Page 1584 – Cherwell

Oxford decision letters delayed until after Christmas

News

Nathalie Wright

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12th December 2012

Oxford decision letters delayed until after Christmas

Decision letters for Oxford undergraduate applicants to all colleges will be posted on Thursday 10th January this year, with emails following on January 11th.

This policy applies to candidates from all colleges, and marks a shift from previous years, when colleges aimed to send out results before Christmas. Candidates will therefore have to wait roughly two weeks longer to hear whether or not they have been successful. The later date has been agreed for this admissions cycle only, and will be under review.

The decision follows discussion by the University Admissions Committee, which is made up of college and departmental admissions representatives. It was prompted by substantial differences between school timetables and those of the University this year. The increasing use of pre-interview tests also caused difficulties: owing to the later school term dates, these had to be taken later than usual, meaning that the time between tests and interviews was cut by up to a week.

The delay of key interview dates this year has meant that several subjects will not confirm their final lists of accepted applicants until 18th December. Ruth Collier, Head of Press and Information Office at the University, said: “As a number of colleges are closing for the Christmas vacation on 19th and 20th December, it was decided that rather than rush to confirm the decisions, it would make much more sense to wait until the New Year.”

Richard Little of the Oxford University Admissions Office described the later date as an “administrative decision purely about schools’ half terms” and commented that there would “not be enough time” to stick to the old pre-Christmas deadline.

Ellen Mauder, Access and Outreach Officer at Wadham College, saw the change from the University’s point of view, arguing that the decision would ‘make the whole interview process a little bit more smooth.” She also added that the later date could be positive for candidates, as the school term will already have begun by the time they receive news of the outcome of their Oxford application. “This means schools can support their students back in January, whatever the outcome,” she said.

However, many candidates expressed unhappiness at the prolonged wait. Chris Cummings, an applicant for History and Politics at Regent’s Park, said: “I would much prefer to be put out of my misery. I believe the emails get sent on Friday 11th, and we have a General Studies exam in the morning. I’ll most likely be thinking about the email during the exam, and whilst General Studies admittedly isn’t the most important of exams, it could affect my performance.”

Luke Sperry, an applicant from Nottingham, had similar concerns, saying, “The date of response falls within a week of two of my A-level maths modules. Rejection would therefore be far more damaging at that time than during Christmas. Furthermore, if I were to receive an offer, the euphoria might pose as a distraction.”

He added, “Worst of all, I am fully aware that the tutors already know whether I shall receive an offer or not. Although I can imagine that the tutors do not wish to disappoint people during Christmas, the wait is far more excruciating, and it is always better to know.”

Aelithya Kale, a medicine interviewee at Wadham, said the later date for sending out letters was “not a good thing. I’d like to get the letter as soon as possible.” However, he insisted, “It’s not going to ruin my Christmas.”

Wadham SU Access Officer, Loukia Koumi, commented, “We make interviewees wait around enough as it is. The process is already uncertain and gruelling. For the people who have interviews in the first week, they will have to wait a month to hear the result.”

All schools were notified in September 2012 and no complaints have been received. The University Press Office told Cherwell, “There are fors and againsts to knowing the decision prior to Christmas. Given 80% of candidates are inevitably not successful, hearing this immediately before Christmas may be worse than knowing afterwards, back at school with relevant higher education advisers.”

Varsity Vocab

Blogs

Grace Goddard

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12th December 2012

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Accommodation (n): Choice of accommodation is something that will hugely affect your time on Varsity. It is broadly split into two categories:

1.‘Standard’: There is enough room for you, your roommates, and your bags. There is not room for anything else. The experience of one of the writers, in which she accidentally strayedinto a ‘standard’ room belonging to some students from Queens’ and was quickly shuffledout againwith the words ‘I am not joking. Please, get out of my room. I am not joking” speaks for itself. However, the cheap prices, air of camaraderie and proximity to the mainslopes are all points in favour of the accommodation chosen by the majority of Varsity-goers.

2. ‘Upgrade’: Treated with an air of derision by many Varsitonians, those who give in to thelure of the ‘upgrade’ can relax in the knowledge that, though hated, they are living in adifferent world from their ‘standard’ cousins only a few hundred metres away. Rumours ofspas, sitting rooms, ovens and the possibility of opening one’s case without holding it outthe window are all tempting reasons to pay that extra £50 or so.

Après-ski (n): Unfortunately, your GCSE French won’t help you here, as this is somewhat of a misnomer. Generally meant as ‘the drinking and awkward dancing you do once you’re done skiing but you’re still wearing your ski gear’, it should also be noted that, following mulled wine/six pints/raving to weird mixes of Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ you are still going to be expected to ski somewhere, as ‘apres-ski’ establishments tend to be located on an actual ski slope. It’s the equivalent of pubs expecting everyone to drive home, down the same road, at kickout time. Madness.

