Thursday, May 1, 2025
Blog Page 187

The joy of Spotify’s Discover Weekly

Thomas Bristow
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<strong>The joy of Spotify’s <em>Discover Weekly</em></strong>

For the first year of university, I had almost completely ignored Spotify’s other features. For me, it was always more of a place to collect and catalogue music, and I had never really thought it to be a great tool of discovery. Other than the infamous annual Wrapped, there was never much of a relationship with the platform, and I felt that this was something Spotify was lacking. That was until I found Discover Weekly.

I can’t exactly remember why, but I began browsing Spotify’s Mix playlists and was disappointed to find that it was essentially just music I already knew, I couldn’t see the point of it. But when I listened to Discover Weekly for the first time, I quickly became hooked on it. Here, every Monday, were 30 new songs by all manner of weird and obscure artists whom I’d never heard of, and short enough to listen to in one morning of uni work. I created a new playlist and began adding most of it immediately, almost overwhelmed by the amount of new content. Soon, it became very habitual to spend Monday morning listening to Discover Weekly. 

Sometimes Discover Weekly is underwhelming, and I won’t add any music from it to my library, instead using it more as background music. But other weeks it coughs up a hidden gem; artists whose music I never would have found otherwise or songs that quickly become some of the best I have heard. Indeed, many of my favourite songs of all time have been first experienced on Discover Weekly. To me it is an invaluable resource and one in which all the hard work of finding the music is seemingly done for you. But this begs the question; how exactly does it work? How can Spotify deliver a playlist curated to your taste every single week? And is it really as it seems?

The answer to most of this is actually very straightforward and perhaps obvious: algorithms. Spotify uses the data of its users’ playlists to work out where possible gaps in your listening are. By comparing your playlists with those of thousands (if not millions) of other users who have similar taste, it can find music which should logically suit you. The platform also creates a highly specific music profile for each user, with which it can filter suggestions and thus recommend music that you have never heard before. As to its legitimacy and fairness, it seems quite sound. While there are YouTube videos trying to explain how to get your own music on Discover Weekly, it all amounts to data for the algorithm again. For example, 100 streams from people who have repeated the song or added it to their playlist indicates ‘Listener Intent’, and so the song is more likely to be recommended to a specific group of people on their Discover Weekly. This is opposed to 1000 streams where the song is mostly skipped or the artist’s profile doesn’t receive much attention. Essentially, the algorithm tries to distinguish between the quality of the music and what people are more likely to enjoy.

Ultimately, Discover Weekly is a nifty feature which Spotify possesses to differ itself from competitors. By doing the hard work of actually finding the music for its customers, their loyalty is more likely, and so then is their money. But aside from this more cynical view, I believe that Discover Weekly can serve a far greater purpose, if you only let it do so. It is an extremely effective and simple tool to expand one’s musical horizons. As mentioned, some of the best music I’ve ever heard has come from this short playlist. It is constantly changing, evolving and updating itself to suit you, and whilst most of the music won’t make it onto your playlists, it’s worth it for the few songs that do. Discover Weekly gives access to a truly endless, undiscovered and changing world of music. All you have to do is listen.

Image Credit: Maeve Hagerty

The city of shrinking spires

Maggie Wilcox
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The city of shrinking spires

When it comes to housing affordability, Oxford is well-behind its world-class peers. Researchers and academics at the University of Oxford are faced with some of the highest housing costs in England and elite academia. While Oxford is infamously an expensive city, it also has a reputation of elitism and prestige. It would be expected that employees at one of the world’s oldest universities, where three course meals in ornate halls are a weekly occurrence, could afford to live in the ancient city. This is not the case.

Oxford’s severe lack of affordable housing has been highlighted in recent years by city councillors, the Oxford branch of the University and Colleges Union, university staff and administrators. The university and other groups are taking steps to improve housing supply and commuting benefits. However when compared to other comparable institutions, particularly in the United States, Oxford is far behind in terms of affordability – for reasons that go far beyond housing policy alone.

Housing costs high across the sector 

The life of an academic at Oxford or Cambridge and that of someone occupying a similar post at a top Ivy League school or elite research university like MIT or Stanford is different in many ways. Those working in the UK generally receive greater social benefits, like maternity and parental leave. By contrast, salaries and scholarships starting at the graduate level are often more generous in the US. There is, however, one domain where top tier UK universities, and Oxford in particular, continually lag behind their American counterparts: housing affordability. 

Rent is high across university towns. An analysis of rents in counties with elite universities in the UK and the US (Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge) puts both Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire on the cheaper end of the scale. As of April 2022, the median monthly rent for a studio apartment in both counties was £550, a far cry from the £1630.2 needed to live in a similar sized apartment in Santa Clara County, home to Stanford University. However, larger two-bedroom apartments in Oxford are more expensive than Cambridge and close to the price found in those around Yale University in New Haven. In terms of house prices, Cambridgeshire is the cheapest amongst these counties. Next lowest is Oxfordshire, where the median house costs £62008.40 more than Cambridgeshire. Nevertheless, homes near these British universities are cheaper than homes near American universities. 

When contextualised within their respective country’s housing markets though, Oxford does not appear as comparatively cheap. The rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Oxfordshire is about 41.7% higher than the English median, while rents in Mercer County (Princeton University), and New Haven, are 27% and 13.2% above the US national average respectively. Home prices in Oxford are 15.8% above the UK average, not as great an aberration as those found in Santa Clara that average about 210% higher than the US average, but still greater than a New Haven home which is 10% above the national average. 

That Oxford is so expensive by UK standards distinguishes it from a handful of other elite universities. But, even those institutions located in areas where rents are more than double the national average are able to remain more affordable to staff because of the housing assistance universities offer.

