Saturday 5th July 2025
Blog Page 213

Recipe – Nicole’s asparagus soup

Nicole Dimitrova
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Recipe – Nicole’s asparagus soup

This recipe is sure to become your go-to, whether you’re cold, feeling a bit under the weather or simply in need of some comforting soup, this is a must try- with shockingly little ingredients and time needed for how good it tastes! I first tried this as a starter in what was otherwise a seemingly underwhelming hotel restaurant. As someone who isn’t overly keen on asparagus, it took my boyfriend convincing me to try it from his bowl for me to fall head over heels in love (with the soup of course). It was a beautiful bowl of creamy asparagus goodness, paired with stretchy salty cheese and crisp croutons on the side- and after some trial and error, I learnt how to make it at home.  

Ingredients (Makes around 4 servings of soup) 

3 tablespoons of butter 

2 cloves of garlic, minced  

900G asparagus, remove the ends and cut remaining stalk into 2cm pieces 

450 ml Vegetable or Chicken stock 

130 ml double cream 

Salt and pepper 

A sprinkle of cheddar cheese (Optional) (make sure to grate it yourself- pre-grated cheese doesn’t melt as well) 

Method 

Placing your pot over medium heat, melt your butter and add your garlic, cooking until fragrant. 

Add your asparagus and season with salt. Cook this until golden in colour. 

Add your stock, cover the pot and leave to simmer until your asparagus is still green, but tender. This should take around 10-15 minutes of simmering.  

Once cooked, turn off the stove and remove pot from the heat and begin to blend until smooth. 

Once blended, add your cream, place the pot back onto the stove over low heat, seasoning the soup with salt and pepper to taste- when serving, sprinkle cheese on top of each bowl and stir (This is optional). 

And that’s it! A soup that is easy to make, involves little effort, ingredients and time, and is sure to impress anybody who tries it! Not to mention- this recipe can be modified to be fully vegan! With plant-based butter and cream, as well as the optional cheese to go on top. You can also get creative and try adding more vegetables to your soup- my recommendations being onions, broccoli and potatoes- but add whatever you can think of really- its sure to win anybody over. 

Image: Doug Beckers/CC BY S.A 2.0 via Flickr 

Oxford and Empire: An “uncomfortable” history

Meg Lintern and Matus Lazar
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Oxford and Empire: An “uncomfortable” history

Oxford life is tied to tradition. From reciting Latin at the start of formal hall to donning gowns for prelims and finals, our university’s history pervades our experience today. The darker side of our history thus also casts its long shadow over the present. In 2016, the Rhodes Must Fall movement spurred an international debate about certain statues in Oxford that honour those involved in some of the darkest aspects of the British Empire, leading Oriel College to promise to remove its own Cecil Rhodes monument in 2020. A year later, Magdalen College MCR members voted to remove a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, arguing it was a symbol of “recent colonial history”. The flares of fierce debate surrounding Oxford’s past connection with the Empire and its response to this connection have generally been short-lived, soon dampened by promises of new changes to curriculums and admissions processes, and quickly replaced by a general silence from the university on the topic of decolonisation.

Why is this silence the status quo?

Oxford University does not seem much inclined to dwell on its colonial past. This past is made more complicated by the collegiate system. All of Oxford’s forty-four colleges and PPHs have different ages and histories, and have long had different teaching methods, different alumni, different investments, and different leadership. As a result, the colleges have unique histories that often need to be addressed separately, and many have varying levels of ability or interest in doing so. In the Spring of 2016, Oxford launched the Oxford and Colonialism Project “in an effort to reflect on the University’s historic ties with Great Britain’s colonial past and the ways in which the University’s colonial legacies reflect on the present, and our vision of the University’s future.” Its website contains substantial information about the colonial histories of departments, faculties, and colleges. However, with very little effort put into advertising it, these histories and the project itself often do not make it into mainstream conversation, with most students not even knowing it exists.

Certain external groups are taking action to shine a light on Oxford’s colonial past. Uncomfortable Oxford, founded by DPhil students, leads fantastic tours around the university, seeking to generate discussions about racial inequality, gender and class discrimination, and the university’s Imperial legacy. They also attempt to foster systemic intervention in Oxford, pressing it to engage with its past. They told Cherwell: “The University of Oxford does not seem to have made any active or unified response to its colonial history and does not seem to engage as a whole with this topic – or indeed, legacies of colonialism in the form of fossil fuels investments or student representation. We have seen, however, substantial forms of engagement emanating from individual colleges, departments, or academics. These are attempts, within their own sphere, to recognise this history and find ways to address it, in the form of research, scholarships, and public engagement events (such as exhibitions). The decentralised nature of the University of Oxford allowed it to benefit greatly from colonialism in multiple ways, but this decentralisation is also one of the reasons for its lack of responsiveness.”

The spokesperson continued, “Recognising is a first and necessary step. However, it is also crucial that it be followed by representation through scholarship AND recruitment programs. Furthermore, given the university’s research-oriented goals, diversifying both the areas of research and the scholars and subjects in curriculums would also be some of the many appropriate courses of action to take.”

Matus Lazar, an alumnus who studied history at Oxford and a history YouTuber with over 185k subscribers, recently published a video about Oxford’s colonial history. While conducting secondary research for the video, he uncovered details about certain investments made by some Oxford colleges. In the footnotes of a seven-volume book set on the history of Oxford, mentions of some Oxford colleges’ connections to colonial enterprises and organisations were recorded. Lazar sat down with me to discuss this evidence of Oxford’s “uncomfortable history” and the legacy that this has left on the institution as a whole.

Although the collegiate and university’s financial records were inconsistent until the 1870s, they show that the university’s and many of its colleges’ wealth came from holdings and investments. During much of the last five centuries of British history, these investments often contributed to the economy of empire. Certain colleges have more traceable histories of investment into colonial corporations: for instance, Wadham and New College put money into the South Sea Company, which was granted a monopoly to supply African slaves to the islands in the “South Seas” and South America in 1713. Colleges also benefitted from funding for professorships and scholarships that was received from parliament, the monarchy, and prominent individuals. Such positions include the Boden Professor of Sanskrit, funded by Joseph Boden, a soldier of the East India Company, the Beit Professorship of Commonwealth History funded by Alfred Beit, a precious metals magnate in colonial Africa and the Oxford Forestry School funded by the Indian Colonial Government.

The individuals and organisations providing this funding often had very strong links to slavery, imperial companies, and colonial economic exploitation. For instance, Edward Hyde, the first Earl of Clarendon, was involved in the conquest of Ireland, the procurement of plantations in Ireland, and the colonisation of South Carolina. Clarendon later became the University of Oxford’s chancellor and donated substantially to the university, hence the naming of the Clarendon building right across from the Bodleian Library. Although Oxford colleges are not believed to have owned slaves, as is the case with certain American universities like the University of Virginia, it is undeniable that they did benefit from the financial support of those who did.