Carving (v (probably)): These writers’ NUCO rep (see under N, below) offered ‘Carving lessons’ to them on their recent Varsity trip, and added “When I told my last group about this, someone was like, ‘What’s carving?” after which incomprehensible anecdote she collapsed into peals of laughter. Therefore, we have always been too scared to ask. It doesn’t sound great, though. It could be either meat- or ski-related. We have no idea.

Chocolat chaud (n): Hot chocolate. 5 Euros, but always worth it. Irritatingly called ‘Choky’ at the popular lunch spot, VarCity (see under V, below), but try to ignore this and its unfortunate Matilda associations.

Folie Douce, La (n): Google translate will help you a little here, as ‘sweet madness’ is an appropriate description of any form of après-ski, but perhaps especially this particular bar/club. Situated at the top of one of the trickier blue slopes at Val Thorens, La Folie Douce offers pounding dance music, drinks and the chance to run into literally everyone you know at about 4.00 every afternoon.

Goggles (n): Bring these. Sunglasses are not enough. When you baulk at the £30+ prices, start imagining how your face will feel at the -10 degrees that Val Thorens considers a ‘warm weather day’, and take the plunge. For some reason, ‘double lens’ goggles are better. We hear it’s something to do with condensation.

Helmet (n): Wear this. You will fall over.

Lifts (n): these are the ways that you get up a mountain. There are several types:

1. Button: Fairly horrible. You grab onto a ‘button’ and are dragged up the mountain by thearms.

2. Chairlift: not dissimilar from a very slow rollercoaster, these are usually six or four chairs in a row which are gently lifted through beautiful Alpine scenery.

3. Gondola: The Porsches of ski lifts. Slick, warm and comfortable, you and your friends get your own pod, London Eye style, and can regain your strength back before whatever slope is high enough and far enough away to warrant this fanciest mode of mountain transport

4. Carpet: Usually reserved for beginner slopes, these moving carpets (a little like thosestrange flat escalators in airports) are great until you begin to realise that you are sliding backwards slowly but surely, and all you can do is close your eyes and pray that you don’tend up in the arms of the grizzled snowboarder behind you.

Moguls (n): These are bumps in the snow. Beginners hate them, and either get stuck in them or fall over them. Pros love them and fly over them with careless abandon. The marmite of skiing.

Nuco Rep (n): NUCO is the company used by Varsity to arrange the logistics of the trip. While incredibly organised, efficient, and frankly god-like in their ability to get 4,000 useless, end-of-term-weary students to a French resort and through a week’s worth of skiing, NUCO reps are also keen to the point of insanity and appear to function perfectly well in the absence of normal human requirements like sleep, food or ‘not dancing on tables, sober, at 3pm in broad daylight’. One NUCO rep we came across was suffering from whiplash, possibly from the speed at which she was apparently careering through life. Varsity-goers will tend to have a ‘coach rep’ who guides them through the 20 hours both to and from Val Thorens (and who acts as an intermediary with insane coach drivers, who threaten to do things like ‘stop this fucking coach the next time anyone fucking speaks’ or ‘I will leave your fucking bags here in the snow if you don’t stand next to them’,) and ‘room reps’, who visit your accommodation each evening to keep you updated on the weather, special classes, and hilarious NUCO rep injokes (see Carving, under C.)

Poles (n): As one might imagine. Useful for dragging yourself into an upright position once your skis have let you down and gravity has overcome you. The more experienced skier will use them to add flair and panache to turns – think Oscar Wilde on skis. French children will irritate you with their ability to ski without these, or with only one ski, as they zoom down the slope mocking your caution and fear with every parallel turn.

Powder (n): Or: ‘Powduhhh!’ said with exuberance by every experienced skier. Fresh fluffy powder is adored by all off-pisters and possibly allows you to do some ‘carving’, though don’t quote us on that.

Piste (n): Not, as initially believed by your writers, a funny French way of describing an individual who has consumed a large amount of alochol. Instead, the ‘piste’ denotes the bit of the slope that if you stay on it, you are less likely to accidentally plunge into 4 foot deep snow. That said, ‘off-piste’ areas are, like the best things in life, more fun because they’re more dangerous.

Salopette (n): A waterproof article of clothing, not dissimilar to an armless onesie. Not: an animal companion.

Skis (n): Expensive planks of wood bought and worn by the middle classes in order to slide down a mountain in extremely low temperatures for vast amounts of money.

Ski boots (n): Uncomfortable footwear perfect for strapping into skis and skidding down the slopes, unfortunately utterly useless in all other circumstances, including walking.

