Oxford University Press (OUP) is Britain’s top publisher according to an annual league published in the trade magazine ‘The Bookseller.’ A spokesperson from the Jericho – based publishing house said, “It is very pleasing to come top of ‘The Bookseller’s’ league table.” “The OUP has always been dedicated to contributing to scholarship and education through our publishing. Our financial success in recent years happily enables us to continue to further the Oxford University’s objectives in this way.”
Archive: 0th week HT2004

Kelis has always been a lucky girl. Coming from a middleclass Harlem family, she learnt violin, piano and saxophone at private school, and ended up in La Guardia School for the Arts (does Fame! ring any bells?). Luckily, a friend also introduced her to The Neptunes, who seem to have the golden touch when it comes to R&B acts (Miss Spears, Mr Timberlake and, of course, Snoop). With their help Kelis luckily shot to fame in 2001 with the memorable shriek, “I hate you so much right now!” Now she’s back, after a weak second album, apparently having left the screaming behind (luckily), with a series of funky pop tunes and collaborations. The sound is more mature, but perhaps at the cost of some of her earlier “kickass” attitude. The singles, of course, are sure to be popular and are undoubtedly radiofriendly.  However, after the icecool hits, this album soon melts into bland, saccharine, strawberry flavoured mush: a metaphorical milkshake.
Archive: 0th week HT 2004

Being compared to Aretha Franklin, winning an unprecedented five Grammys, and selling ten million copies of her first album world-wide – all at the age of twenty – could well have gone to Alicia’s head. But fame did not corrupt, and her simply titled follow-up doesn’t disappoint.A more sophisticated album than ‘Songs in A Minor’, ‘The Diary of Alicia Keys’ seamlessly combines genres from classical to hiphop with the ever-present influence of soul as before, now more emotionally and politically infused. She not only lives up to the great soul legends of the 1970s but surpasses them, exposing her songs to an ever-growing audience. The most popular soul artist in decades, Alicia Keys stands out as a confident, gifted pianist and vocalist unafraid to write her own songs and produce her own album, an album that is sure to live up to its predecessor’s success.Archive: oth week HT 2004

What books are currently on your bedside table?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon; Just Like Mother Used to Make by Tom Norrington-Davis; Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; A People’s History of Britain by Rebecca Fraser.

“Hefner never believed Playboy was an art magazine”. As surprising revelations go, this is more 32AA than 36DD. Yet this is the introductory eyeopener to the 50th anniversary photo selection from the famous lads’ mag. The magazine’s enduring subtitle says it all: “Entertainment for Men”.Playboy is, above all else, the promiscuous pimp daddy of soft-core porn and furtive puerile joys. Or is it? The more I guiltily ogle the astounding selection offered by this book, the more I become convinced that Hugh Hefner, king of dirty old men, is mistaken. Could Playboyreally be an art magazine? The commentary’s pretentious hype aside (“The rules were simple: there were no rules”), this volume is actually packed tighter than Jordan’s bra with remarkable photography. I know the women are selected for their tremendous beauty (from Marilyn Monroe to Cindy Crawford, Hefner certainly knows a nice pair when he sees one), but it’s impossible to deny the photographic skill. A nude Naomi Campbell sprawled among assorted fruits is an unusual piece of art, but it is only one of many centrefolds which provoke a reaction more art-critic than pervy-teenager. The commentary is, for once, correct: “In these pictures, special women become extraordinary”. This compendium tastefully brings Playboy down from the top shelf.
Chronicle Books,
28th November 2003,
Hardback, £29.99
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Short stories are funny things. I had never read any Byatt before and was, I confess, dubious about reviewing her new collection for the worthy readers of Cherwell.My suspicions were unfounded. The first story tells of two middleaged women retracing childhood steps to confront their demons, as fact and memory merge. Prosthetics are used in her next tale, an examination of artistic morality, as well as a perfectly judged investigation into human relationships. The third story follows a woman’s metamorphosis from grief-stricken mourner to creature of stonesand gems. The fourth presents itself as a meditation on the act of writing, throughout which Byatt’s ideas are sustained by an effortless style. The final tale, aptly, looks at human decline into senility, and includes the unprecedented appearance of the Teletubbies and the Aeneid on the same page. The ongoing theme in all five stories is what is left behind, a concept that Byatt uses to draw in questions of memory and to examine the artistic process. Byatt uses words expertly, with sharp images and lyrical turns of phrase – take, for example, “One morning pain struck her like a sudden beak.”The only flaw I can suggest is a minor one of vocabulary. Does anyone really say “bust” any more? Likewise, “sex” (as in “her hands on his sex,”) sounds rather too DH Lawrence for my liking. But these are churlish comments. Byatt’s writing is marvellous. Her tone is graceful (think Angela Carter without the excess) and strikes a perfect balance between narrative and description. Each story stands out as original and refreshing, fitting together just enough to generate atmosphere while avoiding co-dependence. As the title suggests, each one is deliciously dark. The writing is masterful. It really is that simple. Chatto and Windus,
6th November 2003
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Blues Rugby captain John Allen surveyed the past term and declared “This was the year to become more expansive”. The MMC Trophy may have narrowly eluded Allen’s squad, but the Australian pronounced Michaelmas a resounding success and sees an exciting future for Oxford rugby at a time when the sport needs to capitalise on its increasing profile.

