Controversy has arisen in New College following recent price hikes in the college bar, and amidst fears that the College is looking to crack down on excessive drinking.

Lager rose initially by 95p to £3.00, but has since dropped to £2.50, although Olde Cider rose by just 5p. Pints of Boddingtons Bitter have risen from £1.95 to £2.30.

New College bar rep Oliver Coombe summarised concerns surrounding the price hikes. “Although we understand that torrid economic conditions have put a strain on the college’s resources, this sudden and unexplained price rise seems to be disproportionate and places New College bar as one of the most expensive in Oxford”.

JCR President Oscar Lee agreed, saying “prices have been varied” and “there appears to have been no clear strategy“.

Student bar manager Simon Teasdale commented, “raising prices at New College bar is not the way to make an ailing business more profitable. Ways to cut costs and draw extra business should be explored before hiking up the prices”.

“The bar is not competing against pubs like the Turf Tavern or the Kings Arms. It is competing against people drinking in their rooms.”

Teasdale argued that that students feel alienated, and not only by the price hike. “There was no consultation with any student, JCR committee member or otherwise. The students would be far less annoyed if the whole thing had been conducted in a less covert way. Student input has been reduced to zero. The college made no attempt to inform us that all student bar shifts and creative input would be removed. The Bar Committee and my position are entirely redundant. No explanation has been given and we feel somewhat cheated by the way college went about the whole affair.”

Caroline Thomas, the College Home Bursar, told Cherwell that the College did not have a student bar manager as the bar is now managed by College. She commented, “It is the responsibility of all College-run bars to promote responsible consumption and pricing is part of the mix of tools at our disposal to achieve this – the Designated Premises Supervisors (normally the Home or Domestic Bursar) have a legal responsibility to ensure responsible drinking and good order. Some college bars are shockingly cheap with historic pricing structures that would come under intense scrutiny if there were a serious alcohol-related accident in the college arising from consumption in the college bar.”

One New college student disputed such concerns, “College bars should be the hub of college social life. This does not necessarily mean heavy drinking sessions. Removing student input and rising prices is not conducive to creating a friendly and hospitable college atmosphere. Other colleges have cheap bars, and as a large college, so should we”.

Improvements have taken place in the New College bar such as price lists being established and glass replacing plastic cups. Teasdale noted that “Students have welcomed the decision to overturn the initial hike in the price of lager and bitter to a less egregious level, although this still constitutes an increase on Trinity 2011 prices”.

The new price of lager, although not as high as it initially was following the vacation, place New College at the top of price comparison table of the cheapest pints of lager available in college bars.

Bar prices have also gone up at Balliol’s ‘Crazy Tuesdays’. However third year “Tuesdays” fan Felicity de Vere said students “have not been put off. Drinks are still incredibly cheap. [I] thought that it would deter people and make it easier to get a drink!”.

Balliol student bar manager Simon Wood commented that the changes, which see the bar now charging 50p per pint of previously free mixer, are designed to “ensure the bar remains financially viable”.

Balliol welfare officer Alex Curran was confident that Balliol Tuesday’s can remain as a positive part of college life despite the price rises, saying, “Almost all students who come to “Crazy Tuesdays” know their limits and act in a responsible manner. The welfare team have no issues with “Crazy Tuesdays”, especially as it helps create a good social atmosphere for the college”.

JCR Dean Samuel Rabinowitz seconded such sentiments, saying that “taking things away that make people happy is not good. A new sign in system was introduced last year and, as far as I’m aware, there have been no problems since that was introduced”.

Wood added that “Crazy Tuesdays” have been a tradition since he can remember, and that the JCR quickly voted against ending the event last year.

A Trinity College alumna has accused the college this week of not having an adequate access scheme. Rebecca Newsome, who graduated from the university in 2011, lashed out at Trinity in a letter to the college President, calling its access record “appalling”.

Open castings were held in Cowley on Saturday to find extras for the new Anna Karenina blockbuster that will be released next year.

The film is being made by Joe Wright, the director of Atonement and Pride and Prejudice, and will star Keira Knightley and Jude Law. Part of the filming will take place at a heritage railway centre near Didcot Parkway station which will serve as a mock Russian location.

For this section of the production the filmmakers wanted several extras ideally of Russian or Eastern European descent. The casting session was entirely open to the public but the producers did also specifically contact the Oxford University Russian Society to encourage students to attend.

Second year English student, Esme Hicks, told Cherwell that she went along to the auditions because of the prospect of “good pay and something to put on my CV and the opportunity to see a proper big-dog film director at work.”

Karis Alpcan, a Univ History and German student, explained the audition process, “When we got there, we queued for about an hour, then we had to fill in a form with our basic information, had our measurements taken and then had our photos done by a photographer there. The process took about 10 minutes.”

Those that are selected to take part in the filming will be paid £100 for each of the four days of filming which will begin on the 11th November.

Oxford University Labour Club held a policy forum in Balliol College on Tuesday to debate the legacy of Tony Blair.

The motion was initially ‘OULC believes that Tony Blair did not do enough for the Labour cause in Britain’, but this was eventually amended to ‘OULC believes that Tony Blair did not do enough for British society’. The motion ultimately fell by 29 votes to 14, indicating OULC broadly support New Labour’s domestic policy.

