Friday, May 16, 2025
Blog Page 488

Living with a Chronic Illness at University

Abigail Howe
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Living with a Chronic Illness at University

There are loads of forms before you arrive at Oxford. Room agreements and library contracts to fill in, induction timetables to flick through and bizarre (although upon arriving, incredibly necessary) safe cycling guides to peruse. One that I struggled with, though, was the medical form. It advised students to register with a local GP, pointing out one that was even linked directly with the college. I completely ignored it Medical treatment – regular MRIs, consultant’s appointments and blood tests – means that I need to stay registered with my (already overly crowded) GP at home. So, I just skipped that form and temporarily registered with a GP in Oxford instead. But, coming back in Hilary term, now those three months of temporary registration are over, it’s been hard to work out exactly what to do next.

Deregistering with my home GP just isn’t an option. But, after speaking to a doctor in Oxford, it became evident that, due to a lack of funding and medical history, treatment from a GP while unregistered would be very hard to obtain. I was told to go home if I felt unwell so I could receive treatment there. But, if I’m feeling rough enough that I need a GP, I shouldn’t be on a train for a couple of hours to get home, especially considering the likelihood that I could infect others or become more ill during the journey. It’s just not viable as a long-term solution.

So, why can’t students register at a GP both at home and at university? It would be convenient for everyone, disabled or not. Divide the funding proportionately by how many weeks the student is at university, share the medical records, keep an eye on prescriptions and you’re sorted – except it’s not that simple.

Sharing out funding is harder than basic division, intuitive though it is. There would be questions of necessity – should areas with comparatively high numbers of students be given more? Every clinic will claim that they have the largest burden of care – the high pressure university environment and specialist services mean that GPs in university towns can claim to have the higher burden. For Oxford though, home GPs are the standard service for twenty-eight weeks of the year – proportionally, then, they should do more work. Obviously, this will vary hugely on a case-by-case basis – should funding be given on a retrospective basis, then, looking at how GPs are actually used? This would ensure fairness but remove the vital financial buffer of funding from those who then don’t use the GP, leading to an overall worse standard of medical care for all.

There’s also the problem of exclusivity – should it be available only to those receiving treatment at home while also at university? It would help all students, so extend it to them. Then, you could also make a case for those who commute relatively long distances to work – why can’t they be registered at two GPs? It’s hard to decide for whom exactly dual registration would, and should, be put in place.

Bureaucratically, it’s tough too. Who handles referrals? To whom is hospital information sent? Lack of precedent but high interest from students in dual registration means that all of these questions would have to be addressed before any new system was rolled out. Many GPs don’t use the same system for electronic medical records. This lack of one universal scheme creates risk. It could lead to repeated testing, issues with prescribing medication or missing key symptoms. Fundamentally, patient care is limited under a system of dual registration.

Dr Dominique Thompson, while arguing against dual registration, claims that “students can be followed up by the university GP in the holidays by telephone, in person if they wish, and by secure email or even using technologies such as Skype, if the practice uses it”. The key words here are “if the practice uses it” – this creates a postcode lottery based on funding. In areas with high numbers of students, funding is likely to be lower per capita. There are also some services like WebGP or AskMyGP which would provide solutions to some non-urgent queries. However, these are only accessible if your GP surgery has registered to use it, continuing the geographical disparity. “In person if they wish” is also problematic. During the holidays, popping up to Oxford just for a GP appointment isn’t something sick people should “wish” to do. It might be prohibitively expensive or exhausting or there may be other constraints on time.

Furthermore, GPs are supposed to provide treatment to anyone (regardless of their registration status) if it is immediately necessary. But necessity is hard to define in practice. Considering issues of implicit bias means that pain isn’t seen on an objective basis. Marginalised groups who don’t appear in medical textbooks or who are seen as hysterical or having a naturally higher pain tolerance or of wanting drugs for the sake of it don’t receive the same treatment as the heterogenous average. Long term, this can lead to health conditions going untreated – painful for the people and expensive for the NHS.

There isn’t a simple solution to the need for dual registration. Providing it would need to be a long-term process, with questions of funding, filing and convenience. But temporary registration without funding is unfair to overwhelmed GPs, especially in student-dense locations. It’s not going to change any time soon, certainly not within my time at university, and a lack of clear guidance for treating unregistered students means that confusion is likely to continue regardless of dual registration. For now, I’m just going to not get ill – it might be easier than navigating the tangled web of the medical system!

Working-class, Oxford educated

Kiran Kang and Nell Ling
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Working-class, Oxford educated

Getting used to uni is hard enough. But things get complicated when you feel like you don’t fit in Oxford may be celebrating a record 69% intake from state schools, but this is often not much consolation for working-class students who feel they very much are in the minority. Within in a week of arrival, we had already become acquainted with the glaring gap of class difference. Now halfway through our first year, we would like to share our experiences as state school, first gen, working class students at the University of Oxford.

For Nell, being working class for me specifically means growing up having a household income that amounts to less that the termly Eton admission fee. It means relying completely on a maintenance loan that I know I have to pay back without any financial assistance. It means growing up in a council flat, on a council estate. It means being the first in my family to go to university. And it means attending an underfunded, Ofsted rated ‘requires improvement’ state school that never expected my admission to Oxford.

