Wednesday 16th July 2025
Blog Page 197

Say Yes to NUS: The Case for Remaining Within the National Union of Students

Chloe Field
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Say Yes to NUS: The Case for Remaining Within the National Union of Students

The following article is written by Chloe Field, the NUS VP for higher education.

Students created students’ unions to harness local collective power, and a national union to build national collective action. 101 years ago, Oxford students’ union met with 16 other students’ unions a small dusty room in London to found NUS and it has been integral to shaping the national student voice ever since. Many of our student leaders have come from Oxford, with three former NUS Presidents hailing from the university. I and my NUS colleagues are sad whenever a student body contemplates leaving our union, but Oxford’s storied place in the creation of NUS means you would be especially missed.

The student movement is a powerful force for good and I am incredibly proud to lead NUS in its 101st year. But I can assure you it is not without its challenges, and these may lead some to question the value of a national union. I will address these and the lessons we have learned below, but first allow me to explain why a strong bond between Oxford Students’ Union and NUS is vital to the health of the whole movement. 

Our first President, Ivison Macadam, was an ex-serviceman, whose experiences of the trenches of World War 1 inspired his desire to campaign for a better future for all. Indeed, in a speech to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, he said, “If students are co-operating today surely there is hope for tomorrow.”

Macadam’s optimism embodies both students’ unions and our national union. NUS serves as the national representative body for students and the collective power it gives us is incredibly powerful. This is especially true when times are hard, and no one would doubt that they are now. The need to work together to protect the most vulnerable amongst us and to speak out for ourselves and our fellow students has never been more urgent.

Being a member of NUS is all about collectivism. We are stronger working together than when acting alone. The past few years have shown us the value of our united voice. In the face of the pandemic, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the student mental health crisis which is in part a result of these, and a continued lack of support from the government, students have suffered, and are suffering, like never before. Many are being pushed to the brink.

But I can assure you NUS is tireless in its efforts to fight for students. In the last year alone, we have won £15 million to support students in the cost-of-living crisis; new legal protections for student renters; £3 million of funding to tackle student mental health in England; we’ve persuaded the Welsh government to increase the maintenance loan by 9.4%; and we’ve got 80 universities to end the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements to silence victims of sexual violence, including 3 Oxford colleges. Just this week the government announced further plans to stamp out the sexual harassment and misconduct that plagues our campuses, with policies we’ve been campaigning for since 2010, long before anyone else was willing to talk about it.  

Our current cost-of-living campaign is fighting to increase financial support for students, and we’re campaigning for cheaper student housing, free transport, and well-paid, secure jobs.  We can succeed, as our past triumphs show. During Covid we secured £800 million for students, through campaigns for rent refunds and student support. For Oxford students, this delivered £152,273 in hardship funds. The extra £15 million in hardship funding we won this year is bringing £26,878 to students at Oxford. ‘That last sum alone is more than what Oxford SU pays to be in NUS – and that is just one of many wins so far this year. The financial return on what you put into NUS is never in question – it is undeniably strong every single year. But staying in your national union is worth so much more. Just look back at our history and the contribution we have made to students and to wider society.

  • We developed the original student discount card (NUS card, now Totum) and the ISIC card (the international version) securing discounts for students wherever they go and making student life more affordable for all. 
  • Student railcards were introduced thanks to our campaigning and then we went further and ensured those aged 16 to 17 could benefit from them too. 
  • When no one else would insure students, we did, establishing Endsleigh Insurance to cater to student need. 
  • NUS is the reason students don’t pay Council Tax.
  • We persuaded banks to offer postgraduate loans and then got them to remove the age caps. 
  • NUS Scotland got tuition fees abolished for undergraduates in Scotland, something NUS UK is planning to make central to our campaign for the coming General Election. 
  • We were early adopters of Fairtrade products, creating the first mass market for them, and it’s no exaggeration to say this fuelled the mainstream demand we see today. 
  • NUS has been at the forefront of campaigns for equality, leading the charge on trans rights, and the current campaigns on the Gender Recognition Bill in Scotland.

Of course, we cannot, and should not, talk about equality without recognising the pain felt by Jewish students as has been clearly identified in NUS’ independent investigation into antisemitism. The Tuck Report is a disturbing account of antisemitism within NUS and our movement more broadly. It is a truly difficult read but I welcome the clarity it brings to enable us to act with confidence to tackle antisemitism head on. I offer my unreserved apology to Jewish students for the harm caused and assure you that NUS is committed to ensuring that Jewish students feel safe and welcome in every corner of our movement for the long term. 

Antisemitism is anathema to our core values, which is why we have accepted the report’s recommendations in their entirety and published an action plan for tackling antisemitism, which includes specific actions and deadlines for implementation and are currently putting together an Advisory Panel to oversee it. I, and everyone in NUS, are clear that our task is to kick antisemitism out of student politics for good.

Jewish students should never be expected to carry the burden of delivering change alone. We believe this is a defining moment for NUS, students’ unions and the whole student movement and it is for this reason we have published the full Tuck Report, unredacted, and our action plan, online to bring transparency, accountability, and the opportunity to learn and become a movement we can all feel pride and belonging in. 

I believe the arguments for Oxford saying Yes to NUS are compelling. We are an organisation that has owned its failings and confronted them head on. We deliver win after win that brings a material benefit to students lives and are a powerful advocate for their rights. We champion the work of student leaders, whether in students’ unions, JCRs, clubs or societies. We are proud of the brave and ambitious work that students do, day in day out, to build our better future and we defend them to the hilt, an attack on one is an attack on all. We fundamentally believe in the transformative potential of education and the capacity for change, across campuses and in our own house. We speak truth to power, representing the student body to government and national decision makers. Leaving NUS would deprive Oxford students of connection and the benefits of a collective body of seven million students and 400 students’ unions. But equally, and no less importantly, it would deprive the wider student movement of the powerhouse that is Oxford students.

