A government initiative to curb freshers’ week drinking has been met with scepticism by Oxford JCRs.

After taking part in a Downing Street seminar on the levels of binge drinking among British students, Gordon Brown and his policy team are investigating whether the Higher Education Funding Council can use its powers to ban universities from encouraging excessive drinking on their campuses. Freshers’ weeks across Oxford could be affected if the government pushes through plans universities on the matter.

Professor Oliver James, a liver disease specialist and head of the medical faculty at Newcastle University, told Gordon Brown about the levels of excessive drinking he had seen at his own campus.

He said, “I was concerned and appalled by the level of drinking which goes on in Freshers’ Week, not just at Newcastle but at every university in the country. This kind of thing just gratifies the binge drinking culture. The induction period is no longer just a week too, at many universities it can last for two or even three weeks.”

However, both JCR presidents and other groups in Oxford expressed their doubts as to whether such bans would be effective. In response to the news Louise Randall, OUSU Vice President for Welfare, said, “Many students choose to celebrate their new found freedom with a few drinks in Fresher’s week. However, many also make the choice not to drink, either because they choose not to, or because they cannot.

“Any attempt to actively discourage drinking during Fresher’s week will simply lead to student drinking being pushed underground, with potentially dangerous consequences.”

Tom Callard, JCR President at Oriel College, said, “We are always careful not to bias the Freshers’ timetable in favour of drinkers and there are always plenty of non-alcoholic activities. On our timetable we actually have no scheduled club nights – we organize things like bus tours, paint-ball and films, and if  people want to go out in the evenings then it is up to them.” He pointed out, “I don’t think we’d have to change anything if this new legislation came in – we already abide by it.”

The proposal for a clampdown will be discussed at Downing Street in spring with contributions from organisations such as the Portman Group, which promote responsible drinking. by Katherine Hall, Deputy News Editor

 Tough Panel favours idea to benefit hospital hygieneTwo Oxford teams have been awarded £4,500 each after jointly winning Ideal Idol, the Oxford Entrepreneurs competition for business innovation.

On Tuesday night six teams of Oxford students battled it out to impress a panel of ruthless and business-savvy judges, including millionaire Deborah Meaden, a frequent panellist on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den.

Alex Oshmyansky, a 23 year-old St Cross DPhil student, and Dan Nicolau, a DPhil student from Balliol, made up a pair that won both the £4,500 first prize and the People’s Choice award for a further £500, which was decided by the audience on the night.

Their winning idea was a proposition to combat the spread of infections in hospitals. They came up with a design for door handles that release antiseptic onto the hands of people who use them. By increasing the number of times hospital workers and visitors disinfect their hands, they hope that their invention will reduce the numbers hospital-acquired infections, including the superbug MRSA.

“Twelve people in this room will die from hospital-acquired infections,” began Alex Oshmyansky, addressing a 300-strong audience on Tuesday night. He went on to say that 120,000 people die each year in the UK and USA from hospital-acquired infections and in the UK alone they cost the NHS one billion pounds annually.

Oshymyansky said, “Use of our product will dramatically lower transmission rates and save and improve lives, while tapping into an enormous and unexplored market.”

Sebastian Grigg, a senior investment banker at Credit Suisse and one of the competition judges, was full of praise for the idea. He said, “This was an exceptionally well-presented idea, and had a transparent social benefit.”

The other winner was Alistair Hann, a DPhil student at New, who also went home with a cheque for £4,500. His idea was Zoombu, an internet-based travel search engine that will search every permutation of coach, rail, air, sea and car travel between two locations in Europe.

The judges queried whether he would actually be able to design a computer program to do this. Hann replied with confidence, “I’m a smart guy. I know other smart guys and I’ll have a good team around me.”

All of the six finalists were male. Jenny Tsim, who coordinated the event, said that the quality of the ideas was more important than the gender of the inventors. She said, “When we got down to the last few candidates to make the final we had to ask: do you choose a girl to go through as a token girl, or do you go on the quality of the idea? The competition is about ideas, so we chose the best ones.”

