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Keble dominate chess cuppers

By
Eoin Devane
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Sunday saw the much-anticipated return of Cuppers Chess, in the form of an eight-team, four-board, 15 minute tournament held at Keble. The teams were divided into two groups of four for a round-robin group stage, which would be followed by semi-finals and a final.

In group A, a three-way battle between the strong teams from Exeter, Univ and Merton for the two qualifying berths ensued. Merton’s lower-board strength resulted in draws with both Exeter and Univ, but the decisive result proved to be Univ’s 3 – 1 victory over Exeter, sending them through top of the group.

Group B was dominated by pre-tournament favourites Keble, who scored 11 out of 12 to set up a semi-final with Merton. Second place went to Blackfriars, who defeated both St. Catz B and Merton Magic, who ran away with prize for worst name in the competition.

In the semi-finals, the surprise package, Blackfriars, came extremely close to toppling Univ, losing only on the tie-break rule. In the other semi final, Merton knew they would have to perform exceptionally to have any chance against the all-conquering Keble. It looked as if a shock might be on the cards when Merton won board 4, but Keble’s top three players showed their class to ensure they would face Univ in the final.

First, however, third place had to be decided. Blackfriars drew first blood when board 1 Patrick Mitchell checkmated Merton’s George Raptis with a nice combination. But with the other three games going Merton’s way, Ben Waugh soon levelled the score with a fine win, while Eoin Devane won on board 2. The match would thus come down to board 3, where Alex Antao had a winning position but was desperately low on time. This told, and David Baird capitalised on a mistake by Antao to seal the victory for Blackfriars on the tie-break rule.

Having dropped only two points in the entire tournament thus far, Keble were favourites to win the final against Univ. Indeed Ting Xu soon gave them the advantage with a win on board 4.

However, despite taking a 2-0 lead, things were far from over. Ben Kirollos was looking dominant on 3 and the mercurial Mike Healey looked to have the stronger position against Tom Eckersley-Waites on 1. If both boards went against Keble, Univ would win on tiebreak. Once again, time proved significant; Kirollos’ flag fell, giving Keble the victory. There was still time, however, for a grandstand finish between Healey and Eckersley-Waites with both players having fewer than 2 seconds remaining when Healey won. Thus, Keble won the first Chess Cuppers of this Century. I dare say, given the success of the event, that it will not be the last.

 

In defence of defiance

By
Cherwell Editorial
-

When students walked out of the Clarendon building four weeks ago, there was a sense of achievement. Student activists and university authorities had reached an understanding with a spirit of goodwill that was praised by this paper at the time. The University has since been far from generous in fulfilling their promises. The statements of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors were dismissive at best, and we now hear that students are being hunted down to pay unspecified fees. These students have reason to feel betrayed.

What good will it do to fine the students involved? At least £1,000 worth of good for the Proctors’ office, but that really shouldn’t be the point. This isn’t a proportional response to the ‘disruption and inconvenience’ that Hood alleges. The occupation lasted for just one day, and was confined to a single, small office building. Nor can the fine be seen as a reasonable deterrent. Occupations such as this occur so rarely that by the time students are preparing to barricade themselves in a university building again, none of them may remember the fines meted out on the previous occasion. The disproportionate nature of the University’s witch-hunt can be seen by the fact that only one other university, out of the thirty that have been occupied, have chosen to punish students in this way. This will serve only to perpetuate the perception of Oxford as an archaic, conservative institution out of touch with the rest of the British academy.

The fragmented nature of the University leads to many differences in operation, many detrimental. On this occasion, however, Oxford’s institutions have real potential to serve the interests of students. Porters, deans and tutors at individual colleges are presented with a prime opportunity to stand up to the centralising powers they frequently complain of for much weaker reasons. Not co-operating with the proctors in identifying their students for punishment would certainly be in the interests of students, and is just the kind of passive resistance by prevarication which is likely to succeed with minimal trouble.

All we can do is to offer our approval to Wadham, our hope that it may continue in its resistance, and that other colleges will act similarly.