Stash (n): Worried that your friends may not know you’ve been skiing? Well, there’s no need to worry about the lack of wifi and phone coverage when you’ve got varsity stash! Wear at all opportunities in the weeks to come to ensure sufficient social awareness. This year’s stash comes in the form of hoodies, pyjamas, onesies, polos, tracksuit bottoms, sweatshirts and some really fucking yellow sunglasses. The latter, in particular, will go down a treat at every single Park End Wednesday throughout Hilary. For tips on how to accessorize your stash, see our shoot here.

VarCity (n): Slopeside lunch, waffy and choky spot (see under W and C, above and below). The ability to escape the watchful eye of leather aproned waitress in order to eat simultaneously slightly frozen and slightly sweaty baguettes that have spent a few hours in the inner pockets of one’s ski jacket is crucial.

VinChaud (n): Wine wot’s hot. In French. The French know what’s good for your skiing, and it’s normally alcohol. To become a real pro it’s probably best to indulge in this, avant-, pendant- and après-ski.

Waffy (n): To go with the aforementioned ‘Choky’ is the equally puerile ‘Waffy’. The thing itself is cheap (well, cheap-ish) and cheering in equal measure: a delicious waffle cooked in front of you by a humorourless French ‘chef’ smothered in chocolate or caramel. The authors may have considered placing them every 3 metres along the length of several runs a la Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley.

White out (n and v): If you’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas, then this is for you. For the skiing population, however, it means having driving snow and ice in your face as you struggle to navigate an icy near-certain-accident-causing downhill slope where the floor is made of the same stuff as the sky and you really can’t see the difference betewen the two.

For more skiing shenanigans, visit our Varsity blog here and here

Taking the piste: Varsity blog part 2

Blogs

Grace Goddard

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11th December 2012

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Day 5. Skiers are doin’ it for themselves

Day five brought with it the growing realisation that, released from lessons and Michael’s helping hands, we now had to ski. Properly. On our own. Luckily, it appeared that we were capable of this, and after a morning’s victory circuit of all the available green runs we placed ourselves at the mercy of friends and attempted our first blue. This involved an extremely exciting ride in a ‘Gondola’ (not a boat.) and a surprisingly straightforward ski down a slightly steeper slope.

Flush with this victory, we attempted our first ‘apres-ski’: mulled wine followed by a less-steady-than-usual ski down towards our accommodation. The evening brought Varsity’s Comedy Night (which plays twice during the week), which featured the well-chosen Orlando (fresh from his Gap Yah) as MC and a host of other comedic delights.

We arrived home to the sight of a huge homecooked meal by our flatmates, and spent the rest of the evening enjoying vast quantities of cheap red wine and an enormous meal for the princely sum of 3 Euros a head. Who said resort food had to be expensive…

Day 6. Sun? Sun?! Sun!

For the entire week, skiers, snowboarders and NUCO reps alike had all been united in the dream of the much hoped-for ‘Blue Day’. Having little to no awareness of what this was, your two newbies set out on the slopes with not so great expectations and soon found that the sun was out and, omfg, we could see where we were going!

We then spent the afternoon with vastly more experienced skiers in the form of two veteran Cherwell-ites that dragged us up and then down again some of the hardest (well, one step up from the day before) slopes that Val Thorens has to offer. It was with these weathered and experienced companions that we finally hit the beacon of any Varsity-goer’s week: La Folie Douce. Nestled halfway along a particularly bumpy blue slope, it is probably one of few clubs where everyone wears helmets and lots of warm clothing. It plays music from 3 till 5 every afternoon, closing early but not before it is considerably darker and you are considerably less sober than when you decided you were able to conquer the very bumpy slope on the way home… You only need one pint at this altitude, kids!

Returning home in the dark, for once after our pro skier friends (yes, admittedly because we’d had to walk part of the way down the final slope…) we readied ourselves for the ‘Twisted Circus’ themed Final Night Party. In the inauspiciously named ‘Centre de Sportif’ the Varsity crew once again put together a great night, finished off by a headline set by Rob da Bank. The real headliner, however was a video that had been filmed through the week and was a montage of skiers, partygoers and reps singing along to Fatboy Slim’s ‘Praise You’. There was not a dry eye among the over-tired, drunk and over-emotional crowd, all of whom were convinced they were featured, however fleetingly: “I’m in that bit with the skiers in that bit before the end!”

Day 7. Pastries and packing

After an incredibly successful day’s skiing on Thursday – and an incredibly successful night’s drinking – we realised that, Absolute Beginners as we were, we may have got a little ahead of ourselves. The weather outside was frightful and inside the camembert was quite delightful, so we watched Mean Girls in our pyjamas. However, the week had instilled in us a spirit of adventure and, feeling ready for a bit of danger and excitement, we decided to go on a long and physically exhausting walk through mountains, valleys and a shopping mall. Our final destination: a gorgeous little patisserie.

