Wednesday 5th November 2025
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Review: Hill and Harmer’s A Life in Song – the strange world of Lieder

Francis Lee
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Review: Hill and Harmer’s A Life in Song – the strange world of Lieder

It’s time again for the Oxford Song Festival, which means a legion of top classical singers and musicians will be descending on Oxford for two weeks to sing (predominantly) centuries-old Lieder to an audience of those approaching the second century of their own lives. Other than their very favourable student rates, what are the young students of Oxford missing from the strange world of what used to be called the Oxford Lieder Festival? Two very impressive young musicians, Sebastian Hill and Will Harmer, displayed some of the answers last Friday in their performance A Life in Song.

A Lieder performance is a very strange thing, especially for those of us more used to a grand Romantic symphonic musical bath. The singer has to stand facing his audience and sing French or German poetry to a sedate piano backing, usually of quaint and florid love. The first song, ‘Heidenröslein’, written by Franz Schubert before his 21st birthday, saw our three talented young protagonists (a singer, a pianist, and the ghost of a composer) as earnest youths singing obediently to classical tunes on the conventions of love. Hill has a pure voice and Harmer a deft control, and both men harmoniously matched the earnest lightness which Schubert wrote into the piece. I was not, however, left with the impression that Hill, Harmer, or Schubert really were in love with any of the octogenarians to whom they were performing their song of love. All three were performing the stories and styles of others, and, pleasant and accomplished though it was, it was not overly engaging.

The pair also performed a couple of able compositions by Harmer himself. Likewise, they were poetry set to song and piano, but largely avoided the Lieder’s storytelling potential. Harmer’s premier piece ‘Wild Nights’ was stark and thematic but did not end satisfactorily. His excellent ‘Canción de Jinete’, with its shifting accompanying phrases in the piano sliding underneath the twisting modal vocal phrases, substituted story for mystery and then died away with one last fascinating phrase. The highlights of the concert for me, however, were a couple of the old Lieder, ‘Der Tambour’ by Hugo Wolf and ‘Lynceus der Thürmer’ by Carl Loewe.

‘Der Tambour’, placed in the middle-age portion of the life depicted through the programme, showed the mature confidence of composers and performers who were willing to imprint their own characters onto their works. Humorous and bizarre lines from the poet Eduard Möricke were expertly wrought into wry phrases by Wolf to tell in deprecating fashion the fears and desires (mostly a good wurst and a tankard of wine) of a boy soldier on campaign. Hill, his natural sense of humour plain to see, perfectly embodied the wry storytelling humour of Möricke and Wolf. After singing with relish of all the “Wurst” and “Hexen” in this peculiar delight, he won a well-deserved laugh from the audience.

The concert was not quite done before the turn of age and wisdom in ‘Lynceus der Thümer’ (or ‘Lynceus the Watchman’), which showcased the pathos of loss which is at the heart of the Lieder genre. The rich tone of Loewe’s writing, well-rendered in Hill’s pure yet powerful voice, and Harmer’s emotion-laden chords gave the beautiful backdrop necessary to convey the watchman’s moving story of the beauty of life as death approaches.

The best of Lieder provides an experience you cannot otherwise replicate – of poetry told across language through performance and music. I would recommend to anyone that they come and cast aside, as I did, their programme with its ready translation, and instead watch and listen to a strange but powerful art form which has captivated for centuries.

Merton updates welfare provisions despite lack of student consultation

Charlie Goldberg
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Merton updates welfare provisions despite lack of student consultation

Merton College has overhauled its welfare programme this academic year, reducing the hours of Junior Deans for Welfare, discontinuing the Associate Chaplain’s book club, and replacing the famous “welfare doughnuts” with welfare cookies. Students at the College have expressed frustration at the lack of student consultation regarding these changes, with neither the Junior Common Room (JCR) committee nor the Middle Common Room (MCR) committee consulted ahead of time.

The changes to Merton’s welfare provisions are outlined in the College’s Junior Handbook, with the most significant change being the reduced hours of Junior Deans. Previously, Junior Deans had been contactable both during and outside of term time, with the exception of bank holidays. However, according to the Handbook, the Deans can now only be contacted during the two weeks either side of the academic term, in addition to during termtime.