This year, Stephen Fry attended the Oxford Union to debate whether artifacts obtained through imperial ventures should be returned to their original countries or ethnic groups. This is a particularly pertinent question at Oxford, which owns many old books and artifacts that have been acquired illegally or taken through imperial coercion. For example, the Totem pole in the Pitt Rivers museum was forcefully taken from the Haida people of Western Canada in the nineteenth century and sent to Oxford. This is why the Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums, which have close ties with the university, are currently being called on to repatriate some of their artifacts. The wider university’s possession of items with dubious histories should perhaps also be called into question.

However, the university did not only reap financial rewards from British colonialism; it also supplied the Empire with crucial manpower, producing many of the administrators and officers that would be sent across British territories. The role of Oxford alumni in British imperial ventures can be traced to the very beginnings of the Empire. In the 16th century, the country’s colonial ambitions were spearheaded by Oxford-educated men like Walter Raleigh, Thomas Roe, and Humphrey Gilbert. Raleigh went on to found Virginia, Roe led an expedition to Guiana, and Gilbert was a pioneer of the English colonial Empire in North America and the Plantations of Ireland. Professor Judith Brown has used matriculation records to show that 345 Balliol graduates went out to work in India as colonial administrators between 1853 and 1947, including 273 who found employment in the Indian Civil Service (ICS).

It is important to note that during the same period, 88 Indian students studied at Balliol. There are many historical people of colour whose entry to the university should be celebrated. Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to practise law in India, is one such example. Another is Christian Cole, who matriculated as the first black student at Oxford in 1873, reading Classics, and graduated in 1876. To give due credit to the presence of students of colour in Oxford’s history would take many more articles.

Much of the rhetoric and ideology that bolstered Britain’s imperial campaign was consolidated by Oxford academics and circulated by the University Press. The historian Laurence Brockliss states that “It was considered to be Oxford’s primary function to take callow youths and turn them into intelligent, upright, and dedicated servants of a British civilising mission”, and, therefore, various course curriculums were tailored to train the next generation of imperial administrators. This led Oxford to serve as a production line for imperial actors. Indeed, the printing press on Walton St helped circulate white supremacist ideologies, and professors taught the ‘theory’ of eugenics, with the arts professor John Ruskin lecturing on how England “must found colonies as fast and as far as she is able, formed of her most energetic and worthiest men”. The Oxford history professor C. R. L. Fletcher wrote a book for primary school called A History of England, in which he stated that the descendants of African slaves in the Caribbean are “lazy, vicious and incapable of any serious improvement … and quite useless”, black South Africans are described as “fierce savages”, and the aboriginals of Australia are “nothing but a few miserable blacks”.

Due to the tradition underlying the structure and content of various subjects at Oxford, relics of the old imperial ideology live on in some of our degrees today. In history, for example, the course structure still mandates that all undergraduate history students study two papers on British history and two on European history across their three-year degree. Considering there are only six papers where the geographic location of study is relevant, this significantly restricts Oxford students’ ability to interrogate global history and explore cultures beyond the West.

This structure makes the subject anything but modern when compared to other British universities. Top universities like LSE, UCL, and Warwick have no requirements to study British history. Likewise, in 2022, Cambridge produced a “substantially new and significantly enhanced curriculum” with far less stringent geographic study requirements. 

Ian Archer and Lucy Wooding, the current heads of Undergraduate history at Oxford (check titles), told Cherwell that “many of us tend to avoid the term ‘decolonising’ in relation to the [history] curriculum because of its contested interpretation, but as a Faculty, we are absolutely committed to diversifying our offering… Our Race Equality Action Group is committed to curricular changes which will promote the study of the Global South and introduce students to a range of historical approaches beyond those dominant in the European historical tradition. Race has been introduced as one of the categories studied in the first-year Approaches to History course; other reading lists have been reviewed to incorporate more diverse perspectives. We have introduced Arabic classes for beginners with a view to facilitating an Arabic pathway through the degree programme. We have also made appointments in black history, welcomed the first woman as Regius Professor of History, and have instituted the first professorship of Women’s History, alongside the introduction of the Masters programme in Gender, Women’s and Queer History. We are looking forward to forthcoming appointments in the history of sexualities, and environmental history, so we are quite confident that our degree is far from archaic.”

Whilst changes to the structures of our university, from the physical fabric of its buildings to the contents of its courses, may be under review, it is obvious that this review is not only important, but pressingly relevant.

Overall, it seems that the legacy of Oxford’s colonial history is so nuanced and multifaceted that identifying the various areas that need to be addressed, let alone addressing them, is going to be a long process and one that requires significant investment in time and funding from the university. Matus Lazar argues that little progress has been made in this regard because “most people either don’t care that much, or the monetary aspect scares them away”. That is to say, the decolonisation debate is generally either seen as a low-priority issue when compared to other questions faced by colleges, such as admission ratios and making money to fund their current cohort, and members of college administrations are frightened by the potential consequences on donations if they take drastic action to address their colonial past. That is ultimately the reason for the university’s silence on this issue and why many professors tend to avoid the word ‘decolonising’ in relation to the curriculum.

Indeed, Lazar believes that the monetary aspect is far more important to the actions taken by the university than any ideological incentive: as opposed to some genuine desire to protect relics of the imperial past, such as the Rhodes statue or the names of buildings, colleges and the university are prevented from acting due to a fear of the financial repercussions. In fact, according to The Guardian, Oriel’s reluctance to remove the Rhodes statue was spiked when “donors apparently threatened to withdraw millions of pounds in contributions or legacies if it did so”. The backlash against the college’s initial decision to remove the statue included a call by former Brexit Party MEP, Ben Habib, to return Rhodes’ endowment to his family and Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP who studies at Oriel, reportedly withdrawing his regular donation to Oriel and tweeting that “the first black student won a scholarship 5 years after [Rhodes’] death. Why would anyone give to an institution that treats its benefactors this way?”

