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Balanced by whose standards? Challenging the Pinsker Centre’s Israel policy trips

Henry Bunkall
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Balanced by whose standards? Challenging the Pinsker Centre’s Israel policy trips

On 6th June, The Telegraph published an article outlining the abuse and criticism faced by Ben Ashworth, an Oxford University and Oxford Union member, over his visit to Israel. The article describes the trip as “a fact-finding trip to better understand the Gaza conflict”. A closer examination of the trip itinerary, however, tells a different story.

The Pinsker Centre describes itself as “a non-partisan think tank focusing on global foreign policy, especially the Middle East”. It provides free “Israel Policy Trips” to Oxford and Cambridge students to “learn about one of the most complex geopolitical conflicts in the world from a balanced, non-partisan policy perspective”.

However, the Centre was originally founded under a different name, “the Pinsker Centre for Zionist Education”. In an article written for Jewish News in 2016, one of  the Centre’s founders described it as “an initiative of students who want to change the discourse around Israel on campus”. Another co-founder referred to it as a Zionist organisation leading trips to Israel for students from diverse backgrounds. 

The organisation’s origins do not necessarily determine its operations today, but do challenge the claim they are a neutral entity by self-defining as “non-partisan.”

In continuation of this point, understanding contested conflict is highly dependent on who is chosen to explain it.

On social media, the Pinsker Centre says that participants met with President Isaac Herzog, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel and Meirav Leshem Gonen as well as Palestinian voices like Rami Nazzal and John Munayer.

It is not fundamentally objectionable for students to meet senior politicians; access to decision-makers can be educational.

However, when a trip presents itself as politically balanced whilst prominently featuring senior members of a government accused of war crimes, the claim deserves scrutiny.

Herzog is not an academic like John Munayer, but the president of Israel. In September 2025, the UN Human Rights Council legal analysis concluded that the Israeli president “incited the commission of genocide” following comments made after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

The report cites his statement that: “it’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true, this rhetoric about civilians who were not aware and not involved. It is absolutely not true.”

Similarly, Sharren Haskel is not a journalist and tour guide company owner like Rami Nazzal, but a senior member of the Israeli government.

Their inclusion as speakers challenges any claim of a balanced fact-finding trip.

Yet perhaps the most striking omission from the article is not who the students met, but where they went.

The Pinsker Centre’s own itinerary states that the trip included a visit to the Golan Heights. The article made no mention of this, and instead readers are left with the impression that the trip consisted of a visit to Israel proper only.

The Golan Heights is not just another stop on an itinerary because its status remains disputed under international law. Notably, the UK has never recognised Israel’s annexation of the Heights, whilst Human Rights Watch have criticised Israeli government plans to expand settlements into the occupied territory. Under Article 49 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, an occupying power deporting or transferring part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies is a war crime. Subsequently, for Syrians, the Golan Heights remains a symbol of occupation and displacement. Clearly geography is not politically neutral.

To describe the delegation as a visit to Israel whilst omitting the inclusion of the Golan Heights removes an important aspect of the political landscape the students were invited to encounter.

No delegation can represent every Israeli and Palestinian perspective. How these choices were presented is therefore a greater issue than the fact that these choices were made at all.

Such a carefully curated programme shapes participants’ understandings of the conflict. To curate the trip, the Pinsker Centre had to choose which voices to elevate. This is an inherently political process.

The article is right to condemn a number of antisemitic incidents. Such abuse deserves unequivocal condemnation. Of course, criticism of the Israeli state can become antisemitic in conflating Jewish identity with Israeli state actors. Holding Jews as collectively responsible for the actions of Israel is antisemitic; such discrimination is completely unacceptable.

At the same time, criticism of political institutions, governments and political delegations in Israel is not automatically equivalent to hostility towards Jewish people. Israel is often presented by Western governments as the Middle East’s sole liberal democracy. If that is the claim, then its institutions and representatives must be subjected to the same scrutiny that forms a pillar of democracy. Either way, this characterisation is difficult to reconcile with the occupation, disenfranchisement and, discrimination of millions of Palestinians under Israeli control.

Conflating fairly made criticism of the Pinsker Centre’s itinerary with antisemitism weakens our ability to identify and confront genuine discrimination.

In the midst of one of the most controversial military campaigns of the century, described as genocide by the International Association of Genocide Scholars and an independent United Nations commission of inquiry, it is entirely legitimate to ask whether a fully funded delegation to Israel can ever be considered a politically neutral educational exercise.

It should concern us all that The Telegraph represented the trip as a politically neutral fact-finding mission while omitting important context about its itinerary and speaker selection. Readers should be given sufficient context to assess claims of balance and neutrality for themselves. The free press exists as a tool to scrutinise those with power and influence, not stifle dissenting opinions.

Students can gain a lot from visiting Israel, Palestine, and the wider region. But when a fully funded delegation to Israel claims to be a non-partisan, balanced guide to one of the world’s most contested conflicts, those claims should be subject to careful scrutiny.

When contacted for comment, the Pinsker Centre said:

“Our trips are non-partisan educational programmes that enable students to engage directly with the complexities of the region through first-hand observation and discussion. Programmes have included meetings with senior Israelis as well as prominent Palestinian political figures, such as Dr Mustafa Barghouti. The inclusion of speakers with widely differing, and often opposing, viewpoints is intended to inform students’ understanding of the issues rather than promote any particular position. Where the itinerary includes places with contested legal or political status, those issues are presented and discussed. Visiting such locations is an important part of understanding the lived experience of Palestinians, including the humanitarian and human rights issues frequently discussed in connection with the conflict. Such visits are educational in nature.“

Milo Donovan wins Oxford Union Presidency after suspended vote count

Stanley Arlidge, Mair Andrews, and Anisha Mohammed
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Milo Donovan wins Oxford Union Presidency after suspended vote count

Milo Donovan has been declared the winner of the election for Oxford Union President in Hilary Term 2027, after the Union released the result of last term’s suspended vote count. Donovan, whose campaign pledges included banning hack messages, was last term’s treasurer. 

