There was one grave and two candidates. It was either Bhutto or Gen Zia and since Gen Zia had the whip hand he got rid of Bhutto before Bhutto could get him.’ (Tariq Ali).The recent events of Benazir’s assassination in December 2007 have interwoven the current political situation in Pakistan with the historical event of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s execution; a contemporary drama replete with its sense of betrayal, broken promises, and the spectre of the US hanging over the country’s political fortunes.
For most Pakistanis the political dilemma of Bhutto’s execution remains a tragic episode in Pakistan’s history. But why does this story still haunt and capture the imaginations of the Pakistani people? Bhutto possessed a wealth of power and, more importantly, streams of support from the masses. At his political heights in 1971-72 he had the establishment in the palm of his hand. He could have reduced the army, carried out land-reform, educational reform – whatever he wanted. But despite his many successes while in office, from founding Pakistan’s Nuclear Programme to initiating the Islamic Summit of Muslim Nations, Bhutto did not fulfil all his promises. Yet the human connection that Bhutto enjoyed with the electorate ensured his place as a touchstone of Pakistani politics.
In September 1985 the BBC commissioned the writer Tariq Ali to make a three-part TV series on the circumstances leading to the overthrow, trial and execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, President (1971-73) and Prime Minister (1973-77) of Pakistan, betrayed by his closest confidante the Army Chief General Zia ul Haq, who then imprisoned and executed Bhutto in 1979, installing himself as the President with the blessings of the USA. By January 1986 the script was completed, and discussions for casting the principals were underway. It was agreed that Zia Mohyedin would play the General and that the Indian actor Naseerudin Shah would be approached to play Bhutto.
Other approaches to stars were still being discussed when all proceedings were halted. Just as rehearsals were about to begin, the BBC hierarchy – under pressure from the Foreign Office – decided to cancel the project. Why? Firstly, because this play was written at a politically sensitive time when General Zia ul Haq, the President of Pakistan at the time, was being pressured by the USA to arm and train mujahideens leading the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
According to expert legal opinion, there was a possibility of a whole range of defamation suits from Pakistan’s Head of State to judges involved in the case, who were all alive at the time. Secondly, due to the controversial nature of the screenplay, which implicated the CIA in the plot to overthrow Bhutto, the BBC came under legal pressure to censor the play. When asked by a BBC official whether he would eliminate all mention of the USA from the scripts, Ali was adamant that he would not alter the scripts, and rejected any form of censorship.
Now, after more than two decades, Ali has published the play in book form, entitled The Leopard and the Fox: A Pakistani Tragedy. It presents both the script, and the story of censorship. The book reveals how Gen Zia, with the support of the USA, played a dangerous game with the destiny of Pakistan. In snap shots we learn not only of his plans to betray Bhutto but also of the realisation of his brand of Islamisation, which turned out to be a nightmare for the majority – hanging, lynching and stoning – designed to create fear, and deter them from expressing their support for Bhutto at the time of his execution.
When asked by a TV reporter, ‘who is the Leopard and who is the Fox?’ Ali replied tactfully, ‘Without any doubt, the leopard is Bhutto who was brave, bold and courageous. As for the fox, one of his characteristics is that he is smart and cunning, which Zia turned out to be.’
by Sundas Ali

An historic medieval city, its crumbling foundations  shored up by endless restoration work and a tourist industry oblivious to its real concerns and studious preoccupations. A thousand ivory towers with their windows facing inwards. Institutions awash with subsidies and streets simply awash; sunk in its own past and reruns of Brideshead. Yet Venice is still the most compelling city in Europe.Is Oxford really going the same way? Specifically, are future LMH students really going to hail a gondola after one too many at the Bridge? Will the Joe Wellingtons of a later age have no choice but to make their way homewards by water and weir? The proposed new Bodleian building has already been cursed by modern Millenarians prophesying floods; the city’s suburbs grow damper every year; Christ Church students seem unable to step outside without toppling into the lapping waters. The Oxford Mail and the police, organisations never prone to exaggeration or the melodramatic, are already allegedly consulting leading architects about building a new Ark.These days, even the most stalwart of Republican candidates accepts that water levels are on the rise. Oxford is, after all, built on a floodplain. Oxford Waterworld may become a reality one day – but why worry? Think of the potential benefits: plenty of room for the threatened bargemen of Jericho; Oxford as the world’s leading marine research institute; enough depth for Magdalen’s sozzled toffs to jump off their bridge without breaking their legs. Scratch that last one. A valid point remains: the city will survive, it will adapt, and it’ll undoubtedly come up with a new set of winsome nautical ‘traditions’ to draw in a whole new raft of tourists. by Laura Pitel and Tom Seymour, Cherwell editors

