Oxford is soon set to welcome two indigenous post-graduates as part of the new Charlie Perkins scholarship program, which will cover their tuition, living expenses and air travel.

Prospective applicants will apply to the University for admission and to the Charlie Perkins Trust separately for funding.

Perkins was the first Indigenous Australian to graduate from university in 1966 and spent his life promoting Aborigines’ interests. The Trust was founded in his memory to provide opportunities for talented Indigenous students to study at Oxford, as currently over 98% attend Australian tertiary institutions.

Jonny Medland, OUSU’s VP for Access and Academic Affairs commented, “The introduction of new scholarships is always welcome news. This is particularly true in this specific case – it’s very difficult for postgraduates to get funding to study at Oxford and especially so for international students.”

The programme will be launched in Oxford on the 9th of November at Rhodes House.

This week sees the long-awaited publication of The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary by Oxford University Press.

The 3,952 page thesaurus has taken more than forty years to produce, has been staffed by 230 people who have dedicated 320, 000 hours of research and includes more than 800, 000 meanings and synonyms for words, some of which haven’t been used since 700AD.

Ironically, the word with the largest category is “immediately”.

Professor Quirk of UCL called the HTOED, “the single most significant tool ever devised for investigating semantic, social and intellectual history”… and will come handy if you wanted another word for deawwyrm, ædre or squinny and happened to have £275 to spare.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, two twins that sued the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, are part of Oxford’s squad for the 2010 Boat Race.

The twins, 28, are both members of Christ Church college and studying towards MBAs at Oxford’s Saïd Business School. This is a far cry from their performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where they advanced all the way to the pairs’ final.

Sjoerd Hamburger, now president of the Blues, is very positive about the inclusion of the twins, asserting confidently that “they were not Olympic rowers for nothing.”

The boat race will take place on 3rd April 2010 and it will be aired on the BBC after a six-year absence.

The Oxford Union and the Oxford University Labour Club have come into conflict over a deal that would see OULC using University and Union-funded networks for political canvassing during the general election.

Ben Lyons, Chairman of the Labour Club, has asked to use Union Skype facilities for OULC’s upcoming telethon campaign as well as the rooms for the Policy Forums in exchange for hosting some of OULC’s events at the Union.

Many Union members expressed concern at this news. One second-year, who wished to remain anonymous said, “I paid a large amount of money to join the Union, and I am not a Labour supporter. I strongly object to my money being used to help the Labour party in any way.”

Lyons stated, “I don’t think it’s unfair, given the Union members would have been able to see speakers they would not have seen other

wise. I understand that non-Labour members could be uneasy with Labour events taking place at the Union, but I think more people are opposed to the continued presence of OCA.”

However, the deal has not been accepted by the Union. Many members of Standing Committee present at the meeting in 2nd Week expressed their feelings that OULC are not offering good enough terms. Although the proposal was rejected, the committee has mandated the president to keep liaising with OULC to try to work for a deal for now or the future.

In exchange for the use of the Skype facilities and rooms, OULC had offered to provide a cabinet member as a speaker for the no-confidence debate, to hold a Lib Dem vs. OULC debate at the Union,and to have an ex-Prime Minister of Denmark speak in the buildings. They also offered to buy drinks exclusively from the Union bar when using the rooms.

Many of those present at Standing Committee expressed strong views that this would not be a fair deal.
Corey Dixon, ex-President of the society, said that he objected to being offered “some random from Denmark who nobody wants to see”. Since this was discussed the event took place at Oriel College, and attracted a very low turnout.

Lyons, whose mother is Baroness Morgan of Huyton, a senior Labour Party politician, has already helped OULC to host Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell this term. He confirmed that James Dray approached him offering to co-host Peter Mandelson, but OULC declined his offer. Lyons claimed that this was because the society “wanted to be able to hold Peter Mandelson at his old college, allowing as many people as possible to see him but giving Labour people priority.”

In both cases the rooms used were not big enough to meet the demand, and many students were turned away or forced to watch from another room via a video link.
One fresher told Cherwell, “It was rubbish. We queued for over half an hour at St Catz to see Peter Mandelson, just to be shoved into the room next door and told we could only watch via video link. If I had wanted to watch him on TV, I could have stayed in my room. If the Union is big enough to fit everyone and they would have been happy to hold the event, I don’t see why it wasn’t held there.”

The Co-Chairs Elect of OULC have since apologised for the lack of space. Lyons added, “There is a long tradition of the Union offering OCA a room for their events and this continues despite their appalling behaviour at elections and Port and Policy.” OCA have free use of Union rooms for their Port and Policy meetings, on the understanding that they will co-host at least one of their speakers with the Union and that the event will be open to Union members as well as their own members.

A similar arrangement was in place with OULC last year but has failed to be agreed upon this term. Moreover, at the Standing Committee meeting the success of last year’s deal was called into question. Corey Dixon claimed that OULC “took us for a ride last term”. When asked to elaborate, he alleged that OULC had been offered Union rooms in exchange for the promise of hosting David Miliband, Tessa Jowell, and John Hutton at the Union. Of these three, only Hutton came to speak at the Union. David Miliband spoke in the Magdalen Auditorium.