Other universities offer assistance to offset cost of housing

The near-absence of housing assistance policies in Oxford places the university squarely behind its world-class peers. It does have a portfolio of university-owned rental properties, but it offers no university-wide home purchase or rental benefit. Some colleges provide joint equity purchase schemes and offer some short-term rental accommodation, particularly to graduate students, although this system seems starkly underdeveloped compared to other elite universities. Stanford, by contrast, offers five different loan programs to academics and has numerous rental options available for postgraduates and beyond. 

Lack of support should be not viewed as an intrinsically British phenomenon. Many London universities offer generous relocation allowances. UCL even offers home loans up to £50,000 for certain eligible staff members.

That being said, Palo Alto and London are extremely expensive housing markets, so it should be expected that a degree of assistance is offered to attract and retain talent. However, even cheaper areas like Princeton and New Haven offer far more housing assistance than Oxford. In Princeton, the average home price is about 5.2 times the base academic staff salary average and at Yale it is 4.5 times. At Oxford, an employee occupying the lowest strand in a full-time academic position could expect to pay a bit higher, 6.4 times their salary for the average home, but still these values are not vastly different. And yet, both Yale and Princeton universities have established loan and purchasing programs where the university covers parts of the cost of home purchases, through co-buying the home or payments directly to eligible staff members. These programs are not new either; Yale’s is over 28 years old.

Even Cambridge appears slightly ahead of Oxford in terms of housing assistance,having recently constructed a dedicated community of affordable housing for its staff in Eddington. Some shared apartments here have rents, including utilities, for as low as £650 a month.

The problem in Oxford

Housing prices and a lack of support from the university have combined to create the problem, but there are other deeper structural issues within the university and the town that must be addressed. First, land is at a premium in Oxford. More so than in the United States, cities like Oxford- and Cambridge- lack land open to development on their peripheries. Much of the land outside of the current urban core area is protected, part of the “Green Belt”. This donut-shaped area includes many scenic woods, rivers and floodplains, as well as important farmland. However, it also encompasses motorways and open land, which despite not being of particular natural significance are still under restrictive regulation. Consequently, new outward development is often difficult around Oxford. 

And then, there is the question of endowment. Its endowment of over six billion pounds would place it twenty-fifth in the US, about fifteen billion pounds lower than Princeton, the next poorest university examined in this article. It is lower than Cambridge’s as well, by around one billion pounds. This lack of funds is longstanding and is one of Oxford’s greatest weaknesses, partially inherent to the structure of the university itself. Each college has their own endowment, strategies for growing said endowment and fundraising departments. Furthermore, American universities generally have a greater history of alumni philanthropy, with some Ivies like Princeton boasting close to 50% alumni donation rates. “Old Members” give generously at Oxford, but not to the same extent as in the US with donations split amongst college and university initiatives. 

While a large endowment does not simply enable a university to spend vast amounts of money on whatever projects need attention, it does offer flexibility. A smaller endowment prohibits Oxford from establishing the types of housing benefits that wealthier universities in the United States are able to provide for their staff. As well, the relative lack of funds partially contributes to some of the salary discrepancy we see between British and American institutions. Though, as the UCU argues, the university has an obligation to pay its staff more. David Chibnall, Vice President of the Oxford Branch, says “first thing that the University could do is ensure that pay and PGR [postgraduate research] stipends keep up with housing cost”.

Efforts to improve the housing crisis

Increasingly, the university is acknowledging both the lack of endowment and affordable housing. Prof Dame Louise Richardson, former Vice-Chancellor, has acknowledged Oxford’s comparative lack of funds and has included steps to increase the university’s endowment in her strategic plan. 

In this strategic plan, the university has also set out a goal to construct one thousand new subsidised homes for college staff. The university has entered into a development partnership with L&G to reach this goal. Projects to date include the expansion of the Begbroke Science Park, which Current Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof. Irene Trace highlighted in her recent inauguration address. She reiterated that the university “want[s] to do more” and the Begrbroke development, currently in the planning stage, will “reduce strain on the city’s housing stock and public services”. The University and colleges have also made considerable investments in new accommodation, which Dr David Prout, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Resources, explains has “reduced pressure on the local housing market”.

Individual college land holdings, like St. John’s property in North Oxford and Christ Church’s Bayswater Brook area are also being transformed into innovation and living spaces. In the case of St John’s Oxford North, 35% of these units will also be designated affordable housing. Alongside university and college developments, Oxford City Council is also pledging to build 1600 new affordable homes by 2026 and claim they are “on track to exceed this goal”. The Council adds that their Local Plan “allows employers to provide employees with affordable

housing on specific sites they own within the city”. Not only does this benefit university staff retention, it also frees up social rented homes.

In the past ten years, the university has also devoted resources to lessening the expense of commuting, particularly those who use sustainable modes of transportation. This allows staff to afford the cost of commuting from Oxfordshire’s less expensive outlying villages. Benefits include bike purchase loans, construction of showers in department buildings and subsidising new electric fleet vehicles. The program alone is not a solution, however, and many American universities have similar programs in conjunction with more affordable housing.

A more well- endowed future

A greater supply of housing and new programs to assist commuters will, if properly implemented, alleviate some of the cost of living and working in Oxford. These will come with a hefty price tag and are not the university’s sole priority. However, this crisis, intrinsically linked to the financial power of Oxford raises a more troubling question: can the ancient, tutorial-based university survive in the modern world? 