Police rescued three LMH students from the river near Park End Street last Thursday night, after they had apparently decided to go skinny dipping in the river.The police arrived at Castle Mill Stream, by the Worcester Street car park, soon after midnight on Thursday night to find Tom Wherry, Joe Wellington, and Ryan McCrickerd struggling with the strong currents. They immediately threw emergency life rings to the students.While Wherry and McCrickerd grabbed hold of the life rings and were pulled to safety, Wellington initially refused to be rescued and started swimming away. He was swept about 300m along the river under two bridges and into a weir, where he was pulled out by the police. Having been brought to safety, the three were promptly arrested and each given an £80 fixed penalty notice.They were transported by the police back to LMH, despite the fact that Wherry does not live in college. There they faced a 3am tribunal of the Principal, Dean and Treasurer, who had been alerted to the incident by the police.PC Paul Phillips, of Oxford police station, said: “They were naked and must have thought it would be funny go swimming, but hadn’t realised the dangers and the strength of the water.“[Joe Wellington] luckily managed to come through the weir with only minor injuries but there was a strong chance that he could have been killed. Fast flowing water can be powerful enough to knock you over and just two feet of water can float a car”. He added that the men had been arrested and all three had received fixed penalty notices. “This was a small price to pay when their actions could have cost them their lives.”
“Once the students were in the patrol car, they sobered up pretty quickly and became quite apologetic,” he added.
Professor Christopher Shields, Dean of LMH, has been given the task of disciplining the students. He told The Oxford Mail, “The students are duly contrite and reflecting upon their actions and I want them to do something appropriate to address their indiscretion.” He said that the College treated the matter with the utmost seriousness and he would be encouraging them to carry out some form of community service. He added, “I have no doubt they will comply.“I think it would be appropriate if they helped the Council with preparing flood defences and I am discussing the matter with the authorities at the moment.”A spokesman from Oxford University said, “We need to ensure that the message about the dangers of jumping into rivers or streams is taken seriously by all the students. However, students at Oxford University have a responsibility to behave in an appropriate manner so as not to endanger themselves or others.”It appears that the students’ evening began at the Bridge, on Hythe Bridge Street. One friend, who was with them during the earlier part of the evening, said: “Tom was ejected from the Bridge for being too drunk and throwing up. As far as I know Joe was in the queue and didn’t get in, and I don’t know where Ryan came from, although I would assume from the Bridge.“They decided to go skinny dipping in the river, and left their clothes by the side. Apparently their clothes were taken – possibly by girls.“They have had a very stern talk from the Principal,” he added.Another friend said, “I think their actions were just a result of drunken btehaviour – they are fun guys who enjoy a laugh and maybe it just went too far this time.”The Oxford Mail, however, disagreed, branding them “idiots” on its front page. The message boards on oxfordmail.net were inundated with messages attacking the students for their thoughtless behaviour.One reader wrote, “They should have let them drown.” Others see the LMH students as typical of the “unbearable toffs” who go to Oxford University. Another person mocked the stereotype of an Oxford student, saying, “Jumping into rivers is the modus operandi of Oxford Uni students (see May Day for reference). They may be generally worthless to society, but the University welcomes their fees all the same.”
by Jack Farchy

Three Oxford students were victims of what is thought to have been a homophobic attack outside Coven II last Friday. The incident is the second triple attack in the past two terms, with gay clubbers fearing that the nightclub is unable to cope with homophoic violence in the area. The students, all in their second year, were returning home from the night club via a nearby car park when they were set upon by three men. One student from Brasenose, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “We left the club around quarter to three. The route we take passes a car park, which we cut through to get to Norfolk Street. We didn’t notice these guys until they were right up next to us. There was no provocation, they didn’t even say anything. I got grabbed by the shoulder and they hit me square in the face.”“They didn’t even say anything. I pushed one of them away and called the police. They didn’t make any effort to get out quickly, or flee the scene.” A second student, from Wadham, was hit in the back of the head and a third from Keble was kicked in the stomach.  All sustained injuries as a result of the attack. One student said, “I spoke to the police on the phone and told them that this area is renown for homophobic attacks, and that we could see the men heading off in the direction of the club. I’m aware that violence of this sort is happens in all cities but what disturbs me is that I can be attacked for something that is inherent and unchangeable about me.” Last term, three male St Peter’s students were beaten up near the club, which is located on Oxpens Road near the Oxford Ice Rink.The three students reported the attack to Thames Valley Police the following day, who will use CCTV footage to try and identify the perpetrators. A spokesperson said that the attack was being investigated as an act of violence rather than specifically homophobic, due to the lack of verbal exchange.  
However, the Brasenose student said, “I fundamentally believe that it was a homophobic attack.”
He added, “I’d like to see clubs taking more responsibility for their punters when they’re leaving. Given that Coven II’s clientele is majority queer on a Friday night, keeping an eye out would be no bad thing.”“It’s essentially a problem of education. You can put a massive police presence in the area but eventually the problem will just move elsewhere.”

