Wednesday 9th July 2025
Blog Page 1506

Lord Carey defends Christian Concern

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The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Baron Carey of Clifton, has defended Christian Concern, the controversial Christian group, after Trinity College apologised for hosting the group over the Easter vac. 
 
In a letter to Sir Ivor Roberts, the President of Trinity, Lord Carey criticised the college for acting intolerantly towards Christian groups. The letter comes following Sir Ivor’s apology to Trinity students in April after the college hosted the annual ‘Wilberforce Academy’, run by the Christian Concern religious group.
 
Lord Carey opined in his letter, “Christian Concern is not an extreme organisation that opposes diversity or equality.”
 
He added “Respect, tolerance and understanding are required so that minorities do not face discrimination. Ironically, your statement seems to withdraw that tolerance from Christian groups.”
 
Christian Concern has been branded ‘homophobic’ by students due to its opposition on a range of gay rights issues.
 
In April, in the face of student opposition, Trinity’s President Sir Ivor Roberts apologised for having hosted Christian Concern, stating, “Trinity regrets that any current or old members were upset by the fact that we gave houseroom unwittingly to Christian Concern.” 
 
The apology was supported and welcomed by students, with undergraduate Crawford Jamieson commenting, “LGBTQ students within Trinity College certainly felt, and quite rightly, that the presence of Christian Concern within the college was a slap in the face.” 
 
At the time, Josh Peppiatt, President of the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union said, “The OICCU’s objective is to give every student in Oxford University an opportunity to hear and respond to the Christian message. As such, as the OICCU, we hold no official position on this issue.”
 
Christian Concern also provoked controversy in 2012 when it held a similar conference in Exeter College. Exeter subsequently apologised for hosting the conference and donated all profits made from it to LGBTQ causes. 
 
Trinity College has since followed Exeter’s example, donating profits garnered from Christian Concern’s conference to various charities. Trinity’s MCR tweeted, “As per Sir Ivor’s statement that College would donate £££ from Christian Concern conf, Trinity has donated £1900 to Terrence Higgins Trust.”
 
The Terrence Higgins Trust is a charity which aims to reduce the spread of HIV and promote good sexual health, including safe sex.
 
One Trinity student told Cherwell, “I and a lot of other students were horrified and embarrassed to discover Trinity hosted Christian Concern, and I think Sir Ivor absolutely did the right thing by apologising.
 
“I strongly disagree with Lord Carey’s accusations  by standing against Christian Concern, Trinity stood against bigotry and hate.”
 
Neither Trinity College nor Christian Concern was available for comment.

RAG raises and gives £90,000 this year

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Oxford RAG has raised £90,000 this year for charity, it has been announced.

The society, which runs a range of fund raising efforts across the University, has reported a record fundraising effort from a variety of events ranging from the RAG Ball in Michelmas term to the RAG Casino events across the year.

In particular, the RAG skydiving event raised £9000 alone. Organiser Amy Watson said, “I think this is great – it shows how fun RAG events are and how much interest there is across the University for taking part in something whilst raising money for those who need it most.”

The society is also celebrating its success in helping Oxford to become the most successful University in the country in terms of numbers of people involved in Movember last year, an achievement which one RAG committee member called “bloody marvellous.”

The money raised has been given to both local charities, such as the Oxford Food Bank, and to global concerns, such as Education Partnerships Africa.

A spokesperson for Education Partnerships Africa said “we are truly grateful for, and amazed by, all the money which RAG raises on behalf of Oxford University students.”

“Itʼs an incredible achievement for the society to have raised so much, especially in this economic climate,” he added. “Without such generosity charities like ours could not exist,” he concluded.

The RAG President for this year said, “We are all really proud of the £90,000 raised. Itʼs only come about because of the hard work of a number of people across the University. Florence Avery was RAG President last year and her work should not be forgotten in reaching this incredible milestone.”

“The new committee are all excited to begin fund raising for this year, though, and hope to scale even higher mountains,” he added.