The result was released 44 days after the poll on 12th June. According to the Returning Officer’s notice, 117 (11%) of the 1073 ballots were excluded from the count by the Election Tribunal. Donovan won with 435 first preferences, ahead of Prajwal Pandey’s 360 first preferences. 67 voters asked to Re-Open Nominations. 

The Trinity Term election count was originally suspended after the Returning Officer identified substantial evidence of electoral malpractice.  In a notice to all members on 12th June, the Returning Officer announced that counting would not proceed due to suspicions it would not yield a reliable result. Several membership cards were subsequently seized and an Election Tribunal was convened. The investigation, which included an email verification process, concluded ahead of the count on 26th July. 

In a ruling issued on 20th June, the Tribunal found that all elections for Officer, Officer-Elect, Standing Committee, and Secretary’s Committee were affected by electoral malpractice allegations. It ordered that no member may enter upon office or an elected place on committee until it rules further. Current Standing Committee and Secretary’s Committee members remained in post rather than leaving at the end of term, while the offices of President-elect, Librarian-elect, and Treasurer-elect have remained vacant in the meantime.

An Oxford Union spokesperson told Cherwell: “Following our recent elections, the Tribunal identified and set aside a number of irregular ballots after a rigorous verification process involving record analysis, CCTV review, and direct confirmation with every voter concerned. Crucially, these were caught before any ballot box was opened, so they had no bearing on the result, which stands as declared.”

This is the second Tribunal intervention in a Union election this year. A Tribunal in May found former President-Elect Catherine Xu guilty of electoral fraud over the Hilary Term 2026 election, permanently barring her from office and ordering a re-poll. Xu’s case concerned separate conduct and has since concluded; no findings have yet been announced from the current investigation.

The Returning Officer’s notice accompanying the results states: “The succession to these Offices and Committees is and will remain suspended until the Election Tribunal orders otherwise.” 

Elsewhere, Henry Nicholls was elected Treasurer against Vishnu Vadlamani and Shamir Aziz was elected Librarian, beating opponent Oliver Green. Saara Lunawat, who ran unopposed, was elected Secretary. 

The following were elected to Standing Committee, from most to fewest votes: George Christiansen, Sambhav Jain, DK Singh, Leo Zhou, Adil Rahoo, and Isabelle McElvanney.

Meanwhile, the following will make up the Secretary’s Committee:  Akheel Kale, Kevin Cui, Leyton Styles, Aarav Desai, Konstantin Nazarov, Luisa Romero Munoz, Marion Santo, Antonio Reis, Matilda Richardson, Thomas Tadesse, and David Balbus.

Cherwell has contacted Donovan and Pandey for comment.

Relax Massage vs Deep Tissue: Which One Beats Office Burnout?

External Contributor
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Relax Massage vs Deep Tissue: Which One Beats Office Burnout?

Desk-bound working culture across modern workplaces often presents physical demands that quietly accumulate into chronic muscle tightness and mental fatigue over time. While daily stretching routines and ergonomic seating arrangements help mitigate basic posture strain, the insidious nature of office burnout frequently manifests in deep seated tension throughout the neck, shoulders, and lower back. Choosing the right therapeutic approach is essential for counteracting these physiological stress responses before they severely impact daily productivity and sleep quality.

Physical Symptoms of Workplace Fatigue and Tension

Prolonged periods spent staring at dual monitors inevitably lead to forward head posture, placing immense strain on the upper trapezius and levator scapulae muscles. Over several months, this mechanical stress transforms flexible muscle tissue into rigid, tender nodes that restrict normal range of motion and restrict blood flow. Ignoring these early warning signals often leads to tension headaches, shallow breathing patterns, and a general feeling of bodily heaviness that standard rest rarely fixes.

When chronic stiffness begins interrupting your evening relaxation and weekend recovery, taking proactive professional steps becomes necessary to restore functional comfort. Choosing to visit a top-rated beauty salon chain allows professionals to assess your specific muscular imbalances and recommend tailored bodywork treatments designed for desk workers. Addressing these physiological stress points early prevents cumulative soft tissue damage while significantly boosting overall day-to-day vitality and focus.

Postural Distortion: Rounding shoulders cause persistent mid-back stiffness and reduced chest expansion.
Repetitive Strain: Continuous typing creates micro-trauma along forearms, wrist flexors, and thumb tendons.
Elevated Cortisol: Constant daily stress signals keep muscles in a perpetual semi-contracted fight-or-flight state.

Navigating these interconnected physical symptoms requires understanding how different mechanical pressures target distinct layers of soft tissue within the body.

Deep Tissue Therapy for Chronic Structural Tension

Deep tissue work focuses specifically on realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective fascia through slow, deliberate strokes and deep finger pressure. This method deliberately breaks down rigid adhesions that form from hours of static desk posture, restoring micro-circulation to oxygen-deprived muscular zones. While the intense mechanical manipulation can occasionally cause mild temporary tenderness, the long-term release of persistent physical restriction offers unparalleled functional relief for chronic pain sufferers.

FeatureDeep Tissue MassageRelax Massage
Primary FocusMuscle adhesions and deep fascia releaseParasympathetic nervous system calm
Pressure LevelFirm, targeted, and intenseLight to medium, gentle strokes
Ideal ForChronic structural stiffness and posture strainElevated anxiety, insomnia, and mild fatigue
Recovery Period24–48 hours mild muscular sorenessInstant relief with zero downtime

Because deep tissue bodywork alters muscle memory and breaks up dense scar tissue, clients often experience a noticeable improvement in overall posture within forty-eight hours following their session.

