Tuesday 1st July 2025
Blog Page 2052

Blind Date: Week 3

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Blind Date is kindly sponsored by the Oxford Retreat, open for lunch, supper and drinks at 1 Hythe Bridge Street.

Him: Simon Millar, Lincoln, PPE

Overworked finalist trying hard not to be thrown out of Oxford. Claims to have slept with 300 women. Looks for a young lady of his dreams to sweep him off his feet.

Hannah White is like a softly flowing mountain stream. Her delicate and effervescent beauty gently ebbed across the dark wooden table of the Oxford Retreat and trickled over me throughout the length of our three and a half hour supper, on its course leaving us doused with the faint scent of a burgeoning intimacy and mutual regard.

Her bubbling conversational style heavily laced with Brasenose banter more than surpassed my expectations of the evening, given by the many references to Park End seen in the first Cherwell Blind Date of the term, and fully justified her reputation as one of Oxford’s most eligible bachelorettes and convivial supper companions.

Despite my concerns that her affections were wandering away with the rugged handsomeness of our waiter, I very much hope that we will have the opportunity to see each other again.

Looks: Enchanting

Chat: Esoteric

Personality: Entertaining

2nd Date? Of Course

Her: Hannah White, Brasenose, Classics

Brasenose women’s football captain. Thinks herself quite funny and would like to find at least one person who agrees. Allergic to everything (except men…hey, hey).

Known as “little bunny” to his family, there was nothing obviously small about 6’2 Simon Millar.

During our three and a half hour marathon date Simon pulled out all the stops: allowing our waiter to order the wine for him and ordering confit of duck in a French accent… Who doesn’t love a continental?

Whilst, on occasion, I was distracted by the said waiter, Simon kept me on my toes with some excellent lines, including some classics which I later found out are used in “The Game”.

Despite my attempts to play footsie throughout our date, Simon managed to resist my advances. Ah well, better luck next time.

Banter: Unforgettable

Looks: Breathtaking

Personality: Addictive

2nd Date? Absolutely

Looking for the perfect date? Email [email protected]

This sport Lax nothing

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A wise man once said “you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles himself on the lacrosse field”, and at Oxford University, it is fair to say that this maxim holds true. Lacrosse pushes a person to their limits. It confines some to the hospital bed; it reduces some to tears; but, for a select few, it brings triumph.

Despite its recent increase in popularity, few are well acquainted with the rules of the sport. The aim of the game is to score more goals than your opponents, by cradling (holding the ball in the net of your stick whilst running), passing, and eventually shooting. The rules differ greatly between the men’s version, which is contact, and the women’s, which is not. There are 12 players on a women’s team, and only 10 on a men’s team.

The sticks used in the two games also differ. While the women’s tend to be of a uniform length, in the men’s game the lengths vary depending on one’s position, with defenders’ sticks being substantially longer than attackers. The duration of the games varies greatly between college and university level, and indeed between the male and female versions. Whereas college mixed lacrosse games generally last only 15 minutes, professional men’s games typically consist of four quarters of 20 minutes each.

Lacrosse has traditionally been a white-dominated sport in the States, with its roots firmly fixed in North American private schools and elite Universities, although was based on a North American Indian game. Virginia University junior, Shamel “the future” Bratton’s rise to the top of the game, as a black male, is all the more impressive. Bratton landed a lacrosse scholarship to Virginia in the summer of 2007, and has since progressed to the extent that he can expect a multi-million dollar contract from a Major Lacrosse League side upon graduating. Bratton’s stunning goal against archrivals Duke University in April 2008 (a Youtube favourite of lacrosse fanatics) epitomised the coalition of all the stunning facets the sport has to offer – the athleticism, explosive attacking flair and the sheer audacity. Shamel’s exuberant display of what commentator Quint Kessenich called “shaking and baking” a helpless defender, combined with “ankle breaking” is a striking example of the delights of watching lacrosse.