This is not a new worry, as calls to grow both Oxford and Cambridge’s endowments, following the professional investment management model of many American universities, have been around for twenty-five years. Like alleviating the housing crisis, growing an endowment to rival the size of elite American universities however, will take decades. 

Spare – Is Harry’s book another step in the road to a United Republic?

Matthew Oulton
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Spare – Is Harry’s book another step in the road to a United Republic?

Harry’s tell-all book gives an insight into the inner workings of the Crown. It gives British readers a unique glimpse of how the royal sausage is made, as well as a healthy dose of personal angst and intrigue. However, exposing the cruelty of the press, the bizarre lifestyle of the royals, and the hierarchy inherent to a monarchy, it raises a barrage of questions pertinent to the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom.

But does it answer any of them?

The book is strangely silent on the nature of the British constitution. Apart from an incongruous section where Harry reaffirms his nominal commitment to monarchy, he barely mentions the fact that he is where he is by dint of aristocracy. He writes as though the son of an American celebrity, not the British monarch.

Why does the book remain silent on the most pressing questions it raises? Because this is not a book written for Brits. Like the Beatles in 1964, this book is aimed at one thing only – the American audience.

The signs that the book is written for an American audience are subtle; a slight over-explanation here and there of things that are obvious to a Brit, with little explanation to those things that are obvious to Americans. There’s also his sensitive discussion of issues of race but his overlooking of colonial undertones in many of his experiences. There’s his treatment of war, especially in Afghanistan. Far from interrogating the rights and wrongs of conflict, Harry wholeheartedly embraces the ‘glory of war’ rhetoric that is universal in America, but more of a debate in the UK. It adds up to the book feeling slight off to a British reader.

Furthermore, far from discussing the constitutional elephants in the room, Harry deliberately ignores the topic. He doesn’t differentiate between anachronisms and necessary parts of monarchy. He doesn’t differentiate between the bad behaviour of individual family members and the nature of the institution.

If Harry had written a book calling for the abolition of the monarchy, perhaps that could be understood. But to write a book which simply points out some of the absurdities and cruelties is a weak effort.

Furthermore, Harry completely lacks self-awareness. He oscillates from complaints about very serious things that everyone can relate to – losing his mother, being ejected from the military, very serious infringements on his safety and privacy – to minor trifles such as the position of a car outside his home at Sandringham or the size of his flat when he met Meghan. In one notable passage, he complains about being denied a tiara for Meghan on his wedding day in the same breath as complaining about a lack of adequate police protection. One of these is trivial, one is not, and that Harry doesn’t differentiate between them shows an astonishing lack of self-awareness.

Furthermore, his account is completely one-sided. He complains – justifiably – about the intense scrutiny and lack of privacy afforded by his status, without discussing the privilege he experiences. His jet-set lifestyle and endless trips to clubs, bars, and fancy restaurants is merely a backdrop to the story – never discussed. The role of the British class in his life and position is neglected exclusively, apart from a few sidelong references to ‘class envy’ that he perceives to have been directed towards him.

Why does he do that?

I can’t help but feel he does it because he knows that an American audience will overlook it. He will come across, to American eyes, as an ordinary heir to an enormous family fortune. The American reader will not, I’d wager, appreciate that the entire time he is complaining, his wages are paid by the British taxpayer.

Likewise, that Harry maintains Meghan didn’t, and indeed could not, have anticipated what being his wife would be like, is absurd to a British reader. Prince Harry was one of the most famous people on earth. He is the grandson of probably the most famous person in world history. It’s not fair that the pair of them were forced to experience what they went through, but to feign ignorance about it beforehand stretches credulity.

That Harry’s book offers only a one-track view into his life and the monarchy does not make it a waste of paper. In fact, because people always assume that to be a prince would be an unalloyed pleasure, he offers a useful counterweight to prevailing views. However, his book does not offer what it could have – a clear-eyed look at that most private of institutions. It also doesn’t expose much of substance that we didn’t already know.

Now, of course, it’s not right to trap someone in a gilded cage. A clear and obvious conclusion of the plight of Meghan and Harry is that royals need a way to exit gracefully.

They need an option to opt out of the monarchy if they don’t want to be involved that doesn’t involve acrimony and conflict. They also need to be able to earn money in their own right, and be afforded adequate protection, so that they don’t need to fund themselves through salacious books and documentaries.

Further, Harry’s treatment as a child is unfair. Royals deserve a degree of privacy as minors, in the same way as the press often offers privacy to the children of serving and former politicians. Until they are old enough to decide whether to remain part of this strange ritual, children should not be subject to the feral interrogations of the press.

Harry does not suggest this, however, merely relaying his experiences in a way that is neither analytical nor self-aware.

These are fundamentally British questions. They refer to our press, our monarch, and our constitution. Harry is silent on these questions because his book is not for us. He is writing to an American audience, and in the process is criticising a British system, and his British family, when he knows they cannot respond.

It is possible, therefore, to feel intensely sorry for Harry, treated as he has been, without forgiving him for this very public falling out with the nation. Harry should not have been forced to give up so much, but nor should he have been afforded the lifestyle he wanted without any of the obligations that royalty entails. Harry has made himself both more sympathetic and less in one fell swoop. I hope, likely in vain, that this can mark a turning point with Harry’s relationship with his family, the press, the UK, and the Commonwealth. What I think, however, will not sway him, because I am British, and he has left our country behind.

Image Credit: James Boyes / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Oxford Councillors receive death threats over false rumours of “climate lockdown”

Suzanne Antelme
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Oxford Councillors receive death threats over false rumours of “climate lockdown”

Oxfordshire County Councillors have received online abuse and death threats following false rumours of a ‘climate lockdown’ circulated following the approval of six new traffic filters.

Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Councillor and cabinet member for travel and development strategy told the BBC he has been left feeling “bruised” and “cautious” after receiving death threats.

After staff at both councils received threats online and over the phone, Oxfordshire County Council released a joint statement with Oxford City Council saying they are “taking appropriate steps to provide staff and councillors with support” while working with the Thames Valley Police to address “the most extreme abuse”. They attribute the abuse to “inaccurate information” spreading online about the recently approved traffic filters.

One article, published online at the end of November and subsequently fact checked by Reuters as false, claimed the Oxfordshire County Council had approved plans for a ‘climate lockdown’ where residents would be locked into one of six zones and prevented from leaving or travelling between zones without Council permission. According to Reuters this article has been shared thousands of times.

Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council have endeavoured to “set the record straight” in their joint statement, where they note that online misinformation links the traffic filters with proposals to develop ‘15-minute neighbourhoods’ and incorrectly suggests the traffic filters will trap residents in their neighbourhoods. In reality, all areas of Oxford will still be accessible by car with the traffic filters (requiring at most a detour to the ring road) and the 15-minute neighbourhood proposals “aim to support and add services, not restrict them”, with a focus on bringing shops, healthcare and parks within easy walking distance of local neighbourhoods.

The traffic filters, approved by the County Council’s cabinet at the end of November and due to come into force in 2024, constitute a £6.5 million trial scheme aiming to divert traffic from congested roads at peak times. The County Council claims that the traffic filters will make walking and cycling safer and free up bus routes, as well as tackling climate change and air pollution. At each traffic filter, a camera will monitor licence plates and if a private car passes through the filter between 7am and 7pm (excluding weekends for some filters) they will be fined £70. Oxford residents can apply for a permit allowing them to pass the filters up to 100 days a year, and there will be a variety of exemptions for blue badge holders, care workers, businesses and others. The filters have no effect on buses, bicycles, or pedestrians and are apparently expected to generate about £1.1 million in fines.

The traffic filters have faced their share of legitimate opposition, with over 3,400 people signing a petition against two of the filters in particular and a further 1,700 people expressing fears that Botley Road will be overwhelmed by traffic if the Council does not reconsider. According to the BBC Liam Walker, shadow cabinet member for highways, is worried the plans will cost residents and impact businesses.

Before approving the traffic filters, Oxfordshire County Council carried out a public consultation on the proposal from 5th September to 13th October which had 5,700 respondents. The results of the consultation were then analysed and summarised by an independent research company and used to update the proposals and inform the County Council cabinet meeting on 29th November where the filters were approved.

Reflecting on the threats he has received, Councillor Enright told the BBC that he thought he had been “built up into some huge monster” and protested he is “not a lizard … [and] not a person from another planet who is trying to take over people’s lives”.

Space Send-Off: Oxford Students launch experiment to the ISS

Bintia Dennog
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Space Send-Off: Oxford Students launch experiment to the ISS

A team of five Oxford University graduate students worked together with the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET) to turn schoolchildrens’ ideas into an experiment to be launched to the International Space Station. The experiment was successfully launched into space onboard the Cygnus NG18 last November

As part of ISSET’s Mission Discovery programme 300 UK schoolchildren aged 14 to 18 competed to develop an experiment idea for space. They were assisted by space scientists and astronauts throughout the five-day-long competition in summer 2021. 

One of the six winning experiments was then further developed at the University of Oxford – the first of its kind to be developed here. Ross Barber, Director of ISSET, said: “Mission Discovery was designed to enable the next generation of talent and we can’t think of a better place for these bright young minds to showcase what they have learnt.”

The experiment itself focuses on ferrofluids and how these behave in microgravity. Ferrofluids are liquids that contain iron particles, making them magnetic. Using electromagnets that manipulate the ferrofluids through a coil, a current is induced by the movement of the fluid. The Mission Discovery students believe that ferrofluids can be used as energy harvesters. 

Over a year, the team of Oxford students, led by Daniel Molland and Daniel Cervenkov turned this experiment into a miniaturised version that would be able to function in a weightless environment – it had to be small enough to fit into a 5cm by 5cm payload for space travel.  Dr Mike Foale, a former NASA astronaut, assisted the students with the project and visited Oxford in October 2021. 

The experiment is designed as a pair, with one version remaining on the ground and one in space to help observe the effect of microgravity.

In November, the graduates were able to travel to the US, along with ISSET representatives, to help with final preparations and to witness the launch. 

Daniel Mollard, who is also the ISSET Chief Scientist at Oxford, said “I’m proud that I could help give that opportunity to my fellow graduate students alongside ISSET and help inspire the winning school children to believe that anything is possible!”

Vaibhavi Rajesh, one of the members of the winning team of schoolchildren, said: “I knew that Oxford would really put a lot of effort into [our experiments], but I didn’t realise the amount of work that goes into it, nor the extent of staff that work on it. It was so great to come in person to see our dream come true. It’s just been magic.” Their team was invited to Oxford to watch their experiment being built.

The results for the experiment are expected back on the SpaceX CRS26 return mission, beginning of 2023. 

“All it takes is one yes”: In conversation with Sian Eleri

Meg Lintern
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“All it takes is one yes”: In conversation with Sian Eleri

It’s a rainy January day and I’m sitting alone in my room, anxiously scrutinising my face on Zoom as I wait for Sian Eleri to join the call. Sian is one of my personal heroes: a new addition to the Radio 1 team, she is the host of the Power Down Playlist on BBC Radio 1 four nights a week, as well as the Chillest Show for two hours every Sunday. I am used to hearing her dulcet tones interspersing a tracklist of mellow music as I squirrel away in the library. It’s strange to see the face accompanying the voice pop onto the screen as Sian greets me with that familiar Welsh accent and an equally warm smile. 