Restoring Nervous System Balance

Sustained workplace pressure keeps the sympathetic nervous system continuously active, leaving the body in a prolonged state of subconscious hyper-vigilance. Soft tissue manipulation acts as a physical circuit breaker, signalling the brain to lower heart rate and reduce circulating stress hormones.

Enhancing Mental Clarity and Sleep

When physical discomfort subsides, the mind naturally transitions from constant fight-or-flight processing into a state of active recovery. Deep restorative rest becomes much easier to achieve, directly revitalising mental bandwidth for demanding professional tasks.

Recharging Energy Levels Through Target Gentle Bodywork

Gentle manual therapy works directly upon the skin’s nerve endings to trigger a widespread release of endorphins while systematically encouraging lymphatic fluid drainage. The deliberate, rhythmic motions help reduce peripheral swelling caused by prolonged sitting while soothing an overworked mind without causing localised physical strain. Booking a specialised relax massage provides an effortless way to step away from screen-induced stress and submerge into complete somatic recovery.

Balancing high-pressure corporate workloads with targeted physical self-care is a practical necessity rather than an extravagant indulgence for modern London professionals. By selecting the precise massage modality tailored to your immediate physical needs – whether targeting deep structural knots or soothing nervous exhaustion – you can effectively protect your body against office burnout. Taking control of your muscular health today ensures long-term physical resilience and sustainable energy throughout the demanding working year.

FAQ

How do I know whether I need deep tissue work or a gentler session?

If you feel sharp localised knots and limited joint mobility, opt for deep tissue focus; choose gentler sessions when experiencing overall body exhaustion and high anxiety.

Will deep structural manipulation cause noticeable muscle soreness afterwards?

Mild muscular tenderness is completely normal for up to two days following deep work as soft tissues realign and release stored tension.

How frequently should office workers schedule professional bodywork?

Incorporating specialised sessions once or twice a month provides optimal prevention against chronic posture strain and cumulative workplace fatigue.

Can targeted treatments help alleviate frequent tension headaches?

Yes, releasing tight neck and shoulder muscles directly removes mechanical pressure that frequently triggers stress-induced headaches.

Is there any specific preparation required before attending a session?

Arrive well-hydrated and avoid heavy meals immediately prior to your appointment to ensure your body feels completely comfortable throughout treatment.

CS2 Skins as an Investment: Can You Actually Make Money Trading Virtual Items?

External Contributor
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CS2 Skins as an Investment: Can You Actually Make Money Trading Virtual Items?

CS2 skins are cosmetic items, but the market around them behaves like a real digital economy. Players buy, sell, collect, trade, and track weapon finishes whose prices can range from a few cents to hundreds of thousands of dollars. That has created growing interest in CS2 skins as an investment.

The idea is simple: buy a skin, case, sticker, or other item at one price and sell it later for more. In practice, however, making money is much harder. Players who want to sell CS2 skins for profit need to consider supply, demand, rarity, weapon popularity, float, pattern, stickers, market liquidity, Valve updates, and the platform used to sell.

A successful CS2 skin investment requires research, patience, and risk control. Skins can increase in value, but they are not regulated financial products and do not guarantee returns.

Can you actually make money trading CS2 skins?

Yes, some players make money through virtual item trading, but profit is never automatic.

A trader can earn money by:

  • Buying items below their usual market value;
  • Holding discontinued or limited-supply items;
  • Identifying skins with growing demand;
  • Trading rare floats or patterns;
  • Buying older cases before supply becomes more limited;
  • Selling after a price increase;
  • Finding undervalued sticker crafts;
  • Using price differences between marketplaces.

The difficult part is that every transaction includes risk. A skin can increase in value, remain unchanged for years, or lose demand. Even when the visible price rises, fees and cash-out discounts can reduce the real profit.

For example, buying a skin for $100 and later seeing listings at $130 does not automatically mean a $30 profit. The item still needs a buyer, and the seller may pay marketplace fees or accept a lower cash price.

Why do CS2 skins have value?

Skins do not increase damage, accuracy, movement speed, or recoil control. Their value comes from scarcity, appearance, demand, and collectibility.

The main price factors are:

  • Rarity grade;
  • Weapon popularity;
  • Case or collection supply;
  • Exterior condition;
  • Float value;
  • StatTrak availability;
  • Pattern index;
  • Stickers;
  • Professional esports exposure;
  • Collector demand;
  • Trading volume.

A popular AK-47 skin can have stronger demand than a similarly rare skin for a weapon that few players use. This is why rarity alone does not determine price.

The CS2 skin market values both scarcity and visibility. Players are often willing to pay more for items they will see frequently during matches.

Rarity does not always mean profitability

Counter-Strike uses rarity tiers such as Consumer, Industrial, Mil-Spec, Restricted, Classified, and Covert. Knives and gloves belong to special rare item categories.

Higher rarity usually means lower supply, but it does not guarantee higher returns. A Covert skin can perform poorly if demand is weak, while an older Restricted skin can rise because its collection becomes difficult to obtain.

Investors should study:

  • How many items are available;
  • Whether the case still drops;
  • How often the skin sells;
  • Whether demand is increasing;
  • Whether the current price reflects real sales.

A rare item with no buyers can be difficult to sell. Liquidity matters as much as scarcity.

CS2 skin liquidity: why it matters

Liquidity describes how easily an item can be sold without reducing the price heavily.

Popular skins for AK-47, AWP, M4A1-S, M4A4, USP-S, Glock-18, knives, and gloves usually attract more buyers. That can make pricing easier and reduce the time needed to sell.