At the end of the day came our biggest hurdle: the big pack and the return coach journey home. Highlights: the white chocolate oreos that we found in Carrefour, and the overheard story: “So she got with her coach rep called Jamie, and then the next night she got with her room rep who was also called Jamie. She then went back with room rep Jamie and found that he shared a room with coach rep Jamie, so that was awkward.”

And thus, after 7 days of fun, on Broad Street/a zone 6 tube station our Varsity journey came to an end. It had been a week of ups and downs. Quite literally.

Death of St Peter’s professor ruled accidental

News

Rachel Savage

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10th December 2012

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Death of St Peter’s professor ruled accidental

Professor Steven Rawlings, a professor of astrophysics at St Peter’s College, Oxford, died of a heart attack while being restrained in a headlock by his friend and colleague Dr Devinder Sivia after becoming violent and aggressive, an inquest heard.

Rawlings, 50, who had been suffering from mental problems, died at Sivia’s Oxfordshire home on 11 January 2012, after attacking his friend. Oxfordshire coroner Darren Salter ruled that Sivia, 49, had acted in self-defence, and recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Sivia, a Stipendiary Lecturer in Mathematics for the Sciences at St John’s, had invited Rawlings to stay the night at his house in Southmoor, after being concerned for his mental wellbeing. Rawlings had suffered from a mental breakdown in April 2011, and friends of the professor told the inquest that he had been acting strangely on the day of the incident.

Sivia described how Rawlings was confused and agitated before he suddenly became “like a man possessed”. He said, “All of a sudden [Rawlings] took up a statuesque pose with a look in his eyes that I had never seen before. He sat bolt upright with his fists closed and a menacing look in his eyes. Then he said quietly ‘I am going to kill you’.’ Rawlings then punched Sivia in the face. “He was screaming ‘you’re going to die, you’re going to die’,” Sivia told the hearing.

Sivia, who had been arrested on suspicion of murder and then released following the incident, managed to hold his friend in a headlock for 20 minutes. This cut off Rawlings’ air supply, causing him to have a heart attack. Sivia told the inquest that Rawlings had said, “Goodbye, cruel world,” before his body went limp, but he had thought that his friend was playing dead. Sivia said, ‘This is a line from a Pink Floyd song, Goodbye Cruel World, from their album The Wall. I thought this might be a ploy to release him because it was so melodramatic.’

A video of a police interview with Sivia was shown to the inquest, in which the mathematician demonstrated how he had restrained Rawlings. Sivia told police, “I was just trying to control him like that to stop him attacking me.’

Pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt told the coroner that the cause of the death was cardiac arrest, following compression of the neck during restraint in a prone position. He also said that injuries to Rawlings, including a fractured right hand that is likely to have been caused by landing a punch, were consistent with Sivia’s account to the police.

The coroner’s court heard that after Rawlings died, Sivia emailed his friend’s wife, who was in America for business matters, saying, “I’m terribly sorry but I have killed him, sorry, Devinder.” Sivia had been in contact with the clinical researcher throughout the day, updating her on her husband’s condition. Following Sivia’s arrest, Linda Rawlings had expressed her support for the mathematician, saying in a statement, “Steve and Devinder were best friends since college, and I believe this is a tragic accident.” She continued, “I do not believe that Steve’s death is murder and I do not believe Devinder should be tarnished in this way.”

Sivia and Rawlings had been friends since they were undergraduates at St John’s College, Cambridge, in the 1980s. In 1999 they co-authored a book, Foundations of Science Mathematics. Sivia described Rawlings as one of his “eldest and closest friends”, and called his death a “tragedy”. He said that he was “overwhelmed by the unconditional support that [he] received from every quarter,” including from Rawlings’ wife and family.

The coroner said, “Devinder Sivia acted at all times in self defence and out of fear. It was an attempt to restrain Prof Rawlings and not to kill or injure him. As a result, Prof Rawlings’ death was not an intended consequence and therefore an accident.’ He continued, “This is a very sad case indeed.”

As well as holding a fellowship at St Peter’s College, Rawlings had been head of the sub-Department of Astrophysics at Oxford from 2005 to 2010. He played a key role in the redevelopment of the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall, and was one of the lead scientists in the international Square Kilometre Array Project.

Following Rawlings death, Martin Damzer, Master of St Peter’s College, said in a statement on the college’s website, “He was a much liked and admired tutor and colleague within the College and will be greatly missed.”

Sam Lecacheur, a physics undergraduate at St Peter’s, told Cherwell at the time of Rawling’s passing, “He really was a good tutor and a great person. He achieved so much in his field, and he was very inspirational as a teacher. What’s happened is a real shock.”

