Magdalen
Bridge faces closure on May Day next
year after mounting pressure by Thames
Valley police to prevent
a repeat occurrence of this year’s celebra­tions, when forty people were
injured. Some
eight thousand people gathered on Magdalen
Bridge on May eve and
more than a hundred people jumped 25ft from the bridge into the river, which
was less than 3ft deep in some places. Talks have been taking place between the
police, the university and other local authorities to help avoid a repeat of
these injuries. A
motion brought before the county council in June was defeated by 41 votes to
22, however documents released to The times this week have shown that a series
of debates are ongoing between local authorities, with the police sup­porting
closure. The chief constable of police, peter Neyroud, said he “would rather
answer angry letters about clo­sure than face a court proceeding after the
incident.” Superintendent
Jim Trotman, area Commander for Oxford,
told Cherwell "We want everyone to have a safe event but the
jumping conflicts with [that]. I cannot see any other safe course of action
than to shut the bridge." He added, "we don’t want to be killjoys but
it’s about public safety and last year was unacceptable." Trotman noted
the "impact of fifty or sixty injuries on the emergency services’ ability
to deal with other incidents in the county." A
spokesperson from Oxfordshire county council said, “The county Council has
powers to close a bridge if it is assessed that there would be a dangerous
crush or if too many people were on the bridge. However there needs to be a
common view on the way forward." Matt
Sellwood, a Green party Councillor for Holywell ward, which includes Magdalen Bridge, said, “I do not believe that the
bridge should be closed on May Day. I would certainly encourage all students
not to jump… but I think that it is perfectly possible to preserve this
traditional ceremony while still preventing people from jumping.” A
spokesperson for Oxford
University said, “There
have been no decisions at this point about next year. The issue is under
discussion with all representatives from the police, council, university,
Magdalen college, security, ambulance and fire services.”ARCHIVE: 6th week MT 2005

Mansfield
students have expressed anger after it was revealed that their college has
agreed to host conference guests in a new accommodation block during term time.
It was felt that the JCR was not consulted on the decision, and had thought
that students would be able to move into the new accommodation next term. JCR
Vice president Andy Mitchell told a JCR meeting last Sunday, “College plans to
book [the new accommodation] out exclusively to conferences in Hilary term, and
almost exclusively in trinity term.” Mitchell
claims that a “verbal agree­ment” had been arranged with the College that
students would be able to occupy the twenty-four new rooms in the Garden Building
accommodation block when it was completed. JCR president Ed Mayne described the
news as a “breakdown of communications” and said that decisions had been made
“over our heads.” Mayne
added, “it’s fine conferences being here when we’re not, but this sets a
dangerous precedent for conferences being here at the same time as students.”
Mansfield Bursar Steve waterman defended the decision saying that the
conferences were necessary as “for very strong financial reasons the building
would need to generate income” until it is used by students next Michaelmas. Part
of the students’ anger at the deci­sion was caused by their participation in a
fund-raising telephone campaign to finance the new building. a number of
students felt that these jobs had been taken, and donations asked for, on a
false premise. Waterman
said in response to the allegations, “The telethon callers were fully briefed
that the new building would be used for income generating purposes, until the
beginning of the new academic year." First
year Alex craven, who had been promised a new room for the next two terms,
said, “I had been told by Andy that i would be able to move into the Garden Building
in Hilary term. I brought the issue up when i met the Principal at the start of
this term, and she gave the impression that there would be no problems.” Waterman
denies the verbal agree­ment and said, “it did not occur to me that there would
be any strong wish on the part of students who had already got college accommodation
elsewhere to want to move part way through the year.” he added that it would
not be feasible to break contracts for off-site accommodation mid-way through
the year. Waterman
dismissed the fears, saying, “The new building is separate and has its own key
arrangements. There will be the usual Junior dean and porter presence.”
waterman refuted concerns that the conference guests would have preferential
access to student facilities. Mansfield principal Diana
Walford, said of students being mislead about be­ing allocated new rooms, “I
tend to talk enthusiastically about the new building, which is immediately
opposite my study windows, because that’s the way I feel about it. I am sure,
in due time, that is how the entire student body will come to feel about this
splendid new addition to our student facilities. ARCHIVE: 6th week MT 2005

