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‘We didn’t betray Prince Harry. Honest…’

By
Joshua Freedman
-

In their edition of February 20, the German women’s magazine Frau im Spiegel speculated that Prince Harry might be in Iraq on service without the public knowing.

It took till this Tuesday for the issue to be picked up by Germany’s mass-circulation daily tabloid, Bild, the most sold newspaper in Europe. Frau im Spiegel, according to Bild, had quoted a “palace insider” who claimed that it was “entirely possible that he’s on service in Iraq or Afghanistan”. Bild went on:

There has been no official statement on it. Or: they’re not allowed to give one.

Standard tabloid conventions here. However, Bild will usually keep to another tabloid convention: bragging about getting there first (I know, I know, I’m guilty too).

Not this time, it seems. Four days after bringing the story to a wider audience — even if it took two days for the rest of the world to follow — Bild have removed the story from their website.

I’ve checked whether they always remove old stories from the site, and they don’t — a Google News search shows that content from several days back seems still to be there.

Thankfully, I saved the page as a PDF when I first saw it. The Bild page and the Frau im Spiegel contents page are pictured.

Are they embarrassed to admit that they put Prince Harry’s life in danger by reporting it – and want the attention to be deferred to the US site that first confirmed the story?

Whatever the motive, it’s strange behaviour from a paper that doesn’t usually go in for holding back.

Same newspaper, different source of embarrassment

It’s Bild-bashing week this week. The populist tabloid’s latest campaign against Wikipedia for being an “unreliable” source of information is laughable and gets me looking in the dictionary for the German for “pots” and “kettles”. BILDBlog, a blog exposing Bild’s recklessness, cleverly points out that portraits of Daniel Day-Lewis und Tilda Swinton from Wednesday’s paper were almost identical to their entries on — you guessed it — Wikipedia. Red faces all round.

Left out

A few important points were edited out my piece in Friday’s Cherwell on the German Left and the significance of its rise, 40 years on from 1968. My claim that

It’s perhaps no wonder that Die Linke [today’s communist party in Germany], despite its electoral success, is finding it difficult getting accepted by the political establishment

needs to be preceded by the following facts about the 1968 conference happening this May, which substantiate my (otherwise unsubstantiated) point that the German Left are “doing little grappling” with their terrorist past. This paragraph was edited out:

Yet the contents of the May conference suggest that nothing much has changed. One speaker at the event, Jutta Ditfurth, has written a sympathetic biography of Meinhof [one of the Baader-Meinhof activists] described by the weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel as an attempt to rescue the terrorist’s reputation. Another planned speaker was a member of a different extreme-left organisation surveilled under the constitution protection law, Rote Hilfe (“Red Aid”), until she took up the national headship of the Young Socialists three months ago. Rote Hilfe is a group that supports political victims of the state — so long as they’re of a left-wing persuasion. Past beneficiaries of its support include former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing a policeman in the US in 1981, as well as imprisoned members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang [the German left-wing terror group formed in the 60s].

In other words, the organisers of the conference are voluntarily associating themselves with active terrorist sympathisers. There was also a factual inaccuracy caused by the editing. Where it says

The Social Democrat Party would easily form a ruling majority if it accepted a coalition with the far-left party,

this is only actually the case in the federal state of Hesse. This has nothing to do with national government. This delicate fact was removed. I could list several other editions that destroyed the piece, but I won’t bore you more…

Bad form

Concern that Oxford is now the only university in the UK that requires an additional application form to the main UCAS caboodle would move anyone versed in German bureaucracy to hysterics. Think you have to do lots of paperwork? Well, to apply to study for just one year in Germany I had to provide:

* An online application form — very long, with my entire education and employment history

* The same form in (hand)writing, in triplicate — one copy for each university

* A letter from my college confirming my student status

* Officially approved and stamped photocopies of all my A-Level certificates. I had to do this twice because it wasn’t good enough the first time, for some reason.

I don’t think anyone in Britain should be complaining about having to fill in forms.

Cherwell 24 is not responsible for the content of external links

Feral Beast will appear every Sunday

Protestors to sleep out on Cornmarket

By
Rob Pomfret
-

On Wednesday March 5th, more than 100 people will sleep out on Cornmarket to raise awareness of the government’s treatment of refused asylum seekers. Supporters of the ‘Still Human Still Here’ campaign, including Student Action of Refugees (STAR), Refugee Resource and Asylum Welcome, will sleep out in an act of solidarity with thousands of asylum seekers who are unable to return home safely to countries such as Zimbabwe, Iraq, Somalia and the Sudan, having been denied asylum.