The University Press Office declined to comment on the inquest. In January, Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton, said, “The entire University community has been profoundly saddened and shocked by the tragic and untimely death of Professor Steve Rawlings. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.” [mm-hide-text]%%IMG4568%%[/mm-hide-text]

Showing up Santa

Lifestyle

Tim Ellis

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10th December 2012

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As if your 8th week overdraft wasn’t enough, you’ve been roped into secret Santa with your friends. With such a wide spectrum of tastes in Oxford, how on earth can you find the right presents? Fear not – Cherwell has you covered.

The Hipster/Gap Yah friend (anyone likely to have been parodied on YouTube)

Some purple leggings and a sailor tat, just one gear for their fixie bike, a plus-one for their gig tonight, loafers with no socks…just kidding – in all seriousness it will look like this:

– Obscure alcohol (you probably haven’t heard of it), so some red (green is too mainstream) Czech absinthe will be well received. Just make sure they didn’t try it on their Gap Year.

– A retro lens for their camera that will boost both blurriness and saturation. Good luck to you; the camera is likely to be at least 30 years old and manufactured in an eastern-bloc country.

– A coat going down to the knees with embellishments of ocelot fur and kakapo feathers.

– Rare oolong tea from Szechuan province flavoured with ginseng.

This is assuming that the hipster celebrates Christmas. More likely they will find it too commercial. Best get them presents for Tet (Vietnamese new year) instead.

The sports (sh)lad:

– Really cheap tracksuit bottoms and a vest top to wear when watching Coca Cola League 1 matches in the JCR. Needs to be cheap as it will probably get Domino’s pizza stains on it.

– 24-pack of Fosters/Carlsberg/Stella. Need we say more?

– Inflatable sex doll as a companion to be brought along to Arzoo crew dates.

– A red cape to be worn, following Arzoo crew dates, in Park End. We’ve never really got this one – but to each, their own.

The (drunken) fresher:

– 1 bottle of vodka, 1 bottle of tequila, 1 bottle of apple sours and 1 bottle of Jaeger. That should see them into the beginning of Boxing day.

– Chunder clean-up kit: 1 bucket, some sponges, paper towels, bicarbonate of soda, washing up liquid and bin bags. A sense of shame would be ideal too.

– Some johnnies. They’re at it like rabbits for god’s sake.

– A file, some note paper, pens, a textbook and some highlighters. They’ve got collections next term and Prelims in Trinity. That ought to wipe the smile off their happy Michaelmas faces. Poor things.

The geek:

– 30+ books. They’ve already read the entire faculty bibliography and their tutor’s reading lists. Ergo it will have to be something very esoteric. Liberal church politics in Baden Wurtemberg 1843-1848 should be fine.

– A very expensive and sophisticated desk lamp which boosts concentration, aids memory and adds 5% onto their finals marks.

– Some Vitamin D and some sun-bed vouchers. They’ve probably got rickets from a term stuck in Gladstone link.

Your tutor:

They want:

– Your vac work – due in Thursday of 0th. 3000 words with footnotes and a bibliography please.

– Your collection in January. Graded 2:1.

– You to do some reading the night before your Wednesday morning tute next term.

They don’t want:

– You to go to Itchy Feet the night before your Wednesday morning tute, get rat-arsed on orange VK and be drunkenly dancing to ‘I Fought the Law’ at 1am.

Review: Great Expectations

Culture

Georgina Pollard

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9th December 2012

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â˜…â˜…â˜…â˜…â˜†
Four Stars

Director Mike Newell is back with a veritable Christmas feast of top-hat-and-bustling-skirt-filled period drama, along with an all-star cast: from Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham-Carter to Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) and Holliday Grainger (Anna Karenina).

If you missed out on studying this classic tale at A-Level, firstly you have my deepest sympathies, and secondly the basis of the story is as follows: it begins in a graveyard where our protagonist Philip ‘Pip’ Pirrip chances upon escaped convict Magwitch, who threatens murder unless he returns with food and a steel file. Young Pip dutifully acquiesces to the demands of the bog-smeared escapee, and his act of fear changes the course of his life in ways he couldn’t have predicted. The plot’s pace accelerates with the arrival of Robbie Coltrane, whose hulking presence as Jaggers (a mutant sort of fairy godmother) marks the end of the scenes of drudgery at the blacksmiths with the announcement that Pip ‘is a man of great expectations’.

With a new adaptation of ‘Great Expectations’, there is always a fear that it will fail to achieve originality or even distinction from the numerous versions which precede it: the BBC’s adaptation which appeared only last Christmas, the version of 1998 set in a 20th Century USA, and the classic 1946 black and white version to name only a few.

