Sorry seems to be the hardest word. Just ask Ken Livingstone. Or most men, for that matter. It’s also extraordinarily effective, which really is the most powerful argument for getting one’s tongue around those two little syllables. Or rather, it is extraordinarily effective at temporarily halting the bitterest of rows, usually because the recipient of the apology is so shocked that it’s been offered, and aware of how churlish they’ll look if they carry on screeching after it. Of course, unless the utterer is an incredibly slick actor and welltrained at keeping a hyperactive conscience at bay, he has to mean it. And so the problems start. Sorry does actually involve accepting some measure of responsibility, and a commitment to making good the original cock-up. And rest assured, if you’ve just said it to shut her up and head right onto the make-up sex, it’s going to come back to bite you. Hard.
Blair’s learnt this lesson well in the last eight years. Bouncing eagerly from the Shadowlands, our bright young hero offered a swift apology to the Irish for the British failure to adequately respond to the Potato Famine here, and a quick hand for the Queen in drafting a letter of regret to the Pope over past religious difficulties there. The visibly older, and maybe wiser, Prime Minister has started to crack down on apology inflation, and got very sharp at wriggling out of the ones that might involve discomfort for him. He’s learnt well from Bush, who two years ago, and, desperately courting the black vote, managed to tell Africans that slavery was a Bad Thing without adding, you know, oops.
Last week, the Brazilian Premier raised the stakes, travelling to Senegal to say, “I had no responsibility for what happened in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries but I ask your forgiveness for what we did to black people.” It’s a classic “It wasn’t me” apology. But then, what exactly could he take responsibility for? Of course it wasn’t him, any more than it was Blair who told the Irish to be less picky eaters. Why should anyone take responsibility for the crimes of their ancestors, or their victims feel entitled to an apology?
Because we’ve inherited the world that their actions created. The historical legacy of slavery continues, in Africa and in the countries to which they were brought, where scores of communities are trapped in a three-hundred year old cycle of poverty and discrimination. The test isn’t “how long ago was it?”, it’s “are they still pissed off?” Odds are, if they’re asking for the apology, they remember their victimhood and consider it to be pretty relevant to their contemporary lives – especially when companies and whole countries, for that matter, are still directly profiting from their history.
Which is why “sorry” alone isn’t good enough – in fact, it’s positively dangerous to issue unless you intend to follow it through. Do it properly, and do it often by all means. Just be prepared to put your money where your mouth is. Sometimes it’ll take a bunch of flowers. Sometimes it’ll take $1 billion of reparations. You’re being hit where it hurts, that’s the point. So here’s the deal. Do it properly, do it often, and back it up. Just don’t do it in advance. She usually sees through that one.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

Oxford University scientists have used infra-red technology to open up a hoard of ancient papyri which could potentially reveal hundreds of lost Greek poems, tragedies and plays and bring about a ‘second Renaissance’.
The collection, known as the ‘Oxyrhynchus Collection’ is the largest collection of classical manuscripts in the world. It contains over 800 boxes with more than 400,000 papyrus fragments. It is now stored in Oxford’s own Sackler library where specialists are applying the new, cutting edge imagery technology to reveal lost works by classical authors including Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod and Lucian. The works of Sophocles, the giant of the golden age of Greek civilisation, are particularly sought after. The potential to decipher more of his works is eagerly anticipated by classicists around the world.
The Oxyrhynchus Collection was excavated in the late 19th Century by members of the Egypt Exploration Society. When they were uncovered in a rubbish tip in the city, the papyri were worthless to the naked eye. They were worm-eaten and corroded. The condition in which they were found meant that since the collection was transported to Britain more than a hundred years ago (often in biscuit tins) the process of decipherment has been painfully slow.
Professor Parsons of Christ Church, who has been wrestling with the Oxyrhynchus Collection for more than forty years explains, “for a long time we have been photographing the fragments by infra-red or ultra-violet light to bring up traces of ink.” Now scientists at Oxford, in collaboration with specialists from Bringham Young University in Utah, have begun applying multi-spectral imaging techniques developed from satellite technology to illegible sections of the papyri. “Multi-spectral imaging is going to produce the best results yet, since it combines digital imaging (so that the images can be enhanced by a computer) with the whole spectrum of light wave-lengths.”
As the director of the Oxyrhynchus project, Dr Dirk Obbink toldCherwell that the development is “a significant discovery in that it will broaden the already substantial base of lost Greek and Latin Literature and writing in general that we have represented in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection in the Sackler, and in papyrus collections around the world.”
When it has all been read (mainly in Greek, but also in Latin, Hebrew and other languages) up to five million new words will be added to the current body of classical works. Texts deciphered over the past week will be published next month by the Egypt Exploration Society, which owns the collection after financing its discovery over a century ago.
In the past, substantial difficulties have been encountered in reading and interpreting damaged papyrus on many important projects. The Philodemus project at Herculaneum yielded several hundred rolls of text charred by the volcanic flow of Vesuvius, compressed by the weight of rubble and mud and congealed by water. Now multi-spectral techniques also promise to help retrieve this extensive library of Epicurean philosophy from the first century B.C. Classicists even believe that they are likely to be able to find and decipher lost Christian gospels, which were written at approximately the same time as the New Testament.ARCHIVE: 0th week 2005