The sport is awash with very specific terminology. One of the best examples of this is the technique known as “cradling” which has since evolved into “power cradling”, a move devilishly difficult to master, but deviously destructive when employed. It involves keeping the ball in the net of a moving head of a lacrosse stick, whilst employing a “curling” technique, keeping the shaft of the stick parallel with the ground.

Is lacrosse capable of inspiring equal devotion across the pond? Men’s lacrosse is one of the national sports in the US and is a multi million-dollar industry, whereas it is relatively non-existent in the UK. Here, women’s lacrosse is much more popular than the men’s game, but even this is still limited to a few private schools in the country, and hence is not very widespread. “Players have to pay to represent regions, even England”, as current national player and Hertford College undergraduate Charlotte Houston lamented earlier in the term, contributing to a perception of lacrosse as an elitist sport.

But lacrosse has shown significant signs of growth within Oxford University in recent years. Many colleges put out mixed teams: Keble, Hertford, and Trinity, to name but a few. Interestingly enough, many colleges report high numbers of beginners signing up to try the sport, seemingly entranced by the allure of such a fast, skilful and athletic sport.

Every weekend, colleges do battle on the lacrosse field in pursuit of glory. At university level, there are men’s, women’s and mixed teams, which have all enjoyed success this year, with the mixed team, in particular, maintaining a 100% record so far and the women’s blue team winning over half of their matches. The men’s team has been blessed with an influx of talented players from all over the world, helping them to put out extremely competitive sides.

To all enthusiastic freshe

rs out there, and indeed second and third years who are yet to sample the delights of this most majestic sport, your college needs you! College teams are the best place to start, with mixed teams always great fun. From there the Blues teams, ably captained by Freddie Snowball and Claire Sutcliffe, are always looking for new blood – so what’s stopping you?

Going Up, Going Down

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Going Up:

Choirs

Acapella groups are getting record hits on YouTube, and the new TV show ‘Glee’ is making choir semi-cool. Enjoy the good wholesome fun… just don’t try and sing along.

Spice Girls (The Musical)

After their mildly disappointing come back, the Spice Girls are now being given the West End treatment. Let out your inner pre-teen and revisit the glory days..

Underwear/Outerwear

Underwear, apparently, is the new outwear thanks to Lady Gaga and the new, edgier Rihanna. We’re not quite sure it’s appropriate attire for tutorials, but we’re sure the boys will appreciate this new trend.

Micro-pigs

 

No-one quite saw this celebrity trend coming- but we quite fancy a mini pig becoming our new college pet. Move over Mansfield Cat, bring it on Pembroke Pig.

Going Down:

Big Brother

Celebrity BB is still making headlines on BBC News, and auditions are taking place for the last ever series – but does anyone care? Seriously…anyone?

Opera

After destroying music, ballroom dancing and overall British dignity with reality TV shows, now, apparently, it is opera’s turn. Pavarotti is turning in his grave. Do us a favour and boycott it.

Hair Gel

Jedward are releasing their debut single and suddenly hair gel is being touted by fashionistas as the new trend for men. Please, ignore them. There should be no such thing as hair trends for men. You can’t be trusted not to take them seriously.

Mating for Life

Even swans are depressed at the prospect of Valentine’s Day. A pair of swans, who usually mate for life, have seperated according to their sanctuary. It’s a big scandal in the animal world… Let’s hope the divorce is amicable. 

CCC sports ground closure

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Corpus Christi students returned from the Christmas vac to be told that their sports grounds will close from Easter. Whilst the site, shared with Pembroke, has been described by a current student as remote but providing for many years some of the best playing surfaces in the university the College has decided that a ground share with University College is the most viable option for the future.

That Corpus’ governing body apparently made their decision without any consultation with the JCR executive seems to have particularly angered students and alumni alike. A petition has been started with articles posted online, resulting in one student being ‘deaned’ for encouraging protests.