For Kiran, it means coming from a household which has always had one breadwinner, working daily 12 hour-shifts on minimum wage in order to provide for their family. Having one parent that works non-stop, and the other who doesn’t know English, it was unsurprising challenging to gain any insight or advice when applying to university, let alone the unique admissions process Oxford uses.

For us, not having a lot of money affects our daily lives. We budget our loans, being weary about spending it on luxuries like Solomon’s, when we know in the back of our minds we’ll have to pay it back. The pressure to buy ball tickets, union memberships, fancy dresses, and other expenses is felt ten-fold since we appreciate that this money is meant to be spent on rent, food and other living costs. We recognise that not everyone who is middle-class has parents willing to provide for them financially. We understand that middle-class students are not a homogenous group, but our experiences just appear to be very different from the majority of people around us. The lack of relatability we feel to other students here is disheartening.

However, for us the material differences are only the tip of the iceberg. The fundamental way in which our experiences differ is a cultural one. Unlike many of our peers, we don’t have multiple school friends attending Oxford, giving us an automatic connection and the comfort of seeing a familiar face. For us, we feel as if our admission here is anomalous. Similarly, being first generation university students, we didn’t have any guidance or insight into what to expect. Half the time spent reading for essays is spent looking through the dictionary, because we are unfamiliar with so much of the vocabulary used. And we still don’t know what the difference between black and white tie are.

One factor which makes our experience as working-class students at Oxford different is the role in which our parents play in our education. Frankly, they don’t. This is not and will never be the result of laziness. For some of us, throughout our whole experience within the education system, our families remained nothing but perplexed in such a way that any attempt to engage within it was met with intimidation and confusion. The whole notion of us attending university is something our parents are still becoming accustomed to. Their lack of knowledge surrounding the culture of university and the whole etiquette surrounding events such as formals and how one should interact has left our parents thinking it would simply be best not to attend events such as the Freshers’ Formal, explaining that “It isn’t our sort of thing.”

From the point of receiving an offer from Oxford to finally achieving the grades, working class students experience constant questioning by their parents as to why we did not apply to a university close to home. It is only now that we realise that this results from a lack of understanding on many parents’ part on the significance of the University of Oxford. Regardless of feeling like our experiences here are largely unrelatable, we know that there are many other working-class, first gen, state school students that can relate, who feel different and imposturous. But it is important to remember that we are not alone. We are not imposters; we are breaking barriers, adding flavour to Oxford and being nothing other than deserving of our places here.

Plush condemns SU LGBTQ+ campaign

Rachel Cordery
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Plush condemns SU LGBTQ+ campaign

Plush, Oxford’s LGBTQ+ bar and club, has announced it will no longer recognise the Student Union’s LGBTQ+ Campaign as an “authoritative voice of the queer community” in Oxford.

Plush is a safe space for the community and the decision comes after the SU campaign allegedly made threats to the venue that made the working relationship between the two challenging.

In a statement, Plush Oxford said: “this, regrettably the working relationship we have long enjoyed with Oxford SU LGBTQ+ Campaign has more recently proved challenging.

“Whilst Plush understands the value such a group could have for the queer community, its current executive committee has sought to bully and harass Plush in a way it no longer finds acceptable.

“Their threats have included proposing to issue statements they know to be factually incorrect, which would result in misleading the community they claim to represent, and threatening to boycott the venue if their demands are not met.

“This is neither professional nor respectful of the open and constructive relationship Plush shares with other representative groups, and which it has long demonstrated is both easily possible and productive.

“Plush would much rather spend time speaking with individuals who want to help it make positive change, rather than defending negative communications that seek only to damage its queer space, and not work to improve it.

“As a result, Plush Oxford is severing communication with Oxford SU LGBTQ+ campaign with immediate effect, until such time that they can demonstrate an approach that is in keeping with Plush’s values.

“Plush will continue, as it has for over a decade, to hold open and transparent discussions with any individuals or representative groups that raise concerns or feedback with us directly. Plush is not perfect; the venue accepts that.

“Whilst the number of incidents is much lower than other nightclubs, Plush accepts it can always do better, whilst also considering the unique requirements of running an LBGTQ+ venue. Plush will continue to work with any individuals or representative bodies or groups who respect the challenges and opportunities everyone must face in the ongoing improvement of Plush Oxford.”

Established over ten years ago, Plush Oxford has built a safe space for the queer community with over 72,000 visits in 2019 alone.

In response, the SU LGBTQ+ Campaign made a brief statement on their website. They said: “Oxford SU is yet to meet with or discuss any matters with Plush directly and is surprised by their statement. We will seek to ascertain if this is something we can assist them with and speak with any students involved to attempt to resolve matters. We will not be doing this publicly.”

In their statement, Plush Oxford emphasise their zero tolerance policy towards homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia, racism, xenophobia, among others.