A spokesperson for Merton told Cherwell that “the College’s welfare provision plays an important role in helping to create conditions in which our Junior Members can achieve and flourish, both in their academic lives and broader student experience”. Regarding the updates to the Handbook, the spokesperson added: “As usual, all students were sent a start-of-year email which detailed how members of the Welfare Team can be contacted during working hours and overnight or at weekends. Weekly emails to the student body provide details of the week’s activities.

“The College offers a wide range of activities each term to support the wellbeing and welfare of its students. These naturally change on a regular basis. For example, yoga, circuits and dog walks are all scheduled for the coming term and new initiatives, such as writing groups, are also in the process of being added to the programme. In first week, the College offered cookies and a chat in place of doughnuts and it is intended that there will continue to be regular opportunities for our students to come together for a break. These activities supplement those being offered by the JCR and MCR Welfare Reps.”

Speaking to Cherwell, Merton’s MCR President said: “We have not been notified or consulted about any changes to events, so I am not sure if these are long-term decisions.” He added that the MCR Welfare Reps facilitate activities such as “board game exchanges and bouldering” and that they “continue to make welfare supplies available free of charge in discreet locations”.

One MCR member told Cherwell that they were “concerned” that the MCR would be unable to provide the additional resources sufficient to accommodate the cut to Junior Dean hours, particularly for international students who commonly live in College outside of term time. 

The weekly welfare doughnuts were a staple of the Merton calendar and have been replaced by cookies that are baked in-house. Speaking to Cherwell, a member of the JCR familiar with the doughnuts said that the confectionery – which came from local bakery Pipp & Co. – were a significant expense at £3 per doughnut, especially when only a small number of students took advantage of the weekly treat. The student added that the changes to Merton’s welfare programme were “minor” and “had no effect on student wellbeing”.

Merton’s JCR declined to comment.

James Vowles: Rebuilding the ‘Sleeping Giant’ of Williams F1

Sophie Price
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James Vowles: Rebuilding the ‘Sleeping Giant’ of Williams F1

James Vowles doesn’t believe in “bad luck”. It’s a surprising stance from the leader of a Formula 1 team with nine constructors’ and seven drivers’ titles to its name, that spent the last two decades treading water behind the new top dogs. However, just down the road from Oxford exists an unmistakable sense of forward motion. Williams Racing is looking to make a return to the front of the F1 field, building on the foundations of historic accolades, but looking forward to a new era of success. As team principal, James Vowles stands at the helm of their fight back to the front.

When I speak to Vowles, heading into the last quarter of the 2025 Formula 1 season, the schedule seems impossibly full: “We’re going to be racing our 2025 car, whilst building our 2026 car, and we’re having our 2027 meetings in the background as well. It gets a little bit hectic.” 

Amid the chaos of the 2025 season, his priorities are far more structural, focusing on changes back at HQ in Grove to support the long-term vision of William’s comeback. “We didn’t put the focus on this year’s car. What we were doing, and still doing, is just fixing some foundational ways of working. What I’m happy about is just doing the basics right and producing a reasonable, competitive car.” 

The back-to-basics approach has paid off. So far, in 2025, Williams has earned more points than in the previous two seasons combined, and currently sits P5 in the constructors’ championship, leading a tight midfield battle into the final races of the season. 

This upward momentum is, as Vowles insists, not the result of one silver bullet but of shared belief. Though no longer family-operated, the culture of an independent family business remains strong at Grove, where 1,100 employees come together under a single goal. “The amount of passion in Williams is extraordinary, and it’s what drives the team”, Vowles says, using an apt motoring metaphor, he explains, “It’s a little bit like an engine. Once you’ve introduced a little bit of fuel, air, and some spark, it drives itself. That’s the same within Williams. It’s now self-propelling.” 

Williams’ driver lineup embodies that same spirit in Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. “Drivers are fascinating individuals”, Vowles says, “The driver is the most expensive, but also the best sensor that we have in the car, and they’re very good at directing a team, so trust them and their voice.”

