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.
Oxford City Council has published a list of nine key actions that communities and individuals can adopt in order to reduce their carbon footprint. This list is part of Oxford’s plans to reach net zero by 2040 or earlier.
The first seven measures are living car-free, traveling less, flying less, reducing energy consumption, eating less meat and dairy, reusing and recycling appliances, and using gardens in biodiversity friendly ways. The last two measures are contacting politicians and investing money sustainably.
The list of individual actions comes on top of a set of political actions the Council has already taken on a local level. These include the introduction of a Zero Emission Zone in the City Centre, investment into the hybrid battery energy storage system ‘Energy Superhub Oxford’, and creating a Zero Carbon Roadmap.
The individual actions also needed to be supported by national policy. The Council notes that there is a lack of funding from the central government for improving the energy efficiency of housing. It says that this refurbishment is “critical to reducing emissions and preventing increasing levels of fuel poverty”.
Energy efficiency has also been the target of the recent Insulate Britain protests. Blocking important highways, activists have called for national programmes to help insulate private and social housing. Insulate Britain say that failure to insulate is linked with high environmental and social costs.
Low Carbon Oxford North expressed its support for the Council’s list of measures. However, the group also highlighted the role of central government in making local change easier. They said: “As our government hosts the climate talks in Glasgow this week and next, we hope they will announce new practical policies and funding to make it easier for individuals and households to play their part. This is particularly important on flying and on home energy, especially insulation.”
Student-led Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, said: “We especially call on the University of Oxford to listen to the advice given by Oxford City Council and to immediately end financial ties to the fossil fuel industry. Despite partially divesting its endowment fund, the University’s pensions continue to invest in fossil fuels. We call on the University to publicly demand USS, the University pension provider, divest from fossil fuels immediately or for the University to at least provide alternative ethical pension options for staff.”
The University and the Home Office has been contacted for comment.
The thing with writing about uni sport is that basically nobody was at the match, and the responsibility falls on me to take you through the motions of what happened. But the score hangs unapologetically above these words, and the story seems pre-told: a narrow victory over Brookes. There were probably some moments where it was close and some moments where Oxford pulled away and it was dramatic till the end and everyone was pleased and we all lived happily ever after. Annoyingly, this is exactly how it was.
But put aside your narrative templates for the moment and come down to Iffley Road. It’s the second league game of the season and the Blues are warming up to play their biggest rivals in a division where, historically, to get promoted, you need to win close to all your matches. As a spectator, you join me on the unwelcomingly hard school-hall benches by the entrance to the court. The Brookes benches have a decent smattering of supporters, our benches a bit less so. I try and extract some information from the warm-ups. The Brookes players look a bit bigger, a bit more imposing. Oxford seems to be getting in a few more threes than before the last match. Nothing jumps out at me, and the game tips off.
The game tips off and this time, I’m determined to understand things a bit more. Immediately, the match seems faster paced than last week. There is more movement and slicker passes. Everyone just seems a bit more on the ball. Yet the scoreboard is barely changing. Every attack seems to be thwarted at the last moment.
Last week, I said that drives on a fast transition, i.e. running up to the basket before the opposition gets back in defence, are “quite straightforward”. But this requires correction, because although Oxford keep getting the ball quickly up the court, the opposition are are also quickly getting back to defend. These fast counters generally end with one offensive player streaking towards the hoop, and one defensive player streaking after him, and one player jumps and the other player flies, and everyone else looks on. At this point, only one player can succeed. Either the shooter manages to manoeuvre the ball over/around the defender, or, alternatively, the defender blocks it, the shooter falls to the floor, and the opposition subs are on their feet, cheering.
This first quarter is characterised by a lot of this defensive cheering, and not much else. It ends 12-7. And still, nothing quite has jumped out at me. The play has been higher quality than last week but there’s not been much drama, and characters have not yet emerged. Though Oxford are ahead, it’s not an indication of who’s going to win this game, because this game hasn’t really begun.
The players walk back onto the court and someone on the bench near me crows at Orin Varley, the captain, and star player from last week, “hey Orin, you know you’ve got to get it in the basket, right?” Orin smiles in a please-shut-up kind of way and the second quarter begins. Straight away, Orin is driving, gets past one, gets past two, but is blocked. Soon after, Charalampos (Harry) Kokkalis, a Blues player always with a particularly serious expression on his face, is driving, gets to the hoop and whips the ball out wide, flying off the court in the process. This drive-and-pass tactic is one Jamie, the coach, has been trying to encourage. Eventually, the move leads to a three, and Oxford have built up a lead. It’s 17-9. The engine of the game seems to just now be lightly rumbling, the gears starting to turn.
