Last week, Keble College announced the selection of Dr Sir Michael Jacobs as the new Warden. He will take office in Michaelmas Term 2022, replacing Sir Jonathan Phillips. He currently serves as Clinical Director of Infectious Diseases at the Royal Free Hospital.
Dr Jacobs said: “I am deeply honoured to have been elected as the next Warden of Keble College. I work with an exceptionally talented, dedicated and principled team at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who have made incredible things happen in healthcare. I am thrilled to be joining a similar team in the higher education sector who continue to build on the proud and distinctive history of Keble College. The College was founded to broaden the social depth of the student body and I feel extremely privileged to be joining an outstanding place to work and study that is determinedly excellent, progressive, socially responsible and compassionate.”
Keble’s website listed Dr Jacobs’ main medical interests as “the most serious viral infections and medical countermeasures to combat them”. He was educated in Medicine at St John’s College, Oxford and St Bartholomew Hospital Medical School. He then trained as a physician specialising in infectious disease at Imperial College London.
The website also noted that Dr Jacobs “has a major interest in medical education and has had several leadership roles in postgraduate training programmes and examinations”. He served as a Wellcome Advanced Fellow at UCL between 2000 and 2004, and has published several research papers while serving in the NHS.
He has chaired and participated in multiple advisory boards on dangerous viral infections and served as NHS England’s program director for High Consequence Infective Diseases.
In this role he was at the centre of the UK’s response to the Ebola crisis and led the team who treated Britain’s three patients. In 2016’s New Year’s Honours, he was knighted for his work on infectious diseases. The same team treated the UK’s first COVID-19 cases and continue to respond to the ongoing public health situation as the pandemic evolves. Dr Jacobs is currently taking part on UK, EU, and WHO programmes on vaccines and therapeutic drugs targeting COVID-19.
Outgoing Warden Sir Phillips has worked at Keble since 2010, following a senior role in the Civil Service where he served as Permanent Secretary of the Northern Ireland office. His tenure as Warden saw the opening of the HB Allen Centre, which houses over 200 graduate students, as well as the extension of the College’s outreach program.
Sir Phillips commented “I am really delighted that Michael Jacobs has been chosen to succeed me as Warden of Keble. He will bring great energy and enthusiasm to the role and his wide-ranging experience and distinction as a physician make him an ideal person to take our whole community forward in developing this wonderful institution.”
The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford has received £422,000 from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund. The grant will go toward replacing the church’s nave and the restoration of stonework.
Reverend Dr. William Lamb told Oxford Mail that: “like many churches and historic buildings, our income dropped considerably during the pandemic as we were unable to welcome visitors for a long period of time, so without this grant from the Culture Recovery Fund, these vital repairs would have been impossible.”
While the exact origins of the church are nebulous, by the middle of the 11th century the church was standing. Over the years, St. Mary’s has played a large role in the life of Oxford University, and since the 13th century, it has functioned as the university church. In the early 14th century, the University built the Congregation House, which was converted into Vaults & Garden café in the 1990s, as well as the library above it, which, until the construction of Duke Humphrey’s library, served as the library for the University.
Furthermore, between the late 15th and early 16th centuries Oxford University paid to completely remodel the church. Gradually, as the University grew, and new buildings were added, graduations and the university government were moved away from St. Mary’s; however, a rapid increase in undergraduate numbers rendered the existing church’s space too small during important sermons and lectures. So, in 1827 the University installed new galleries on the west and north sides of the church. The west gallery still stands.
Given the Church’s long history, many restorations and remodels have taken place over the years. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries the tower required frequent repair, and was fully repaired in the 1890s completing the Buckler Brother’s re-Gothicisation of the church. The most recent restoration took place between the 1930s and 1970s during which the interior of the church was gradually reordered.
The grant funding the restoration was created to tackle the issues facing the UK’s most loved cultural organisations and heritage sites. The Culture Recovery Fund, or CRF, dispersed nearly £2 billion in three installments to over 5,000 different organisations across the country.
