What do the Brits really think of the Germans? I've heard two contrasting opinions over the last 24 hours.

Firstly, Richard Morrison's column in today's Times, on whether the Brits' perceived anti-German feeling is finally calming, is well worth reading. Sixty years after the war ended, he says, we’re at last embracing the Germans by – among other things – opening German markets in town centres that “could have been downtown Düsseldorf”. Apparently it goes down well:

Even 20 years ago, the very words “German market” would have induced English wits to break into goosesteps, shouts of “vee hev vays of making you drink” and quips about getting to the swimming-pool first. But I saw nothing like that. Just punters eager to sample a different set of yuletide grazing customs.

The second opinion: a man named Noah Klieger, a Holocaust survivor, who I went to hear speak last night in an event to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Klieger was born in Strasbourg, ended up in Auschwitz, lived through its evacuation and escaped on a boat to Palestine by the skin of his teeth after being stranded in the sea off the coast off France. I asked him why we never hear stories like his on the British side of the Channel, and why the British think it was easy after the Holocaust for Jews to settle in Palestine – which, according to most presumptions, was a compensation present from Europe to the Jews. (His story shows this is false.) His answer? The British can’t properly empathise with the victims of the German past. They weren’t occupied by the Nazis, didn’t suffer in the war as much as others did, haven’t marginalised Holocaust deniers enough and couldn’t be bothered to sacrifice their relations with oil-rich states for the sake of one small people looking for refuge.In other words, the British don’t hate the Germans enough. Who do we believe? A British journalist who thinks the “virulent antiforeigner tone in some papers is more hysterical than anything the British press produced in the summer of 1914”, or an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor who lived through Auschwitz, the death marches and the clandestine exodus to Palestine?

PS For those of you still interested in the state elections round here – and the star ratings you've given my posts suggest there aren't many of you – still no one can agree on who to form coalitions with, and the farce is going on and on without much of a solution in sight. Prepare yourselves for a re-election…
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The first of the exciting new Mystery Mime series! Guess what Dep Ed Dan is singing this week… Leave comments below!
 

Sangwon Yoon and Jenny Moore provide 3rd week's mid-week news report . Tune in every week! 

The Animal Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for the recent vandalism of the property of an Oxford University contractor.

The message, posted on the ‘Bite Back’ website, threatened: “If you have a contract with the uni you need to terminate it now. If you don’t there’s a very good chance we will see u soon.”

“The fact that the uni have nearly finished building their lab only makes us more determined – we will go on as long as it takes,” it concluded.

Read More in this week's Cherwell…

By Jack Farchy

A link between promiscuity and low academic achievement has been found following a survey of over 1000 undergraduates at Cambridge University.Students from colleges ranked at the bottom of the Tompkin Table came out top in the number of sexual partners.“It seems we have to choose between top grades and top totty” said Varsity editor, Tom Bird.The poll also indicated that the number of sexual partners is connected to the student’s subject. “It’s completely individual!”, responded Newnham’s JCR President.
Read More in this week's Cherwell…