Less popular skins may show high listing prices but have low sales volume. In that situation, the seller may need to wait or lower the price.

Before investing in CS2 skins, check:

  • Recent sales;
  • Number of active listings;
  • Buy orders;
  • Price spread;
  • Sales frequency;
  • Cash-out value.

A liquid skin can sometimes be a safer choice than an extremely rare item with very few potential buyers.

Float and exterior condition

Every weapon skin has a float value within a defined range. Float affects the exterior condition:

  • Factory New;
  • Minimal Wear;
  • Field-Tested;
  • Well-Worn;
  • Battle-Scarred.

Lower float often means less visible wear, but the effect depends on the skin. Some designs remain attractive in Field-Tested condition, while others lose important details.

Special float values can receive collector premiums. An extremely low Factory New float or unusually high Battle-Scarred float may be worth more than a standard item.

However, rare float does not guarantee profit. The seller still needs to find a buyer who understands why the item is special.

Pattern index and rare variations

Some finishes change significantly depending on pattern index.

AK-47 | Case Hardened is one of the best-known examples. Its surface can show different combinations of blue, gold, and purple. Blue-heavy patterns, known as Blue Gems, can sell for much more than ordinary versions, so players who plan to buy CS2 skins from this category should always check the pattern index, float, and recent comparable sales before making a purchase.

Pattern investing requires specialist knowledge. Two skins with the same name, exterior, and rarity can have completely different values because of pattern placement.

Before buying a pattern-based skin, check:

  • Exact pattern index;
  • Visible pattern placement;
  • Comparable sales;
  • Collector demand;
  • Specialist price references.

Do not assume that every Case Hardened item is a valuable Blue Gem.

Stickers and crafts

Stickers can increase the value of a skin, especially rare tournament stickers such as Katowice 2014 Holos. But sticker value is complicated.

A sticker applied to a weapon usually does not add its full unapplied value. The premium depends on:

  • Sticker rarity;
  • Placement;
  • Number of matching stickers;
  • Visual combination;
  • Weapon popularity;
  • Collector interest.

A four-sticker craft may attract a large premium, but a random collection of expensive stickers can be difficult to price.

Conclusion

CS2 skins as an investment can generate profit, but success depends on knowledge, timing, liquidity, fees, and risk management. The CS2 skin market rewards players who understand rarity, float, patterns, stickers, collection supply, and real transaction prices.

Tanjil Rashid on diversity and the future of journalism

Hassan Akram
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Tanjil Rashid on diversity and the future of journalism

Tanjil Rashid is currently the Culture Editor of the New Statesman, although he has worked previously as a bookshop assistant and a civil servant and even, unfortunately, endured torrents of abuse as a comprehensive-school supply teacher. Having grown up in Ilford in East London, he now lives marginally to the north in Walthamstow. “I haven’t moved very far in life,” he jokes. In fact, he has been on quite a journey.

Rashid was born in 1990. “My parents had quite modest lives and I grew up in an immigrant Muslim Bengali family. My father immigrated to Britain to provide labour in the post-war economy, working up north in factories and then worked as a waiter and eventually getting an office job. My mother has been a housewife all her life. But they stressed education, as families like mine tend to; I went to a grammar school and became interested in literature and the arts. Public libraries were very good back then, they had lots of old books that you don’t find there anymore.”

He got into Cambridge and had a very good start in journalism at the Financial Times. After that he ended up landing in television, which he didn’t enjoy, and remained a freelance writer for many years until he was chosen to become the Culture editor of the New Statesman. He is doubtful, however, that people from backgrounds like his would in the future end up with such a prestigious position in the literary world.

“I grew up in a world that was changing and was still pretty analogue. The first fifteen years of my life were pretty much internet-free. Children from families like mine probably don’t have much exposure to print culture anymore. Children in intelligentsia families, the kind where they get the London Review of Books in the mail, probably still do. When I was growing up, my father was a great reader of newspapers, he’d sit there reading the paper while my mother was doing the shopping, and she also enjoyed reading Bengali newspapers.”

It was the early exposure to print culture which, though not a unique experience, turned Rashid towards the world of letters. “There are two kinds of people who go into journalism: one, people who really love news and current affairs; the other, people who like the written word. I’m someone who loves words, likes reading and writing. It’s hard to say why I specifically became interested in culture, art, fiction – I just for some reason got interested in that.” He pauses. “In some way literary journalism is a strange career to have. It’s not really a real career. It’s really too fun to be taken too seriously.”

Rashid, who has been a journalist for over a decade, is ruminative about the state of his chosen profession. “Fifty or a hundred years ago, it was in book reviewing and literary journalism that the great journalists were to be discovered.” Indeed, his predecessors as literary – now Culture – editors of the New Statesmen include V.S. Pritchett, Claire Tomalin, and Martin Amis.

While he does not agree the literary world is in the crisis some make it out to be in, he accepts changes are afoot. “The novel, like the epic poem, is no longer as central to the culture as it was. It’s impossible to know what new literary forms will take the place of the novel. The old ways of writing and understanding the world are changing. Critics must respond to this in a critically intelligent way. The people who are just being born or will be born in ten years’ time will express themselves as humans always do, but perhaps not writing novels. We recently did a piece, for instance, on how AI is reshaping the opera.” He stresses, however, that continuities remain. “Even now there are brilliant writers coming through in journalism. That supply of literary talent is proliferating. I’m constantly being amazed by youngsters who want to write about literature, and are remarkably well-read and write impressively.”

