The current King of the kingdom of Lesotho, His Majesty King Letsie III, is to visit Oxford to speak at the Union on Saturday 4th May. The event is part of the Oxford University Pan-African Conference, the flagship event of the Oxford University African Society. The Conference, which is now three years old, is said by the organisers to be one of the largest gatherings of African students that take place in the UK.

His Majesty King Letsie, who studied Developmental Studies at Cambridge, is to give a talk on the theme: “Towards a 21st Century African Renaissance: Sowing the Seeds of Success“. Other high profile speakers include Euvin Naidoo, the Chair of the South African Chamber of Commerce in America, who Forbes ranked in 2011 as one of the “Top 10 most powerful and influential men under 40 in Africa” and BankyW, a renowned Nigerian musician.

Martin Kayondo, organiser of the conference, spoke of its aims. He said, “The objective of the 2013 OUPAC is to bring together dynamic scholars, entrepreneurs and leaders from around the world, who will discuss issues of African leadership, governance, technological advancement, sustainable development and healthcare innovation. It aims to showcase Africa’s ongoing development and investment potential, to change people’s perceptions and in so doing recognise Africa’s emerging role as an economic powerhouse and a vital player on the global political stage. We, as participants, seek to engage with this transformational change and influence its direction as we sow the seeds of success for future generations.”

Chloe Kane, a second year PPE student at Wadham, commented, “I am very excited about this conference and that so many prestigious and important speakers are coming to speak at Oxford right at the Union.”

Figures from Oxford City Council’s latest Homelessness Strategy show that the rate of homelessness in the city is improving.

The statistics show that the number of households living in temporary accommodation has decreased by 74% in the past five years and that, due to a council and Broadway initiative called ‘No Second Night Out’, the number of rough sleepers has decreased from 27 in June 2012 to 12 in January of this year. National figures have increased by 29% in the last two years, according to the homelessness charity Crisis UK.

Labour Councillor Scott Seamons told Cherwell, “A common cause of homelessness is parental exclusion and we have done family mediation work in the past and are looking to extend this.

“Another large cause is breach or termination of tenancies and we have a private sector team that supports tenants and landlords when there is a risk of homelessness to prevent this. This team also works to find properties in the private rented sector to place households threatened with homelessness – the homechoice scheme.”

The homelessness issue is aggravated by a lack of affordable housing: Oxford has the highest house prices outside London.

The latest City Council strategy report also cites “poor discharge planning for ex-offenders” and mental health needs as being major factors preventing vulnerable people from finding a settled home, along with “addiction, negative behaviour, poor parenting and life skills”.

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National homelessness charities have warned that the series of government welfare reforms will worsen an already fragile situation.

Leslie Morphy, Chief Executive of Crisis said, “Our poorest households face a bleak April as they struggle to budget for all these cuts coming at once”.

The cuts are likely to hit the poorest hardest. The ‘Bedroom Tax’ will mean that rent payers on housing benefits face a 14% decrease in the benefits they receive if they have a spare bedroom, and 25% if they have two or more.

Paul Roberts, Business Development Manager at Aspire Oxford, a charity which works to put vulnerably housed people back in employment, said of the tax. “There is a real housing shortage in Oxford and if people can’t find smaller houses to move into, what do they do?”

Crisis predicts households will sustain average losses of £14 a week from the Bedroom Tax, and £93 per week from the overall benefit cap.

According to Councillor for Housing, Scott Seamons, the government will also cut the Oxford Council’s £1 million Preventing Homelessness Grant.

Seamons maintained “We have made the political decision to continue to protect the poorest in our community and those in most need. For instance with the 10% cut in the council tax benefit we receive, we have chosen to swallow this cut and not pass it on to the recipients of council tax benefit.”

A spokesperson for O’Hanlon House, a housing shelter on Luther Street in Oxford, commented, “Welfare cuts will have a massive effect. There will be more visible homelessness on the streets in years to come.”

Roberts explained that Aspire have responded to the economic pressures by becoming more businesslike: “Traditional sources of funding are less available. We have to transform the way we present ourselves.”

He continued, “You have to be optimistic, there is no alternative.”

William Hague has announced that the old History Faculty Library will host the govern-ment’s Ê»Global Centre for Cyber Security Capacity.

The “cyber centre” will receive a £1 million grant from the Government. The announcement comes after the 2011 National Security Strategy rated cyber-attacks as a threat as serious as international terrorism.

Hague, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, stated that the centre “will coordinate global work on cyber threats and cyber policies which will help protect the UK’s security” and “be a beacon of expertise and put the UK at the forefront of cyber policy development.”

