Thursday, May 15, 2025
Blog Page 484

Oxford Forgets Its Duty of Care

Helena Murphy
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Oxford Forgets Its Duty of Care

These are difficult times, unprecedent times. I’m sure that as little as a week ago few of us would have imagined that we would be where we are today. The streets are emptying, more and more of us are self-isolating, borders across Europe are closing, Italy is under lock-down, the number of those infected is rapidly increasing. Who could have predicted this? I didn’t, and Oxford University certainly did not. 

At such a surreal moment in our lives many of us are unsure what to do and where to turn. Just look at the empty shelves in Tesco, the panic hoarding is getting worse by the day. It has not been helped by the confusing, mixed, and at times isolating responses of the Oxford colleges.

Last week St John’s College had assured its students that they would be able to remain in their accommodation if need be and were prepared to support them throughout this troubling period. On Sunday afternoon, in an email from the Senior Tutor, the college rescinded its former position: ‘I am now requiring you to leave to go home unless there is a pressing reason not to do so.’ According to the Senior Tutor’s email, all UK students, barring special exceptions, should return home by Wednesday 18thof March.

This came as a shock to many of the students of St John’s, and has created further distress and anxiety at an already trying time. Students have contacted the college individually disputing the decision and expressing their own individual concerns and fears. Furthermore, a letter drafted by a postgraduate student, signed by 60 undergraduate and postgraduate students, was sent to the college expressing opposition to the decision to instruct students to leave. The letter details the concerns shared by many students about endangering elderly and vulnerable relatives at home, as well as their confusion as to how the college decision is intended to fit with the government’s current plan of action.

While St John’s has told postgraduate students that they understand that they might not want to return home because of elderly parents, the college told its undergraduate students via email: ‘you are the very people they [elderly relatives] may need and this is another reason why you must return to your local community.’ 

One student at Johns has said that they are ‘honestly distraught’ by the college’s handling of the situation, and feel as if they are being forced to endanger the welfare of their family, their mental health, and their degree by being forced to vacate their room at short notice.

Another student of the college has said that they feel as if the ‘boilerplate copy-and-paste messages’ from college have made students ‘feel angry, anxious, and condescended to.’ 

St John’s has not been alone in encouraging or forcing students to leave. Queen’s College has advised that all students who are able to return home should do so. Likewise, Wadham College has asked all UK students to leave college accommodation unless they have a ‘compelling’ reason to stay. University College have also requested that all UK students should leave if they do not have a ‘compelling’ reason to stay.

The issue is, what does ‘compelling’ really mean? Compelling for the student or for the college? Many students at St John’s felt that they had compelling reasons to stay in Oxford, but their objections were widely met with a generic copy-and-paste email, ignoring the differing situations of individuals. 

In times of crisis cracks start to show. There are many students who come to Oxford in the first year of their degree and began to make a home for themselves here. Not everyone has a safe home to go to. Many have relatives that they risk endangering by returning. Not everyone has a home conducive to the work demanded by an Oxford degree. What the last week has shown is that many colleges are only prepared to be a home to its students when it is clear skies and smooth sailing. 

Now that students are being forced to leave many of us are feeling lost and frankly abandoned by the institution which we have dedicated ourselves to, the institution we depended on. For some, this experience may well have ruined a relationship with the university that has been built over several years.

Undoubtedly the college staff are under an extreme amount of pressure, and I am sure that the decisions made by colleges have not been made lightly. But given the sheer surreal nature of reality right now it is of the utmost importance that we treat each other gently, and kindly, and with understanding. St John’s may well have good reasons for forcing its students to leave but those reasons have been poorly communicated. The college has told its postgraduates one thing, and its undergraduates another. It has failed to respond to the individual concerns of students, and it has failed to make its students feel safe. 

I sincerely hope that when Johns students return to the college that their relationship with the college will be able to be salvaged, for those who may never return to the college I can only hope that this has not tainted their memories of their degree and their time at St Johns.

St John’s College decline to comment.

Mayday celebrations cancelled

Florine Lips
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Mayday celebrations cancelled

Oxford City Council has announced this morning that this year’s May Morning Event has been cancelled.

The Council said that: ‘While we do not know what the situation will be in May, the emergency services who normally support the event need to be available for priority duties relating to coronavirus. The preparation times for the event mean decisions about the commitment of money and resources need to be made now. Given the uncertainty ahead, we have decided that it is prudent to cancel the event which will also mean the resources can be used elsewhere if needed.’