 

Dominant Blues floor Cambridge

By
Adam Park
-

For the second year running, Oxford was victorious at the Tae Kwon-Do Varsity Match. The annual contest, which took place in Cambridge last Saturday, was a truly spectacular display of martial arts sparring. Each squad consisted of Men’s A, Women’s A, Men’s B and Men’s C teams, with individual fights taking place between members of each team. Each winning team contributed points to the overall score.
OUTKD had put forward the strongest Varsity Squad in recent years, with twelve Black Belts and four international standard competitors. The competition for the squad was so fierce that even the Men’s C team members all had previous Varsity experience. Going into the match expectations were high, the only danger to Oxford’s chances was complacency. Fortunately this was avoided and, despite strong Cambridge opposition, the Dark Blue fighters came through to dominate the competition.
The Oxford Squad, as a whole, displayed a higher level of skill right from the start, scoring a perfect victory in the Men’s C team category by winning every fight. The C Team win did not contribute to the overall score but the psychological advantage it had given Oxford was nothing short of awesome. The crowd, which can only be described as partisan, was silenced, as they realised the task which the Light Blues had on their hands.
The Men’s B team matches followed, which ended in a close win for Cambridge due to a disputed disqualification for the Oxford fighter, Romano Tartivita, whose powerful punches were too overwhelming for the Cambridge fighter and deemed “excessive” by the referee. The decision was marginal, and Tartivita can feel rightly aggrieved that he was robbed of what looked to be a certain victory, the inability of his opponent to provide any defence having more to do with the decision than the aggression which the Oxford fighter showed.
After this minor setback it was time for the all-conquering, all-Black-Belt Oxford Women’s Squad, who had been the pride of OUTKD all year, bringing home nine medals between the six of them at the UK Open. They also had valuable experience of winning at Cambridge, having dominated the Cambridge Open Championships. Unfortunately, Cambridge was unable to field a Women’s B, nor a full Women’s A team this year and only two fights took place in the Women’s A category, both of which the Oxford women, Valentina Iotchkova and Alice Gardner, won with comfort and style. A particularly noteworthy fight was that of the Cambridge Women’s Captain against Iotchkova. The Dark Blue fighter, who is currently one of Oxford’s England Squad members, did not concede a single point. On reflection, it was probably a good thing that Cambridge were unable to field a more extensive women’s team, as the one-sided nature of the two contests which took place firmly confirmed the dominance of the Oxford women.
At the end of the Women’s A match, the overall score was 2-1 to Oxford with the Women’s Shield in the bag. There could not have been more excitement from the crowd as the Men’s A team geared up for their match. These fights were no doubt the highlight of the day, with both teams’ presidents, captains and Cambridge’s Lithuanian heavyweight international fighting it out for the remaining Men’s and Overall shields. After having had very little to cheer about all day, the crowd became more and more vocal, urging their team on to greater efforts.
The first three matches gave Oxford a 2-1 lead, with the OUTKD Men’s Captain Nathan Ewin winning his match against his Cambridge counterpart and the UK Open Silver Medallist Patrick Wills nearly knocking his opponent out with fierce blows to the head, which surprisingly did not earn him a disqualification, the referee perhaps sensing the added importance of this contest. In the end, it all came down to the grudge match between the Oxford President, Adam Park, and Cambridge’s international competitor from Lithuania, who had a 20kg weight advantage and had previously won the match between the two at the Cambridge Open Heavyweight final back in November.
Tension was running high and the fighters spent a good half of the first round measuring each other’s movements and strategies. The first round ended with the Cambridge fighter several points ahead but the Oxford fighter had been more reserved and had more techniques hidden up his sleeve than his opponent had thought. The Cambridge fighter soon became tired and his movements sluggish whilst Park picked up his pace and overturned the scores in the last minute to finally win with fast back-kicks in the air and an impressive hook-kick, side-kick combination to the face which dazed his opponent and cause him to stumble and call time-out.
The disappoint of the Cambridge support was tangible, in stark contrast to the jubilation of the Oxford camp. After going in strong favourites, they had not only walked away with an emphatic win, but, disregarding the contentious Men’s B result, had proved themselves to be the better side at all levels. The performance of Park was particularly gratifying, and the settling of his personal score simply added to the feeling of elation.
With many of the fighters returning next year, Oxford can be hopeful of extending their run in this match. Cambridge meanwhile, will be left ponder where they should go from here. From this showing, they are a long way behind their Dark Blue counterparts, especially in the women’s competition. The dust can be expected to gather on the silverware; it will be in Oxford for a while.

