Tuesday 1st July 2025
Blog Page 2113

Proctors punish OUCA after racism scandal

Izzy Boggild-Jones
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Proctors punish OUCA after racism scandal

The proctors have announced that the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) will no longer hold the right to use the University’s name in its title and will not be allowed a stall at this year’s Fresher’s Fair.

The decision to remove these privileges comes as a response to allegations that members of the organisation encouraged and partook in the telling of racist jokes at hustings last term.

OUCA was the focus of national media attention after the events were reported in Cherwell. The members involved in the controversy have since resigned from the Association.

Anthony Bouthall, President at the time, defended the organisation after the scandal. “I cannot reiterate strongly enough that OUCA has no place for racism, and abhors and rejects all racial prejudice,” he said.

Ben Lyons, co-chair of the Oxford University Labour Club, welcomed the decision. “We could have the Oxford University Thatcher Appreciation Society or the Oxford University Let’s-Pretend-We’re-Victorian Club but there’s no place for the Oxford University Bigots.”

In a statement released by the press office the University emphasised its commitment to equality and good race relations, pointing out that the events in question “do not reflect the way the overwhelming majority of our students think or behave,” adding, “The University strongly condemns any form of racism and discrimination.”

 

Police patrols increase after a series of Oxford thefts

Liam Milner
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Police patrols increase after a series of Oxford thefts

Oxford police have been heavily engaged in efforts to ensure the safety of those studying at language schools in the city.

‘Operation Buzzard’ involves officers making high-visibility patrols on the Blackbird Leys estate. Foreign students and young tourists have been targeted by thieves in recent months, with ten robberies recorded since the beginning of July.

One language school has now stopped sending female students to the estate. Shaena Whitney, accommodation and welfare officer for the Oxford Language Centre commented, “We don’t use Blackbird Leys very much now and I would certainly not put the young girls out there because they just don’t feel comfortable when they get off the bus.”

Ana Vucetic, also a law student, expressed similar concerns, “There are noticeably fewer police than I’m used to seeing [in America], particularly in places and at times where their attendance would be comforting, such as outside clubs on Friday nights.”

In response, two ‘safe havens’ for students have been established, one at The Ozone Bowlplex and another at Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre. Students can seek help there if they are feeling unsafe.

Ben Oakley-Rowland, Assistant Manager of the Leisure Centre confirmed that they have agreed to “allow [foreign students] to use telephones et cetera to make contact with relevant parties.” 

He added, “To my knowledge we have had not had to offer our services as a safe haven.”

Neighbourhood Sgt Rob Axe commented, “The neighbourhood team will continue to carry out high visibility patrols throughout August, along with officers who have been dedicated to the operation, Thames Valley Police Mounted Section and Oxford City Council Street Wardens.”

Martin Ström, a Swedish second-year lawyer at St Anne’s College, suggested improvements to policing could be a solution, remarking, “the police could be more visible to make their presence more apparent.”

Det. Sgt. Steve Raffield, of Oxford’s Robbery Team said, “I would like to send a warning to those people who choose to commit robberies in Blackbird Leys – we will identify who you are and you will be arrested.

“I would urge anyone walking in Blackbird Leys in the evening to take extra care and be vigilant of what is happening around them.”

 

Better late than never: The Season’s Predictions

Sean Lennon
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Better late than never: The Season’s Predictions

These will be short, sweet, and largely unexplained given how pointless and wildly innacurate such predictions turn out to be.

Champions – Chelsea

Top Four (in order) – Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool

Relegated – Hull (good riddance), Portsmouth and probably Burnley

Top Goalscorer – The Drog. Actually, why isn’t he in my fantasy football team?

PFA player of the year – Heart says Arshavin so I’m sticking with it

Newly promoted surprise package – Wolves should have the goals in them

First sacked – Phil Brown

Best signing – Thomas Vermaelen/Glen Johnson

Worst signing – Michael Owen was free so he hardly counts. Antonio Valencia/ Alberto Aquliani: Both have to fill boots far too big for their feet

Will the great Real Madrid experiment succeed: Unfortunately, yes.

 

So there we are. Feel free to comment, mock, or add your own

 

City’s rise opens up breathing space for Spurs

Sean Lennon
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City’s rise opens up breathing space for Spurs

As an Arsenal fan this hurts me to say, but I really enjoyed watching Tottenham’s demolition of Hull on Wednesday night. Alan Hansen can grumble and point as much as he likes about Hull’s defending, but it utterly fails to hide the fact that Hull looked so bad because Tottenham were fantastic. Each of their five goals sparkled with verve, quality, and equally as importantly, confidence.