Over the past couple of years, Sian has achieved a dream that’s been a long time in the making: she has secured her own regular show on BBC Radio 1. “It’s been a whirlwind,” she tells me. “A really life-changing year.”

There is a very real sense of the hard graft and dedication that has gone into securing this position. Even though Sian had no idea what she wanted to do with her life when she was at school, studying two arts and two sciences at A Level to keep her options open, she did know that “the two things I liked were music and people.” 

Sian applied to study history at Leeds University, but “within maybe one or two seminars, I already knew I hated it. I knew I couldn’t do something for three years, get into debt for three years, with a degree I didn’t want and a degree I knew I couldn’t do anything with. So, I dropped out and then reapplied to the same uni for the following year to start broadcast journalism. And it was almost like the best mistake I ever made.”

After doing placements with local radio stations, as well as working for Leeds Student Radio, Sian realised: “That’s my thing, I suppose – it’s radio”. 

She says that Radio 1 “had been staring at me in the face my whole life, because it was such an enormous part of my childhood, from waking up before the rest of my family to listen to the breakfast show when I was in primary school, to sitting in the car in the driveway after swimming lessons on a Friday night just to listen to Zane Lowe.

“But it felt so out of reach that it was just like, ‘Don’t even dream of it because you’re just going to set yourself up for failure’. So I feel incredibly lucky that for some reason they thought I was decent enough to have on their roster. I feel really privileged to have the job that I had silently dreamt of, but never thought would be achievable.”

This dream was by no means one that came true overnight. For the first couple of years of Sian’s career, it felt like she was wishing on an unforgiving star. “I was desperate for a full-time job in radio for just the sense of security, but also to feel like I was progressing or having the space to progress in a workplace. But I was never able to get one because it’s such a competitive industry. Everyone was clambering over each other to get these jobs, and they’re so few and far between, so it was years of freelancing, mainly in production.” 

That struggle for work, as well as the constant onslaught of rejections from job applications, was something that ground down her resolve. Sian remembers, “I was just so desperate for work and applying for everything under the sun and either getting ‘No’s or no-shows. And it was brutal. Because again, I think for me, as quite a competitive person and someone who puts 110% into everything… after a while getting so many rejections in a role can feel quite crippling on your self-confidence. 

“I remember there was a moment a few years ago, where [I had] had enough. I’d kept a spreadsheet of every job I applied for, and there were hundreds on there. And maybe there were like two that were in green, [but] I think I’d just had one more rejection. That was one too many, I suppose. And I remember breaking down in the middle of my partner’s living room, on the floor… I was just like, ‘I don’t know how much more of this I can take, and whether what I’m pursuing is completely pointless and impossible’.”

Just when it seemed like giving up might be the only option, one of Sian’s colleagues from her freelancing jobs pushed her to apply for a spot at Radio 1. “He was the one that really pushed me because he was just like, ‘Sian, what is one more no? What’s one more no?’ And that was enough for me to be like, right, okay, I’ll make this demo. See how it goes. And lo and behold, a month later, I got the call to do a one-off show. And I thought, Oh, my God, like, this is the thing I’ve been waiting for.

“I think it’s easy to say now in hindsight that all it takes is one yes. Because I remember it being really hard – being constantly put down and feeling that I was delusional, you know, that I wasn’t good enough. But yeah, all it takes is one yes. And perhaps if I’d gotten a yes, before [Radio 1], then maybe I wouldn’t have gone for the Radio 1 thing at all. 

“I don’t believe in fate, but I think there’s certain parts of it where I’m glad I persevered.”

That perseverance has certainly paid off. With regular live shows, as well as replays on Radio 1 Relax, a new platform playing chilled-out tunes, Sian is consolidating her presence. 

Her role also comes with full control over the music she plays on her shows. Considering the volume of songs and album cuts that she is sent by aspiring musicians and their record labels, this is no small feat. This responsibility is even more significant in light of the increasing pressure on festivals, music labels, and radio shows to increase their diversity. In August 2022, Sian’s friend and Radio 1 colleague Jaguar commissioned a report into gender representation in UK dance music through the Jaguar Foundation. The report revealed that just 5% of dance music in the UK charts had exclusively women or non-binary artists as the primary artist and feature, and less than 1% of the top 200 airplay tracks across 2020-21 on twelve UK radio stations featured only female or non-binary artists. Whilst dance music is not the focus of Sian’s shows, she is evidently aware of the need to bring greater attention to artists who have historically struggled to gain an audience. 

Due to this, significant thought goes into curating the tracklist for each Radio 1 show that Sian hosts. She tells me that she has a spreadsheet detailing the songs she will play in each show, which has “a little column on the side, where we can specify the gender of the artist. So for every show, I make it ‘Even Stevens’, or as close to ‘Even Stevens’ as I can.”

The same is true of regional disparities. Sian says that when looking through the spreadsheet, she’ll make mental notes: “Oh, there’s no one from Scotland, and I didn’t have anyone from Scotland last week. Okay, let’s, let’s change that.” 

She continues,“It’s a matter of making sure that there’s a diverse range of artists that you’re representing on your show, from different walks of life and different communities, because it’s so important, even as a listener of music, if I can hear that a DJ is one minute supporting someone from Walsall, the next minute, supporting someone from Carmarthen, and the next minute supporting someone from Aberdeen. And I mean, it’s like, it’s huge. It’s a really, really important aspect of music curation. And it does feel like a responsibility, but one that you’re quite proud of taking part in. 