This follows Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s advice against mass gatherings, especially those that would require emergency workers to ensure public safety. He said in his March 16th press conference that ‘we’ve also got to ensure that we have the critical workers we need that might otherwise be deployed for those gatherings, to deal with those emergencies.’ 

Last year, over 13,000 people attended Oxford’s historic May Morning event, which usually involves a 6am start, with citizens and students congregating to hear Magdalen College choir sing.

Moran seeks to legalise rough sleeping amid Covid-19 fears

Mark Robins
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Moran seeks to legalise rough sleeping amid Covid-19 fears

Layla Moran will present parliament with a Bill to repeal the Vagrancy Act, a law passed in 1824 which criminalises homeless people for rough sleeping and begging. Moran, the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, has said that the outbreak of Coronavirus means that “now more than ever, we need a compassionate approach to homelessness”.

The Vagrancy Act has already been repealed in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Moran’s bill will extend its repeal to England and Wales. There were 1,320 prosecutions under the Act in 2018.

Prior to the presentation of her bill, Moran said: “Rough sleepers urgently need accommodation, health checks and support in the face of Coronavirus. I am concerned that homeless people will be disproportionately affected by the detention measures in the new emergency legislation.”

“A new compassionate approach must include scrapping the Vagrancy Act. It is a cruel, Dickensian law that criminalises people just for sleeping rough. Being homeless should not be a crime. We should be caring for people who end up on the streets, not locking them up.”

Moran has also called for safe spaces to be provided for homeless and vulnerable people to self-isolate. “The government should seek to care for homeless people and set up special services for them in disused buildings or vacated offices in cities,” she said.

“These facilities should provide a sanitised place to eat, drink water and use the toilet. And, they should provide safe spaces for vulnerable people to self-isolate with dignity, as opposed to within a detention facility following arrest.”

Moran’s bill has cross-party support and is co-sponsored by six MPs, amongst them former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas.

A Bleak Night from a Student’s View

Ben Gray
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A Bleak Night from a Student’s View

I have not always been the biggest fan of Oxford University. I have often thought that if I was to write about it, I would be having a right go, lampooning the privilege, the access failings, the ugly residue of the old world. But now I am stunned to find myself writing about how tough a time it is for Oxford students. Half of us do not know we are born (and a gentle reminder to some of the woke freedom fighters reading this – that applies to you too). For many people around the world, the effects of this crisis will be far more visceral than most of us can ever imagine. And yet, we are hurting right now. At the end of the day, a huge chunk of our lives is at university. While we are here, fatuous though a lot of it honestly is, some friends become family. Girlfriends and boyfriends might turn out to be the one we’ll spend the rest of our lives with. So, with the Vice-Chancellor indicating that Trinity term will probably take place remotely and the government advising people to stay put, the night of Monday 16th left a lot of final year students suddenly feeling adrift.

Last weekend down by the river, as a torrent of students poured out of the city, you could feel worry in the air. Back at home on Monday night, a storm broke with hail and thunder. My mum comes home from work, she’s shattered. She’s admin staff at a secondary school and spent the whole day taming chaos. And she’s frightened too, for her own mum, who has a lung condition. My little brother has no idea what’s happening with his GCSEs. He’s trying to act big, but I can tell he’s nervous.

Dad comes in, as always very late in the evening, his inbuilt rant kettle coming to boil on the drive back. He’s a veteran of 2008 and steeled for a recession. There’s no new business coming in and he’s very worried about how we will cope if his wages are cut. He’s not direct about it, but I’m an anthropomorphised cost to him now – with my unfinished masters and a growing pile of rejection letters. I start to feel small, an inconvenience. Without a Trinity term to go to the lack of certainty about my future now seems very real. My student’s airs and pretentions – the poetry, the jackets, the cigarettes and soul records – are melting away before the spectre of what happens next.

And it’s the same for everyone. Social media reads like the Book of Revelations and the messages are flying in. On top of not knowing what’s happening with their degrees, everyone’s family is in meltdown. One friend’s parents are arguing over whether to bring his sister home from uni in the north, and his asthmatic Dad may even try to get to France, believing he has more chance isolating there than at home. Tumult in that house. Another one pops up, she’s at risk and stuck in isolation in her college. There are deep problems at home, and all her friends have left town. She’s utterly alone. While others worry about the practical things, one mate is saying goodbye to his new girlfriend. She’s going back home overseas while she still can, maybe for good. His first romance, he worries, obliterated overnight.