Boris Johnson calls for Thatcher College, Oxford

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Boris Johnson has argued that Oxford University should endow a college in memory of Margaret Thatcher.
 
In a speech at the Global Universities Summit he argued that this should be done to make up for the fact that the University refused to grant the late Baroness Thatcher an honorary degree in 1985, a move which was deemed a protest against her policies. Baroness Thatcher was the first Oxford-educated post-war prime minister not to be granted an honorary degree by the University. 
 
Johnson, the Mayor of London, said, “They had decided, unprecedentedly, not to give her a doctorate even though she was an Oxford prime minister, an alumna of that university and the first female prime minister of this country.” 
 
He said that the former prime minister’s introduction of international fees resulted in significant financial benefits for universities across the country, and Oxford in particular. 
 
Johnson highlighted the fact that “last year non-EU students contributed £870m in tuition fees in London alone. To say nothing of contributions to the wider economy that are estimated at about £7.8b. I am still waiting for the dons of Oxford to accept that Margaret Thatcher was not only deserving of a posthumous doctorate, but probably deserves to have a college named after her.
 
“Why not have a college in honour of their greatest post-war benefactress as they rake in the doubloons from international student fees? I think she deserves no less because it was thanks to that reform that universities in this city and in this country have been able to invest in research, in all the benefits universities bring to our economy.”
 
Johnson is a Balliol graduate, after matriculating in 1983. He was President of the Union, and graduated with a 2:1 in Classics. Commentators have suggested that he aims to become Prime Minister after 2015.
 
A spokesperson from the University stated, “There are no current plans to establish any new colleges at the University.”
 
They added, “Somerville College, where Lady Thatcher was a student, has recently announced that it is to establish the Margaret Thatcher Scholarships in her honour. It is intended that this college-based scheme will award scholarships to outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate students who might otherwise be prevented from taking up a place at Somerville College for financial reasons.”
 
In addition to the Thatcher Scholarship, Somerville is establishing a ‘Margaret Thatcher Leadership Programme’. 
 
Dan Turner, OULC’s Publicity Officer, commented, “Margaret Thatcher was a divisive figure across the nation, and especially within Oxford.  Naming a college after her would grossly misrepresent popular opinion of her, and elevate her to a position that mocks the judgement of the last generation of academics who chose to oppose her.  
 
“A Thatcher scholarship would be more than sufficient to honour her memory, and I suspect anything beyond that is just Boris Johnson grand-standing.”
 
Stephanie Cherrill, President of OUCA commented to Cherwell “The university did a great disservice to Baroness Thatcher in not giving her an honourary doctorate, but the reaction of the University has been greatly encouraging for those of us with lingering doubts over continued institutional bias – for example, the Thatcher scholarships that Somerville are introducing sound like a great tribute to her legacy.”
 
“There is already a facebook page that calls for Somerville to be renamed Thatcher college – personally, considering the huge investment already going into establishing a Thatcher library, I think this is a more viable option than trying to establish another college in an already somewhat overcrowded urban area. Of course, OUCA would welcome any move by the University to further memorialise our late Patron and ex-President.”
 
A first year student supported the idea of a Thatcher College, telling Cherwell, “It would be great! We could embalm her and sit her at high table”.

Oxford imam: "No Muslim terrorism in the UK before Iraq"

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An Oxford imam has made claims in an interview with rt.com that there was no Islamic terrorism in the UK before Iraq.

Dr Taj Hargey was speaking in the aftermath of the Woolwich killing of Drummer Lee Rigby. The British soldier was attacked by men who are believed to be British-born Muslim converts. In a camera-phone video, one of the men claimed the attack was a response to the way “Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day”.

Dr Hargey condemned the murder in the strongest possible terms, but argued that there was “a linkage” between the events in Woolwich and British foreign policy.

The imam of the Oxford Islamic Congregation, claimed that “there was no Muslim terrorism in the United Kingdom until Blair went illegally into Iraq”.