The data-driven philosophy relies on a handy rule of three. He explains, “Number one is the car itself. Number two is the driver – they’re the best sensor we have. And number three is the data, the lap times. If two of those sources align, that’s the truth.” 

As Team Principal, Vowles recognises his role as both strategist and communicator. “My job is to create a North Star that we can all look and point at, and if you’re unsure where we’re going, it’s always in the sky.” That North Star extends beyond the Oxfordshire factory, with William’s media presence involving debriefs and team statements to provide clarity following race weekends. For Vowles, media responsibility is an opportunity rather than a burden. “Transparency is really important to me. It’s who I am as a character.”

“It doesn’t matter if there is a camera in front of my face, or whether we’re chatting on the street. I’m here to go racing, make a fast racing car, win championships and to do it in the most sportsmanlike manner”. This approach, he argues, has strengthened Williams’ relationship with its supporters and opened its doors to the next generation of team members. “For Williams to be successful, we need people to be behind us on a journey. We are sports and entertainment. We have to remember that at our core.”

Beyond the social media spotlight and pressures of managing the season, there is constant attention to Williams’ future. For Vowles, the long-term plan to champion success in motorsport naturally gravitates to the role of students and graduates. “I really believe in investing in our future generations,” he says, acknowledging the importance of continuity in leadership. “I’m here to bring this team to a much better place, but then take the shirt and hand it over to the next generation so that I can watch from the sidelines and be incredibly proud of what I’ve been able to develop.”

For Williams, that mission begins close to home. “We’re an Oxford-based team. And so what makes more sense to me than anything in my mind is taking one of the top-tier universities and presenting an opportunity and a pathway that we will take the brightest and best.” Roughly 12% of Williams’ workforce are early career engineers, graduates or apprentices, and the team takes pride in how meaningfully they contribute. ‘What is different in Williams is when you come in, you’re not doing paperwork. You are, from day one, a reason why this team will be successful in the future and given real roles and responsibilities.” 

That philosophy starts even earlier. Through Williams’ free STEM Education Programme, 10,000 students aged 8-16 have been supported to learn about engineering, teamwork and innovation. Williams is conscious of planting seeds in curious minds, recognising that career choices “start stemming around 11 to 13 years old”. After an apology for the stem pun, he explains, “It’s really important to speak to people in that age group, and just saying: here’s STEM, it allows you to go into Formula 1, but it doesn’t have to. That’s a very Williams-specific thing, but I’m passionate about bringing the brightest and best, irrespective of the age group.”

For all the passion that fuels Formula 1, Vowles is candid about the work-hard, play-hard culture of the sport. “It’s highly addictive, but it’s bloody hard. There’s no stopping to it.” 

It is difficult to discuss Formula 1 without a mention of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, but Vowles is honest about demystifying the onscreen glamour. “You can look at Netflix and think it’s lovely. It’s 24 countries all over the world, 24 different locations”, Vowles says. It’s no secret that Netflix has driven significant traffic to F1, but short television episodes can only show so much of the story. “People who come to work for me are dedicating their lives towards it. It’s passion.” The intensity is balanced by unparalleled gratification: “It’s not a nine-to-five, and I’m frank about that, but it will give you a reward that’s beyond anything you’ll experience anywhere else.” 

Fortunately, we had a recent example to discuss, speaking shortly after Carlos Sainz secured 3rd place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This was his first podium with Williams, and the team’s first since George Russel’s second place at the same circuit in 2021. Simply put, the result “meant the world to individuals who have given everything.”

“There’s no politics. There’s nothing blocking you. It’s just down to you, your intelligence, your innovation, your will and want and desire, and that’s what attracted me, and why I haven’t left in 25 years.” 

Behind the attention to future generations, Williams doesn’t lose sight of the legacy it has inherited. However, in the fast-paced world of F1, a team cannot run on history alone. “What I never want to be doing is resting on the laurels that were created for me here.” 

As we wrap up, he turns his attention to the students just a few miles away in Oxford. “People can be part of an incredible journey, rebuilding this sleeping giant back into what it should be. And that drives people on, far more than any words that I can use.” 