Jermaine Defoe has always been a fantastic finisher, but little he has ever produced before can match the sparkle of his three strikes against Hull. All emphatic finishes from a man who simply expects to score. Much of Tottenham’s display on the night reflected that positive attitude, and at least a portion of this must be attributed to the rise of Manchester City.

In a summer of monumental spending the focus in England at least has been almost entirely on whether or not City’s shiny new signings can propel them into the top four. Meanwhile, Harry Redknapp has been continuing to fine tune the side he began to shape so well last season, adding Peter Crouch and Sebastian Bassong to a side already so improved by the additions of Wilson Palacios and Carlo Cudicini. These signings have hardly gone unheralded, but compared to the fervour surrounding City’s new arrivals it’s fair to say they have been rather understated. Just a few seasons ago these would have been proclaimed as the signings that would break Tottenham into the top four.

So where Juande Ramos started last season with an indubitably talented, but dangerously unbalanced side, Redknapp is able to field a line-up which combines the power of players like Palacios and Huddlestone, the speed of Lennon, the craft of Modric and Keane and the finishing of Defoe. Strength in depth is hardly a problem either. Their bench on Wednesday featured Cudicini, Bentley, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch, Naughton, Chimbonda and O’Hara.

Yet due to the focus on the power of City, even their excellent start to the season will be met with little more than an interested raised eyebrow by most onlookers, and this can only be beneficial to Spurs. Positive results will breed a confidence uninhibited by the sort of pressure they would have faced a few years ago.

Tottenham will not be the only beneficiaries of the diminished expectations. West Ham and Fulham both started the season excellently, but any progress from them this season will doubtlessly be regarded as a surprising bonus.

So Manchester City (and if you must, Arsenal) had better not just be wary of what’s in front of them, but what is creeping up from behind.

 

Britain and Obama’s Healthcare Package

Andrew Wilkinson
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Britain and Obama’s Healthcare Package

Sipping your Starbucks, wearing your denim and listening to the late, great Michael Jackson – American imports seem to sit almost indistinguishably amidst British society. And with no language barrier, and the cosiest of political alliances, the similarities of the British and American cousins are clear for all to see. Even military mishaps are labelled ‘friendly’ fire.

Sitting down to watch England’s very own Hugh Laurie as the maverick diagnostician Dr. House in a humdrum American hospital is hardly radically different from the British equivalents of Casualty and Holby City. Maybe it’s a bit slicker, maybe the actors are all more beautiful and have nicer teeth, but essentially, nothing is lost in translation, except for the nonsensically rare diseases which puzzle Stephen Fry’s sidekick. And even the high emotion of US television can just about be reconciled with British reserve.

However, these outward similarities deceptively mask massive cultural differences behind the ‘Special Relationship’. The debate that has erupted in America over President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms – essentially helping America’s 47 million uninsured citizens have access to potentially life-saving medical treatment which they would otherwise not qualify for – illustrates these differences explicitly.

The scale of the American debate is huge, and is itself a foreign concept to twenty-first century British politics. Nationally, town hall meetings are taking place where ordinary people on either side of the debate meet to argue their case with the high passions that we’re familiar with from Hollywood. Everyday Sarah Palins across America are espousing their values, while ordinary Bill Clintons rebut with theirs.

To British ears, these arguments are strangely alien. Our NHS sits as a cornerstone of the British establishment – questioning its existence would seem as futile as debating gravity. Only very few individuals on the right-wing of our politics dare to do such a thing—Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP is at the forefront of the British arguments against the NHS.

On America’s FOX News, he labelled the NHS a “60 year mistake”, an opinion which has led politicians of every allegiance back in Britain to hastily distance themselves from his view and pledge their support for Nye Bevan’s brainchild. But it would be wrong to dismiss all scepticism out of hand. Neither American sceptics nor Hannan are uncaring people, wishing to cheat the poorest out of healthcare for some outdated class-based discrimination. They argue that the ‘socialized’ system leads to systemic waste, to abuse from every part within, and results in a generally lower quality of care for all. The recurring ‘postcode lottery’ issues of the NHS are evidence of the reality of their concerns – bodies such as NICE have a tough job to do in deciding which medicines are financially viable given the benefits that they provide, and different people with different conditions in different areas may be left worse off. In America – you just pay for what you need.