At a time when higher education faces significant challenges, it is vital students work together and support each other across our differences. Oxford’s departure from NUS would fragment the movement, precisely when, with a general election looming, we have everything to win by uniting. I urge you to vote to remain a member of NUS and continue to work as part of the national student voice in pursuit of a more equitable and just education system and society. 

For the material value.

 
For the national voice.

 
For you and your rights.

 
For your fellow students and their rights.

 
For better education for everyone.


For a stronger and fairer society. 


And for the generations who come after you.

Say Yes to NUS.

Voting in the referendum is open between 08:00 on Monday 27th February and 18:00 on Wednesday 1st of March, and votes can be cast via the Oxford SU website.

Image Credit: Marco Verch CC BY 2.0 via Flickr

The 2023 Golden Globes: A Fashion Analysis

Tilda Walker
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The 2023 Golden Globes: A Fashion Analysis

Following last year’s hiatus, the Golden Globes were back this January with a full-scale spectacle and equally extravagant outfits. In 2022, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who award the Golden Globes, were accused of racist bias, not having a single Black member out of 87, and various accounts of corruption. This prompted boycotts from celebrities and broadcasters alike, and the show ended up being significantly scaled down and not televised. In the lead up to this year’s event, questions remained over the extent of change enacted within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and whether some stars would continue their boycott. However, Hollywood’s collective memory seems to be short and selective, and all the big names of the industry gathered at The Beverly Hilton on January 10th as much for the red carpet as for the awards. 

Ever since the first photos were released of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling on the set of the upcoming Barbie movie, the fashion world has been in Barbiecore frenzy, and if this red carpet is any indication, the trend is here to stay. Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki and Julia Garner all donned pastel pink dresses and Seth Rogan was seen in a salmon pink suit. But Billy Porter, widely acknowledged as the king of red-carpet dressing, stole the show in a bold fuchsia outfit from Christian Siriano, giving a nod to this trend while preventing him from drowning in a sea of baby pink. I found Margot Robbie’s Chanel dress disappointing, especially following some spectacular red carpet looks over the winter (courtesy of Bottega Veneta), which fans had interpreted as a shift towards a bolder style and a definitive move away from the French fashion house. Attempts were clearly made to reference both of her upcoming films (Barbie, through the colour, and Babylon, through the 20s-style tassels), but the result was uninspiring and didn’t do her justice. 

The night was also dominated by jewelled dresses, classic black, and lace looks. Expectations were high for the star of Blonde, Ana de Armas, and she didn’t disappoint in a custom Louis Vuitton black dress, with a handstitched sequin front panel. Paired with minimal jewellery and simple hair and makeup, this was the perfect red carpet look for one of this season’s leading ladies. On the more unsuccessful side of the jewelled dress trend, I personally wasn’t a fan of Jessica Chastain’s Oscar de la Renta dress which featured crystals in a spider web pattern on a nude fabric. It was also worryingly similar to Salma Hayek’s gown on the same night which could’ve led to some red-carpet awkwardness! A standout of the lace dresses was certainly Daisy Edgar-Jones in a black Gucci dress with a lace corset top – possibly in homage to the late Vivienne Westwood. 

As the first of the awards shows of the season, the Golden Globes are the perfect opportunity to dress boldly and make a statement. Stars like Austin Butler (who won the award for Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture) looked good in classic red-carpet attire, but I can’t help wanting more; especially after last year’s hiatus it felt like something more attention-grabbing was called for. 

Dramatic outlines were therefore a huge hit for me this year. Think Michelle Williams in her one-shouldered Gucci gown with voluminous ruffles. Billy Porter, Percy Hynes-White and Reece Feldman showed that suits don’t have to be dull by playing with the silhouettes and adding skirts. A$AP Rocky and Rhianna caught the tone perfectly by adding some drama to classic Hollywood glamour in their custom Schiaparelli ensemble, which featured velvet gloves and a billowing stole on her part, and diamond accessories for them both.

On the theme of dressing boldly, some of my favourite looks from the night come from those who went against the grain in terms of colour. Anya Taylor-Joy stunned in a bright yellow Dior two-piece, which brought some of the more light-hearted dressing of summer into January. Emma D’Arcy proved that a little can go a long way when it comes to statement colours, with their electric blue gloves and matching hair and makeup brightening up an oversized black suit. Personally, one of the best outfits of the night was Letitia Wright’s white and orange Prada dress, with matching orange heels. The white at the top and base of the gown, and along the slightly ruffled slit, balanced out the deep sunset hues to dazzling effect. Is orange the new pink?

Looking forward to the rest of awards season, I’m hoping for more experimentation with colours and silhouettes. With the industry becoming more diverse and accepting, and actors such as Emma D’Arcy speaking out about gendered acting awards, this should be reflected in the fashion on the red carpet, as stars step out of the dresses/suits binary or fuse the two together. As Golden Globes went ahead with very little discussion of the reasons for last year’s boycott, and it has just been announced that no women are nominated for this year’s Best Director Oscar, I hope that celebrities don’t underestimate the political power of fashion. 

The Source, HT23 Week 3

Charlotte Lai
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The Source, HT23 Week 3

Oxford Covered Market’s Ben’s Cookies continues full service despite price rise

Fatima El-Faki
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Oxford Covered Market’s Ben’s Cookies continues full service despite price rise

A regular cookie from Ben’s Cookies, the cookie chain founded in the Covered Market in 1984, now costs £2.20 after a price rise from £1.85 occurred two weeks ago. 