There’s a free throw—the unimpeded shot(s) you get when you’ve been fouled. Free throws have this mysterious power to cast silence over the room. There’s no passes to call for, or positioning to be organised, so everyone just watches and waits. But through the silence, the Brookes coach, a bearded guy in a t-shirt and khakis, calls out plaintively to his players “give me some good defence now please”. And for the next couple minutes, Oxford fails to score, and Brookes come back, and it’s 17-17. There are four minutes to go. The gears are turning a bit faster.
Josh Soifer comes on. I hadn’t realised he had been off for so long. He’d got into foul trouble early in the match, so Jamie had saved him and now it seems it’s time. Josh is a bit of a beast. He’s a 6’5” Canadian with one of the more powerful builds on the team. As his first action, he fails to score a two but gets it in on the rebound. It’s unclear to me how certain players consistently get rebounds when these situations look to me like a crush of people with no clear way to negotiate them, but Josh tells me you just get the knack for it, so I guess that’s fair enough. Where the ball’s going to go, how to react to the different directions players come from: it’s all so quick, you just get a sense for it. And the height and strength help too.
OUBbC player Alex Koukouravas. Credit: Oxford University Basketball Club
Orin scores a big three. Our critic on the bench shouts “finally!”. Alex Koukouravas, a first-year grad with professional BBL experience and a clearly high basketball IQ, hits a massive three straight after. Oxford are in the lead again. And now they’ve transitioned fast, and flying towards the hoop, but it’s not straightforward, it’s blocked, and Brookes go mental, and I’m writing notes so fast. Brookes hit a three. Orin misses a three. Brookes get a two. Oxford miss. Another two for Brookes. Another two for Brookes. Harry gets a foul. He misses both free throws. The buzzer goes. It’s half time, and it’s 27-29.
The game just exploded, as if that slow-scoring opening was compressing energy that had to be released. Everyone on the benches is looking around at each other. In professional sport, the notability of a moment is confirmed through texts from friends and through social media. The instances take on greater significance because they are filmed and shared and commented on. But here, there is nothing to consecrate the moment. And it’s not that it was so unbelievable. It’s just that it was noteworthy, yet only lives on in the words I’ve written here. And the story is only a story because the moments live on and add up to something in memory and in ink.
The Blues come out for the third quarter. They’re two down. Everybody gets back in their hard, wooden seats and watches a ten-minute masterclass. Akin Akinlabi, a player who seems to have some leadership qualities, who is the guy who shouts ‘hu-stle!’ in between the shouts of ‘defence’ when on the bench, hits a big three. Soifer links up with Sam Ajakaiye—6’6”, though not very intimidating—to produce a great two. Down the other end, Sam blocks, and it falls to Orin who hits another three (another shout of “finally, Orin!”).
The Brookes coach is back to shouting about better defence, but this time it doesn’t work. And Alex is having the quarter of his life. As Jamie says later, it seemed like every shot he went for was guaranteed to go in from the moment the ball left his hands, especially ‘shots off the bounce’ (i.e. some dribbling and then a shot). As the quarter closes, one of the more belligerent Brookes players shoots a successful three from a mile out and lifts his hands in the air like ‘is that enough for you?’ but it’s not enough because it’s 63-50, and the buzzer goes.
The Oxford players lumber over to their bench. As Jamie praises them, they have that exhausted but satisfied expression that comes from success under pressure. As much as training and team socials can do, there’s nothing as good for bonding as a big collective effort in circumstances that require it. They’ve bonded in the same way that you do with people you do a big hike with, or who you go through an essay crisis with. There’s an understanding and appreciation built that does not need to be stated.
In some way, it feels like I’ve just seen the A-team, the Oxford Blues at their best. Yet this isn’t the A-team. Akin is not fully a starter. Sam has been third-choice in his position up to this point—his two superiors are both ill. But Akin’s put in one of his best performances. And Sam has really seized the opportunity. And Alex is serving up shots to remember—he ends the game on 25 points. And Josh S is in full power mode. And Orin, though not getting that many points, has been defending Brookes’ best player without really getting any rest breaks. And still, Orin, along with Akin and Josh S get ‘double doubles’, i.e. they get double figures in both points and rebounds.
So many individual performances. And the players are competing with each other for those precious game minutes. But in this moment, at the end of the third quarter, they’re all just happy for each other, and talking about the shots, and the blocks, and they’re deeply held together, as a team.