On the whole, however, these arguments fail to convince British minds. Though the waste that pervades in the NHS presents a stick to beat governments of every stripe with – and attempts to deal with it have involved part-privatisation of some of the NHS’s activities – the benefits of the system outweigh the costs. That healthcare is absolutely free at the point of use in this country, no matter who you are, ought to be a source of pride for each and every British person. The system has flaws, but on the whole, people do seem to recognise the greatness of the institution – its unquestionable presence is quiet testament to this.

This then, is not the blind spot that we have. We recognise the value of the NHS; it is the huge difference in approach that exists between Britain and the USA that we can often fail to acknowledge. It is easy, with this particular debate more than others, to paint Obama as the ‘good guy’ in the British press, but we must remind ourselves that American debates begin with entirely different premises. Though we wear the same clothes and sip the same drinks and watch the same television, our individuality lurks beneath this outward appearance. Americans (to date, at least) have viewed healthcare as a privilege, as fitting within their over-arching commitment to the free market and the value of the private sector; Britain has instead seen healthcare as a fundamental right for its citizens, similar to the services provided by the Police or the Fire Service.

It may seem odd to us that in the wealthiest nation on earth, 47 million individuals are without the provisions that western medicine can provide; but it is our perception of this oddity that it is crucial to recognise and celebrate. We are still Bevan’s children, and his legacy looks after us well. It may not be House, but, as long as every single man, woman and child in Britain can claim medical care free at the point of use, we’ll be happy enough to check into Holby City.

The Middle East: Why we need to understand both sides of the question

Anna London
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The Middle East: Why we need to understand both sides of the question

The Middle East is undoubtedly the most discussed landmass in the world, especially in the press. Since time immemorial, world opinion has vacillated first in support of one side in the conflict, then in support of the other. In 1947 the UN voted in favour of a Partition Plan and the creation of the State of Israel and the press almost unanimously supported the newly-born state as a victim through the 1948 War of Independence that followed. Fast forward several decades, exactly the opposite can be said of the War in Gaza, with almost unanimous support being given to the Palestinians, who are viewed as being as much a victim as the Israelis were in 1948. To support the underdog is a natural instinct, but is there really any fair reporting in this support if it neglects to examine every side of an argument? In the examples cited, the 1948 support of Israel failed to appreciate the Arab nations’ possible motives for fighting, whilst the present decade has seen a complete failure to acknowledge the eight years of illegal bombing of the Israeli town of

Sderot.

Cherwell’s recent online feature ‘Our Man Abroad’ falls prey to the same prejudice. Whilst it provides an illuminating insight into Jordan and Syria, comments such as ‘the view on the other side of the water [not being] so pretty’ are effectively rendered invalid, given the lack of research undertaken. Of course each should be entitled to its own opinion, but is this opinion really acceptable given this tour of the Middle East does not include Israel? Upon visiting Quneitra the author comments, ‘As an exercise in anti-Israeli propaganda it is awfully successful’, illustrating by his own example that viewing the conflict from one side only is insufficient. In truth, Quneitra is a town on the border, which exchanged hands four times between 1967 and 1974, and was the site of devastating combat fighting. Far from displaying Israeli ‘wanton vandalism’, it simply highlights the destructive effects of warfare, in much the same way as Ypres might with regard to the First World War, or Stalingrad with regard to the Second.

Facts are easily obscured and neither side is innocent. However, in the current stalemate that has characterised the Middle East for some time, attitudes must change. Progress will not be made whilst bold statements built on bias continue to be made on both sides, in particular those expressed in the media. Writing has the power to influence opinion – it can breed anger and hatred, but it can also spread hope and affect positive change, and this is what the media should be aiming to do. A traveller who writes about the Middle East should attempt to understand the Middle East as a whole, sunbathing on both shores of the Dead Sea, visiting Quneitra as well as standing on the hilltops facing it to hear the post-67 story from the mouth of an Israeli, making it possible to form an educated opinion that is constructive, inspired by truth and an appreciation of the struggle on both sides.

In 1983, Jan Svankmajer won first prize at the Animated Film Festival for Dimensions of Dialogue, beautifully illustrating the consequences of conflicting ideologies that refuse to see the opposite point of view. The best hope for the future would be to allow development to take the place of destruction, to absorb culture from every corner of the Middle East and to engage in dialogue that is truly open-minded. At this point in time the question who is right and who is wrong is not important. Rather, we should concentrate on drastically overhauling each and every one of our attitudes and we should avoid jumping to conclusions that are both hasty and invalid.