But Reshma Sohoni, another judge, said that the male dominance of entrepreneurship is a trend that needs to change. “It’s a problem that’s rife, particularly in Europe. We just need to encourage more women,” she said.
In last year’s competition the judges decided to invest their own money, giving the winning idea an effectively blank cheque, marked ‘whatever it takes.’ This year, however, no judge was willing to take such a gamble. Deborah Meaden said, “I came here thinking that I could have done, but none of the businesses in the final were in an area that I have a speciality in.”

However, she would nonetheless advise the winners of the competition to seek expert advice. “I think anybody starting up should seek guidance and assistance,” she said.

She added, “They shouldn’t be afraid of seeking it out. After all, I still need help.”by Jack Farchy, Deputy News Editor

Jack Orlick reports on the recent spate of bands reunited.Music, they say, is like a chicken. It can be particularly bland when served with the wrong sauces. So you head to the old rack in the corner of the room – cumin, tarragon, ginger, baby, sporty, posh and scary. Funny – the last five were full the other day. Now they’re empty. Break down in tears – the world is once again Spiceless.It was reported last month that the Spice Girls have split again, apparently down to the argumentative nature of five such unpalatable flavours. Mels B and C are said to have stated simply, ‘We’ve had enough’, while Victoria Beckham has cited her ever-growing presence in the fashion world. This news may have been on the cards for a while (news of trouble and strife has been pervading Heat for months), and it not only spells the crushing of dreams by those fans in South Africa, Australia and China, but also, following the disappearances of both East 17 and All Saints, an end to the spate of reunion tours to have cut hot (or rather fairly lukewarm) inroads through the musical world in the last year or so.The real musical rooster roasters have been not the 90s pop bands, who have in fact come rather late to the scene, but the older rock bands. The Rolling Stones seem to have had so many ‘very last’ tours, and ‘very very last’ concerts it’s likely that they’ll have to force Mick Jagger into the grave, chomping and spasming in that special way of his before we’ve seen the end of them. Last November, Led Zeppelin saw 20,000 greased up, aged up, air-guitar masters sliding through the aisles of the O2 arena in London, each paying £125 a ticket. In the last year, nostalgic fans have had the opportunity to experience The Police, Genesis, Van Halen, Smashing Pumpkins and even Crowed House stumble undead across the earths many stages.Why, we ask, have such bands taken it upon themselves to rise again? Cash, of course, would be the cynics answer, yet with such musical luminaries as the Stones and The Police, this just doesn’t hold up: their records still sell like Hassan’s/Hussein’s/Ahmed’s cheesy chips on a Friday night. What’s more likely (and I’m romanticising) is that these bands are made up of people who have a bloody need to perform – junkies of the stage. Their fans, rather than being fellow addicts, are the dealers of their drug: anyone who’s been to see Harmar Superstar (shame on you!) will know that an ‘artist’ is less than nothing without its audience.But exceptions follow every rule, and this is where we return to our 90’s cut-and-paste pop. Various members of Take That have been trying, and failing, to make it as solo acts for years – the same goes for the Spice Girls. Here we see a combination of performance desperation and the drip-drip of money down the drains of Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Attempting to regain the fame and glory of their former lives, they reform – in the case of the Spice Girls, only to once again fall apart. Take That, on the other hand, have been raking in both new fans and sterling coinage- rather than surfing the diminishing wake of their prior success, they’ve managed to identify exactly what it is that mainstream pop is today: a strange combination of classic Beatlesque, rock and, almost, funk. The cohorts of teenage girls who paid their way the first-time-around have grown up, and so, accordingly, has their music. ‘Beautiful World’ has now sold around 202,202,300 in the UK alone, reaching number 1 and going seven times platinum. Worldwide, they’d sold more than three million copies by December 2006. Take That have proven particularly innovative and successful, probably much to the annoyance of their counterparts. They’ve proven that given a good old shake, those tired flavours can still produce a mighty spicy singing sauce. And when reformed bands allow both re-discovery of certain musical styles, while simultaneously re-lighting the hearts of their middle-aged followers, how can we complain? Drab tribute bands just can’t provide the true experience of watching a gang of sexagenarians hop and hobble across the boards. We’ll just have to wait and see, though, if the many personalities of Britney can ever reunite…