The event has won widespread support with Oxford City Councillor David Williams and Evan Harris MP having pledged to attend. Oxford students, the Church of St Mary Magdalen and local refugee charities and community organizations have offered their support. The Lord Mayor of Oxford has also backed the event.

Councillor David Williams declared, “I shall be sleeping out to show support for the campaign for justice and better treatment for failed Asylum seekers because the present situation is a violation of their human rights. Many are forced to return to countries where they will be mistreated and may even be tortured. Others are denied food shelter and help by the UK government yet are not allowed to work to support themselves. I also believe that the present system has a racial bias as it would seem you are far more likely to be deported if you have a dark skin.”

The Reverend Dr Peter Groves of the Church of St Mary Magdalen, another supporter of the sleep out, said, “We as a church are delighted to be supporting the sleep-out in Oxford. It is fantastic to see community groups and students coming together to raise people’s awareness of the way in which refused asylum seekers are forced to live destitute on the streets and campaigning for a change.”

Jenny Allsop, a Wadham student and head of Oxford STAR group, expressed her delight at the level of support. “The campaign aims to raise awareness of the plight of tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers who are being forced into destitution in an attempt to force them out of the country. Many refused asylum seekers cannot go home because their countries are unsafe or unstable and they fear for their lives, because of uncooperative governments who refuse to recognize their documents, because of health and safety issues… Yet the current number of people living in this state of limbo is estimated at around 280,000,” she said. “I am hopeful that the sleep out will help dispel a lot of myths about asylum seekers and make people realise and act upon the fact that human rights abuses are happening right here, on our streets, as a result of government policy which is executed in our name.”

Two reports from Amnesty International and Refugee Action in November 2006 accused the Government of employing destitution as a deliberate tactic in an effort to drive refused asylum-seekers out of the country.

According to a ‘Still Human Still Here’ press release, asylum seekers are “unable to return home, refused support and prevented from taking work to provide for themselves, they are forced to sleep rough and survive on the charity of others.” The campaign also calls on the Government to grant permission to work until such a time as refused asylum seekers are able to leave the UK or have been granted leave to remain. Access to health care and education should also be provided.

Matt Holman, Director of local charity Asylum Welcome, said:

“We need a more enlightened policy that would see refused asylum-seekers who cannot be returned home provided with support and allowed to contribute to British society. We are sleeping out here in Oxford to show our support for the Still Human Still Here campaign in order to change Government policy and we are encouraging as many people as possible to join us.”

by Rob Pomfret


Check Cherwell24 next week for exclusive video coverage of the event

Classical review: Oxford Chamber Orchestra play Copland, Barber and Haydn

By
Charles Markland
-

Sheldonian Theatre, 8.30pm, February 29th 2008

The Oxford Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Jonathan Williams, gave a programme connecting the 20th century back to the 18th. Indeed, the theme of the concert seemed to be one of elegant lyricism; in the simplicity and beauty of Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Barber’s Violin Concerto one finds an appropriate partner to the grace of Haydn.

Appalachian Spring, commissioned by Martha Graham for use as ballet music, was abstractly conceived but was given its evocative name shortly before its premiere. The hushed opening with its simple dialogue between strings and woodwinds was delivered with the utmost calm. At the other end of the dynamic scale, the full-bodied peroration of the variations on the Shaker theme‘Simple Gifts’ dismissed any notions of diminutivity that the phrase ‘chamber orchestra’ might have previously inspired!

Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, the first of his concertante works (along with those for cello and piano), is also the most overtly melodious. The first movement demands most importantly a fine singing tone from the soloist, and David Le Page gladly provided. Sadly, some of his most daring runs found in the first movement’s climaxes were somewhat swamped by the orchestra’s simultaneous crescendi. In the finale (a short, spiky perpetuum mobile), conductor, orchestra and soloist alike maintained a bravely brisk tempo, and MrLe Page particularly shone in the final moments, where the rapid triplets suddenly shifted to semiquavers for the rush to the finishing line.

