Stuart Cullen has been voted on Friday to be the next president of the Oxford Union. He garnered 628 votes.

In his manifesto, Cullen described himself as a person who is “serious, fair, has a proven track record and will keep the Union on the right path.”

The role of treasurer will be taken by Ash Sangha, whilst Lou Stoppard will be the society’s secretary.

The turnout for the elections was 1117.

The first disabled actor on Eastenders is to play an Oxford student in the soap.

The character, Adam West, arrives in Walford to visit his mother, Manda, and falls for Libby Fox, the girlfriend of Darren Miller. He describes himself as “self-obsessed and a bit of a snob.”

Executive producer of the programme, Diederick Santer, praised actor David Proud, who suffrs from spina bifida. saying, “He’s a fine young actor with a wonderfully dry comic delivery, playing an interesting – and possibly rather irritating – character.”

An Oxford professor has urged the Queen to use her powers to call an election if Gordon Brown resigns from office.

Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at Oxford said, “There would be considerable public pressure for an early general election if there is another unelected prime minister.”

Bognador added that if Brown continued to ignore clear signs that he had lost the support of the party and the Cabinet, the Queen could be justified in intervening.

“The Queen can ask the Prime Minister if he thinks it is in the best interests of the government and the country if he should continue.”

Oxford graduate and entrepreneur Freddie Fisher was one of the 16 contestants to enter the Big Brother house last Thursday.

Fisher’s first task was to change his name by deed poll to ‘Halfwit’ in order to stay in the house. The 23-year-old lives in a stately home, and doesn’t own a TV. He claims not to know how the show works.

Fisher’s time at Oxford was marred by controversy after it was revealed that he ran a website for rent boys, promising punters “fetish and role play”. He lists his interests as “playing with fire, BB guns, trespassing.”

An Oxford friend commented “Freddie had this crazy obsession with guns and weapons.” A former Young Conservative, Fisher was recently pictured meeting Shadow Chancellor George Osbourne.

An 80-year-old banned for life from Oxford Botanic Garden defied officials by sneaking into the gardens in disguise.

Michael Hugh-Jones, a regular visitor to the gardens for 58 years, was banned two years ago after an angry outburst against staff in front of visiting schoolchildren. The incident was prompted by Hugh-Jones accused them of neglecting a Morning Glory flower.

He this week attempted to sneak into the gardens disguised as a guest at the Lord Mayor’s picnic, desperate to find out what had happened to the plant. His quest ended in tragedy, however, when he discovered that the plant had already been removed by staff.

Oxford Amnesty International group organised a march and silent vigil last Thursday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Members marched through the town centre to the Martyr’s Memorial, where they held a minute’s silence, before taking photos. They had two large, bright yellow banners, one stating “Human Rights for China”, and the other “Remember Tiananmen”. Both signs were translated into Chinese, the second translating as “Remember Six-four”, which is how it is referred to in Chinese.

Tim Brook from the Chinese Department in Oxford University made a small speech before the march, in which he spoke about being in China in the spring of 1989 and the unrest which he felt at the time. He stressed that the Tiananmen suppression by the People’s Liberation Army should not be forgotten. He emphasised the injustice surrounding the event and praised Amnesty International for its continued efforts to seek justice for the Chinese people.

Rebecca Darts, who helped to organise the event and who served as president of the Oxford Amnesty International group for the last two terms, described it as a “great success.” She said she was pleased that a huge range of people had attended, including students, members of the public and other local Amnesty groups.

She said it was “essential” for the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre not to go unnoticed and that the event was organised “to show solidarity with the victims and the Tiananmen mothers, and to call for accountability.” She explained how Amnesty is campaigning for an independent and public inquiry into the Tiananmen suppression as a first step towards justice for the victims, and she encouraged students to sign the petition. She went on to stress that the number of innocent civilians killed is still unknown, and an unknown number of protesters still remain in prison.

She acknowledged that only 25 to 30 people participated in the march, around half the number of people that turned up to a similar event held last year. She commented that as it was Trinity term students were likely to be busy with exams, but added that she found it “sad that more students didn’t take to the streets as those students in China did 20 years ago.”

Amensty organises letter-writing lunches every Thursday of term between 2 to 3pm in the Vaults and Garden’s cafe, with lunch for just £1.

Protesters on Cornmarket street staged a demonstration against the British National Party on Wednesday. Their actions came as former Union President Luke Tryl denied that his invitation to party leader Nick Griffin had contributed to the party’s success.

The BNP, who advocate repatriation of ethnic minority citizens, won two seats in the European parliament and three new seats in last week’s elections.

One of the activists, Ian McHendry, explained that he wanted to show that there was opposition to the party in Oxford. “We decided to come out on the streets to show that there are people opposed to this, because it can be so disheartening and depressing to see fascists elected.”

He added that his group, Oxford United Against Fascism, had been involved in the mass protests in Michaelmas 2007 against the Oxford Union’s invitation of Nick Griffin to a forum on free speech. At the time, Union president Luke Tryl was accused by many of lending the party legitimacy.
However, he denied that his actions had brought the BNP into the mainstream. “I don’t think that’s the case. It was somewhat two years ago. Besides, it has been proved that ignoring the BNP does not work. There is now a recognition that we need to take on BNP and challenge them on their views.”

He added,”The huge amount of attention they are receiving is unfortunate.”

In a speech on Thursday in which he celebrated his election MEP for North West England, Griffin said, “It is a huge victory. We have been demonised, persecuted and denied the right to hold public meetings.”

The party’s website currently displays a banner with the words “The dam has been broken”.

His party has long faced criticism over alleged racist and fascist sympathies. It first gained national prominence in 1989, when it organised violent demonstrations supporting the rights of white parents to withdraw their children from mixed-race schools.

McHendry said he believed that voters were being misled into supporting the party. “I think BNP voters are being hoodwinked. The party isn’t honest about what it stands for. It uses coded language. They’ve been telling Cowley carworkers that immigrants are to be blamed for losing their jobs, which is obviously completely untrue.”