 

 

Summer Food Come Rain or Shine

Joy Molyneaux
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Summer Food Come Rain or Shine

Is it a barbecue summer? Is it not? Who cares? Summer can be evoked by food as much as the weather. Take the thought, idea, conceptuality of summery food and make it, whatever the weather. Here’re some suggestions beyond a 99 whippy in the rain.

Summer fruits:

These are an instant lift. Grab the glut while they last. Their soft luscious flesh, their fabulous bright skin… Be they berries (perfect for sharing – just wash and serve) or bigger (nectarines, apricots, plums), it’s good. Simply make sure they’re ripe – nobody likes a bony-bottomed peach – but not too ripe – vintage cherries are unwanted – then sit them in a cheerful bowl. It’s summer in a dish. Keep any back that don’t make the cut for serving. Past-it fruit can be blitzed for a simple juice or smoothie, with ice-cubes or yoghurt respectively. Fruits are also excellent when expanded into savoury dishes. Roasted nectarine is especially delicious: It sits just as well on a main course plate as any roasted pepper or aubergine.

Kitchen barbecue:

Although LMH can’t be rivalled for barbecue location, what with the sun-dappled gardens, punts, cute brick barbecue stands etcetera, an oven’s grill will suffice. Skewers are great for the ‘authentically reproduced’ barbecue; just make sure to soak wooden ones in water for half an hour to help prevent them catching under the heat. Although fire and smouldering coal are somewhat irresistible, save them for a real barbecue rather than your house. Pop some chopped-up meat in a marinade of Greek yoghurt, flavoured with your favourite spices and herbs. Leave it for an hour or so, then shake off the excess gloop. Impale the meaty portions on the sticks and cook them under a hot grill until deliciously tender. Lamb works especially well with traditional rosemary and garlic, or oregano, sage or cumin.

Tomatoes:

Just because there’s so much other fruit around doesn’t mean that tomatoes should be forgotten. They are fabulous right now, and can be used with greater dominance in salads along with traditional leaves. Or you could roast them to bring out a more intense flavour: Chop up a couple of big beef tomatoes into slices with a drizzle of oil and cook in a hot oven for 20 minutes, turning lest their delicious flesh catches. Serve with a touch of balsamic vinegar, if that’s your thing. Don’t forget the classic Greek salad with feta, cucumber, onions and olives…add some anchovies or capers for extra flavour. And if you’ve got luscious beauties on the vine, don’t despoil them with anything, except maybe a few slices of mozzarella and a garnish of basil leaves.

Sweetcorn:

It’s got colour, it’s got sweetness (in the name), it’s got a satisfyingly chunky shape. Buy some proper corn-on-the-cobs and either steam or microwave them. For proper barbecue style, wrap them in tin foil (or keep them in their green leafy sheath if they come au naturale), then cook them under the grill until tender. Apply them to your mouth, left to cool a little so as to save your lips. To add a few yum calories to this yellow stick of health, baste them with butter, melted and infused with some nice garlic.

Fish:

Fish is delicious at any time of year, but there’s something suitably evocative of eating warm tender fish on a summer’s evening, dreaming of a dusky beach and the sea’s lapping waves before you. This is a beauty of food, to transport us where we want, in our memories and in the world. Ginger balances well with steamed salmon, cod with olive, tuna with wasabi. Lightly sear in a hot pan or stick them under the grill. For a light summer meal, eat with steamed new potatoes or rice forked through with peas and drained tinned sweetcorn (keep your corn-on-the-cob for the full works before).

Lemon:

Not reserved solely for fish, lemon is wonderful in savoury and sweet dishes. Mix a lemon’s juice with two tablespoons of grainy mustard and olive oil, some oregano or rosemary and bay leaves. Sluice this over a whole chicken and follow with a mug of water or white wine. Roast the bird for two hours at 170°C until its juices run clear. Fruits, vegetables and potatoes can be roasted in the same dish if it’s suitably capacious. To do so, prepare and cut them into chunks, then scatter around the chicken. Add an extra mug of water to the dish and check on the liquid level during the cooking time, topping up as required.

