Plans to overhaul Oxford’s wealth redistribution mechanism have faced criticism this week as the first stage of discussions draws to a close.oday is the deadline for individual colleges to voice reservations about proposals for the College Contribution Scheme (CCF) – a system for equalising the wealth gap between Oxford colleges – that were first announced in 2005. Deliberations are set to be taken to the Conference of Colleges in the coming weeks.
Some figures have voiced fears over the fairness of the scheme, and one College Warden has said he does not believe the plans will result in any action.OUSU President Martin McCluskey has expressed concern that new constraints placed on the allocation of funding could restrict poorer colleges, preventing them from diverting money to where it is most needed.
The proposed changes would mean that poorer colleges have to apply for money from the Fund in one of five categories, such as library expenditure and housing allowances, in an attempt to make the scheme more accountable, rather than just a single grant. McCluskey said, “Even if the committee accepted that a new category should be included, it would take a year for the change to come into effect and would delay a college’s ability to apply for funding in that area,” he explained.
“The idea behind such a system is sound in theory – they see it as ensuring that all colleges can apply by the same criteria – but it maybe isn’t so good in practice,” he added.Reforms to the CCF, which redistributes wealth from richer to poorer colleges, are intended to increase its accountability by allowing more control over cash allocation. There are also plans to to provide a ‘boost’ to the Fund with an extra £11 million to be injected by the University into the ailing scheme.But Alan Ryan, Warden of New College, was sceptical about any long-term increase in contributions made by richer colleges, and said that he was uncertain that the reforms would even go ahead.
He said, “Having doubled it for 5 years, the colleges that contribute most – St John’s, All Souls, Christ Church, Merton, Nuffield – would be eager to have a proposal that had a time limit for stopping contributions or [to] go back to the old rates, which were not too harsh.” “I think the end of the period of consultation will not result in anything,” Ryan concluded.Sir Derek Morris, Provost of Oriel College and Chair of the Colleges Contributions Committee, author of the report, denied that the planned reforms would force applicant colleges to comply to their donors’ wishes. He said, “The Committee cannot dictate how a recipient college should act;  but, over time, grants will be dependant on how efficiently Colleges utilise their resources.”Sir Morris said that the Fund’s purpose was not to bail out less wealthy colleges. “The CCF is not an emergency fund, it is designed to build up the long term ability of all colleges to provide the academic infrastructure that’s required,” he said.om Lowe, former JCR President of Hertford and proponent of the college contributions reform motion in OUSU last year, said that any redistribution of funds would be cancelled out by the introduction of the new Joint Resource Allocation Mechanism (JRAM). JRAM is set to hugely benefit richer colleges such as St. John’s and Christ Church, while cutting funding to smaller colleges such as Pembroke and Keble.“The University’s interest in increasing poor colleges’ endowments is very welcome,” Lowe said, “However, if the new Joint Resource Allocation Mechanism proposal comes into effect, would the University not simply be giving back some of the money it’s already planning to take away?” St. John’s, Oxford’s richest college, has assets of over quarter of a billion pounds, over twenty times that of Mansfield, the undergraduate college with the fewest assets.by James Stafford 

The Environment Agency issued a flood warning Wednesday night on the River Thames through Oxford, raising flooding alert levels from flood watch earlier this week. A second flood warning is also in place on the Thame from Eynsham Lock in Eynsham to Sandford Lock in Sandford-on-Thames alongside one on the River Ray covering Islip, Ludgershall and Blackthorn, as well as Murcott, Wendlebury and Odington. Flooding of the River Thames could affect Dorchester, Moreton, Wasterstock and Wheatley, Chippinghurst and Drayton St. Leonard.

The second highest state of alert, which means that flooding is expected, has called for a move-in of water pumps and emergency flood defenses into the city. Residents of the Botley and Osney areas in west Oxford have particularly been warned to be risk areas for the night. Tim Sandler, Oxford City Council ’s interim executive told the Oxford Mail that the flood threat could spread to south Oxford by later Thursday or Friday. “The situation is changeable and we will be monitoring the situation throughout the night. We should encourage residents to monitor the situation as well and be responsible for their own properties,” he said.

Dave Etheridge, assistant chief fire officer has assured the current threat of floods to be “more predictable” than the devastating floods of July 2007.

“Following the close working and advice from the Environment Agency concerning flood prediction and further rainfall we are clearly, at this stage, dealing with a more predictable set of circumstances that we had in July 2007,” he told the Oxford Mail.

“There is a fantastic team effort under way to ensure that the properties which may be flooded are being personally contacted and face to face advice given concerning their protection,” he added.

However, residents out of Oxford city fear a more grave threat and have raised their voices for the Environment Agency ’s lack of prior warning and preparation. The River Ock breaking its banks early Thursday morning is threatening Abingdon residents and Ascott-under-wychwood, a small parish town in west Oxfordshire has already flooded leaving residents up to their knees in floodwater. Road A417 has also been closed both ways between Lechlade on Thames and Buscot.
For more flooding advice, see the Environment Agency , Oxford County Council and Oxford City Council websites or call 0845 988 1188.