The results this season certainly do speak louder than words. Call it fortune if you like, but at Grove, there’s no such thing as a change in luck. Williams is in the business of making its own.

‘Fright’s Out!’ at the Ultimate Picture Palace: ‘Dracula’s Daughter’

Lara Machado
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‘Fright’s Out!’ at the Ultimate Picture Palace: ‘Dracula’s Daughter’

To call Dracula’s Daughter (1936) campy would be an understatement. In many ways it felt like a ridiculous version of Cat People (1942). At one point, examining the body of a man who has just been vampirised, a doctor dramatically exclaims: “If we only knew what caused those two sharp punctures over the jugular vein!”

Screened at the Ultimate Picture Palace as part of their ‘Fright’s Out!’ classic season, Dracula’s Daughter follows Countess Marya Zaleska, daughter of Count Dracula. The Countess believes that the death of her father will free her from the urge to kill and allow her to live a normal life among humans. An important aspect of this desire is a longing for human connection – hence my comparison to Cat People – and yet any serious attempts at depicting Marya’s loneliness, despite an interesting performance from Gloria Holden, are overshadowed by the film’s overwhelming silliness. 

Curiously, nowadays Dracula’s Daughter gets discussed mostly in relation to its queer subtext. Particularly in relation to the scene where a young girl, Lili, undresses in front of the Countess so that she can paint her. Originally Lili was meant to pose for Marya nude, but the scene was changed to have her only partially undress. This was the result of a suggestion of Joseph Breen – the American film censor – that the film “avoid any suggestion of perverse sexual desire on the part of Marya, or of an attempted sexual attack by her upon Lili”. The discussion of Marya as a version of the archetypal predatory homosexual dominated discussions of the film both then and now. 

I find it very hard to believe that Dracula’s Daughter ever attempted to be a fully serious film, although to call it a comedy feels wrong too. It would be even harder to justify it as a horror picture, since it makes so few attempts at suspense, and when it does, seems to immediately undercut them. One example is Marya’s arrival at the police station to see her father’s body. There is an undeniable intensity and allure about Holden. Covering her face with a black shawl, only her beautiful dark eyes are visible – before she even uses her ring to hypnotise the policeman, she commands the screen with quasi-hypnotic power. This powerful moment is interrupted by the constant slapstick performance from the bumbling policeman. Throughout the film, Holden continues to give a dramatic performance, but the cast almost all seem stuck in different genres.

The audience at the Ultimate Picture Palace were constantly laughing, but for the most part not with the film. Dracula’s Daughter is unsure of what it wants to be and, ultimately, that is what makes it so entertaining. The film opens with physical comedy from these two policeman figures who make the audience laugh whenever they are on screen and seem to take up an inordinate amount of the film’s short runtime. A ridiculous number of characters from Bram Stoker’s Dracula are name-dropped in this opening – including Renfield, although he is entirely irrelevant to the rest of the film – and Van Helsing gets put under arrest for murdering Dracula. In another bizarre scene we meet our hero, Dr. Jeffrey Garth – pronounced as Goth in the film, as if everything else wasn’t enough – hunting with a strongly accented Scottish figure to whose accent Garth then imitates, presumably as a joke. Why, you may ask? That is a great question, and one that the film doesn’t know the answer to.

When it is not being weirdly comedic, the film is seemingly attempting a melodrama with elements of the psychological study. After meeting Dr. Garth, who is a psychiatrist, Marya becomes obsessed with the idea that he might be able to free her from her vampirism. This could have been an interesting way to explore themes of sexual repression or alienation, or even, as the film at one point seems to suggest, inter-generational trauma. What we get is what feels like a cartoon version of a psychiatrist’s job, including pearls of dialogue such as “more or less, and like any disease of the mind, it can be cured” and “we have to discover what brought about the obsession in order to effect mental release”. Otto Kruger – known for playing charismatic villains – gives a baffling performance as Dr. Garth. At times he acts like he’s in a silent film, at others he barely seems to react: every time he dramatically raised an eyebrow for a close-up during entirely serious moments, the audience cackled. 