Napoleon, complex?

By
Michael Docherty
-

A fashion seems to have arisen in popular historical non-fiction over recent years, for making a show of demonstrating, even ‘discovering’ that a certain, very specific moment, idea or conflict should be seen as having much greater significance than it has traditionally been accorded. This pinning down of one date as being absolutely pivotal in determining the course of history, when it had previously been regarded as merely incidental, appeals for a number of reasons.

It certainly appeals to the egos of those who write the books, allowing writers to cast themselves as enlightening excavators of hidden truths that, when revealed, elicit a sleight-of-hand magic trick-like ‘how didn’t I notice that coming?’ reaction in their readers. Perhaps, also, to those readers, this brand of ‘big event’ history appeals by harking to a more old-fashioned, clear-cut view of the past that hasn’t really been in vogue since Britain lost confidence in its own authority to write the world’s history.

This old and essentially imperial style, is based on a strong and simple belief that facts (however dangerously or subjectively oversimplified) are history, and history is fact: World War I started because Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, Gutenberg invented the printing press, Elizabeth I was a virgin queen, America was discovered by Columbus in 1492, and, now, says Frank McLynn, 1759 was absolutely, categorically, the year in which Britain became ‘master of the world’.

Yet, even more importantly, this cataclysmic brand of history succeeds because every human alive today is of a generation whose entire sense of what a story should be like is derived from the conventions of the Hollywood blockbuster. Every hit film needs a hero, and the only thing better than a hero is an underdog. When historians take overlooked people, dates or ideas and then build history around them, they start to manufacture a story along Hollywood’s star-driven lines and give their readership an underdog to root for or an anti-hero to be intrigued by. The effect is the same as that of Chris Nolan reconfiguring the dynamics of the Batman universe to focus on the Joker in The Dark Knight.

It is into this treacherous landscape of big, broad brushstroke, Harvey Weinstein history that Theresa Levitt strides with her book The Shadow of Enlightenment. The title’s a good one. Very Dan Brown. Very marketable. The subtitle hints further that the book aims for Frank McLynn, that where usually overlooked combinations of events conspire to make history that conventional wisdom dictated was being made elsewhere.

That subtitle is ‘Optical and Political Transparency in France, 1789-1848′. There’s the sleight of hand trick being set up already: the word ‘transparency’ is used in two different contexts that, to the untrained eye, appear totally unrelated, but Levitt is waiting, like a magician who links two silver rings with a flamboyant flick of the wrist, to connect them before your very eyes.

The audience, having never even dreamt of imagining that, in 18th and 19th century France, optical transparency and its political counterpart were in any way linked, will clap politely. I’m sure you’re starting to see a problem here. Whilst Levitt writes well, and her magic trick is actually a lot more successful than many of those attempted in books written this way, she’s applied the Hollywood method to a defiantly art-house subject.

Who, outside of University history departments, will know what ‘optical transparency’ means in this context, and who will care about its hitherto unexplored importance to political transparency in post-Napoleonic France? The showy connective conceit may be the preserve of current popular history, but the subject matter is one for dons and DPhil students; a plain appearance and telltale OUP logo don’t help matters.

I haven’t the knowledge to judge Levitt’s work as a piece of serious academia; I can only regard it I the way I feel it has been sold to me as the common reader, as a piece of popular history that attempts to tap into a current fashion for a particular way of forming and framing history.

Viewed as such, The Shadow of Enlightenment is a noble experiment, but a failed one: like the poorer kind of blockbuster film, the book’s exciting style cannot mask its dull substance.

Viva Glasvegas!