The battle of Bonn Square continues this week, following news that a student from St Anne’s was arrested for littering. Jonathon Leighton threw a bottle of water to Gabriel Chamberlain, living in a tree in Bonn square. His throw however missed, leading the police to arrest him for littering.
The student was handcuffed and taken to St Aldate’s Police station where he was held for three hours. He was questioned and had his fingerprints, DNA and photograph taken. Leighton was eventually released without charge at 5.15am, but he told the Oxford Mail that he was seeking legal advice as he felt the police had “abused their powers”.
He said in his internet blog that he was angry about the principle of “arrest first, ask questions later” that the police had appeared to operate under.The situation may have been resolved with no charges been pressed, but it illustrates the ongoing controversy surrounding the Westgate redevelopment project. Leighton wrote in his blog, “this won’t be the last protest over the council’s desire to turn Oxford into a more characterless, consumerist city.”
By Sian Cox-Brooker

Recently, the Government gave its formal backing to the creation of a new generation of nuclear power stations across the UK. Business Secretary, John Hutton, has told MPs that they would provide a “safe and affordable” route to securing the UK’s future energy supplies, while also combating global warming.

The plans entail speeding up the planning process to facilitate the construction of plants and the introduction of a new independent body to monitor decommissioning costs. The amount of energy that could be provided by the nuclear energy industry would not be capped. Hutton has also claimed that there will be “no public subsidies” for the nuclear industry.

It seems likely that the intended scheme would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per kilowatt-hour of electricity, and so also the nation’s carbon footprint. In this sense, the proposal is a sensible step towards achieving this aim.

However, these plans are not likely to placate more militant environmentalists, due to the waste disposal problems. The intention is to create underground caverns so as to store the radioactive waste created within the UK, though the amount to be contributed by the firms who produce such waste, and where to place such a site, have yet to be decided. In the interim, the waste shall be stored at sites such as Sellafield.

John Hutton has expressed his concerns about the safety of such a plan, however, rejecting calls for a suitable storage site to be found before giving the scheme the green light. Currently, highly radioactive, vitrified (solidified) waste from Britain is stored at sites in Germany, if only temporarily.

Unfortunately, the prospect of sourcing all the UK’s energy needs from renewable energy sources seems low enough, without factoring in the economic factors.

The cost of sourcing energy from renewable energies is not merely monetary, as the rise in grain prices can be partially attributed to the desire to produce Bio-fuels from arable land. For the poor, especially in Third-World countries that import more grain than they produce, this may not be a price they are willing to pay for a better world in the distant future.

This, then, surely necessitates the construction of the next generation of nuclear power stations, to replace the current nuclear power plants that produce approximately 20% of the UK’s energy needs.

But there is a further factor to consider, and that is the matter of supply of uranium. For approximately the last twenty years, less uranium has been produced than has been consumed by the nuclear industry, the shortfall being filled by sales of surplus from the militaries (primarily the USA and the former USSR).

As the nuclear warhead decommissioning nears its end, and increasing tension between the West and Russia increases the prospect of reversing of non-proliferation policies, the shortfall will soon no longer be filled so extensively.

Due to a lack of investment by the mining industries, demand will continue to outstrip supply (as a mining project put forward today will take roughly 10 years to reach production) for quite some time to come. With OPEC recently attributing the high cost of crude to speculation (a price change from $22 a barrel in 2002 to $100 in 2007 due solely to an increase in demand?), it is unlikely that uranium prices will also remain unaffected by speculation, possibly driving up the price far above what it presently is.

Further economic factors include the cost of waste storage, maintenance and decommissioning. An independent body, the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurances Board, will look at the potential clean-up costs. The nuclear power stations presently in use will cost the government an estimated £70 billion to decommission.

Given these unknowns, it would seem quite difficult to come to an accurate prediction as to the profitability of the industry, let alone the safety.

by Mike Kelly

Are we going up again, or coming back home?

Oxford’s short terms are unique. One spends just under half the year at university, and the other half, allegedly, revising for the collections. But for Freshers, back for their second term, something often feels a bit off-key without the magic of Freshers’ week and the inherent newness of Oxford.

Personally, I felt like I was coming home last Thursday. And as my parents noticed over Christmas, I failed to even unpack. Maybe this was out of laziness, and the fact that my parents had kindly decided to use one half of my room for storage, blocking my wardrobe, desk, and making the simple act of getting into bed more cumbersome than an army assault course, but perhaps it had some deeper psychological meaning: that I didn’t really feel like I was home.

And many other students feel the same. You slip so easily into the privacy of locked doors, en-suite bathrooms (if you’re lucky), and in general the sense of independence and freedom which being at home lacks. And in case you might be overjoyed at being back home, the mountain of holiday work is a nice reminder that Oxford is never far away.

