Olympics, without yet again referencing his alma mater?

The London Mayor did not just discuss Oxford, however. At Peking University, students were treated to a Harry Potter pitch, when Johnson said, “Who was Harry Potter’s first girlfriend? Who is the first person he kisses? That’s right, Cho Chang, who is a Chinese overseas student at Hogwarts school. Ladies and gents I rest my case.”

Maxim Stolyarov, an OUCA member from Hertford, said, “Mr Johnson is one of the most popular leaders in the Conservative Party. He is doing great job in cheerleading for London.”

Yet Megan Eldridge, a Geography student, was altogether less fulsome in her praise. “He’s not a genuine person. He uses his whole persona to make him seem less threatening, when in actual fact he is very manipulative.”

Josh Butler, a Classics student at Regent’s Park, plumped for another Boris trademark, saying, “Boris Johnson? He has great hair. I’m really jealous of his hair.”

Working with publishers at Oxford University Press, editor former MP Gyles Brandreth had the responsibility to select 5,000 of the funniest lines ever uttered, scribbled or typed.

Brandreth explained how he went about this mammoth task. “What makes them eligible for the Dictionary is that what they say raises a smile or a laugh and is memorable – and they manage to do it again and again. These are the most quotable and, in our book, the most quoted.”

However, the Guardian has commented that Brandreth’s editorship is “notably ‘establishment’ in flavour.” The Tories certainly make themselves heard, with Boris Johnson quotes abounding yet there is nothing from Cameron or Osborne.

If the Dictionary is any indication of political success, Boris Johnson has a lot to look forward to: his thirteen quotations beat Margaret Thatcher’s eleven, supposedly making him the third wittiest politician of all time. He loses out to fellow Conservatives Winston Churchhill (with thirty-two) and Benjamin Disraeli (twenty-eight) in this regard.

But it’s not just the establishment who get a look in. More modern quotations get a fair representation, with Stephen Fry quoted as saying, “The email of the species is deadlier than the male.” Other twentieth century newcomers include female comedians Jo Brand and Miranda Hart.

For the most quoted figure of all time, one has to look to the nineteenth century. Oscar Wilde, the playwright and celebrated wit, has a total of ninety-two entries. Brandreth explained, “Wilde is leagues ahead of the rest of the pack. He is without doubt the most quoted and quotable of them all.”

If this is anything to go by, Wilde seems to have lived by his own maxim, once saying, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.” The release date of the dictionary coincided with Wilde’s birthday.

Some at Oxford are not entirely happy with the selection, however. One student, studying a history at Kellogg College, questions the inclusion of a particular Boris Johnson quote , saying, “It seems slightly strange that Gyles Brandreth’s “top one-liner of the twentieth century” goes to Johnson’s quote “my policy on cake is still pro having it and pro eating it.” We might be lacking context but surely this can’t be the funniest thing so far uttered in the twenty first century?”

A new free academy for bright students from low-income families has been set up by the Harris Federation in tandem with Westminster School. The Federation’s CEO, Sir Dan Moynihan, hopes that half the students will go on to Oxford or Cambridge.

The academy, called the Harris Westminster Sixth Form, is likely to rank as one of the most selective schools in Britain. Set up under the Government’s free schools programme, it is set to take on 125 students in September 2014, with that number increasing to 250 in future years. These admissions will be open to children from all across London, but priority will be given to those entitled to free school meals.

The Harris Federation, which has around 1600 to 1700 students in academies, is a non-profit educational charity.

James Handscombe, the new academy’s Principal, said: “Getting into Oxford is never easy but it is a sight harder if your school has no history of sending students there, no experience of navigating the admissions system and no peer group of similarly bright and ambitious pupils to support and encourage each other.”

He added, “Harris Westminster is the Harris Federation’s solution to this problem.”

The new sixth form will be sited close to Westminster School itself, which sends 90 pupils to Oxford and Cambridge each year. The aim of a partnership with Westminster is that it can provide high quality educational standards to the new academy through joint departmental meetings and shared staff training. Sir Moynihan remarked in the Times: “We want to get more A* and A grades at A-level and Westminster has that expertise.”

Handscombe said the sixth form will be “adopting many aspects of Westminster’s education model, including the development of cultural capital in the pupils.”

“In order to take advantage of an Oxford education, and therefore in order to be offered a place, pupils need not just academic potential but also academic achievement: they need to have read about their subject, to be enthralled by it and to have pushed themselves to achieve in exams. Most people will do these things more successfully with support from their school than without it.”

An Oxford University spokesperson said: “We would like to see an increase in the proportion of UK students from the lowest income bracket of below £16,190. Every year we hold over 2,400 outreach events, spending over £5m on this work and speaking to schools in every local authority in the UK.”

St Anne’s Access Rep Will Carter said, “The school looks like a fantastic opportunity for some, but we shouldn’t let high publicity developments like this distract us from making Oxford and the university in general as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.”

Balliol JCR has voted to ban Robin Thicke’s sexually explicit ‘Blurred Lines’ from being played at JCR events.

The song, which features the lyrics “I’ll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two” and “not many women can refuse this pimpin’’, has attracted considerable controversy. The music video which has a top rated Youtube comment of “this porn has good music”, features two topless girls and provoked strong feeling within Balliol JCR.

JCR President Alex Bartram explained the motivation behind the step to ban the song. He said: “We want people to feel safe in the JCR, and for the JCR to feel like a safe environment. I support the motion that was passed absolutely and I want people to speak freely.”