“I think if you’re showing different sides, and how diverse the country is, then it makes it a more rich tapestry, I suppose, of music that you’re showcasing. And a more colourful palette in general, I think. [And] it is also things like making sure that you have various different genres that you have different ethnicities. It’s a default responsibility at this point that is just… it’s just the way things are when we’re creating the show.”

Undoubtedly, Sian Eleri has her finger on the pulse of the music industry. In 2022, she introduced artists ranging from Piri and Tommy to Rachel Chinouriri who would go on to soar to stardom or release hit singles. In 2023, she has her eyes on one band in particular: “I love Gabriels. I’ve seen Gabriels a few times live now, maybe two or three times. And every single one, I’ve just left in tears.”

She added, “I think Flowerovlove is also really exciting. She’s so young. She’s like 17. And it scares me how confident she is. [I’ve] spoken to her a few times now, and I’m always taken aback and like, whoa, where’s this come from? But she’s so talented, and so kind of self-assured as an artist, and I mean, being young doesn’t make a difference.”

One of the features on Sian’s Sunday slot, the Chillest Show, is called the Support Club. Listeners from across the country write in to voice whatever’s on their mind, from trivial concerns to monumental life events. A large number of these listeners are students.

Generally, these students are talking about universal struggles, with exams or deadlines approaching. Sian says that their concerns can range from anything from a need for reassurance to a bad case of writer’s block to exam anxiety. “It’s not just a matter of me being an agony aunt,” she says. “It’s more about saying, ‘It’s okay to feel the way that you’re feeling. I understand you, and thank you for taking the time to reach out. I hope everything is okay.’”

Sian elaborates, “There’ve been a lot of messages that I’ve had in the past where I’m pleasantly surprised, but also in awe of listeners who feel like they can be so confessional with [me]. You get an intimate window into someone’s life in that moment that feels incredibly intimate, and maybe sacred. Honestly, I know it sounds dramatic. But I think they paint a picture of what they’re going through at the time. And you feel like you need to treasure that information. And the fact that they’re willing to share this on a national platform is amazing, kind of miraculous in a way. And so you want to do them justice.”

Sian is building a strong base of fans among radio listeners, which bodes well for her future at a station that has produced no shortage of national names. I ask Sian if having her own name listed alongside some of the radio greats, such as Greg James, Scott Mills, and Clara Amfo, is intimidating, and what it’s like bumping into big names in the office. 

“Someone I have met was Grimmy,” she tells me. “It was just before my first ever live show. I was in the office, I was cacking my pants… I remember him coming around the corner. And one of the engineers [introduced] me to Grimmy saying, ‘Oh, she’s Sian Eleri, she’s starting in the next couple of days’. And he was so lovely, like he was honestly the nicest, [most] calming presence, but also really fun and compassionate. Just like he was on the radio.

“I remember asking him, how would you handle making a mistake? [I’m] really scared of making a really big error.

“He went, ‘if you make a mistake, it’s charming’.”

This advice, Sian tells me, is something that has reassured her throughout her career. But what about her own advice to students and other young people trying to make their way in the entertainment industry?

She tells me, “going to networking events, I think really benefited me in the long term. Because you are building a network and basically establishing yourself within this industry. Particularly if you don’t have an immediate connection to it, you’re almost ramming yourself in, forcing your way in. No one’s gonna look at you sideways doing that. 

“Also, be nice. Nobody wants to work with an asshole. People, they’ll be nice back, hopefully they will, and they’ll want to work with you.”

Finally, she gives her words of wisdom for day-to-day life: “There’s something good in every day. And I think that applies so widely, if you’re struggling with exams and stressing out, or if you’ve had an argument with your best mate, or maybe you’re just super hungover. Maybe all day feels rubbish. But then you might have had a lovely cup of tea in the morning. Maybe you had a really nice text exchange with your mate from home. Or maybe you just had a bangin’ sandwich. I mean, there’s so many teeny weeny little things during a day… [although] small embers, they flicker in the darkness of that day. 

“Focus on those small aspects of life that give you true pleasure, and [don’t] put so much pressure on yourself. Just take things easy. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and embrace the little things.”

Somewhere between a rock and Arteta’s “nice place”: Oxford United versus Arsenal in the FA Cup Third Round

Eoin Hanlon
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Somewhere between a rock and Arteta’s “nice place”: Oxford United versus Arsenal in the FA Cup Third Round

The FA Cup third round is here: Man City banished a weakened Chelsea; Man United saw off Everton and now Arsenal will clash with a perilously underestimated Oxford United. 

January 2003, 20 years ago, was the last time that the two sides faced off against each other. The game was yet another FA Cup third round in which Arsenal came away victorious 2-0.  It is best remembered as the day when Dennis Bergkamp curved a unique little ball over Andy Woodman’s head with the outside of his foot to mark a century of goals for the Arsenal.

With Arsenal as league leaders, various members of the football media are suggesting that Oxford might be able to snatch a draw from a powered-down North London side. Why don’t we push the boat out a bit? There’s still every chance that the U’s will knock out the Gunners, that ITV will film as Arteta punts a choirboy from Magdalen tower, that OUFC’s manager Karl Robinson will steal an illuminated manuscript from the Rad Cam and read it aloud to huddled masses in Cornmarket Street. 

Arteta, not one to concede any sort of mental advantage to his opponent, has admitted in a press conference that “Oxford is a nice place”. I reckon they could put that on the welcome sign as you drive in. It beats “A CYCLING CITY” and is less gothically opulent than the “City of Dreaming Spires”. 