Estimated to have supported 75,000 jobs in its first round of funding, the CRF’s second round of support supported 52,000 full-time jobs as well as 100,000 freelancers.
Having aided nationally significant organisations including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Albert Hall, and more locally significant organisations such as the Black Country Living Museum with its first two grants, the third round of the CRF is committed not only to supporting the full reopening of heritage sites and organisations following the pandemic, but also to the restoration of sites at risk in order to keep them in good condition and assist the workforce that cares for them.
Cultural Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “Our record-breaking Culture Recovery Fund has helped thousands of organisations across the country to survive and protected hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now, as we look forward to full reopening, this funding shows our commitment to stand behind culture and heritage all the way through the pandemic. This round of funding will provide a further boost to help organisations build back better and ensure we can support more of those in need – safeguarding our precious culture and heritage, and the jobs this supports.”
Protestors assembled at 5:15pm on Wednesday 20th at Carfax Tower to chant and give speeches against the Nationalities and Borders Bill.
The Organisation Oxford Stand Up to Racism had announced the protest. The leaflet said: “If passed into law, the Nationality and Border Bill will deny many refugees the chance to seek sanctuary in the UK, criminalise many of those who try, isolate refugees in harmful out-of-town institutions, and undermine 70 years of international co-operation under the UN refugee convention…
“It is a cruel and inhumane law which will worsen problems such as the large, growing backlog of people awaiting a decision on being accepted as a refugee, and the poverty and insecurity they suffer in the meantime.”
Around 30 people came to the protest, which was stationary at Carfax tower. They chanted slogans such as “Say it Here, Say it Clear, Refugees are welcome here”. The organisers invited people to to join in and to sign a petition against the bill.
Caritas from the charity Asylum Welcome was at the protest. She said: “I am protesting against the new UK borders bill. … It’s a bit racist against minority people trying to come and seek safety in the UK. I think it shouldn’t be, I think it shouldn’t be like this. I think people should be allowed to seek safety. I think people should be safe anywhere they are, whether in the UK or anywhere else.”
Emma from the charity Oxford Against Immigration detention was also at the protest. Oxford Against immigration is the successor to the campaign to close Oxford Hampsfield, an immigration removal centre which stood for 25 years and closed in 2018.
She said: “This idea that there are certain categories of people in this country to which basic human rights do not apply, that really is the source of the evil in the bill that we are opposing tonight …
“Human rights ought to apply to everyone in the country. Refugees deserve our compassion. It’s shocking that in 2021 that is seen as a radical view.”
The UK government website states:
“The Nationality and Borders Bill is the cornerstone of the government’s New Plan for Immigration, delivering the most comprehensive reform in decades to fix the broken asylum system.
The bill – and the wider plan – has 3 key objectives:
To make the system fairer and more effective so that we can better protect and support those in genuine need of asylum
To deter illegal entry into the UK breaking the business model of criminal trafficking networks and saving lives
To remove from the UK those with no right to be here”
Whether I’m on holiday strutting down tiny decadent Italian sideroads, trampling the grey London pavements, or even simply frittering about Oxford like an imposter-syndromed buffoon, it is safe to say that I indefinitely am on the lookout for a laptop-whipped-out-main-character-I’m-too-busy-and-important café moment. Currently, I am in Paris on my year abroad and my hunt was surprisingly not even necessary.
A week ago, I reached the end of my road and in front of my scavenging eyes lay the humbly brown-lettered PRET – unassuming and resplendent in all her glory. The euphoric vision of me tapping away behind my life’s protective shield of a MacBook magically materialized. I have my Pret, all is well, I am safe.
This probably slightly disproportionate reaction to finding a “working” café may seem over the top, but I cannot stress enough how much a daily routine acts as the comfort blanket we couldn’t pack in our Ryanair-tailored suitcase. So, there I was for two weeks, tap tap tapping away being busy and important (“Is it true that cats have fewer toes on their backpaws” / “how to not interrupt people so much and be socially at peace with oneself”) when I see a man with a top-hat and long greasy curly hair sat across the room, An interesting anomaly to the perfected messy-bunned, pumpkin-spiced-latte-sipping and white-airforced-oned specimen theme, but I did not give him another thought. However, the next day, again tap tap tapping, I look up from my screen to find him at the table opposite mine, staring at me. But again, my concern remains with his pointy-shoed Rumple Stilt Skin peculiarity.