Lady Margaret Hall’s JCR has passed a motion in support of a college porter asked to step down against his wishes.Having reached the retirement age of 65 Terry Greenwood, a night porter at the College, has been asked to resign, but the JCR has passed a motion calling for the college to extend its employment of him.The motion stated, “This JCR notes that Terry has been a friendly, hospitable and helpful presence in LMH who has made our time here far more pleasant. The JCR believes Terry is a credit to the College and its student body and is fully capable of performing his duties until he himself believes it is time to retire. “The JCR therefore resolves to declare its support for Terry Greenwood and expresses its hope that he can continue to serve LMH and its student body as a Porter for as long as he is willing to continue.”
It was concluded that the JCR president, Marlene Cayoun, would write a letter of support for Mr Greenwood to Bart Ashton, the Domestic Bursar, and Lawrence le Carré, the Head Porter, in collaboration with the MCR president.Commenting on the motion, the JCR president said, “Terry is a wonderful and well-loved member of the college, who is extremely competent at his job. He’s not in any way impaired by his age. We would all be very sorry to see him go, especially as he hasn’t expressed any desire to leave.”Other students spoke of their anger at the College’s decision to dismiss the porter. Third year student Matthew Henshall, said, “There is a lot of anger amongst students here. Terry Greenwood is the best porter in college by far. All of the porters here are good but he is a class apart. He is both caring and compassionate.” Henshall went on to add that Mr Greenwood was “perfectly fit for the job”, attended the LMH gym and that he was very much in support of him.The Domestic Bursar and the Head Porter were unavailable to comment on the situation.
According to employment laws introduced in 2006, although there is a default retirement age of 65, workers have the right to ask their employers to let them stay on at work. In order to prevent retirement being used as cover for an unjustified sacking, bosses must give at least six months’ notice of an individual’s retirement date. by Katherine Hall

St John's… …or Univ?

St. Edmund Hall 2 – 2 Lady Margaret Hall (St. Edmund Hall won on penalties)
St. Catherine's 0 – 5 Worcester Talismanic goalkeeper Nicola Ielpo once again took Teddy Hall to victory as they sneaked into the Cuppers final, courtesy of a penalty shoot-out victory against LMH on Friday. LMH will certainly feel hard done by after outplaying Hall for large chunks of this absorbing encounter. In a game that at times lacked quality, they acquitted themselves admirably, twice taking the lead against Hall, only to be pegged back both times, with defensive lapses costing them dear. The dogged Hall side, who have won three out of their last four Cuppers matches on penalty shoot-outs, will now face top of the table Worcester at Iffley road in Cuppers Final in 8th week. LMH entered the game at the top of Division 1, but with the addition of several University players, they looked more than capable of causing an upset to a Teddy Hall side that has gone from strength to strength in the JCR premiership, unbeaten in all competitions since November. It was LMH who made all the early running, taking a deserved lead after twenty minutes of unrelenting pressure. Their giant centre-back rose unmarked at a corner to clatter a header against the bar, and striker Wheeler reacted fastest to nod the ball into the net. Hall’s response was immediate; a slip from the LMH left-back let in Talbot-Smith who took the keeper by surprise, arrowing in off the far post. Despite these two early goals, both sides struggled to settle, with misplaced passes and snatched half chances epitomising the rest of the first half. Talbot-Smith again found room in the LMH penalty area, but his snapshot clipped the post on its way wide; while LMH’s dominance at set pieces was yielding results as Ielpo was kept on his toes throughout. In the second half Tom Wherry’s dominance in the air for LMH, coupled with the tricky wingplay of McCrickerd and Allchin, meant that Teddy Hall at times found themselves penned in their own half, with Wilfred Frost looking increasingly isolated up front. A goal seemed imminent and the right foot of Allchin provided it. His composed finish with twenty minutes remaining would have killed off most sides, but Captain John Waldron has instilled a ‘never say die’ attitude in this Hall team, and yet again, when asked the question, their response was swift. Mike Sopp’s through-ball released Talbot-Smith marauding down the right hand side. His cross looked to be too close to goalkeeper Di Capite, but Wilfred Frost’s ‘old fashioned’ challenge caused havoc and in the ensuing melee Frost bundled it over the line to draw the teams level once more. The game was now thrown wide open. Heroic last ditch tackling from Waldron and Lefanu kept the LMH front line at bay, while at the other end a deflected cross from the mercurial Mike Sopp trickled agonisingly wide, with the keeper beaten as time expired. 120 minutes could not separate the sides, and so it went to the agony of a penalty shoot-out. Italian ex-Serie C keeper Nicola Ielpo has an outstanding record in penalty shootouts, and despite picking up an injury in the second half, he saved two LMH spot kicks, to the relief of Hall captain Waldron after his pathetic excuse for a penalty. The enigmatic Talbot-Smith then stepped up to nonchalantly stroke the decisive penalty home, to send Teddy Hall into the final. In the other semi-final, Premiership title contenders Worcester had a comfortable 5-0 victory over St Catz. Blues striker Niko de Walden had effectivley guaranteed the victory for the Premier Division giants within the first twenty minutes with two goals. Kunal Desai added a third on the stroke of half time. Two second half goals from Tim Grady and Danny Plaxton added further gloss to the scoreline, but a young Catz side will be all the better for the experience of competing at such a level as they seek to build for next season in the Premier Division.by Ben Cossey