I’m quite lucky at home in Stevenage, with friends I have known since before I can remember. They’re working lads who will take the brunt of this if things go south, but they are the ones picking me back up like they always have. But for a lot of finalists, their entire social lives are at Oxford, and they’ll be thinking of lost moments with the people that matter. The new people they’d give anything to spend more time with. The people they’ve known the whole way through, proper goodbyes cut dead – the things they needed to say still unsaid. The people they forgot and wanted to get to know again, now probably always a regret. It’s going to take a bit of coming to terms with.

We will cope with what is happening because that’s the only thing we can do. We will support our families and help others too, I’m sure. We will get used to the situation and the isolation. But right now, it must be said, the mental health of the student body is reeling from a sucker punch. And that is why it’s going to be important to touch base.

Let your mates know they matter, get the silly Skype calls in, keep dropping your weird memes. A lot of people will be feeling pretty dark in the coming weeks but staying in touch will really help. Because the people in our lives help make us who we are, and we’re not going to lose them, even if, for the minute, we only get to see each other’s mugs on a screen.

In Conversation: Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds

Hope Hopkinson
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In Conversation: Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds

Born out of the early-2000s rock scene in the unsuspecting St. Albans, Enter Shikari have spent the best part of the last two decades taking the UK rock scene by storm. With their unique genre-bending sound and politically driven message, they are a constant on the lineups of major festivals – playing no less than five sets over the weekend at Reading & Leeds 2019.

The four-piece’s last record, The Spark (2017) set a precedent for high-concept rock music, an era that was as stylised and slick as it was gritty and unapologetic. As a band who are constantly in the business of outdoing themselves, Shikari announced that their sixth album, Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible is set to release on 17th April 2020, calling it “the most definitive Shikari record to date”. Sharing a name with a novel by Peter Pomerantsev about the ‘surreal heart of the New Russia,’ the record is set to navigate the intrigues of the surface level yet uncover the darkness lying beneath in the very same way. 

Ahead of the record’s release, I had the opportunity to chat with frontman Rou Reynolds. An outspoken advocate for mental wellbeing and social justice alike, Reynolds has been at the forefront of Shikari’s evolution from hard-hitting post-hardcore to genre-defying music with an authentic soul. We talked the morning after the late-night release of the second single from NIT&EIP, ‘Thē kĭñg’ – a track that he described as a “lesson in patience and forgiveness”, coated in a melodic and intricate electro-rock shell.

 ‘Thē kĭñg’ came a month after the release of the album’s lead single, ‘The Dreamer’s Hotel’. Both are equally stylised and classically Shikari, yet showcase their ability to jump seamlessly from one sound to another. “The theme of ‘The Dreamer’s Hotel’ came through quite early,” Rou told me. “The music and lyrics got developed at the same time which is quite different for us. The idea behind it was there, and the music came with it. It offered a juxtaposition between this idea of a ‘hotel’ – this place of peace and optimism and community, and then outside the hotel – the normal and furious world that we’ve come to know.”

“It was a case of matching that contrast with music. That’s why the verses are quite stark really, it was quite dramatically unharmonic for us. Normally harmony is so important to our music, but it’s just these lo-fi drums and horrible screeching,” Rou laughed. “We open the doors back up to the hotel with the more slick and melodic sound that really contrasts.”

This imagery is even more vivid still in the video for ‘The Dreamer’s Hotel,’ released just under a month after the song itself. Featuring technicolour effects and absurdist imagery alike, there’s an almost neo-Lynchian element to its execution. “The effects are something that just worked so well,” Rou told me. “We wanted to go for almost a 90s Britpop sort of style, but in a very analogue way. Almost all the effects were made with joysticks on little machines behind the camera – it was all very real and very old school, and made for a really fun experience.”

Beyond the two singles that have already been released, NIT&EIP is perhaps Shikari’s most experimental album thus far. Whilst they’ve never shied away from breaking down musical barriers, the new record signifies how effortlessly they do so.

