She has been sitting in that dark bookshop café for longer than she cares to confess. Her daughter, who has slotted her dotty mum in between lectures and ice-hockey, is fumbling off her raincoat, drip-dropping apologies.
‘I will get us something hot to drink,’ she says.
Glass cases full of cakes, a warm waft of coffee, the nice man asking if he can help her. ‘Yes-yes, this please, and…’
And there it is, my father’s low voice looming over my shoulders, as I order a hot chocolate in a blue café. ‘Look,’ he says, as I set down the heavy cup, as I lift it again and taste, delicately, the childish cream. ‘Look, you have drunk £3.15. You fool, that’s £3.15 you’ve eaten.’ Clink, the cup on the saucer, the coins sliding down my throat.
It costs so much to keep my head these days.
‘Don’t.’ Her daughter is frowning, the hand holding a spoonful of walnut cake frozen in the air. ‘You’ve taken a bite out of £2.50,’ she says again, unable to resist. But her daughter eats on.
‘How calm you are,’ the mother marvels, and the girl laughs, sprinkling crumbs. They are so busy, dashing to societies, dashing off notes, in this clockwork city of tick-boxed dreams: there isn’t any time.
But she has a mindfulness app, a Fitbit, a boyfriend with good taste in gifts (‘I looked it up after – it was a forty quid bottle!’). And then there’s work. ‘The company is so stinking rich; it makes me sick. They’ll even send me to New York, think of that!’
‘My golden child,’ smiles the woman fondly (New York! Think of that!). She can see her little girl in fairy wings, twirling at the party in the sky while the gods shower her with gifts, and she stirs the chocolate smoothness in her glazed blue mug.
‘Papa’s sent me a postcard from Japan. Of Sakura. Cherry blossom. What have you been up to?’
Startled, she drops her knife with a clatter, wincing at the daughter’s pointed look to her missing ring. She remembers it was eighteen carat gold, but the diamond was false. There had been, perhaps, a magnificent wedding, all her friends were delighted, she was resplendent in silk and white lace. It is not her fault she has lost, is losing – losing this and that, little things, her glasses, the odd word or two. Nondescript and fumbling… a silly old woman. ‘Another script.’
‘Oh good. What about?’
‘There is a blue café,’ she says hesitantly. ‘And it rains all the time in the blue café, yet no one quite realises, and the cakes are going soft and the cups overspilling. Buried in the cakes are coins and so they keep ordering – fat little muffins, iced buns, lovely pastries – to stuff themselves – ’
‘Stuff themselves? Is it a critique of capitalism or something? How does it end?’
‘She will,’ cries the mother, rallying. ‘A man with his pocket knife. Slices them open.’
‘Look,’ says this gilded girl impatiently, a fierce intensity entering her voice. ‘Stop worrying like that. You know perfectly well that everything you touch turns into gold. I know it’s hard, but if you let go of the script the editors will take care of the rest.’
‘And turn it into gold,’ she whispers.
Her hands are shaking quietly. ‘What if,’ she says, half-pleading, half-playful. ‘I’ve had enough?’
The girl stares.
‘Now you will look after me,’ her mother says dreamily. ‘Living on cake. In a blue teapot.’ She sees her daughter’s face, and suddenly pushes back her chair.
‘I am so glad you are happy.’
Something is wrong. The angle of the café, the lines cutting across the books. She should not be seeing the door close behind her mother’s back, with this quickening sense of dread. She will open that tiny green-painted door. She will hold her hand out to her mother.
Green unfolds onto blue: that white speck in the night is her mother. She steps out and then
In the split second that widens before her eyes she can see
headlights
pale-faced
bright
With a gasp her breath is caught on a cliff-hanger of sidewalk. She stumbles, hears the thud of a body on tarmac. The air is so very cold.
From the fumes of the car rises the close stench of escape.
The University has released updated guidance for students returning to Oxford this term. Under the guidance, students will still be able to return to university under the previous exemptions outlined. All other students will be advised not to travel back until mid-February, with all teaching taking place online until at least then.
The groups that will be able to return are as follows:
Students taking part in initial teacher training or medical courses that had been advised to return to Oxford as usual previously.