They said: “Plush has, and always will be, committed to providing a safe atmosphere predominantly for the LGBTQ+ community, whilst welcoming all patrons who share its values and respect its culture.

“The venue always wants to ensure a good night out for everyone, and where this is not the case it has always encouraged people to speak to its staff.

“More recently this has included social media campaigns reinforcing this principle and invitation to its patrons and introducing a direct email address for anyone who has concerns.

“In January, Plush published an online Community Feedback Survey which invited its patrons and the community to comment anonymously on Plush, their experiences in the space, what they liked, and what the venue do better, all with the understanding that there is always room for improvement.

“That survey, which is still active, has received over 200 responses, and Plush’s management are thoroughly scrutinising the feedback in order to make the venue an even safer and more enjoyable experience for everyone.

“Plush has always welcomed feedback and constructive comments from both individual and various bodies that represent the queer community in Oxford, with whom it has forged strong relationships.

“Individuals and collective representatives alike, vested in positive and productive dialogue aimed at strengthening and safeguarding Oxford’s queer community and spaces, will know from long experience that Plush maintains an open-door policy in regards to feedback, listening to experiences, and helpful suggestions for improvement.

“Just in December, Plush’s management met with representatives of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ Society and together agreed upon a number of recommendations which were quickly implemented.

“Plush’s bar staff, door staff, and management are held to the venue’s high standard, and each complaint or concern is immediately and thoroughly investigated, aided by the venue’s extensive CCTV and body camera footage.

“No one is above Plush’s code of behaviour or the law, and this principle has remained unchanged since the club’s inception or its move to Frewin Court.

“Plush has and will forever continue to review any complaint or allegation promptly, and will always take appropriate action where necessary—including, where appropriate, dismissal of any staff found incompliant with the venue’s guidelines.”

Oxford LGBTQ+ Society told Cherwell: “We are incredibly sad to see how the communication and working relationship between Plush and the Oxford SU LGBTQ+ Campaign has developed.

“We would like to stress that whilst the Oxford SU LGBTQ+ Campaign and the Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society are separate bodies independent from one another, we appreciate the SU LGBTQ+ Campaign’s forefront contributions to Oxford’s LGBTQ+ student life. The Campaign engages in a broad range of events and works with the local community, and have, amongst other things, been invaluable in fighting transphobia and improving the living and working conditions of transgender students in Oxford.

“In a similar way we also appreciate the contributions Plush has made towards the LGBTQ+ community. Together we have succeeded in making Plush accessible, and implemented policies to guarantee it remains a clearly designated LGBTQ+ space after concerns were raised by members of the community last term. We welcome their willingness to work together constructively and implement changes where concerns arise, and we appreciate their acknowledgement that more can always be done to improve the venue.

“Just as the past committee has done, we too will set up a working group together with Plush that will continue to constantly improve Plush as a venue and take concerns brought by members of the community seriously when and where they arise. We have reached out to Plush to organise a meeting between members of their management team and representatives of our new committee to re-establish this working group. In addition to utilising Plush’s feedback form, we are always open to individuals contacting the LGBTQ+ Society directly via our own feedback form to direct us to look at specific issues together with the Plush management team (https://forms.gle/ooF6Ki3FRmCnfMY98).

“We would welcome it if the relationship between the Oxford SU LGBTQ+ Campaign and Plush can be restored. We strongly believe that ultimately we all have the same aim of improving LGBTQ+ life in Oxford, be it by providing welfare and support, engaging in activism and local outreach, or running events and providing designated LGBTQ+ spaces. We hope that Plush and the Oxford SU LGBTQ+ Campaign will, over time, manage to return to open dialogue, and that all representatives and advocates of the Oxford LGBTQ+ community can work together in the future.”

Record breaking performance for Oxford in QS World Ranking

Imogen Harter-Jones
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Record breaking performance for Oxford in QS World Ranking

Oxford has been named the world’s best university for the study of eight different subjects in the tenth edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject. This is the university’s best-ever performance in this exercise.

The eight subjects that are listed as best for study of the subject are Anatomy & Physiology, Anthropology, Archaeology, Classics & Ancient History, English Language & Literature, Geography, Modern Languages, and Pharmacy & Pharmacology.

Additionally, seven subjects (Development Studies, History, Law, Medicine, Social Policy & Administration, Sociology and Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies) were ranked second best in the world to study at Oxford.

In total, 21 subjects were listed in positions between 1-5th place in the table. Of the 38 academic disciplines from University of Oxford that are in the 2020 subject rankings, 50% improved their positions in the rankings, 16% decreased, and 34% stayed the same. In Academic Reputation, University of Oxford’s best performance is in English Language & Literature, in which it scores 100.

QS note that “year-on-year, the number of UK departments achieving a global top-10 rank has increased from 137 to 139, while the number of UK programs achieving a top-50 rank has increased from 357 to 362.”

The rankings, compiled by global higher education analysts QS Quacquarelli Symonds, provide authoritative comparative analysis on the performance of 13,138 individual university programs, taken by students at 1368 universities which can be found in 83 locations across the world, across 48 academic disciplines and five broad Faculty Areas.