In the eyes of Lazar, this debate in Oxford around finances, reparations, decolonisation, and Oxford’s past Imperial connections is ultimately a matter of ‘memory vs history’. Many people in Britain have a positive memory of the Empire, and any attack on its legacy is seen as an attack on this positive memory. Lazar states that “in the end, this entire thing is just an extension of the whole memory vs history battle about the Empire that is happening in the whole of Britain. After all, this wouldn’t be happening in Oxford if it wasn’t a contentious topic in the rest of the country.” From the statue of Edward Colston being thrown into the harbour to the statue of Churchill being tagged by graffiti reading ‘racist’, the battle of how we in the present remember the imperial past is very much ongoing. Whilst the university easily addresses the emotional element of colonialism, with apologies being issued and projects like Oxford and Colonialism being created as a forum for discussion, the university tries to remain silent on any more significant changes. Lazar argues that as long as there will be financial repercussions for thoroughly addressing the university’s imperial legacy, no significant changes will occur, and these financial repercussions will not disappear until the positive memory of the Empire, which still persists in British society, is not resolved.

Ultimately, the questions surrounding Oxford’s imperial history and how to confront it are only beginning to be adequately addressed and will certainly be the centre of controversy for many more years. However, one thing is clear: the university, including its students, needs to ensure that the conversation does not lapse into silence.

Image credit: Wang Sum Luk

Motacilla / CC BY-SA 3.0

David Iliff / CC BY-SA 3.0

British South Africa Company / Public Domain

The Most Anticipated Albums of 2023

Maeve Hagerty
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The Most Anticipated Albums of 2023

After a rather remarkable year for albums in 2022, with hard-hitters like FKA Twigs’ “Caprisongs,” Beyoncé’s “Renaissance,” Big Thief’s “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You,” JID’S “The Forever Story,” Rosalía’s “Motomami,” and Ethel Cain’s “Preacher’s Daughter,” it seems unlikely that the albums rumored to be dropping in 2023 could ever measure up. 

However, there are some notable new projects dropping this year that are bound to impress. So, here are Cherwell’s picks for the top 11 (we couldn’t decide on just 10) most anticipated albums dropping this year. 

11. Black Belt Eagle Scout – “The Land, the Water, the Sky.” Black Belt Eagle Scout’s exploration of indie rock promises to be a journey of reconnection with her ancestors and through the nature which she associates with them. She said of the project that she “wanted the delicateness of these moments to meet the intense reality of the history of [her] people.”

10. 100 gecs – “10,000 gecs.” After an interesting, experimental release in their first album “1000 gecs,” the duo is returning this year with a new project that promises to be just as weird and wonderful as the last. Doubtless an exciting contribution, “10,000 gecs” is definitely an album to watch for. 

9. Miley Cyrus – “Endless Summer Vacation.” With possibly one of the only truly interesting, and not entirely sour, Pop-Punk albums of 2020 in “Plastic Hearts,” no one really knows what direction her new project could take this year. But, suffice it to say, we’re curious. Cyrus has proven she can be tender, sexy, edgy, and poppy over the course of her career, and this new album is intriguing. No one knows what side of herself she’ll be showing, and that’s the exciting part. 

8.  Måneskin – “Rush!” Following their 2021 Eurovision win, Måneskin has brought an edginess to glam rock and unique charisma which has gathered them a loyal following and which suggests that their forthcoming debut album will be one to remember. 

7. Samia – “Honey.” After a breathtaking debut album “The Baby” (2020), Samia has promised a new project in 2023. After dropping a popular and diverging lead single “Kill Her Freak Out” in 2022, Samia described the song and the forthcoming LP as marking the end of the story of “The Baby” and her transition to a new chapter. Moreover, if “Honey” has even a dab of the indie charm and heartfelt nature of her first LP then it is sure to be a success. 

6. A$AP Rocky – “Don’t Be Dumb.” Though he has not officially announced when it will release, A$AP Rocky has teased his new album and even suggested that Metro Boomin’ will be featured heavily as a producer throughout the project. While some of his projects have proven relatively un-notable in the past, there is hope that this could be a sign of some of his artistic growth since it’s been 5 years since his last full-length LP “Testing.” 

5. Kelela – “Raven.” The R&B singer’s upcoming project is led by the mellow single “On the Run,” and in describing her new album she said that it was her “first breath taken in the dark, an affirmation of black femme perspective in the midst of systemic erasure and the sound of our vulnerability turned to power.” Hopes are definitely high for this project.

4. Yves Tumor – TBA. After dropping the new post-punk single “God is a Circle” (2022) and EP “The Asymptotical World,” fans can only hope that this visionary artist is hinting at a bigger project to come this year. Following the success and texture of “Heaven to a Tortured Mind” (2020), any new Yves Tumor project is something to get excited about. 

3. Gorillaz – “Cracker Island.” The Gorillaz have made a name for themselves collaborating with artists from Carly Simon to Grace Jones, and their new LP promises an even more exciting lineup. With the release of successful singles like “New Gold” (2022) featuring Bootie Brown and Tame Impala, the rest of the album is supposed to feature the likes of Thundercat, Bad Bunny, Beck, Stevie Nicks, and Adeleye Omotayo. “Cracker Island” promises the much-beloved vision of the Gorillaz with the aid of some of music’s most imaginative artists, 

2. Lana Del Rey – “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd?” Lana Del Rey just can’t stop. With the astounding, genre-defining “Norman F*ing Rockwell” (2019), and two following decent albums in the interim, Lana Del Rey’s upcoming 9th project seems to channel her signature dreamy, soul-crushing California Americana in a new direction for the same artistry that has made her so popular. The lead title single is nothing short of beautiful and hints at more beauty to follow. 

1. Rihanna – “R9.” All we can say is: please! Please, Rihanna, drop your album! After teasing it for years, and with her Super Bowl Halftime show approaching, is it possible that this could be the year we finally get the much-anticipated “R9?” It’s been 7 years now since her smash success “Anti” (2016), and suffice it to say that her fans—and us—are desperate for this release.

Image is in the Public Domain

The joy of Spotify’s Discover Weekly

Thomas Bristow
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<strong data-src=The joy of Spotify’s Discover Weekly" title="The joy of Spotify’s Discover Weekly" />

For the first year of university, I had almost completely ignored Spotify’s other features. For me, it was always more of a place to collect and catalogue music, and I had never really thought it to be a great tool of discovery. Other than the infamous annual Wrapped, there was never much of a relationship with the platform, and I felt that this was something Spotify was lacking. That was until I found Discover Weekly.

I can’t exactly remember why, but I began browsing Spotify’s Mix playlists and was disappointed to find that it was essentially just music I already knew, I couldn’t see the point of it. But when I listened to Discover Weekly for the first time, I quickly became hooked on it. Here, every Monday, were 30 new songs by all manner of weird and obscure artists whom I’d never heard of, and short enough to listen to in one morning of uni work. I created a new playlist and began adding most of it immediately, almost overwhelmed by the amount of new content. Soon, it became very habitual to spend Monday morning listening to Discover Weekly. 