Track 5, ‘modern living…’ is a seductive and swingy anthem with a carefully handcrafted flow, Reynolds citing “almost a grunge influence. It’s very slow-paced for us, and is really just a track taking the piss out of ourselves and the world that we live in. We’re going through political shock after political shock, and have got very much into that ‘it’s the end of the world and we’re all fucked!’ mindset.”

“It’s very easy to get into a pessimistic – almost nihilistic – way of thinking. We use the portmanteau ‘apocoholic’ to sum that up basically. I’ve very much felt like that myself, but sometimes it’s good to just step back and get some perspective, also just to use humour. It’s something central to what Shikari have always done, it really is a defence mechanism. It’s a way of saying ‘I’m not dead yet,’ showing fortitude, something that we’ve always enjoyed injecting into the music.”

Whilst much of the new record expresses similar feelings about the world in which we live, Shikari are no strangers to inventing fictitious worlds of their own within their music. Whilst they act as vivid caricatures of our turbulent society, tracks like ‘Revolt of the Atoms’ from their previous album are a welcome distraction and fascinating delve into Reynolds’ creative psyche. 

Tracks 11 and 12 play such a role on NIT&EIP – ominously named ‘Marionettes (I. The Discovery of Strings)’, and ‘Marionettes (II. The Ascent)’. Talking of these and the band’s general love of the dystopian, Rou said “sometimes, I like going into quite self-indulgent ways of creating, and just using music to create a piece of fiction. Because of the ominous theme, it allows us to explore different styles of instrumentation. There’s all sorts on this one – it’s a proper journey, a strange sort of opera in a way.”

“The only difficult thing was trying to make it flow. The introduction is a sort of prickly and ominous, almost Radiohead-esque sounding thing, and then evolves into almost an homage to early house and rave culture. There are lots of points on the album where we’ve been inspired by rave culture actually – I think it’s something that’s quite important at the moment. We’re in a time that feels very similar to the late 80s, early 90s; the country is divided by a shift back to neoliberalism, and it’s taken such a grip. Rave was almost apolitical to start with, but with the rise of Margaret Thatcher and ‘society is dead,’ rave almost became the fight back, if you like. It became people longing for community as it was taken out of working life, especially with the death of the mining industry. It was a death of a way of living, and rave culture became a response to that. That’s why you can hear it throughout the album as a major influence, because of the real atmosphere that’s reminiscent of all that.”

This is indicative of just the type of band that Shikari are. Whilst they reliably produce punchy festival anthems, there is thought embedded into every inch of the creative process; the catchy tunes being made all the more wonderful knowing they’re crafted with power and intention. “It’s not something that we really ever chose,” Rou told me. “I grew up with lots of influences that kind of pushed us in this direction – to use the tool to explore and unite, it just feels quite natural.”

“I grew up on Motown and Northern soul; my dad was a DJ in that respect. After the death of MLK, that became quite a politicised scene. I was always part of the punk and hardcore scenes too, and that was just normality, the idea that music brings communities together. I couldn’t be running around on stage and putting all my energy and passion into something that didn’t feel worthy of my passion, y’know? It has to be an honest gesture of communal passion, otherwise I don’t really know why I’d be on stage, I’d probably prefer to be in an orchestra or something.”

“But then, as you said, using music by itself is something that’s quite important as well. On this album more so than anything we’ve done before, the use of music without overt lyrics to convey a message has been really prevalent. The most obvious case is ‘Elegy for Extinction,’ an instrumental piece that uses program form to convey the evolution of life on this planet. It starts off with a very sprightly section with brass, strings, and woodwind – trying to convey the birth of a new species. It goes onto the second part in a sort of march, which you can imagine as the branches of the evolutionary tree. Eventually it all comes to a rather dramatic and rather terrifying crescendo, trying to convey the anthropocene and the fact that we’ve lost 50% of our species – the fact we have all sorts of terrifying possibilities brought about by climate change and human influence.”

“The process of writing music like this has become quite important to me – as sometimes, especially in the last few years, there’s been a lot of political music. Often it can be quite banal and obvious, and I think we always try and not just settle for the ‘football chanting politics,’ y’know, where you’ve just got a mantra and are shoving it down people’s throats. We want to encourage people to think for themselves, and hopefully this comes across in the record.”