If only to be constantly surprised, I would give Dracula’s Daughter an hour and ten minutes of your time – it asks very little of its audience and has plenty of entertainment to give. UPP’s ‘Fright’s Out!’ classics season is definitely one to look out for if you want to get in the mood for Halloween. 

TLDR: Literacy in the digital age

Beatrix Arnold
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TLDR: Literacy in the digital age

No one reads these days. If it’s longer than an Instagram caption, it’s not worth my time. I doubt most people will even make it to the end of this article. As more and more studies tracking the decline in literacy pile up, doom-mongering professors self-importantly shake their heads in despair that “people don’t read Joyce any more”. We fiddle on our iPhones while Arcadia burns. 

This moral panic is nothing new. People have been murdering literature ever since its birth: the absence of the great Ancient Greek works from the Elizabethan school curriculum precluded the growth of tragedy; Victorian narrative serialisation killed long-form literature; and, worst of all, in the 18th century people stopped reading serious works because of the growing popularity of (god forbid) the novel.   

It may be true that today’s attention economy is robbing us of the ability to engage with literary works in a meaningful way. But the ‘prophet of doom’ attitude assumed by those who claim intellectual distinction does more harm than good. The way we speak about reading sets us up for failure.

Reading is, and has long been, an essentially privileged activity. Quite apart from the financial burden, it requires the luxury of physical and mental leisure, scarce in the working world where every minute is monetised. The sheer number of books that everyone ‘must read’ makes it a daunting venture to even begin, especially for those for whom it has never been a priority. 

Even self-proclaimed readers often harbour backwards attitudes. Reading is increasingly spoken of as a duty, as if, by reading Bleak House, you are selflessly engaging in a civilisation-saving act. Yet such an attitude merely perpetuates a utilitarian perspective that cannot, in any meaningful way, incorporate the delightfully useless. Literature has always been an effective cultural lightning rod. You don’t have to actually engage with it – as long as you can self-righteously lament that no one else is engaging with it, you can’t fail to sound intelligent. The practice is condensed into an aesthetic and fetishised – who cares if you didn’t understand Dostoevsky, as long as you can log it on your Goodreads? 

The issue is complicated by layers of literary discrimination. Not only are people not reading enough, but they are reading the wrong things, and, as a consequence of this vicious cycle, this means they will never be able to understand the right things. The phrase “the extinction of humanity” is bandied about at literary festivals, while connoisseurs clutch their copies of Tolstoy like a life raft that will save them from the tsunami of the ignorant masses. There’s something particularly jarring about hearing the privileged few bemoan, in their practised RP, the preference of the populace for ‘vulgar’ literature. Because, of course, it’s the craze for ‘romantasy’ books that will turn us all into mindless automatons. Unsurprisingly, this turns out to be yet another permutation of the class divide – snobbery marketed as philanthropic concern.

The ruthless taxonomy of books – differentiation by library sticker, by inclusion in the curriculum, by cultural consciousness – is inherently problematic. The notion of ‘the canon’ has often been questioned, yet it seems impossible to push back on the binary of classic literature and popular books. We live by an absurd metric whereby older is considered better – if telephones aren’t mentioned, it’s a ‘classic’ by default. We forget that Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories were considered pulp fiction when released, that Austen was disparaged for her frivolity. Lewis’ The Monk (1796), which occupies a secure position on the ‘Classic Literature’ shelf somewhere between Lawrence and Locke, narrates a story of pornographic revenge, stuffed with garish ghosts and crude sensationalism that would scandalise the Wattpad users of today. Clearly, the ‘popular’ and the ‘classic’ are not mutually exclusive labels.

Why should one form of literature claim the monopoly? Why is it that audiobooks, e-books, even films, are implicitly placed below physical books in the accepted hierarchy of media consumption? Literacy is not a necessary precondition of literature. Our current audiovisual culture encourages the dissemination of literature in different forms; media variation does not spell the death of literature. Reading is an activity that should not be limited to the physical action: it is a social, dialogic process. The canon cannot and should not sit there unmoving.