OUSU’s referendum on its controversial ‘No Platform’ policy could be scrapped after Council postponed a vote on the issue last week.

The debate surrounding OUSU’s No Platform stance – which actively opposes allowing fascist or racist speakers to air their views – came to head after the high-profile ‘Free Speech Forum’ at the Union last term, and has divided JCR opinion across the University.Some common rooms have already voted to back a new, amended version of the policy, while others have rejected it outright, demanding a University-wide referendum.Under the newly-drafted policy, only individuals who use OUSU platforms to actually advocate violence are prevented from using them, whereas the old policy barred anyone who had previously advocated violence against a minority group.In addition, the new draft specifies that OUSU mediums covered in “independent agreements” – including The Oxford Student and Oxide Radio – would be independent of the policy.The policy would no longer be called ‘No Platform’, in order to emphasise its distinction from the NUS No Platform policy. This would leave NUS delegates to OUSU Council free to vote as they choose for the Oxford policy without being restricted by their NUS position.“It is better to leave the new policy unnamed, because of the negative connotations associated with No Platform,” said OUSU President Martin McCluskey.McCluskey called the referendum at the end of last term in response to the demands of JCRs.The new version of the policy , which was adapted by James Lamming, VP for Access and Academic Affairs, has been drafted in order to avoid the cost of holding University-wide vote on the current policy. “This was going to dominate the entire term and cost a lot of money,” McCluskey said.It has also been suggested that the poll, which had been scheduled for fourth week, was postponed because most students did not know enough about the details of the policy to make a well-informed decision.OUSU Council will vote next Friday to decide whether to go ahead with the poll, or to adopt the altered policy.
So far, Merton, Queen’s, St Peter’s and St Catherine’s have voted to accept the new draft, while Keble and Lincoln have voted in favour of a referendum. Other common rooms are due to vote on the issue this week.Keble JCR President John Maher said that while the new draft was better, it failed to resolve the fundamental problem. He said, “The compromise addresses specific issues in the old No Platform policy, but not the underlying issue of free speech. No Platform policies send out the message: ‘Free speech? No thanks.’ If people can’t speak freely at Oxford, then where can they?”Lamming disagreed with Maher’s comments. He said, “I completely agree with freedom of speech. But if we have a member who exploits our resources and breaks the law, we could be taken to the cleaners. It is difficult to believe there is anyone who would support the idea that OUSU should help people break the law.”Jonny Medland, JCR President at Queen’s, originally argued in favour of a referendum, but now supports the amended policy. He said, “We’ve been debating for over a year without understanding the issues. There is no longer any real interest in the debate: people just want the issue to go away.”St Peter’s JCR President, Joel Mullan, also expressed frustration with the process. He said, “I personally support the No Platform policy – I do not believe that our Student Union’s resources should be used to assist those who want to incite violence. However, OUSU has got to resolve this issue once and for all, so that it can stop wasting time debating No Platform and get on with the essential work it needs to be doing on things like rent, academic affairs, and welfare.”However, some believe that the newly drafted policy is too lenient. Dani Quinn, JCR President of Merton, said, “When freedom of speech is being exercised to the degree of inviting or promoting people who hold views that most Britons find abhorrent, I think that ignores other responsibilities and starts to inhibit other sorts of freedoms and hinders progress.”by Jack Farchy

Renate Künast, co-leader of the Greens in Germany, was making a parliamentary speech and quoted a piece the political columnist Hugo Müller-Vogg had written in Newsweek in October. The article, like her speech, was attacking the centre-right Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Künast meant to say

Hugo Müller-Vogg, political columnist for the Bild newspaper, is right.

but it came out as

Hugo Müller-Vogg, political communist for the Bild newspaper, is right.

Much laughter ensued, as well as much embarrassment.