The current economic climate has pushed prices up. Ben’s Cookies, which attracts students, locals and tourists alike, told Cherwell it was what needed to be done to tackle inflation. Despite basic ingredients rising in cost as a result of the current food and cost-of-living crisis, Ben’s Cookies still manages to attract cookie lovers to the Covered Market.  

Cherwell spoke to one of the employees about why they believe the stall has not noticed a reduction in customers despite the economic climate. They said that by calling the baked goods a “luxury”, price difference doesn’t deter customers who are able to treat themselves to a cookie or two. The employee explained that due to the quality of each freshly-baked cookie, customers will choose Ben’s Cookies over the neighbouring chains whose prices have also risen. 

Cherwell asked customers if they noticed the 35p price change and many hadn’t. One couple bought their baked goods for “old times’ sake” since their local Ben’s Cookies had recently shut down. For most, price increase is expected as one customer decried that “even the Oxford bus fares have gone up”. Oxford students have expressed that they couldn’t feasibly be regular customers anymore. This price increase comes alongside widespread food shortages and an influx of food bank usage in Oxford. For much of Oxford’s population, this cookie price rise will be the tip of the cost-of-living crisis’s mammoth iceberg.

Increasingly unmanageable costs are the new normal. But Ben’s Cookies has the benefit – for now – of generally expected inflation and continues its baking services at full throttle.

Italiamo: Oxford’s Italian outpost

Oliver Hall
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Italiamo: Oxford’s Italian outpost

Every Oxford student knows Italiamo. Their calzones on Broad Street have been a go-to lunch option for years and now they have diversified even further. A new store on the High Street opened last year and uses the extra space to stock specialist deli items and the sheer variety of pasta and pizza options means one can never become bored sitting in the tranquil oasis of their garden.

Everything about Italiamo is Italian. The queue, the order in the apparent chaos, but above all the flavours and products. Everything is brought in especially, from cheeses to spreads to prosciutto to coffee. That authenticity really reaps its rewards and the continued value proposition in the face of spiralling import prices is truly remarkable.

High Street Store

We kicked the trip off by meeting the charming owner Medina at the High Street store, picking up the items that are only on offer here. If you have favourites from Mediterranean summers gone by then chances are you can grab them. It’s my go-to for Pan di Stelle spread and biscuits (I’m yet to find them anywhere else in the UK other than London’s Eataly) but you can also find cheeses, meats and specialist pasta such as the Sardinian gnochetti.

Schiacciata and Pizza al Taglio

In terms of exclusive food, here we picked up the traditional Sardinian schiacciata with ricotta and potato and the vegetarian Roman variety, pizza al taglio. It’s no secret that I’m not the biggest potato lover but the thin slices here work beautifully with the light ricotta and crispy thin base that characterises schiacciata to make the perfect bite. The taglio is a much crispy and fluffier option and the aubergine stood out from the rest of the vegetables.

Genovese

Next up was the circular Genovese. The goat’s cheese here is glorious but not overpowering and the pesto, peppers, and tomatoes combine superbly.

Arancini, Parmigiana, Pesto Chicken Salad

Other savoury options were arancini, parmigiana, and the pesto chicken salad. Arancini are often far too bland in the UK but this one is different. A glorious mess, the vegetables and tomato within make it a great sharing side if you are feeling hungry. What stood out to me about the parmigiana was the genuine quality of the cheese and tomatoes. Again, I’m a big believer in the fact that almost everything is ‘over-cheesed’ in our country but when the ingredients are high quality that doesn’t matter. The aubergine slices are thick and chunky, soaking up the tomato sauce well. And then the salad, oh the salad! This is the best value takeaway salad in Oxford, no doubt. The sheer quantity of leaves and vegetables, as well as the light dressing, is in stark contrast to most places and the chicken itself is moist and lightly drizzled in pesto.

Sweet options inc

Then onto those sweet options that always look so tempting in the window. The double espresso is brilliantly bitter and in a different league from the regular overpriced high street options that students often turn to. The coffee is sourced from a small company in Milan that the owners keep secret so no one else catches on. 

I’ve always been tempted by the tiramisu so was very excited to try it. If you like it boozy you are in luck! There are too many fingers for me but there is certainly enough dessert here for two or three. All the pastries and biscuits are homemade in Sicily and they really did take me back to my favourite island for a summer escape. The cornetti (croissant) are the sugared variety usually preserved for when sitting on an Italian bar stool and the apricot jam in ours was fruity and clearly not artificially flavoured. The cantucci are slightly different from any I’ve had before with a firmer, pastry-like texture but the chocolate crema within makes them an ideal coffee dunk. The filling in both the aragostini and cantucci is similarly rich and you should opt for the pistachio if looking for something lighter. These cannoli too are noticeably different from those that you usually find in England. The coating is thin, crispy, and crumbly, allowing the crema to dominate.

Everything at Italiamo is done with care, love, and authenticity. There is a simple reason that people continue to visit despite the queues and waits — quality. Calzone dough proved for 24 hours, specialist importers from across Italy, focaccia sandwiches made every day by hand. These are the things that make the difference and being able to get access to that in Oxford at such a reasonable price point is remarkable. The Sardinian family team here of Stefano, Madina, Alessandro and Emanuela, are always up for a chat and a smile.

So, all I can do is apologise. With this review my aim was to identify which of the vast menu items you should opt for. Quite frankly, the answer is all of them. So, all I can say is keep on visiting, keep on filling that stamp card, and branch out from your calzone order!

“I was told that I need to better manage my time”: Living with endometriosis at Oxford

Iseult de Mallet Burgess
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“I was told that I need to better manage my time”: Living with endometriosis at Oxford

CW: suicide

Underdiagnosed and understudied, endometriosis has long existed largely in the shadows. For one Oxford student who responded to our survey, this meant 15 years of profound suffering and neglect by medical professionals before receiving a diagnosis. For another, years spent living on a legal high while receiving a string of misdiagnoses borne of medical ignorance. For all, an Oxford degree complicates the impossible balancing act of managing an invisible illness. 