The Oxford cross-country cyclists have had little success in their Varsity race in recent years, but had good reason to hope for a win in Sunday’s event. They were very familiar with the race-venue, Marcie Reinhart seemed very likely to win the women’s race again, and Richard Callow had a good chance in the men’s competition. On the other hand, the Cambridge riders had been riding extremely well in preceding races, including the BUSA cyclo-cross competition. Sunday was a cool and clear day – perfect cycling weather – and since there has been little rain over the past few weeks, the course was unusually free from mud given the time of year. The race was over a 7.3km course; the women raced three laps while the men also rode a fourth. All the participants were delighted by the imaginative, high-speed route, characterised by exciting narrow and twisty paths through dense wood. A particular highlight was the notorious ‘corkscrew’, a tricky section in which the course snakes back and forth across a steep-sided eight foot ditch. Marcie Reinhart came second in the women’s race, just three minutes behind the winner, Cambridge captain Rachel Fenton. Oxford’s Kate Harris finished third, three seconds after Marcie. Richard Callow came second in the men’s race despite twice going over his handlebars, finishing two and a half minutes after Cambridge’s Tom Morris. A special mention is due to Nils Gustafsson, who lost his saddle in a crash in the middle of the first lap, but still managed to complete two and half more laps.by Donald Thomson and William Walton

The Edge of Heaven
4/5
22nd FebruaryAlthough it’s been nominated for the Palme d’Or, you’d be excused if you’d never even heard of this film. A shame really because, despite its faults, it serves up just as worthy a piece of human drama as similarly-themed Oscar-baiting Hollywood fare. The film follows two interweaving plots. The first begins in Germany with Turkish professor Nejat, played with solemn, care-worn intensity by Baki Davrak. It deals with the relationship between him, his father, and a prostitute called Yeter. Her death drives father and son apart, with Nejat returning to his country of birth to look for Yeter’s daughter, Ayten. The second strand focuses on Ayten, an activist forced to flee Istanbul. Ending up in Germany seeking her mother she instead finds Lotte, a student, whom she falls in love with. When Ayten fails to gain asylum and is deported back to Turkey, Lotte’s attempts to help her have tragic consequences.This film is about death.It flags this up by titling the first and second acts as particular characters’ deaths, which rather reduces tension as we can predict the outcomes. However, the crux of the overlapping stories is how loss affects people and ultimately brings them together. It doesn’t yield easy resolutions – the seemingly inevitable meeting of Nejat and Ayten, for instance, is held from us by the director, with their evasions often due only to the narrowest of differences between timelines and journeys. There are weaknesses. The contrivances, a staple of this ‘Short Cuts’ style of cinema, often stretch believability and credibility, and the parallels between the characters’ conflicts and those between Turkey and Germany are heavy-handed. But the film still remains a reasonably effective look at death, family, grief and passion, and how they unite us all.       
by Harry Thompson