Prime Minister David Cameron said in a media address outside Downing Street that the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby last week “sickened us all” and that the attacks were a “betrayal of Islam… that gives so much to our country.”

Cameron continued, “There is absolutely no justification for these acts and the fault for them lies solely and purely with the sickening individuals that carried out this attack”.

Dr Taj Hargey, who has provoked controversy for inviting the first ever woman to lead and preach at Friday prayers in Britain, and for marrying Islamic women to non-Islamic men, called for the Muslim community in the UK to confront the radical and extremist minority. He said, “Their [extremist] ideology and philosophy must be demolished”.

He also claimed that that Islam is a religion of peace: “You don’t kill someone in the name of God, Islam condemns that… it’s pure blasphemy”.

Zain Iqbal, a first year student at Brasenose College and a member of the Oxford University Islamic society told Cherwell that “under no circumstances do grievances justify bringing terror to our streets.”

He continued, “However, labeling terrorism as Islamic ventures into dangerous territory and is unjustified. Throughout history we have seen terrorism emanating from all quarters and we should remain acutely aware to not label entire communities.”

Review: The Job Lot

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ITV has never been a broadcaster renowned for its comedy. Over on channel three, they’ve been quite happy churning out period dramas like Downton and crime series like Scott and Bailey for years. Until now, that is. You see, ITV have decided to dip their toe in the pool of comedy by commissioning two new sitcoms, airing on Monday nights. One is Vicious, a good old-fashioned sitcom about a couple of elderly gay men. The other is The Job Lot, a fly-on-the-wall comedy inside a job centre. I watched the first episode of both, but only one has kept me tuning back in.

Whereas Vicious was predictable, static and felt outdated, The Job Lot was slicker and less obviously gagging for laughs. And while it may not have the theatrical heavyweight of Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi behind it, it does boast some familiar comedic faces. Russell Tovey is very likeable as everyman Karl; Sarah Hadland perfectly embodies Trish, the flustered, motivational manager; and Jo Enright is marvellous as robotic jobsworth, Angela. Lols are few and far between, but I was quite content to be gently amused as I watched the story of each episode unfold.

The problem with The Job Lot is its lack of continuous plot. Each thirty minutes functions as a stand-alone episode, with very little detail developing as the series progresses. Make no mistake; this is a character-based comedy. I found myself disappointed that issues which were brought up in one episode were forgotten by the next. I wanted to see how Sunil from the first episode managed to adjust to life unemployed. I wanted to see whether a love story between Chloe the temp worker and Karl would blossom, or the fallout from the nearby spate of factory redundancies.

There are stock jobseekers who reappear, such as Graham, a permanently bewildered, semi-naked man and Bryony, a gobby teenager whose has been doled out the role of work-shy scrounger. These are not the characters I am interested in seeing. I know what stereotypical benefits claimants look like. And whilst The Job Lot has tried to give viewers more nuanced examples of jobseekers, it seems to lack the confidence to make them regular characters. 

Most people on benefits are not there by choice. Living off state welfare is gruelling, no matter what some media outlets and politicians might propagate. The current economic climate means highly qualified staff are being laid off daily. Seriously disabled individuals are being subjected to Work Capability Assessments and deemed fit for work. The Job Lot has the potential to channel this despair and anger into a powerful, unique comedy show. 

Misfortune is at the heart of many a fine comedic moment, and it is easy to see how a place as soul-sappingly depressing as a Job Centre might make a great sitcom setting. But instead of reflecting the poignant humour of life, this is a show content to bumble along with its shirkers and eccentrics, populated by an almost entirely white cast despite being set in the West Midlands. Come on.

I like The Job Lot for what it is. But I think it could be more. I don’t think ITV viewers are ready for this jelly. But they should damn well suck it up.

Review: Hangover Part III

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It was with great reluctance that I handed over my £7.65 to the cashier on the ticket desk at the Odeon. You see, I didn’t want to go and see Hangover Part III. The problem was, no-one else wanted to go either. So in the name of Cherwell, I bravely hoicked my feminist tote bag onto my shoulder, bought a ticket and stumbled out of the sunlight into screen five.