By
Joseph Weir
-

The NME Awards Tour 2009 came to Oxford on Tuesday. The tour that has helped, in the past, to launch the careers of bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys returned to showcase the talents of four more NME-endorsed hopefuls. Glasvegas, Friendly Fires, White Lies, and Florence and the Machine were the chosen ones this time around. Of these acts, the highest hopes are surely held for Glasvegas. The hype surrounding those four Glaswegians and their peculiar brand of epic indie last year was unbelievable; this year they intend to prove that it was warranted.

Speaking to the band, it’s clear that success came as a surprise to a group whose singer James Allan was on the dole in January of last year. ‘It’s great, if bizarre. You wouldn’t have thought it, coming from where we’re from’ says the band’s drummer, Caroline McKay. ‘God knows what we’d be doing if things hadn’t taken off… Life’s bizarre.’

The band’s members grew up in east Glasgow, and are proud of their working-class roots and the city that raised them. ‘We’re proud to represent Glasgow, it’s a great city, and it’s beautiful.’ Their name reflects this pride, along with the broad Glaswegian accent in which James Allan delivers the band’s vocals.

McKay is keen to maintain, however, that the music transcends regional boundaries: ‘the lyrics are bigger than Glasgow, they’re about human emotions and human vulnerability. It’s universal.’ Here McKay underlines part of what’s special about Glasvegas. As a Glaswegian singing emotional songs about crying and absent fathers, Allan embodies a fascinating juxtaposition of sensitivity and unflinching manliness.

Glasvegas are keen for us to know that they are a band with a social conscience; they know where they came from, and they don’t plan to forget. The band undertook a prison tour in 2007, McKay believes it was crucial to the band’s development. ‘It was a great experience but it was incredibly emotional. You’re looking into the eyes of a group of people who are all dressed the same, locked up together for a multitude of reasons. The response we got was unbelievable but it was sad sometimes.’

I’m not a big fan of the O2 Academy, but at least it’s not prison. This crowd could probably escape if it wanted to, though this seems unlikely tonight as all four acts impress.

Florence and the Machine were first on, and are a fascinating prospect. The wailing voice is a little overwhelming at first, filling the room and assaulting your ears in a way that takes some getting used to. When it combines most effectively with the music it is a powerful weapon, however, and at times the effect was stunning. Florence flung herself about the stage in a self-consciously theatrical stupor and a basque that struggled to keep the buoyant singer’s bustling bosom under cover.

White Lies were next to grace the stage to embark on what was the least interesting of the night’s sets. Joy Division are clearly a big influence, though White Lies are yet to record anything which comes near the quality of that band’s legacy, despite showing flashes of what has clearly impressed someone in the past.

Friendly Fires had the Academy dancing within seconds of taking to the stage, thirty minutes later the crowd wondered what had hit them. Their confusing brand of indie/dance-pop is entertaining, though it’s not clear why it exists, or indeed, like some biological accident conceived in one of Oxford’s science labs, whether it should.

Glasvegas stepped forward next, striding flamboyantly about the stage, safe in the knowledge that the audience had paid to be there and were not being held under lock and key. Their set was stunning, exciting and emotionally potent; they owned the stage. The air of confidence around the band is striking. The media furore and hype hasn’t intimidated them in the slightest, and they just want to show now that it was justified.

Asked what level of success they’d settle for, the answer came instantly: ‘world domination; settle for nothing less.’

It’s a man thing

By
Rebecca Johnson
-

Lately, it’s just all about men. Men are having a moment. Some might argue that men have had it good for a rather long time. They are gravely mistaken. Until recently, a gent in search of sartorial advice from the pages of a magazine would have had to make-do with a token page in GQ or FHM directing them vaguely at the high street, and London was distinctly lacking in well-edited menswear boutiques.

All that London Fashion Week had to offer in terms of menswear was a single show—the MAN show sponsored by Topman. It has seen some big talents: ‘Cassette Playa’, whose aesthetic defined youth culture between 2006–2007. (She styled and designed for Klaxons and still styles M.I.A.) There has, however, been a distinct lack of a substantial men’s programme in London, let alone a whole week as in Paris and Milan. No more.

