Cherwell talks to Lewis Iwu about Stefan Baskerville’s election victory, relations with the Union and students’ lack of knowledge concerning what the Student Union actually does.
Blog Page 2166
One man’s loss for Tottenham’s gain
Jermaine Defoe must be feeling pretty stupid. It was all going so well; a great finisher who couldn’t reach his full potential at White Hart Lane makes a career move to come and play at a smaller club and show the world what he has. Scores at a good rate and gets himself back in the England squad. Throws a hissy fit when Tony wants to play defensively away to the big boys. Follows Harry back to the Lane, first choice alongside Pavlyuchenko and the fans darling to boot.
But now Robbie Keane is back, and ‘Arry’s ‘appy; “We have got four good strikers now, which is the key, and I do not see playing Robbie and JD [Defoe] together will be a problem.” Really Harry? Would you honestly leave your big Russian bulldozer, or even Darren Bent, on the bench to play little and little up top? I somehow doubt it.
Redknapp has just named Keane captain, so he’s a given to start, and with Pavlyuchenko’s qualities matching the deficiencies that hampered Keane at Liverpool quite so well it’s hard to see past those two as the first choice partnership.
So not only have Tottenham apparently gone back in time, so has Defoe. Just like in his last stint at Spurs he appears destined to spend his time on the bench behind Robbie Keane and his ideal partner. Talent wasted, ignored by Capello, blah blah etc.
That said, it’s not the sort of problem Tottenham, the fans love for Defoe aside, will really mind having. As Harry himself said, they have four good strikers. So unlike many clubs around them in the league, when one of their major goal threats breaks his foot there is no need to panic. Defoe can be replaced by a man with a superior all round game, and the link-up skills to get the best of out Pavlyuchenko’s goal-scoring instincts. None of this even mentions the fact that Darren Bent, the club’s top scorer this season, is back to waiting in the wings in fourth place. Whatever people think about Bent’s ability, he’s hardly a bad man to have waiting fourth in the queue. I’d swap him for Nicklas Bendtner any day of the week.
So while it’s very much Tottenham’s gain, it’s also very much Jermaine Defoe’s loss. Maybe Harry will rotate, maybe I’m wrong and Keane and Defoe could play up front together, but all the evidence stands to the contrary. So with Keane skipper, once again Defoe is the man far too talented to be sitting glumly on the bench while Keane and his partner in crime bang in the goals.
You should have stayed at Portsmouth Jermaine, they actually need you.
3rd Week: The Papers
Sadly I can’t promise you substandard opinion on which student paper was less inoffensive, but rather, good old-fashioned journalism of the single-review variety. Although in the current conditions, I’d advise just sticking on the first Concretes album and looking wistfully at the snow…
Coldplay – Life In Technicolour II *
Is that intro meant to reference the Beatles’ Indian-inspired phase? Erm, is the rest of the song meant to reference U2’s The Joshua Tree? Erm, don’t I have to criticise a band for doing that every single sodding week? It’s nearly 20 years old now; get over it and, in the words of the aforementioned Concretes, say something new. One of their worst songs to date.
Daniel Merriweather – Change feat. Wale ***
This reminds me A LOT of something else famous. But not enough to place it, so this chirpy little R&B minstrel gets away with it. Wale’s cameo detracts if anything, but this tune has a good groove, its muscular drums and pert piano riff making up for the trite lyrical content.
Of Montreal – An Eluardian Instance ****
Sometime I alienate indie friends by claiming not to like this band. They sound like a really annoying version of The Shins. Said friends wax lyrical on the intelligence and craft of this veteran outfit. For once I’ll believe them: this particular single merely sounds like a less annoying version of Sufjan Stevens. This is a good thing. Excellent harmonies, summery handclaps, hi-life guitars; this is entirely inappropriate for a snowy January but also entirely enjoyable. Even if the coda is an entirely different song. Silly buggers.
Seasick Steve – Happy Man –
Either you buy into this guy completely or you don’t. I don’t. There’s something a little too artificial about the whole persona, the whole style. So let’s move on.
Something Old, Something New.
Various Artists – £3 MP3 albums
Amazon’s mp3 store has some ludicrous deals. For £3, not only can the criminally insane buy entire new records by Lady GaGa or White Lies, but you, oh discerning reader, can pick up numerous timeless classics, from Mystery Jets’ Twenty One to Bowie’s magnum opus, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, definitively the best rock and roll record ever.
Beirut – March of the Zapotec EP/Realpeople Holland EP
Just thought I should point out that Zach Cordon’s two new EPs are out strangely early on iTunes – have been for a week now – and that obviously you should buy them. They don’t make a coherent album, but rather two sets of fascinating but not entirely substantial experiments. Still beats most things out there, mind.
Till next time…
Centre Stage: The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be
Cherwell attends the press preview of a comedy written and directed by Sarah Hand, The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be. It is being performed in 4th Week at the Michael Pilch Theatre.