This adaptation, however, treads new paths by bringing to the foreground the comedy of Dickens’ secondary characters and sub-plots, such as Mrs Joe and Mr Pumblechook, with Sally Hawkins and David Walliams cropping up for a quick laugh amidst all the hustle and bustle. Leads Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger also stand out taking on the complex emotional roles of Pip and Estella, playing the romance subtly but maintaining the intensity of the relationship as it stands in the novel.

Contrary to expectation, instead of a raging pantomime Dickens-Meets-Bellatrix-Lestrange-style Miss Havisham, Bonham-Carter offers quite a different, more nuanced portrayal. We see Miss Havisham as a victim: psychologically plausible with a complex past and more believable motivations than seen before in the suggestions of mental instability of previous adaptations. Ralph Fiennes puts in a solid performance as the mysterious Magwitch and not to mention Jason Flemyng (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) as the endearing old blacksmith Joe Gargery.

It is a mix of both great experience and new talent, as well as an exploration of the comic capacities of Dickens’ subplots, that makes this film so interesting. It is beautifully set, creatively directed and action-filled: well worth a watch.

Guide to Christmas music: 2012

Culture

Luke Barratt

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8th December 2012

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It’s Christmas, and music wants to join in. There’s a lot of judgement flying around on artists who make Christmas music; it’s not that fashionable, and it’s popular to believe that it’s better left to Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and the like, but we at Cherwell think that if Bob Dylan, Sting and suchlike want to get into the Christmas spirit, more power to them. ‘Tis the season.

It’s difficult to say who we would expect to release a Christmas album, as everyone from Elvis to Justin Bieber has been involved in this dubious practice at some time. But let’s be honest, Rod Stewart wasn’t much of a surprise. Less like a fish out of water than a mutilated fish that’s forgotten how to swim and has in any case been packed up in a FedEx parcel and sent to the Moon, ‘Rod the Mod’ croons his way through 16 Christmas classics for what seems like an eternity.

One could imagine The Faces producing an enjoyable Christmas album, but instead we’ve got their lead singer doing his best Bing Crosby impression and inspiring more nausea than a whole plate of Brussels sprouts. Mary J. Blige adds a touch of undeniable quality on ‘We Three Kings’, but this isn’t enough to excuse a record that probably wouldn’t even please its target audience of middle-aged women sitting by the fireside. But we shouldn’t be shocked, it is called ‘Merry Christmas, Baby’ after all.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom, as an unlikely saviour of Christmas is at hand in the form of Cee Lo Green, who casts himself as Santa plus swag on the album cover of ‘Cee Lo’s Magic Moment’. He’s taken on the rôle of spreading Christmas cheer, and achieves it in wonderfully cheery fashion; it’s virtually impossible not to smile while listening to ‘All I Need Is Love’, a collaboration with The Muppets. It’s not all cheerful though; possibly the album’s best moment is Green’s rendition of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’, a tragic, goose bump-inspiring break-up ode. Finally, the album closes with a spine-tingling ‘Silent Night’, which acts as a firm reminder of his vocal talent. Yes, it’s cheesy, and yes, it’s part of Cee Lo’s mission to expand the public personality that he’s been developing on NBC’s ‘The Voice’, but c’mon guys, it’s Christmas, and if you’re not in a festive mood by the end, your first name has to be Ebenezer.

If you’re desperate for new Christmas music though, the place to go is ‘Christmas Rules’, an album from various artists, including fun., Civil Wars and The Shins. Even Paul McCartney’s got in on the act with a version of ‘The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)’. While it doesn’t give you the relentless feeling of joy that Cee Lo provides, one can’t ignore the fact that it includes a duet from Rufus Wainwright and Sharon Van Etten, who cover ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ and will make you feel like you’re sitting by a fireside drinking eggnog and trying to ignore the weird game of charades being conducted by the section of your family that you prefer not to talk to.

We can’t go through all the Christmassy wonder on the album, but it’s worth mentioning that Y La Bamba bring us a song called ‘Señor Santa’, which is exactly as amazing as it sounds; The Shins give their own unique sound to ‘Wonderful Christmastime’, a brave venture when on the same album as the man who wrote it but successful nevertheless; and Heartless Bastards offer up a country-style rendition of ‘Blue Christmas’ in a great contribution to the truly excellent combination of country and Christmas that Lady Antebellum have managed so wonderfully this year with ‘On This Winter’s Night’, an album filled with almost more than the appropriate amount of festive happiness.

In conclusion, music has thrown its considerable weight into Christmas yet again, and it’s done pretty well. We haven’t had anything with the quality of Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler’s 2011 release ‘This Is Christmas’, which is well worth a listen, but we’re going to spend Christmas Day 2012 with Rufus Wainwright and Sharon Van Etten, and who could complain about that?

Press vultures: the media’s troubling response to tragedy

Opinion

Alexander Rankine

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8th December 2012

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Press vultures: the media’s troubling response to tragedy

Jacintha Saldanha, a 46-year-old British nurse, has been found dead, days after taking a hoax telephone call about the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge.