Perhaps it all began with Fantastic Man, the ‘gentleman’s style journal’ to rule them all. Fantastic Man (available in Borders) is a trail-blazing publication that has a cult-like following and which has broken many stock rules of men’s magazine publishing. For starters, its aesthetic is the very definition of restraint. Tits and arse of either gender are noticeably lacking from the cover and there are no ‘gimme a freebie’ promo articles on useless gadgets and cars.  Many hours have been spent considering typeface, the texture of the paper (usually two contrasting ones are used) and text and images have room to resonate on the page.

Fantastic Man is a space that gives proper consideration to the masculine aesthetic, with minutely specific pieces and shoots on tweed, or ‘the chest’ (male), or how to pack in the correct fashion. Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom, the founders and editors of the magazine which is based in Amsterdam (though entirely English language) stated: ‘However quietly or extravagantly delivered, style is all about making a difference, about the will to stand out. It’s time to be FANTASTIC.’ This kind of positive statement, made concrete in the magazine, is what men’s sartorial culture needed: Fantastic Man is the standard bearer for a new appreciation of men’s style. There have since been a spate of new titles including 10+ Men, which is worth getting for the 20 page editorials where stylists and photographers have the luxury of space to really develop a narrative, and Man About Town, which has a noir look to its photography and strong arts content.

Wednesday 25th February 2009 will be London Fashion Week’s first ever menswear showcase day. Topman, as Topshop has done for womenswear, is making moves to expand the menswear scene for London Fashion Week. For many seasons now the Topshop NewGen shows have been the must-see shows of London Fashion Week – the hottest young designers get sponsorship from Topshop to produce a collection for the catwalk. This scheme has launched the careers designers like Christopher Kane, Gareth Pugh (who’s recently begun to show in Paris) and Marios Schwab and has seen some of these designers do capsule collections at relatively affordable prices for Topshop in return.

This season, Topman has collaborated with Fashion East, a nonprofit organization set up by the Truman Brewery in 2000 to produce the menswear showcase day. As well as the usual MAN show, at which there is the work of three young designers as well as a ‘Topman Design’ collection, there will be individual shows.

Some to look up are Carolyn Massey, whose work draws on the tradition of menswear craft but recast in black and stripped down, ‘Sibling’ who produce knitted twin-sets for men in bright prints as well as one-off couture pieces and Tim Soar who for his Spring/Summer 2009 collection reworked 1950s rockabilly made it modern with pared-down suits, minimalist overalls and Hawaiian shirts with a twist.

Naturally it’s no use new designers showing collections at fashion week if there are no boutiques to stock their clothes. b Store which defines itself as ‘the antidote to superbrand behemoths’ has been a champion of up-and-coming menswear designers since opening in 2000, regularly buying collections from designers who have only just left fashion college.  b Store’s move to a small but well-curated space on Saville Row from Conduit Street in 2006 has cemented its position as the premier stockist of new menswear designers in London. Over Christmas, b Store created a temporary pop-up shop in Oxford Street’s Selfridges, putting focus in a central location on new menswear design.
b Store’s founder Matthew Murphy, dubbed the ‘accidental hero of young London fashion design’ by The Independent, designs a small collection every season which will show next week. In terms of the high-street, things are looking up for men. Aside from the design-focussed lines available at the Oxford Street Topman, Regent Street’s ‘Cos’—H&M’s recently created, classier sibling—has been making waves with its minimalist take on modern masculinity. Fabrics there are good: silk-cotton mix T-shirts, cashmere and no synthetic. They cut a lean suit and their sense of colour is quite something to behold: black, moody grey and taupe, punctuated by navy, burnt orange and warm beige.

As far as menswear on the net is concerned, London-based www.oki-ni.com stocks limited ranges of labels like Raf Simons, Martin Margiela, Acne and Levis Red Label. It is what could be called a ‘destination website’ with an extensive range of designers of the highest calibre and super-efficient service. Yes please.

Things look hopeful for men. There’s a new mood in menswear, and it’s looking good.

Fears new visa rules will deter foreign applicants

By
Francesca Angelini
-

Universities have expressed concern that strict new immigration rules could deter international students from applying to the UK.