Of course, we should all read more. Of course, our attention spans are being threatened by the predominance of increasingly short-form, increasingly digital media. But these concerns are perennial, and performative hand-wringing will get us nowhere. Before we mourn the death of literature, let’s check its pulse first. See? I told you that you wouldn’t make it to the end.

Cowley Branch Line to reopen with two new stations

Gaspard Rouffin
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Cowley Branch Line to reopen with two new stations

The Cowley Branch train line between the Oxford Rail Station and London Marylebone is set to reopen, with the first passenger trains expected in 2029. With trains every 30 minutes to London throughout the day, the new line will significantly improve links to the city centre.

Two additional stations, Oxford Cowley and Oxford Littlemore, will also be constructed, with a travel time of less than 10 minutes into central Oxford.

The reopening of the Cowley Branch was made possible by a £120 million investment announced by the Labour government on Thursday, as part of a broader £500 million package to boost infrastructure and housing between Oxford and Cambridge, to create a “European Silicon Valley”.

An additional £35 million has been announced by both city and county councils, as well as local businesses and commercial research centres, such as the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT). The EIT is set to open in 2027 and has already announced a strategic partnership with Oxford University, with its main campus being a short walk away from the new Oxford Littlemore station. Both will be designed by Lord Norman Foster, who is the architect of the Gherkin, Millennium Bridge amongst others in London as well as the Apple Park in California.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, stated: “This investment is a major vote of confidence in Oxford as a global hub for science and innovation and shows what can be achieved when government and world-class institutions like the Ellison Institute of Technology work together to deliver for our communities.”

The “European Silicon Valley” is a government initiative aiming to create and revitalise a corridor between Oxford and Cambridge focused on dynamic tech innovation by 2035, supported by major transport, housing, and research investments.

The Cowley Branch reopening is set to boost the local economy, attracting up to £10 billion in private investments – including expanding business and science parks like ARC, OSC, and the EIT – as well as housing developments, leading to the creation of up to 10,000 jobs in the local area.

Oxford University Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey commented: “The Cowley Branch Line will stitch together our science parks, hospitals and new cultural spaces so that ideas, researchers and local residents can move more easily across our city – and out to London – every day.  As Oxford accelerates initiatives like the Oxfordshire Strategic Innovation Taskforce, today’s decision is a practical step toward the inclusive, sustainable and fair prosperity we want to see for our communities.”

The new train line will also help reduce congestion in central Oxford, and promote more sustainable means of travel. The line currently only serves BMW Mini freight trains from the Oxford plant, and had been shut to passenger rail service since 1963. Local Labour MP Annelise Dodds had been leading a campaign advocating for its reopening for several years, including a symbolic annual walk from Cowley to Oxford.

Dodds said: “I’m delighted that after years of campaigning for the reopening of the Cowley branch line, alongside local residents, this is finally going to become a reality! I’m grateful to everyone who has pushed for the line to be reopened for so many years. 

“The reopened branch line will make a massive difference to local residents, slashing travel times and reducing congestion. It will also open up many economic opportunities for local residents. I’m so pleased that the government has listened to Oxford today.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the reopening of the Cowley branch line would reduce travel times between Oxford and London. In fact, the journey time reductions apply only to new services between Cowley and London Marylebone (via Oxford). There are no planned changes to journey times on the existing Oxford-Marylebone route.

Famous pub frequented by Tolkien set for refurbishment

Hasan Ahmed
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Famous pub frequented by Tolkien set for refurbishment

New plans have been unveiled by the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) for the renovation of The Eagle and Child, a famous Oxford pub. 

The historic pub, once frequented by C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien, has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. After the venue was bought by the EIT in 2023, it is now set to undergo extensive work to bring it back into use. The EIT was established by the world’s second richest man Larry Ellison, co-founder of the software company Oracle. 

Lewis and Tolkien were part of an informal group of writers known as The Inklings, who hosted regular meetings in the pub with other academics. The Rabbit Room, to the rear of the property, contains a small plaque commemorating the significance of the building.