The College has justified their decision for a number of reasons. They felt that, although the ‘MBI Al Jaber Building’, a new drama and music centre, was only recently completed, it was necessary on financial grounds to close the facility and make redundant the groundsman, Mike Clifton. Furthermore the authorities were concerned that the site neither provided suitable ambulance access in case of an emergency nor adequate drainage in poor weather conditions. Both arguments have been criticised because Pembroke are continuing to use the site. That the decision will come into effect in March, giving sports teams only a short period of time to make other arrangements and Mr. Clifton two months to find new employment and housing seems to have only compounded the indignation.

The longer term consequences have also caused concern amongst the Corpus Christi student community. It could not only mean the loss of Corpus’ sporting independence and flexibility due to the need to ground-share with Univ, but there was speculation amongst the student body that it may lead to the end of the long-standing alliance with Linacre in college competitions. With Univ having over two hundred more students than Corpus the fear that an alternative alliance with Univ could dent Corpus sporting spirit was also raised.
It remains to be seen whether the College decides to reassess their decision, but at the present time this seems unlikely.

Basketball blues boys bouncing high

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Oxford Men’s basketballers achieved an impressive victory over their perennial rivals, the London South Bank Topcats. The final score, 84-82, reflected a close-fought game that provided some excellent basketball from both sides. The Blues, led by captain Reed Doucette and the free-scoring Stephen Danley, began the contest in fine form and never relinquished their early lead.
Oxford emerged from their warm-ups in a confident mood, and that attitude carried over after the tip-off.

Aside from a few careless turnovers, Oxford played a fantastic game in terms of tactics and execution. With both teams having already qualified for the Southern conference play-offs, each of the league’s top two squads were eager to assert their dominance.

The overall performance will be immensely pleasing to the Blues coaches; post-Vacation rust was minimal, with perhaps only Oxford’s erratic shooting in the early stages of the game a minor blemish. As the match-up progressed, mistakes became less frequent and the team’s field-goal percentages increased.

The Blues led at the end of all 4 quarters, but a win here was by no means simple. The game remained especially close through the first 3 quarters, and a tense final minute saw the Blues narrowly survive an admirable South Bank rally. The Topcats scored an extraordinary 4-point play to tie the game with only 50 seconds remaining, but Oxford responded with a fine play of their own: point guard Skomantas Pocius carried the ball down-court before arrowing a pass to the right side of the 3-point line- the outstanding Tom Parker held his nerve to nail down an important, high-pressure shot that lifted Oxford above their opponents.

Doucette bossed the boards all night long, leading his team at both ends of the court. Oxford’s offense relies upon good decision-making and intelligent passes from its ball carriers; Pocius excelled in these areas for all 4 quarters, providing the team’s forwards with plenty of chances to dominate.

These two teams might very likely meet again, in a more meaningful contest, further along in their campaigns to win a national championship. Having fallen last year at the semi-final hurdle, Oxford will be greatly motivated to move one step further and challenge for a British title. If they continue to play this well, there is no reason not to believe that the Blues can become the very best university team in the nation.

Sticks and success

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The ‘09-’10 season has already proven to be an eventful one for the Men’s Hockey Blues. Right from the start the expectations for the coming year were set extremely high with the Captain, Richard Bond, returning off the back of a successful year playing for Brooklands HC, a team in the top flight of English hockey. Double GB Olympian coach John Shaw has also increased his involvement in OUHC. With a brand new International grade water based pitch laid at the Iffley Road sports ground, the tone was set for a tremendously promising season.

Their campaign began back in September with pre-season training centred around a gruelling training camp in Barcelona where they notched up a convincing win against Real Club de Polo, a top European side. With the University’s terms starting so late the Blues had to hit the ground running, and they were able to carry the momentum from their trip abroad forward into their opening game of the South Regional Premier League, beating Banbury HC 5-3. This also marked a hattrick on his debut for 1st year Adam Jordan. Fresh from a year spent at National League side Holcombe HC, playing alongside numerous experienced international players, he has proven indispensable in several Blues victories since.

The side continued to impress with victories against teams at the top of the Saturday league showing a relentless intensity, no doubt stemming from the team’s rigorous training schedule.