Some students on additional courses involving professional accreditations.
International students that have remained in the UK or have already arrived back, or have booked travel which cannot be rescheduled.
Students that have stayed in university or college accommodation over the Christmas vacation.
Students that require additional support, including those that are having mental health difficulties.
Students that do not have access to appropriate study spaces or facilities at home.
The University has stated that students that believe they meet these criteria will need to discuss their plans with their colleges before returning. The guidance encourages students to access “online learning from home wherever possible.” Residency requirements have also been suspended until the end of Hilary.
Students from Keble College have been “turning up to the college without any permission or having informed the accommodation office”, according to a post on their student noticeboard.
Students have been reportedly arriving at night and asking for keys from the Porter’s Lodge or using room keys that they held over the Christmas vacation. While the statement did not confirm how many students had returned by this method, it did give some idea of who: “it will come as no surprise that freshers have been specifically mentioned as coming back without permission”.
An email from Keble College’s Domestic Bursar stated that “those of you who have arrived back in College without permission… have been reported to the Dean.” It further mentioned that the lodge will now turn away any students who simply arrive without having received prior permission.
The statement on Keble Noticeboard continued that “College is aware of who has turned up unannounced” and that such students “will be removed from college… you cannot retrospectively say that exemptions apply. If you do not decide to leave, there are measures in place to ensure your removal.”
They have urged for people to take the current situation in the UK seriously and follow the rules of contacting the accommodation office and asking for permission to return if there is a legitimate reason to do so: “There have been many people who have done so and college has had absolutely no problem with people returning under these circumstances”.
However, the email from the Domestic Bursar mentioned that any students’ requests to return would have to wait for further information from the University: “as soon as we have guidance from the University as to when and how you can come back we will be in touch.” They have also stated that university guidelines and further college information will follow later this week.
The Domestic Bursar further made clear that “communal spaces within College will only remain open if social distancing is adhered to, any transgressions and these areas will be shut, this also applies to communal kitchens.”
Cherwell has contacted Keble College for comment.
Image Credit: Nikos D. Karabelas. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
In an email to students, Balliol College confirmed that “the University has removed the usual student “residency requirement” for the whole of the Term”. This means that students will not need to apply for residency dispensation if they do not wish to return to Oxford later in the term, even if the national lockdown is lifted to allow students to return. In a Q and A with University staff in mid-November, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Martin Williams explained the University’s previous decision to maintain residency requirements: “Our feeling is that there is a lot more to being an Oxford student than just the face-to-face teaching”, including “access to labs, access to libraries, access to each other, to the opportunity to work in a scholarly environment”. Balliol’s email continued that “the University will be sending out messages to students later today on the latest position”. No information has currently been provided regarding plans for residency requirements – or lack thereof – in Trinity term.
No specific guidance appears to have been released regarding college libraries. In an email to students, Lady Margaret Hall claimed that “ideally, we would like to keep the library in operation both physically and virtually” but that they were reliant upon University guidance. At Pembroke, students were told that if they were already present in College, they could be given “access to the library in limited numbers for the time being”. An email from Magdalen claimed that “the College Libraries remain open” but urged students to check before going to other libraries. It is currently unclear whether college libraries will be allowed to remain open under the national lockdown or University guidance.
Previously, many colleges urged students not to return – even if they had been previously allowed to by college staff – until the University had worked through the legislation. At St Hugh’s, “any students who were considering travelling to College based on one of the criteria listed below” were asked “to not travel to College at this time until we have had further clarification from the University”. Meanwhile, St Hilda’s students were told “you should NOT make plans to return to college, even if you had previously booked a date to return this coming weekend” and that changes to government guidance may cause the dining hall to be shut.
The Oxford University Student Union has responded to the announcement of a national lockdown, promising to advocate for students who may be disadvantaged by the new restrictions. While they were unable to guarantee measures which would be taken, they emphasised that meetings would be held in coming days to ensure students would not be negatively impacted.
“Following the government announcement on 4th January 2021 of a national lockdown, we understand the difficulty that all students are facing regarding many aspects of their University experience in the coming months.