The plans have been drawn up by world-renowned architects Foster + Partners, which has said that the “light-touch interventions” are designed to “revive and continue the legacy of the Grade II listed building”. The pub dates back to 1650, and has seen patchwork updates over the decades, many of which are set to be “retained and treated as part of the building’s evolving narrative”, with a “conservation-led approach”. 

A new dining room will also be added and the pub’s third parlour room will be reinstated, providing additional space. “The neighbouring 50 and 51 St. Giles’ Street will become a café that serves coffee and baked goods”, helping to transform The Eagle and Child into “an all-day destination”.

Gerard Evenden, Head of Studio at Foster + Partners, said: “The design preserves the unique character of The Eagle and Child and respects its many layers of history.

“The scheme is stitched together by a newly landscaped garden and restored passageway between the café and the pub – new social spaces that transition effortlessly from day to night.” 

With an estimated completion date of 2027 for the refurbishment of the pub, the development is the latest in a number of investments in Oxford from the EIT, including a  recent £890 million injection into Ellison’s technology institute at the Oxford Science Park and a £118 million pledge to fund an Oxford vaccine research project that aims to tackle pathogenic diseases using AI.

Having founded the American software company Oracle in 1977, Ellison has amassed a fortune worth almost $400 billion. The value of Oracle has burgeoned in the past year, as it has struck deals with companies, such as ChatGPT owner OpenAI, to build AI infrastructure and cloud computing capacity. Ellison has positioned himself as an ally of President Trump.

Ellison has also been in the process of building a new media empire, being at the forefront of a consortium of possible buyers for the US operations of TikTok and buying Paramount Global earlier this year, the owner of US news outlet CBS, through his media production company Skydance.

World Anti-Corruption Conference takes place in Oxford

Oskar Doepke
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World Anti-Corruption Conference takes place in Oxford

The 2025 World Anti-Corruption Conference (WACC) took place in Oxford for the first time on Friday 24th October. Hosted at Rhodes House, the annual event brought together academics, policymakers, business and civil leaders, and members of Oxford University to formulate actionable proposals to combat corruption. 

WACC, which is organised by the International Strategy Institute (ISI), began in 2019 as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Forum. After changing its name to the World Anti-Corruption Conference in 2023, the event expanded its scope to tackle corruption globally.  This year marks the first year WACC will be held at a venue outside of South East Asia. 

This year’s event, which is titled ‘United for Integrity: Innovation, Collaboration, and Accountability in the Fight Against Corruption’, featured topic discussions on subjects  such as corporate integrity, financial innovation and the empowerment of  future generations.

During the conference, there were speeches made by CY Cheah (Chairman of the ISI) and Dato’ Jamil, Director General of the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre in Malaysia, as well as multiple networking sessions. 

Before the event, Michał Pietrzak, a third-year student and former President of the Oxford Diplomatic Society, who attended the conference, and told Cherwell: “Although anti-corruption has never been my area of interest, it is an incredibly important aspect of any political endeavour, diplomatic or otherwise, and thus pertinent to all related fields. The conference is a great opportunity for me to learn more about efforts seeking to mitigate corruption through regulation and enforcement, and the monitoring processes used to determine their effectiveness.”

Pietrzak added that he is “particularly intrigued by the event’s inclusion of education and youth empowerment”, as well as the various networking opportunities. 

Through the 2025 conference, WACC aims to continue its mission of raising awareness of anti-corruption and promoting productive dialogue and “uniting global leaders to advance integrity, transparency, and accountability across sectors and borders.”

University and SU launch ‘Think Twice’ water safety campaign

Amelia Gibbins
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University and SU launch ‘Think Twice’ water safety campaign

The University of Oxford and the Oxford University Student Union (SU) have launched a campaign to improve water safety awareness in Oxford.

The ‘Think Twice’ campaign follows a Conference of Common Rooms (CCR) motion in Trinity, proposed by Brasenose JCR. It aims to make students aware of hazards around Oxford’s waterways and communicate ways to access help.

The campaign urges students to pay attention to the temperature of water, which can be fatally cold even on hot days, as well as water level, which can change rapidly. Students are urged not to jump straight into open water, nor to walk, run or cycle through water where they cannot see the bottom.

