The job has changed in the six years that I’ve been doing it, in terms of the college being much busier. I think financial pressure causes the colleges to need to make full use of the facilities. Out of term-time we have to maximise things like conference guests and banquets, which is important to us to maintain a good income for the college generally. Sometimes it’s a bit calmer out of term-time, but when you’ve got strangers coming in every other night during the holidays, obviously you have to acquaint them with the same situation over and over again, which can get a bit tedious. When the students are settled in during term everything runs itself really.
Luckily our students are all very pleasant; most of the time they’re quite good fun. That’s the part of the job I enjoy most, as opposed to the difficult people we get from time to time. Occasionally we have some very snotty-nosed people who seem to like ‘humiliating the servants’, as it were. That’s the hardest to deal with, they think you’re some sort of ‘flunkie’. You’ve just got to grit your teeth and bear it, really. We’ve lost quite a few staff because of that, it’s the main factor which causes people to leave, I think. We do get some pressure from that area and it has taken its toll on a number of us; unfortunately we’ve lost some good people because of that.
There have been funny times as well. One of my favourite stories involved a student of ours, very nice chap actually, still see him now and again. The main thing with students really is drunkenness, usually at the beginning of term we have a few wild nights before they settle down and start the work. We had this one chap who came in with his girlfriend and suddenly vanished from view. I heard these gurgles and groans so I went out and found his girlfriend collapsed on the edge of the lawn there, semi-conscious and gurgling away. I took my flashlight and saw this chap standing in the middle of the front quad lawn. He was pissing against one of the trees, so i crept up behind him and mentioned his name. He must have drenched his trousers! We’ve laughed about that ever since.
I work 8-hour shifts Monday to Friday, but I also write. I used to teach English in a state school and for private tuition, and then I was Finance Officer at the Job Centre before coming here. Now writing is a sort of hobby: I publish my work on the internet. At the moment I’m writing a critical examination of Colin Wilson for next May, a book of about two hundred pages in which I’m examining his New Existentialist philosophy, which is an argument against Sartre. Wilson’s argument is that we’ve meandered into a contemporary pessimism through following Sartre to the letter. I want to reassess that argument and see if it’s correct. I’m not trying to publish in the conventional way as there’s not really a market for my sort of work, so I use the PABD (Publish and Be Damned) network on the internet. It’s an author empowerment sort of service, which a lot of people are using now, as you’ve got total control over what you do, and you can distribute it yourself. In a way, it’s self-publishing, because the sort of thing I’m writing is not really commercial at all. You could say that my ambition is to carry on working in this field.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

The Secret of Drawing
BBC2
8 October, 8.10pm
« « « « «
Love Soup
BBC1
11 October, 9pm
« « « « «Drawing is everywhere, proclaims presenter Andrew Graham Dixon as the opening gambit of new documentary series The Secret of Drawing. The series sets out to reassert what Dixon feels has become the neglected art of putting pencil to paper, nowadays ignored in favour of carelessly splattered canvases and unmade beds.
The first episode, The Line of Enquiry, focuses on the importance of drawing to the development of human knowledge and scientific enquiry. We meet Dr Francis Wells, cardiac surgeon, who not only prepares himself for an operation with a few preliminary sketches, but ends the surgery by inking explanatory diagrams for his colleagues in that medium most freely available in the operating theatre: his patients’ blood.
Graphic means to the graphic end are not uncommon, it seems. Eighteenth century British artist George Stubbs procured horse carcasses, stripped them layer by bodily layer and winched them into life-like positions, so as best to capture the unique poise of the equine form. Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, the unsentimental John James Audubon shot his avian subjects by the hundred to produce his master work The Birds of America.
Such shockers and other revelations of artistic eccentricities aside, what makes this documentary worth its salt is what it has to show us. Studies of anatomy, nature and even the moon, produced by artists in eye-popping photographic detail, are proved to be still shaping the course of scientific enquiry hundreds of years after they were sketched.
Thankfully, there is no need among all this for costumed actors dressed as Leonardo da Vinci or nifty computer generated gimmicks. The Secret of Drawing is an old fashioned but not unexciting documentary, with a presenter genuinely wide-eyed over his subject matter. If you can stand the ponderous, arty intensity into which Dixon drifts by the end of the hour, then this is well worth a look.
Anatomical studies of a different kind abound in the latest episode of Love Soup. This rom-com drama series charts the neatly parallel, but as yet still not intersecting lives, of Alison and Gil as they continue along the path of romantic misadventure.
Confronted by some thought provoking footage bequeathed her by an ex, and forced to share a hotel room with luscious model Rochelle, Alison has her sexual confidence dashed but is soon the object of an unexpected admirer’s affections.
Gil too comes across the unexpected when his seemingly perfect blind date steps out in her swimwear, revealing more than he ever could have bargained for. Meanwhile, a dream come true dustman is not all he seems for Gil’s slightly over- friendly neighbour Irene.
Not judging a book by its cover becomes the theme of this episode. It’s a path with much comic potential, but there’s a little too much earnestness to certain elements for the good gags to draw the laughs they should.
That said, this series has a lot going for it. Written by David Renwick, whose past projects include One Foot in the Grave and Jonathan Creek, it has a cast of rising comic stars (notably Sheridan Smith and Montserrat Lombard) and a novel premise. Yet, while it is watchable enough and the writing is engagingly sharp, Love Soup remains less of a clear, tasty broth, and more of a murky gruel.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