Once you’re back, the Ford deals you a sharp, but by no means short, shock to the system. I had to endure six hours of exams preceded by an all-night revision marathon before I could even think about hunting down all the friends whom I’d missed being able to see every day.

Others, however, will always find the ordeal of washing their own clothes and dealing with the banalities of making sure there’s enough bread and gin to hand quite impossible.  It’s unlikely that graduation will see them much more adept at coping. Others are so tied to their friends and family at home that they can’t wait to get back after the first term. Most are just plain exhausted.

The majority of Freshers argue that you never really quite recover from that infamous first week, and it’s not long before the fifth week blues hit; then there’s the mandatory final fortnight of partying to max yourself out before you’re sent away to make room for other Oxford hopefuls.

Admittedly I found even myself talking about going 'back' with reference to Oxford, not home. In fact, uttering those words 'going home' left me rather dejected.  But in general, perhaps we Freshers should wait a few more vacations before deciding what we really call ‘home'.  Or indeed, maybe the sixteen week summer vacation will bring us back to our roots. Wherever they are for now!

Port Mahon, HT 08 Week 1, 13 JanuaryThe upstairs of the Port Mahon is an unassuming venue – the stage rocks the ‘my best mate’s living room’ vibe, complete with fireplace and telly moved out of the way to fit in the drum kit. Well, almost.The humble staging, however, was actually the perfect offset for three very different musical outfits. Figment were back on stage after a couple of months away from the live scene. The Bristol three-piece unleashed their brand of snarling, brawling rock with vim and fervour. Their energy was almost uncontainable, mic stands askew and t-shirts duly stripped, delivered at ear-splitting volume. They announced themselves with Reservoir Dogs style shouts and a bass line more infectious than an outbreak of food poisoning at a picnic serving prawn cocktail for starters.Figment are clearly very tight – the illusion of spontaneity is clearly underpinned by the old formula talent versus practise. Drummer Harvey was impressive (and not just because of his pectorals), blowing out any January cobwebs with one particular drum solo that shook your very bones. The fairly subdued Sunday night crowd didn’t really know how to respond to the sweating, swaggering beast that commanded their attention. Figment don’t promise to change the world, but they do put out for a filthily good time. Look out for them live in 2008.

Next up were the Will Knox Band. The difference between the two bands couldn’t have been more marked. Will Knox leads his melancholy band of boys and girls through heartbreaking acoustic folk-tinged tunes. Two things raise them above a slew of Jose-Gonzalez sound-alikes: the first is the quality of the song-writing.The lyrics are quietly well observed: “please don’t neglect me like a dress you outgrew”, “I’m as empty as the pockets of my skin tight jeans.” The second is Will Knox himself – his understated charisma asserts an irresistible pull. His clear and tender vocals are nuanced by bass-player Jeni Magana's. The breath catching moment of the night was their stripped acoustic number. With their soft West Coast glamour, the Will Knox band put me in a position that I never thought I’d be in, thinking: “Man, that was an intense banjo solo.” No pretension, just lush strings and effortless atmosphere: lovely, lovely stuff.

Finally, Mister Ginger took to the stage. What to expect with such variety preceding them? Mister Ginger are an Oxford four piece, bridging the Balliol/Trinity divide by making sweet music. They don’t have a particularly coherent look, at odds with the unity of their music, which is expressed in the verve and imagination with which they play. Once more tonight it’s the drums that that drive this operation forward – Nick Wallace with Pete Ballett on bass are a potent combination.Mr Ginger are a more complex entity than the two previous bands, and definitely show the most variety in terms of style of song-writing. I am frustrated as to pin them down generically. Shall we say 'intelligent, layered, witty guitar rock', and then leave you to hunt them down in Myspace monde? Good. Because you should. And join the campaign to get them to play again before Trinity Ball.

All in all, Port Mahon offered an unexpectedly well balanced night of high quality, passionate and professional music. Such an eclectic mix shouldn’t have worked, but it really, truly did. Roll on Hilary Term.by Mathura Umachandran

A protester, living in a tree in Bonn Square which was due to be chopped down, was forced to leave yesterday and has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.

Gabriel Chamberlain set up his temporary “tree-house” in Bonn Square 11 days ago, but eventually left voluntarily at 11am after he ran out of food and water supplies. Last night he was in custody and it is understood that he has received some medical attention.

However, his supporters still made one last-ditch attempt to save the tree by charging security fencing around the tree at around 12.30pm as the chainsaws started up. Another activist, Brian Melling, managed to climb into a council truck; he was removed but not charged.

The tree was later felled, but protesters remained in the square throughout. The sycamore tree was one of four which have been cut down as part of a “face-lift” for Bonn Square. The plan is to improve CCTV surveillance and generally make the square more attractive.

Activists may not have succeeded in saving this particular tree, but many maintain that they would do the same thing again if other trees were threatened.By Sian Cox-Brooker