Hat tip: Limbourgs Welt (view the clip there at 4 mins)

Cherwell 24 is not responsible for the content of external links

For a modernised setting of a Renaissance play to work, the adaptation must do more than simply court the ‘r’-word – ‘relevance’ for a modern audience. Tom Richards’ version of Christopher Marlowe’s classic has its starting point in May 1968, an East End world of hard-accented mobsters, neon nightclubs, protection rackets and leather-clad gang violence. The arrest of the Kray twins leads to a power vacuum like that after the death of Edward I (“Longshanks”, “Hammer of the Scots”): the barons struggle for power with the foppish but legitimate new king (Ben Galpin), who makes favourite the outsider, homosexual Piers Gaveston (Krishna Omkar). The cruel gangland world of guns, baseball bats and executions behind closed doors, harmonises exactly with the brutal politics of Marlowe’s play.The play then centres around these two major characters. Omkar gives a superb performance as a loving, ambitious Gaveston, and Galpin’s Edward in the first half combines camp and splenetic in perfect balance, while in the second he is brilliant in tragedy: ‘Yet, shall the crowning of these cockerels/ Affright a lion? Edward, unfold thy paws,/ And let their lives’-blood slake thy fury’s hunger’. His anger does not end with Gaveston’s exile and death, but rages on at the rebels from his father’s power. Liam Welton gives a strong performance as Kent, vacillating between rebellion and support for his brother the king. James Utechin (you might have seen him as Young Remus Lupin in the last Harry Potter film) is a wonderful Young Edward – soon to become Edward III – a teenager reluctantly drawn into the warring factions of his family. Richards himself takes the part of Mortimer the Younger, Edward’s anti-self, pursuing him to death first for a vision of an England free from nepotism and tyranny, but increasingly for the sake of his own power. This is a well-packaged, well-presented play, with a stylish aesthetic, a great East End street set designed by Alice Saville, good music (though really rather loud gunshots), and some excellent acting. The time-period is such an apt choice that one almost wants more than Richards gives us. The cutting of the script is sensitive, but perhaps what is needed are some more scenes of action outside the script, a sense of court-life (or the life of the gang’s HQ), and a sense of the violence threatening on every border. These might give a clearer picture of the power-relations and hierarchies which are so important both to Edward II’s and to the Kray twins’ courts, and which shape the whirlwind of political events – rebellion, assassination, and execution. Nevertheless this is a finely conceived and cast play, well worth a trip to “Eddies”.
by James Potts

Belcea Quartet
EMI Classics
4/5‘A keystone of the chamber repertoire’, says the Observer’s Anthony Holden of Bartok’s six string quartets, which are less than one-hundred years old.  This recording is the tenth CD by the World-renowned Belcea quartet, which formed at the Royal College of Music in 1994, and is now the quartet in residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.The quartets vary hugely, from the romantic first quartet, which displays Bartok’s love for Stefi Geyer, one of the students at the Budapest Academy of Music, to the final quartet written in 1938, which was the last he wrote in Hungary since he travelled to the USA to escape World War II.  The agitation and sadness juxtaposed in this quartet were due not only to the worsening situation in Europe in the lead up to the war, but also to the illness of Bartok’s mother, which led to her death in the year following the quartet’s composition.The unconventional rhythms and bizarre playing techniques (such as col legno: playing with the wood of the bow) written by Bartok add to the mystery of his music, and are carried off fantastically by the Belcea quartet.  This CD is full of fascinating music, influenced not only by composers contemporaneous with Bartok, such as Alban Berg, whose piano music Bartok performed, but also by traditional Romanian folk music, which is evident from, among other things, the uneven ‘aksak’ rhythm used.The Belceas have performed all of Bartok’s quartets at the Wigmore hall, where they were quartet in residence until 2006, and their vivacity is well suited to Bartok’s compositions.   An accomplished performance throughout makes the CD well worth buying, although three hours of Bartok (over two CDs) in one go can be very draining for the listener!

Name: Anthony Bradley

Club: Oxford University Rugby League Football Club

College:University

Year: 2nd Year Chemist

Position: Prop

Q: What's the highlight of your Blues career thus far?
A: The tour this January to Europe, which included training with the Catalan Dragons – a Super League
side.

Q:Which sportsman do you model yourself on?
A:Bradford Bulls forward Sam Burgess.  He has only just turned nineteen so we can really identify with  him. And his work rate and attitude are phenomenal.