In the next few days however, I started noticing a pattern of top-hatted 50-year-old sitting right in front of me – and only ever arriving twenty minutes after I’ve settled in my spot. In the freakish way that things can go from completely ordinary to profoundly creepy in the bat of an eyelid, his lurking, continuous presence made my stomach feel anything but easy.
One day, top-hat man places himself literally at my table, whips out a tiny notebook, and I can feel his gaze, even from behind my silver shield with my eyes heavily focused on my laptop in
front of me. I believe that he starts to draw me, looking up and then back down at his freakishly small notepad. This, again, for the next few days. Although, yes, I do want to be the main character of this Maddy-in-Paris life, I would like my experience to gear more towards a sexy-Parisian-waiter rom-com and not a Pret-A-Manger murder mystery.
Yesterday, with much anger I packed up, abandoned my station, and moved to another table – one without the Paris-people-watching-capacity and perfectly dimmed but bright lighting. And just like that, the perfect café moment was shattered. We now enter the dangerous territory of compromise…
I am aware that so far this has just been a rather random personal account of a slightly eerie experience, but other versions Rumplestiltskin top-hatted men have permeated many of the daily accounts of my fellow female students. We seldom convene for a weekend’s drink without an “omg, you won’t guess what happened to me on my way here *insert some somewhat entertaining/somewhat worrying story about creepy man*”.
We are always forced to compromise, and it’s important to realise when we are. Suddenly it occurred to me that I found myself not wearing my favourite low-cut top and going for a turtle -neck jumper instead. Pret is already heavily heated and the coverage was not needed, so, I find myself not sitting in the view of a Paris boulevard feeling fresh, but instead sweating profusely, facing the WC sign.
My friends have told me to change café. And as simple as this could be in cute-authentic-café-fuelled Paris, this somehow feels like too big a blow. We sway toward the question of safety versus principle. I do not particularly like the idea of having a possible café stalker and wish to avoid this at all costs, but I also do not like the idea of aborting my Pret mission. Girls constantly find themselves compromising without even realising it. The definition of compromise states “an agreement or settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions”. Now, the question remains: where is top-hat man making his concession? He certainly isn’t sitting where he does not want to sit. He certainly is wearing that foul hat and the pointy shoes. And he’s also certainly having his Pret cookie and eating it. So, I – like the fearless Parisian pigeons (and humans) who do not budge in their tracks and would bash straight into you if you’re distracted for a split second – will not abandon my café-moment mission. I owe it to Pret, but I also owe it to my creepy-man-story-fuelled girls.
Take example from Ms Eiffel, she stands tall and proud and certainly does not compromise.
‘Selflessness. Integrity. Objectivity. Accountability. Openness. Honesty. Leadership.’ These are the Seven Principles devised by Lord Nolan’s 1994 Committee on Standards in Public Life to promote a code of conduct that all public servants should follow. Following the news in the last week, it is apparent that our country has elected a government that is attempting to uproot all of these rules. Corruption is in some ways unavoidable in government. Ambition and greed are a permanent fixture in politics, and the drive to climb the greasy pole has always stirred questionable characters. As Lord Acton famously said: ‘power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’: ambitious people who think themselves untouchable tend to bend the rules for their purposes. Nonetheless, what shocks me is the level of corruption we are seeing in our country, and how this country has become numb to it. This is unsurprising based on our incumbent primus inter pares: Boris Johnson. The fish rots from the head down, and our Mr Blobby homage of a Prime Minister has paved the way for an unprecedented level of sleaze and scandal. Whether it was the dispute over who paid the furniture for Downing Street, dubiously funded holidays, or tennis matches with dodgy donors, Boris has pushed the envelope out of what it is acceptable for our political leaders to do. This has been apparent with the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal that has engulfed the government this week, but also in the numerous other corruption scandals in the last two years. Boris Johnson obviously did not cause all these scandals, but it was his nature of governing and what he views as acceptable that is seriously harming our political culture.