An Oxford Union tribunal carried out at the end of last term found President-Elect Chris Farmer not guilty on seven claims of electoral malpractice. The complaints were brought forward by Vlad Bermant, the opposing candidate for President in the Hilary Term 2005 elections.
The tribunal did not find any conclusive proof to uphold Bermant’s accusations that Farmer had made deliberately misleading statements in his presidential manifesto.
Its findings also dismissed Bermant’s allegations of innocent interference, brought againstCherwell and the Oxford Gossip website.
The tribunal also concluded that Union ex-Librarian Matthew Richardson was not guilty of deliberate publication of confidential correspondence between Bermant and potential guest speakers.
The members of the tribunal did find many aspects of the evidence put before them “disturbing”, drawing attention to the nature of current manifestos and of the Oxford Gossip website.
It stated, “We are concerned with what seems to be the current practice of stating in the manifesto famous people that it is intended will come to the society in the future” and went on to recommend changes in the Rules, calling the present system “so vague and ambiguous as to people’s actual real experience as to be worthless.”
With regard to the Oxford Gossip website, the tribunal concluded that “if there were a close election, there is a very real danger that behaviour on Oxford Gossip could interfere sufficiently in such an election to constitute innocent interference.” The report went on to recommend that the President and the Returning Officer should try to enter into discussions with the website.
The tribunal unanimously agreed that Bermant’s intentions were “not frivolous” and that none of the allegations were brought out of malice. Bermant himself did not agree to comment.
Current Union President Richard Tydeman said, “It is obviously extremely frustrating that the Union continues to be tarnished by these kinds of proceedings, and I will be taking the Tribunal’s recommendations into account when proposing some of my own amendments to the electoral rules later on this term.”ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

St John’s first year Engineer Azim Ansari continues to remain in the country, despite the expiration of his official deadline for voluntary return to Afghanistan. The Home Office gave the refugee and his brother Wali until 19 March 2005 to leave England or face deportation, following the failure of their own appeal against the government’s decision not to grant them leave to remain in the country.
The Ansaris have been prevented from being sent back by the intervention of local Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris. Harris has promised the brothers to put a motion through Parliament in support of their case. The Home Office is unlikely to deport the refugee while his MP’s appeals on his behalf are still being considered.
Emma Jones, a key figure in the ‘Keep Azim in Oxford’ Campaign, said, “Only the direct intervention of Des Browne or Charles Clarke will grant Azim and Wali a further period of exceptional leave to remain.”
Should Harris’ attempt to gather Parliamentary support fail, Azim’s only viable option would be to apply for a student or marriage visa either from New Delhi or Dubai. His marriage to Becky Didlick in November does not grant him the right to remain in the country. St John’s College has already offered to pay the £15,000 international student fees for which Azim would be liable.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