Arteta’s army will be in for a tough outing at the Kassam. Oxford United are of course accustomed to a stadium with only three stands —something that they might have tried three years ago at the Emirates, but now, thankfully, there’s no need. Oxford’s fans will be eager to know that, due to the ITV crew, the catering van at the South East corner has moved to the North East (but the one in the car park will still be in its usual place). 

The Gunners are likely to welcome back England forward Emile Smith Rowe. To match them, Oxford have brought in Stephan Negru from Shelbourne and just last week have signed Hull City left-back Brandon Fleming on loan. Hope remains ever a virtue. 

The match kicks off at 8pm at the Kassam Stadium, Grenoble Road, Oxford. It will be shown live on ITV. 

Image: Steve Daniels // CC BY-SA 2.0

Purr-fect Pictures: plans to commission Simpkin portraits at Hertford

Cecilia Catmur
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Purr-fect Pictures: plans to commission Simpkin portraits at Hertford

Hertford College is hoping to commission portraits of the late Simpkins in Sub Fusc to be placed in a prominent position in college. The JCR hopes the portraits will be of Simpkin, Simpkin the Second and Simpkin the Third painted in black, with white chests to resemble the academic dress. 

This follows the motion proposed by Jeremy Pirt to Hertford College JCR. His original idea was to have these portraits in Hertford Hall. However this was, Jeremy Pirt told Cherwell, revised in the JCR based on the conclusion that: “Giving a cat the same honour that is bestowed upon former Home Secretaries, leading figures of the reformation, or our modern ‘glass ceiling breakers’, in the words of our [Hertford] principal, would be offensive to those who have earnt the honour.” 

Aside from the dispute over the precise location of the portraits, the JCR reaction to the motion was, according to Jeremy, “generally positive.” He thinks “Most people loved the stupidity of it all.” 

As Jeremy highlights, “There is something ridiculously Oxford about having, not just a college cat (which is silly enough) but a Dynasty of Cats spanning over five decades!” Having portraits of the late members of this dynasty, “would only add to the ridiculousness of it all.” 

After all, the Simpkin dynasty harks back around 50 years to the early 1970s when the first of these notorious felines was introduced to Hertford. According to Hertford’s website “for many decades” Simpkin has now been “one of Oxford’s most loved and most notorious inhabitants.” They have left “their own indelible marks not only on the college, but also the countless students who have managed to find a way of incorporating cat studies into almost every subject offered here!” 

Jeremy Pirt seconds this: “Simkin IV is a much loved member of college life at Hertford, adding to the friendly homely feel of the place. Who can’t love a fat fluffy cat who invades the library to bring cheer when you’ve been stuck on a problem sheet for far too long!!” 

Simpkin and his ancestors are, and have always been, very much a part of Hertford College and its atmosphere. They have a whole section of the College website dedicated to them, with details of their backgrounds, personalities, temperaments and mischievous adventures around Oxford. It is no wonder the College has now turned to portraits too to celebrate their beloved pets. 

Chancellor Patten shares views on the university in speech admitting new Vice-Chancellor

Olivia Boyle
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Chancellor Patten shares views on the university in speech admitting new Vice-Chancellor

Oxford’s Chancellor, Lord Patten, welcomed the new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, in traditional Oxonian fashion with a speech given on Tuesday morning. Opening with a summary of Tracey’s impressive academic CV, Patten went on to address academic stakes in the state of the national economy, the ongoing Christ Church College scandal, access and outreach at Oxford, and his belief in academic freedom of speech. 

Patten spoke of the “poor lamentable state” of the national economy and the threat it poses for continuing university research. He said that government promises of funding for further education are insufficient and challenged the government’s “likely” prioritisation of post-16 vocational education. Patten’s vision for Britain’s next “skilled workforce” is premised on a university education, so Oxford must “continue broadening access to able students from disadvantaged backgrounds” as well as “early- and mid-career students”. 

The Chancellor also commented frankly on Oxford infighting. Most recently, Christ Church’s mismanagement of £6.6m attracted a warning from the Charity Commission. Patten hopes the warning will be listened to but made it clear that internal college affairs were a “matter for the colleges themselves”. He also addressed financial disparities between colleges that yield “unequal student experience”. Collegiate differences, big or small, fair or not, however, do not lie within the bounds of Patten’s responsibility but instead with the Conference of Colleges, as the Chancellor took care to point out. He labelled “unequal student experience” as “partly a result of history and luck”. 

This “history” was then unpicked by the Chancellor who gave his view on the purpose of an Oxford education. Patten has a productive desire to turn the University’s reputation away from the elitist “Freemasonry of the clever”, as he called it, and towards developing a “wide, diverse academic community”. The wider reputation of Oxford, however, remains in the hands of those who have gone on to national leadership roles and while Patten says it is not “something of which we should be ashamed”, the current government, whose frontbench is rather exclusively 45% Oxbridge-made, has yet to prove the reputation wrong. 

Patten proceeded with his most extensive section which was on the importance of “liberal values” as a guard against being “colonised by a modish political correctness”. For Patten, protecting freedom of speech is the key to avoiding governmental interference in academic, intellectual endeavours. By his ethos, making a university a “safe space, intellectually”, such as the flippantly-referenced campaign to decolonise maths, is to give in to being minions of the government. Though, after twenty years as Chancellor, some would argue that Patten’s own seat in the university has become too much of a “safe space”. After all, as Patten quoted from di Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’, “things have to change in order to remain the same.”

Nevertheless, the speech ended with warmth, wishing Professor Irene Tracey the best for her time to come as Vice-Chancellor. It will be interesting to see how closely aligned Patten’s vision is with Tracey’s as she begins her tenure. 