Invisible it may be, but endometriosis is far from rare: it affects an estimated one in 10 people assigned female at birth. In people with endometriosis, tissue resembling the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere in the body — most commonly on the pelvic organs, but in rare cases, the lungs, eyes, spine, and brain — causing inflammation. The buildup of abnormal tissue outside the uterus can lead to painful cysts and scarring, and adhesions may form as part of an inflammatory process, particularly in late-stage cases, causing internal organs to stick together. Despite broad prevalence, the condition receives only a fraction of the research funding of other conditions with comparable numbers, such as asthma and diabetes.  

The disease can cause “severe pelvic pain” including with periods and sexual intercourse, “and is also associated with infertility,” says Dr Krina Zondervan, a professor of reproductive and genomic epidemiology at the University of Oxford and co-Director of the Endometriosis CaRe Centre. “Endometriosis is chronic, and treatments are limited to repeated surgeries and hormonal therapies.”

Like other inflammatory conditions, endometriosis is exacerbated by stress — perhaps the one constant in the life of an Oxford student. A Metro article in 2017 labelled Oxford students as the “hardest working” and “most miserable” in the UK. In an environment where students feel they can’t ‘miss’ a day, let alone a week, managing a chronic illness and its unpredictable and often debilitating flare-ups becomes infinitely more complicated. 

“Since coming to Oxford, stress has impacted my pain management methods, which meant I had to see multiple specialists to find a new way of treating my endometriosis,” one student shared. “I was in immense pain whilst still managing to keep up with university demands. I was in so much pain that when [a surgical] procedure was offered to me during term time, I had to accept. This meant I had to travel home during term, have my procedure, and come back and be expected to continue with Oxford life.” 

Other students echoed the difficulties of “having to take time out for pain management” and “being expected by society to carry on despite the pain”. 

Though some students report having “lenient” and “understanding” tutors, experiences of asking for and receiving university support were mixed. Some found it difficult to know what kind of help to ask for, who to ask, or what the University would do. Others emphasised the difficulty in explaining circumstances “when symptoms fluctuate daily”. One student who applied for an extension following surgery even reports being told by her college academic support officer that she needed to better manage her time. This, she believes, is down to general ignorance surrounding the disease: “if university staff understood that endometriosis is not just period pain, but is actually regarded by the NHS as one of the top ten most painful conditions, there’d be a bit more sympathy regarding how much it can affect your life.”

In fact, most students cited this general ignorance — not only among ordinary people, but also medical professionals — to be the biggest challenge of living with endometriosis. “I have had both the average person and most healthcare professionals act quite dismissively regarding my endometriosis, and it can become very frustrating,” one student said. “I’ve had other menstruating people tell me that everyone gets period pains, or try to equate their period pains to mine, and I find that extremely difficult… A lot of doctors have said that there is nothing they can do, and that is also a big challenge.”

A lack of research funding, public education, and medical training, as well as ubiquitous misinformation saturating the healthcare and public sectors, speak to the prevalence of medical misogyny and its impact on patients with endometriosis. While many lesser-known health conditions are similarly underfunded and insufficiently discussed, few are as common as endometriosis. The societal normalisation of women’s pain is pervasive, as is stigma around menstrual issues. 63% of people who responded to our Instagram poll believed there to be stigma surrounding the disease. 83% thought that endometriosis was not discussed enough.

Chillingly, VICE revealed in December that women in the UK were being denied transvaginal ultrasounds (a pelvic ultrasound used as part of the diagnostic process for endometriosis) because they were ‘virgins’, going against ultrasound guidelines in the UK. This is the latest in a long history of misogyny in healthcare, which impacts the care and diagnosis of people who identify as women. A seminal 2001 study found that women are far more likely than men to have their pain reported as “psychogenic” and “not real”. When in pain, women are more likely to be given sedatives or antidepressants, while men are more likely to be given painkillers. Women are subject to higher rates of misdiagnosis and delayed care than men.   

As a result, endometriosis remains under-diagnosed and inadequately treated. Dr Zondervan tells me that for endometriosis, “the average diagnostic delay from first onset of symptoms is 7 years, however there is a huge range, with some women not being diagnosed for decades. We know from many studies, including the Global Women’s Health Study (Nnoaham et al., 2011) that this impacts significantly on the quality of life of women and their families.”

Every student who responded to our survey acknowledged that their quality of life had been adversely affected by medical misogyny and ignorance: from being dismissed and pathologised “for 15 years” prior to a diagnosis, to being prescribed birth control without informed consent, to being made to think that “having cramps that made me want to vomit for days on end and bleeding through extra thick pads in a matter of a few hours” was not only normal, but some intrinsic and essential part of having a uterus. Some recounted being treated “very aggressively” by male doctors when they suggested that they might have endometriosis; some were told their symptoms weren’t worth investigating. 

If people with endometriosis struggle to be heard and understood by medical professionals, how are they meant to explain unpredictable circumstances beget by the complex disease to university staff or their peers? 

For many, the lack of knowledge surrounding endometriosis has led to feelings of “isolation” and “frustration” at university, further compounding mental health issues already connected to the disease. Endometriosis is associated with several psychiatric comorbidities, including depression and anxiety. All students surveyed agreed that endometriosis has affected their mental health, causing “depression”, “low mood”, “anxiety about symptoms, anxiety about the future, anxiety about operations”, and feelings of isolation. What’s more, people with endometriosis are often put on birth control with little to no informed consent, nor forewarning of the mental health issues birth control can effect or exacerbate. One student shared that, heartbreakingly, due to endometriosis, she developed severe social anxiety and most days would struggle to leave the house. “Once I started birth control, the depression became worse, and I was extremely suicidal. Had it not been for the fact that I am a practising Muslim, I would have taken my life.”