The 104th and final Haydn symphony (known as the ‘London’ symphony, while also confusingly being the 12th of the ‘London Symphonies’) acted as an unintentional summary of the composer’s mastery of the form. After the grave introduction, the chirpy opening movement was elegantly played, as was the following Andante. The Menuetto was an excellent example of Haydn’s humour, with abrupt silences punctuating the movement where climaxes were expected. The rousing folk-based finale brought immediate applause from the audience, who had listened to a well-programmed and superbly played concert from one of Oxford’s premier ensembles.

by Charles Markland

Home Cooking With Hannah Pennington

By
Rhiannon Nicolson
-

Hannah and her assistant Tom show us how to cook stress-free, mouthwatering food. This week, toad-in-the-hole and banana fritters with chocolate sauce .

Roth by numbers – a review of Philip Roth’s latest novel, ‘Exit Ghost’

By
Matt Hill
-

Nathan Zuckerman, a writer living out his winter years in rural isolation, believes he finally has a handle on unpredictability. Prostate cancer has left him impotent and incontinent, and his daily routine consists entirely of pushing words around a page. But at least he is free – free from pain, from vulnerability, from the unequal struggle against life’s contingency. But one day, on his first visit to New York in eleven years, stirred by the slim hope of renewal offered by bladder surgery, he surprises himself by answering a house-swap ad posted by two young writers looking for a break from the city. Suddenly embroiled in the real world again, he is haunted by all he imagined he’d left behind – desire, intimacy, conflict, and the unruly self he thought he’d banished somewhere up in the Connecticut woods.

There’s a twist, of which more in a moment. But first, a couple of introductions. Exit Ghost is the twenty-eighth book, no less, by the distinguished American novelist Philip Roth. Roth was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1933 to second-generation Jewish immigrant parents. He published three books of quite traditional realistic fiction before gaining notoriety with his fourth, Portnoy’s Complaint (1969), an outrageous account of Jewish psychosexual pathology and the first (and only) great novel of masturbation. Now 74, he is reckoned by many to be America’s best living writer.

This is the tenth Roth novel to feature Nathan Zuckerman, a character he created in 1974,who has been the vehicle for many of his enduring preoccupations. Zuckerman was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1933 to second-generation Jewish immigrant parents. He published three books of quite traditional realistic fiction before gaining notoriety with his fourth . . . but stop me if you’ve heard this before.

There are writers who, short of an idea or a buck, will trot out a novel about a writer who is short of an idea or a buck, with a vengeful portrait of some irritant ex-wife or rival thrown in for good measure. The Zuckerman books, though partly responsible for begetting this mini-genre, are much more than the story of the author’s life with names changed to protect the not-so-innocent. Taken altogether, they are a brilliant deconstruction of the mystique of the modern American author and an investigation of the real-life sources of his inspiration. By tempting you to read them as a roman-a-clef they take you on a tour of the border territory between imagination and reality. At one point in Exit Ghost, a character holds out a manuscript to Zuckerman and insists: ‘This is a tortured confession posing as a novel.’ ‘Unless it’s a novel posing as a tortured confession,’ snaps Zuckerman.

About the twist in Exit Ghost. It’s that there is no twist. Zuckerman re-enters the world of people, relationships and events – and the result is a non-event. He has imaginary sex with the young woman in the house-swap deal; he meets an old acquaintance and becomes briefly immersed in some literary politics. But nothing really happens. Zuckerman emerges from his imaginary world deep in the country to discover an equally imaginary world in New York, thus illustrating a characteristically Rothian paradox: that what we innocently call real life may be as much a matter of the imagination as the stuff of literature.

The danger for Roth has always been that his animating paradoxes can become a little too neat: his major intellectual influence is, after all, Kierkegaard’s Either/Or. Throughout this book he is content to adumbrate his familiar themes, to sketch characters and elide dialogue. Here’s Zuckerman overhearing another character on the phone to her parents:

In her voice you could hear just how battered she was, not least by the fact that her parents were the very sort of people her liberal conscience couldn’t abide . . . You could hear both the great bond and the great struggle against. You could hear all it had cost her to forge a new being and all the good it had done.

After fifty years at the summit of American literature Roth probably feels entitled to ignore creative-writing-programme rules like ‘show, don’t tell’. But too much of Exit Ghost is written like this – lightly etched, fluent and overdetermined. Never has a novel about the unpredictability of life felt so – well, predictable.