Headlines do not communicate complexities. A woman has died. Her family, her two children, her partner, will all have been launched into an unspeakable hell, and will suffer the sort of relentless pain that we cannot overcome so much as learn to live with.

Why the BBC and the national newspapers have led their bulletins and front pages with this private tragedy escapes me. It is not an important question of public policy or a far-reaching story of economic, environmental or social consequence. It is a matter only for the close circles of a grieving family.

This news does not touch in any way upon the general public to whom it is delivered. Yet delivered it still is, at the top of news bulletins in hourly doses. The notion that sometimes space must be made and compassion exercised has still not penetrated the press at large. The royal connection is enough to make it worth talking about, as if the whole thing were but the grim appendage to a celebrity culture.

Of course it is easy enough for a producer to justify its place on the news agenda, not least with regard to the ongoing arguments over the very press intrusiveness which now so dismays me. Won’t this case act as a great rebuke to all those who argue against limits being put on the media? How can intrusion now be justified when we see how much damage it can do to real people?

Undue prominence may be the first disturbing component of our media’s response to this story. But it is not the worst. It is when the self-righteous obsessives and limited intellects of social media begin to crawl over competing ‘tribute pages’ on the likes of Facebook that we find how low people can sink. The comments are thick with synthetic sentimentalism. So many post how ‘beautiful’, ‘caring’ and ‘intelligent’ a person the deceased was in life, yet hardly any of them ever knew her.

Grieving is a lonely process, for there are so few others who share the full bitterness of the loss. Well-intentioned they may be, but I fail to see how the sympathy of perfect strangers claiming to share in your sadness could feel like anything other than a vile simulation. Here too the entire matter is reduced to the stark black-and-white moralism of a children’s story.

The amount of hatred poured out against the Australian DJs responsible for the prank call is extraordinary. On Facebook, ‘I hope they rot and suffer’ was par for the course. Before they deleted their twitter accounts the abuse directed personally against the pair revelled in its own crudeness, ‘I hope you’re happy now…The receptionist you rang has COMMITTED SUICIDE! You have blood on your hands now!’

There are two main points to consider. The first is to what extent the presenters, who have enjoyed global fame and damnation in the space of a week, genuinely are culpable. The pair were stupid and high spirited. They probably do have a case to answer for insofar as they procured private information and wasted the time of overworked medical staff.

But as much disapproval as there was about their prank before today, so too was there amusement at their chutzpah. Their station delightedly promoted the controversy, relishing how daft the Aussies had made us pommies appear. Now that would be unthinkable. The terrible consequences have changed the moral status of the action from daring hijinks to destructive and malicious transgression.

But it is unclear whether the prank was really unacceptable simply because it unintentionally made someone feel stupid and inadequate. After all, life is full of such experiences, cruel and difficult though this is. Be it redundancy and shattered dreams, or guilt at failing to get things right, they are an inescapable part of the human condition. The pair didn’t mean to make a hard-working nurse look a fool, but she fell into a trap they had thought no one would take, and all this horror has followed from there.

If it is suicide, then rare is the suicide which is mono-causal. This was clearly a vulnerable person, susceptible to despair at the turn of events which followed. The pair were not to know this either. The whole thing was a terrible and unpredictable accident. The horrific responsibility they will carry for the rest of their lives is surely the very worst punishment. What is really striking about the venom being poured out online is the dearth of the very humanity or compassion which online commenters accuse the DJs of lacking. There is no recognition that these two young Australians will now in their turn feel desperately stupid and inadequate, and bear the irremovable and lifelong stain of guilt.

Secondly, there is a very real danger that the simplistic narrative of bad media and innocent nurse will be how we remember this. Such things have happened before. The death of Dr David Kelly cast a long shadow over Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell’s justifications for the Iraq war. Our society’s attitudes to suicide are remarkably naïve. It will happily load criticisms and pressure on someone’s back, but when they break under the load attitudes go into reverse.

Anyone can be made to feel terrible. But not everyone will react by killing themselves. Suicide normally arises out of a nexus of circumstances. The current pressures on a person are certainly one possible factor, but so too are personality, formative life events, and the propensity for mental illness. Families will search for years to try to understand why their child or sibling or parent did it, how someone could find it within themselves to leave behind their loved ones forever. In the general culture the understanding is cruder: ‘something made them feel really bad, so they killed themselves. Whoever made them feel really bad should be ashamed of themselves.’ But suicide is never so simple and rarely so intelligible.