A second inquest has been opened into the death of Leo Blockley, a member of Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club who drowned in the Spanish River Ebro during a training session in 2000. The inquest was applied for by John Pollard, the same coroner who recorded a verdict of “accidental death” following the initial inquest.
The decision was announced by Lord Justice Maurice Key on 2 March this year.
Consent from all parties was gained after new ‘credible evidence’ concerning safety issues was discovered. Blockley was a graduate in Mathematics from Cambridge, and had been studying for a masters in Applied Statistics at Lincoln College, Oxford.
Blockley, 21 from Ashton-under- Lyne in Manchester, disappeared after his boat capsized during a training session on the River Ebro at Amposta near Barcelona on 29 December 2000. He had been rowing in a group of two coxed eights when both boats were flooded after being hit by sudden gusts of wind of 50mph. The 17 other squad members were rescued from the water.
Following Blockley’s death, his parents founded the Leo Blockley Memorial Campaign, which campaigns for safer rowing boats with the ability to withstand swamping or sinking. Stephen and Jane Blockley have paid particular attention to the buoyancy of boats used by rowers, putting pressure on rowing authorities to set higher standards.
Following the announcement of the second inquest Jane Blockley said to the Daily Telegraph, “We are relieved,” and Stephen Blockley added, “We want the truth to be told and we would like lessons to be learned.” In a joint statement the couple stated on the Memorial Campaign website, “This process has taken over a year to reach this far, and this has been a particularly difficult time for us. We do not relish the idea of going through another inquest, and no doubt neither does anyone else involved. However, as Leo’s family, we must bear witness for him, and ensure he receives the justice he is entitled to. We also firmly believe that the sport of rowing will benefit from the coroner’s examination of the many safety issues involved.”ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

On Monday afternoon a 22-year old woman was involved in an accident with a Stagecoach bus on High Street, bringing the City Centre to a standstill.
The accident occurred at 12.55pm involving a pedestrian and a bus operating on Route 1 between Blackbird Leys and the City Centre. The woman became trapped under the bus and was eventually freed by fire crews. She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital with pelvic injuries and her condition is thought to be stable and non-life threatening.
The bus company was not able to comment as the situation was being investigated by the police. Adam Rideout, a spokesperson for Stagecoach, did confirm that the company was conducting an internal investigation of the incident.
The route is popular with students. The bus services which run along the Cowley Road into the centre of Oxford are run by Stagecoach and the Oxford Bus Company.
Cowley Road has the highest reported accident rate of any street in Oxfordshire and a crash occurs statistically once every two weeks. More cyclists use the road than any other in the South East of England – more than 3,000 between 7am and 7pm every day.
Oxfordshire County Council have responded by implementing road safety improvements to the Cowley Road which begun on 4 April 2005 and are expected to continue until November.
The improvements, include a 20mph speed limit accompanied by signs which flash if drivers exceed this speed, three paved areas, sixteen road crossings, 40 new trees, one hundred new cycle parking spaces, 13 new benches and designated parking and loading bays. The changes are expected to cost in excess of £2m.
The scheme is the result of a large scale consultative exercise with the community and road users. The exercise was carried out by East Oxford Action and more than 2,000 people contributed ideas. The final scheme was displayed last June and the County Council claims that “the overwhelming majority of respondents supported it.” Celia Jones, from the Environment and Economy and Transport Planning Department said that the following the works, Cowley Road would be “smoother, safer and more attractive for many years.”
Sid Phelps, a Green Party Oxford Town Councillor, described the works as a “model road safety experiment” and attributed the impetus for the project and the drive for funding it to his fellow Green Councillor Craig Simmons.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