Sometimes Discover Weekly is underwhelming, and I won’t add any music from it to my library, instead using it more as background music. But other weeks it coughs up a hidden gem; artists whose music I never would have found otherwise or songs that quickly become some of the best I have heard. Indeed, many of my favourite songs of all time have been first experienced on Discover Weekly. To me it is an invaluable resource and one in which all the hard work of finding the music is seemingly done for you. But this begs the question; how exactly does it work? How can Spotify deliver a playlist curated to your taste every single week? And is it really as it seems?

The answer to most of this is actually very straightforward and perhaps obvious: algorithms. Spotify uses the data of its users’ playlists to work out where possible gaps in your listening are. By comparing your playlists with those of thousands (if not millions) of other users who have similar taste, it can find music which should logically suit you. The platform also creates a highly specific music profile for each user, with which it can filter suggestions and thus recommend music that you have never heard before. As to its legitimacy and fairness, it seems quite sound. While there are YouTube videos trying to explain how to get your own music on Discover Weekly, it all amounts to data for the algorithm again. For example, 100 streams from people who have repeated the song or added it to their playlist indicates ‘Listener Intent’, and so the song is more likely to be recommended to a specific group of people on their Discover Weekly. This is opposed to 1000 streams where the song is mostly skipped or the artist’s profile doesn’t receive much attention. Essentially, the algorithm tries to distinguish between the quality of the music and what people are more likely to enjoy.

Ultimately, Discover Weekly is a nifty feature which Spotify possesses to differ itself from competitors. By doing the hard work of actually finding the music for its customers, their loyalty is more likely, and so then is their money. But aside from this more cynical view, I believe that Discover Weekly can serve a far greater purpose, if you only let it do so. It is an extremely effective and simple tool to expand one’s musical horizons. As mentioned, some of the best music I’ve ever heard has come from this short playlist. It is constantly changing, evolving and updating itself to suit you, and whilst most of the music won’t make it onto your playlists, it’s worth it for the few songs that do. Discover Weekly gives access to a truly endless, undiscovered and changing world of music. All you have to do is listen.

Image Credit: Maeve Hagerty

The city of shrinking spires

Maggie Wilcox
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The city of shrinking spires

When it comes to housing affordability, Oxford is well-behind its world-class peers. Researchers and academics at the University of Oxford are faced with some of the highest housing costs in England and elite academia. While Oxford is infamously an expensive city, it also has a reputation of elitism and prestige. It would be expected that employees at one of the world’s oldest universities, where three course meals in ornate halls are a weekly occurrence, could afford to live in the ancient city. This is not the case.

Oxford’s severe lack of affordable housing has been highlighted in recent years by city councillors, the Oxford branch of the University and Colleges Union, university staff and administrators. The university and other groups are taking steps to improve housing supply and commuting benefits. However when compared to other comparable institutions, particularly in the United States, Oxford is far behind in terms of affordability – for reasons that go far beyond housing policy alone.

Housing costs high across the sector 

The life of an academic at Oxford or Cambridge and that of someone occupying a similar post at a top Ivy League school or elite research university like MIT or Stanford is different in many ways. Those working in the UK generally receive greater social benefits, like maternity and parental leave. By contrast, salaries and scholarships starting at the graduate level are often more generous in the US. There is, however, one domain where top tier UK universities, and Oxford in particular, continually lag behind their American counterparts: housing affordability. 

Rent is high across university towns. An analysis of rents in counties with elite universities in the UK and the US (Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge) puts both Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire on the cheaper end of the scale. As of April 2022, the median monthly rent for a studio apartment in both counties was £550, a far cry from the £1630.2 needed to live in a similar sized apartment in Santa Clara County, home to Stanford University. However, larger two-bedroom apartments in Oxford are more expensive than Cambridge and close to the price found in those around Yale University in New Haven. In terms of house prices, Cambridgeshire is the cheapest amongst these counties. Next lowest is Oxfordshire, where the median house costs £62008.40 more than Cambridgeshire. Nevertheless, homes near these British universities are cheaper than homes near American universities. 

When contextualised within their respective country’s housing markets though, Oxford does not appear as comparatively cheap. The rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Oxfordshire is about 41.7% higher than the English median, while rents in Mercer County (Princeton University), and New Haven, are 27% and 13.2% above the US national average respectively. Home prices in Oxford are 15.8% above the UK average, not as great an aberration as those found in Santa Clara that average about 210% higher than the US average, but still greater than a New Haven home which is 10% above the national average. 

That Oxford is so expensive by UK standards distinguishes it from a handful of other elite universities. But, even those institutions located in areas where rents are more than double the national average are able to remain more affordable to staff because of the housing assistance universities offer.

Other universities offer assistance to offset cost of housing

The near-absence of housing assistance policies in Oxford places the university squarely behind its world-class peers. It does have a portfolio of university-owned rental properties, but it offers no university-wide home purchase or rental benefit. Some colleges provide joint equity purchase schemes and offer some short-term rental accommodation, particularly to graduate students, although this system seems starkly underdeveloped compared to other elite universities. Stanford, by contrast, offers five different loan programs to academics and has numerous rental options available for postgraduates and beyond. 

Lack of support should be not viewed as an intrinsically British phenomenon. Many London universities offer generous relocation allowances. UCL even offers home loans up to £50,000 for certain eligible staff members.

That being said, Palo Alto and London are extremely expensive housing markets, so it should be expected that a degree of assistance is offered to attract and retain talent. However, even cheaper areas like Princeton and New Haven offer far more housing assistance than Oxford. In Princeton, the average home price is about 5.2 times the base academic staff salary average and at Yale it is 4.5 times. At Oxford, an employee occupying the lowest strand in a full-time academic position could expect to pay a bit higher, 6.4 times their salary for the average home, but still these values are not vastly different. And yet, both Yale and Princeton universities have established loan and purchasing programs where the university covers parts of the cost of home purchases, through co-buying the home or payments directly to eligible staff members. These programs are not new either; Yale’s is over 28 years old.

Even Cambridge appears slightly ahead of Oxford in terms of housing assistance,having recently constructed a dedicated community of affordable housing for its staff in Eddington. Some shared apartments here have rents, including utilities, for as low as £650 a month.

The problem in Oxford

Housing prices and a lack of support from the university have combined to create the problem, but there are other deeper structural issues within the university and the town that must be addressed. First, land is at a premium in Oxford. More so than in the United States, cities like Oxford- and Cambridge- lack land open to development on their peripheries. Much of the land outside of the current urban core area is protected, part of the “Green Belt”. This donut-shaped area includes many scenic woods, rivers and floodplains, as well as important farmland. However, it also encompasses motorways and open land, which despite not being of particular natural significance are still under restrictive regulation. Consequently, new outward development is often difficult around Oxford. 