These responses underscore the need for major changes to how we discuss and view endometriosis. “Attitudes to menstruation in general need to change, and what is ‘normal’ and what is ‘not normal’ in terms of menstrual experiences including pelvic pain needs to be understood by everyone,” says Dr Zondervan, who hopes that attitudes towards what have long been dismissed as ‘women’s troubles’ will continue to evolve. “Education at secondary schools is vital there. Talking about endometriosis or other menstruation related conditions should never be a taboo.”

Awareness of endometriosis has, however, increased over the past few decades. There are treatments available and specialists who can help. “Talk to the people around you,” urges Dr Zondervan. “Many therapies are effective in treating symptoms, so seeking early medical advice when you have symptoms is important. Talk to your course director and/or supervisor — and importantly your college adviser. They are there to support you, and will help you work around flare-ups.” Living with endometriosis complicates life at Oxford — and indeed is complicated by life at Oxford — but no one with the disease should suffer in silence.

Support information:

For student counselling services please email: [email protected]

Nightline: 01865 270 270

Deuteronomy Review: Breath-taking, Heart-stopping, Terrifying

Andrew Raynes
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Deuteronomy Review: Breath-taking, Heart-stopping, Terrifying

There are times in one’s life – breath-taking, heart-stopping, terrifying times – when one feels as though one is witnessing genius. Watching Deuteronomy is one of those times. Charlie Thurston’s script is an intelligent and moving piece of writing in Beckett’s tradition, but, whilst it necessarily grapples with the question of meaning in one’s life, it seems, also, to provide an answer.   

The succinct play sits at about forty-five minutes and is a Platonic-dialectical conversation between two characters: the Man (Jo Rich) and the Beggar (Freddie Houlahan). Neither dragging nor rushing, it is exactly as long as it needs to be – a tough balance to achieve with any new writing, let alone something so philosophical. And, despite its lack of explicit plot, it does not feel devoid of action. Thurston’s direction, and Rich and Houlahan’s compelling performances have imbued every line of the script with genuine meaning – both philosophical and emotional – so each conflict is a credible, enthralling piece of action. Rich and Houlahan move with grace and skill from pitch to pitch, balancing moments of horrifying anger with still, subtle, sadness; the fun of conversation with the tragedy of conflict; the intense and the casual and the tragic side by side.  

These changes in emotional register are reflected in Thurston’s script, whose subtle shifts and juxtapositions are some of the most affecting elements of the play. Much of the dialogue is explicitly philosophical: the characters discuss death, religion, language, the essence of objects. Is a rotten apple still an apple? Is a damaged thing no longer what it was undamaged? Does this matter, as long as happiness can still be derived from it? Part of Deuteronomy’s genius is in the importance of little things: we may not know why we are alive, we may not know why or when we will die; but we know “about trees and toadstools and the smell of a forest before it rains” – and this matters. Deuteronomy finds beauty in the experience of having lived, however terrible the world we have lived in: the joy of life embodied in the eating of a rotten apple. The play itself is a thing ephemeral, but it is a thing of beauty, and it matters that one has watched it. Its language, too, is beautiful; the Beggar and the Man speak in an odd dialect, a mixture of dropped aitches and abbreviations and idiolectic word order juxtaposed with dignified, expansive vocabulary, and it is musical to listen to.  

The sound design itself is subtle and dignified, suggesting setting and time in the simplest possible ways. Gentle sea-waves merge into birdsong. Every so often, distant shell-fire shakes the room. The lights fade from bright white, to pink, to soft blue. The technology in Deuteronomy is lifelike in its ambience and gentleness, adding multitudes to the play and detracting nothing. The constant soft noise becomes comforting, too: there are a few significant moments of silence, and they are distressing and maddening; the lack of life, of nature, is unsettling. It – like the set – is expertly crafted to the needs of the play, which are few. The set consists merely of a few flats, a box, a coffin, all impactful in their sparseness.  

What is significant about Deuteronomy, too, is that it is a play about someone nearing the end of a journey, in a way that brings finality and completion. It is deeply satisfying as a meditation on mortality, striking a credible and moving balance between the fear of the unknown and the reassurance of a life well-lived. Named after the final book of the Pentateuch, it begins with the Beggar, the one who asks, searching for a verse in that book: though he gets to the very end, he does not find the knowledge he seeks. A moment of near-fatal tension, later, is dispelled by him realising that the verse may indeed be in Leviticus; he takes us back to the middle of things. The Man, on the other hand, has no time for the book, and does not seek knowledge or answers; for him, it is enough to know where he has been and what he has experienced along the way.  

This is Thurston’s answer to absurdism: in Deuteronomy, Godot arrives, and the journey and wait have been worth it. The play is both heavy and uplifting, but, as it draws to a close, at its core sings a song of innocence and hope – as the Man sings; “hurrah, my boys, for freedom, ‘tis the rising of the moon.” I will be back tomorrow, and the day after; because if I never see Deuteronomy again it will be the tragedy of my life.   

Opera funding cuts: What is the future of the art form?

Stephanie Nourse
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Opera funding cuts: What is the future of the art form?

Opera in the UK is in crisis. In the latest round of government funding allocated by The Arts Council England (ACE), many of the country’s largest opera institutions have had their budgets slashed. Receiving sufficient funding is crucial to the running of arts institutions in the UK, and ACE has faced immediate backlash since a pattern was identified in the most recent allocations towards the end of last year.