The Presidents of the Oxford University Jewish Society have condemned the National Union of Students (NUS) for its “failure to confront anti-Semitism”.
The Annual NUS Conference held on 5, 6 and 7 April 2005 ended in the resignation of three Jewish officers.
Luciana Berger, Mitch Simmons and Johnny Warren all handed in their resignation after considering the NUS’ failure to act quickly in censoring and banning the anti- Semitic literature that was being distributed at the conference by the General Union of Palestine Students.
The NUS has also been accused of ignoring a dossier prepared by the Union of Jewish Students on incidents of anti-Semitism at Sussex University and allowing a motion to strip Berger of her role as NUS Convenor of the Anti-Racism Campaign, while ignoring the statement made in an open forum at the SOAS Union, “I won’t say whether it’s a good or a bad thing to burn down a synagogue, but I can see it’s a rational act.”
Gabriel Doctor and Abigail Don sent an email to all members of the society urging students to mandate their JCR Presidents to write letters of condemnation to the NUS.
“If you’re concerned by all this, we encourage you to do something about it,” they wrote. “This is not just activism for the sake of it – many of your colleges will be directly affiliated to NUS, and so this affects you, directly.
“If your JCR is an NUS-affiliate, you can table a motion in the next meeting, mandating your President to write a letter of condemnation or censure; or if you think it’s worth it, propose a motion of disaffiliation.”
Doctor said, “I find it very worrying that an organisation supposed to represent all students, at its own conference pays scant regard to anti-Semitism. Freedom of speech is one thing, blatant and hurful lies another.”
John Blake, President of OUSU, said, “It is very sad and upsetting when anyone decides to resign on any grounds of discrimination.” Blake, who was at the NUS Conference, said that there was “a much larger delegation from the Islamic Society”.
“In the NUS passions run very highly. The nature of student politics lets people to speak more freely without fear of damaging their careers.”
Kat Fletcher, President of the NUS, maintains that the Union has the principles of equality, diversity and democracy at its core, and said that the ssues brought up at the conference would be looked into. Action on this issue will have to wait until next Sunday at the earliest.
Triona Gilbin, President of Balliol JCR, said, “We haven’t discussed this at at GM but if I was mandated I would act.”ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

Rumours regarding the future of the Radcliffe Camera have recently been circulated in the national press.
There were suggestions that the Lower Reading Room could be turned into a cafeteria, while the Upper Reading Room might be equipped with screens to stream videos of the “Oxford Experience” to tourists.
Ronald Milne, Acting Director of OULS, was not available for comment but in a letter to the Daily Telegraph he said, “No one should give any credence to the suggestions that the University would give up the Radcliffe Camera or change its use to embrace inappropriate multimedia presentations reminiscent of a theme park.”
In another letter to the Times Higher Education Supplement, Milne said the suggestions were “so far from describing the situation accurately that I can only hope it was intended as an April fool”.
Oxford University Library Services denied the rumours. “No decisions have yet been made concerning the future use of the Radcliffe Camera. There are no plans under consideration to turn it into a visitors’ centre.”
Linsey Cole, OUSU Vice President (Access and Academic Affairs) said, “The Radcliffe Camera rumours arose because of plans to move the books to a large warehouse at Osney Mead, where the books can be stored more efficiently.”
A University spokesperson suggested the rumour could have originated from “worried staff who were speculating over the impending library review.”ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

College JCRs are to sell their own crested sweatshirts, polo shirts, tshirts and jackets by the start of next academic year.
The move was proposed by Oxford Limited, a company owned by the University, who currently supply merchanise to the University Shop on the High Street. The University does not profit from these sales, as the majority of crests are not trademarked and can be used freely by independent companies.
Oxford Limited intends to offer colleges the opportunity to sell the items directly through the JCRs at competitive prices.
Mike Davies, Managing Director of Oxford Limited, proposed the move, and said he was concerned about the sweatshop manufacturing of some of the unofficial University and College products sold in Oxford.
The current plans are a result of talks between Oxford Limited and OUSU’s Ethics Committee. The production of the merchandise abides by a fair labour policy set by the International Federation of Alternative Trade.
Davies proposed the move to the Presidents’ Committee, the representative body of all JCR Presidents, on 25 February 2005.
The majority of JCR Presidents showed an interest in the scheme, which will allow JCRs to make profit from the merchandise for the first time.
Davies said, “We are all part of the same community. This is about keeping the money in the community, whether it be to help fund the academic departments or support the student body.”
OUSU helped to develope discussions between Davies and the Presidents’ Committee, and the terms of OUSU’s involvement in the venture are to be negotiated in a meeting of the committee this Friday.
Daniel Finley, Managing Director of Oxford Student Services Limited (OSSL), the business arm of OUSU, said, “We have been working with JCRs to introduce this range to the student population.
“We will be producing a catalogue, advertising the service inThe Oxford Student, in our Freshers’ Guide and our other publications, as well as developing a website and an online ordering service.
“We are committed to providing the best possible value for our students.”
Oxford Limited’s supplier, Brandco, has promised to give 10% royalties to Oxford Limited for the right to call themselves the University’s official supplier. Davies says that this sum is to go to the University chest, and will help cover Oxford Limited’s costs.
Alan Strickland, JCR President of Merton College, said of the plans, “I think any scheme that raises money for the JCR and brings down prices for students is a good thing, especially when the money made can be spent on Entz or Welfare.”
The University is currently branching out into retail. All items bearing the University of Oxford’s official trademarked logo, the belted arms, are made under licence.
Oxford Limited has also licensed designs taken from the Libraries, Museums, and Archives of the University, which have been used to sell products ranging from toys to garden tools.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