In order to compile the rankings list QS use four key metrics: Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Paper, H-Index which measures both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The index is based on the set of the academic’s most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications.

Professor Martin Williams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at Oxford University, said: “I am thrilled to see that the University has been recognised at the top of the QS University World Rankings in so many disciplines.

“The University topping eight subject areas- up from five last year – is a recognition of the enduring excellence of an Oxford education and the calibre of our academic teaching staff. We pride ourselves on our international academic reputation and are committed to providing and supporting the best educational environment.”

For the fourth year in a row the University of Oxford remains the world’s leading institution for the study of Archaeology according to the QS rankings. Professor Amy Bogaard, Head of the School of Archaeology, said: “We are very proud to have retained our position at the top of the QS University World Rankings in our subject for the 4th year running, and amongst other excellent departments. Maintaining the top spot in such a dynamic global discipline is a testament to the creativity and dedication of our staff and students. We will continue to strive for innovation and impact in our research and teaching, and to prepare our talented graduates for a rapidly changing world and it’s new opportunities.”

The QS Spokesperson, Jack Moran, said: “Over the last five years, our results have illuminated the increasing competitiveness of the global higher education sector, with both the American and Australian systems seeing their share of top-ranked programs decrease sharply since 2016.

“Furthermore, the British higher education sector has also experienced no small amount of uncertainty since the 2016 referendum.

“It is therefore a testament to the University of Oxford’s enduring quality that it has not just kept pace with the rate of improvement enjoyed by highly-ambitious, well-funded peers abroad – but has actually managed to continue raising the bar in many areas.

“Not only do more of its departments enjoy world-leader status than ever before, but we observe nearly half of its 39 ranked departments improving their position: no mean feat, given their already lofty starting-point.

“A deeper delve into our dataset highlights the outstanding regard in which Oxford’s graduates are held, and the extraordinary impact of the academic inquiry taking place among the spires.”

MP delivers petition to block St John’s quarry

Felix O'Mahony
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MP delivers petition to block St John’s quarry

Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington, has delivered a petition to Parliament in an attempt to prohibit the construction of a quarry on land owned by St John’s College.

The quarry is due to be located near Barford, a village which is home to around 1,500 residents in Warwickshire. If the quarry receives planning permission, it will occupy an area of around 80 hectares. The site is also near a local school.

Mr Western delivered the petition, titled “Protect the health of people who live near quarries,” on February 5th this year.

The petition highlights the increased health risks associated with living near a quarry. It points to the inhalation of silica dust, which can cause scarring in lungs and the development of silicosis, as the central health risk. The petition demands a nationwide buffer of 1 km around any region where people work, live, or study, inside of which quarrying would be prohibited.

Matt Western has also raised concerns about the quarry as part of a speech made in the House of Commons in late 2019, during which he criticised the conduct of St John’s College directly over their conduct in relation to the quarrying site.

Mr Western said: “there is also the role of the landowner, St John’s College, Oxford. I wrote to the president in the late spring and I was not particularly pleased by the response I received. The college is the wealthiest in Oxford—it does not need the money. Why has it put forward this site for development, when it will be so harmful to the lives of all the residents—the children—of Barford and Wasperton? There was a disingenuous claim that it was making the land available for housing development; it was not. This land will be opened up and dug up. Despite being high-grade agricultural land, it will become an eyesore, open for the extraction of sand and gravel. Even the student body at St John’s College passed a motion to stand against the project. There is widespread concern and dismay that a college with the wealth of St John’s should be allowing this to happen. It does not need to be conceding to sell the land to allow this mining. The national planning policy framework states that MPAs should make provision for a sand and gravel landbank of at least seven years of permitted reserves, but, as I have already said, there is sufficient landbank. It currently stands at eight years, but the numbers in the calculation of how many houses are required do not suggest that it is needed at all.”

A spokesperson for St John’s College said: “The College stated in a letter to Mr Western in June 2019 that St John’s College will retain full ownership of the land at Wasperton. Should the County Council allocate the site in its Minerals Plan, then the College would appoint a sand and gravel contractor which would be responsible for submitting a planning application. From the College’s perspective, the contractor will have to pass stringent processes to ensure that it complies with the highest environmental, health and safety and corporate social responsibility standards. Equally, of importance, at the end of the agreement, the contractor will be required to return the land in good order.

“The College had previously offered the land to meet the stated needs of Warwickshire County Council for housing through a planning application with partner Gladman. However, at the end of 2017 Gladman was informed by the County Council that this proposal was refused because of the site’s potential to provide minerals to meet local building needs.”

“We would urge Mr Western to speak to Warwickshire County Council, as Mineral Planning Authority for Warwickshire, which has a statutory duty to produce the county’s Minerals Plan which will set out the spatial strategy, allocated sites, vision, objects and policies guiding minerals development up to 2032. It will be the County Council that will decide, after taking professional advice, whether the supply of minerals is sufficient or not and which sites are preferred for mineral extraction based on a wide- ranging investigation of the environmental impact, safety and capacity of any particular site. We reiterate that as a registered charity and landowner, we have an obligation and responsibility to both the local community and county to respond to a request for sites, via our appointed agents, to be considered to provide sand and gravel for the district councils to build homes for those people needing homes in the future.