Jamie Susskind, last term’s OULC Co-Chair, was keen to stress that this was not OULC’s fault. He said, “Tessa Jowell was due to speak but cancelled as she was too busy that week…Stephen Twigg, another one of our guests, also spoke at the Union.”

The Union’s relationship with OULC was the brainchild of Charlie Holt, President in Hilary last year. Tessa Jowell has been rescheduled to appear at the Union this term.

A house on Walton Well Road in North Oxford is being auctioned to raise funds for the Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary.

The house was left to the charity six years ago, but legal complications means it can only now go on sale.

£90,000 has been raised towards the £100,000 needed to renovate the house before auction and it is hoped that it will attract around £350,000.

A long serving committee member of the Sanctuary said that it would give the charity a life-line of “twelve months”, but that it was still necessary for “people to support us by sponsoring an animal” in order to keep up with the £10,000 a month running costs.

The house goes on auction next month.

Recently published research from the University of Oxford will help in planning treatment regimes for diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a disease in which the patients become less able to regulate blood sugar levels as a result of insulin resistance. Poor regulation of blood sugar can result in many complications such as blindness and kidney failure.

The current treatment for the later stages is injections of supplemental insulin. However, the best time to take these injections was a source of controversy. A 3-year study by the Oxford Centre for Diabetes concluded that starting with a long lasting single injection in the morning, followed by subsequent mealtime injections (if needed) was the safest option.

“These results will help patients and healthcare professionals in routine clinical practice to decide which treatment is most suitable for the individual,” said Dr Andrew Farmer, an investigator from the Department of Primary Health Care.

An Oxford academic has criticised the leader of the British National Party (BNP) for misinterpreting his work on the origins of the British people.

Speaking on Question Time on BBC One last week, Nick Griffin claimed that Britain had an “indigenous” population – the English, the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh – who had been living in the country for the past 17,000 years.

Dr Stephen Oppenheimer, author of ‘The Origins of the British’, has claimed that Griffin has misrepresented scientific research in order to further his own agenda.

He said that the figure of 17,000 years was “obviously wrong” and in his view it would be more accurate to say that Britain has been continuously inhabited for up to 15,000 years. “17,000 years ago Britain was under ice – there was nobody here.”

Oppenheimer was also critical of Griffin’s use of the term “indigenous”. “He talks about ‘indigenous’ because he can’t talk about black or white.” He said that it was difficult to identify what ‘indigenous’ means in the context of the British population. “He’s missed the point of the genetics in terms of his perspective that he can determine who is indigenous British. All British people are immigrants.”

“As Bonnie Greer pointed out [on Question Time], the original Britons were Neanderthals. They were exterminated, then the Ice Age left a clean sheet. The modern population is essentially of north Iberian origin. So what’s British?”

Griffin, said Oppenheimer, had tried to frame the debate on his own terms. “You have to set a date line [before which the population can be called indigenous]. He’s drawn one to suit his own racial agenda. It is not a date chosen out of thin air. He’s making an artificial line.”

Asked whether he was concerned when doing research that people like Griffin would misinterpret or misrepresent it, Oppenheimer said, “It is a mistake to avoid asking a question in case someone misuses the answer. If you predicate your actions on the basis of what the BNP might say or do, you would be influenced by the BNP.”

Alice Brunton, a second-year linguist agreed. “We can’t go around censoring research due to possibly misplaced fear of future reactions by some crackpot racists!”

Hanns Koening, a PPEist, was of the same opinion. “I think scientifically sound research should always be published. Possible ambiguities should be made clear in the paper. If the academic thinks there’s a danger of the paper being misconstrued by journalists or populists, he can already write a response to that into the paper.”

The BBC’s decision to grant Griffin a platform on their flagship current affairs show was a controversial decision. During the filming of the programme, at least 500 people protested outside BBC Television Centre in London. There were also demonstrations outside the BBC’s studios in Oxford.

Oppenheimer criticised the BBC for not being totally honest about the reasons for selecting Griffin for the panel. “I don’t think the BBC had a valid reason for putting him on Question Time,” he said. “I think the BBC’s justification was disingenuous,” he continued, adding that he believed their decision to invite Griffin was based on potential viewing figures.

The programme was watched by an average of 7.9 million viewers. Mark Byford, deputy director general of the BBC, said, “This very large audience clearly demonstrates the public’s interest in seeing elected politicians being scrutinised by the public themselves.”

The University has launched a new mobile service that enables students, tourists, and the wider public of Oxfordshire to see what the city has to offer.

Users will have access to information such as transport schedules, Oxford library books stacked and, where the nearest pub is.

The service is available on most 3G capable mobile phones and can be accessed at http://m.ox.ac.uk.

The initiative is already proving popular, information released by the Oxford Information Centre shows that during its first week the site received an average of 200-300 hits an hour and peaked at 1500 hits.