Oliver Twist. Cinema has already been there, done that. Many times, in fact. You’ve probably already got the t-shirt. Yet the last cinematic attempt was in 1968, so perhaps we cannot blame Polanski for wanting to attempt a remake of one of Dickens’ best-loved novels.
For a film director attempting a modern remake of a classic, ambition and bravery are prerequisites to the task, working in fear of negative comparisons to the masterpieces that have already gone before. The last time we heard of Polanski, he was winning awards for The Pianist (2002), a story of suffering, pain, but above all survival. It is clear why Oliver Twist, concentrating on the hardships and misadventures of a young orphaned boy who finds himself a misfit in society, was an obvious next choice. Charles Dickens was a champion of the underdog. So, it seems, is Polanski.
His aim is not to achieve realism with this adaptation; quite the opposite, which he attains from the surprising amounts of humour. Polanski has discovered the seemingly comfortable juxtaposition of the gritty truth with unexpected hilarity within the novel, and conveys this with style to the screen. As part of the gritty truth, one shot shows a streetwise, fearless, swaggering Artful Dodger strolling alongside a bewildered Oliver. For the unexpected hilarity, the next time we see them out on the filthy streets of a polluted London together, they both share the same savvy expression. Before you know it a smile – albeit small – has crept across your face, as you recognise the swift, if not entirely seamless, transition from workhouse boy to pickpocket in the making.
The film works primarily through its desire to elicit the latent humour, often forgotten, from the larger-than-life characters, with the emphasis on their amusing eccentricities. Polanski seems keen for his audience to realise that besides being a great social realist, Dickens was also an enchanting entertainer.
The movie is also oddly unemotional, except for a remarkable closing scene of forgiveness and reconciliation between Oliver and the iconic, if ambiguous, figure of Fagin. The Fagin that the audience is introduced to is the Fagin that Oliver knows, loves, and hates; one moment playing the elderly joker, the next looming over him, wildly brandishing a knife and holding it dangerously close to the boy’s throat. Sir Ben Kingsley creates a personality which is devious and corrupting, but heartbreakingly likeable, immersing the ending of the film in torrents of pathos.
In Polanski’s world, everything is simple. The good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad. Shit happens, but that’s just the way it is. Some may think this approach too simple, too clean-cut. The result, however, is not one-dimensional, but a chance for children to enjoy the classic novel. As Polanski says himself, his film is “above all a tale for a young audience”.
That is not to say that Oliver Twist has no appeal for an older crowd. The film transports us back to Victorian England, a time period instantly captivating both in literary and visual dimensions. Dickens’ London is a thrilling city, rich in sweeping images and sordid details, which has captured the world’s imagination and is brought to life on the screen here. Polanski used Gustave Doré’s original Victorian prints to recreate the London Dickens knew. The result is top-hat clad men silhoetted ominously against smoky street-corners, and it will take your breath away.
Nor has Polanski purposefully neglected the darkness of the Dickensian universe. When the film wants to be sinister, it can be chillingly so. Polanski knows full well the compelling power of the audience’s imagination to create fear for themselves, and never forgets the useful mantra of less being more. This shines through during the scene of Nancy’s death: a splatter of blood flying across the kitchen table is far more chilling and horrific than a graphic, brutal murder scene could ever have been.
This is a beautifully visual, enchantingly warm remake of an old favourite. After leaving the cinema, you’ll feel like approaching Polanski as Oliver once approached his orphanage cook, and tremblingly ask: “Please, sir, I want some more”.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