The Philadelphia Story
The Philadelphia Story is a fabulous play. The story of a Pennsylvania socialite’s second wedding being threatened by two cynical journalists, her naive sister, arrogant father and menacing, roguish ex-husband works on every level from pure farce to an expose of the press, stopping off at ardent romance on the way. If this production starred a beached whale and some anaemic dormice I’d probably give it a thumbs-up; the fact that this production is a good one with a fabulous central performance doesn’t hurt, though.
The lead role, Tracy Lords, the cool, intelligent and very sly bride, is a fabulous character study and Anne-Marie Oreskovich is perfect, sensitive to every nuance of the role. It’s a hard act to match up to and the other actors did’t all quite manage it in the rehearsal I saw. Edmund Stewart is a brilliant scene-stealer as Tracy’s uncle, but Jonathan Sims slightly undercooks the passion inside Mike Connor, the bitter tabloid reporter, and while William Spray catches the ex-husband’s roguishness well he slightly overdoes it: the result is a performance so satanic you can’t believe somone so self-possessed could ever have fallen for him. More seriously, there were some very variable accents: the Lords never felt quite like they came from the same side of the Atlantic, never mind the same family. Still, these are minor quibbles: this play is a huge amount of fun, and the staging is well thought out with good use of movement around the stage and the character’s gestures to add impact: it’s well worth seeing.
Four stars
Blooming Marvellous!
Roll on Spring! Bring the outside inside and brighten your wardrobe (and your mood) with these lighthearted florals.
Quintessential blossoms filled the S/S 09 catwalks. Luella is a major inspiration for this look – her Rebecca dress has been seen everywhere, on the likes of Kelly Osbourne and Kimberly Stewart, but at over £300, it’s not really an option for us students looking to cure our Hilary blues. Luckily the high street is packed with flowery numbers too…
This trend is about prettiness and femininity, but don’t be afraid to mix it up a bit – there’s not much to be said of head-to-toe florals. One statement blossoming piece of clothing is quite enough, but you can go down one of two routes – go hyper-fem, adding soft, floaty cardigans and long strings of pearls. Or, if girly dresses and blouses aren’t your cup of tea, toughen up the outfit with chunky boots and biker accessories – leather jackets and floral dresses are a surprisingly heavenly match.
And don’t think florals are just for daytime – this is a look that can take you from the Bod to the bar, with only a minor tweak to the outfit. Today’s florals are based on good old Liberty prints, and rumour has it that Kate Moss’ new Topshop collection is going to be based on such fabrics from the Liberty archives…
Don’t stop at the clothes – your accessories can be in bloom too. Cath Kidston’s wellies will be perfect for those Spring showers, and Accessorize is blossoming with flowered scarves to brighten up any outfit. Blooming underwear is hot too – I love the pretty sets in Oasis and New Look.
Credentials:
Stylist: Nina Fitton
Models: Bella Wade & Rosie Pope
Photographer: Niina Tamura
Clothes:
Bella: Purple flowered dress – Motel @ asos.com, £34.50; Faux-leather jacket – Miss Selfridge, £45
Rosie: Frilled dress – Topshop, £45; Cardigan – New Look, £16; Purple heels – New Look, £25
Please God Arsene don’t drop Rocket Robin
This post was started very sketchily last night as a eulogy to Robin van Persie beginning something like this; where the hell would Arsenal be without him right now? Well we learnt today after Arsene Wenger’s unfathomable decision to leave what is comfortably his best fit player on the bench until he was desperately needed with around 20 minutes left against a rather in-form West Ham side. Without him they were tepid, for all their possession they were a blunt in attack and recorded precisely zero shots on target in the first half.
Basically without him they are not going to score at the moment. It is becoming an increasingly well known stat that he scored or assisted every Arsenal goal in 2009, but what is most striking is that out of those 8 goals he has only scored three of them. That means 5 assists for what is actually Arsenal’s top goalscorer. So not only is he Arsenal’s main goal threat, he is currently the only reason why anyone else will be a threat. No wonder the wonderfully creative Arshavin is apparently Wenger’s only transfer target.
Suffice to say his introduction today was met with an absolutely enormous cheer at the Emirates. Van Persie is an absolutely fantastic footballer blessed with an incredibly articulate left foot, a newly developed shotgun of a right and the ability to produce the absolutely breathtaking; witness this ludicrous turn, or this absurd gravity-defying volley.
His stats this season aren’t bad either. In 26 appearances, including three as a substitute, he has scored 13 goals with 10 assists. That compares rather favourably with Wayne Rooney’s 12 goals in 29 appearances, and given that Van Persie was purchased for just £2.75 million compared to Rooney’s £30 million that’s some return.
Robin van Persie, when fit, is a good a striker as any in the Premier League, including Rooney and Torres et al. So why, why God why, when he is in the form of his life and fit for as long as he’s ever been, was he left on the bench for a rather tricky London derby. Wenger is clearly worried about losing his star performer to injury once more, but given Arsenal’s current plight, they cannot afford to leave their one shining spark out.
With Fabregas, Walcott, Rosicky and Eduardo fit, by all means then wrap our flying Dutchman in cotton wool from time to time. But now, when leaving him out means leaving the already rather inept Adebayor up front with Nicklas Bendtner, leaving him out cannot be an option.