In a marked change from the first two films, this instalment does not feature a stag do. In fact, rather audaciously, it doesn’t even feature a hangover. Instead, the Wolfpack begin by staging an intervention for Alan (or the beard one, as I called him in my head). On their way to drop him off at a rehabilitation centre, their car is hijacked by gangsters. It turns out that their former acquaintance Leslie Chow has stolen millions of dollars worth of gold. Doug (the boring one) is taken hostage until his three friends track down Chow and bring him to the chief mobster. 

What ensues is essentially a series of far-fetched set pieces with no overall feeling of unity. The trio travel to Mexico. They break into a house. They abseil down Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. There may be an almost total lack of female characters, but there are plenty of guns, plenty of sedatives and oh-so-much driving. It seemed like we couldn’t go five minutes without another tedious, wide-panning shot of a highway.

Hangover Part III seemed to be working mainly on the premise that comedy involving the gratuitous abuse of animals is utterly hilar. Within the first few minutes, a giraffe was decapitated by a motorway bridge. In the next hour or so, we witnessed the extended smothering of a rooster with a pillow and the drugging of two guard dogs. When Stu (the dentist one) protests, he is mocked: ‘Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know you worked for PETA? What a pussy.’ Mercifully, we are told rather than shown that their throats are later slashed. 

And when it’s not riffing off animal cruelty, Hangover is content to rely on the mental instability of Chinese hustler, Chow. Flirtatious, sociopathic, crippled by loneliness and obsessed with cocaine, Chow is the ultimate other. His craziness becomes the subject of easy gags that veer towards the downright uncomfortable.

At one point, the film took a turn for the menacing. Chow is locked in the boot, and the trio are driving him into the desert to be shot. He pleads with them, telling them they’ll have his blood on their hands. In that moment, I desperately wanted Hangover to ditch the second-rate jokes and get deadly serious. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if the whole Wolfpack just got annihilated now? Or if Phil (the cool one) could realise his tragic fall and join the international drug cartel. What a brilliant, dark end that would be. Sadly, it was not the ending I was going to get.

In an effort to erase Hangover Part III’s gaping flaws from my mind, I spent most of the film thinking about how much I would like to eat Bradley Cooper. And then I felt bad about wanting to eat Bradley Cooper and tried to think of him as more than just a sex object. Cooper has come a long way since the first Hangover movie, and to be frank, he looked bored to be there. ‘I told myself I would never come back,’ says Stu-dental when the trio arrive in Vegas. ‘Don’t worry,’ replies Cooper, ‘it all ends tonight.’ As he stands around in his mirrored sunglasses, you get the feeling he’s been waiting for it to end for a while.

I got the impression from my fellow cinemagoers that Hangover Part III was not as gleefully debauched as its predecessors. It was plenty debauched enough for me. Personally, I can’t wait for Hangover IV, where the Wolfpack battle with the acute post-traumatic stress disorder that stems from the multiple violent deaths they witness in this movie. Now that’s a film I’d happily pay to see.

Vice-Chancellor’s Civic Awards announced

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The six winners and highly commended individuals of the annual Vice-Chancellor’s Civic Awards have been announced this week.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Civic Awards, which are awarded by the University in partnership with the Oxford Hub and are now in their fourth year, are given to students who demonstrate exceptional commitment towards and achievement in producing positive social change, both in local or global communities.

Candidates are judged by a panel made up of representatives from the University and the wider community through a series of interviews, references and a judging panel. Students can nominate themselves, or be nominated by others for an award and over fifty applications for the award were submitted this year.

The six winners are Tatiana Cutts, co-founder of OUSU’s Mind Your Head campaign; Elisa Klein, founder and CEO of The Mali Initiative; Abi Sriharan, who champions Peace Through Health Initiatives; Neil Howard, who has worked on a number of political projects in Oxford; Helen Willis, who has campaigned around disabilities, and particularly improving access to higher education for death people and Joshua Oware, who has led OUSU’s Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality.