Pip Stewart, an historian of Queens College, is the first Oxford student to get through to the Miss England finals. The competition is an annual event searching for England’s strongest candidate for Miss World. Stewart achieved 12th place having won the regional round for Miss Cheltenham and Gloucester. Stewart commended the support she received from her college, “Our JCR president was awesome because she e-mailed around college and asked people to vote.” Stewart has high hopes for a future Miss England from Oxford as she believes “[the organisation is] trying to make the image less about ditzy blondes and more about personality and charisma.” When asked why she chose to enter the competition she said it was “quite a fun thing to do during the holidays”.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

Oxford University has been selected to recieve $26.4m (£14.5m) from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health to fund research into malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis. The research is part of the Grand Challenges initiative, a major international effort to achieve scientific breakthroughs against the world’s most deadly and widespread diseases. Professor Adrian Hill, whose team has research units in Kenya, Gambia and South Africa, was cautiously optimistic about the development of a vaccine against HIV within the next ten years, but stressed that the initial vaccines may just act to slow down the disease.

Damian le Bas, a third year theologian from St John’s College, has appeared in an advert for mobile phone company T-Mobile after being approached by a representative for the company at an art exhibition. Damian spent 6 hours on a rooftop in East Croydon and was paid £1000 for featuring in the advert. With the money, he bought presents for his girlfriend and a hot air balloon ride. Le Bas said that he had no further plans for a modelling profession, but that he had enjoyed the job. Asked to describe the experience overall, Le Bas said “it was top joke.” Harry Kretchmer, JCR President of St John’s described Le Bas’ unconventional method of earning money as “both exciting and sensible”.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

Nicky Blair, the son of Prime Minister Tony Blair, has been appointed secretary of the Oxford University Labour Club for Michaelmas 2005. Blair, studying History at Lady Margaret Hall, was elected in the Termly General Meeting held in the last week of Trinity term and competed against three other candidates. Joe Taylor, former OULC co-chair in Trinity 2004 described Nicky as a “worthy candidate” and said that “a majority of the club supports his election.” As secretary, he is responsible for administration in the club and the production and distribution of OULC’s weekly journal ‘Look Left’.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