“Oxford SU is the recognised voice of students at the University of Oxford and we want to reassure all members that we are continually lobbying and representing you on the issues that matter. We are here to support you in any way we can.
“We share your valid anger, frustration, and disappointment with this government which continues to fail to put students at the fore of its decision making. We stand in support and solidarity with students who are facing widespread uncertainty.
“We know the current situation is incredibly difficult and that much of the academic year remains uncertain. We are working hard with the University and Colleges to clarify information surrounding accommodation, academic expectations and welfare provisions.
“We believe that the University must recognise the academic challenges by reassessing workloads and assessment practices. Whilst it may take some time for the University to finalise any changes to course assessment, it is paramount that the University acts as soon as possible to outline their planned steps and changes to assessment where possible. We will continue to lobby the University including at a divisional and departmental level on these issues over the coming days and will be updating students on progress next week.
“We continue to lobby to ensure students unable to return to Oxford in Hilary Term 2021 are not be financially penalised [sic]. Students should not have to pay for accommodation that they are unable to live in. This should include reimbursing graduate students on long-term tenancies for the time period during which they are unable to use their rooms.
“We will be providing a further update as soon as we can with information around our next steps for lobbying and resources for you. We will also be holding a briefing session for Common Room Presidents and Campaign chairs tomorrow at 5pm. This a fast-moving situation, we remain committed to actively lobbying and working closely with the collegiate University to ensure students are supported.”
This article contains breaking news and may be updated as more information becomes available.
Expect the worst and hope for the best. That’s what they say, isn’t it? This mantra is one that would’ve been worth following for Brighton and Hove Albion fans watching their team’s Premier League match against Sheffield United at around 12:40pm on Sunday 20th December (this included 2000 lucky social-distancing attendees at the AMEX Stadium and at least 20,000 others – one being my poor self – yelling at their TVs from their living rooms). Yet with our opponents having only managed a single point from 13 previous games this season, languishing at the bottom of the league table like an overripe satsuma in a Christmas stocking, and now down to 10 players after John Lundstram’s 40th minute red card, we Albion fans could surely have been forgiven for thinking that our second home win in all of 2020 was on its way as a matter of course.
Having been a Brighton fan since the age of seven, however, I probably should’ve foreseen that my team was to spend the next 50 minutes of action passing the ball back and forth outside the Sheffield penalty box, conspiring to let a 20-year-old defender score past us on his debut, and only equalising with three of the 90 minutes remaining, through ex-wonderkid Danny Welbeck’s fifth Premier League goal in three seasons. After the game, fans and statisticians alike remarked that Brighton had chalked up 3.35 ‘Expected Goals’ over the course of the match, a tally far superior to Sheffield United’s 0.92: with our attackers having missed multiple open goals – one hitting the woodwork from about 10 centimetres out – we were well within our rights to have anticipated a better final result for our team.
What exactly are ‘Expected Goals’, then – and why do Brighton have so many of them? The Expected Goals (xG) metric comes from an analysis of each shot taken during a 90-minute match, and the probability that it will result in a goal, based on factors such as the shot’s location on the pitch, the pattern of play leading to it, and the body part used to shoot. A team’s total xG for one match is then calculated as the sum of the goal probabilities for each shot taken – against Sheffield United, Brighton had enough high-quality chances to have been expected, on average, to have netted three times, as opposed to their disappointing single goal in the 1-1 draw. In theory, Brighton are good at getting into positions where they are likely to score – but their lacklustre finishing hugely lets them down, leading to a massive underperformance in relation to xG.
Thanks to its insightful posts comparing Expected Goals with often wildly-different real-life results, Twitter user ‘The xG Philosophy’ has racked up nearly 90,000 followers over the course of the last few Premier League seasons, becoming a fundamental part of in-game analysis and the customary post-match banter (“Say the line @xGPhilosophy” / “Brighton won the xG” reads one Simpsons-inspired meme that seems to appear after every Albion defeat, much to my chagrin).
The account is run by James Tippett, author of the book also entitled ‘The Expected Goals Philosophy’, which puts forward the case for xG as the meaningful stat in modern-day football and details a number of recent Premier League and Championship success stories revolving around Expected Goals, such as Brentford’s xG-based scouting model, which has seen them recruit a number of hidden gems such as Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, West Ham’s Said Benrahma, and Brighton’s own Neal Maupay, who are now plying their trade at the very top of English football.