Some of the Blues’ most rewarding results have come in the BUCS games where this year they have had to fight it out with the top university sides in the country following promotion into the Premier League. The likes of Exeter and Bath, two teams riddled with England and GB caps, did not prove too much to handle for the Blues who landed respectable results against them both home and away.

With one inconsequential game remaining against Bristol, the team are set to land third place in the most competitive league in British University hockey, an astonishing performance in their first foray into top level sport. In terms of standard the standard that they compete with, and quality of talent, this ranks the Men’s Blues hockey squad as one of the best sports teams in the university. With dozens of junior international caps between the likes of Ed Perry, Andrew Thomas the goalkeeper and Richard Bond, the pedigree in side is easily clear to see.

With the second half of the season ahead of them, the hockey Blues have another packed fixture list to look forward to. The BUCS knockout draw has yet to be decided but due to their high ranking the Blues are likely to be drawn against the likes of Loughborough or Birmingham. Both sides are bound to provide stiff opposition due to their abundance of full England internationals.
Aided on a Wednesday (when BUCS matches are played) by National Premier League players Chris Newman and Ed Perry, there is no reason why the Blues should not progress to the final stages of the cup competition and cap off a great season with a win at Varsity on 2 March. In the meantime, the squad plays on a Wednesday and Saturday afternoon, so get yourself down to cheer the lads on and to witness a fast-paced exciting game with goals, cards and fights guaranteed.

UCL announces radicalisation review

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An independent review to determine whether Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was radicalised during his time at University College London (UCL) was announced on Monday by President and Provost, Professor Malcolm Grant.

Mr. Abdulmutallab is accused by the FBI of attempting to blow up a US passenger aeroplane on Christmas Day, 2009. He denies the six-count indictment.

The review will examine Mr. Adbulmutallab’s time at UCL, including the three years he spent as President of the Islamic Society. Efforts will also be made to understand whether conditions at UCL contributed to his radicalisation.

The review will be chaired by Dame Fiona Caldicott, principal of Somerville College, Oxford, and pro vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Dame Caldicot stated, “I am pleased to be able to lead the independent inquiry that has been set up to look into events at UCL during the period of study there of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. I hope very much that through chairing this inquiry I can help to produce a report that will have credibility and utility both within UCL and beyond.”

Professor Grant stated, “We are setting up a full independent inquiry into what transpired whilst he was here and his association with the student Islamic Society and their activities.”

Criticisms were levelled at UCL after the attempted attack. It was claimed by London-based terror expert, Peter Neumann, in an interview with the AP, that the university Islamic society is known for being particularly hardline.

However, Professor Grant has made it clear he feels that such criticisms are unfair.

In a statement, he drew attention to the legal obligation British universities are under to guarantee freedom of speech within the law on campus.
Professor Grant stated, “Campuses are and should be safe homes for controversy, argument and debate. This clearly does not include incitement that could lead to terrorism and murder.”

In an interview on Monday, he further clarified his position, commenting, “We must continue to regard students as adults. We must of course ensure that universities are not converted into hotbeds of radicalisation. But this is a long way from reality. There has been so much hyperbole and hysteria whipped up around this.”

He added, “I don’t think radicalisation works by radical preachers coming in and acting like drill sergeants recruiting into a group. We must dispel any misapprehension that universities can substitute for the security services. We are not capable of acting as policemen.”

A spokesperson from Oxford University stated that the University holds a similar position. “Freedom of speech is a fundamental right respected by the University and we also need to ensure that we do not discriminate against either staff or students on the basis of their political or religious views.”

They further commented, “Oxford University takes the security of students at Oxford University extremely seriously. Locally, Oxford city and Oxfordshire county councils are leading on what is known as the Prevent Strategy and the University has met with local councillors and Thames Valley Police to discuss the guidance given. These actions form part of the UK Government’s overall Prevent Strategy, rather than relating to any specific concern about Oxford.”

The other members of the review, which will begin in February, are yet to be announced. The finding of the panel will be published, and UCL has said that it will “act on whatever recommendations it makes.”