Image Credit: Coco Cottam

Cherwell sits down with Oxford’s first state educated Vice-Chancellor

Isaac Ettinghausen
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Cherwell sits down with Oxford’s first state educated Vice-Chancellor

This afternoon, Cherwell met with Irene Tracey, Oxford’s new Vice-Chancellor. Tracey was formerly Warden of Merton College, and was the Nuffield Chair of Anaesthetic Sciences between 2007 and 2019. A “local girl in every sense of the phrase”, she was born in the JR and grew up in Kidlington, just five kilometres from Oxford. With the exception of a two year stint at Harvard Medical School, she has been in Oxford since going up to study undergraduate biochemistry at Merton.

Between 2015 and 2019, she was the head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, with a speciality in the neuroscience of pain. Her office in the University Offices contains a drawing from one of her supervisees which refers to her as the “Queen of Pain”. On the contrary, when we meet her she is personable and very funny, keen to set out her vision for Oxford over her seven-year tenure as VC, the de facto head of the University.

She is also the second woman to hold the post, and the first ever former state school student. She said that “I realised how important it was to others that I was a woman in science and in leadership roles. I feel more comfortable embracing that and recognizing that that visibility is empowering not just to women, but to men too, and for men to realise to support women in their careers. 

“Coming from a comprehensive school background, you know, it’s part of what I’ve done. I’ve been always very celebratory about what a great school it was, with terrific teachers. I’m all about the fact that what I want coming to Oxford is the best and the brightest of the students, irrespective of their background, and I’m not going to be biased in any directions whatsoever. I just want Oxford as we know it, and our message to be out there that if a kid feels that this is the environment for them where they can thrive educationally, then they’re not put off by a misimpression or a misrepresentation of what we are. it’s not setting quotas or anything, because that’s not what we’ve done. It’s just mythbusting a little bit.”

Tracey is ascending to the post in a time of vast educational debate over curricula, “wokeism”, and academic freedom. She describes herself as a staunch defender of freedom of speech, saying that engaging with arguments is an essential part of pedagogy: “when we are teaching you your degrees, we teach you how to look and understand that degree from all different perspectives. So naturally you are engaging with different viewpoints, and that’s partly what you’re trying to do and synthesise when you write your essays or when you’re trying to look and deconstruct a problem. And that’s no different than other things you’re going to do outside of your degree in terms of these issues.”

“I’m just focusing on how best we can equip you and prepare you. You’re arriving [in Oxford] not as the finished product. And we’re gonna evolve you to an independent adult out there in the working place, where you can be comfortable with different points of view; you can be really good and comfortable with how you receive criticism and give criticism, because that’s a big part of what you’re going to be doing in your job. This is a big part of what we do as academics.”

Similarly, Oxford’s university museums have faced questions over the repatriation of empire-era artefacts. When asked what role the University could have in these debates, she said “We have to have those discussions with ourselves and with our departments, with those institutions, and with the students. It’ll be something that I’m sure we will discuss going forward. These are very live issues, and they’re really important ones. And again, people will have different views on them, so these won’t be easy discussions or debates to have, but hopefully we can have them in an intelligent, calm way”. 

In a university famed for its devolved collegiate system, Tracey enthusiastically sets out her vision of the role the central University should play in its governance. She says “I believe in this devolved ecosystem. As a neuroscientist, I know what drives human behaviour in terms of how, how the brain works; having a sense of autonomy and control over decision making really drives motivation […] students rightly get very proud of the ownership they’ve got for their particular college. And that’s great, and I wouldn’t want to ever ruin that.”

However, she continues, “we can make some things just a bit more efficient by doing and having more common frameworks – things which would directly benefit students. So common frameworks around how we are supporting student welfare, mental health provision, policies around sexual harassment, all these sorts of things, you know, where we’re all on the journey trying to do it as well as we can.”

Last year, Cherwell reported on the vast inequalities between different provisions between colleges. Tracey told us tackling these imbalances was one of her key priorities, saying that she was “happy to be held to account. we’re not going to do everything in the first year. This is something that’s not just a student issue. It’s for academics too.” [See front page]

For graduate students, this is especially problematic. Tracey pointed out that while the ratio of undergraduate students was about 70% UK students and 30% international, this figure flips in postgraduate studies. She said that to attract the best researchers from around the world, Oxford had to “we’ve got to be able to offer graduate scholarships to every graduate that gets a place here […] our competitors offer full graduate scholarships if you get a graduate place. So we’re gonna lose people if we can’t do the same”

Collegiate inequality becomes ever more apparent when looking at the levels of mental health and disability support available to students at different colleges, particularly with the centralised Disability Advisory Service and the University Counselling Service under increased strain since Covid. Tracey said that “This is a key area for me to focus on. I’m acutely aware. My experience to date as a College head really gave me insight to that in a way I didn’t see as a department head; the colleges are really dealing with a lot of this […] If you’re a student and you’re at a college that can provide extra support, you know, fine, that’s great. But then what about the kid that’s not?

“I’m absolutely aware of the pressures on the services for the staff working them too. Because you know, they want to give a good service, right. And they’re maxed out. So it’s for both sides that we want to get right.”

We’re eventually told that we have one question left; Tracey, in her whirlwind schedule in her first month as VC, has a meeting to get to with the OUP. Asked what her biggest priorities are as head of the University, Tracey says that “in seven years I want to be sure that I’ve been part of making sure that we are still the most attractive place for the best and the brightest students, staff, and faculty to come. And when they do come here, they are operating in a place where they really can have a good quality of working life, but also personal life. Seven years is just about enough time.”

Image Credit: Coco Cottam.

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