Balliol is the first Oxford college to ban the song and may well set a precedent for other colleges; St. Anne’s are planning to debate the issue soon and other colleges likely to follow suit.

Sarah Pine, the OUSU Vice-President for Women, praised the JCR’s decision. She argued: “Balliol’s undergrads have chosen to prioritise the wellbeing of their students by not playing [the song]. This is a mature and respectful decision that respects survivors of sexual violence in their community.

“If other common rooms are considering rejecting the song, I’d like to applaud their commitment to the welfare of the one in four women that experience sexual assault during their time at university.”

She made her disapproval of the song’s message plain, saying, “The rape apology of the lyrics construct consent as something that could be bypassed” but added that it was for other colleges to “decide whether or not that’s something they want to include in their college life.”

Some were ambivalent towards the news. When asked for their opinion on the matter a St John’s first year said: “I just don’t care”. This attitude is perhaps unsurprising as the song’s sexism is in no way unique in popular music where sexually explicit lyrics are commonplace.

Since its release in March Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ has been banned by many student associations. The student unions of Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham and some London universities have banned ‘Blurred Lines’ from being played at student union events.

The Oxford-based detective show, now entering its second series, will be filming in and around the university throughout October and November, with final production set to come to a close in January.

In spite of the weather, bystanders were able to get a close-up of actors dressed in 1960s costumes and the collection of vintage cars parked on Radcliffe Square. Unfortunately for autograph hunters, Shaun Evans, who plays the young Inspector Morse, was not spotted.

When asked why Oxford was such a popular location for detective dramas, one third-year Exeter historian surmised, “I suppose there’s a mystique about Oxford if you’re not familiar with the university. It seems like one of those places where there’s something really sinister and cult-like lurking beneath the surface. Of course in reality it’s all a bit boring, to the point where the occasional Morse murder mystery might actually liven things up.”

James Castle, a second-year St Anne’s student, said, “The best bit about Morse is that the director didn’t care in the slightest whatsoever to the real-world geography of Oxford. You’ll watch the actors walk out of a door in Exeter and then see them reappear somewhere in Magdalen. It’s both hilarious and disturbing.”

The original Inspector Morse series was an icon of British television for more than 10 years after it was first aired on ITV in 1987. The prequel Endeavour alsoproved a ratings-hit, with almost 7 million viewers tuning in to watch the return of young Morse earlier this year. The new series, made up of four 2-hour episodes, is set to hit our screens in early 2014.

Womcam, OUSU’s autonomous feminist campaign, is introducing “working groups” into colleges which look to change the way colleges approach feminist issues.

This new “Feminist Makeover” campaign has expanded at an unprecedented rate this term, prompting an important debate about whether there is a need for further feminist support in the colleges.

Chris Pike, a third year at Teddy Hall, has been running the campaign. He commented, “I’m delighted by the huge expansion in participation with WomCam which we’ve seen so far this term. We had an enormous turn-out to our first week event and loads of people signing up to be involved in working groups.”

These working groups work on a much smaller scale than the rest of the campaign, and will be taking motions to JCRs and MCRs, as well as setting up feminist societies and discussion groups within colleges. This campaign adds to the great number of existing societies within colleges. Eva Sprecher, Women’s Welfare representative at Jesus College told Cherwell, “We’ve found at Jesus increasingly everyone wants to get in on debating women’s issues, with the introduction of ‘feminars’ by the gender equality reps on our equal ops committee.

“We have good attendance from men and women to discuss issues relating to gender and especially after hosting Vagenda last Trinity it’s been great to hear the whole college getting involved in the discussion.”

Students at Magdalen College have had experienced success with the campaign and their new feminist group, ‘Raising Consciousness’, which meets on a fortnightly basis to discuss issues of misogyny as well as the possibility of restructuring the JCR committee to make it better equipped to handle the issues surrounding gender equality.

This week saw the launch of the campaign zine ‘It Happens Here: Stories of Sexual Violence & A Victim-Blaming University’. The booklet features analysis of the situation in Oxford and stories from survivors of ‘rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, relationship abuse, and other forms of personal violation’.  

An event held on Wednesday at Hertford college saw campaign organisers speak on issues of sexual violence in Oxford and encourage students to become part of a campaign committee to help fight rape and rape-culture in Oxford.

Yet due to the extent of existing support at college level, some students have queried why there is a need for a large-scale campaign from OUSU. Sarah Pine, Vice President for Women at OUSU, explained that this is not just a “top down” campaign.

She said, “The content of the college-based projects has come from the membership of the campaign, not from the committee. Also, there is more autonomy for different groups of women through the working groups. For example, the committee doesn’t tell queer women, women of colour or disabled women what their liberation looks like; this comes from those communities themselves.”

On a practical level, this means that the ‘working groups’ are designed by individual colleges to suit their own needs. Because of this there is  generally a great deal of support for WomCam from colleges’ independent societies.

Yet Miriam Goodall, who runs the Magdalen ‘Raising Consciousness’ campaign, stressed that there is still work to be done.

She said: “I would like to say we are 100 percent successful in our aims but I still believe there’s a lad culture which proliferates throughout the college and the university. That is why I wholeheartedly think that there is a need for an OUSU campaign and for all the other feminist groups working within the university. People often criticise OUSU as being bureaucratic and ineffective but I would support any organisation which is raising its voice against sexism.”

Individual colleges have had successes with the campaign, but there are clearly still challenges that a centrally organised but locally administered initiative can face. Instances like the ‘Mr. and Mrs. Christ Church’ competition in Trinity 2013 that ended with “get your tits out” chants show that sexism is yet to be eradicated from Oxford.