‘The evil of corruption reaches into every corner of the world. It lies at the heart of the most urgent problems we face… It is the cancer at the heart of so many of the world’s problems.’ A barnstorming quote many would agree with. Unfortunately, it is also a quote authored by one former Prime Minister David Cameron, a man at the centre of several burning corruption scandals including his lobbying for finance company Greensill Capital last year. I agree with Cameron, corruption is at the heart of many of the world’s problems, and that is thanks to men like him and Boris Johnson. Much like how Russia is said to be run by the ‘Mafia State’, Britain is run by the Bullingdon State; a chummy elite who are above pesky things like parliamentary standards and so-called ‘transparency’.
A former University of Oxford student has won the First Book Prize for the 2021 Polari Book Award for his personal coming of age memoir.
Mohsin Zaidi, an award-winning author, commentator, and lawyer, has received recognition from the 2021 Polari Book Awards for his work entitled A Dutiful Boy. Zaidi’s memoir recounts his struggles growing up gay in a devout Muslim family, attempting to navigate the weight of his identities in young adulthood.
The piece addresses the complexities of race, class, sexuality, and mental health in “a simple yet sophisticated manner.” The Times called the book one that will save many lives.
Growing up in a disadvantaged part of London, Zaidi was the first person in his school to attend the University of Oxford where he describes his confrontation with “the broken parts of his identity and seeks a way to reconcile seemingly irreconcilable worlds.”
After Zaidi left Oxford, he became a criminal barrister with the firm Linklaters and now serves at one of the top chambers in England.
The Polari Book Awards, launched in 2011, are the United Kingdom’s first and largest LGBTQ+ book award, aiming to explore the LGBTQ+ experience and amplify diverse voices. It awards the Polari Book Prize and the Polari First Book Prize to two nominated authors yearly.
Rachel Holmes, judge of the Polari First Book Prize, stated, “With painful honesty, [Zaidi] shows how no community of class, race, faith or queerness is immune from suspicion and occasional hatred of otherness, nor mercifully from love, laughter and acceptance.”
Five other authors and their pieces were nominated for the prestigious award in 2021: Tomasz Jędrowski for Swimming in the Dark, Kevin Maxwell for Forced Out, Paul Mendez for Rainbow Milk, Douglas Stuart for Shuggie Bain, and Andreena Leeanne for Charre.
The awards were announced on 30th October. The Polari Book Prize went to Diana Souhami for her work No Modernism without Lesbians and Mohsin Zaidi taking the First Book Prize for A Dutiful Boy.
A Dutiful Boy has also received acclaim from other sources. GQ, The Guardian, and New Statesman named the memoir their Book of the Year. It has also been awarded the prestigious Lambda Literary Award.
Outside of his writing and legal career, Zaidi serves as an advocate for LGBTQ rights and representation and The Financial Times has named him as a top future LGBT leader. Attitude Magazine has recognized him as one of the top trailblazers to change the world.
On Tuesday 26th October, a local rendition of a global child displacement story unfolded in Oxford as crowds packed the streets to participate in ‘The Walk’, a public performance centered on ‘Little Amal’, a 3.5-metre Syrian refugee girl in giant, mobile puppet form.
The Walk, spearheaded by Good Chance Theatre, draws together local stories and artistic expressions to depict the experiences of unaccompanied refugee children around the world. After travelling more than 5,000 miles and making stops in villages, towns, and cities across Europe, Little Amal was first greeted by a jovial crowd outside Oxford Botanic Garden before she ventured inside to meet a giant puppet of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, provided by the Story Museum, Lead Producer of Amal’s journey in Oxford.
