Mothers all over the country are going online to keep their children well-fed at university. Oxford students, however, seem more capable of buying their own groceries. Food deliveries to college campuses have quadrupled in the past six months, according to Tesco, and orders from distrustful parents determined on a healthy diet for their offspring are largely responsible. Popular products include pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables, a far cry from the usual student diet of beer and ready meals. London students receive the most internet orders followed by those at Cambridge, whilst Oxford is low on the list. This might suggest that Oxford students are more competent shoppers, more independent of their parents, or just less-loved than their fellows around the country. Students were divided on the findings. Rebecca White studying at University College said “That’s such a great idea. I’m going to have to ring up Mum immediately. It’s such a pain having to do it for myself.” Whilst David Griffiths of Brasenose said “Well, we always knew that Cambridge was full of mummy’s boys.” A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said that “Parents send their children to school with lunch boxes and this is just a continuation of that.” Supermarket deliveries to students are now worth £136million. Oxford students’ mums however, just don’t seem to buy it.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003

Gay men could be the product of a failed abortion according to an Oxford professor. Bryan Sykes, Professor of Genetics, suggests that homosexuality may be the result of a maternal instinct to kill male foetuses in the womb. Sykes finds the current ‘gay gene’ theory – that homosexuality is carried on the Y chromosome – problematic: if men pass on the gay gene, why isn’t it dying out? The Professor proposes that the genetic predisposition to homosexuality is linked to mDNA, which is found only in the female egg. Sykes, whose new book “Adam’s Curse: A Future without Men” also predicts the imminent extinction of the male sex, thinks that mDNA actively tries to destroy male foetuses or to make them gay, so eliminating the Y chromosome and guaranteeing the perpetuation of X chromosomes alone.ARCHIVE: 1st Weeks MT2003 

Dame Ruth Deech, Principal of St Anne’s College, announced her retirement in an open letter to staff and students at the College last Sunday. Dame Ruth has never shirked controversy, and she has been described as “never afraid to challenge or to act” by a member of St Anne’s JCR. She has attracted media attention for her active role in the Jewish community and as a prominent supporter of the state of Israel and critic of British media coverage of the country. She remarked, “one cannot separate anti-Israel from anti-Semitism” Dame Ruth has revealed the three aims she set for herself when she was elected as Principal of St Anne’s in 1991. Her first aim was to lift St Anne’s academically, something she certainly achieved, with the College ranked eighth in this years Norrington Table. Secondly, she hoped to ‘beautify’ the College, something that the ongoing building works should in time accomplish. The third task she set was to improve the College finances; something, which she admits, has been “very difficult”. When asked about higher education funding, Dame Ruth said that she wished students didn’t have to pay towards their tuition but that the “need for funds is desperate”. The proposed figure of £5000 is deemed “too low” by Deech and believes the very term ‘top-up’ fees is something of a misnomer, as students’ education is already heavily subsidised by conference guests and corporate donors. Dame Ruth writes on family law and continues as a BBC Governor.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003

An Oxford professor has suggested that Africa’s lion population is in danger of collapse, after a four-year study in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Research lead by Professor MacDonald, of the University’s Zoology Department, found that the estimated lion population in Africa has been reduced to a tenth of its size in the early 1980s. This is largely as a result of greater competition with farmers, who regard lions as pests and unsustainable levels of trophy hunting. Whilst ecotourism is encouraging the conservation of Africa’s wildlife in some small areas, Professor MacDonald said that “it’s unrealistic to expect it to do everything”. Viable lion populations now remain only in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Kenya, though as MacDonald stresses “20,000 lions might sound a lot, but we’re talking about an entire continent. “They need sufficient numbers of prey species to survive, but lions are being trapped, poisoned or shot rather than dying from starvation.” MacDonald is also worried that the numbers of less noticeable animals may be falling too, but that the matter attracts less public interest.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003

A former Oxford Classics student has been awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work outside of the UK, contributing to Oxford-based calls to promote research within the UK. Professor Anthony Leggett shares the £800,000 prize, awarded for his work on quantum physics, with two Russian scientists. In gaining the honour he becomes the 25th Oxford-educated Nobel Prize winner. Prof Leggett’s work, on the interaction of atoms, bears little relation to his three degrees in Classics and Philosophy – a fact which he attributes to the need to “do something to earn my living for the rest of my life”. However, Colin Blakemore, eminent Oxford Physiology professor and new head of the Medical Research Council, has criticised the poor funding of British university research departments as the major cause of the UK’s lack of competitiveness in the Nobel Prize race. Professor Blakemore, cited the fact that the UK has halved its contributions per student to university tuition since the 1980s. This, he suggests, is the reason why the UK, which used to receive a fifth of the scientific Nobel Prizes, now takes barely one tenth. Colin Blakemore told Cherwell, “we have to bite the bullet and admit that British universities need more funding”.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