Two arson attacks on Oxford University property were carried out in the last two months by animal rights activists claiming to be part of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). In July the Longbridges boathouse, which contains Hertford, St Hilda’s, St Catherine’s, Mansfield and St Benet’s Hall boats and boat clubs, was set ablaze. The fire, in which a total of 26 boats were rendered unuseable, caused an estimated £500,000 of damages.
As a result of the incident, insurance premiums will rise forcing those boatclubs already struggling financially to reassess their position. In the case of Hertford, the JCR has contributed to payment of these insurance premiums in the past. Fresh appeals are being made for corporate sponsorship and donations from college alumni. Even though all the colleges affected will be receiving insurance payouts to help recoup the losses, there are concerns as to whether replacement equipment will be ready in time for the Christ Church regatta later this term.
The second attack took place last month at Corpus Christi College, although no damage was done as the incendiary device was discovered and disabled before activation. When asked whether the attacks were levelled against the affected colleges specifically, ALF spokesperson Robin Webb responded “the animal rights movement sees all of the university as a legitimate target, whatever the department, college or associate.”
Katie Moore, President of the Mansfield College Boat Club stated that “all four of our boats were destroyed, all of which were ageing second hand boats. As the boats were only insured for market value we have received very little. The insurance money would hardly cover the cost of one new boat. Also our blades were not insured which also need replacing. We are looking at losses of £23,000-£25,000.”
Ed Mayne, Mansfield JCR President, was present at the scene of the fire and witnessed the blaze continue to the upstairs partition of St Catherine’s club room: “I arrived at about midnight when the fire had been put out downstairs, but we then saw a flame coming from Catz’s club room upstairs and the firemen moved us all back across the two bridges.” A total of 26 boats were destroyed by the fire.
Alice Motion, Boat Club Captain for St Hilda’s College, assessed the damages of the club to a total of £29,000 “Our new Sims boat is costing us £15,000; our second-hand Janousek is £9,000.” These costs will be partially covered by insurance which will account for £19,000 towards the costs of the boats and £5,000 for the blades. The remainder of the costs are being recouped via sponsors Citigroup as well as from alumni of the college.
Matt Roger, of Hertford College Boat Club, reported the loss of six racing eights and several smaller boats, all of which is being covered by insurance.
An anonymous article posted on an animal rights activist website entitled ‘Bite Back’ stated, “On 4 July an Animal Liberation Front cell travelled to Oxford armed with incendiary devices containing approximately 11 litres of petrol.” The article warned Oxford University “From here on nothing you own, rent or have dealings with is off limits until the project is scrapped” and that “builders and suppliers are going to get some, even if their involvement comes to light years later we will not let you off the hook!”
In response to the warnings issued on the site, a spokesperson from the university said “We are appalled by the contents of a statement concerning the fire in an Oxford College boathouse. The intimidating nature of this message is totally unacceptable.”
When asked what his attitude was to the arsonists, Ed Mayne replied “It’s frustrating being attacked for something we have nothing to do with. I’m taking a very liberal perspective on it all, and being angry doesn’t help the situation. If the attack was indeed carried out by animal rights protesters, I don’t think they’ve helped the anti-vivisectionist cause as they may well have lost potential student sympathisers.”
He added, “Attacking one of the poorest boatclubs in Oxford certainly isn’t going to help them.”
Alice Motion stated “It’s pathetic that this is the only way that they thought they would be able to get the message across, and we should not give in to these scare tactics.”
Katie Smith, a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police said, “the boathouse investigation is still ongoing” She also stated that “such attacks are quite rare and not intended to endanger life.” Smith reassured students “the police are taking the attacks very seriously and would ask people to be vigilant and to consider security at all times.”
A university spokesperson stated “The University remains firmly committed to the completion of [the animal testing laboratory] which is part of an ongoing programme to replace and update existing laboratory space.” Webb opposed these sentiments by saying “the university won’t be successful, the facility won’t ever be used for what it is intended.”
Webb added, “We can’t predict what’s going to happen in the future with the Oxford Arson Squad. I assume the actions against Oxford University will continue while they try to press ahead with the facility.”ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

Something one of my fine friends said to me a while back has been troubling me. “How could you say that?” she retorted, a look of incredulity darting across her face, after my oh so confident precis of Coldplay’s latest album, X&Y, as being one of the “all-time great recordings”. “Have you heard every recording ever committed to vinyl, cassette or CD?”
Obviously not, I protested, trying to qualify the assertion by referring to the record’s staggeringly rare, towering quality. But I sensed myself almost retracting the comment by having to defend it so vociferously. It, in fact, rocked the core of my sensibility as a ‘critic’ more than I would have liked. It actually got me thinking hard about what I had written. Can such a comment ever stand solo as suitable appraisal of any given artwork? What then is the purpose of an arts review if not to compare the piece with what came before it? Far from being a bout of soporific self-questioning that at one point or another has besieged even the best of us, this soul searching was more an attempt to dispel (or indeed reluctantly prove) a criticism levelled at our urbane culture of reviewery.
Yet it seems now that the habit is spreading. Vintage, the paperback division of publishing Random House, last month launched a range of fifteen novels entitled Future Classics; the result of a poll which took into account the reading habits of over a hundred book groups from Dundee to Devon.
In all earnestness, the campaign does smack of cash cow antics on the part of Random House to bolster sales of their recent, much-debated books. Are we really ready to say that the critically well received, widely read novels of the past few years – Ian McEwan’s Atonement to name but one – will become classics in time to come? The foremost critical issue to consider in all this is that obviously only novels published by Vintage could be considered. So that while Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha made the grade, Zadie Smith’s epic debut, White Teeth, could not. And if the critic’s word is the wisest, why was Louis de Bernieres’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin favoured over his infinitely better reviewed Birds Without Wings? The backlash has already begun.
I remember a similar scoffing reaction from many I knew a few years back when Halle Berry won her Best Actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball, and I declared that her performance was arguably peerless in all of screen history (Incidentally I still and will continue to maintain the comment has actuality). There can certainly be no doubt that Berry defines the mould for modern-day tragic heroine in that role.
Is that ultimately not the mark of greatness in art? The ability of any given piece, be it a strikingly nuanced performance, a genre-defining novel or indeed a Coldplay album to breathe life past its creator’s intention? I’m always nominating the greatest this or that of its kind. It is deeply satisfying to apply the G word. The recent BBC Radio 4 and National Gallery poll to find The Greatest Painting in Britain did in fact turn up a decent shortlist, with JMW Turner and David Hockney both honoured, but seeing the usage I regularly bandy about deployed by someone else gives me pause. If greatness in art has any meaning, it is certainly at odds with opinion polls and people’s choice votes, even if the survey in question is of an informed audience as in Vintage’s case. Greatness suggests sublimity. Greatness stresses the ability of the work to transcend style and signify the supreme. But alas, it will always be rooted by definition in an opinion formed prior to yours or mine. Perhaps I will never be qualified to judge with such haughty epithets, but I’m not about to kick the habit. We should be careful lest we forget the nature of our art’s purpose.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005