In the Botanic Garden performance, the Red Queen, one of Alice’s key nemeses, angrily scattered Amal’s memories across Oxford after interrogating her and demanding to search her bag. The two girls were compelled to search the city for the lost memories, making stops along High Street, Broad Street, Cornmarket Street, and Christ Church Meadow.
The narrative for Amal and Alice’s meeting was penned by Syrian author and illustrator Nadine Kaadan and commissioned by the Story Museum, with creative direction by Jeremy James. Kaadan gathered material for Amal’s memories through a collective effort, by running a workshop with refugee women from Syria, Iraq, and Palestine living in Oxford.
The idea of Amal carrying a ‘bag of memories’ was inspired by stories from Kaadan’s refugee friends, whose journeys in dinghy boats and through refugee camps permitted precious little luggage. “One of my friends packed USB disks with as many memories as possible from his laptop,” Kaadan recalls. “Your bag is empty, but it’s actually so heavy with so many memories, culture, and tradition that you’re bringing with you.”
Kaadan, who looks back on Amal’s visit as “one of the most overwhelming moments of [her] life”, enthused about the participation of Oxford locals, noting especially how many local refugees had contributed to and engaged with Amal, including many from her homeland. “The beauty of it,” she reflects, “is the community of Oxford coming together to create the event, rather than [it being] a tokenistic thing made by elitist artists.”
Little Amal and Alice embrace upon meeting each other in Oxford Botanic Garden. Credit: Joshua Low.
Artistic, emotional, and political expression sprung up in response to Amal’s visit, with Oxford organisations, groups, and members of the general public weaving song, dance, protest, and other activities into the tapestry of the parade. Participants held small handmade puppets of Amal, created in workshops run by women’s community group Iraqi Women Art and War. On High Street, Amal relived her pre-war memories of after-school football by playing with children from the Rose Hill Youth Football Club. As she entered Christ Church Meadow, she was greeted by pupils from local schools and members of the public singing a Song of Welcome, composed by Holly Khan, Story Museum resident artist.
Throughout the afternoon, Oxford community street band Horns of Plenty followed in the footsteps of Amal and Alice in a lively, jazz-infused procession. They were joined by the Red Queen, giant flower puppets, and young dancers who portrayed roles from the Red Queen’s minions to Amal’s childhood friends injured in the Syrian war. “If we could play at something like this every day, it would be heaven,” said Andrew, a trumpet player in the band, making a chef’s kiss gesture.
Touches of Syrian and Levantine culture peppered the path of Amal’s search for her lost memories. Outside the Botanic Garden, Amal gifted a floral collared dress to Alice, which represented the new dress her mother had given her on the first day of Eid. In front of Weston Library, she opened a giant bilingual book that included illustrations of Amal, Alice, and the Clock of Homs, an iconic landmark of Homs, a city destroyed in the Syrian Civil War. In Merton Fields, the festive crowd shared stuffed grape leaves and other food common in the Levant region, as instructors from the Oxford Dabke group rallied people to dance the dabke, a Levantine folk dance, against the colourful backdrop of banners saying “Welcome” in multiple languages.
“[These memories] empower refugees and remind everyone that they don’t have anything on their back, but they have so much more behind them with their memory and culture,” says Kaadan.
Little Amal and Alice engage with crowds on High Street. Credit: Joshua Low.
Amal inspired many moments of emotional connection throughout the walk. Before entering the Botanic Garden, she paused to interact with parents and children lining Magdalen Bridge, extending a hand to those who did not have tickets to the performance in the Garden. In the middle of High Street, she bowed her head evocatively to greet a woman using a wheelchair. Lizzie, a drama practitioner in the procession, recalled the moment.
“One thing that made me cry was when the puppeteers were able to spot the woman, and Amal just stopped. I just went, ‘Oh!’ I had seen her just before, and she was a bit nervous and anxious that she wasn’t able to see – the crowd was moving so fast she couldn’t get anywhere else. That was so sweet.”