As for sweet dishes, where to start? Lemon meringue, lemon drizzle cake, lemon rice pudding… Its juice and zest can be added to many plainer recipes to lift them into summer cuisine. Use your initiative to judge if a dash of lemon flavour would compliment the recipe’s basic product (e.g. don’t add to brownies). An additional quick dessert for a summer party is lemon creams. Beat a carton of double cream with electric beaters until it’s firm, then stir in lemon curd from the jar to taste. Serve in as a vat or pop the mixture into small cups, saucers, shot or wine glasses. Store in the fridge until needed, and they’re especially good with anything blackcurrant (think Kir Royale, crème de cassis, blackcurrant sorbet).

Summer crumble: 

It can’t be all health during summertime. This can be offset with some nice fruits for a delicious pudding. Crumble is an excellent sweet dish anytime of year: It’s simple, it uses up old fruit and it requires little attention. Even better, it heats up like a dream, so leftovers are not a problem.

First, find a pretty ovenproof dish. Wash, peel, chop, prepare some fruit as required. A base of apples is normal so as to bulk out the dish, but use fruit as you please. Apricots, berries, pears – anything goes (except bananas. Cooked bananas, except in loaves, seems a bit wrong). Fill the dish with this fruit until it’s about two-thirds full. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and sugar to the fruit (and extra sugar if you fear tart fruit). If cinnamon or mixed spice is your thing, add a couple of teaspoons and stir it through (especially good as summer settles into autumn). Make the easy crumble topping by rubbing 100g butter into 200g flour with your fingers (it’s gentler if the butter is a little soft), then mix in 100g Demerara sugar. Pour this over the top of the fruit so that it’s covered. If it’s not enough topping, make some more with half quantities of the above. Cook in a preheated oven at 180°C for 30-45 minutes, depending on size. This is one of the many beauties of crumble, as it is simple to prepare and cook the crumble in advance, then leave it in the warm switched-off oven until you’re ready to eat it – i.e. it waits for you. Vanilla ice-cream is the perfect complement.

 

Travel ban for Oxford conference attendees

Izzy Boggild-Jones
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Travel ban for Oxford conference attendees

Two groups of students from North Africa were prevented from traveling to the UK last week after attempting to make their way to an Oxford-based conference on conflict resolution.

Six students from Laâyoune, a city inside the disputed territory of Western Sahara, were told they could not board their flights from the Agadir airport in Morocco on Wednesday 5th August. The students then mounted a hunger strike in protest against the Moroccan authorities and refused to leave the airport.

In a video seen by the organisers and participants of the conference, the students describe how after 30 hours they were forcibly removed from the airport and driven in a police convoy back to Laâyoune. The students were then reportedly beaten in three different locations, including the home of one of the six.

Amnesty International has expressed concern for the safety of the students, and has written to the Moroccan Interior Minister requesting that the ban on travel be lifted immediately for those attempting to attend the conference. Amnesty has thus far received no response from the Moroccan authorities.

Seven Moroccan students on their way to the conference were also unable to board their flight to London Stansted. The Moroccan embassy has informed the organisers of the conference that

‘family problems’ meant the students would be unable to attend.

The territory of Western Sahara is disputed between Morocco, which has occupied much of the area since 1975, and the Polisario, an indigenous resistance movement. An estimated 170,000 from the region currently live in refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, many separated from their families and reliant on handouts for subsistence.

The conference, organised by Talk Together, is currently being held in St Edward’s school, Oxford, with the intention of introducing young people from both sides of the conflict to encourage communication, consider different perspectives on the situation and to learn conflict resolution skills such as negotiation and team building.

Andrew Brown, co-ordinator of the conference, confirmed reports that the students had not reached the UK, adding that members of both groups had been heard from since last week. The group of Sahrawi students from Laâyoune had previously informed the organisers that they had been identified by the police when applying for British visas, yet “there was never any indication that they would be prevented from traveling, or that they would be stopped by the police,” said Brown. Several Moroccan students have managed to attend the event, however Brown points out that these are all “Moroccans who are not currently residential in Morocco”.

This is the first conference of its type organised by Talk Together, and preparations have spanned four years. The event is funded by several sources, including an EU grant. The conference is due to run until the 18th August.

 

MPs attack University "degree inflation"

Oli Henderson
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MPs attack University "degree inflation"

University standards are slipping at an alarming rate, according to a recent report by MPs.

A House of Commons select committee has stated that the current system for safeguarding consistent standards is “out-of-date, inadequate and in urgent need of replacement”.

One of the main accusations in the report is that grades are being inflated, without a corresponding increase in quality.