Q:Do you see yourself playing after University?
A: Possibly, but I don't imagine I'll play beyond the level I do at the moment.

Q:Who's got the best banter on your team?
A: Batman.  A very entertaining character with some interesting nocturnal habits!

Q:Does your status as a Blues player lead to your being approached by
star-struck  fans on the street?
A:Yes, frequently.

Q:How are you feeling about Varsity?
A:Very excited indeed.  We were delighted to win last year, and Cambridge will be out for revenge.  It's  on Thursday of 8th week at Twickenham Stoop.  Tickets go on sale soon.

James Gilchrist, tenor
Anna Tilbrook, pianoAs a singer myself, songs in a foreign language always present challenges. Not only are there tricky pronunciations to distract me, but also there are the complexities of communicating the song's meaning.  The composers featured in the first half of this concert, held at the Holywell Music Room on 21st January, must have experienced similar challenges.James Gilchrist opened the programme with two settings of Shakespeare in German, which could not have failed to be interesting for a native English speaker.  Schubert is the comfort food of the lieder audience, allowing us to ease away from the wet January night outside into a world where, in the words of the second song, Ständchen: "Der Ringelblume Knospe schleußt / Die goldnen Äuglein auf" ("The marigold's bud opens its golden eyes").  Here Gilchrist first allowed the full power of his voice to fill the Holywell's delicate acoustic, exhorting "Da süße Maid, steh auf!" ("Sweet maid Arise!").After these musical hors d'oeuvres, Gilchrist introduced a much meatier course: excerpts from the Italienisches Liederbuch, set by Hugo Wolf (1860-1903), which as Italian folk-poems, set in German by a German composer, continued the concert's theme ideally.  According to Gilchrist "they explore the Italian quality of wearing one's heart on one's sleeve"— which was exactly where Gilchrist proceeded to wear it!  A particularly operatic performance was given in "Hoffärtig seid Ihr, schönes Kind" ("You are haughty, beautiful child"), which reached the impassioned climax “Willst du nicht Liebe, nimm Verachtung hin” ("If you don't want love, take scorn").  Not all the songs relied on powerful actions in the singer's body for effect: in "Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen" ("And if you would see your lover die"), Gilchrist slowly, and movingly, spread out his arms from his chest, and remained almost motionless for the final excerpt, "Sterb ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder"
("When I die, cover my limbs in flowers").The anonymous medieval Irish monks who scrawled in the margins of manuscripts could never have imagined that their fragments would be collected, almost a millennium later, by Samuel Barber (1910-1981) into the eclectic Hermit Songs.  For Gilchrist, the monks' uncanny insights are both "deeply heartfelt moments of reflection, but also of a remarkably profane nature."  This comic side was particularly apparent in "Promiscuity", which features speculation on a fellow monk's bedfellow that night, and in "The heavenly banquet", containing the unforgettable line: "I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings."  More sublime was "St Ita's vision", a soaring lullaby, and "The monk and his cat", which would resonate with any work-weary student who takes solace in the companionship of a pet!  At various points in the programme Gilchrist tried, with varying success, to create a whispering tone in the intimate acoustic of the Holywell, but pulled this off most convincingly in the sustained last note of "At St Patrick's Purgatory".After these exotic, culture-crossing songs, Gilchrist indulged the audience in the second-half with some thoroughly English material: Britten's Winter Words, settings of poems by Thomas Hardy.  Here we saw Gilchrist the storyteller, subtly modulating his voice to take on roles of narrator, vicar, young boy and even the creak of a little old table in the imaginatively titled "The Little Old Table".  From the entire programme, the Britten gave most opportunity for the piano, from the train horn and click of wheel on rail, in "Midnight on the Great Western", to the strains of a fiddle in "The Convict and the Boy with the Violin". Gilchrist and Tilbrook made an impressive pairing, managing entries and co-ordination flawlessly without need for eye-contact.Last year saw many composers’ anniversaries, and Gilchrist was quick to point out in his introduction that 2008 is the 50th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan-Williams' death.  The programme concluded with six songs from this quintessentially English composer and collector of folk-songs, including the old favourite "Linden Lea", as well as the lesser known "Winter's Willow".  The final song of the concert was "The sky above the roof", a translation from French of a Verlaine poem.At the risk of overusing culinary metaphors, the encore, Quilter's "Go, lovely rose" reminded me of Worcester College's lemon tarts: a little too sweet and intense.  But I would not hesitate to recommend Gilchrist and Tilbrook for a Michelin star!by Matthew Silverman