And then, there is the question of endowment. Its endowment of over six billion pounds would place it twenty-fifth in the US, about fifteen billion pounds lower than Princeton, the next poorest university examined in this article. It is lower than Cambridge’s as well, by around one billion pounds. This lack of funds is longstanding and is one of Oxford’s greatest weaknesses, partially inherent to the structure of the university itself. Each college has their own endowment, strategies for growing said endowment and fundraising departments. Furthermore, American universities generally have a greater history of alumni philanthropy, with some Ivies like Princeton boasting close to 50% alumni donation rates. “Old Members” give generously at Oxford, but not to the same extent as in the US with donations split amongst college and university initiatives. 

While a large endowment does not simply enable a university to spend vast amounts of money on whatever projects need attention, it does offer flexibility. A smaller endowment prohibits Oxford from establishing the types of housing benefits that wealthier universities in the United States are able to provide for their staff. As well, the relative lack of funds partially contributes to some of the salary discrepancy we see between British and American institutions. Though, as the UCU argues, the university has an obligation to pay its staff more. David Chibnall, Vice President of the Oxford Branch, says “first thing that the University could do is ensure that pay and PGR [postgraduate research] stipends keep up with housing cost”.

Efforts to improve the housing crisis

Increasingly, the university is acknowledging both the lack of endowment and affordable housing. Prof Dame Louise Richardson, former Vice-Chancellor, has acknowledged Oxford’s comparative lack of funds and has included steps to increase the university’s endowment in her strategic plan. 

In this strategic plan, the university has also set out a goal to construct one thousand new subsidised homes for college staff. The university has entered into a development partnership with L&G to reach this goal. Projects to date include the expansion of the Begbroke Science Park, which Current Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof. Irene Trace highlighted in her recent inauguration address. She reiterated that the university “want[s] to do more” and the Begrbroke development, currently in the planning stage, will “reduce strain on the city’s housing stock and public services”. The University and colleges have also made considerable investments in new accommodation, which Dr David Prout, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Resources, explains has “reduced pressure on the local housing market”.

Individual college land holdings, like St. John’s property in North Oxford and Christ Church’s Bayswater Brook area are also being transformed into innovation and living spaces. In the case of St John’s Oxford North, 35% of these units will also be designated affordable housing. Alongside university and college developments, Oxford City Council is also pledging to build 1600 new affordable homes by 2026 and claim they are “on track to exceed this goal”. The Council adds that their Local Plan “allows employers to provide employees with affordable

housing on specific sites they own within the city”. Not only does this benefit university staff retention, it also frees up social rented homes.

In the past ten years, the university has also devoted resources to lessening the expense of commuting, particularly those who use sustainable modes of transportation. This allows staff to afford the cost of commuting from Oxfordshire’s less expensive outlying villages. Benefits include bike purchase loans, construction of showers in department buildings and subsidising new electric fleet vehicles. The program alone is not a solution, however, and many American universities have similar programs in conjunction with more affordable housing.

A more well- endowed future

A greater supply of housing and new programs to assist commuters will, if properly implemented, alleviate some of the cost of living and working in Oxford. These will come with a hefty price tag and are not the university’s sole priority. However, this crisis, intrinsically linked to the financial power of Oxford raises a more troubling question: can the ancient, tutorial-based university survive in the modern world? 

This is not a new worry, as calls to grow both Oxford and Cambridge’s endowments, following the professional investment management model of many American universities, have been around for twenty-five years. Like alleviating the housing crisis, growing an endowment to rival the size of elite American universities however, will take decades. 

Spare – Is Harry’s book another step in the road to a United Republic?

Matthew Oulton
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Spare – Is Harry’s book another step in the road to a United Republic?

Harry’s tell-all book gives an insight into the inner workings of the Crown. It gives British readers a unique glimpse of how the royal sausage is made, as well as a healthy dose of personal angst and intrigue. However, exposing the cruelty of the press, the bizarre lifestyle of the royals, and the hierarchy inherent to a monarchy, it raises a barrage of questions pertinent to the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom.

But does it answer any of them?

The book is strangely silent on the nature of the British constitution. Apart from an incongruous section where Harry reaffirms his nominal commitment to monarchy, he barely mentions the fact that he is where he is by dint of aristocracy. He writes as though the son of an American celebrity, not the British monarch.

Why does the book remain silent on the most pressing questions it raises? Because this is not a book written for Brits. Like the Beatles in 1964, this book is aimed at one thing only – the American audience.

The signs that the book is written for an American audience are subtle; a slight over-explanation here and there of things that are obvious to a Brit, with little explanation to those things that are obvious to Americans. There’s also his sensitive discussion of issues of race but his overlooking of colonial undertones in many of his experiences. There’s his treatment of war, especially in Afghanistan. Far from interrogating the rights and wrongs of conflict, Harry wholeheartedly embraces the ‘glory of war’ rhetoric that is universal in America, but more of a debate in the UK. It adds up to the book feeling slight off to a British reader.

Furthermore, far from discussing the constitutional elephants in the room, Harry deliberately ignores the topic. He doesn’t differentiate between anachronisms and necessary parts of monarchy. He doesn’t differentiate between the bad behaviour of individual family members and the nature of the institution.

If Harry had written a book calling for the abolition of the monarchy, perhaps that could be understood. But to write a book which simply points out some of the absurdities and cruelties is a weak effort.

Furthermore, Harry completely lacks self-awareness. He oscillates from complaints about very serious things that everyone can relate to – losing his mother, being ejected from the military, very serious infringements on his safety and privacy – to minor trifles such as the position of a car outside his home at Sandringham or the size of his flat when he met Meghan. In one notable passage, he complains about being denied a tiara for Meghan on his wedding day in the same breath as complaining about a lack of adequate police protection. One of these is trivial, one is not, and that Harry doesn’t differentiate between them shows an astonishing lack of self-awareness.

Furthermore, his account is completely one-sided. He complains – justifiably – about the intense scrutiny and lack of privacy afforded by his status, without discussing the privilege he experiences. His jet-set lifestyle and endless trips to clubs, bars, and fancy restaurants is merely a backdrop to the story – never discussed. The role of the British class in his life and position is neglected exclusively, apart from a few sidelong references to ‘class envy’ that he perceives to have been directed towards him.

Why does he do that?

I can’t help but feel he does it because he knows that an American audience will overlook it. He will come across, to American eyes, as an ordinary heir to an enormous family fortune. The American reader will not, I’d wager, appreciate that the entire time he is complaining, his wages are paid by the British taxpayer.