One source of comedy in earlier Zuckerman books was the collapsed distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture. Zuckerman, like his creator, aims at high-culture distinction and ends up being the subject of salacious gossip on daytime TV. (One talk show host, on reading Portnoy’s Complaint, famously quipped: ‘I’d like to meet Philip Roth – but I don’t want to shake his hand.’) By Exit Ghost, Zuckerman seems to have decided that this state of affairs is no laughing matter, and spends a lot of time in rueful contemplation of literature’s abasement at the hands of mainstream media. Sometimes it seems literary culture is indeed direly embattled when newspapers increasingly can’t find room in their printed pages for a books section! But how did Philip Roth, whose career has been characterised by a gleeful assault on the cultural prestige of refinement and seriousness, becomes so po-faced?

If you’re the kind of person who aspires to write a Mills & Boon novel, you can send off for a pack which will supply you with the exact formula for a successful romance. If you were to write a Philip Roth novel by the same method, the result would be something like Exit Ghost. Roth is such a good writer that anything he writes is worth reading – I, for one, would happily while away an afternoon with his collected notes to the milkman – and a thousand ambivalent reviews won’t stop his many fans from devouring this book. But the uninitiated in search of the best of Roth – or indeed some of the best American fiction, period – should seek out a copy of Sabbath’s Theater (1995) or American Pastoral (1997), or one of Roth’s earlier masterpieces. There you’ll find all of Exit Ghost’s principal themes, but in lurid, irresistible flesh.

 

by Matt Hill

Fit College: Corpus vs Mansfield

By
Cherwell
-

Corpus… ..or Mansfield?

The Rose

By
Kate Hayter
-

It is quite a feat to pull off a menu comprised entirely of types of tea and their descriptions without being utterly pretentious, (anyone for the ‘mild and nutty aroma’ of Indian Assam? Or the ‘smoky almost tarry flavour’ of Lapsang Souchong?), yet somehow The Rose manages it. What prevents this central Oxford tea room from scaling the heights of pomposity is the fact that you are not made to feel wholly inadequate if you have never before sampled the delights of Darjeeling. They do things properly not because they want to impress, but because they are enthuasiastic. Being a posh tea amateur myself, and apprehensive about making a horrendous faux pas such as pouring milk into a cup which should remain dairy-free, I was relieved by the concise directions on the menu. Eventually we chose pots of Earl Grey (‘Milk : No’), and Vanilla Tea (‘Milk: Yes/ No’, an especially good choice), as the base element of The Rose’s Cream Tea Special, and Light Afternoon Tea. The former (£9.95) was comprised of a selection of delicately-cut sandwich fingers (three classics: smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese, egg and cress); a scone with clotted cream and jam; and a slice of cake (we chose coffee and mascarpone). All elements are homemade, usually by the charismatic owner Marianne, who is refreshingly hands-on and can often be seen wandering the shop floor in tea-stained chef whites. My companion, a West Country lass well familiar with the art of the cream tea, thought that the scone was slightly too damp and dense in texture, which impeded the generous slathering of the cream. However, we both agreed that the toasted tea cakes which constituted the light afternoon tea (£5.45) were the best we had ever tasted. The slight hint of cinnamon, the buttery brioche-like texture, and the wafer-thin, burnt-caramel coloured crust made each mouthful a pleasure. The Rose is worth a visit purely for the tea cakes alone. Breakfasts and lunches are also available, averaging around £6-£8 for popular dishes such as Croque Monsieur, omelette, and fish cakes. Prices here are on the steep side, perhaps more for the teas than the main meals, but the focus is on local, seasonal, and organic. A visit here could well be justified under the guise of an end of term treat…