Oxford buskers will be forced to face the music if a council code of conduct restricting their performance is ratified this week. A 13-point code of conduct governing all buskers working in Oxford is expected to come into force next month. The code was born out of wide-ranging consultations with both residents and businesses, and aims to ensure that musicians perform only in areas where they are least likely to cause disruption. Other measures include plans to limit the amount of time a musician may play for, as well as the issue of special ‘Busker’s permits’ which will only be given to those who agree to comply with the code of conduct. This is in response to what the council sees as the growing problem of buskers performing in areas where they are causing annoyance, such as in front of offices and in academic buildings. Classicist Laura Green welcomes the move if it prevents busking from disturbing library study, which she claims is “really inconsiderate.” The response amongst the busking community has been decidedly lukewarm. Phil Freizinger, a popular street musician, welcomes what he sees as an “official recognition of the value of street music” but wonders why the council needed to create the new regulations.ARCHIVE:  1st Week MT2003

From the sound of coughing in the lecture hall to a week of drowsy mornings accompanied with a box of tissues, few of you can failed to have noticed the invasion of the lergi that seems to have taken hold of the University. Now, we know that when it comes to it, only a minority of us can claim to have been undeserved victims of “Freshers’ Flu”. Speaking in a croaky voice one student, Carmen Dudley admitted, “we’ve all be drinking too much, staying up too late and eating rubbish. Also it’s too hot and I’m bloody annoyed.” It seems that for all the partying and not enough attention to work the academic forces of Oxford have taken their revenge. However, in recent years first week bugs have signalled a more ominous development in the incidence of meningitis. With particular prevalence being found amongst first years living in halls of residence the government has launched a mass immunisation scheme directed towards students, the advice being to get vaccinated before starting the term.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

by Jonathan Bailey A petition has been started to save Oxford’s last remaining women-only college. Worried by debate on the governing body of St Hilda’s about whether to allow men to enter the college, the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) has rallied to the defence of single-sex education. Those organising the petition claim that single-sex colleges provide the sort of atmosphere in which some women thrive. Rosalind Dampier, Women’s officer at the OUSU, suggests that “many women prefer working in a single-sex environment, which is often more supportive and less dominated by old-fashioned patriarchal ideas about women’s abilities.” She also points out that for cultural or religious reasons some women “would not even be able to take up their place at Oxford if St. Hilda’s didn’t exist.” It is this equality of opportunity which the proponents of women-only colleges claim, is so essential in a world where “there is still much to be done before we can claim full equality of the sexes especially given that in Oxford women make up less than 50% of undergraduates and 30% of graduate students and 20% of tutors”. Some members of St Hilda’s are unconvinced by the OUSU’s claims; Rachel Todd, a fresher, said “all you have to do is look at the branding of us as ‘Hildabeasts’ to realise that the all-female environment doesn’t create real equality”. Others students point out that once they leave Oxford they will not have the option of applying to a women-only workplace and that by creating one at university, St Hilda’s is not helping them in the long term. With a thousand signatures in less than a week of campaigning, the OUSU clearly have some support. They have even taken the unprecedented step of allying themselves with the Cambridge University Student Union, who are trying to keep men out of their women-only colleges.ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003 

by Joanna Lee Morrison New research has revealed that over 50% of first year university students have no clear plans for future employment. The survey, published on UnisUnited.com also revealed that graduates are becoming more and more likely to find themselves in low-paid or casual employment. The University Careers Service advises that whilst ’it’s perfectly normal’ to not have a career plan, it’s also important to find out why. They suggest a 10 minute chat with one of their Duty Careers Advisers. However, Natalie Gilliam, a first year Law student at Christ Church, has other priorities ’at the moment just getting my essays done on time and going out drinking is more important than thinking about a career. ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003

by Timothy RileyUnion members were thrilled last Thursday at the chance to see one of Hollywood’s “living legends,” when Clint Eastwood appeared in front of a full house at the Oxford Union. Ticket-holders were also provided with a free viewing of Eastwood’s latest directing endeavour: ‘Mystic River.’ Marcus Walker, President of the Union, described the event as a “great success,” telling Cherwell he thought it was the biggest name the Union had attracted since Michael Jackson. He described Eastwood as one of the few speakers who was “genuinely nice”, adding how useful it was to have film critic Barry Norman, a ‘real expert’, directing the questions. The event caught the attention of the national media, with ticket-holders being interviewed by the BBC. Walker was delighted by the interest (despite an “awful” photograph of him in The Oxford Mail), not only as it is an excellent boost to this years’ membership drive, but also because it will potentially attract more big-name speakers to appear at the Union. The reaction in the chamber was overwhelmingly positive, with rapturous applause when Clint uttered the immortal line ‘Are you feeling lucky?’ along with hoots of laughter as he assured one student that he could ‘take care of the press gallery’ if presented with a .44 Magnum. ”I was so excited to see my childhood hero in the flesh” said one satisfied second year “although I hadn’t expected him to look so old!”ARCHIVE: 1st Week MT2003