For The Love of Film #5
Cherwell dissects Slumdog millionaire and takes a cheeky peek at the Oscar nomnations in a new episode of our regular film bonanza.
Not as stable as they look?
Make no mistake, Bob Blackman’s report for the GLA on the West End and his interview with Cherwell make for alarming reading. The basic conclusion of his 2007 report was that, even in a boom, West End theatres which are too small to put on musicals were unsustainable as operated now, unable to afford necessary rebuilding without a wealthy owner such as Cameron Mackintosh, willing and able to invest in the long term. Interviewed by Cherwell last week, he said that the recession had made some of his suggestions to deal with the problem unviable and predicted that one third of all West End theatres would go bankrupt.
If that were not dramatic enough, his suggested responses will curl the hairs of fiscal conservatives in his own party, the Tories: conversion of bankrupt theatres into either practice halls for London stage schools or charitable trusts which can qualify for government investment, followed by massive investment in these all-but-nationalised theatres as a job creation scheme to boost employment (it’s no secret that automation has cost many jobs backstage recently and there are far more graduates in theatrical skills than jobs). This is in line with government policy: today plans were announced to absorb failing private schools into the state sector as academies. The West End would shift from commercial and profit-driven to state-supported, and this would not necessarily be positive: the queue of people waiting in line to sneer at lowest-common-denominator jukebox musicals are quite right, but these productions don’t cost the people who don’t go to them anything.
State subsidy would, and charitable trusts are both good at lobbying to increase their subsidy and take themselves seriously: what if they put on a succession of pretentious, expensive flops and got the taxpayer to pick up the tab? Long-running productions of musicals are attractive to tourists, who, for better or worse, know what they’re getting before they book: would artier charitable trusts be as good at relieving foreigners of their money for the benefit of UK plc? To counter this, in his interview with Cherwell, Blackman suggested that the charities would have to have ‘big names’ on them to prevent this; the idea of the government appointing its friends to run the West End means nothing good for freedom of speech (though this may be too fearful: the National Theatre on the South Bank is far more willing to take risks on political plays than the West End), and nor would the fact that most of the theatres left standing would likely be controlled by just two men: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh.
Above all, the result would be a massive increase in state subsidy in theatre during a recession at a time when any available money is being diverted to the Olympics, transport or the government’s insane plan to expand Heathrow: it’s hard to see art galleries and orchestras being too keen on this, and would money really be better spent on commercial theatres than hospitals and railways, even for a long-term return?
There are also problems with Blackman’s analysis. Most notably, he suggested in his interview that owners would probably donate their theatres to charity to lose a worthless asset: why do this when you can run the theatre you own into the ground and ride out the recession? The government would need to stick up the money, and it would not be keen to do so. Just because charitable trusts are eligible for state funds does not mean that they would get any: any money from the state would mean money diverted from elsewhere right now, and it’s hard to see the Arts Council being too keen on discovering that they need to fund 13-odd more theatres as well.
Above all, it is not certain that the recession will destroy the West End: when we contacted Nimax theatres about Blackman’s conclusions they pointed to a report showing that audiences and revenues had risen in 2008, though the fact remains that many tickets are sold at heavy discounts now and most productions make a loss (and the rise is still smaller than the rate of inflation). Whether the 2008 figures are the crest of a wave or proof that the West End can ride out the recession remains to be seen.
Despite this, it is clear that the West End needs to get money from somewhere: a recent restoration of the charitable Royal Court Theatre cost more than all the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue have made in profit since WWII. So does that leave the state as the only source of it left, and if so, is the West End worth saving? Blackman’s view in his interview with Cherwell was yes; others will disagree.
Week 2: The papers
Oooh a fire! Actual news, with burning and everything. Shame it wasn’t actually animal rights nutters. Makes Oxstu’s ‘arson’ story seem a little overblown. Also, the front page is just really, really ugly. Well overdue a redesign.
Cherwell’s splash was some good old-fashioned journalism.
Very nice Stu story on royalty at Keble. I sense a campaign coming on: change the law to re-instate the Catholic Keble-ite. C’mon ladies, get behind this and you could be the new Chelsy Davy. What a prospect.
Oxstu’s protest aftermath story was too much like re-heated left-overs. Cherwell’s was tighter and actually new.
Cherwell’s Union financial crisis story read like election propaganda for Langman. What did the slateless wonder have to do to get that kind of press? Reports of his ‘extremely hard work’ and target-busting came complete with soft-focus dreamy shots of the Union’s financial saviour. Excuse me while I just throw up.
Over in features, Cherwell somehow wrangle a space in the Revolutionary Road press pack, and then write up a turgidly dull interview with one of the most interesting stars out there. Congrats to the interviewer.
Fred Spring is single-handedly keeping the revolution alive. As if the Daily Mail didn’t hate him enough already.
Oxstu – something on maths, ‘charity shops sell bargains shocker’ and the worst little moaning piece about Oxford in the press. Apparently they bash us because we’re priviledged. Unlike of course the student press, that never uses pictures of the Rad Cam next to blacked up rugby players…
Though I’d really like to throw the Stu a bone, I’ll have to score this one to Cherwell again
3-0…