Sir Nick Serota, chair of Arts Council England, announced on a livestream: “The position was made relatively clear when the Secretary of State instructed us to take money out of London… and encouraged us to take money from central London to some parts of the city that haven’t previously had funding. It was almost inevitable that we would have to take some money away from some of the main theatres in London. We’ve simply had to make some very invidious choices.”

Following advice to prioritise financial backing to organisations outside the capital, ACE has begun to provide more funding to opera institutions in the North. While it is no secret that the UK’s capital dominates the cultural sector by a long shot, the redistribution has failed to strike a sensible balance. This has left several London-based organisations suddenly depleted of monetary support, among them many of the country’s major opera organisations.

One of the most prestigious UK opera companies is Glyndebourne, reaching around 150,000 people every year with over 120 live opera performances. In 1968 it founded the Glyndebourne Tour to take its operatic productions around the country at affordable prices, helping to make world-class opera accessible to people across the UK. “Glyndebourne has been offered annual funding of £800,000 per year between 2023 and 2026. Our annual funding from the Arts Council during the previous funding period was £1.6million per year,” the organisation explained in a press statement. 

Having lost over half of its regular funding, Glyndebourne announced in January that it would have to cancel its 2023 tour to Liverpool, Norwich, Canterbury and Milton Keynes. The programme would have included various activities for families, singing workshops in schools, and music recitals in local care homes.

Welsh National Opera (WNO), based at the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff, has also suffered a 35% cut to its ACE grant. The company had already made its financial difficulties known in previous years. In 2020, it announced that it would be reducing its workforce by 16%, and in 2021 only three productions could be staged instead of the usual five or six due to financial constraints. 

In the same year, WNO launched the fundraising campaign ‘Raise the Curtain’ to help mitigate the impact of funding cuts, and the company’s co-operation with the Birmingham Hippodrome aimed to reduce costs. Now, Welsh National Opera has already reduced its 2023 tour, cutting Liverpool from the list of destinations outside of Wales. Productions in Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton and Oxford now also hang in the balance. 

The English National Opera (ENO), which is based at the London Coliseum near Covent Garden, faced an even more drastic situation after ACE threatened to axe its £12.6 million grant unless the company agreed to relocate. The ENO has now been given £11.5 million for the next financial year, which it says will give it “one year’s reprieve”, but “still leaves a huge amount of uncertainty regarding the ENO’s future”. The company has already had to postpone several of its upcoming productions, including part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. 

Opera companies appear to have been targeted in particular following accusations from ACE that opera is an “elitist” art form. Yet the work done by Glyndebourne and the English-language performances at ENO as well as its offering of free tickets for under 21s, heavily discounted tickets for under 35s and a base price of £10 for all seats suggests that a significant effort is continually being made to make opera available to everyone. 

The ENO website also features a “Your first opera” page with information on what to expect, helpful introductions and plot outlines for their operas, and an underscoring that there is no set dress code. In a statement rejecting ACE’s claims of elitism and a lack of public engagement in opera, ENO revealed that last season’s audiences at the opera house were 51 percent first-time bookers.

Opera is also increasingly adopting new, more modern initiatives to tackle these allegations of elitism while also helping to raise vital funds. The Royal Opera House offers streaming subscriptions from £9.99 a month, starting with a 14-day free trial and offering unlimited access to a library of over 45 ballets and operas including behind-the-scenes features, interviews with the artists and creative insights. The company Rogue Opera aims to improve accessibility to operatic theatre by bringing performances to audiences to unexpected places – namely to pub gardens across the UK.

Opera organisations are also changing how they advertise, namely through taking advantage of the exposure offered by social media platforms. ENO now has a profile on TikTok as well as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and the hashtag #operaisopen features heavily across social media to entice new audiences. 

In Oxford, there are several ways for students to engage with and support the local opera scene. New Theatre Oxford, located on George Street, offers locals the chance to see top-class opera productions. The theatre will put on performances of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on the 3rd of March 2023, and of Verdi’s Aida on the 4th of March. Both shows are produced by Ellen Kent and feature international soloists, highly-praised choruses and a full orchestra. The operas will be sung in Italian with English subtitles and tickets are available from £13.00.

Opera can also be accessed through cinema screenings, with Oxford’s picturehouses regularly showing recorded performances from the Royal Opera House. Both ODEON on George Street and CURZON, located in the Westgate Shopping Centre, will include performances of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Verdi’s Il Trovatore in April alongside their regular film schedules. 

The award-winning Oxford Opera Company also offers locals the chance to become more directly involved with opera and places Oxfordshire residents at the heart of its vision. Recent productions include The Magic Flute, La Boheme, Carmen and Tosca, which were all staged at the Oxford Playhouse Theatre. The company delivers high-quality performances, showcasing the skills of the best professionals from the UK, while also providing opportunities for local young people to work in a professional setting in addition to its main-stage work. 

The company offers educational and outreach workshops to people across the county, and their ‘restoration’ program in partnership with the Oxford Health NHS demonstrates their dedication to using music, theatre, and other creative disciplines to enhance the quality of life for all Oxford residents.

There are also several organisations and societies operating within the University. The New Chamber Opera specialises in baroque pieces, while The Oxford Contemporary Opera Society gives opportunity to budding composers by putting on student productions. The Young Oxford Opera Company carries out admirable outreach work, bringing together professional soloists together with local schools and student choirs.

Established in 1952, the Oxford Opera Society is a student-led organisation which encourages newcomer student audiences to operatic theatre, while also nurturing emerging talent across the student body and providing opportunities for students to get involved in all aspects of production in fully staged operas and opera scenes. The society also collaborates with professionals from the wider opera industry, providing members with valuable networking and career development opportunities. 