Likewise, that Harry maintains Meghan didn’t, and indeed could not, have anticipated what being his wife would be like, is absurd to a British reader. Prince Harry was one of the most famous people on earth. He is the grandson of probably the most famous person in world history. It’s not fair that the pair of them were forced to experience what they went through, but to feign ignorance about it beforehand stretches credulity.

That Harry’s book offers only a one-track view into his life and the monarchy does not make it a waste of paper. In fact, because people always assume that to be a prince would be an unalloyed pleasure, he offers a useful counterweight to prevailing views. However, his book does not offer what it could have – a clear-eyed look at that most private of institutions. It also doesn’t expose much of substance that we didn’t already know.

Now, of course, it’s not right to trap someone in a gilded cage. A clear and obvious conclusion of the plight of Meghan and Harry is that royals need a way to exit gracefully.

They need an option to opt out of the monarchy if they don’t want to be involved that doesn’t involve acrimony and conflict. They also need to be able to earn money in their own right, and be afforded adequate protection, so that they don’t need to fund themselves through salacious books and documentaries.

Further, Harry’s treatment as a child is unfair. Royals deserve a degree of privacy as minors, in the same way as the press often offers privacy to the children of serving and former politicians. Until they are old enough to decide whether to remain part of this strange ritual, children should not be subject to the feral interrogations of the press.

Harry does not suggest this, however, merely relaying his experiences in a way that is neither analytical nor self-aware.

These are fundamentally British questions. They refer to our press, our monarch, and our constitution. Harry is silent on these questions because his book is not for us. He is writing to an American audience, and in the process is criticising a British system, and his British family, when he knows they cannot respond.

It is possible, therefore, to feel intensely sorry for Harry, treated as he has been, without forgiving him for this very public falling out with the nation. Harry should not have been forced to give up so much, but nor should he have been afforded the lifestyle he wanted without any of the obligations that royalty entails. Harry has made himself both more sympathetic and less in one fell swoop. I hope, likely in vain, that this can mark a turning point with Harry’s relationship with his family, the press, the UK, and the Commonwealth. What I think, however, will not sway him, because I am British, and he has left our country behind.

Image Credit: James Boyes / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Oxford Councillors receive death threats over false rumours of “climate lockdown”

Suzanne Antelme
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Oxford Councillors receive death threats over false rumours of “climate lockdown”

Oxfordshire County Councillors have received online abuse and death threats following false rumours of a ‘climate lockdown’ circulated following the approval of six new traffic filters.

Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Councillor and cabinet member for travel and development strategy told the BBC he has been left feeling “bruised” and “cautious” after receiving death threats.

After staff at both councils received threats online and over the phone, Oxfordshire County Council released a joint statement with Oxford City Council saying they are “taking appropriate steps to provide staff and councillors with support” while working with the Thames Valley Police to address “the most extreme abuse”. They attribute the abuse to “inaccurate information” spreading online about the recently approved traffic filters.

One article, published online at the end of November and subsequently fact checked by Reuters as false, claimed the Oxfordshire County Council had approved plans for a ‘climate lockdown’ where residents would be locked into one of six zones and prevented from leaving or travelling between zones without Council permission. According to Reuters this article has been shared thousands of times.

Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council have endeavoured to “set the record straight” in their joint statement, where they note that online misinformation links the traffic filters with proposals to develop ‘15-minute neighbourhoods’ and incorrectly suggests the traffic filters will trap residents in their neighbourhoods. In reality, all areas of Oxford will still be accessible by car with the traffic filters (requiring at most a detour to the ring road) and the 15-minute neighbourhood proposals “aim to support and add services, not restrict them”, with a focus on bringing shops, healthcare and parks within easy walking distance of local neighbourhoods.

The traffic filters, approved by the County Council’s cabinet at the end of November and due to come into force in 2024, constitute a £6.5 million trial scheme aiming to divert traffic from congested roads at peak times. The County Council claims that the traffic filters will make walking and cycling safer and free up bus routes, as well as tackling climate change and air pollution. At each traffic filter, a camera will monitor licence plates and if a private car passes through the filter between 7am and 7pm (excluding weekends for some filters) they will be fined £70. Oxford residents can apply for a permit allowing them to pass the filters up to 100 days a year, and there will be a variety of exemptions for blue badge holders, care workers, businesses and others. The filters have no effect on buses, bicycles, or pedestrians and are apparently expected to generate about £1.1 million in fines.

The traffic filters have faced their share of legitimate opposition, with over 3,400 people signing a petition against two of the filters in particular and a further 1,700 people expressing fears that Botley Road will be overwhelmed by traffic if the Council does not reconsider. According to the BBC Liam Walker, shadow cabinet member for highways, is worried the plans will cost residents and impact businesses.

Before approving the traffic filters, Oxfordshire County Council carried out a public consultation on the proposal from 5th September to 13th October which had 5,700 respondents. The results of the consultation were then analysed and summarised by an independent research company and used to update the proposals and inform the County Council cabinet meeting on 29th November where the filters were approved.

Reflecting on the threats he has received, Councillor Enright told the BBC that he thought he had been “built up into some huge monster” and protested he is “not a lizard … [and] not a person from another planet who is trying to take over people’s lives”.

Space Send-Off: Oxford Students launch experiment to the ISS

Bintia Dennog
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Space Send-Off: Oxford Students launch experiment to the ISS

A team of five Oxford University graduate students worked together with the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET) to turn schoolchildrens’ ideas into an experiment to be launched to the International Space Station. The experiment was successfully launched into space onboard the Cygnus NG18 last November

As part of ISSET’s Mission Discovery programme 300 UK schoolchildren aged 14 to 18 competed to develop an experiment idea for space. They were assisted by space scientists and astronauts throughout the five-day-long competition in summer 2021. 

One of the six winning experiments was then further developed at the University of Oxford – the first of its kind to be developed here. Ross Barber, Director of ISSET, said: “Mission Discovery was designed to enable the next generation of talent and we can’t think of a better place for these bright young minds to showcase what they have learnt.”

The experiment itself focuses on ferrofluids and how these behave in microgravity. Ferrofluids are liquids that contain iron particles, making them magnetic. Using electromagnets that manipulate the ferrofluids through a coil, a current is induced by the movement of the fluid. The Mission Discovery students believe that ferrofluids can be used as energy harvesters. 

Over a year, the team of Oxford students, led by Daniel Molland and Daniel Cervenkov turned this experiment into a miniaturised version that would be able to function in a weightless environment – it had to be small enough to fit into a 5cm by 5cm payload for space travel.  Dr Mike Foale, a former NASA astronaut, assisted the students with the project and visited Oxford in October 2021. 