Keble College has paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds after a tribunal ruled an ex-employee had been unfairly dismissed and racially discriminated against.
In April 2005 an employment tribunal concluded that Keble College Bursar Roger Boden had pursued a “personal vendetta” against college accountant Diamond Versi on the basis of his ethnicity, launching a “sham” investigation, cutting him out of decision-making and eventually making his position redundant.
Versi’s evidence cited an Asian employee to whom he claimed Boden had paid a higher wage to prevent her transferring from the college’s hall to the account’s department.
Versi also claimed that Boden had refused to authorise a loan of £4,000 for a Pakistani employee because of her ethnic origin.
At the time Boden “utterly refuted the allegations” and argued that Versi’s post was made redundant as part of the College’s restructuring of the accounts department, aiming to make it “more cost effective” by reducing its salary bill and creating a single position.
Professor Averil Cameron, the college’s Warden, stood by Boden, saying that they “did not accept the findings of the tribunal” and said, “I think that we can all say we’re absolutely shocked.”
Former JCR President Moshin Zaidi repeatedly showed his support for Boden, writing letters to various national newspapers and saying, “I can 100 per cent say there was no racism involved.”
“Roger Boden is genuinely one of the nicest people at Keble. I know him well enough to know that racism is not what he’s about.”
A joint appeal between Keble College and Boden was then launched in July.
The court immediately dismissed the appeal in relation to unfair dismissal but did allow the college to proceed with a hearing on the grounds of race discrimination. Keble, however, then decided to make an out-of-court settlement.
Tim Jenkinson, Keble’s Acting Warden, said: “Keble is glad that Mr. Versi’s claim could be resolved without the need for further hearings.
“Keble was pleased that College was given permission to appeal at the preliminary hearing of the Employment Appeal Tribunal – but it is in the interests of all parties to draw a line under this dispute and move forward.”
Jenkinson maintained that Boden would not be forced to resign his position as Bursar: “Keble does not agree with the inferences drawn by the Employment Tribunal – that is why we appealed, and that is why the Governing Body continue to support Mr Boden.”
He added, “We have over the summer completely revised our equal opportunities policies, and published these on our website. We commissioned an independent review of our human resources practices, and are currently implementing all the recommendations.
“For example, one of these recommendations was to appoint a Human Resources Manager, and we will be interviewing for this post in the next few weeks. The person appointed will have responsibility for driving the equality agenda within the College.”
Although both Jenkinson and Versi refused to comment on the details of the financial settlement owing to a confidentially agreement, speaking to Cherwell Versi said that he had received a “six figure sum” in compensation and estimated that the total bill for the tribunal and appeal could have cost Keble “up to £500,000”.
He said, “It is bizarre how they simply think that they have done nothing wrong, although there is not exactly very much they can say now they have been found guilty.
“The only person that won this case for me was Roger Boden – he has made me a rich man.”
Roger Boden refused to comment.ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005