Tatiana Cutts, a DPhil Law candidate at Keble College, explained the significance of the award for her involvement in the Mind Your Head Campaign, which works to raise awareness of mental health issues in the Oxford community and remove some of the stigma surrounding them, “It is an honour to receive the award, but I cannot accept all the credit for the Mind Your Head Campaign. Seb Baird and I created this project together, and everything that it has achieved has been down to a joint effort, and the efforts of those who have worked with us over the past 18 months.

“I feel incredibly privileged to have been part of laying the groundwork for change. If only a few students had felt the benefit, we would have been happy. Instead, we have had hundreds of messages from people – within and outside the University – to say that it has given them comfort, has enabled them to talk more openly, has encouraged them to seek help, even that it was the difference between them sitting their exams and dropping out altogether. That will stay with me forever.”

Seb  Baird, who also founded Mind Your Head, but who did not receive an award, said, “[Cutts and I] really felt that the last couple of years have been an ideal time to campaign on mental health stigma – indeed, when we started the campaign, we were both surprised that nothing comprehensive had yet been done for it. The national Time to Change campaign provided a useful example of how to achieve change on mental health stigma, too.  

“I’m very happy at how well the campaign has been received. An incredible number of people have interacted with it – either by writing for the blog, reading and sharing the  blog, or turning up to events. The popularity of the campaign with students really speaks to how pressing issues of mental health are in the student community. I think we’ve been successful in helping to start a university-wide conversation about mental health and mental illness, but there is a long way to go before we wipe out the stigma surrounding mental illness.
 
“I’m ecstatic about Tatiana’s award: it’s great to see the work of the campaign rewarded. It shows that the University recognises the significance of student mental health, and I hope it marks the beginning of a dialogue with the university about how best to approach these issues.” 

Sarah Hewett, Programmes and Outreach Officer for the Oxford Hub, told Cherwell about the importance of the awards within the University, “The final Awardees represent a really diverse range of causes which students are engaged in. We hope this will highlight the opportunities available to students to get involved in volunteering as well as the capacity to start a project or initiative themselves.

She continued, “The Award represents how students at Oxford University are not only world class academics but also active, engaged citizens who can have a real positive impact in the world both during and after their studies. The official recognition this award received through the Vice-Chancellor shows the University’s dedication to social action”.

The winners will receive their awards as part of the Encaenia celebrations on 19th June and the Oxford Hub will also hold a celebration for award winners and highly commended individuals of this year and previous years at the end of Trinity term. The Oxford Hub also offers personal development support and resources to the award winners and highly commended individuals following the award.

‘Rate Your Shag’ Oxford site scrapped

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An Oxford University ‘Rate Your Shag’ page was taken down within 12 hours of  being set up on Facebook.

This was part of a craze that swept the nation earlier in the week – with as many as 8000 people Liking the Newcastle University ‘Rate Your Shag’ Page.

Posts consisted of a rating out of 10, the name of the “shagged’ and any general comments, whilst the name of the person giving the rating was able to remain anonymous.

Liam Burns, the President of the National Union of Students described it as “tantamount to bullying.”

Facebook removed many of the pages, claiming that they were in breach of their community. A spokesman said “We do not tolerate bullying or harassment. We allow users to speak freely on matters and people of public interest, but take action on all reports of abusive behaviour directed at private individuals.”

However it remains unclear whether the Oxford University page was removed by its administrators, or by Facebook itself. The administrators have not identified themselves, or commented on the reaction. The company was warned by lawyers that it could face legal action if it failed to act.

At least one such Facebook page – ‘Rate Your Shag’ – still exists. It has 232 likes, despite being only a day old at the time of writing.

Some Oxford students expressed their disapproval of such sites. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, referred to the users of such sites as “c*nts”. Another student conjectured that the ‘shags’ described had probably been made up, and expressed relief that it had been taken down so quickly.