The experiment is designed as a pair, with one version remaining on the ground and one in space to help observe the effect of microgravity.

In November, the graduates were able to travel to the US, along with ISSET representatives, to help with final preparations and to witness the launch. 

Daniel Mollard, who is also the ISSET Chief Scientist at Oxford, said “I’m proud that I could help give that opportunity to my fellow graduate students alongside ISSET and help inspire the winning school children to believe that anything is possible!”

Vaibhavi Rajesh, one of the members of the winning team of schoolchildren, said: “I knew that Oxford would really put a lot of effort into [our experiments], but I didn’t realise the amount of work that goes into it, nor the extent of staff that work on it. It was so great to come in person to see our dream come true. It’s just been magic.” Their team was invited to Oxford to watch their experiment being built.

The results for the experiment are expected back on the SpaceX CRS26 return mission, beginning of 2023. 

“All it takes is one yes”: In conversation with Sian Eleri

Meg Lintern
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“All it takes is one yes”: In conversation with Sian Eleri

It’s a rainy January day and I’m sitting alone in my room, anxiously scrutinising my face on Zoom as I wait for Sian Eleri to join the call. Sian is one of my personal heroes: a new addition to the Radio 1 team, she is the host of the Power Down Playlist on BBC Radio 1 four nights a week, as well as the Chillest Show for two hours every Sunday. I am used to hearing her dulcet tones interspersing a tracklist of mellow music as I squirrel away in the library. It’s strange to see the face accompanying the voice pop onto the screen as Sian greets me with that familiar Welsh accent and an equally warm smile. 

Over the past couple of years, Sian has achieved a dream that’s been a long time in the making: she has secured her own regular show on BBC Radio 1. “It’s been a whirlwind,” she tells me. “A really life-changing year.”

There is a very real sense of the hard graft and dedication that has gone into securing this position. Even though Sian had no idea what she wanted to do with her life when she was at school, studying two arts and two sciences at A Level to keep her options open, she did know that “the two things I liked were music and people.” 

Sian applied to study history at Leeds University, but “within maybe one or two seminars, I already knew I hated it. I knew I couldn’t do something for three years, get into debt for three years, with a degree I didn’t want and a degree I knew I couldn’t do anything with. So, I dropped out and then reapplied to the same uni for the following year to start broadcast journalism. And it was almost like the best mistake I ever made.”

After doing placements with local radio stations, as well as working for Leeds Student Radio, Sian realised: “That’s my thing, I suppose – it’s radio”. 

She says that Radio 1 “had been staring at me in the face my whole life, because it was such an enormous part of my childhood, from waking up before the rest of my family to listen to the breakfast show when I was in primary school, to sitting in the car in the driveway after swimming lessons on a Friday night just to listen to Zane Lowe.

“But it felt so out of reach that it was just like, ‘Don’t even dream of it because you’re just going to set yourself up for failure’. So I feel incredibly lucky that for some reason they thought I was decent enough to have on their roster. I feel really privileged to have the job that I had silently dreamt of, but never thought would be achievable.”

This dream was by no means one that came true overnight. For the first couple of years of Sian’s career, it felt like she was wishing on an unforgiving star. “I was desperate for a full-time job in radio for just the sense of security, but also to feel like I was progressing or having the space to progress in a workplace. But I was never able to get one because it’s such a competitive industry. Everyone was clambering over each other to get these jobs, and they’re so few and far between, so it was years of freelancing, mainly in production.” 

That struggle for work, as well as the constant onslaught of rejections from job applications, was something that ground down her resolve. Sian remembers, “I was just so desperate for work and applying for everything under the sun and either getting ‘No’s or no-shows. And it was brutal. Because again, I think for me, as quite a competitive person and someone who puts 110% into everything… after a while getting so many rejections in a role can feel quite crippling on your self-confidence. 

“I remember there was a moment a few years ago, where [I had] had enough. I’d kept a spreadsheet of every job I applied for, and there were hundreds on there. And maybe there were like two that were in green, [but] I think I’d just had one more rejection. That was one too many, I suppose. And I remember breaking down in the middle of my partner’s living room, on the floor… I was just like, ‘I don’t know how much more of this I can take, and whether what I’m pursuing is completely pointless and impossible’.”

Just when it seemed like giving up might be the only option, one of Sian’s colleagues from her freelancing jobs pushed her to apply for a spot at Radio 1. “He was the one that really pushed me because he was just like, ‘Sian, what is one more no? What’s one more no?’ And that was enough for me to be like, right, okay, I’ll make this demo. See how it goes. And lo and behold, a month later, I got the call to do a one-off show. And I thought, Oh, my God, like, this is the thing I’ve been waiting for.

“I think it’s easy to say now in hindsight that all it takes is one yes. Because I remember it being really hard – being constantly put down and feeling that I was delusional, you know, that I wasn’t good enough. But yeah, all it takes is one yes. And perhaps if I’d gotten a yes, before [Radio 1], then maybe I wouldn’t have gone for the Radio 1 thing at all. 

“I don’t believe in fate, but I think there’s certain parts of it where I’m glad I persevered.”

That perseverance has certainly paid off. With regular live shows, as well as replays on Radio 1 Relax, a new platform playing chilled-out tunes, Sian is consolidating her presence. 

Her role also comes with full control over the music she plays on her shows. Considering the volume of songs and album cuts that she is sent by aspiring musicians and their record labels, this is no small feat. This responsibility is even more significant in light of the increasing pressure on festivals, music labels, and radio shows to increase their diversity. In August 2022, Sian’s friend and Radio 1 colleague Jaguar commissioned a report into gender representation in UK dance music through the Jaguar Foundation. The report revealed that just 5% of dance music in the UK charts had exclusively women or non-binary artists as the primary artist and feature, and less than 1% of the top 200 airplay tracks across 2020-21 on twelve UK radio stations featured only female or non-binary artists. Whilst dance music is not the focus of Sian’s shows, she is evidently aware of the need to bring greater attention to artists who have historically struggled to gain an audience. 

Due to this, significant thought goes into curating the tracklist for each Radio 1 show that Sian hosts. She tells me that she has a spreadsheet detailing the songs she will play in each show, which has “a little column on the side, where we can specify the gender of the artist. So for every show, I make it ‘Even Stevens’, or as close to ‘Even Stevens’ as I can.”

The same is true of regional disparities. Sian says that when looking through the spreadsheet, she’ll make mental notes: “Oh, there’s no one from Scotland, and I didn’t have anyone from Scotland last week. Okay, let’s, let’s change that.” 