Speaking to Cherwell, the society described how it acts “as a central hub with the aim of bringing all opera-related activity together.” From running trips to see operas at the Royal Opera House to organising talks and social events, the society is dedicated to promoting and producing opera within the university and beyond. This year, Oxford Opera Society is putting on a production of The Marriage of Figaro and is still looking for people to join the production crew.

The society is run by volunteers from across the University and City of Oxford, and makes an effort to make opera accessible to everyone. “We do our best to ensure that we include everyone who wants to be involved in our productions, and where possible keep ticket prices low to enable everyone to attend who wants to do so,” they said. “Last year, we ran a very successful series of Opera at the Pub in partnership with The Oxford Blue, which allowed people who have never seen any opera before to experience it at close quarters.”

However, the committee noted that “grassroots organisations like ours are limited in what we can do without donations and sponsorship, and struggle to cover the running costs despite occasional grants form various university bodies and depending on volunteers to run them.” Despite this hurdle, the society has been working to raise its profile and build relationships within the industry. This year, as part of the Student Union (SU) Arts week which will run from February 27th – March 5th, Oxford Opera Society will collaborate with the SU, New Theatre Oxford and the Oxford Italian Society. The support of the Italian Society has also enabled Oxford Opera Society to put on a free talk on Puccini with Oxford Brookes Professor Alexandra Wilson, together with a concert of arias at the New Theatre Piano Bar on Tuesday 28th February 2023. 

When asked about the future of opera in Oxford, the society said that it looks “exciting, with new and innovative projects popping up all the time.” It attributed this to “the continuing hard work that we and our colleagues in other societies have been doing”, but underscored that “it is still not enough”. “Opera needs space, whereas Oxford does not have a purpose-built opera house and all of the local venues have their limitations, not least that hiring a big venue is a massive financial risk for a small society. We hope that the University, and every College with a music venue, consider relaxing their policies on room hire by students and not-for-profit societies to enable us to bring even more and better productions to the public”, it added.

Moreover, it seems that the impact of the Arts Council cuts has been felt across the city, too. “Despite our positive outlook for Oxford, we are devastated in solidarity with the English National Opera and other major companies who have suffered in the recent round of Arts Council cuts. We believe that it is an extremely short-sighted approach, because without their high-quality productions, smaller groups like ours have nothing to look up to,” the society said. “The new generations of artists are fleeing the UK, and the decision only serves to entrench the misguided stereotype that opera is only for the rich”. 

The society’s advice for the bigger opera companies in the UK is “to resist the temptation to follow a policy of austerity, and focus on a few quality productions, rather than trying to churn out the same number of shows while stripping them down to their bare bones. “As an industry we need to double down on persuading the public and the government that opera is an art form worth saving”, it said. 

While the future of opera in the UK remains uncertain, what is nonetheless clear is the nationwide dedication to creative initiatives for the development of operatic theatre, and to driving up engagement with new audiences. It is vital that government funding providers such as ACE realise that in defunding opera, the art form will only become more and more inaccessible and, in turn, “elitist”. If the continual work carried out by both major opera companies like ENO and Glyndebourne as well as smaller, grassroots organisations such as Oxford Opera Society can be better recognised and supported, then there is hope that opera might be able to overcome its current crisis.

“Strengths, successes and solidarity”: Oxford International Women’s Festival announces 2023 programme

Stephanie Nourse
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The Oxford International Women’s Festival is set to return for another year of celebrating and uplifting women’s voices from all over the world. It will be held from 25th February to 12th March, encapsulating International Women’s Day on 8th March, and will offer a wide range of events around the city to celebrate women’s strengths, successes and solidarity. 

Since the annual celebration began in 1989, the festival has covered a range of topics from the arts to the sciences, as well as creative projects by women and campaigns for women’s rights. The theme for 2023 is “Celebrating Women’s Lives”, which will focus on contributions by women to local, national and international communities. 

Various discussions and debates will take place at this year’s festival, with one of the main events being the Dorothy Hodgkins Memorial Lecture in partnership with the Oxford Association for Women in Science & Engineering. The annual talk celebrates the achievements of Hodgkin (1910-1994), who is the UK’s only woman Nobel Laureate, having won the prize in 1964 for Chemistry. The speaker for 2023 is Professor of Physics Julia Yeomans, who will give a talk entitled “Nature’s engines: powering life” which will focus on emerging physical theories surrounding living systems. It will be held on 9th March at 5:30pm in the Flora Anderson Hall at Somerville College, where Hodgkin was a student and tutor.

An exhibition entitled “Pathfinders, Enablers & Matriarchs: Untold Histories of Ordinary Women in Postcolonial Ghana” will also be shown at St. Antony’s College on 4th and 5th March. The exhibition is part of A History of Ordinary People in Africa (HOPIA), a cultural heritage project undertaken by the Oxford University Africa Society in partnership with Fusion Arts Oxford and is curated by Oxford students. Following histories of Ghanaian women who have not only managed to find a space for themselves in challenging circumstances but have also created a supportive and nurturing environment in which future generations can flourish, the exhibition’s focus on the lived experiences of women and the multiple roles they have assumed paints a touching portrait of personal sacrifice, resilience and hope.

The North Wall is also hosting an art exhibition by Seeun Kim, a South Korean metal craftswoman and visual artist based in Oxford. Seeun will be showcasing a new social art project and a new collection of jewellery and visual art which illustrate various global issues. Alongside, Seeun conveys her thinking through photography and film and uses a combination of text, British sign language and English braille. Visitors can also see Seeun’s 100 handmade brooches project, The Oxford Collection 100, for the first time. The exhibition will run from 22nd February to 11th March.

Iraqi Women Art and War (IWAW), a project set up to capture the stories of women before, during and after the conflict in Iraq, will also run a Facebook live event throughout the festival. Attendees will have the chance to engage with the stories and culture of Iraqi/Arab women and artists through Dardasha (chat) and art, alongside a Q&A, Arabic calligraphy and cooking. Further information is available on the IWAW Facebook page.