The “cyber-centre” will be based in the building of the Indian Institute on Broad Street, which to housed the History Faculty Library until it was moved to the Radcliffe Camera in September 2012. The move was controversial
for the lack of consultation with students.

Hague was a student at Magdalen in the 1980s, President of the Oxford Union in Michelmas 1981, and President of the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) in Hilary of the same year.

The centre will be part of the Martin School, which works to “address the most pressing global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.” It was founded in 2005 with a $100 million donation from philanthropist James 
Martin.

According to Sadie Creese, Head of the new cyber centre, the research they will conduct will define global priorities for cyber security. The research conducted will be shared with governments, communities, and organisations,, to inform their own cybersecurity strategies.

Yet a third-year Keble historian commented, “This all sounds like a bit of a gimmick by the government, especially as the G8 conference is being hosted in London right now. Hague didn’t even come to Oxford to open the centre.”

Nicholas Crossland, a first-year Philosophy and Theology student, commented, “It is looking increasingly as though tomorrow’s warfare will be predominantly fought on computer screens…it makes perfect sense to make
investments in technology, brains and innovation in this field a priority.”

Walid Haddad, a third year history and politics student at St. Hugh’s, stated that “The move of the HFL to the Radcliffe Camera hasn’t been as apocalyptic as was originally predicted.”

Haddad went on to remark that, “If the University has a few square feet of extra space on Broad Street left over from the move, why shouldnÊ»t they seek to fill the vacancy with money from Whitehall?”

The University of Oxford this week agreed to pay all direct employees a living wage with immediate effect. This move means an increase in the salaries of all the Universities’ lowest paid direct employees, both casual and full-time, to £7.45 an hour.

This decision represents a substantial victory for the Living Wage Campaign which has been in operation since 2006. The campaign has gained support from University staff and students as well as other universities up and down the country. The campaign has fought to increase the wages of those on the bottom rung of the University’s payroll.

The figure of £7.45, which comprises the ‘living wage’, is calculated by taking into account the basic rate of living, which is higher than the current government-implemented minimum wage of £6.31. This figure rises to £8.55 for those employed in London.

Daniel Turner, press officer for the Oxford University Labour Club, told Cherwell “We’re naturally very pleased that the University has agreed to pay all direct employees a living wage. OULC members have worked hard alongside the Living Wage Campaign, and we will continue to agitate for fairer pay for college staff and for those employed indirectly by the university.

“The Labour-controlled City Council is a living wage employer, and Labour’s 2013 manifesto for Oxfordshire calls for the County Council to do the same. Our work is part of a broader movement in Labour Students to spread the living wage in Britain’s universities, with several major successes so far.”

Sarah Santhosham, OUSU charities chair told Cherwell, “For many years the OUSU Living Wage Campaign has been pressing for staff employed by the University and its Colleges to be paid an amount that they can afford to live on, in collaboration with many student groups, community groups, the Council and most importantly the workers themselves.

“It is a very welcome development that all directly employed staff are now being paid a Living but the problem of poverty pay still persists for the hundreds of contracted workers at the University and much remains to be done. The OUSU campaign will keep on fighting for these changes, while actively continuing to support campaigns run by students
across the Colleges.”

The university’s recent decision does not affect those indirectly working for them, such as the employees of contractors. In a document published on the 15th March by the university’s personnel services it was stated that “The Personnel Committee has made no commitments relating to future increases in the Living Wage or to employees of contractors who are working on university premises. A working party will be set up to consider how to assist departments who wish to pay the Living Wage to the employees of university contractors.”

The document went on to state that “A working group is being set up to consider how best to assist departments who wish to ensure that staff of contractors working on university premises are paid at the Living Wage. More information on this will be available in due course.”

Oxford delegates were split at the NUS National Conference last week over a motion to introduce a quota for 50 per cent of all NUS committee members to be female. Motion 701 was defeated by nine votes, with a turnout of 527 delegates.

Helena Dollimore, one of Oxford’s five NUS delegates, supported the motion, telling Cherwell, “Women are under-represented due to a deeprooted structural sexism which exists… It is patronising when opponents of this motion deny this by claiming that the current system must be okay because the best candidate wins. That argument only works if society is a level-playing field for women, and it clearly isn’t. Gender-balancing is about compensating for that structural inequality while the root causes are tackled.”

Departing NUS president, Liam Burns, also supported the motion in his speech.

Yet OUSU Vice-President for Women, Suzanne Holsomback, said “I believe this motion came from a genuine desire for gender equality, but it addresses the symptoms of a problem – few female NUS delegates – and not the root… We need programmes and initiatives that work with students to encourage women and minority groups to run for leadership positions.”