Political expression also appeared throughout the event. In the Botanic Garden performance, the Red Queen echoed real-life xenophobic and anti-refugee rhetoric with exclamations such as “You’re the wrong colour!” and “Go back to wherever you came from!” Oxford Against Immigration Detention (OAID) protested at the gates to Christ Church Meadow, with signs that proclaimed ‘Migrant Lives Matter’ and ‘Reunite Refugee Families’.
Protesters from Oxford Against Immigration Detention (OAID) stand with signs outside Christ Church Meadow. Credit: Joshua Low.
Local politicians and leaders in support of refugee causes were heartened by Oxford’s response to Amal, including Edward Mundy, City Councillor for Holywell, and Tom Fletcher, Principal of Hertford College, University of Oxford.
“This is a very big crowd,” remarked Councillor Mundy. “It shows that people here care about refugees. They wouldn’t want legislation that would discriminate against refugees or make them lose their rights to cross borders. If there is a war here, we have the right to seek asylum in France or a neighbouring country. We can’t take that away from people.”
Fletcher, who served as British Ambassador to Lebanon when the country hosted 1 million refugees, says that the University and the Oxford community need to “turn this sense of solidarity and compassion [in the Walk] into hard, practical support” in the form of “initiatives to support security, justice and opportunity for refugees”. He urged refugee access programmes “at all points of the academic pipeline”, “research that has a practical impact on security, justice, and opportunity for refugee communities”, and advocacy using Oxford’s “powerful voice”.
One such programme extending the impact of Amal’s visit has been the ‘Beyond Amal’ educational initiative, a collaboration between the Story Museum and Asylum Welcome which trains participants in storytelling and communication skills that they can bring to workplaces.
Kadaan also called the project an “artistic intervention” that challenges the new Nationality and Borders Bill recently introduced by Home Secretary Priti Patel in Parliament, which criminalises refugees based on the routes they take to safety.
“All of the hard work is really just changing narratives about refugees.” Kaadan stresses.
“Everyone is there to have fun and celebrate, when refugees usually are pitied and looked at in a charitable way. That’s how I wanted to celebrate refugees—[for them] to be treated as a celebration other than as a burden.”
The award-winning Syrian author also voiced hope that the story about the “classic British character and a Syrian refugee” will “turn into a book that stays on our bookshelves.
“Events are amazing, but stories stay forever.”
Little Amal connects with a young girl next to Hertford College, University of Oxford. Credit: Bess Levin Markel.
As the crowds in Merton Field lingered long after Amal had moved on towards her next stop, drama practitioner Lizzie shared her view on the reasons for the Walk’s success: “The arts generally have three threads: aesthetics, personal expression, and social change. That puppet is absolutely stunning – the face was so poignant and really well performed. The social change: the number one issue around this is to break down borders, to challenge racist migration and immigration policies. And then, you’ve got personal expression. Amal was so beautiful and had an emotional impact on people. I saw lots of people in tears. You’ve got the three threads happening beautifully and concurrently.”
“It has been very poignant,” Shaista Aziz, City Councillor for Rose Hill and Iffley, told Cherwell. “What Amal shows is the best of humanity in a time when we don’t see that very often in terms of the rhetoric of leaders of the country.”
“The most wonderful thing is that people look happy, they are smiling, joyful, really, really excited to see Little Amal. And I think that is beautiful.”
Saturday the 6th saw a protest for climate justice in Oxford, which started with a march in Cowley and ended with a rally on Broad Street. It was attended by a “movement of movements”, including Extinction Rebellion, Oxford Climate Society and various faith and political leaders.
Organiser Chris Church, of the Oxford Friends of the Earth, told Cherwell that they were expecting a crowd of at least three thousand.
The reasons for attending the march were diverse. Some, such as Nathaniel, a visiting student from Los Angeles, said that they wanted to draw attention to the plight of the working class during the climate crisis. Others focussed more on habitat decay. All, however, said that they were there to ensure that the government took urgent action.
Jim, an Extinction Rebellion activist, spoke with Cherwell about the need to create “a movement of movements so that we can end the blah blah blah of this government and turn it into concrete action”. He emphasised that this march was an opportunity for all those who hadn’t been able to travel to Glasgow and protest the COP itself.