Identity is a recurring theme in Rashid’s writing. When I ask him about this, he reflects that this is not a conscious choice. “It happens to be the case that I am Muslim, I am British, and I am many other things, and these things inevitably shape what I write. These things are probably just noticed more because I have an – unusual identity. There aren’t many Bengali journalists in the media. There are so few of us that we often get mistaken for each other. For instance, I’m always getting mistaken for Faisal Islam, for some reason.” He laughs. “There are probably only two or three British Muslims in literary journalism.  So, if you read my writings you’ll probably notice I have a slightly different identity, different perspective because of it. My identity doesn’t completely determine my perspective, but it certainly informs it.”

Earlier this year, Rashid interviewed Salman Rushdie. “Certainly, when it comes to a writer like Rushdie, a British Asian of Muslim heritage, there will be a way that I relate to his work and his life in a way that others don’t, because we share something of the world. There has been a lot of talk about diversity in the last decade or so but actually I don’t see the literary world becoming any less parochial. Things probably were better in decades past. In the decades after decolonisation you had Commonwealth writers such as VS Naipaul and Salman Rushdie being widely read and acclaimed, but today, even though we like to think of ourselves as more modern and contemporary and open, a novel such as Midnight’s Children would not be understood or read as widely.”

Identity certainly informs the multicultural Britain depicted in Rashid’s fiction. (As well as literary essays, articles, interviews, he has turned his hand to short stories, too.) “The Fanatic”, is particularly funny in the way it turns tropes and stereotypes on their head: it is the story of an imam who is expelled from his mosque for being a dangerous fanatic, but the fanaticism of which he stands accused is an inflexible, irrational love of Manchester United. “It was a wonderful thing to have short stories published in magazines and that sort of thing,” Rashid admits, “but it’s not a living.”

I ask him about his future ambitions. He pauses and looks down at the magazine – guess which one – that lies on the table. “My ambition, really, is to keep producing good literary coverage, good writing by the famous and brilliant writers I’m already publishing as well as finding new ones. The New Statesman has always been a venerable institution but since Tom McTague became editor the magazine has become absolutely essential to the national conversation – see the coverage of the Labour leadership contest, for instance. I would like to keep the literary pages of the New Statesman among the best in the world.” On the question of whether he might follow up his short stories with a novel, the reply, hesitantly given, is, “No comment.”

Many Cherwell readers – and certainly most Cherwell editors – are mulling over the prospect of a journalistic career, and will be seeking tips as to how to thrive in the profession. Rashid advises: “Have a day job: at this point in history, writing is an amateur sport, not a career. More importantly: Read. Read everything. Don’t just read what’s fashionable. Read science writing, travel writing, the Bible, read all kinds of words. Go back in time and read Shakespeare and Dickens. If you want to be a writer you have to understand language in all its subtleties, and to do that you have to read omnivorously.”

Caught between grief and hope: ‘On Some Far Shore’ reviewed

Melissa Eddon
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Caught between grief and hope: ‘On Some Far Shore’ reviewed

Fresh off the back of Our House and Macbeth, Cross Key Productions presents an original three-hander focused on the complexities of grief and young love. Produced by Madi Boutcha and Adam Peterson, the show is Louis Bennyworth’s first dalliance with the art of writing musicals. The show offers a heartfelt premise and a talented cast, and is set to move to the Edinburgh Fringe once its run in Oxford is complete.

In Oxford’s Michael Pilch black box theatre, we meet Euan in the midst of his grief, faced with the mammoth task of preparing a eulogy for Helen, his mother. The stage is set with a wooden set of ladders, mugs dotted, and half finished notes fanned across the floor in piles, the result of Euan’s inner turmoil. His girlfriend, Isla, seeks to aid him in this journey, but struggles to meet his needs whilst remembering her own. Over the course of the play, we learn more about Euan’s relationship with Helen, and in turn her relationship with Isla. We find a complex woman, at times too independent and brusque, who has raised Euan to be a man of great moral strength but also great anxiety. 

The show’s greatest credit is undoubtedly the earnestness with which it portrays grief. Thomas Perry’s performance captured the simultaneous pain, anxiety and guilt that characterises loss, and provided an engaging centre for the show. As a character, Euan seems lost, turned young again by his mother’s death. We also get to see Isla’s grief (portrayed by Katie Gill), a more subtle and shared pain, both at the death of a woman she once knew, and the impact that had on the man she loves. The most thoughtful performance of grief, however, was that of Helen herself. Nicole Palka’s astute portrayal of Helen’s willful ignorance of her own ill-health, and her decision to keep that from Euan and Isla for as long as possible is one of the heavier points of the musical, and arguably the one that stays with you the longest after curtain call. 

The production flourished in its depiction of childhood wonder and lent the play an added element of thoughtfulness. The prop department offered a visual display that invited us into the mind of Euan as he visualised his mother’s stories. As he shares these tales with Isla, the production does well to exaggerate the contrast between Euan’s childlike ignorance and Isla’s increasing discontent with the story’s overall message. 

The use of shadow, though underutilised, was effective in reminding us of the looming figure of Euan’s mother in his life, for better or for worse. It also served well in displaying the nature of memory, as her stories invaded his brain and sailed through, whilst conversations and moments carry on in real time. 

Bennyworth’s first foray into the musical genre is commendable. The ending polyphony in particular serves to show the beauty of the three-hander, with Perry, Gill and Palka offering emotive harmonies for a fitting final flourish. Yet, the lyrics themselves demand a more thoughtful reconsideration. Some lyrics felt clumsy (“we focus on it superfluously”), whilst others leant too heavily on overused metaphors that cheapened the emotive meanings behind them (“like a kite flying high on the evening breeze”).