All students outside the EU will have to reapply for a visa after four years, regardless of the length of the course, meaning they have no guarantee that they will be able to complete their studies.

Diana Warwick of Universities UK, an association of university heads, warned of the effects of the new system, which will take over from the end of March.

She said, “although students will be able to apply for an extension to complete their programme they will have no guarantee that leave will be granted. This is bound to affect their decisions about whether to come to the UK in the first place.”

She stressed that it was unfair that students who invest considerable financial resources in studying in the UK would not have the certainty that after four years of study they could continue and complete their degree in the UK.

A spokesperson for Oxford University also condemned the proposal.

She said, “the University still takes the view that it will be unnecessarily disruptive and time-consuming for them to have to reapply for a visa part way through a course, and risks sending a negative signal about the UK’s commitment to its international students.”

According to Russell Group, there is already evidence that visa and immigration issues are an area of concern for international students both before they come to the UK, and while they are here.

Aadya Shukla, president of Oxford’s India Society, expressed outrage at the new system.

She said, “unfortunately, the new system with its disproportionately high application fee and opaque processing, send out the wrong signal that overseas students are not welcome.

“Studying at a UK university is already very expensive, now students will face undue anxiety and uncertainty rather than being able to focus on their course.” Student visa applications currently cost £99 and can take over 15 days to process.

International student Sarah Iqbal described the introduction of the new Tier 4 system as, “another blow that will definitely deter international students from applying to UK universities.”

She added, “since the process has now become more complicated it will further discourage students from applying here.”

Konstantin Zhurkov, treasurer of Oxford’s Russia Society, also agreed that the new system will deter international students from applying.

He commented, “it is a gamble on how long the visa re-application will take and whether it’s really worth potentially disrupting your studies for several months at the end of your penultimate academic year, a stress that might otherwise be avoided by applying elsewhere.”

Other international students, however, have dismissed the idea that the new system could act as a deterrent.

Elena Andreeva, a Russian student at Somerville, said, “I do not think that the obligation of re-applying for a visa would deter students – or at least those serious about studying abroad. It doesn’t seem likely that applicants who had successfully completed four years of their course would be denied a visa to finish their degree.”

Proctors hunt for sit-in students

By
Mark Dayan
-

University Proctors are attempting to track down the pro-Palestine protesters who barricaded themselves in the Bodleian by asking colleges to help identify students from photographs.

The proctors have not disclosed how much the demonstrators will be fined, despite some protesters’ claims that it was agreed they would be fined only £20 during negotiations with the Proctors.

A senior member of Oxford Students for Gaza and Palestine (OSGP), the group behind the occupation of the Bodleian, condemned the Proctors’ actions.

He said, “it would be a shame for goodwill on the part of the university and students to be lost because of hostile tactics used by the university to try and extract more money than was agreed from the protestors.”

The Senior Proctor denied that £20 was the correct sum. He said, “that figure was floated around afterwards but it wasn’t agreed with me.” He confirmed the actual figure agreed was “not a long was away from the figure.” But he refused to disclose the amount, saying, “opinions have been polarised. Some have said the way of handling the protest was somewhat liberal.”

So far, most colleges are co-operating with the Proctors.

But the sub-dean of Wadham, Cetta Mainwaring, has claimed that the college had so far refused to co-operate with Proctors’ request.

Mainwaring, a member of OSGP, said in an email to the group, “the Dean at Wadham and the Tutorial Office are resisting the pressure thus far.” She said the Proctors were, “aggressively following up their promise to fine us by trying to pressure Colleges to identify us in pictures.”

Mainwaring said that the other colleges had allowed the Proctor’s Office to identify students, which she feared was “putting more pressure on Wadham as the only wholly non-cooperative college.”

She appealed for members of the group to identify other colleges which were resisting the pressure, saying “they would obviously feel better about the whole thing if they knew of specific colleges that were doing the same.”
Protesters have called on colleges to “protect the interests of their students in this matter.”