Whilst Shikari’s run of small venue UK dates in April has since been cancelled due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the band plan on announcing a full tour for late 2020. Commanding large and impressive venues is what they do best, their immersive set design and 4D ‘quadraphonic sound’ creating a live atmosphere like no other. “We’re actually starting to build the set today,” Rou told me. “We’re not actually playing any UK festivals this summer for the first time in our career because we’ll need the summer to rehearse and build the staging. It’s a lot of work but we can’t wait.”

“There’s just so much scope; there are so many different emotions conveyed on the album so we can really build on that live – build a world and an atmosphere to absorb you all in. I just can’t wait to be honest.”

Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible is released worldwide on 17th April 2020.

Bodleian Libraries to close

Tilly Walters
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Bodleian Libraries to close

As a result of university wide policy changes due to Covid-19, the Bodleian Libraries will be closing tomorrow. These changes were announced in an email to Modern Languages students, and the information is expected to be released university-wide later today.

In an email to Modern Language students, the faculty wrote:

“All Libraries / Reading Rooms  – including the Taylor Institution Library – will close to readers for the foreseeable future, at 5pm today. All public spaces (e.g. Weston Library and Old Bodleian) are closed with immediate effect (alongside all GLAM public spaces e.g. Ashmolean Museum). All book deliveries and loans will cease from 5pm today. Existing books on loan will be auto-renewed until 19 June.

“We are already scaling up our digital services in order to support readers, including a greater focus on ebook provision and enhanced scanning services for open shelf material. The majority of these services will be supported by staff working from home. We will maintain the Scan-and-deliver service from the BSF, and a new ‘Scan-and-deliver+’ service from Oxford library locations. This will be operated by small teams working on rotation. Further details will be provided in due course.”

The Bodleian Libraries later shared this information on Twitter.

Speaking to Cherwell, they stated: “From Tuesday 17th March onwards The Ashmolean Museum, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University Natural History Museum and History of Science Museum are closed to the public.These steps are part of the University’s continued steps to prioritise the health and welfare of staff, students and the local community in the light of the UK’s escalating coronavirus situation.

“The Bodleian Libraries also closed their library sites from 5pm on 17th March but readers will still be able to access a wide range of online resources for remote working, including access to eJournals and ebooks, a scan-and-deliver service, the Oxford Reading Lists Online (ORLO) service, and an expanded Live-Chat service for enquiries is available at https://bit.ly/BodleianOnline .

“The University parks and Botanic Garden and Arboretum will remain open. Updates will continue to be posted on the University’s coronavirus advice webpage: http://bit.ly/coronavirus-advice. More information on The Bodleian Libraries online services can be found here: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2020/keeping-the-university-reading/_nocache.”

Further information will be updated if and when it becomes available.

This article has been updated at 13:23 to reflect the statement shared on Twitter, and again at 18:06 to reflect their comment.

Boat Races cancelled due to COVID-19

Mark Robins
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Boat Races cancelled due to COVID-19

The traditional boat races between Oxford and Cambridge scheduled for 29th March have been cancelled due to Coronavirus. The race’s organisers announced in a statement today that the event will no longer take place out of “concern for the welfare of our crews, our spectators, our staff and volunteers”

This is the first time the men’s event has been cancelled since the Second World War, whilst the women’s race has taken place every year since its inception in 1977. The decision comes after the government issued new guidance advising against large public gatherings.

Robert Gillespie, Chairman of the Boat Race Company Limited, said: “Given the unprecedented situation our country and each of us as individuals faces, the public good far outweighs all other considerations. Cancellation of The Boat Race is therefore clearly the correct decision.”

“Our thoughts are very much with the athletes who have worked so hard and made immense sacrifices to represent their University and are now unable to do so. To cancel is not an easy decision and we realise this news will undoubtedly disappoint all those who look forward to the Race each year.”

“We would like to thank our partners, fans, the local businesses and community for their continued support.”

The Oxford University Boat Club announced it was “bitterly disappointed” by the cancellation via their Facebook page. Its post continued: “The team has been spending its last days together before we go our separate ways. We would like to thank our alumni and all our dark blue fans for their support this year.”

Review: For Sama

Amber Haslam
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Review: For Sama

It is 2016, in Aleppo, Syria, and Waad al-Kateab is filming the world that unfolds around her, with a handheld film camera. This world is one of relentless airstrikes, of destroyed buildings and homes, of death, fear and suffering on a scale so extensive that it is difficult to comprehend. What she captures is a nothing short of a horror film – yet one which is undeniably real.