It is often said that as a society we still do not properly appreciate the nature of mental illness. Perhaps linked are the ignorant attitudes to suicide betrayed by the responses on the social networks. In a less brazen way these notions are shared by the ‘traditional’ media. By so prominently leading the news agenda with the recent sad case, they are propagating the expectation that this death will have broader consequences, when it ought to have none. The headlines cannot convey the profound and confusing complexities of this most extreme of human decisions. Some things are better passed over in silence.

Oxford Lecturer wins Turner Prize

News

Emily Dixon

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7th December 2012

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The 2012 Turner Prize has been awarded to Oxford University lecturer and Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Dr Elizabeth Price.

The newly-appointed Fine Art lecturer at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art received the prize at Tate Britain this week for the twenty-minute video installation, ‘The Woolworths Choir of 1979’. The piece was part of a solo exhibition which was displayed at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead earlier this year.

The piece depicts a fire at a Woolworths in Manchester in 1979 which killed ten people and makes use archival video footage, photographs, music and text.

The Bradford-born artist studied at the Ruskin School in the 1980s and took up the position of University Lecturer in Fine Art alongside the 2013 Venice Biennale exhibitor Corin Sworn.

Ruskin student Lucy Mayes explained the effect of Price’s work, “The video is made up of three apparently dissimilar constituent parts: church architecture, choreography from the 1960s girl band The Shangri-Las, and archival footage from the fire. She bridges them persuasively by figuring out etymological, figurative, semiotic and semantic references which glide the imagery on easily to a kind of crescendo.”

Head of the Ruskin School, Dr Jason Gaiger told Cherwell, “I am thrilled for Elizabeth, whose work demonstrates the vitality of contemporary art practice and its ability to address themes of enduring social significance. The seriousness and technical virtuosity of her film-making is exhilarating and I am delighted that her recent achievements have been recognised through the award of Britain’s most prestigious art prize.”

He added, “Elizabeth is an inspirational teacher, who has made invaluable contributions at both undergraduate and graduate level. She is taking a leading role in the further development of the Ruskin School, including the launch of a master’s programme and the integration of Fine Art research into the wider academic community.”

Students and staff at the Ruskin School have remarked on the positive repercussions of Dr Price’s achievement for the School. Dr Gaiger told Cherwell, “The high visibility of the Turner Prize shows what young artists can achieve and it has generated considerable excitement in the School.”

Ruskin student Lucy Mayes described Dr Price’s artistic success as “a path to follow and a legacy to aim for.”

She added, “To me she has found a poignant and distinct voice and a way of working that is contemporary and distinctly new. It is admirable that she has found her voice, as it is the ultimate in what as artists we endeavour for.”The 2012 Turner Prize has been awarded to Oxford University lecturer and Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Dr Elizabeth Price. [mm-hide-text]%%IMG6436%%[/mm-hide-text]

The newly appointed Fine Art lecturer at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art received the prize at Tate Britain this week for the twenty-minute video installation, ‘The Woolworths Choir of 1979’. The piece was part of a solo exhibition which was displayed at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead earlier this year.

The piece depicts a fire at a Woolworths in Manchester in 1979 which killed ten people and makes use archival video footage, photographs, music and text. It was developed while she held the Arts Council England Helen Chadwick Fellowship at the University of Oxford and British School at Rome in 2010-11.

The Bradford-born artist studied at the Ruskin School in the 1980s and took up the position of University Lecturer in Fine Art in October alongside the 2013 Venice Biennale exhibitor Corin Sworn.

Ruskin student Lucy Mayes explained the effect of Price’s work, “The video is made up of three apparently dissimilar constituent parts: church architecture, choreography from the 1960s girl band The Shangri-Las, and archival footage from the fire. She bridges them persuasively by figuring out etymological, figurative, semiotic and semantic references which glide the imagery on easily to a kind of crescendo.”

Head of the Ruskin School, Dr Jason Gaiger told Cherwell, “I am thrilled for Elizabeth, whose work demonstrates the vitality of contemporary art practice and its ability to address themes of enduring social significance. The seriousness and technical virtuosity of her film-making is exhilarating and I am delighted that her recent achievements have been recognised through the award of Britain’s most prestigious art prize.”

He added, “Elizabeth is an inspirational teacher, who has made invaluable contributions at both undergraduate and graduate level. She is taking a leading role in the further development of the Ruskin School, including the launch of a master’s programme and the integration of Fine Art research into the wider academic community.”

Students and staff at the Ruskin School have remarked on the positive repercussions of Dr Price’s achievement for the School. Dr Gaiger told Cherwell, “The high visibility of the Turner Prize shows what young artists can achieve and it has generated considerable excitement in the School.”

Ruskin student Lucy Mayes described Dr Price’s artistic success as “a path to follow and a legacy to aim for.” She added, “To me she has found a poignant and distinct voice and a way of working that is contemporary and distinctly new. It is admirable that she has found her voice, as it is the ultimate in what as artists we endeavour for.”