There seems to be a strong case, then, for valuing Expected Goals almost as much as actual ones when it comes to match analysis, player scouting, and even betting on football. Except that this is quite obviously not a watertight method – just look at Brighton’s performance this season. Over the course of 15 Premier League games played at the time of writing, my team has amassed 23.85 Expected Points (based on opposing teams’ xG scores from each particular game), placing us 5th (FIFTH!) in the ‘xG table’, a bonkers parallel universe where we rank higher than big hitters such as Tottenham (22.23), Manchester United (22.28), and Leicester (22.91). Of course, in real life we are almost 11 points worse off, sitting 16th in the table above only Burnley, Fulham, West Brom, and (thank goodness) Sheffield United, and with a real chance of being relegated to the Championship come the end of the season. No wonder my cranberry sauce tasted distinctly bitter on December 25th.
Interpreting Expected Goals is a tricky business: does Brighton’s huge xG underperformance mean that we’re much better than we think, absolutely crap, or just really unlucky? I’d argue that it’s a bit of each. Our manager Graham Potter has been praised for his attacking style of football, with exciting, pacey players like Tariq Lamptey and Solly March creating lots of chances, no matter who we are playing against. Yet our strikers seem more likely to squander these chances than gobble them up: top scorer Maupay has underperformed his personal xG by a massive 2.43, while deputies Welbeck and Aaron Connolly are also both in the negative for Expected vs actual goals so far this season. This might seem like a matter of fortune, but the pundits who suggest that Brighton’s poor showings for both goals and points are purely down to bad luck are mistaken. Most culpable for the team’s failings are a crippling lack of confidence in front of goal and our recurrent inability to defend or attack set pieces. It might be cliché to say that in football you need to make your own luck, but this certainly rings true for Brighton’s beleaguered, dispirited squad. The xG metric suggests that things might come good for my team, but at the same time, they might well not – especially if we can’t fix our more deep-rooted psychological and tactical problems. As ever, statistics fail to account for real human emotion and error: in this way, Expected Goals can only ever hope to tell half the story.
In the lead-up to Hilary term, only 4 selected hub libraries – the Old Bodleian, Social Science Library, Sackler Library and Vere Harmsworth Library – will be open for study.
These libraries will operate normal vacation hours (listed at the end of this article) until the official start of Hilary term, while “all other libraries will move to provide zero-contact services with Reading Rooms closed for those sites,” a Bodleian Libraries spokesperson shared.
This comes amidst an announcement by Minister of State for Universities, Michelle Donelan, regarding the opening of university facilities for students. In her letter to students on 31 December, Donelan announced that “libraries, study spaces, and performance areas” in universities will be open to students who are eligible to return from 4 January.
For the start of Hilary term, the Bodleian Libraries will prioritise the provision of remote and zero-contact services, such as Live Chat, Scan and Deliver, and Click and Collect.
In Michaelmas Term, all lending libraries, including those whose reading rooms are temporarily closed, offered Click and Collect services. The exceptions were the Bodleian History Faculty Library which offered Browse and Borrow services, non-lending libraries, and the Bodleian Health Care Libraries.
The Bodleian Libraries have also begun to initiate access to the HathiTrust service once again, which provides emergency access to millions of e-books. The HathiTrust is a not-for-profit collaboration of academic and research libraries across the world and a major digital repository. Current members of the University can access these resources directly via the HathiTrust website using their Single Sign-On.
“We are always reviewing our services in light of changing information and will provide further updates when possible,” the Bodleian Libraries spokesperson added.
Information for booking a library time slot can be found here.
Information on how to make a Scan and Deliver request can be found here.
Vacation hours for selected hub libraries, according to Bodleian Libraries website:
Boris Johnson has just announced another national lockdown, justifying the changes in government policy due to the transmission rate of the new strand.
“Our scientists have confirmed that this new variant is between 50-70% more transmissible”, Boris said in his announcement. He further went on to state that hospitals have fallen under more pressure in the last week than since the start of the pandemic, with England alone seeing almost 27,000 hospital admissions – 40% higher than the first peak in April.