“It will be the responsibility of the County Council and potential new sand and gravel operator to address and answer any concerns that have been raised through future planning processes and public consultations.

“Therefore, we continue with Warwickshire County Council’s Minerals development framework timetable. Should our site be selected, we will be seeking full assurances through the planning application and public consultation process that all those concerns raised by Mr Western and those of the residents are fully addressed.”

A spokesperson from Warwickshire County Council said: “The Warwickshire Minerals Plan has been submitted to the Secretary of State and will be the subject of hearings on the 3rd and 4th June at a Public Examination in front of a Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State. The sites and policies in the submitted plan, include the site at Barford amongst several others. After considering all the evidence it will be for the Planning Inspector to decide if the Plan is sound and legally compliant.”

Larry: The Real Bernie Bro

Havard Yttredal
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Larry: The Real Bernie Bro

“Bernard was always rebellious, he loved his independent street life. Some people ask me if it was a tough upbringing. The answer is no,” said Larry. 

He is the older brother of Bernie Sanders, the radical American presidential hopeful who is now head-to-head with Joe Biden in the fight for the Democratic nomination. 

On a crisp January morning, before the primaries had begun, I met Larry in his brick-red home in Oxford. In his terraced house bordering on the natural reserve The Kidneys, he told me about growing up in New York of the 40s and 50s.

Across the kitchen table, Larry affectionately described a little brother who already from childhood was independent and principled. 

“A certain kind of strength”

Their parents sometimes wanted to go visit relatives, which they both found quite boring. 

While Larry was obedient and acquiesced, perhaps because he was the first child, Larry theorises, Bernard was “much more rebellious about it”. On such occasions, “this very fast kid” wouldn’t hesitate to leap and showcase his running ability. His opponent? “My father was heavy. Built like me; probably a little bit fatter,” Larry said. 

“The sight of my father panting along in an impossible pursuit … Bernard could have kept going forever and outrun his father, but he didn’t have the nerve for that. Of course, when he did get in the car, he paid them back by getting sick,” he continued, smilingly shaking his head.

The independence and rebelliousness which characterised Bernard growing up is still very much present. 

“Most people have a certain amount of independence. But it takes a certain kind of strength to be able to persist when everybody says you’re crazy,” Larry said.

Radicals in Brooklyn

If Bernie wins the Democratic nomination, that would make him the most radical candidate the party has elected in decades. There are many reasons why he turned out that way. But although they’ve always been close, also politically, Larry is dismissive of the notion that he exerted much influence on Bernard beyond what an older brother always does. 

When asked about it, he laughingly replied: “Well, he says that I had. Usually, he puts it on page one of his books, then doesn’t mention me again.”

The story of Bernard and Larry begins with the Jewish immigration to New York in the 1880s and throughout the first world war. It was during this period their maternal grandparents left the antisemitism and pogroms of Russia and Poland for a better life in America. Their father, Eli Sanders, came to New York in 1921. Most of his family was later murdered during the Holocaust. 

Like many other Jewish immigrants at time, he settled down in the radical borough of Brooklyn, where Larry and Bernard would grow up together. The inhabitants’ political convictions ran from “the far left to the left of the Democratic party”. There were people in the Communist Party – bolsheviks, mensheviks– and people in the Socialist Party and the Jewish Bund. 

Larry spoke about why the Jewish immigrants’ views were so left-wing.

“They were recruited into the dirtiest most difficult jobs without any union protection without any government protection,” said Larry. 

To illustrate, he pointed to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, in which 146 people, mainly Jewish women, died. The owners had locked the doors to prevent them from stealing and taking unauthorised breaks.

“So that’s what they faced. But they also faced, for the first time, a system with some room for political operation. Some political freedom,” Larry said.

“And they made use of that.”

Profit and early death

The independent upbringing and the radical milieu they belonged to don’t provide the full explanation of the brothers’ political views. Larry believes their father’s early passing was particularly significant.

“My father died from the effects of smoking, long after the tobacco companies knew that they were killing people, and I think a deep sense that I have, and that Bernard has, is that the profit motive, which may work well sometimes, is also very desperately damaging,” he said, drawing parallels to today’s fossil fuel industry.

The two brothers also saw what happened when other objectives guided political decisions. Larry described their family as belonging to the “lower middle class” when the brothers were born. His father was a paint salesman and his mother was a housewife, which, as a side note, Larry thinks “probably was a pity for her”.

Although their apartment was overcrowded, it was, thanks to new tenement laws, “warm and well-kept”. It was also affordable, thanks to rent control.

Additionally, Larry and Bernard saw a “mini welfare state” emerging. This was, said Larry, one of “two great characteristics” of New York Democratic politics at the time. The other was corruption: “Buying and selling votes, stealing, pulling votes out of ballot boxes, things like that,” he said. 

Larry continued: “A lot of the welfare initiatives were damaged by corruption, of course. They had a very expensive hospital which, from what I gather, functioned badly because of corruption and people stealing money all the time. But one of the more creative elements, the City University of New York, which I went to, I went to Brooklyn College, was extremely good.” 