For Sama is a documentary film about the Syrian War which began in 2011, sparked by the Arab Spring protests, and became the battle between Assad’s ruthless, Russian-backed regime and Syrians fighting for their freedom. It is a personal story of one woman’s journey of growing up, getting married and having a child during the conflict.  

At eighteen Waad moved to Aleppo to study at the city’s university and met her husband Hamza. Unrest escalated and together they went to the protests; Hamza to help the injured as a doctor, Waad with her camera. This became their life and mission, and where the story starts. Years later, at the end of 2016, eight out of nine of Aleppo’s hospitals had been destroyed as the conflict intensified. The hospital Hamza set up was the only one left, as Assad bombed most of the city to submission and targeted hospitals, squeezing the rebels into a smaller and smaller pocket of Aleppo.  

Waad documents all of this, with scenes from the hospital that are so horrific and tragic it is difficult to watch. The floors are smeared in blood, injured and dead bodies are everywhere, the sound of screaming is drowned out by that of falling bombs and explosions. And all the while she is recording. At one point a woman runs to her, screaming desperately, asking “are you filming?”. For a second it seems that she is questioning her choice, perplexed as to why she would film in such a crisis. But she is angry; she tells Waad to film this, to tell them to help us. And this is what For Sama is: a cry of protest telling the world to look and to notice the suffering of Syria.  

It is also a dedication to her daughter, who was born into the conflict; born into war but also into so much love. She films so that Sama will see the city that is their home, and the freedom and humanity that her parents fought for. Yet in her voiceover she wonders whether Sama will forgive her for bringing her into this world. It is a heart-breakingly understandable question. 

For Sama is not just a film about the Syrian War. It is not just about death, but about life. You see friends laughing together as bombs fall around them, you see a doctor working tirelessly to counteract the violence inflicted on those around him, you see deep love between Waad and Hamza, and for their daughter. In just under two hours you feel both physical sickness at the reality of the evil and violence that we are capable of as humans, and a swell of warmth and hope because of their courage and compassion. It is a complete juxtaposition. What Waad has captured is a reflection of humanity itself; it exposes all that we are, in the truest light. 

As a piece of film documentary, regardless of any context, it is impressive and gripping. Waad films instinctively and intuitively, piecing together a real story of the Syrian conflict that has not been cut to fit our perspective and framework of news headlines or articles. However, the state of the world that it has been released into is what makes this documentary so powerful. The context of 2016 and now the context of 2020 makes it perhaps the most important and relevant film you will ever see.  

It is horrifying and deeply distressing, but it is also so inspiring; it is a film about hope in the darkest of times, and fighting for humanity and against oppression. And it urges all of those watching to do the same. Because Syria is still gripped by war. Idlib is now facing the same monstrosity that Aleppo did in 2016, and the world still looks away. But For Sama changes this: it turns our gaze towards what we need to see.  

‘High-Value’ Paintings Stolen From Christ Church Picture Gallery

Irene Zhang
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‘High-Value’ Paintings Stolen From Christ Church Picture Gallery

Three historic paintings, among them a work by Flemish master Anthony Van Dyck, have been stolen from Christ Church Picture Gallery on Saturday.

At around 23:00 PM GMT on Saturday, March 12, three paintings were taken from Christ Church Picture Gallery on St. Aldates. The most valuable among them is A Soldier On Horseback (c. 1616) by 17th-century court painting Anthony Van Dyck, a Flemish artist who worked for King Charles I’s court in Stuart England. The other two works stolen are A Boy Drinking (c. 1580) by Annibale Caracci and A Rock Coast, With Soldiers Studying a Plan (late 1640s) by Salvator Rosa, both noted Italian Baroque pieces.

A Boy Drinking, Annibale Caracci

No one was injured during the burglary. The three works are worth around £10 million in total. Art experts told The Times that burglars are likely to seek a ransom payout from insurers instead of stealing “to order”.