Allison, a Brasenose alumnus and science teacher, explained to Cherwell that she and others were there to just generally emphasise their concern to the government. She invoked the plight of future generations and young people who would be bearing a disproportionate amount of the price of climate change. “COP26 can make a difference and needs to make a difference, but for that they must make difficult decisions”.
Apart from the many activists, students and generally concerned citizens, the march was also attended by faith leaders and local politicians. Dr Sheikh Ramzy, Imam and Director of the Islamic Centre told Cherwell that for him, attending the march was about ensuring “that the air that we all breathe, and future generations will continue to need, will be free from the poison that we are putting in it”. He spoke of the cooperation between his congregation and the wider community, telling Cherwell that “everybody is here, and many of the Oxford Muslims are here. Everyone is here, as if you love your children, you want to do something about it”.
The march started in Manzil Way Gardens, before slowly making its way down Cowley Road towards Broad Street, where speeches were held. The speakers included Layla Moran, MP for Oxford West, and Anneliese Dodds, Co-Chair of the Labour Party.
Firefighters were called to the Lincoln College accommodation on Walton Street on October 27th to extinguish a “well-developed fire,” as reported by the BBC.
All students left the building safely, and more than 30 Lincoln students were moved to temporary accommodation.
A student from Lincoln College told Cherwell that “the mood amongst students … was one of shock (everything seemed a bit surreal), but also one of solidarity. Everyone was very supportive of one another.
“When I arrived key members of the Lincoln site team and accommodation office were already there and kept us well-informed, in spite of the very difficult circumstances and firemen going in and out. Our college chaplain also appeared later on. Those of us on the scene were very touched by the kindness of several businesses on Little Clarendon Street (namely Gail’s and the Oxford Wine Cafe) who offered us free coffee and food while we were waiting for news.”
The student told Cherwell that after the fire “No one was allowed to sleep in the building on Wednesday evening. At around 5/5:30pm Lincoln staff organised for everyone to be able to go up and pack an overnight bag. The staff were very helpful in arranging alternative times for people to go and collect belongings over the next couple of days, if residents weren’t there at that specific time and/or forgot something. By 5:30pm the accommodation department had already sorted out where everyone would be sleeping.”
Students were allocated to different accomodation locations around the city: “some people went to alternative Lincoln accommodation in the centre of town, some to Somerville and others to Jesus accommodation in Cowley. Everyone had to stay away for at least two nights. Bedding packs were provided by the college.” The majority of students moved back into their original accomodation on Friday afternoon, although most of the first floor of the building is still out of bounds.
As for the damage caused by the fire, the student reported that “because the fire was contained to one room, most of the building is unscathed apart from the smell of smoke (which has since faded because it was given a chance to air out) and smoke damage on the first floor. College arranged for specialist cleaners to come in first thing the morning after and they and the housekeeping team have been working on the clean-up.
Station manager Pete Mackay told the BBC that the fire had taken place during National Fire Safety Week. He continued, “this highlights the importance of students and staff knowing exactly what to do in the event of a fire.”
“However there has been some significant disruption to the building, and the occupant has lost all their belongings due to what was a significant fire.” The fire service said the fire is thought to have been accidental and maybe started by a faulty charging device.
A spokesperson for Lincoln College called the fire a “dreadful accident,” saying “fortunately, nobody suffered injury in the fire. Our primary concern is for the safety and wellbeing of the students.
“We have supported students on the day of the fire and throughout the days following it. By responding swiftly, we ensured fire damage was limited. We had in-person welfare support immediately available to students at the site of the fire. On the afternoon of the fire, we found alternative accommodation for all the affected students in Lincoln accommodation or in other colleges. In particular, we thank Somerville and Jesus colleges for their support. We have been providing free meals to affected students and will reimburse their rent for the days the Little Clarendon Street accommodation has not been available to them; we also made a grant to each student to cover incidental expenses.