Bernard, too, went to Brooklyn College for a year. But over the period when he studied there, their mother was very ill. He and Larry were mostly in the hospital with her, and when she died towards the end of the year, Bernard just wanted to get away. “He couldn’t really bare to stay on,” Larry said.

Bernard becomes Bernie

Bernard left Brooklyn for the University of Chicago, which at that time was located in what Larry would describe as “a black slum”. He didn’t spend much time in classes there either.

Instead, he was busy politicking and was active in Young People’s Socialist League. But it was in the civil rights movement that his independence and clarity of conviction was put on the greatest display. A sit-in he organised, one of the first ones in the North, successfully pressured the university to desegregate its student accommodation.

Chicago marked the beginning of a long political career. He has been Mayor, and is today senator. Larry doesn’t rule out that some strategy might have been involved when his brother’s campaign posters at some point went from Bernard to Bernie. 

Larry, himself, immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1968. He’s now, at the age of 84, health spokesperson for the Green Party, which he joined when he found that Labour had become too right-wing under Tony Blair’s leadership. It’s from his home base in Oxford, where he has been a student, lecturer, and councilor, that he is now campaigning for Bernie.

Global Primaries

The millions of American Democrats who live abroad can choose whether they would like to vote in their home state or in the Global Primary organised by Democrats Abroad. I 2016, about 35 000 people opted for the latter.

“That’s hardly anybody. So we do advise people to vote in the Democrats Abroad primary because their vote counts more than in most states,” said Larry.

The Democratic Global Primary runs until Tuesday, March 10. Same-day voter registration is possible at www.democratsabroad.org, and voters may cast their ballot via email or at Jesus College on Saturday.

Since our interview, Larry has been on a two-week tour which started in London, continued north to Scotland and south again to Paris in an effort to amass support for his brother. He campaigned in the 2016 Global Primary, too, where Bernie wound up with 68,79 percent of the international vote. But domestically he didn’t do well enough, and at the Democratic National Convention four years ago, a choked-up Larry cast his vote for his brother in an election that was already lost. 

This time he wants it to be different. The policies, with public healthcare, a green new deal, increased minimum wage, and free tuition, Larry described as just “obvious and commonsensical to most people”. 

One thing he hopes, is that Bernie and Elizabeth Warren, who dropped out of the race on Thursday, soon will find a way to work together, increasing the chances of victory. “It was quite obviously with intention Bernard’s team leaked that they’d inquired whether it would be constitutionally permissible for the same person to be Vice President and a member of the cabinet,” Larry said, with clear reference to a potential role for Warren in a Sanders administration.

“What I see in Bernard is a unique candidate. He’s drenched in the class struggle idea, and at the same time he says that you should fight for other people as hard as you fight for yourself. It’s not common to see those two ideas put together like that,” he said.

Larry spoke of his brother’s anti-imperialism, his views on Israel and Palestine, and his conviction that, even though it is useful, winning the election is not the sufficient. “You need to have lots of people who feel that this is their struggle,” Larry continued.

He concluded: “I think putting all that together, he really is more significant, more different than I, and I think most people, gave him credit for. So his success would be even more startling, more good.”

Oxford MP Layla Moran enters Liberal Democrat leadership race

Rachel Cordery
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Oxford MP Layla Moran enters Liberal Democrat leadership race

Oxford West and Abingdon’s MP, Layla Moran, intends to stand for Leader of the Liberal Democrats, it was announced today.

Layla Moran was re-elected as MP for the marginal Oxford West and Abingdon in December.

Moran, an MP since the 2017 General Election, beat the Conservative PPC by almost 9,000 votes to maintain her seat.

The leadership contest follows the resignation of Jo Swinson, who was forced to resign as leader of the party after losing her Dunbartonshire East seat to the Scottish National Party.

Layla Moran said: “The message I’m hearing on the doorsteps is that the Liberal Democrats need to move on from the last decade, and put forward a positive vision for the future. This is what I intend to do as the leader of the party, and I’ll continue to listen to the ideas and opinions of both members and voters over the coming months.

“I’m finding that we have strong support and credibility at a local level, but we need to set out a clear and positive vision in order to win back support nationally.

 “It is clear that we face a battle for the heart and soul of our country. Instead of accepting the path the Conservatives are taking us on, imagine a United Kingdom that is more equal and compassionate, where politicians at all levels cooperate with each other on issues like tackling the climate crisis and electoral reform.

“I want to lead and empower the Liberal Democrats to fight for this future and to grow our support, so that we can make people’s lives better. I want the party to be in a position to win power within a generation, so that we can bring about the change our country so desperately needs.”

Self-isolated student diagnosed with Covid-19

Imogen Harter-Jones
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Self-isolated student diagnosed with Covid-19

Public Health England (PHE) has confirmed that a student at the University of Oxford has tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) after returning home from a specified country.

The university has said that “Our immediate concerns are for the affected student and their family, along with the health and wellbeing of our university staff, students and visitors. The student is being offered all necessary support.”