This thought should be extended to the story more broadly – in part, it felt unfinished. Whilst the eulogy is finally delivered, and conversations are had, the denouement feels surface level, and largely a pretence. Strings of plot that were pulled out over the course of the show were left unaddressed. Isla’s critique of Euan’s mother triggers a collapse in their relationship: but only for five minutes. By the next scene the issue remains unresolved and yet the characters have moved on – Isla’s comments feel pointless, offering no real material change to the way Euan views his mother. What could have been a tale of coming to terms with the reality of inconsistent parenting and its legacy, ended up uncertain where it stood.Similarly, the mother’s character remains underdone. So intense is Euan’s mythologising of her, and so little time is devoted to her character, that she feels more like a plot device than a character in her own right. 

By far the most fleshed out character, Isla, does not receive a fitting ending either. Working at an internship during the day, she is uncertain where her life will lead, and the role Euan will play in it. At times unlikeable, her character feels most realistic out of the three. Euan’s grief places her in the position of carer, and though she loves him and wants to support him, she fears the relationship will swallow up her life, leaving her with nothing that is her own. The conflicted feelings are captured beautifully by Gill. Still, the play sets a perfect grounding for a study into how to handle the grief of a loved one, and how it interacts with relationship dynamics, and yet offers only a surface level commentary on both its difficulties and its solutions. 

Through the course of an evening the relationship ebbs and flows from places of safety to places of real distress and uncertainty. The extent of the disharmony between them at times makes the ending unbelievable. Though they both sing of a new certainty and hope, little has been done to address their resounding fears. In the final few moments, the ending felt like one of forced hope, where really there were deep wounds temporarily glued together. 

The road to reckoning: ‘The Slip’ reviewed

Leo Jones
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The road to reckoning: ‘The Slip’ reviewed

I wasn’t too sure what to expect when I went to see Wide Eyes Productions’ The Slip in Week 7 (written and directed by Orla Wyatt and produced by Milo Ghiandai). In two years at Oxford, I had somehow never made it to a piece of original student writing, and I arrived armed with all the usual, slightly cynical expectations: clunky, over-earnest monologues, low-budget visuals straining under ambition, and an audience politely disengaged. 

However, opening night of The Slip immediately dispelled all those assumptions. From the moment I entered the Burton Taylor Studio, I was gripped. It is not a large space, but its intimacy only heightened the emotional stakes of Wyatt’s story, bringing the audience uncomfortably close to every revelation, accusation, and fracture in the group’s relationships. 

Based on a true story once heard by the writer-director, The Slip centres around a fatal car accident on a country road. The premise is deceptively simple: Archie (Callum Beardmore) is driving friends Christina (Maisie Lambert), Billy (Sam Drury), and Daniel (Alex Smith) back from a house party during the early hours, when they hit a woman walking by the side of the road. As police questioning unfolds under the scrutiny of Inspector (Cait Kremenstein), the truth emerges piece by piece. What initially appears to be a tragic accident is gradually revealed to be something darker: Billy, drunk and reckless in the passenger seat, had grabbed the wheel and swerved towards a pedestrian with the chilling joke: “ten points for a pedestrian”. 

The strength of Wyatt’s script lies not in this final revelation, but in the moral fallout that follows. Rather than constructing a conventional whodunnit, The Slip asks what happens when a group of friends become bound together by a secret. That a fox crossing the road had caused the car to suddenly swerve. The tension comes not from discovering who is responsible, but from watching each character negotiate guilt, loyalty, and self-preservation, all complicated by alcohol-fuelled uncertainty and a tangled web of personal relationships.

Callum Beardmore’s Archie carries much of this emotional burden. While the police investigation provides the play’s structural framework, Archie’s simmering resentment towards Billy provides its emotional core. As layers of their shared history are stripped away, we learn that Billy has long occupied the role of the charismatic golden boy: more popular, more confident, always seemingly one step ahead. Archie, by contrast, is left wondering why he has remained in Billy’s orbit for so many years, even after leaving university. Beardmore impressively navigated this transition from controlled anxiety to explosive anger, culminating in a final act that felt genuinely unsettling. 

Sam Drury’s performance was equally compelling. While it would be easy to play Billy as a straightforward villain, the performance avoided this generalising caricature. Billy’s recklessness is undeniable, yet the play also exposes his insecurity and self-destructive tendencies. Drury excels at capturing the contradictions at the heart of the character: the effortless charisma that draws others into his orbit, alongside a deep immaturity that ultimately proves destructive both to himself and those around him. As his confidence is gradually stripped away, moments of vulnerability begin to emerge, complicating the audience’s response to him without ever excusing his actions. The result is a character who remains frustratingly human even as the audience’s sympathy evaporates, embodying the play’s wider exploration of toxic friendship, masculine insecurity, and the devastating consequences of thoughtless cruelty. 

Caught at the centre of these tangled loyalties is Christina (Maisie Lambert), perhaps Wyatt’s most tragic figure. Blackout drunk at the time of the accident, she is kept in the dark by the others for much of the narrative. As a result, she becomes a focal point for the group’s collective dishonesty. Chrstina’s complicated relationships with both Billy (her ex-boyfriend) and Archie (who she has been sleeping with) contribute to this, adding another layer of messiness to the group’s dynamic. Whether her involvement with Archie is genuine affection or an unconscious attempt by him to wound Billy remains unresolved, and the play is stronger in its refusal to provide a definitive answer. Lambert brought real depth to the role, conveying Christina’s mounting moral unease as she gradually realises that those closest to her may be concealing the truth about the accident. 

Meanwhile, Alex Smith’s Daniel functioned as the uneasy mediator of the group, caught between competing loyalties and increasingly aware of the moral cost of silence. His constant back and forth between truth and lies provides an important counterpoint to Archie and Billy’s increasingly volatile rivalry, grounding the play’s larger questions of guilt and accountability. As an ensemble, the cast succeeded in creating a web of friendships that felt genuinely lived-in long before the audience’s arrival. Their interactions carried the easy familiarity, private jokes, and unspoken tensions of relationships forged over years, making the gradual disintegration of those bonds all the more compelling to watch. By the play’s conclusion, not only the mystery had been unravelled, but also the friendships themselves. 