by Kate Hayter

Oxford battered in Table Tennis Varsity match

By
Cherwell
-

Oxford 2 – 8 CambridgeIn the history of Varsity Table Tennis the series was all square; with 30 wins each for Oxford and Cambridge, and four draws. Following three consecutive wins over the Dark Blues, the confident Tabs entered this years Varsity fixture with a strong belief that they could take the lead in the series. Despite some brave resistance from the hosts, the Light Blues achieved this with by a convincing margin. The day began with a thrilling showdown between the Men’s Bteams. Possessing their best line-up in years, Oxford were shocked to find themselves 4-2 down after the first round of singles and doubles. However, victories from Roger Abbot, Chris Hollindale and Horatio Boedihardjo gave the Blues a fighting chance, however Cambridge levelled the scores to tie the fixture. The Ladies’ team inherited the momentum and took an early 2-1 lead thanks to impressive performance from the captain Susan Chai and Yuenyi Lo. Despite this encouraging start, their destruction by Cmabridge in the doubles caused the team to implode, finishing with a disappointing loss of 8-2. This story was then repeated by the Men’s A Team. Chris Hansell kicked off with a 2-0 lead in his first match against the Light Blues Captain, however things looked bad when the later recovered through aggressive forehand strokes in the third set. Hansell managed to hold on with some impenetrable blocking and secured a crucial first point for the Blues. The Oxford No. 2 Ansgar Walter’s hope to follow suit was soon extinguished by the Cambridge Ace. The thrilling 4 game contest saw a brimful of scintillating rallies where the audience could hardly see the ball but it was the Cambridge player who had a better focus and emerged victorious. The hosts were hit hard by this defeat and after that dispirited Blues found it impossible to stop Cambridge scoring. The Dark Blues conceded 4 points in a row until the Blues Captain Paul Lam reversed the tide. Going down 11-9 in the first set, he cleverly exploited the opposing players problems receiving long serves and took the next two sets. The Cambridge player launched a series of backhand attacks to lead 7-6 in the fourth set but Lam’s calmness together with his unstoppable forehand topspin won a 2nd point for Oxford. The victory, however, only as a consolations and the Dark Blues concluded the day with sorrowful 8-2 loss. The Varsity Match this year saw the Dark Blues posing a growing threat to the Tabs, but also showed that Oxford have a way to go before they can truly compete. With 2008 also bringing the graduation of Oxford’s two best players, Chris Hansell and Ansgar Walter, there are going to have to be other players that step up and take responsibility for leveling the series next year.by Horatio Boedihardjo

Listings: Friday 29th Febrary – Thursday 6th March

By
Cherwell
-

Friday 29th FebruaryFilm
The Accidental Husband (12A) Odeon George St 1300, 1550, 1800, 2030
The Bank Job (15) Odeon George St 1445, 1745, 2045
Be Kind, Rewind (12A) Odeon George St 1230, 1500, 1730, 2015
The Bucket List (12A) Odeon George St  1215
Definitely, Maybe (12A) Odeon George St 1430, 1715, 2000
Don’t Touch The Axe (PG) UPP 1800
Favela Rising (OBHRFF) Oxford Brookes Main Lecture Hall 1900
Jumper (12A) Odeon George St 1345, 1615, 1845, 2115
Juno (12A) Odeon George St 1330, 1600, 1830, 2100
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (PG) Odeon Magdalen St 1715
My Blueberry Nights (12A) Phoenix 1400, 1850
No Country For Old Men (15) Odeon Magdalen St  1415, 2000, Phoenix 1615, 2100, UPP 2100, 2330
Semi-Pro (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
There Will Be Blood (15) Phoenix 1345, 1700, 2015Music
Philip Bate Birthday Concert: Bach, Biber Holywell Music Room 2000
Conway Scholars’ Recital: Schumann, Bach and Holborne, Holywell Music Room 1230
Oxford Chamber Orchestra: Copland, Barber and Haydn, Sheldonian 2000
The Beat, Carling Academy 1900
The Tossers, Carling Academy 1830
The Machiavellis, Purple Turtle 1900
Alvin Roy: Swing/Jazz, Old Orleans Bar 2030
Einstellung: Krautrock, The Wheatsheaf 2000
Stornoway: Really good band, Jericho Tavern 2000
Chalk, Purple Turtle 2100
 Stage
Debris, Burton Taylor 1730
Dolores Wears The Stars, Burton Taylor 1930
Fanshen, O’Reilly, Keble 2000
Measure For Measure, OFS 1930
Spies, Playhouse 2000Other
Saints and their Symbols: Lunchtime gallery talk, Randolph Gallery, Ashmolean 1315
Oxford Radical Forum, Wadham various
Saturday 1st March