By Clare Barnard

Wilbur Heynes is currently exhibiting a collection of photographic and sculptural work at the O3 Gallery in the Oxford Castle. The Shine exhibition displays many contrasts in terms of materials, techniques and design.
Shine is a collection of work which celebrates both the inherent similarities and differences within visual experience. At first glance, due to the shared theme of water, all the photographs appear distinctly similar. However, myriad variations become clear when we observe these images closely. The effect of water offers a diverse range of tones, patterns and reflections, and these are apparent throughout Heynes’ work. Some of the photographs display serene, tranquil surfaces, which are offset by their juxtaposition next to more turbulent scenes. Other photographs show a range of variations within the same image. For example, in Heliosphere our attention is drawn to the variations of textures. The effect of the tide divides the image diagonally between the smooth sand and the rippling water. Heynes’ photographic work is in many ways stylistically similar to abstract expressionist painting. This is illustrated in the interesting formation of tones and shapes in Nimbus, which is reminiscent of Pollock’s Blue Pole canvases.It could be argued that Heynes is not showing us anything we have not seen before. We are all familiar with the sight of light reflecting upon water. However, this helps to give the work a strong energy as there is a universal quality to this collection which allows us to project our own thoughts and feeling upon the work. The images may help us to recreate memories of a holiday at the beach, or represent a connection to the environment. But for all of us, as viewers, we have our own personal understanding of the subject matter.Heynes’ sculptural work represents recognisable forms (animals, humans) frozen during the moment of extreme movement. These small sculptures, all of which include hollowed-out sections, suggest an understanding of presence and absence. As viewers, we perceive the missing parts in relation to their framing within the strong solid sculptural forms. Light is again of vital importance to this section of the exhibition, as the shining sculptures reflect the surrounding light.This exhibition displays Wilbur Heynes’ attempt to tackle the key theme-shine-in distinctly different ways. The photographs seem to be unrelated to the sculptures, yet both deal with the ability of the medium to capture the light as it shines upon different surfaces. The sculptures are cleverly created to shine in certain places and to avoid the light in others; whilst of pivotal importance to the photographs is the effect of light as it shines upon the water. by Samantha Edgley
Shine is open until 10^th February.

No one’s quite sure when pop music died. Maybe it was when S-club quit, or when Justin discovered the Neptunes, or when Eyebrow Boy (aka Charlie) from Busted decided to grow some designer stubble and form a ‘punk’ (no sniggering at the back) band. At this point, you might be wondering whether I’ve lost my mind. Pop? Dead? Have I ever been in Filth, Bridge or Park E…sorry, Lava and Ignite at 2am? But think back through the alcohol-induced analgesia over the music played: 5ive, Ricky Martin even (shudder) the Baywatch theme. All at least five years old, nostalgia (or should that be nausea?) inducing relics of a bygone era. Slowly but surely, pop has disappeared from our charts and airwaves. I have to confess, I didn’t shed many tears over this.  But, after celebrating the demise of pop,at least outside the Bubble, I noticed something strange; it was still everywhere, it had just got smarter. And the chief culprits of this camouflage are possibly the two most generic and infuriating words in the English language ‘rock’ and ‘urban'. Once both the ultimate expression of rebellion, these genres have been hijacked by the masses and diluted to such an extent that they mean nothing at all. Note to A and R men: overenthusiastic application of eyeliner, overwrought angsty choruses and learning three chords on a guitar does not a ‘rock chick’ make.  It’s not indie, its not even emo, its pop, pure and simple as, in a more innocent time, Hearsay would have put it. But what of so-called ‘urban’ music, a category so vague it spans from rnb to dnb? It has certainly come a long way from its roots as social protest in inner city America. Witness the Pussycat Dolls. Without even getting into their erm… unique brand of ‘feminism’ which, to the uninitiated, seems to consist of saying how much more attractive they are than other women, their musical value has got to be seriously questioned. By their own admission, only one of them can sing, and yet this only seems to propel them to No. 1 faster. Hell, at least Atomic Kitten put up an amusing pretence. But even the ‘authentic’ artists are in on the act. In a form of expression founded on lyrical dexterity and wit, it is now image, not content that sells records and consequently rappers have increasingly come to rely on stereotypes of the ‘ghetto fabulous’ lifestyle. The most notorious culprit, 50 ‘Fiddy’ Cent, has evolved into little more than a caricature of himself, culminating, ironically enough, in making his life into a movie: as if it wasn’t one already.  So, this is my plea: bring back pop. It may be unoriginal, repetitive, inane, but at least you knew where you stood. We could mock it from a distance, confident in our music’s superiority. But now the lines have been dangerously blurred; we urgently need to return to music so definitively, unashamedly pop that no one could be in any doubt. Thank god for the Spice Girls reunion.
by Rachel Breitenbach