The university has established that the affected student did not attend any university or college events after they felt ill, when they subsequently self-isolated. 

PHE has advised that the risk to other students and staff is very low and that university and college activities can continue as normal. They have also advised that the university and colleges do not need to take any additional public health actions in the light of this specific case.

A university spokesperson has said “We have worked with PHE to make sure that anyone who was in contact with the student after they fell ill have been notified and that they are able to access support and information as needed. PHE do not consider individuals infectious until they develop symptoms.”

The university is providing support for students, staff, and the wider community.

The University is sharing further updates on the current infection at  www.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus-advice.

Picasso at the RA and the experience of solitude

Raphael Zyss
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Picasso at the RA and the experience of solitude

The curved, sick, and boney fingers are everywhere. The Frugal Meal (1904), one of Picasso’s early paper engravings, is immediately striking. A couple sit by one another, elbows resting on the square tablecloth, facing an empty plate and a quarter piece of tough stale bread that neither dare to look at. In the monochromatic piece, everything becomes a matter of contrast. Tension is built through a subtle kaleidoscope of impressions, the last of which is that of the couple drifting apart from one another. As such the dramatic use of black and white takes a multi-layered meaning and comes to play with our very own contrasting impressions. Whilst an initial gaze shows love and unity, a longer gaze quickly reveals disunion, mimicking what French author Andre Gide called the “de-crystallization of love”. The emphasis on movement, the waves of creases in the tablecloth, the filled and empty glasses, the shaded male lover and exaggeratedly bright woman all seems to suggest a rat race to the end of love. The depiction of the couple’s starving fingers comes to magnify the enduring impression of misery and growing resentment, copied onto multiple places, like a leitmotiv shape of the engraving.

 “You little prick, we didn’t bring you the RA to a play Angry Birds” shouts a man to his son before snapping the phone out of his hands. The “sandal and socks” German tourist cracks a dirty joke. I am forced out of the piece. Going to the museum sometimes takes us deep into the experience of solitude, especially when confronted with such magnanimous genius as that of Picasso and such frivolity as that of a couple violently making out by the “Painter as six years old” drawing. The Spaniard, in the space of a rectangle, sometimes a square or a napkin (see later in the exhibition) creates a dense expression of humanity. The “Blue period” is emotionally pervasive, the shades of a single colour resonate like death and love in two corners of a same piece.  Yet we are but walking entities, with limited experience and when we face such diverse and explosive demonstration of what human experience can be, we are forced into our little shell of lonely self. Maybe that’s the reason why we think so much about the trivial stuff when wandering around the fancy corridors of the RA, Have I fed the cat, when next will I be able to down ten pints an hour with the boys, is youth long gone already? I know that soon enough my failing liver will become less trivial than Picasso’s “Crystal” and “Rose period”. But right now, regardless whether trivial or high, my mind is trying its best to take me away from the real stuff.

The real stuff is the jarring confrontation of the self with the intimate universe of another. Almost never in life do we get to contemplate for as long as we would like, the intricacies, the fantasies, the real intimacy of another: the alter ego human. Picasso is a master at its craft because he expresses so articulately the shapeless complexity of desire, fear and all that constitutes us. We are thus forced into a careful and meticulous inspection of the self.

The piece Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe is no better example, inspired by Manet’s historic oil painting which propelled the Impressionist movement. The 27th February 1960 green-themed version is strangely captivating.  In Manet’s original piece, the art of detailed observation is cultivated in the indecisive looks of the subjects, the shy nudity and the subtle variations of green. From dark to light we imagine a secret path to sensuality and pleasure, an esoteric recipe of the senses. If Manet is revolutionary in how he exposes nudity, and stands for his style despite the stifling conformity of his time, Picasso is ground-breaking in the way he reinvents shapes and creates an instinctive emotional language with the observers.

In the Confucian tradition, only a master, a sage, can establish new rituals once he has fully internalised and acquired the ways of the ancients. Only then can he come to truly invent new forms for the expression of essential principles. There is a sense of that in Dejeuner sur l’herbe and the succession of paintings which chronologically precedes it in the exhibition. The master has come to the height of his art through a progressive internalisation of the ways of the past and through intimate experimentation with colours and ideas, but here he establishes a rupture. He negates any sort of accepted conventions but creates something truly meaningful; an enlightened form of human expression. The sense of childishness evokes something universal. The crude and raw nudity brings sensuality to its most sober and fundamental level.

Wandering around further we stumble across yet another form of solitude. That which is necessary in the process of artistic creation, fostering its most essential component: self-cultivation. Picasso was a regular of Gertrude Stein’s Salon and a prominent figure in mundane continental life. Less known, however, are his long periods of retreat in the Spanish countryside and the solitary life he so often led. This exhibition reveals so brilliantly the long inner path that the acquiring of such mastership must have required. It is an exhibition on the perpetual coming of age and constant transformation of a true artist. The initial daunting solitude felt at facing such incredible genius morphs into a model for approaching life; one of discipline, rigor, and belief.