Negahnepoc

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Though the press may have framed the Copenhagen climate conference as an unbridled failure which mainly involved delegates being turned away because the conference centre was not large enough to hold them and tedious politicking, the fifteenth Conference of Parties did come to an agreement. You may be worried that no-one is going to sign it on time, or that it lacked substance or indeed any binding commitments at all, but I think it’s worse than that: I think that the negotiating process was undertaken entirely backwards.

The accord drafted at Copenhagen is notably devoid of any numerical emissions targets. This is not just a terrible disappointment for those hoping for action on climate change—it’s also totally irrational.

So what went wrong? Well, first they assigned a target for global average temperature:

We agree that deep cuts in global emissions are required according to science, and as documented by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report with a view to reduce global emissions so as to hold the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, and take action to meet this objective consistent with science and on the basis of equity.

If you made it past the weaselly (and, frankly, barely grammatical) wording without cringing too hard, you’ll see that they’ve deferred to the IPCC recommendation of keeping global mean temperatures no more than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels—we’ll talk about why this might be a good idea in a moment. The totally irrational bit is that the accord doesn’t then skip ahead to the next stage and actually assign a level of global emissions cuts to make sure we hit this target.

This is stupid, because it’s the ‘easy’ part: turning atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations into a temperature rise is based on cold, hard science. We can’t make predictions with 100% certainty as the climate system is just too complex, but there’s no economics, sociology or psychology to worry about, and so this is the simplest part of the process. If you make a value judgement that 2ºC is where you want to be, climate science can tell you the probability of getting there for a given emissions scenario. Indeed, to stand anything like a decent chance of achieving this aim, it looks like we need to enact those ‘deep cuts in global emissions’ right now—or, to put it a slightly different way, making damned sure that we never burn the trillionth tonne of carbon.

However, this strange emissions omission underlines a much deeper irrationality in the conduct of the recent international climate negotiations. A reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is not ‘required according to science’. Science, in this context, exists to provide the very best possible evidence for the results of a given emissions scenario, whereas the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change are ‘required’ by our morality.

The moral way to respond to climate change is to make our best scientific and ethical assessment of the amount of death and suffering a given level of climate change will cause, the best scientific and policy estimate of what restricting climate change to that level would cost, and to spend the amount which would save and improve the most lives without taking money away from more economic life-saving initiatives. This is also my reading of the ethical rationale behind carbon pricing.

So what is the difference between 1.7 and 1.8 degrees of warming? Letting things slip to 1.8 degrees would save us a packet, but also damage or end a certain number of lives. The strange fact is that no-one has done a full, sliding cost–benefit analysis of tackling global warming to various degrees. However, it’s only with some estimates of these quantities that we can make a value judgement about what to do—and, unless you’ve got a moral objection to evidence, you’ll need some regardless of the specifics of those values.

There are undoubtedly difficult ethical questions at stake in devising policy to tackle climate change: Is a future life worth as much as one today? What is the optimum population of the Earth? What fraction of its cumulative historical emissions should the developed world take responsibility for, given that our current wealth was bought with them?

It strikes me that the best way to answer these questions is in a vacuum, and, having decided what is ‘consistent with science and on the basis of equity’, dole out emissions quotas guided by these principles. The optimal way to do this would be if we could somehow abstract the decision-making from individual nations’ negotiators. For example, you could randomise where the parties ended up—if they didn’t know whether they’d end up in the US or Burkina Faso, it would be in their interest to negotiate the fairest deal possible such that you didn’t get screwed wherever you found yourself. Unfortunately, this is clearly impractical.

Equally clear, however, is that getting the countries of the World around a table and asking them to voluntarily proffer generous emissions cuts will result in an accord rather like the one produced in Copenhagen.