There are some subjects, writer John le Carré once said, “that can only be tackled in fiction”. It is curious, then, that Fernando Meirelles’ film adatation of one of le Carré’s most recent novels is so rooted in fact. The plot is, of course, entirely imaginary. After the horrific murder of his wife Tessa, British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) continues her fatal investigation of a pharmaceutical company’s sinister dealings in NorthernKenya. In the process, he unearths secrets not only of illegal drug-testing, but about the mysterious life his wife lead. Yet, as always with le Carré, this fictitious scenery is a backdrop to contemporary political comment. The film is directed more to modern pharmaceutical companies (sustained, in le Carré’s words, by “huge wealth, pathological secrecy, corruption and greed”) than it is to our imaginations.The style in which The Constant Gardener is shot is as different to Meirelles’ most well-known film, City of God (2002), as could be. An adrenaline-fuelled chase through the street-life of Rio de Janeiro’s slums, City of God raced along at an intoxicatinglyvisceral speed. The Constant Gardener, by contrast, takes a more thoughtful pace, with narrative and characters alike teased out subtly and slowly. This gives us plenty of time to mull over what we’re witnessing. The downside is that it takes a long while to feel involved in the story enough to enjoy it.Ralph Fiennes is excellent in the lead role, the lines of his face speakinga jaded melancholy and pain at the death of his wife that he himself never vocalises. Throughout the film, his quest to uncover the truth about the pharmaceutical company is interspersed with flashbacks from his married life. Tessa Quayle (another quietly gripping performance from Rachel Weisz) was as passionate and full of life as her husband is restrained and, well, British. Justin discovers through his investigations not only horrific inhumanities but the love that his wife held for him, which he had doubted for a long while. The finesse with which Meirelles brings out this retrospective examination of a relationship is the best element of the film.Another high point is Bill Nighy’s dubious government official, Sir BernardPellegrin. “Some rocks are better left unturned,” he warns Justin over a fillet mignon, a sinister smirk lying underneath his charming politician’s smile. As Justin moves between exotic Kenya and drab London, the tension and paranoia build, culminating in death threats left him in his hotel rooms. The arresting thrills of this are set nicely against the more contemplativeside of the film, examining the complexities of morality and relationships.In one scene, Justin and a white friend rush towards an aeroplane, their only means of escape from a Kenyan village under attack. With them runs a terrified local black child. When they reach the plane she is not allowed on board with them, left to be raped and beaten because those are “the rules”. The film is packed with such injustices,yet ultimately they are so diluted through the slow pace and frequent digressions into flashback that their full emotional weight is never felt. The Constant Gardener is as well-constructed as it is beautifully shot, the rich tones of Africa captured with breathtaking vitality. This movie is as enjoyable as it is thought-provoking and intelligent. But when the screen went black and the credits rolled, it didn’t leave me half as outraged as I felt I should have been.ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

When it comes to OUSU elections, what do we know? Cherwell has a rather regrettable habit of backing the loser on these occasions, and though it would be nice to claim a sympathetic attachment to the underdog, we can only assume that in the past students have not felt compelled to take our predecessors’ advice.And so this time around Cherwell does not presume to back a candidate with any particular vigour. However, we do profess ourselves a little puzzled at the candidature of Mr dale in light of his rather odd approach to the views of others in OUSU’s democratic process. We do at least advise those of an interested bent to inspect the minutes of OUSU meetings over the last year.Nonetheless, despite our professed reluctance to back any particular stance in this election, we are fascinated by the situation in which OUSU finds itself. The degree of apathy with which developments at Bonn Square are received among the student union’s constituent body is frankly remarkable, and while this is in many cases understandable, we struggle to conceive of a circumstance in which it could be described as a happy state of affairs.The blame game is never as much fun as it first appears, but clearly OUSU itself must, fundamentally, foot the bill. Although how it has found itself in such a position of disrespect and ignorance among students of this University is indeed a mystery to us. Apathy, it seems, is rather unhelpfully greeted with apathetic resignation at OUSU towers, and we see little attempt to really attract interest. Yet there is active opposition too: clearly the recent ‘students for students’ referendum is indicative of at least one strand of discontent.As Cherwell reports this week only the post of President, from a total of six positions available, is actually being contested in the upcoming elections – a depressing state of affairs. However, this does not mean there is nothing we can do. Cherwell does not wish to see the essential difficulties which OUSU currently faces unsurmounted, and participation by the student body is the only way in which they can be addressed. even if ithat means voting for ‘RON’, it is difficult to justify no participation whatsoever. We hope that the student body will make its voice heard, and by consequence, whatever the result, keep OUSU relevant.Vote. Even if it must be for the ‘man’ without a plan.  ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