“Welfare officers and other College staff have been in constant communication with students each day since the fire. All operations officers and the Oxford Colleges fire safety adviser have had meetings with students to answer questions. The buildings have been thoroughly cleaned by College housekeeping services and external specialist cleaners. Welfare support continues to be available to students affected by the fire. Financial support is available, and we are resolved that no student should be financially disadvantaged because of the fire. The majority of students have already moved back into the building, and we expect occupation of all rooms to return to normal shortly, except for the one room damaged by the fire.”
The student from Lincoln College felt that the response to the fire was a testament to how special the Lincoln College community is, saying: “throughout the process I have been blown away by the efficiency, sensitivity and kindness displayed by all members of Lincoln staff. We have been offered financial support. I had some slight concerns about moving back in, but staff members spoke to me kindly and openly about these and set my mind at ease. Other residents recently raised concerns about possible health risks posed by the air quality and the emotional toll the episode has taken. College responded to these concerns very promptly and took them seriously, informing us that they are planning welfare events and support for us and will be inviting a fire safety expert to come and address our concerns. In the meantime, they pointed us in the direction of welfare resources.
“Although the past week has been very hard for everyone in LCS Lincoln accommodation there is now an awareness of a strong bond between us. The general feeling (shared by myself) is that college handled an awful situation well and we are very grateful to the wonderful staff who are helping us through this. Other students (both in the JCR and MCR) have also been extremely supportive.”
Food researchers at Oxford Martin School are working with Tesco to increase the plant-based options on our supermarket shelves.
In 2020, an international team led by Oxford University revealed that even if fossil fuel emissions stopped immediately, emissions from global food production could raise our planet’s temperatures by more than 1.5 degrees within 30-45 years. However, the Oxford Martin Future of Food Programme has shown that if our national beef consumption was reduced by just a fifth, then we could save the equivalent CO2 emissions as driving 27 billion fewer miles. To accelerate Britain’s shift towards a greener diet, the Programme is working with Tesco to increase plant-based meals.
According to the Eating Better coalition, meat-based products still made up 70% of ready-meal ranges in March 2021. Clearly, a change in the nation’s diet is key to tackling the climate crisis. To achieve this, the Future of Food Programme is investigating the factors that affect consumer food choices. They have discovered that aspects like the cost and availability of meat-free meals significantly impact the consumption of these products, and this research is crucial in helping supermarkets to tailor their stock towards an environmentally-friendly future.
The Programme’s senior researcher, Dr Brian Cook, is interested in the role that food providers should play in promoting greener eating habits. He suggests that simply increasing the availability of plant-based alternatives could nudge consumers away from meat-based meals. He emphasises the role that supermarkets like Tesco should play in pushing this transition.
In a survey by Tesco, 57% of people stated a willingness to switch to a meatless meal one day a week to benefit the environment. In light of this research, Tesco has pledged to increase its supply of plant-based meat alternatives by 300%. With bigger ranges of meat-free meals, and with more investment directed towards tasty alternatives to carnivorous dishes, the Future of Food Programme hopes that anyone looking to shift their consumption will be more likely to make the change and will also be more likely to maintain it.
Since price is often cited as a reason why individuals avoid making a transition to veganism, Tesco is also working on reducing the prices of its plant-based range. They hope that if proteins like tofu and nuts are made as accessible as meat proteins, consumers will be more able to embrace a sustainable diet and enjoy the health benefits that could come with it.
This new initiative is clearly coming at the right time. Average daily meat consumption in the UK decreased by approximately 17.4g per person (from 103.7g to 86.3g) between 2008/09 and 2018/19, suggesting that the market for plant-based alternatives is steadily on the rise. With further research by the Future of Food Programme, there is reason to hope that this trend will continue, and that we will see continuous changes to Britain’s supermarket shelves.
In the words of Dr Cook himself, “each of us making a small change to our diets could add up to a huge shift in our collective environmental impact”. With COP-26 taking place this week, the momentum spurred by projects like Oxford Martin’s is pushing the global community towards a greener future.