In 1996-97, 7.7% of degrees were awarded a first, compared to 13.3% in 07-08. The percentage of lower seconds and thirds fell from 47.9% to 38.6% over the same period. This inflation was even sharper amongst the elite Russell Group of universities, which includes Oxford.

Universities have been accused of inflating degrees in order to improve their positions in league tables.

Some students believe that standards are slipping. Aditya Balachander, an Oxford student argues, “Universities are content to become diploma mills, and therefore they don’t press their students to present the kind of detailed or expansive knowledge that a degree is supposed to reflect.”

Others disagree. Ilana Kosky puts the increase down to harder work from students. She claims that nowadays “employers are demanding higher results” and while “it used to be acceptable to go into most professions with a 2:2”, this is no longer the case, so students are working harder.

Bea Searle, a student at Oxford Brookes, agrees, arguing that the increase in top grades is due to differences in teaching. “It seems to me that students are being given more information about their topic and more guidance,” she said.

Another fault in the current system, according to the report, is that there is a vast amount of inequity between universities. Mr Willis stated, “We are extremely concerned that inconsistency in standards is rife and there is a reluctance to address this issue.”

The committee wants to create an independent body detailed with maintaining academic standards.

However, this idea has been met with dismay by heads of universities. Wendy Piatt, head of the Russell Group argues, “Universities are not schools. An essential feature of a university is its academic freedom and autonomy, with the responsibility to award degrees and uphold standards.”

There seems to be a consensus that degrees from different universities are not equivalent, yet not everyone considers this to be a problem. Oxford student Carla Thomas said, “Universities all teach different curricula and test on different criteria…It just doesn’t make sense to compare them.”

This report comes soon before a parliamentary committee investigates how much the cap on tuition fees need to be raised, at a time when value for money for students is more important than ever.

 

Final Chance for Floundering England

Fayyaz Muneer
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Final Chance for Floundering England

Forgive the delay, I’ve been having an extended cry since we lost the test in such spineless fashion a few days ago.

It is rather painful to write about it, but England went in with a lightweight middle order and got steamrollered, simple as. Prior, for all his flair, is TOO flair to bat at six, and Broad, for all his nice strokeplay, should be batting at eight and concentrating on his bowling, which may or may not have turned a corner. In an encounter which it is better to draw than lose trying to attack (forgive my negativity, it was not misplaced), seven batsmen and four bolwers was the way to go, especially if you have Collingwood and Bopara to bowl pies and take up time. England lost it inside the first hour, which is
pretty awful going by all standards.

Australia did play well, let us not forget. Stuart Clark is a bloody good bowler, especially in England, Johnson is a class act, despite the crap given him by press here and in Australia, Hilfenhaus has been the best bowler for Australia this tour, and Siddle is matching that aggression with good length bolwing for the first time, and reaping
rewards. Watson has batted nicely since coming in, and when you have a middle order of Ponting, Clarke, and the suprisingly effective North, they can afford to carry Hussey a little bit, although he looks like turning the corner as well.

What to do? Ditch Bopara. One day he’ll dominate attacks, but right now his ego is writing checks his technique can’t cash. We can’t pick Ramprakash. He’ll get eaten alive with sledging, and whilst he might come up and beat it, he may well not, and it could derail his hugely enjoyable swansong at Surrey. The same is essentially true of
Trescothick. If the Australians sledge him, he might crack, and if they don’t, his highly active mind could turn him inside out before he faces a ball. The best choice is Robert Key. A shade below a class act, he is nevertheless a good player, and more importantly, would be a tactical and personal leader in an inexperienced team. Strauss
aside, none of the team are know for tactical nous, and Key has it in spades. He has a superb reputation as captain at Kent, and he is the best choice for the team and for balance of the side. I’d keep Bell for no other reason than he has failed less and has the talent today to score runs. Also, there aren’t any non-novices who are viable
replacements.

On the bowling front, a five man attack of Flintoff, Anderson, Broad, Harmison, Onions seems the best bet. I don’t really have any opinion on the turningness of the Oval, as it isn’t what it used to be, but if you wanted a spinner in there, the most obvious drop is Harmison. As a learned colleague of mine just said “There are times when Harmison hasn’t played, and I’ve wished he was there. But then he comes back and just bowls shit.” For that reason alone, I’d play Swann for variety on dead pitch, and because Broad can hit the deck (indeed he does little else now) for us if we need it and if Flintoff collapses. If we’re going to win this, everyone has to bowl well, and of all the people who can bugger things up for us bowling badly, it’s Harmison who is the biggest risk.

 

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