North Oxford Property Estate Agency, which only released its properties at 9 am on Wednesday and operates on a first come, first serve basis, saw students queuing outside the shop with sleeping bags and tents as early as 5 am on Tuesday.

Numerous students expressed anger at the current system implemented by the estate agency.

David Burgess, a Somerville first-year student, whose group had been there since 8.30 am on Tuesday, said, “It’s awful. Having a 9’o clock release date in term time doesn’t work and the videos put up on YouTube of people queuing increases the hype and makes more people queue.”

Charles Rowe, an Exeter second-year student, said, “There must be a better way of doing it…We’re suffering outside here in the cold. Our friends have been here since 10 am on Tuesday. We’re doing shifts. I’m going to be here until midnight when someone takes over.”

He explained his willingness to endure the long period of queuing, saying, “These are probably the nicest houses in Oxford, even though they are expensive. I want to have a nice third year as I have my finals.”

Several students condemned the agency’s practice of taking photographs and videos of the students as they queued, which are then put on the agency’s website.

Guy Brain, a New College student, said, “The fact that they are taking photos of people camping is humiliating and insensitive.”

Another student, Stefan Tarnowski, added, “As soon as they have a property they should release it. I find it insulting that they’re filming us and making jokes. By giving champagne to the students at the front of the queue, they’re encouraging students to queue and hyping it up.”

Some students criticised the 9 am release date of properties, for the reason that it didn’t allow them adequate time to inspect the property before agreeing
to become the tenants.

Emma Wheeler, a Worcester second-year, said, “One person has to wait in the office while the others race off to see the property. It’s a rat-race. There are so many things you have to check in the property, which can’t be done in a five minute viewing. There’s so much risk.”

Other students, while expressing annoyance at having to queue in the cold, acknowledged that there didn’t seem to be an alternative system.

Jo Holland, a Somerville student, said “We can’t think of any way to stop the queuing. We could feel the hype within college. People were panicking. We would have gone with another estate agency but North Oxford Property Services owns most of the properties, which we wanted in the area. We didn’t have much of a choice. There are so many other properties which are more expensive.”

Helena Powell, a first year Somerville student who described the queuing as “absolutely ridiculous”, conceded that “it is only a night for a year of living
in a house. It’s just about worth it.”

Robin Swailes, the office manager of the estate agency, defended their current system of operating. He said, “At one time, we would bring students in to look at the properties and they could put down their first, second and third choice. However, there were always some students who were disappointed. Five years ago, we decided a fairer and clearer way would be to operate on a first
come, first served basis.”

However, he said he was open to other proposals, stating, “If you can come up with a better system, we’ll do it. We need a workable suggestion. We don’t ask students to queue.”

He suggested that colleges should work more closely with the agency, stating that in the past the agency had worked directly with colleges such as St John’s, Lady Margret Hall and Pembroke for housing students.

He went on to refute student claims that the agency hadn’t put up all their properties on their website, stating that “all properties are on the website”. He also defended the agency’s practice of taking pictures and videos, describing it as “a tradition, which has gone on for 18 years” and as being “a bit of an event in Oxford”.

To ease the discomfort of queuing, the agency issued a voucher providing a free tea or coffee and bacon buttie or vegetarian equivalent to every student in the queue as well as stress balls to warm their hands.

However, not all students were convinced by this gesture.

One student, Laura Dowley, said, “They can see the students are really vulnerable and they hone in on it and try to butter us up with bacon butties.” She added, “They’re still increasing rent despite the recession because they
know there is a high demand from students.”

Lucien Smith, a St Benet’s Hall first-year student whose group had been queuing since 5 am on Tuesday morning and been given a bottle of champagne by the agency
for their efforts, said, “It was nice champagne. The queuing is unfortunate but we can’t think of a better way.”

Several students commented that the queuing created a negative atmosphere of competition.

James Teasdale, a first-year student, said, “Some people got aggressive, not to the point that they caused trouble. Most people are quite civil.”

Another student, David Burgess, commented, “There is a sort of camaraderie about it.”

Students criticised the colleges for not giving them sufficient warning about the need to sort out their accommodation for the next year as early as possible.

Oliver Elliott, a St Benet’s Hall first-year student, said, “There was no prior warning in the college that you have to sort out your accommodation quickly. The college system should be more involved and give more support.”