“Stay at Home” is once again the primary message from the government, and the new rules are expected to become law from Wednesday morning, although the public has been urged to follow them immediately. Those who shielded in the first lockdown have been instructed to do so again.
Leaving home is acceptable in the following cases:
To shop for essentials
Work (if you cannot work from home)
To seek medical assistance
To avoid injury, illness or risk of harm
There is further detail in a government document accessible here.
The government have announced primary, secondary schools and colleges must move to online teaching with exceptions for students of healthcare workers and vulnerable children. Boris Johnson acknowledged in light of this news, GCSE and A-Level exams will not be able to continue as normal. Information will follow from the Education Secretary regarding alternative arrangements.
Boris Johnson did not specifically mention universities in his announcement; however, the guidelines published on the government website state that students who are undertaking the following courses should return to face to face learning as planned:
Medicine and dentistry
Subjects allied to medicine/health
Veterinary science
Education (initial teacher training)
Social work
Courses which require Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) assessments that cannot be rescheduled
Students who do not study these courses should expect their teaching to be online until at least mid-February.
Colleges are responding with confusion to the announcement, with many urging students not to return until the University has created a more coherent policy. St Hilda’s told its students that “the government made it clear that tougher restrictions will be announced soon” with expectations of more guidance from the University this week and that “teaching will remain online for much of this term”.
Image Credit: Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street. Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and Astrazeneca have been delivered at Oxford’s Churchill hospital.
Brian Pinker, an 82 year old retired maintenance manager, was the first person in the world to receive the vaccine outside of clinical trials. Born and raised in Oxford, Mr Pinker received the vaccine at 7:30 am on Monday January 4th, five days after the vaccine was approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Mr Pinker is a dialysis patient, which puts him at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 according to NHS guidelines. Speaking after receiving the first dose, Mr Pinker told attending press: “The vaccine means everything to me. To my mind, it’s the only way of getting back to normal life.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed the approval of the Oxford vaccine as “pivotal moment” in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19. Around 530,000 doses of the vaccine – which requires two doses to be administered between 4-12 weeks apart – will be made available across six hospital trusts in Oxford, Sussex, Lancashire, Warwickshire and London. Remaining doses will be made available to GP surgeries and care homes.
The Oxford vaccine is easier to distribute than the Pfizer vaccine because it can be stored at a higher temperature. Both vaccines introduce a segment of RNA from the SARS-CoV-2 virus into human cells. Cells then translate this genetic information to produce viral spike proteins, which trigger the patient’s immune system to produce complementary antibodies and activate specialised cells which combat the virus if the patient is exposed in the future. RNA is an unstable molecule which breaks down easily; the Pfizer vaccine has to be refrigerated at -70 °C to remain effective. The Oxford vaccine encases the RNA in a harmless chimpanzee adenovirus, which allows the vaccine to be stored at 2-8 °C in conventional fridges. This makes it easier to administer in care homes or regions of the world where refrigerating the Pfizer vaccine would be difficult.
Despite the rollout of the Oxford vaccine being haled as an important moment in the fight against COVID-19, some experts have cautioned the public against taking the virus less seriously. The Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty tweeted that “vaccines give us a route out in the medium term. The NHS is however under very considerable and rising pressure in the short term. We must all follow social distancing for now.” Professor Andrew Pollard of the Oxford Vaccine Group, who also received a dose of the vaccine on Monday, echoed Professor Whitty’s concerns: “It gives us a bit of hope, but I think we’ve got some tough weeks ahead.”
On the same day the first doses of the Oxford vaccine were administered, 58,784 new COVID-19 cases were recorded. This is the highest daily total since the pandemic began, and the seventh consecutive day over 50,000 people tested positive for the disease. 407 deaths were also recorded. 23,823 people with COVID-19 are currently in hospital across the United Kingdom, exceeding the number seen at the peak of the “first wave” in April.
The news also comes on the day that First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon announced that the country would go into a full lockdown from midnight on Monday January 4th. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address the nation at 8pm, when he is expected to announce “further steps” to combat the spread of COVID-19.
