Construction has begun on a tunnel under the city which will provide extra electricity for the university’s labs.

The first phase of the 33kv cable’s life began last week at Osney Island and will involve tunnelling under the River Thames, Park End Street, Gloucester Street and St Giles. The project will take three and a half months.

Local citizens have complained about the disruption caused by the drilling, with one family even having their water supply cut off by engineers.

City councillor Susanna Pressell said the lack of information given to residents about the work was “disgraceful”, but the University has maintained that the work is necessary in order to meet the power demands of the science area for the next fifty years.

Oxford Brookes has become one of just eight remaining teams in the BBC’s University Challenge after beating Christ’s College Cambridge in the quarter-final last Monday.

The team have been training for five months with coach Dr Ian Bayley, a Senior Lecturer in Computing and former DPhil student of Balliol College. He has appeared on the show twice himself, in 1997 and 2001, when working for other universities.

Dr Bayley said that “the team’s talent was apparent” from the early stages. He remarked that “this is a great result against one of the country’s top universities and it shows how incredibly talented our students can be.”

The team was helped by Oxford University students, being invited to take part in Oxford’s Intercollegiate Quiz and taking on Exeter and St John’s in practice matches.

Oxford’s Magdalen College is also through to the quarter finals of the competition.

Universities and colleges in London, including Imperial College and King’s, are being asked to report to police on the organisation of student demonstrations on their campuses.

In an email, an officer from Counter Terrorism Command working on the Prevent programme, which tackles extremism, said the Met anticipated a “renewed vigour” at protests that could target finance departments to highlight concern over funding cuts. It advises drafting contingency plans against student occupations.

The officer added, “I would be grateful if in your capacity at your various colleges that should you pick up any relevant information that would be helpful to all of us to anticipate possible demonstrations or occupations, please forward it onto me.”

A former government minister has criticised Oxford for providing free lunches for college dons as students face a massive rise in tuition fees.

David Lammy, former Labour minister for Higher Education, called the provision of free meals “antiquated” and said Oxford academics should not be allowed a “free lunch on the taxpayer”.

The tradition of dons dining together is long-standing at Oxford, although arrangements vary from college to college.

Speaking at question time in the Commons, Mr Lammy said, “Can it be right that we are asking students to pay more when there are clearly some universities that have not sorted out their inefficiencies?”

He added, “If universities want to charge students treble what they are paying now, they have to do their bit to make the degrees value for money.

“It can’t just be the students that foot the bill. The dons have to give up their perks too. If all the cuts are being passed on to students, then there has to be a review, not just of access but also of antiquated practices.”

However, a spokeswoman for the University said, “Oxford college lunches are not funded by the taxpayer, nor by student fees. The public funding colleges receive for undergraduate teaching nowhere near covers the costs of undergraduate teaching, let alone covering any other college costs.

“In fact, both the central University and the colleges heavily subsidise the cost of undergraduate teaching from their own private funds, and will continue to do so under any future student finance arrangements.”

The University said entitlement to meals in college was more than “just a job perk” and that it is “part of the close-knit and interdisciplinary nature of Oxford’s unique college environment where academics from different disciplines can gather and share ideas.”

Alex Wright, a second year History student, said, “Dons deserve a free meal every now and then. Oxford is a world-class university, and these traditions are part of its history. David Lammy is missing the point.”

Students at Corpus Christi will join the rest of the country in getting the day off for the royal wedding, meaning that many will have to return earlier for Trinity collections.

Senior Tutor John Watts explained in an email to students that no collections would be held on Friday 29th April, the date set for William and Kate’s nuptials, “to allow loyal subjects to celebrate the royal wedding”. The date was declared a bank holiday after the couple announced their engagement in November.

Watts told Cherwell, “We were just mindful that it’s a public holiday and that, as a result, there won’t be any clerical or administrative staff around on Friday and Saturday when we would normally have held collections.

“We also thought students might have felt rather sore at having to sit exams when most people are enjoying the day off and some will be watching the celebrations.”

JCR President Jack Evans said, “Students don’t get many bank holidays in Oxford, so I’m sure that the JCR are going to celebrate appropriately. We have huge plans which are secret at the moment, but I can tell you that they will be tortoise-related.”

He explained that the JCR respect that the support staff are entitled to a bank holiday and that the tutors are unable to man the collections by themselves.

However, the news has not had a positive reception from all students. Upon discovery that he may have to cut short his Easter vacation to take exams, one Corpus PPE student, Sam Kelly, said, “Disgraceful. Yet another argument for republicanism.”

Exeter College was victim to a series of thefts last Sunday, carried out by a female intruder posing as a member of the MCR. Wallets, mobile phones and a laptop were stolen from inside the college, including from its library and chapel.

The College’s Junior Dean, Michelle Fernandes, warned students about “a series of thefts by an unidentified person” in an email on Sunday afternoon and urged them “to take necessary precautions to ensure the safety of valuables”.

A group of first years reported seeing “a very strange woman, looking shifty and confused, like she might’ve been on drugs.”

The intruder made her way seemingly at random around the College, striking the library between 4.24 and 4.27pm.

Michael Wilson, a second year medic whose laptop was stolen, told Cherwell, “It’s really very annoying. Incredibly lucky I backed up my laptop before this term but it’s a lot harder to work now.

“I was working in the library when I went to get some water from the JCR. On the way out I met a woman in the corridor, so I stopped to let her pass! She was a short, large woman wearing several coats, the outer one black. I returned to the library 3 minutes later and my laptop wasn’t there. At first I thought it was a prank.”

College CCTV shows the thief managing to enter the library without a swipe card and walking past other students in an effort to pose as a member of the MCR.

Members of the College choir also had their lockers raided during evensong. Matt Stokes, a first year linguist, had his Dolce & Gabbana wallet stolen, including all of its contents.

“We always leave our stuff near the chapel when we sing because we can’t take it in, and when we returned on Sunday we realised five wallets and two phones had gone. They’d been through pockets and bags and taken everything they could.

“I was lucky because I had no cash in there, but the wallet was worth £150 and is one of the nicest things I own. Plus all my student cards and ID were taken.

“To be honest I’m mostly angry at myself for leaving my wallet there; I knew I shouldn’t have but we just didn’t expect this.”

Matt Stokes said, “The College were really good about sorting stuff out and made sure we’re all right for money. They’ve given us insurance forms to fill in and seem to be determined to do as much as they can to sort it out.”

Reports of the thefts appear to demonstrate the woman may have not been thinking clearly.

Michael Wilson explained, “The thief was not put off by other people. There was even someone the same side of the bench. And I don’t know why she picked my laptop instead of all the others left unattended. It was right next to a MacBook Pro, worth at least twice as much.”

The police have recognised the woman’s description as a repeat offender and the College is hopeful of tracking her down.

In response, other Turl Street colleges have increased security. Lincoln’s Domestic Bursar, Dr Rachel Buxton, has asked the college “to be particularly vigilant. Watch out for tail-gaters following you into College, ensure you lock your rooms, and don’t leave any property unattended.”