Oxide was off the air for the last few days of Michaelmas as technical problems were compounded by the untidiness of the studio environment.

The student radio station faced severe equipment problems from Friday of 7^th week until Monday of 8^th but during this time there were concerns over how the studio, a small room within the OUSU building, was being treated. Reports of the room being found filled with rubbish (particularly empty alcohol bottles) added to fears that the expensive equipment was being treated carelessly. These concerns were heightened when the studio was further damaged on Wednesday and left completely unusable, leaving the Oxide managers with little option but to suspend the last two days of broadcasting.

Sara Pridgeon, who co-edits the Oxford Theatre Review and regularly produces content inside the Oxide studio, expressed her frustration with the actions of other presenters. She told Cherwell that the incident was not a one-off but a particularly bad example of a common problem, indicating that she was “never surprised” by the room’s condition upon arriving for her show, even when this included broken equipment or scattered rubbish. She added, “Everyone at Oxide needs to do a lot better – we can’t actually produce shows or be taken seriously if we don’t respect our studio.”

Tuesday night presenter Andrew Seaton commented that the events were a “real shame,” adding, “Oxide is poorly funded compared to a lot of other societies and [the radio station’s] committees have worked hard to balance the books while attempting to maintain a functioning student radio station.” He later indicated that “this [was] a real setback,” since “things seemed to be getting better – especially in the new OUSU building.” He pointed out that presenters were usually the only ones around during broadcasts so the studio upkeep was very much a matter of personal responsibility.

Oxide Programme Controller Maggie Lund supported the conclusion that the damage pointed towards the thoughtlessness of individual presenters rather than vandalism. She commented that the Oxide community were “all just sad that a minority of presenters seem to treat the studio so carelessly despite using it every week to put out their show that they work hard on and care a lot about.”

Students attending the Varsity Ski Trip received an email from the organisers this week warning them of the lack of snow at the resort.

The official website of the Val Thorens resort, which will host over 3000 Oxbridge students next week, declares that the depth of new snowfall is currently at 0cm, while on the highest slopes the snow is around 40cm thick.

The organisers of the annual ski trip explained that “the beginning of the Alpine winter has been marred by a record low rate of snowfall” but maintained that “there are now a higher proportion of runs open in Val Thorens than in any other Alpine resort, with more opening on a daily basis.”

Currently only 15 out of 76 runs are open or forecast to open. Experienced skiers were offered the option of buying an additional pass to ski in the neighbouring 3 valleys resort; however the organisers have announced that this will definitely not be open in time. Students who paid for this upgrade will be refunded after the trip. Those who purchased a standard lift pass will not have the option of a refund.  

Second year English student, Esme Hicks, commented, “It’s a shame especially as I went last year and wanted to try some of the harder slopes this year. But at the end of the day it’s not just about the skiing – it’s a chance to get away from Oxford and have fun with your friends.”

University College student Juliet Roe added, “As a novice skier a large part of me is not that bothered by the lack of snow but the part attached to my purse-strings is slightly more concerned.”

As some of the largest scale public sector strikes in a generation struck Britain on Wednesday, Oxford’s streets were filled with demonstrators, who marched through the city centre to protest the government’s proposed changes to public sector pensions.

Starting at Magdalen Roundabout and marching down the high street, the march – which was organised by the Oxford and District Trades Union Council and numbered several thousand people – had reached Broad Street by 3.30pm. Traffic was held up but there was no major disturbance.

Protesters included representatives from education, the NHS and the civil service. They used slogans such as, “Cuts! Job losses! Money for the bosses!” Unions such as Unite and the NUT were out in force, with a number of students providing support.

While the march itself was against the government’s cuts to public sector pensions, the placards on display indicated a wide range of grievances. Some called for revolution and the overthrow of the government; some were against public sector pension cuts and the rising retirement age; some were anti-tuition fees. Others were more light-hearted, with one reading, “I was told there would be biscuits.”

Security was tight across Oxford in the run-up to the march, with staff checking Bod cards on the way into libraries and the exam schools. There was an active police presence throughout the day, but the march was an orderly affair with no violence.

The public sector workers involved in the rally were clear about their reasons for going on strike. Clive Scoggins is Negotiations Officer at Prospect, a union which has recently voted for industrial action for the first time. He told Cherwell, “Most of our members in Prospect are moderate, they’re inaudible, they don’t take industrial action lightly. They feel they’ve been driven to this because of the lack of real negotaiation with the government with these changes.”

Van Coulter, a member of Oxford City Council, said, “I’m here primarily because the cuts are so unfair. They’re taking a greater proportion of the income of the poor than they do for the rich. It’s quite unjust that poor people who are sick, vulnerable, retired – that they’re being asked to pay more value added tax on a smaller income and if they had any savings they’re getting a pittance for those savings.”

Julian Hill, RCN Officer at the Royal College of Nursing, added, “It’s going to be a long hard slog, but if we don’t protest, the government will just keep doing whatever it wants.”

Most protesters agreed that the day had been a success. Liz Peretz, who works for the campaign “Keep our NHS Public”, called the event “The best rally we’ve ever had in Oxford” and added, “We’ve seen lots of students who are really supportive.” Peretz claimed that the workers on strike enjoy wide support in Oxford, saying, “For every one person who’s here today, there’ll be another ten who aren’t here, but who are with us in spirit.”

Roy Bentley, from the University and College Union, called the event “incredibly successful”, and expressed the hope that rallies like the one in Oxford today will have an effect on the government’s policy. He said, “The government would be foolish to ignore today. What we’re asking them to do is to reconsider their policy. Our pensions are affordable, but they are trying to take them away to solve the deficit.”

Students who witnessed the rally were largely supportive of the demonstrators’ cause. Nathan Akehurst, a fresher at Lincoln, said, “I’m here today in support of a strike against the unfair pension system. The fact is that the pension scheme’s actually in surplus, and still we’re expecting workers to work more, pay more and get less at the end of it, and that’s not the sort of society I want to grow up in.”

Matt Myers, a Wadham PPE fresher who woke up at 6am to go to the pickets at Churchill Hospital and stayed with the protesters for the duration of Wednesday’s events, said, “The strike today by 2.5 million workers has shown the government that the power of the organized working class has not been destroyed”.

Myers also praised student involvement in the rally, saying, “Today the student presence on the demonstration showed the government that we will not be divided, we will fight together, and we will win together.”

Leo Topp, a second-year classicist present at the rally in Broad Street in the afternoon, took a similarly positive view of the day’s events. He said, “It was inspiring to see so many people willing to come out in protest rather than just accept changes which damage their lives.”

Not all students were wholly convinced by the demonstration, however. Felix Neate, a second-year English student at Corpus Christi, said he sympathised with the strikers’ cause, but suggested that some of the demonstrators were too lighthearted in their approach to the day’s events, telling Cherwell, “They looked like they were having too much fun for people who were actually unhappy.”