The festival’s goal to celebrate the lives of women will also be illustrated through a collaboration with the Ultimate Picture Palace (UPP) in Cowley to curate a “mini-season of modern classics directed by women filmmakers”. The team at UPP and the festival organisers will host post-screening discussion after each film. The films include the three biopics Harriet (2019), Coco Before Chanel (2009) and Frida (2002). Harriet traces the extraordinary life of Harriet Tubman, while Coco Before Chanel is a lavish and uplifting portrayal of the famous fashion designer, and Oscar-winning Frida focuses on the Mexican artist and political figure Frida Kahlo. 

Completing the line-up is The Perfect Candidate (2019) by cutting-edge filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour, which tells a passionate and determined tale of a Saudi woman who advocates for herself to be elected as the first female councillor in her town. The cinema will also be putting on a special Q&A screening of the documentary Women Behind the Wheel on 5th March, with directors Hannah Congdon and Catherine Haigh in attendance. Further information and screening times can be found on the UPP website.

Micaela Tuckwell, Director of the Ultimate Picture Palace, told Cherwell: “We’ve partnered many times with the Oxford International Women’s Festival, so it is always a pleasure to welcome them back. The festival provides us with an opportunity to show works by brilliant women filmmakers throughout the history of cinema.

“You only need to look at the total lack of women filmmakers represented in the Best Director category at this year’s Oscars to realise that the wider industry is still behind the curve, so it’s our pleasure to shine a light on fantastic women directors making such brilliant films.”

There will also be a performance by Feisty Choir, Oxford’s new women’s singing group, at 4:30pm on 4th March. The benefit gig “Coming Up Roses” will take place at the Friends’ Meeting House on St Giles and promises “untamed acapella” in celebration of International Women’s Day. It will feature celebratory songs by and about women in aid of Oxford Against Cutting, a local charity who work together to help protect women and girls from harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and honour-based abuse. 

Ele Chrichton, a member of the choir, said: “We’re really excited about our gig, “Coming Up Roses”, on 4th March. We sing strong, empowering songs, usually written by women, and so the work that Oxford Against Cutting does to support women in our community really resonates with us all. We’re looking forward to singing some beautiful songs and at the same time raising money for this valuable cause.” Tickets for the gig can be purchased on the Emily’s Choirs website.

With a wide variety of events, Oxford International Women’s Festival promises to be a vibrant celebration of women’s voices, influence and achievements across the world. Details of the full programme can be found on the 2023 Festival page on owif.org.

Oxford-Ukraine Peace Rally shows university’s continued resistance of Putin’s war

Olivia Boyle
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Oxford-Ukraine Peace Rally shows university’s continued resistance of Putin’s war

Hundreds gathered in Radcliffe Square this afternoon for the Oxford-Ukraine Peace Rally, marking one year since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The rally included an hour of testimonies from Ukrainian scholars, local authorities, and university staff, stamped by rallying chants of ‘Slava Ukraini!’ (glory to Ukraine).

Organised by the Oxford University Ukrainian Society (OUUS), the rally had an abundance of support from cross the university. The Radcliffe Camera’s railings were coated with memorial plaques organised by Feminist Anti-War Resistance for those who have lost their lives during the invasion. 

The rally began with Ukraine’s national anthem followed by Chancellor Patten’s address read by OUUS VP, Tomas Tokovyl. The centre of the rally was the University’s role in supporting Ukranian refugees and as was made clear in Patten’s speech, “Oxford stands with Ukraine very strongly”. Those united against the invasion heard from the Ukranian Graduate Scholarship Founder, Lionel Tarassenko, who reasserted Oxford’s action in supporting Ukranian students.

The graduate scholarship has successfully enabled 26 Masters programmes and will continue with 18 scholarships next year, on which Cherwell reported in January. One scholar told Cherwell that she had found out about the Oxford scholarship on LinkedIn. With over 900 applications to the scheme, it is clear that the scholarship, and others like it, show that universities are central to efforts to oppose Putin’s advances. The scholar underlined, however, that action in support of Ukraine must not end; her mother is still living in war-torn Lviv and millions of others remain in similar situations.

The University of Oxford has played a significant role in providing educational support for Ukraine. Working in close partnership with Kharkiv University, the efforts to support Ukranian refugees comes from a collective intellectual resistance to Putin’s terrorism. Weidenfeld-Hoffmann scholar, Denys Karlovsky spoke about the continuation of education in the early stages of the invasion last year commending those who worked on doctoral theses in bunkers and professors who taught over Zoom. The support offered by the university has been invaluable to many though, as Tarassenko highlighted, there is always more to be done to help Ukranian refugees and to show that “Oxford stands in solidarity” with them. 

Oxfordshire’s local authorities also attended. It is the fourth highest local authority in the UK in the extent of its effort to aid Ukrainian refugees. Out of the 200,000 Homes for Ukraine offered by the UK, over 2000 were in Oxford including those of University staff. Lord Mayor James Fry also spoke of completely severing ties with Russian twin city, Perm. Oxford hopes, instead, to work more closely with the Ukrainian university town, Kharkiv; the Oxford Kharvkiv Association has now fully formed following the Mayor of Kharkiv’s address to Oxford City Council.

As the rally ended, activists and scholars held up signs of Ukranian blue and yellow, colours symbolising freedom and democracy. The afternoon acknowledged the tragedy and horror of the crimes against humanity committed by Putin’s regime but also celebrated the power of united intellectual resistance. Closing his address, Karlovsky said that with hope and action we will soon be chanting “the war is over and Ukraine is standing free!” 

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