Professor Oliver Lyne, a tutor in Classics and fellow of Balliol, has died aged 60. His erudite but engaging books on Latin poetry reflected his scholarly prowess, while his jovial personality and approachability won him the affection of students as well as colleagues.
Continuing the tradition of Benjamin Jowett, the nineteenth century Master of Balliol, Professor Lyne placed great emphasis on tutorials and it was in these, as well as in informal settings such as dinner at his house, that his students gained affection and respect for him. Current Balliol Classics student Kate Tolley described him as “a considerate man, with the best interests of his students at heart, [who] was willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure they were happy academically.”
His reputation spread beyond his tutorial rooms, however. In a student poll taken to determine the best tutor in College, Lyne came top by a large majority. His unostentatious manner and his sense of humour endeared to him to those with whom he came in contact, and as a lecturer he was lively and interesting.
He saw many of his students enter careers in Classics. Dr Matthew Leigh, a former pupil of Professor Lyne and now a fellow of St Anne’s College, called him “the most wonderful tutor and truly adored by his pupils.”
Professor Jasper Griffin, his colleague in Balliol Classics over many years, said, “He was a very keen teacher, both as a popular lecturer and as a highly successful tutor.”
His work was particularly notable for the uncovering of subversive messages in Latin literature and the greater heart of darkness in the Roman world that these reflected. In Further Voices in Vergil’s Aeneid (1987), he found in the most pro-Roman of poems subtle but defiantly rebellious themes, which no scholar to date had unearthed. He made Classicists think again about the orthodoxy in Vergilian studies, opening up new lines of thought. His work was adventurous in subject, consonant with his open mind, but never less than authoritative, founded on close readings and rigorous investigation.
This did not mean at all that he lacked the gentle touch needed for appreciation of the lighter elements of Latin poetry or the humanity to understand the emotional overtones of his subject. On the contrary: his work on Latin erotic poetry, emerging as The Latin Love Poets (1980), was as influential as his work on Vergil, but it never lost sight of the romance, passion and laughter so important to it.
Professor Lyne attended Highgate School, then became a scholar of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Before his appointment at Balliol in 1971, he was a research fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and a Fellow of Churchill College. He became a Professor of Classical Languages and Literature after three decades in Oxford, in 2001.
Under Professor Lyne, Professor Jasper Griffin and Dr. Oswyn Murray, Balliol became, in the words of The Daily Telegraph, “the most famous and successful classical school in the English-speaking world.” With the death of Professor Lyne and the recent retirements of Professor Griffin and Dr Murray, a great era not only in Balliol Classics but in Classics for the University has ended.
Oliver Lyne suffered a cerebral haemorrhage at his holiday home in the Marche, Italy, where he spent much of his free time, practising his Italian. He is survived by his wife Linda, their son and daughter.
Balliol will be remembering Oliver Lyne on Saturday 21 May in Hall at 2.15pm. All are welcome.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005