The project is part of the OUCS’s Project Erewhon which is to move into permanent service from next April.

Oxford is the brainiest place in Britain according to research by the Office of National Statistics.

In the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency 42% of people are educated to degree level, compared to 29% nationally. Only 2% of people have no qualifications.

The results do not come as a surprise. Tom Hosking, a student at Worcester College said, “We’re the top university town in the country with a large number of students. It doesn’t necessarily reflect the standard of schools in Oxford. But, it is slightly intimidating knowing that the person next to you in Sainsbury’s could be a Nobel Prize winner.”

One-fifth of the 70,000 residents in the constituency are students, many of them graduates. The university also employs nearly 4000 academic staff.

Dr Evan Harris, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said the figures showed the Government was failing to tackle the national education divide. In poorer areas of the city such as Blackbird Leys, half of residents have no qualifications.

Climate change has been top of the agenda in Oxford this week, with two students arrested following a protest at an Oxfordshire power station, and town and gown joining together in a demonstration to raise the awareness of climate change.

The Thames Valley Police Press Office has revealed that nine people, including two Oxford students, were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass at Didcot Power Station, Oxfordshire, on Wednesday morning at 4.30am.

The protesters, four women and five men, spent 3 nights in tents they pitched on top of an emissions chimney on Monday. They had planned to stay up the chimney for a week leaving the power station operators unable to restart the boilers, but came down when they realised they would be unable to shut down the facility as planned.

One of the students, Lucie Minchin, of Pembroke College, said, “On Monday at about 4 in the morning over twenty of us cycled to Didcot Power Station.”She explained “We were prepared to be there for as long as it took, but our plans to go inside the flues were not going to work.” Minchin added that while her fellow protesters have been bailed away from Oxfordshire, she has been allowed to stay “because they can’t bail me away from my own house.”

Another protester commented, “I never thought in my life I would do anything like this. It’s amazing how working with committed people can empower you to confront these massive companies and help force real change in the world.”

The spokesperson for RWE npower said, “We are relieved that they have come down safely. We are grateful for the support of the police in ensuring that this incident came to a peaceful and safe conclusion and will cooperate with and support the police in any actions that they feel appropriate. The station continues to operate normally.”

The spokesperson added that three of the power station’s four units had been converted to burn natural gas as an alternative to coal, “These 3 units were already using gas before protesters arrived on site. Didcot is unique in its ability to burn both coal and gas, to reflect market needs.”
“We recognise the challenge of climate change and operate a diverse mix of power stations. That mix will change going forward as we move towards a low carbon economy.”

Mae Penner, Chair of OUSU Environment & Ethics Campaign commented on the benefits of the protest. “I think the protest reveals a genuine concern for the environment and the direction of current government policy. Holding energy-users hostage by attempting to cut off their power supply raises questions of fairness, but it could also be argued that npower are holding people hostage by continuing a programme of heavily emitting coal-fired power stations.”

Thames Valley Police had already arrested 11 protestors who chained themselves to coal conveyors on Tuesday evening. Based on suspicion of aggravated trespass, the eleven arrests, of six men and five women, took place in the coal conveyor building.

Another Oxford student said, “The protest was organised by a group of ordinary people who happened to meet at the summer’s ‘Camp for Climate Action’ and upon hearing about the horrific effects of climate change, particularly that of burning coal decided to take action. So they got on their bikes and shut down a power station.”

He added, “I absolutely support this protest, Didcot emits 20,000 tons of CO2 per year, which is the same amount as the 34 least emitting countries in the world.”

Students and residents alike were also given a taste of climate change activism in central Oxford last weekend as environmental campaigners converged on Bonn Square on Saturday 24th October to mark 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action.

Around 170 people participated in the 350.org demonstration in Bonn Square. OUSU President Stefan Baskerville and representatives from OUSU’s Environment & Ethics campaign, were also in attendance.

Mae Penner was one of the key figures in the demonstration and she highlighted its importance, “As the climate talks in Copenhagen draw near, it is more vital than ever that we, as citizens, go out and show our political leaders that we support an ambitious, fair and binding international deal to combat climate change.”

“It is estimated that climate change currently causes 300,000 deaths a year (99% of which are in developing countries), with this number set to rise rapidly. It was therefore very heartening to see so many people come together on Saturday, crossing the town-gown divide in a demonstration of international solidarity to demand positive political progress.”

350.org, founded in 2007, is an international organisation that aims to cut global Carbon Dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. The name derives from research that shows that CO2 levels in the atmosphere have exceeded a critical level of 350 parts per million. Saturday’s demonstration was part of a worldwide day of climate actions in support of the organisation.
Daniel Lowe, OUSU Environment and Ethics Officer said, “It was great to see Oxford residents and Oxford students coming together to respond as a community to the great threat of our time.”

Saturday saw an estimated 5200 events in 181 countries where people came together to raise awareness of the organisation and promote environmental causes.