Film
The Accidental Husband (12A) Odeon George St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
The Bank Job (15) Odeon George St 1445, 1745, 2045
Be Kind, Rewind (12A) Odeon George St 1230, 1500, 1730, 2015
Definitely, Maybe (12A) Odeon George St 1430, 1715, 2000
Don’t Touch The Axe (PG) UPP 1800
Jumper (12A) Odeon George St 1345, 1615, 1845, 2115
Juno (12A) Odeon George St 1330, 1600, 1830, 2100
Lumo (OBHRFF) Oxford Brookes Main Lecture Hall 1530
Lust, Caution (18) UPP 1800
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (PG) Odeon Magdalen St 1715
My Blueberry
Nights (12A) Phoenix 1630, 1850
No Country For Old Men (15) Odeon Magdalen St  1415, 2000, Phoenix 2100, UPP 1530
Penelope (U) Odeon George St 1215
Rain In A Dry Land (OBHRFF) Oxford Brookes Main Lecture Hall 1400
Semi-Pro (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
There Will Be Blood (15) Phoenix 1345, 1700, 2015
The Water House (PG) Odeon George St 1200

Music
Queen’s College Recital: Violin and Piano, Queen’s College Chapel 1315
Hertford Bruckner Orchestra: Bruckner, The University Church of St Mary 2000
The Cherwell Singers: Dubois, Verdi and Stabat Mater, Exeter College Chapel 2000
East Oxford Community Choir: Talis’ Spem in Allium, Greyfriars 2000
The Hoosiers: Shitpop, Carling Academy 1830
Little Fish, Jericho Tavern 1930
Late Of The Pier: Indie, Carling Academy 1900
Sugardirt: Folk, Purple Turtle (Time TBC)
Stage
Debris, Burton Taylor 1730
Dolores Wears The Stars, Burton Taylor 1930
Fanshen O’Reilly, Keble 2000
Measure For Measure, OFS 1930
Spies, Playhouse 1400, 1930Other
Oxford Radical Forum, Wadham various
Sunday 2nd MarchFilm
The Accidental Husband (12A) Odeon George St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
Alice In The Cities (U) Phoenix 1100
The Bank Job (15) Odeon George St 1445, 1745, 2045
Be Kind, Rewind (12A) Odeon George St 1230, 1500, 1730, 2015
Blood Diamond (OBHRFF) Regal 1400
Definitely, Maybe (12A) Odeon George St 1430, 1715, 2000
Don’t Touch The Axe (PG) UPP 1700
Jumper (12A) Odeon George St 1345, 1615, 1845, 2115
Juno (12A) Odeon George St 1330, 1600, 1830, 2100
Les Chansons d’Amour (15) Phoenix 1100
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (PG) Odeon Magdalen St 1715
My Blueberry Nights (12A) Phoenix 1630, 1850
No Country For Old Men (15) Odeon Magdalen St  1415, 2000, Phoenix 2100, UPP 2000, 2230
Penelope (U) Odeon George St 1215
Semi-Pro (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
There Will Be Blood (15) Phoenix 1300, 1715, 2030
The Water House (PG) Odeon George St 1200
Video Letters (OBHRFF) Regal 1630Music
Gould and Reid: Schubert, Schumann and Szymanowski, Holywell Music Room 1115
Scholar Cantorum Choral, Exeter College Chapel 2100
Duke String Quartet: Challenging new works, Holywell Music Room 1300
The Audition, Zodiac 1900
Stage
Ministry of Mirth, Wheatsheaf 2000Other
Oxford Radical Forum, Wadham variousMonday 3rd March Film
The Accidental Husband (12A) Odeon George St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
The Bank Job (15) Odeon George St 1445, 1745, 2045
Be Kind, Rewind (12A) Odeon George St 1230, 1500, 1730, 2015
The Bucket List (12A) Odeon George St  1215
Caramel (OBHRFF) Jericho Tavern 1900
Definitely, Maybe (12A) Odeon George St 1430, 1715, 2000
Don’t Touch The Axe (PG) UPP 1800
Fatherhood Dreams (OBHRFF) Jericho Tavern 1800
Jumper (12A) Odeon George St 1345, 1615, 1845, 2115
Juno (12A) Odeon George St 1330, 1600, 1830, 2100
Les Chansons d’Amour (15) Phoenix 1830
Lust, Caution (18) UPP 2100
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (PG) Odeon Magdalen St 1715
My Blueberry Nights (12A) Phoenix 1345
No Country For Old Men (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1415, 2000, Phoenix 1600, 2100, UPP 1530
Semi-Pro (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
There Will Be Blood (15) Phoenix 1345, 1700, 2015Music
Set Your Goals: Californian Punk, Carling Academy 1900
Stage
The Oxford Imps: Improvised comedy. Wheatsheaf 2000
Free Beer Show: Russell Kane + support. Cellar Bar 2115
The Clean House, Playhouse 1930Other
David Constantine: Poetry reading, Queens College 1700
Innocence Lost: Amnesty International Art Exhibition, Jam Factory 1930Tuesday 4th MarchFilm
The Accidental Husband (12A) Odeon George St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
The Bank Job (15) Odeon George St 1445, 1745, 2045
Be Kind, Rewind (12A) Odeon George St 1230, 1500, 1730, 2015
The Bucket List (12A) Odeon George St  1215
Definitely, Maybe (12A) Odeon George St 1430, 1715, 2000
Don’t Touch The Axe (PG) UPP 1800
Jumper (12A) Odeon George St 1345, 1615, 1845, 2115
Juno (12A) Odeon George St 1330, 1600, 1830, 2100
Murderers On The Dancefloor: Jailhouse Rock (OBHRFF) Jericho Tavern 1800
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (PG) Odeon Magdalen St 1715
No Country For Old Men (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1415, 2000, UPP 2100
Semi-Pro (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
Shooting Dogs (OBHRFF) Jericho Tavern 1830
Southland Tales (15) Oxford Magdalen St 2000Music
The Go! Team, Carling Academy 1900