A Christ Church spokesman told the BBC that the Picture Gallery will be “closed until further notice”, and according to Detective Chief Inspector Jon Capps there will be “increased police presence” around the St Aldates area. Capps told the BBC that the paintings stolen are “high-value pieces”, and that though the artworks are yet to be recovered Thames Valley Police is committed to “bring those responsible to justice”. Thames Valley Police is in the process of a “thorough investigation”, and are actively encouraging witnesses and anyone with CCTV footage to come forwards and get in touch. The public can either call the non-emergency number 111 or make a report online using the reference number 43200087031, and should they wish to remain anonymous they should contact the independent charity Crimestoppers.

A Soldier on Horseback, Anthony van Dyck

This information was updated on Monday. The new statement from Thames Valley Police states:

“This is just a hypothesis at this time, but we would like to hear from anyone who has had their boat stolen recently or has noticed any unusual activity around where their boats are docked. We are initially asking people with boats based on the River Cherwell or the River Thames near Oxford to get in touch if you have noticed any unusual activity. If you saw anything unusual on these rivers on Saturday night, we would also ask you to get in touch. Also, please make a report if you find any abandoned boats which have appeared since the early hours of Sunday morning.”

This theft adds challenge to an already complicated week at Christ Church, with the recent discovery that valuable cases of wine worth £1000-2000 have been disappearing from its cellar.

Christ Church originally acquired its notable art collection from the bequest of General John Guise in 1756, allowing the college to introduce art education into the Oxford curriculum without the need for travel. The collection was reinforced by various subsequent private bequests, and in 1968 the purpose-built Picture Gallery was opened to permanently house some 300 paintings and almost 2000 drawings.

Today it is one of the most important private collections of Old Master drawings in the UK and has a particularly strong Italian art selection.

Cherwell has reached out to Christ Church Picture Gallery and Thames Valley Police for comments.

This article was updated to reflect the new statement from Thames Valley Police.

Colleges announce vac res policy

Cherwell News and Investigations Section Editors
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Colleges announce vac res policy

Colleges have altered their policies on vacation residence in response to cases of Covid-19 at the University.

Christ Church and Hertford have both informed UK-based undergraduates that they should vacate their accomodation at the end of eighth week, including those who had expected to stay. Magdalen has informed all undergraduates to return home. Merton have informed undergraduates to return home, and are asking all students to clear their rooms of their belongings.

An email from Christ Church’s administration says that this move is an attempt to “ensure that our students and staff remain as healthy as possible while protecting academic need”.

The email added that “the view of the Dean and Censors is that a break from college is emphatically not detrimental to examination performance.”

Some colleges are allowing vacation residence, but are not providing complete funding, including St Hugh’s. 

By contrast, New College has agreed to provide free vacation residence. 

Merton

Merton has asked all undergraduates to vacate college. Exceptions include “those from Category 1 countries and those sitting examinations in Oxford during 9th week”. Merton are asking students to leave by noon on Tuesday. They are also requiring students “to clear your room and take your belongings home”.

Hertford

Hertford stated in an email to their undergraduates that UK based students would be “required to return home at the end of 8th week”. Exceptions will be made for some students, including those with “exams or submission deadlines in 9th or 10th week”, Students “engaged in approved course lab work” and students with an “exceptional welfare need”. Any students with other circumstances could contact the Accommodation Office. Hertford will allow students to leave belongings in their room, and have allowed students an extra day to move out.

Christ Church

Christ Church “strongly recommend that all UK undergraduates return home at the end of 8th week”. Exceptions will be made for some student students, including those with “8th and 9th week exams”, those with extended terms who are requested to “not remain in residence outside these dates”, and those who “have identified themselves to the Academic Office”. Those with other circumstances could contact the college.

St. Hugh’s

St Hugh’s stated in an email that they were “unfortunately not in a financial position to provide [free vacation residence] for free to all students impacted [by Covid-19], but we have been advising students who might be in need of financial support to go through the usual processes that are available.”

Magdalen 

Magdalen College stated in an email to students that: “Unless you have University examinations or required course submissions next week, are unable to travel overseas, or have an urgent need to stay in College, we strongly advise those of you who have previously been granted permission to reside in College accommodation over the Easter Vacation to return home this weekend”. 

New College 

New College’s JCR President announced in a JCR meeting earlier this term that the college will provide “for people who may have had to travel home in vac [to] get free vac res to stay in college”, according to the JCR minutes. 

Cherwell have contacted the colleges for comment. We will update this story as we get more information. 

This article was updated at 11:37 on Friday 13 of March to contain information about Merton’s policies.

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