The technical elements of the production deserve equal praise. Juliet Taub’s lighting design made particularly effective use of the Burton Taylor’s intimate space, helping to delineate shifts between police interviews the night before and the present moment. At key points in plot, changes in lighting and colour subtly heightened the sense of unease without ever becoming distracting. Ice Dob’s sound design complimented the production’s visuals, building tension and underscoring the emotional weight of the play’s most dramatic revelations. Together, these elements elevated the play from an Agatha Christie-like whodunnit to a psychologically-charged thriller.

Opening night of The Slip demonstrated an impressive confidence from Wyatt, who serves as both writer and director. The play as a whole had a remarkable command of both character and atmosphere. The result was a tense and morally complex drama that explores not only the consequences of a moment’s recklessness, but also the fragility of friendship, the corrosive effects of guilt, and the stories we tell ourselves to avoid confronting the truth. 

Wyatt’s script handled the pacing of these weighty themes and gradual revelations with remarkable assurance. This was no mean feat given the play’s fragmented structure, which moves fluidly between interrogations on night of the accident, its aftermath, while also shifting between competing perspectives and imperfect recollections.

As the lights came up, I found myself still turning over the production’s questions – perhaps the strongest endorsement a piece of theatre can receive. The Slip is proof of the calibre of Oxford’s original student writing and theatre, as what could have been a simple mystery became a compelling study of guilt, friendship, and the consequences of a single reckless decision. Sharp, unsettling, and emotionally intelligent, The Slip is a striking showcase of the ambition and talent behind Wide Eyes Productions, while establishing Wyatt as a writer-director to watch.

Understanding the UK Rail Network as a First-Time Visitor

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The UK rail network connects cities, towns, and rural areas across England, Scotland, and Wales, but the system can confuse first-time visitors. Unlike many European countries where a single national operator runs most services, the UK splits its routes across multiple private companies. Ticket types, pricing structures, and station layouts vary between operators, so a short amount of research before the first journey will save you time and money.

How the System Is Structured

Different train companies operate different routes. One company may run services from London to Edinburgh, while another covers London to Manchester, and a third handles regional routes in the southwest. Despite this, all operators share the same stations and tracks, and tickets can be booked through any major booking platform regardless of which company runs the service.

Checking live departures, platform changes, and delay alerts is easier with a reliable data connection on your phone. A Holafly UK eSIM gives you mobile data across the country, which is useful when you are navigating busy stations or rebooking a cancelled connection on the move.

Booking Tickets

Advance tickets, booked days or weeks before travel, are significantly cheaper than walk-up fares bought on the day. The cheapest advance tickets are released up to 12 weeks before the travel date and sell out quickly on popular routes. Booking early on long-distance journeys, such as London to Edinburgh or London to Manchester, can reduce the fare by more than half.

Walk-up tickets are available at any time and do not require a reservation, but they cost considerably more. If your plans are flexible, search for off-peak departures on the same route so you can find cheaper options without needing to book far ahead.

Peak and Off-Peak Fares

Most operators charge higher fares during peak hours, which generally run from 6:30 to 9:30 in the morning and from 4:00 to 7:00 in the evening on weekdays. Travelling outside these windows qualifies you for off-peak pricing, which can reduce the cost of the same journey by a noticeable margin.

Some tickets are labelled “super off-peak”, which restricts travel to quieter midday or weekend slots for an even lower fare. Check the specific conditions listed on the booking platform, since the exact hours vary between operators and routes.

London’s Multiple Stations

London does not have one central train station. Different stations serve different parts of the country.

Euston handles services to the northwest and Scotland. King’s Cross covers the northeast and Edinburgh. Paddington serves the west, including Bath and Bristol. Victoria and Waterloo cover the south coast, and Liverpool Street runs services to East Anglia.

For areas directly north of London not covered by Euston or King’s Cross, St Pancras International handles the Midland Main Line. It also serves international Eurostar routes, southeastern high-speed trains to Kent, and Thameslink routes.

If you are connecting between two mainline stations, make sure you have enough time for the transfer. Most major stations are linked by the Underground, but crossing the city can take 30 minutes or more depending on the route.

On the Train

Seats on advance tickets are usually reserved, with a specific coach and seat number printed on the ticket. Walk-up tickets do not include a reservation, so you may need to find an unreserved seat or stand during busy periods. Reservation labels are displayed above or beside each seat, either on a screen or a paper slip.

There are no strict luggage limits on most UK trains, but storage space is limited, especially on older rolling stock. Keep luggage near you or use the overhead racks, and store large suitcases in the designated areas at the ends of the carriages.

Delays and Cancellations

Delays are common enough that it is worth knowing the process. If your train is delayed by 15 minutes or more, you may be entitled to a partial refund through the operator’s delay compensation scheme. Keep your ticket and check the operator’s website after the journey to submit a claim.

If a train is cancelled, station staff and platform screens will usually show the next available service. Live departure boards in booking apps often update faster than some station screens, so having data on your phone will help you react quickly.

Getting the Most From UK Rail

The UK rail network covers more of the country than most visitors expect. Book early for the best fares, travel off-peak where possible, and confirm which London station your train departs from before heading across the city. A little preparation before each journey will ensure you have a smooth experience.

Choosing The Right AI Tools For Your Marketing Visuals

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The market for AI creative tools has gone from a handful of options to an overwhelming buffet in a remarkably short space of time. New products launch almost weekly, each promising to be the one that transforms your marketing, and for a small business owner or a marketer trying to make a sensible choice, the sheer number of options is more paralysing than helpful. Cutting through the noise starts not with the marketing claims but with understanding what actually separates one tool from another.