Stage
The Clean House, Playhouse 1930
Love’s Labour, O’Reilly, Keble 1930
Mort, OFS 1930
True West, Burton Taylor 1930Other
Dust Settles: Clarendon Lectures in English, Professor Michael Wood, St Cross Building 1700
Dorothy Hodgkin Lecture 2008: Prof E Jones of Cancer Research, University Museum of Natural History 1700
Chancellor Chris Patten In conversation, St Antony’s College 1700 Wednesday 5th March Film
The Accidental Husband (12A) Odeon George St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
The Bank Job (15) Odeon George St 1445, 1745, 2045
Be Kind, Rewind (12A) Odeon George St 1500, 1730, 2015
The Bucket List (12A) Odeon George St  1215
Definitely, Maybe (12A) Odeon George St 1430, 1715, 2000
Don’t Touch The Axe (PG) UPP 1800
Indigenous Peoples And The United Nations (OBHRFF) Oxford Brookes Main Lecture Hall 1800
Jumper (12A) Odeon George St 1345, 1615, 1845, 2115
Juno (12A) Odeon George St 1330, 1600, 1830, 2100
Lust, Caution (18) UPP 2100
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (PG) Odeon Magdalen St 1715
My Blueberry Nights (12A) Phoenix 1400, 1850
No Country For Old Men (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1415, 2000, Phoenix 1615, 2100, UPP 1530
Rabbit Proof Fence (OBHRFF) Oxford Brookes Main Lecture Hall 1845
Semi-Pro (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
There Will Be Blood (15) Phoenix 1345, 1700, 2015

Music
Paul Lewis and the Leopold String Trio: Kodaly, Beethoven, Kurtag and Dvorak, Sheldonian 2000
Queen’s College Organ Recital, Queen’s College 1310
Orchestra of Oxford: Brahms and Mozart, University Church of St Mary 2000
Son of Dave: Solo blues, Jericho Tavern 2000
Mumm-Ra: Indie, Zodiac 1900
Stage
The Clean House, Playhouse 1930
Love’s Labour, O’Reilly, Keble 1930
Mort, OFS 1930
True West, Burton Taylor 1930
Other
The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Saskatchewan Rm, Exeter College 1900Thursday 6th March Film
The Accidental Husband (12A) Odeon George St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
The Bank Job (15) Odeon George St 1445, 1745, 2045
Be Kind, Rewind (12A) Odeon George St 1230, 1500, 1730, 2015
The Bucket List (12A) Odeon George St 1215
Definitely, Maybe (12A) Odeon George St 1430, 1715, 2000
Don’t Touch The Axe (PG) UPP 1800
Hand In Hand (OBHRFF) Jam Factory 1800
Jumper (12A) Odeon George St 1345, 1615, 1845, 2115
Juno (12A) Odeon George St 1330, 1600, 1830, 2100
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (PG) Odeon Magdalen St 1715
My Blueberry Nights (12A) Phoenix 1400, 1850
No Country For Old Men (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1415, 2000, Phoenix 1615, UPP 2100
OUFF Film Cuppers Phoenix 2115
Semi-Pro (15) Odeon Magdalen St 1300, 1530, 1800, 2030
There Will Be Blood (15) Phoenix 1345, 1700, 2050
West Beirut (OBHRFF) Jam Factory 1830