When I look back on my notes, I’m surprised how tight it got towards the end. I didn’t remember that with 2:22 to go, there were only three points in it—it was 70-67. I think that spell in the third quarter just made me trust the team. There was some sense of inevitability. Throughout the match, Brookes were only ever ahead by two or three points. They just were not as good. And though it ended with only a 7-point margin, the way Oxford closed out the game, especially the last 40 seconds, with confidence and calm, makes me pretty optimistic about the next match against these rivals.
The game ended 78-71, and as I said at the beginning, it panned out pretty much in the way that score suggests it did. But as I also hope to have demonstrated, the predictable story is still worth telling because, forgive the earnestness, the power of sport is to be a reliable producer of drama and characters and narrative arc. The game was tepid and understated until that explosion at the end of the first half. But that outburst seemed almost inevitable because the game had a plot to unveil.
And now you’ve met Orin, and Josh, and Alex, and Akin, and Sam, and there are many more players for you to meet—they just have to prove they’re worth meeting. A patchwork of moments produced a rollercoaster between drawing and winning, and the job of the players, as we look forward to the next game and games in future weeks, is to insert themselves into that patchwork, and, I guess from their point of view, to make it less of a rollercoaster. From a narrative perspective though, I say keep the rollercoasters coming.
Three Balliol students have launched a campaign against sexual violence, organising an open letter and protest aimed at ending a “culture of enabling and impunity” at Balliol College.
Emilia Bedingfield, Clara Holcroft and Fiónn McFadden – who is also a columnist for Cherwell – started a movement aimed at ending a culture of sexual violence and reforming what they see as a hopelessly outdated and ineffective welfare system at Balliol College. This comes following reports by Al-Jazeera of years of inappropriate behaviour by Oxford Professors, and the mishandling by the college of a student who came forward to report sexual violence.
The three second-years launched the open letter on Monday. They have accumulated over two hundred signatures in the first twenty-four hours and the support of many of the largest student organisations aimed at fighting sexual violence, including Womcam and It Happens Here. It can also count on the support of the Balliol College JCR and Anvee Bhutani, the SU president.
Clara told this paper that “the one thing we haven’t heard is a surprise. We hear recognition, gratitude, I’m so glad you are doing this and ideas of how others can get involved”
The College first reported on the allegations in the Master’s weekly message on Friday, which arrived to students via the JCR President. Buried in the email, the Master makes vague allusions to safety, welfare and disciplinary procedures.
The allegations against the college involve both allegations of inappropriate behaviour by a tutor and the neglect and maltreatment of a student who came to the college after a sexual assault. Both of these events were extensively covered in the Al-Jazeera investigation “Degrees of Abuse”.
Beyond these failures, the students also criticise the general culture that they say has allowed this level of impunity to develop. Bruce Kinsey, head of Welfare, who the students say has been previously criticised for not being receptive to calls for changes and not accepting of victims of sexual assault, was singled out again in the Al-Jazeera video for allegedly telling a victim of sexual assault that “she had to be wary of the effect she had on men” and that she was very physically attractive.
The students behind the open letter criticised the fact that the college was still heavily promoting his activities. More generally, they hoped that the welfare system would be reformed. Emilia told Cherwell that “if his role is not completely diminished, we hope that it is split up … ideally we want to see a wider restructuring of the role”.
Reverend Kinsey told Cherwell that “Due to the confidential nature of my conversations with students, I am not able to comment in detail. Nevertheless, I would like to clarify a couple of details. Over several years, I have spoken to the student in question about a variety of matters, most of them not pertaining to these allegations. My comments concerning these other matters have been conflated and misapplied here.”
More broadly, the students demand in the open letter that the college “holds the appropriate people accountable”, admits failure in its handling of these cases and “reviews all cases of this nature over the last three years”. They told Cherwell that much of the vagueness in the demands was intentional, as they were critical of the fact that the College placed the onus on students to come forward and propose reforms, rather than that they realised the scope of the problem and offered to change.
Balliol College told Cherwell that “Balliol College takes the safety of its students extremely seriously, including any allegations of sexual abuse or harassment. Our policies and processes for investigation in these kind of cases reflect current national guidelines, and we are always very mindful of the need to give the necessary support to the students involved to protect their mental and physical safety. We are of course aware of the concerns expressed by some of our student body in the wake of the Al Jazeera allegations, and will be discussing with them how those concerns might be met.”
The students intend to hand the open letter to Dame Helen Ghosh, Master of the College, on Monday of Week 5. They are also organising a protest on Sunday at 1 PM, outside Balliol College, although they request that everyone who intends on coming ensures they do not violate any College regulations.
Image credit: Clara Holcroft – Balliol Community for Safety
This article was corrected at 16:43 on November 3rd to remove a sentence which claimed that a fellow of Balliol College was named in the Al Jazeera investigation.