Some contributors to the discussion saw Labour’s investment in public services such as health and education under Tony Blair as an improvement to British society and something to be proud of.

The introduction of the National Minimum Wage and the Working Families’ Tax Credit were cited as evidence of clear progressive steps which came about under Blair. Other attendees mentioned developments in fields such as gay rights and gender equality.

However, others disputed the idea that Blair was a genuinely left-wing politician.

It was noted that his Labour party abandoned Clause IV, which committed the party to nationalisation of industry. Comparisons were made between Blair and Thatcher, and Blair was criticised for having too much faith in market forces at the expense of the state apparatus favoured by previous Labour leaders.

It was also acknowledged that Blair was electorally Labour’s most successful ever leader, but the balance between principles and pragmatism generated controversy.

The second motion was ‘OULC believes in Tony Blair’s international strategy’.

It was broadly, though not universally, agreed that the invasion of Iraq was a miscalculation that has led to regional turmoil and over one hundred thousand deaths for little tangible gain.

Though some argued that the removal of Saddam Hussein was the right move given the information available at the time, praise for Blair’s international strategy broadly came for other operations.

Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Northern Ireland were all examples cited in defence of Blair’s foreign policy.

This motion fell by 19 votes to 15, indicating that a majority of OULC supports Tony Blair’s domestic legacy but not his international one.

Tom Rutland, OULC’s Social Secretary, told Cherwell ‘I think the evening’s discussion surrounding Tony Blair and his legacy was a useful one to have.

It is important to remember that when we agree on many things, such as the minimum wage being a good policy, the situation in Northern Ireland being vastly improved and the huge advancements in civil rights for various groups, we are inevitably going to focus on the areas we disagree when discussing Blair’s government.

When remembering Blair’s performance we should consider everything achieved in the 10 years he was in power for, not just the Iraq War.’

Hannah Wilkinson, Membership Officer and Treasurer-Elect, was more critical of the Blair legacy. ‘I think that Tony Blair was worse for the Labour movement than Margaret Thatcher was. He continued to support the individual rather than the collective voice. I’m encouraged by the fact the motion (about whether he did enough) passed fairly narrowly, although I voted against it. I think the club and the party need to admit he made a lot of mistakes and move on.’

Former Co-Chair Lincoln Hill also took the view that OULC should be focusing on the future rather than the past.

He told Cherwell ‘I think despite the controversy that any debate over Blair personally generates, we actually agree a lot more on what went right and what went wrong during his premiership than is sometimes apparent. 

The key now is for everybody to learn and apply those lessons and put in the doorstep work that will get us back into power in 2015.’

According to The Times Higher Education’s World University medicine rankings, Oxford is the best university in the world for medicine, topping the league table for clinical, preclinical and health subjects.

The Times stated that Oxford University stands out in its medical research, mentioning its long-standing network of clinical research units in Asia and Africa as a particular strength. These centres enable world-leading research on the most pressing global health challenges such as malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS and flu.

A spokesperson for Oxford University commented, “It is tremendous to be listed as the best university for medical sciences, not just in the UK but in the world – above the US powerhouses of Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Stanford.”

Tim Seers, a medical student at Imperial College in London, said however that the methodology of the league tables is a problem. He said, “It places too much emphasis on student satisfaction, which skews other results. For example, Imperial intentionally makes the course difficult and offers students little support, therefore there is lower student satisfaction overall.”

The medical sciences division has enjoyed considerable success iin attracting research funding. In August 2011 more than 100 million pounds to fund research over the next five years was awarded to the university by the National Institute for Health Research.

Alice Caulfield, a first year medic at St Anne’s, commented, “It’s unbelievable, Oxford has the greatest research funds, even though it is one of the smallest medical schools.” Andrew Mawer, a fourth year medic at St Anne’s, found Oxford’s ranking unsurprising, saying, “The teaching at Oxford is really amazing. There are a lot of professors who truly are world leaders in their field at Oxford.” When asked whether he thinks the rankings will affect people’s decisions when applying, he replied, “Applicants dithering between Oxford and Cambridge will certainly be swayed by these rankings.” Mawer added that it would reflect badly on the university if they were not right at the top, saying, “Oxford would need to be worried if they dropped out of the top 10: it would certainly make it harder for them to attract the world class research scientists that give it its edge.”

Caulfield explained her decision to apply to Oxford, saying, “I chose Oxford because the course is academic and mainly theoretical. We learn about the science that underpins medicine rather than spending hours learning how to talk to patients.

“At the end of the day, medicine is a science. One needs to understand the scientific principles behind a diagnosis before learning how to communicate.”

Professor Andrew Hamilton, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, released a statement concerning the merger, ‘With the joint working agreement now coming into effect, we are determined to deliver a true health sciences partnership that provides high-quality healthcare for patients backed by the latest in world-leading medical research.’

Dr. Lancaster is convinced that the newly-integrated trust will result in many benefits, ‘The new organisation will facilitate the translation of research findings into advances in patient care, leading to improved care for NHS patients and a stimulating environment for medical training.’