The doors of the agency were opened at 9 am on Wednesday and a member of staff stood at the door, monitoring the number of groups of students allowed in. Staff members were friendly with students, exchanging jokes.

Tim Jones, whose group was first in the queue and secured their preferred accommodation, said, “I’m knackered. I’m really happy, everything has come together in the last couple of days. We feel quite fortunate.”

Another student, Ollie Sheinwald, who secured his desired property, described himself as being “ecstatic”.

While the rest of the students waited to be let into the agency, a taxi with the logo of another property services agency, Finders Keepers Student Lettings,
parked opposite the shop with adverts of properties stuck on its windows. A staff member of North Oxford estate agency came out and proceeded to stick newspaper cuttings onto the windows to hide the adverts.

The porn mogul responsible for magazines such as ‘Hustler’ and ‘Barely Legal’ is to speak at the Oxford Union.

However, the inclusion of Larry Flynt in the society’s Hilary termcard has caused controversy. Women’s groups have previously accused Mr Flynt of exploitation.

His eponymous publishing house produces hardcore pornography and adult films, in addition to operating a chain of strip clubs.

The choice of Flynt also comes after accusations that the Union was “dumbing down” its choice of speakers and relying too heavily on celebrities – at the expense of intellectual heavyweights. The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and Winston Churchill have previously visited the society.

One female first year student said, “we’re sending out the wrong message by inviting a sexist, exploitative person. He’s a symbol that women should stand against.”

But OUSU Vice President for Women, Rachel Cummings, refused to comment on Mr. Flynt’s invitation, citing her organisation’s ties to the Union.
President of the Oxford Union, Charlie Holt, defended the decision to invite Flynt, saying that he “has led a fascinating life, and one that the Union believes will be of interest to its members.”

“Whatever your views on the questions of pornography, public decency laws and censorship, the talk should be an interesting one.”

This view was supported by Union member Ross Evans, who argued that “it’s fair to give anyone a chance to speak at the Union and to give them the chance to support their views.”

Flynt has always courted publicity for his enterprises and as a campaigner for freedom of speech.

He recently applied to the U.S. government for financial aid to bailout the pornography industry during the credit crunch and hired a Sarah Palin look-alike for a pornographic film entitled Who’s Nailin’ Palin. His battles against censorship were dramatised in the Hollywood film The People vs. Larry Flynt.

He was first prosecuted on obscenity and organized crime charges in 1976 by a local anti-pornography committee. He was sentenced to seven to 25 years, although only served six days as the sentence was overturned on a technicality. He has recently sued his two nephews, Jimmy and Dustin Flynt, for producing what he considers inferior pornography and threatening to damage his reputation.

The shared student house of Nouri Verghese, the Oxford Union’s treasurer-elect, was broken into and burgled over the Christmas vacation.

The students returned in the new year to find the locks of their St Clements’ house had been broken. They entered to see that bicycles, clothes and televisions were missing. The stolen goods were worth an estimated £3000-4000. There have been no police charges for the burglary.

Last week one of the house’s windows was smashed in, and a few days later Verghese claims to have seen a man stalking around outside the property before leaving.

Verghese said he was “understandably feeling pretty pissed off.”
78 burglaries of shared accommodations in the Oxford area were reported to the Thames Valley Police over the winter vacation period.

Verghese advised other students living-out to “make sure all locks are good. If they’re not, change them or get your landlord to change them.”

A crime prevention adviser for the police service suggested that all students “take high-value goods home with them at the end of term.”

He also highlighted the importance of insurance for all properties, and recommended students to read over the terms of their policy.

“Most insurance companies specify that you must have a lock on your bedroom door, even if you are in a shared house.”

Student houses are widely believed to be more at risk of burglary than other properties, with one Home Office Report claiming that one in ten students in the UK had had their house broken into, and another that one in three students are at some point a victim of crime. “It’s no surprise…Students own more expensive goods per head than the rest of the population,” said the report.

Cabinet minister Geoff Hoon admitted last Saturday that he used a private tutoring company to help his teenage daughter’s Oxbridge application.

The Transport Secretary and former Minister of Defence confirmed that he took his daughter to a presentation by Oxbridge Applications, a private company which charges up to £3000 for the coaching of an individual student. He would not comment on whether he had paid for tuition.