Music
Oxford Philomusica: Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Sheldonian 1900
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri: Vocal and guitar, J du P 2000
Lunchtime Piano Recital: Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt, J du P 1315
Tim Lapthorne: Superhip Pianist, Spin @ The Wheatsheaf 2100
The Futureheads: Angular pioneers, Carling Academy 1900
Dreadzone: Dub/electro, Zodiac 2000
Sine Star Project: Country/pop, Jericho Tavern 2000
King Furnace: Rock, Cellar 2100
Stage
The Clean House, Playhouse 1430, 1930
Love’s Labour, O’Reilly, Keble 1930
Mort, OFS 1930
True West, Burton Taylor 1930
Other
The Old Country: Clarendon Lectures in English, Professor Michael Wood, St Cross Building 1700

Oxford do the double in Varsity fencing

By
Cherwell
-

Oxford 108 – 103 CambridgeOn Saturday 23 in the Examination Schools the mighty Dark Blues triumphed over the outpaced Tabs. For the first time in 10 years the Dark Blues won the men’s trophy at home with the support of a stellar home crowd. Cambridge started strongly with their favourite weapon, the sabre. Cambridge Captain Alex O’Connell, a former Under 17 World Champion, was humbled by Oxford’s Jamie Kenber (Magdalen) who fenced above expectation to beat him. Veteran Paul Taylor (New) stepped up also and got a few cheeky hits and finally Dominic Kerr (Magdalen), a first year sabre talent, showed he wasn’t intimidated with a few classy hits of his own against O’Connell. The final sabre score was 45-18 to the Tabs. Not a great start, but not impossible. Foil was next and Kenber demonstrated his showcase form demolishing the cowering Tab opposition. Chris Kent, a pocket rocket from Lincoln, took up his arms against larger opponents and outclassed them. The third foilist Andy Caldwell (St Johns) also proved himself to be stoic, overcoming three days of Torpids pain as part of the best St John’s crew in 20 odd years with an excellent foil performance. Things got a bit fraught at the end and with the Cambridge Captain arguing every hit with the referee – only making himself look foolish and setting up the inevitable self-destruct that followed. Final score 45-27 to Oxford. Epee was the final weapon and saw two of Oxford’s current national silver medalling team, Matthew Dodwell (Lincoln) and Matthew Baker (Exeter), in action. Andy Caldwell served as third epeeist because he still felt fresh and wanted another chance to smash Tabs. Trailing by 9 hits, the task was always going to be hard. Caldwell made not getting hit look easy when he out-thought Cambridge’s former Captain and Epee No. 1, Chris Greensides, in a 0-0 draw after 3 minutes, and then Dodwell tore into them and took a 5 hit lead. Baker promptly lost this lead in a scrappy fight with the same Greensides losing 4-1, but then turned around and slayed the unfortunate Tom Möst 8-1 in their last fight. Dodwell, serenely calm, then overcame Greensides, ensuring victory for the second year running. Overall Score 108 – 103. In the women’s event, Sophie Troiano (Christ Church) captained the side to an impressive victory. This was the first time that Oxford have won both the men’s and women’s event in more than 10 years. The Dark Blues got off to a dominating start in the sabre featuring former BUSA individual Bronze medallist Justine Aw (St Johns). Sophie then followed up with great performances in the epee and foil and the Ladies overcame Cambridge 122-105. Notable performances came from newcomer Rosalind Davies (Jesus) in the epee making her opponents look ordinary, and last year’s women’s Captain Georgina Osborne (New) who fenced in her last Varsity after having fenced first for Cambridge for three years and then for Oxford for the past three. Definitely also worth a mention was Mat Shearman (Lincoln) anchoring the Men’s Seconds, the Assassins, to a victory with an incredible fight that clawed back a 6-point deficit and his final bout in which he humiliated his Tab opponent and clinched victory for Oxford. This was a comprehensive victory for an Oxford side that has trained hard all year. They will be hoping to replicate this form in next years fixture.by Matt Baker

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