She continues,“It’s a matter of making sure that there’s a diverse range of artists that you’re representing on your show, from different walks of life and different communities, because it’s so important, even as a listener of music, if I can hear that a DJ is one minute supporting someone from Walsall, the next minute, supporting someone from Carmarthen, and the next minute supporting someone from Aberdeen. And I mean, it’s like, it’s huge. It’s a really, really important aspect of music curation. And it does feel like a responsibility, but one that you’re quite proud of taking part in. 

“I think if you’re showing different sides, and how diverse the country is, then it makes it a more rich tapestry, I suppose, of music that you’re showcasing. And a more colourful palette in general, I think. [And] it is also things like making sure that you have various different genres that you have different ethnicities. It’s a default responsibility at this point that is just… it’s just the way things are when we’re creating the show.”

Undoubtedly, Sian Eleri has her finger on the pulse of the music industry. In 2022, she introduced artists ranging from Piri and Tommy to Rachel Chinouriri who would go on to soar to stardom or release hit singles. In 2023, she has her eyes on one band in particular: “I love Gabriels. I’ve seen Gabriels a few times live now, maybe two or three times. And every single one, I’ve just left in tears.”

She added, “I think Flowerovlove is also really exciting. She’s so young. She’s like 17. And it scares me how confident she is. [I’ve] spoken to her a few times now, and I’m always taken aback and like, whoa, where’s this come from? But she’s so talented, and so kind of self-assured as an artist, and I mean, being young doesn’t make a difference.”

One of the features on Sian’s Sunday slot, the Chillest Show, is called the Support Club. Listeners from across the country write in to voice whatever’s on their mind, from trivial concerns to monumental life events. A large number of these listeners are students.

Generally, these students are talking about universal struggles, with exams or deadlines approaching. Sian says that their concerns can range from anything from a need for reassurance to a bad case of writer’s block to exam anxiety. “It’s not just a matter of me being an agony aunt,” she says. “It’s more about saying, ‘It’s okay to feel the way that you’re feeling. I understand you, and thank you for taking the time to reach out. I hope everything is okay.’”

Sian elaborates, “There’ve been a lot of messages that I’ve had in the past where I’m pleasantly surprised, but also in awe of listeners who feel like they can be so confessional with [me]. You get an intimate window into someone’s life in that moment that feels incredibly intimate, and maybe sacred. Honestly, I know it sounds dramatic. But I think they paint a picture of what they’re going through at the time. And you feel like you need to treasure that information. And the fact that they’re willing to share this on a national platform is amazing, kind of miraculous in a way. And so you want to do them justice.”

Sian is building a strong base of fans among radio listeners, which bodes well for her future at a station that has produced no shortage of national names. I ask Sian if having her own name listed alongside some of the radio greats, such as Greg James, Scott Mills, and Clara Amfo, is intimidating, and what it’s like bumping into big names in the office. 

“Someone I have met was Grimmy,” she tells me. “It was just before my first ever live show. I was in the office, I was cacking my pants… I remember him coming around the corner. And one of the engineers [introduced] me to Grimmy saying, ‘Oh, she’s Sian Eleri, she’s starting in the next couple of days’. And he was so lovely, like he was honestly the nicest, [most] calming presence, but also really fun and compassionate. Just like he was on the radio.

“I remember asking him, how would you handle making a mistake? [I’m] really scared of making a really big error.

“He went, ‘if you make a mistake, it’s charming’.”

This advice, Sian tells me, is something that has reassured her throughout her career. But what about her own advice to students and other young people trying to make their way in the entertainment industry?

She tells me, “going to networking events, I think really benefited me in the long term. Because you are building a network and basically establishing yourself within this industry. Particularly if you don’t have an immediate connection to it, you’re almost ramming yourself in, forcing your way in. No one’s gonna look at you sideways doing that. 

“Also, be nice. Nobody wants to work with an asshole. People, they’ll be nice back, hopefully they will, and they’ll want to work with you.”

Finally, she gives her words of wisdom for day-to-day life: “There’s something good in every day. And I think that applies so widely, if you’re struggling with exams and stressing out, or if you’ve had an argument with your best mate, or maybe you’re just super hungover. Maybe all day feels rubbish. But then you might have had a lovely cup of tea in the morning. Maybe you had a really nice text exchange with your mate from home. Or maybe you just had a bangin’ sandwich. I mean, there’s so many teeny weeny little things during a day… [although] small embers, they flicker in the darkness of that day. 

“Focus on those small aspects of life that give you true pleasure, and [don’t] put so much pressure on yourself. Just take things easy. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and embrace the little things.”

Somewhere between a rock and Arteta’s “nice place”: Oxford United versus Arsenal in the FA Cup Third Round

Eoin Hanlon
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Somewhere between a rock and Arteta’s “nice place”: Oxford United versus Arsenal in the FA Cup Third Round

The FA Cup third round is here: Man City banished a weakened Chelsea; Man United saw off Everton and now Arsenal will clash with a perilously underestimated Oxford United. 

January 2003, 20 years ago, was the last time that the two sides faced off against each other. The game was yet another FA Cup third round in which Arsenal came away victorious 2-0.  It is best remembered as the day when Dennis Bergkamp curved a unique little ball over Andy Woodman’s head with the outside of his foot to mark a century of goals for the Arsenal.

With Arsenal as league leaders, various members of the football media are suggesting that Oxford might be able to snatch a draw from a powered-down North London side. Why don’t we push the boat out a bit? There’s still every chance that the U’s will knock out the Gunners, that ITV will film as Arteta punts a choirboy from Magdalen tower, that OUFC’s manager Karl Robinson will steal an illuminated manuscript from the Rad Cam and read it aloud to huddled masses in Cornmarket Street. 

Arteta, not one to concede any sort of mental advantage to his opponent, has admitted in a press conference that “Oxford is a nice place”. I reckon they could put that on the welcome sign as you drive in. It beats “A CYCLING CITY” and is less gothically opulent than the “City of Dreaming Spires”. 

Arteta’s army will be in for a tough outing at the Kassam. Oxford United are of course accustomed to a stadium with only three stands —something that they might have tried three years ago at the Emirates, but now, thankfully, there’s no need. Oxford’s fans will be eager to know that, due to the ITV crew, the catering van at the South East corner has moved to the North East (but the one in the car park will still be in its usual place). 

The Gunners are likely to welcome back England forward Emile Smith Rowe. To match them, Oxford have brought in Stephan Negru from Shelbourne and just last week have signed Hull City left-back Brandon Fleming on loan. Hope remains ever a virtue. 

The match kicks off at 8pm at the Kassam Stadium, Grenoble Road, Oxford. It will be shown live on ITV. 

Image: Steve Daniels // CC BY-SA 2.0

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