Oxbridge Applications claims that applicants who receive its help are almost twice as likely to be offered a place at Oxford or Cambridge. Families who pay the £3000 charge give their child a 47% chance of admissions success, compared to the average of 26%, according to the company’s website.

Mr Hoon attended an ‘Interview Preparation Day’ along with his daughter, held at a private school in the West Midlands.

Hoon’s decision came to media attention when the father of another applicant noticed him at the meeting and wrote on the political website Guido Fawkes.

“‘As I waited for my son in the foyer, I was surprised to see Geoff Hoon sitting a couple of seats away from me. Labour Minister gives offspring an unfair advantage in applying to top university? Surely not!” He wrote.

The minister’s daughter attended a comprehensive school in Nottingham, and is currently on a gap year. Hoon himself was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, after having attended an private school on a scholarship.

Tories are now accusing the government of double standards following Gordon Brown’s proposed laws to increase social mobility and stop middle-class parents giving their children an ‘unfair advantage’ in education and the workplace.

“Time and time again we see double standards from Ministers. They want to change the rules to make it tougher for everyone else while enjoying all the perks for themselves and their families,” said Tory spokesman Chris Grayling.

New Labour has a history of MPs paying for their children’s education or tuition. In 2003 it was revealed that MP Diane Abbot had sent her son to a £10000-a-year private school, a decision she later described as ‘indefensible”, while in 2007 ex-education minister Ruth Kelly admitted enrolling her child in a £15000-a-year prep school.

Oxford University has revealed that it has lost more than £100 million as a result of the global economic recession. Over the course of the past year, investments in the University have fallen from £689 million to £593 million.

The University’s financial statement was published on the 12th January. It covered the period July 2007-July 2008 and exposed what the University has described as a “relatively modest decline” of 5.1 percent, from £688.6m to £653.5m.

However, an additional note covering the period up to October 2008 was also included “in order to meet interest in the impact of the more recent global financial downturn”. This note shows that the decline from July 2007 to October 2008 is much larger. It has fallen 14 percent, to £592.5m.

These figures do not cover the losses sustained by the individual colleges, or the £30 million in savings that have remained frozen in Icelandic bank accounts since the Icelandic banking collapse last October.

It is as of yet uncertain whether this will be returned to the University. A spokesperson commented that, “We’re still looking into whether that is lost money or not”

However, a University statement stressed the need to “put the drop in context” and compare it to the losses sustained by the rest of Britain’s equity market.

They said, “to put the drop in context, the average UK equity market fall from its peak has been in the order of 40%. Endowment returns account just 4.5% of the University’s overall income, so Oxford is much less exposed than many institutions to falls in equity markets.”

Another spokesperson also stressed the need to remember that Oxford has revealed more information than many other institutions. He said: “If Oxford is going to be compared to other institutions, it is necessary to remember that we have actually given out more information than a lot of universities. Most have only produced financial statements that end earlier in the year, whereas ours goes up to October.

“For example, if you compare our losses against what Cambridge lost, they have lost something in the region of 80 million over the period from July 2007-July 2008. We have lost slightly more than that but over a longer period.”

These setbacks come after Oxford embarked on a massive campaign for funding last year. This aimed to raise £1.25 billion to help the University compete with wealthy American rivals.

Among the projects university administrators hoped to fund were the development of the old Radcliffe Infirmary site and new buildings for the Bodleian.

At the time, University Vice-Chancellor John Hood stressed the importance of the drive for funding. He told his team that they “must significantly increase the University’s endowment.”

The University was unable to offer precise amount of money raised to date, but a spokesman claimed that the campaign was “still going well”. However, he declined to predict the effects that the economic downturn might have on the campaign’s future.

Research funding may be another victim of the credit crunch. A University statement declared that, “we are also alert to the fact that over the longer term the global downturn may well affect Oxford’s other sources of income, such as external research funding. Again, we will be monitoring the situation closely.”
As a result of the economic and funding downturn a push for an increase in the tuition fees may be made.

Last October, Oxford Vice-Chancellor John Hood stated that the “grave deficit” in the University’s accounts meant that a rise in top-up fees is “inevitable” if the quality of an Oxford education is to be maintained.

He was supported by Malcolm Grant, chairman of the Russell Group, who expressed support for the removal of the £3,000 cap on tuition top-up fees after a review in three years time.

The Government is about to begin reviewing whether the cap on student fees should be lifted to enable universities to charge “US-style” fees of up to £20,000 a year.