I would dearly love to see a slew of rational, ethics- and evidence-based studies on acceptable future emissions scenarios, followed by a choice of moral framework leading to a universal commitment by nations to take one of the studied paths. The question is how to square this with the petty, noisy, global prisoners’ dilemma of political reality. Suggestions welcome.

andrewsteele.co.uk

Fine Dining: Gee’s

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‘Relax, I’m a trained barista’, said the text on the girl’s T-shirt. I didn’t, because she looked about twelve, and I’d just given her £2 for my morning coffee. I take my coffee seriously. A bad coffee really spoils your day. This one was not bad, but not exactly good either: an indifferent brown caffeinated sludge. Lesson of the week: never buy anything off someone who needs a T-shirt to tell you how good they are at their job.

If they wore T-shirts at Gee’s, they’d say ‘relax, we were good twenty years ago.’ I’d heard good things about Gee’s. Great things, in fact. Whenever I talked to former Oxford students they’d always reminisce about it. Roger Alton, the (possibly soon to be ex-) editor of the Independent, told me it was his favourite restaurant in Oxford. That’s quite a recommendation, because Roger has clearly had a few meals in his time. But I’d never been. One and a half years in Oxford and I’d never been to Gee’s, despite the fact that it’s barely two minutes’ drunken stumbling distance from my college. So I popped along this Sunday, because the LMH kitchens were closed and I was hungry, and there were no McCoy’s left in the vending machines.

Gee’s is housed in a lovely conservatory at the bottom of the Banbury road, between St Anne’s and St Hugh’s – undoubtedly one of the nicest rooms in Oxford. It’s owned by a chap called Jeremy Mogford, who sounds like a cartoon character but is in fact Oxford’s sole hotel and restaurant tycoon, the owner of Gee’s, Quod, the Old Bank Hotel and the Old Parsonage, as well as a natty line in tweed jackets. Jeremy’s been running restaurants for ages, and his utter dominance of Oxford’s ‘fine dining’ scene success suggests he knows what he’s doing.

What a shame, then, that the same can’t be said for his staff at Gee’s. We got to the reception desk and I introduced myself. ‘Oh, so you’re the 2:15 then?’ said the charmless maitre d’. Even in prison, they now call you by your name rather than your number. Not at Gee’s, it seems.

After sitting there for ten minutes or so, someone brought over a couple of free glasses of champagne, as part of their January promotion. It’s a nice gesture, but not so much when the glass is only half full, as was the case here. Slightly flat, too.

The maitre d’ was circling the restaurant staring suspiciously at the customers, looking for all the world like a boarding school matron patrolling the dorms after lights out, staring beadily down her nose at potential trouble-makers. The menu was dull brasserie, all pasta, burgers, coq au vin, that kind of stuff. This is fine when the prices reflect the fare on offer, but I really do object to being asked to pay £12 for a bowl of pasta.

It took ten more minutes (two circuits) for someone to come and take our order. My potted shrimps were fine, but the toast they were supposed to come on comprised just two thin strips, barely a bite each. I suppose it was supposed to be artful, but it came across as just mean.

My fish and chips were ok, apart from the brown, vaguely pea-flavoured sludge hiding under the fish, whilst Julia’s burger was awkwardly large. She pointed out that the ‘crème anglais’ listed on the menu is actually feminine, and so should of course have an ‘e’ on the end of ‘anglais.’

‘If you’re going to be posh and pretentious,’ she harrumphed, ‘you should at least get your morphology right.’ I was more concerned by the fact that crème anglaise means custard, but what actually arrived on my bakewell tart was just boring old whipped cream. The bill, with a few drinks but only one dessert, came to £100. For that, Jezza, I expect more.

Rating: 2/5
In short: Decline and Fall

 

Ramadan travel ban lifted

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Last week the Oxford Academic Tariq Ramadan had a ban from travelling to the United States lifted.

Professor Ramadan is an Islamic scholar who was banned from going to US after giving money to Association de Secours Palestinian (ASP) between 1998 and 2002, an organisation which in 2004 the US ban on the grounds that it supported terrorism and funded the Palestinian group Hamas.

Professor Ramadan said in a statement that “The decision brings to an end a dark period in American politics that saw security considerations invoked to block critical debate through a policy of exclusion and baseless allegation”.