Allen believes that the draw at Twickenham, in which the Blues outshone Cambridge with their handling but ran up against a dogged defence, may have pointed the way towards an era of open, entertaining Varsity rugby. “This season we implemented a new attacking style, which broke with trend. All of the players bought into that, and it’s a style which suits the players and resources which we have. There is a real belief in the club that to be successful you need to be expansive”.

The aftermath of the Twickenham encounter saw the Light Blues criticised in some quarters for their early-kicking, defensive approach. Allen was quick to point out that Oxford’s opponents had not enjoyed the ideal preparation: “They were disrupted early in the season with injuries and had to make the best of what they had, and that’s what they did. Hopefully the Varsity match will evolve so that both teams throw the ball around, but with desire to win. It’s vital that the public see an entertaining spectacle”.

The Blues’ flowing, technical brand of rugby was not confined merely to the Varsity match. Victories over London Irish and Bath served as evidence of the team’s ability. Allen was delighted with the side’s build-up and saw the pre-season tour of Argentina as a time at which many things began to fall together. “We learned a lot. Our set-pieces and lineouts were strong and dominant and this carried on into the term. Our scrum was outstanding and took that form all the way into the Varsity”. 

Allen’s optimism for the future was especially evident when he cast his eye over the Under 21 side, who defeated their Cambridge counterparts by adhering to exactly the style that is rapidly becoming the culture within the club as a whole. “There are many who can make the step up. They have been playing an open brand of rugby for some time and there is a lot of great potential there”.

Some of the younger players should get the chance to stake their claim this term, in a fixture list which includes matches scheduled against the Army, RAF and Navy as well as sides from Ireland, Japan and South Africa.

As the Blues look to build upon the rapid strides which proved evident at Twickenham, their progress should be well worth following as rugby continues to make an unprecedented impact in the national headlines following England’s World Cup victory.

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Labour MPs, members of the Opposition, and opponents of topup fees all come in for withering criticism in an ex-Pembroke Master’s recently published treatise on higher education, ‘University to Uni’.Estelle Morris, Former Education Secretary, is seen as “a sweet but ineffective former comprehensive school teacher, with little understanding of, or interest in, universities”. Author Robert Stevens also
suggests that Gordon Brown lacks sufficient charisma to replace Tony Blair, while he calls Margaret Hodge “a former member of the loony left”. Speaking to Cherwell, Stevens stood by his comments, adding that Hodge “used to fly the red flag over Islington town hall”.Nor do the Tories escape the onslaught. Stevens argues that Michael Howard’s opposition to topup fees is a cynical ploy to gain votes, “bribing the affluent members of society and the middle-classes” and is inconsistent with Conservative policies. He also accuses the Tories of crippling universities by having failed to provide sufficient funds.Stevens argues that defeat for Blair over top-up fees would be disastrous for Oxford in particular, “If you want serious universities, you have to put in the money,” he told Cherwell. Without funds from students themselves, he warns, Oxford risks “dumbing down”, losing its best academics to the United States, cutting courses, and being forced to recruit foreign students in place of Britons. He argued that if student opponents of top-up fees get its way, Oxford “will become an even bigger joke than German and French universities”.
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