 

Sale-iol of paintings earn JCR £38,000

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Balliol JCR has received £38,000 from the sale of ten pictures. The paintings, mostly bought in the 1950s, were part of the permanent collection of the Balliol JCR Picture Fund, which loans out paintings for students to hang in their rooms for a 50 pound deposit each year.

Liam Shaw and Sean Whitton, who are in charge of the Picture Fund, decided to have the pictures valued. Whitton commented, “Liam and I decided to catalogue the collection and get it valued, originally on the grounds that the JCR was paying art insurance for a value of around £13,000 from a valuation performed about a decade ago which we thought was probably wrong. We were surprised to learn how valuable the paintings actually are.”

They resolved to sell the paintings at an auction. They explained, “Given that most of the valuable paintings are not attractive to the eyes of the average contemporary Oxford student, and since we thought it irresponsible to keep loaning out such valuable paintings to students’ rooms, we decided to sell them off as a one-off sale.”

The actual sale of the paintings totalled a far greater sum than was expected. The most expensive painting was by the artist Lowndes and sold for £21,000, doubling the expected price.

Alex Bartram, the Balliol JCR President, told Cherwell, “There was and had been no demand for these pictures among students for a very long time, so they simply weren’t serving their purpose any longer, and indeed were at risk of further damage. The JCR just could not guarantee their safety, so from the point of view of posterity, it was important that we were no longer looking after paintings that were so valuable. I’m not suggesting the JCR can’t be trusted: simply that we were uncomfortable being the custodians of valuable pieces of art.”

Whitton added, “The JCR is going through a long process of deciding what to spend the rest of it on; there are numerous suggestions floating about, some serious, such as redecorating our studentrun bar, others not so serious, such as spending £38,000 on vodka.”

 Alex Bartram stressed, “Although joking suggestions have been made, the JCR will think very carefully about how it spends the money, and almost certainly will not do so all at once.”

Students run to Rome

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A group of eight students are planning to run from London to Rome to raise money for charity. Their trek will include an eight-day continuous relay traversing the English Channel and the Alps, which the team named “The Italian Jog”.

This daring endeavour is aimed at raising funds and awareness for Access Sport, a charity providing quality local sports to children especially in the disadvantaged areas and “looking to harness the proven power of sport to tackle social exclusion, inactivity and obesity in areas where help is most needed”. So far, the team has raised £1375 with the goal of £10,000. The team is being sponsored by companies including DoRunning and Pro-direct Runnning, to supply top quality kit for the journey.

The team of eight will start at the Olympics Park in London and run to the Colosseum in Rome – a 1200 mile trip. The expedition constitutes 46 back-to-back marathons.

Claire Burley, a member of the Italian Jog team and researcher in Oxford University Psychiatry Department, told Cherwell, “I love adventure and being outdoors so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be a part of this challenge. It’s also for a great cause so that’ll really help motivate us when it gets particularly difficult and our legs have turned to either jelly or lead or are in immense pain.”

The team will run via Switzerland, and will traverse Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain. Matthew Gunn, originator of the challenge, told Cherwell, “Not ones to shy away from a challenge, we’ll be running over some of Europe’s highest passes. And all this will start once we’ve already been on the road for about 5 days, each running 20 miles per day and driving in between.”

He added, “Once we start doing almost a full marathon every day with no proper recovery time and altered sleep patterns our physical condition is bound to deteriorate pretty quickly, which is where our mental toughness really needs to kick in. Racing marathons has never involved running up a rainy alpine pass at 2.30 in the morning!”

The team will be accompanied by two caravans, which will provide beds and food for the participants. Each teammate will run for around three hours per day. In between shifts, the runners will serve as support crews for their teammate on action.

One runner, Matthew Gunn, expressed his optimism to Cherwell: “We are very confident about completing the challenge. We’ve managed to assemble a really strong team who, although varying in their running experience and speed, are all highly motivated, committed and determined to succeeding.”