Hazardous items can also be beneath the water, from rocks, rubbish, and glass, to boat motors that could catch on clothing and cause serious injury.

It highlights the danger of going near areas of open water under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, and urges students not to enter water wearing non-swimwear and/or footwear, even where swimming is usually allowed.

Open water can also be a risk to health due to poor water quality and pollution. Thames Water, who provide Oxford’s water, were fined £122.7m this year for breaching rules over sewage spills into the river, and were ranked the worst water supplier in England this week.

The initiative incorporates advice from the RNLI and the Royal Lifesaving Association, and will be communicated to students through common rooms.

Discussions of the motion last term saw various JCRs highlighting the danger of “pushing trashing and celebrations to more remote or less supervised locations”. 

Students currently face £150 fines for trashing, which the University’s ‘Celebrate SMART’ campaign warns against. A spokesperson for Think Twice told Cherwell that the SU will be working alongside the University to ensure “clear safety messaging” around water.

Rory McGlade, the proposer of the water safety motion and Brasenose JCR President, told Cherwell that “with continued advocacy, [common room leaders] hope to encourage colleges across Oxford to permit celebrations to occur on site”. 

Allowing post-exam celebrations to take place in college grounds would mean that students “aren’t pushed out to the edges of Oxford near waterways, but are brought back into the fold in central Oxford, where the risks are lower”.

Speaking about the risks of many Oxford ‘traditions’, McGlade expressed his hope that Think Twice is a strong starting point for water safety at Oxford, rather than being an end goal. He explained that “the initiative will evolve throughout the year, following input and debate by common room leaders”.

The SU will report back on the progress of the campaign to CCR throughout the year.

Katrina Mulligan on AI, security, and the race to the future

Mercedes Haas
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Katrina Mulligan on AI, security, and the race to the future

Katrina Mulligan, Head of National Security Partnerships at OpenAI, spoke at the Blavatnik School of Government last week about the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and global security, warning that “everything you know about AI is already out of date”.

Before joining OpenAI, Mulligan held numerous senior roles in the US government and launched the travelling press corps for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. She explained that after years in public service, she realised that “sometimes smart and well-intentioned people don’t always make the right decisions”, motivating her to join OpenAI and work on the frontlines of a technology she believes will shape some of the world’s most consequential choices.

Mulligan described OpenAI’s commitment to developing “technology for good” and discussed the frameworks the company has built to determine when and how AI should be deployed. She highlighted ChatGPT’s rapid growth, reaching 100 million users within two months of its launch, as evidence of how quickly the technology has entered everyday life.

To counter misconceptions, she noted that many common beliefs about AI, including views that it’s “not that good”, a “black box”, or “too risky”, are already outdated. Comparing AI to electricity, she said that while the technology may still appear dangerous or unpredictable, it will eventually become as essential to modern life as power itself.

Mulligan traced the evolution of OpenAI’s models, explaining that earlier versions performed at a “junior high school level” while current reasoning models now exceed PhD-level understanding. These newer systems “take time to think,” shifting the focus of scaling from data and computing power to deliberation and reasoning.

Encouraging the audience to experiment directly with AI tools, she remarked: “You do not get fit by reading about working out.”

She observed a growing disparity between generations and regions in how AI is perceived and used. People over 40, she said, tend to use ChatGPT as a replacement for search engines, while those under 30 increasingly rely on it as an operating system for daily life. Meanwhile, Western countries are far more focused on risk and regulation, whereas China and many developing nations prioritise rapid adoption.

When asked what concerns her most, Mulligan identified “mass surveillance”, “removing humans from decision-making”, and “weapon development”. She stressed that “no one company should dominate on this technology” and that international cooperation will be vital, since every country has “land, energy, and power” to contribute to the global AI ecosystem.

Reflecting on the accelerating pace of technological progress, Mulligan remarked that “the world is looking at a calendar, OpenAI is looking at a watch”. Despite her two decades in national security, she said her belief in “the good of humanity” continues to guide her work in ensuring AI’s development remains responsible and inclusive.

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