Look Past The Brand Name

The first thing to understand is that the brand on the box often matters less than what is inside it. Many creative tools are powered by the same handful of underlying AI engines, which means two products with very different names and price tags can produce surprisingly similar results, while two that look alike can perform completely differently. The quality of your output depends heavily on which engine is actually doing the work.

Tools that expose a selection of Adobe Firefly partner models give marketers room to test which engine produces the cleanest product shots before committing budget to a particular workflow. Understanding this saves you from chasing brand names and marketing hype, and lets you focus on what really matters, which is the quality of the output you can actually achieve for the jobs you actually need done.

Match The Tool To The Task

There is no single best tool, only the best tool for a given job, and grasping that will save you a lot of wasted money. An engine that produces gorgeous, atmospheric lifestyle imagery may be surprisingly weak at clean, simple product visuals, and one that excels at illustration may struggle with anything photorealistic. Performance varies enormously by task.

So be clear with yourself about what you actually need most. Is it social media graphics, product imagery, illustrations for blog content, or something else entirely? Identify your primary use case, then judge every tool against that specific need rather than against a general impression or an impressive demo built around someone else’s requirements.

Test Before You Commit

Most tools offer a free trial or a limited free tier, and you should always make full use of it before paying for anything. The best test is a simple one. Run the same realistic brief, ideally one drawn from your actual work, through every option on your shortlist and compare the results honestly, side by side.

The differences are usually obvious once you see them laid out next to each other, and a short, structured test like this prevents an expensive mistake. It is far better to spend an afternoon comparing tools than to commit to a subscription and discover three months in that it cannot do the one thing you most need.

Factor In The Practicalities

Output quality is important, but it is not the only thing that should drive your decision. Think hard about ease of use, because a slightly weaker tool that your whole team can operate comfortably often beats a powerful one that only you can drive. Consider how well it fits into your existing workflow, the licensing terms for commercial use, which genuinely matter for a business, and the ongoing cost as you scale up your usage.

The Content Marketing Institute has long argued that consistency and a good fit with your wider strategy matter more than any individual piece of software, and that wisdom applies neatly to AI tools. The best choice is the one that supports your overall marketing plan and that you will actually use, not the one with the most impressive feature list or the flashiest launch video.

Keep Your Brand Front Of Mind

Whichever tool you ultimately settle on, the goal is content that looks like you, not generic AI output that could belong to anyone. This is where a lot of businesses go wrong, producing technically impressive images that have no connection to their brand. Establish your style, your colour palette, and your tone of voice, then apply them consistently across everything you generate. The technology is the means, and your brand identity is the end it should serve.

A Simple Way Forward

If you feel paralysed by the sheer variety of choices on offer, the answer is to simplify rather than to keep researching endlessly. Pick one realistic task that you do often, test two or three options against it properly, and commit to the best fit for now. You can always reassess later as your needs grow and the tools evolve, which they will, quickly.

The marketers who win with these tools are not the ones who chase every shiny new release or agonise over finding the theoretical best option. They are the ones who choose deliberately, based on their actual needs, and then get on with using their choice well. Clarity about what you need beats endless comparison every time.

Why students are rethinking their email account for better privacy

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Somewhere between freshers’ week and finals, most students end up with an email address they signed up for years before they ever set foot in Oxford. Scholarship applications, references from tutors, internship offers, bank details for student loans and even health correspondence with the university all tend to pass through that email address.

Add in the habit of using one login for almost every society sign-up, society mailing list and online account going back years, and it becomes clear why a growing number of students are starting to think more carefully about where all of this information actually sits, and how secure it is.

Why students are rethinking their email account

A student’s email account carries more weight than people often assume. It is the address attached to graduate job applications, references, visa paperwork for study abroad, and increasingly, financial details tied to student finance and part-time work. If that account is compromised, the fallout goes well beyond a few spam messages. Switching to an email service built around encryption means that even sensitive correspondence with tutors, colleges or future employers stays private, without changing how you actually use email day to day.

It is a particularly relevant shift for anyone applying for jobs or further study, where personal statements, references and offer letters often sit in an inbox for months before anyone gets round to deleting them.

The data you’ve forgotten about

Think about how many forms ask for your university email address: library accounts, society memberships, internship portals, even some banking apps for students. Each of those is a small thread connecting your identity to that one inbox. Most students have no idea how many services still hold their data years after they stopped using them, and a single breach at any one of those services can expose far more than people expect.

A periodic clear-out is worth doing, even if it feels tedious. Search your inbox for old confirmation emails, work out which accounts you no longer use, and either delete them or at least update the password to something unique.

Protecting applications and correspondence

For finalists in particular, this matters more than it might seem. Graduate scheme applications often involve sharing passport scans, references and personal statements over email, sometimes to addresses that turn out to be less secure than expected. Cherwell’s own coverage of has touched on how students can be targeted by cyber criminals, and email is very much part of that picture, even if it gets far less attention than social media.

Setting up two-factor authentication on your main accounts takes a few minutes and makes a real difference, particularly for anything connected to finance or job applications. It is one of those tasks that feels unnecessary right up until the moment it isn’t.

Building better habits before you need them

The good news is that none of this requires becoming an expert in cybersecurity. The UK government’s guidance on staying secure online lays out the basics in plain language, and most of it boils down to using strong, unique passwords, keeping software updated and being cautious about what you click. For students juggling deadlines, societies and a social life, a secure inbox is one less thing to worry about.

Whether you’re sending your dissertation to a supervisor at midnight or applying for a graduate role you have had your eye on since first year, your email account underpins a huge amount of what happens next. Giving it a bit more thought now is a small investment that pays off long after you’ve left Oxford.

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