Unusually, the motion was voted for by secret ballot. Cherwell understands that at least one of Oxford’s delegates voted against the motion. One Oxford delegate, Emily Cousens, arrived too late to be able to vote. 

The motion sought to address the gender imbalance among NUS delegates. Despite 56 per cent of students being women, only 36 per cent of delegates are women. The National Executive Committee, the decision making body of the NUS, were elected at the conference. Only four of fifteen are female.

One first year classicist criticised the gender-balancing motion, telling Cherwell, “Quotas are demeaning for women and detrimental to a status of equality with men…Thatcher did more for the perception of male-female equality than any of those squawking lefty nutcases at the Guardian ever will … I think the NUS are utterly irrelevant and I reject them utterly.”

Verity Bell, a first-year lawyer at New College, opined, “although I support the spirit of the motion, I think a quota would be an artificial and short-term solution. We should address the wider problem causing the gender imbalance, which is that on average fewer female students run for election to be delegates.”

The National Conference, held in Sheffield between 8th and 11th April, was attended by delegates from every UK university. Oxford sent seven students, including OUSU President David J Townsend, although one NUS delegate was too ill to attend. Students caused controversy when “about forty” delegates applauded Margaret Thatcher’s death on the first day of conference. The conference also debated ‘lad culture’, which an NUS report last month deemed “sexist, misogynistic and homophobic”.

Some students expressed apathy towards the NUS by voting for “an inanimate carbon rod as President.” Its manifesto included training 8 million “death cyborgs”. Andrew Tindall, the campaign’s organiser, said candidates “launch bland campaigns that offer nothing but another rehash of the same empty slogans and promises we see every year .”

The rod was defeated by Toni Pearce, elected the first NUS president never to have attended university. Pearce’s aims include “properly articulating the public value of education” and “bridging the divide between university and further education students.”

Humour was added by the leaving speech of Vice-President Dannie Grufferty, taking the form of an adapted Les Misérables medley. Grufferty spoke of life as an NUS staff member, singing, “It’s a struggle, it’s a faff/And there’s nothing that anyone’s giving/One more day counting ballots/You’re having a laugh/If you think this is living.”

A new Bodleian archive of 5 million UK websites has been criticised by privacy campaigners and civil rights groups. The Bod, in association with the British Library and five other libraries from across the country, announced its participation in the Internet Archive scheme earlier in April. Over 1 billion webpages are in the process of being permanently archived by the Library to snapshot the nation’s ‘digital memory’.

Some privacy campaigners have now voiced concerns about the project’s implications. Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, warned that social media users were at risk of inadvertent exposure, opining, “While the archive cannot access private or password-protected websites, many people might not realise that what they upload to the public web would be enshrined forever.”

He told Cherwell, “The danger of unintended consequences is magnified by how wide they’ve cast the net.”

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, pointed out that the main issue was with websites who failed to make their privacy policies clear to users. He told the BBC, “My concern is that a lot of Facebook comments are public and people don’t realise they’re publishing to the world. That’s Facebook’s fault, not the British Library’s – their user settings need to be changed in line with people’s expectations.”

The archive cuold eventually contain every public tweet or Facebook post in the British web domain, as it moves to comply with an Act of Parliament passed over 10 years ago. The regulations, known as legal deposit, ensure that ephemeral materials like websites can be collected and preserved forever.

Information hidden behind privacy walls on sites such as Facebook, eBay and Amazon will not be recorded. The archive will be limited to pages in the UK web domain and will offer a takedown procedure to remove content that has been mistakenly trawled.

For centuries the Bodleian has kept a copy of every book, pamphlet, magazine and newspaper published in the UK as part of a process known
as legal deposit. New regulations from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport mean that the Bodleian’s participation in the archive scheme is compulsory.

Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian, said that the project “will provide future researchers with access to information which otherwise would have been lost and which can contribute to understanding such diverse experiences as the Olympics and nutrition and taste in school dinners.”

Some say that the project was long overdue. Without the archive many researchers fear a massive ‘digital black-hole’ in UK history may hinder
the investigations of scholars. Ben Sanderson from the British Library
said we had already lost a lot, such as “the material that was posted by the
public during the 7/7 bombings.”

One second-year Hertford historian praised the scheme saying, “You can’t really understand the early 21st century without the Internet… We need to realise as a society that things put up on the Internet are there for everyone to see, perhaps now forever.”

The archive process will take three months, with another two months to process the data. The data will be available in Bodleian reading rooms.