It is not an enviable task to keep order in an Oxford college. Accordingly, persons of a decanal persuasion must be accorded great respect given the leniency and understanding with which most go about their jobs. With reports over the last few weeks of various social gatherings being banned first at St John’s and now at St Anne’s, one is led to wonder why college authorities don’t take the bull by the horns and ban fun altogether. While seemingly radical, this would at least provoke an atmosphere of subversiveness. Besides, it would make Merton students feel less left out.  ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005

"…As we utterly condemn those responsible for the slaughter, we recall the chilling words of edmund Burke that ‘the only thing that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’. For it is to the shame of the international community that this evil took place under our noses, and we did nothing like enough. I bitterly regret this, and I am deeply sorry for it."Thus runs an excerpt from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s recent address marking the tenth anniversary of the massacre in July 1995 at Srebrenica, Bosnia. The irony is merciless; given a decade, and continued inaction over genocide in darfur, western Sudan, Straw will repeat these words.The Foreign Secretary is, no doubt, a man of sincere intentions. At the Labour Party conference he promised to put the UN resolution passed at September’s World Summit on the "Responsibility to Protect" against victims of crimes against humanity and genocide, at the heart of British foreign policy. He referred to those murdered in Rwanda and Srebrenica that would have been saved had a "Responsibility to Protect" policy been implemented at that time. But the Foreign Secretary did not refer to darfur. In the size of Iraq, 300,000 non-Arab Africans have died since early 2003 and two million people continue to languish, starve and die, trapped in dangerous refugee camps, completely reliant on humanitarian aid and vulnerable to Arab militia attacks at night. The Government of Sudan has sponsored and supported locally recruited Arab militias to rid the land of non-Arabs and corral them in the camps. The devout Muslim communities in the camps now suffer from diseases and a batch of social problems new to these people, including alcoholism and sexual abuse. Straw’s neglect to mention the genocide – descriptive of Foreign Office policy towards the Sudanese government – is nothing short of acquiescence in fiction, evasion of reality. Britain and the international community continue to accept the lie that the African Union (AU) can provide protection for civilians and humanitarian aid workers in What a convenient motto "African solutions to African problems" has been to avoid action. The reality is that insecurity and lack of protection puts hundreds of thousands of innocent lives at risk over the coming months. Although the 6,000 troop African Union Mission in Sudan has been effective where it operates, its half-baked observer mandate and wholesale lack of resources prevent it from attaining any potency. The nations that comprise the AU are certainly not displaying the political will necessary to reach its target of 12,000 AMIS troops in spring 2006. The UN has recently been compelled to withdraw all non-essential staff from western A recent attack on the Aro Sharow refugee camp forced 4,000-5,000 innocent civilians to flee; at least 34 were killed. Insecurity now blocks access to "around 650,000 refugees in South and West darfur" according to UN officials. Reuters noted, "British aid agency Oxfam said it could not access any of its West darfur camps by road and were concerned fuel for water pumps could run out, leaving tens of thousands of refugees without access to water."The recent report of Juan Mendez, UN Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Genocide Prevention, noted: "There has been no visible effort by the Government of Sudan to disarm the [Janjaweed] militia or hold them to account in accordance with past agreements, including the N’djamena Agreement, the Abuja Protocols, and Security Council resolutions."Darfur continues to be ignored not only at the international level but at Sudan’s internal peace accords over the two-decade north-south civil war. Sudan is a key provider of anti-terrorist information to the US, and over half of Sudan’s huge revenue from oil comes from China. The recent blockage from the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, of Juan Mendez’s report to the UN on is particularly telling of a hard US determination not to act.It is now blatantly and brutally obvious that something must change. The international community must face the reality in and do the politically unpalatable: it must protect darfur’s African men, women and children. Aegis Trust, joined by many other organisations and politicians, proposes that the UN must work with the African Union to bolster the AMIS force to at least 12,000 immediately. The UN must propose a peace enforcement mandate for AMIS. This stronger mandate would send a huge political signal that the international community is serious about "Responsibility to Protect".Once security is provided and a dramatic increase in pressure is brought to bear on Sudan’s government, the nation may have a chance of peace. Belief in fiction in order to avoid fundamental responsibilities is utterly unacceptable. "Good men" like Jack Straw are key players who can make a difference if they choose to face the realities of 21st century genocide. In British foreign policy, as in the United Nations and African Union, protection of human life must take a towering precedence over considerations of strategic interest.Jonathan Bower is President of the Oxford Aegis Society  ARCHIVE: 5th week MT 2005