Another member of OSGP commented, “we think that we shouldn’t be facing punishment for our actions. We feel we were making a legitimate point in protest of what we saw a barbarous actions of the Israeli state attacking Gaza.

“It is not down to the colleges to help identify us as college members were not massively inconvenienced by our actions. Oxford will also be alone amongst all the other 30 universities (except Sheffield Hallam) in pursuing action against people who took part in occupations.”

Michael Burden, Dean at New College, said his office would not give out photographs to the Proctors.

However, he added that the Porters’ Lodge at the college was willing to identify students in photographs brought to them.

“The Lodge may identify students as members of college,” he said, “but we would not be in the business of circulating information.”

New College is home to many prominent figures involved in the protests.
Burden said his office had not been approached by the Proctors in any matter related to the protest, but added that he would not have known if they had approached the college’s Lodge.

Proctor David Harris said, “most people had their photos taken and put on the website during the occupation,” saying this was, “the normal way we track people down.”

The Deans’ offices at St Anne’s, St Edmund’s Hall, and St Catherine’s refused to comment on their positions.

Over eighty students barricaded themselves in the Bodleian library to protest against Israel’s recent action in Gaza. The demonstration started at midday in the Clarendon building, and lasted until the protesters felt their demands had been met six hours later.

In the immediate aftermath of the occupation, a Proctor’s statement said they welcomed “the fact that this protest was peaceful and good-natured.” It continued, “negotiations with those occupying the building and their representatives were held with goodwill and in a very constructive manner.”

University Vice-Chancellor John Hood criticised the student occupation of the Clarendon building. He said the Bodleian barricade “caused disruption and inconvenience to fellow students and other members of the University” and added, “unlawful action of this kind cannot be condoned.”

Brasenose student to run for Labour MP

By
Katie Bowden
-

A Brasenose student, Andrew Lomas, will run for Labour MP in the next general election.

Lomas, a Dphil student, will contest the Wycombe seat in Buckinghamshire – a constituency which has not had a Labour MP since 1951.

But Lomas said he is confident that the election will be a real contest. He said the majority held by his opponent, the Conservative Paul Goodman, is “by no means an easy number to overcome, but by no means a safe seat for the Tories.”

He added, “the next election will be one of the most interesting and tightly fought contests for a generation and I’m looking forward to the fight.”

Lomas commented that, although he would have to be in the constituency regularly, he wasn’t worried about his DPhil.

“I actually find being busier sorts out my schedule for me: it forces you to use your time more efficiently rather than wasting your mornings eating toast and watching Jeremy Kyle!”

He added, “beyond that, being able to make a real impact on people’s lives matters too.”

He commented that he had wanted to stand to be a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate because it gave him a chance to get involved with politics outside of Oxford.

“Oxford is a pretty conservative place: whilst this rarely manifests itself politically, it’s a huge cultural phenomenon and means that many people here only do things that reinforce their existing prejudices.”

Lomas is currently researching new ways of treating cancer. Earlier this month he was formally selected to be the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Labour Party in.

Lomas previously stood in the 2008 local election for Barton in North East Oxford but lost by four votes.

The current MP Paul Goodman has a majority of over seven thousand and is the Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government.

Eloise Morgan, a third year at Brasenose College, said that she was a student still at the college was getting involved in national politics.

“I’d say Brasenose has a tradition of fostering Prime Ministers, so I’m very excited about this student standing for election and consequently have high expectations of him.”

She added, “I expect to see his oil painting in Brasenose hall soon.”

 

Suspected brothel raided on Marston Road

By
Hannah Vinter
-

Police have raided a suspected brothel in Marston, arresting three women.
The raid took place on 10th February, when police and UK Border Agency officials entered the premises, following complaints from residents.
Locals had claimed that the property was being run as a brothel and advertised as “Angel Beautiful Massage”
The three women, two of whom are Chinese and one Thai, were arrested for immigration offences, but no cash or clients were discovered on the premises.
Sergeant Alex Shepherd has commented “People have been brought in illegally to work at this brothel but we’re not looking at human trafficking.”
Police have reported that this is the sixth such brothel to be discovered in the Marston area over the last year.

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