Oxford professor disinvited from conference

Ellen Pasternack
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Oxford professor disinvited from conference

Selina Todd, who teaches modern history St Hilda’s college, had her invitation rescinded from a feminist conference where she was due to speak on Saturday 29th February.

The event, which took place at Exeter College as part of Oxford International Women’s Festival, marks 50 years since the first Women’s Liberation meeting was held at Ruskin College, Oxford. Todd, whose work specialises in the history of feminism and class relations in Britain, had helped to organise the event and was due to give a brief introductory address.

The 1970 Women’s Liberation meeting is regarded as an important landmark in feminist history, which kickstarted the second wave of feminism. 

Selina Todd has attracted controversy for her involvement with Woman’s Place UK (WPUK), an organisation set up in 2017 to highlight women’s concerns about proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act. These changes would make any person’s legally recognised sex a matter of self-declaration, and some feminists are concerned that this would undermine legal protections based on sex as a protected characteristic.

However, trans rights organisations as well as many others regard this concern as transphobic and WPUK as a transphobic group.

The event organisers did not respond to our request for comment.

In a statement for Cherwell, Todd said “ I am shocked to have been no-platformed by this event, organised by Oxford International Women’s Festival and hosted at Exeter College. I was asked to participate in October 2019, and I explained to the organisers that some trans activists may object to my being there. In fact, trans activists had already tried to shut the conference down because they claimed second-wave feminism was inherently trans-exclusionary.”

“However, the organisers decided that as a historian of feminism and working-class women, they would like to invite me, and were open to many different points of view being expressed at their event. I was delighted. I am deeply interested in the history of the WLM [Women’s Liberation Movement]— my first academic article focused on it— and my parents met at Ruskin shortly before the first conference was held there.” 

“Between October 2019 and February 2020 I helped the organisers to get support from Oxford History Faculty and to find media contacts. I was stunned to receive a phone call at 6pm on the evening before the conference telling me that I had been no-platformed because of pressure from trans activists and Feminist Fightback.” 

“I refute the allegation that I am transphobic.”  

The student advocacy group Trans Action Oxford told Cherwell: “Trans Action Oxford had no role in the decision to disinvite Selina Todd, and did not call for it. Our stance on giving platforms to bigots like Todd is clear: at a time when trans people are under vicious attack in the press, it is dangerous and irresponsible. Todd is a transphobe, and she is regularly given a platform by the press to spread her hatred. To claim she is being ‘silenced’ is laughable, and we call for trans voices to be uplifted and our oppression highlighted in place of her hatred.”

Neither Oxford International Women’s Festival nor the conference appears to have issued any public statement on Todd’s disinvitation, and she is still listed as a speaker on the programme published online. A photograph circulated online seems to show a programme used at the event with Todd’s name covered by tape.

In footage of the event posted anonymously on YouTube, one of the event organisers is seen explaining that they were forced to disinvite Selina Todd due to threats from other speakers to pull out if she was involved.

Lola Olufemi, a feminist writer, had posted on Twitter on the previous afternoon that she was withdrawing from the conference “because of their clear links with Woman’s Place UK […] They have no place in my vision or understanding of the political possibilities that feminism offers us.” A statement from Olufemi was read at the event, which said that she had withdrawn because “the organisers had clearly not done enough to investigate speakers’ links to Woman’s Place UK— a clearly transphobic organisation— or to ensure that members of this group would not be in attendance.”

In this same footage, audience members including prominent feminist Julie Bindel are seen questioning the decision to de-platform Selina Todd, and asking for a show of hands to gauge support for her.

The event organisers explain themselves first by arguing that Selina Todd’s talk wasn’t important anyway, and then saying that they had proposed a “compromise”: Todd was “welcome” to attend the event as an audience member but not to give her scheduled address.

After around fifteen minutes of heckling from the audience, one of the event organisers ends up saying that she would invite Todd back to the conference, except that “I don’t have her phone number.”

Prior to this, the organisers are seen reading out a statement from John Watts, Chair of the History Faculty Board, in response to Todd’s disinvitation. He said: “We cannot accept the exclusion of our respected colleague Selina Todd from speaking at this event. As an academic department we simply cannot accept the no platforming of people who hold and express lawful views.”

Samira Ahmed, the presenter who recently won a pay discrimination case against the BBC, also reportedly criticised the decision to no-platform Todd during her scheduled talk at the same event.

Cherwell has previously reported on remarks made by Todd that were criticised for being transphobic. She has previously retweeted a parody account called ‘British Gay Eugenics’, which claims that young people are being pushed towards transgender identities as an alternative to being gay or gender non-conforming. She retweeted a tweet from the account which joked: “Please join our MASSIVE thanks to @stonewalluk, @ruth_hunt, Gendered Intelligence, & Mermaids UK for helping #transawaythegay. Parents, there is an alternative to having an embarrassing gay son or lesbian daughter! All it takes is timely intervention!”

In another tweet, referencing a trans man who said he was happy after transitioning, Todd wrote: “Here are lots of success stories as we #transawaythegay. Emmett wasn’t allowed to be a lesbian and had to wear skirts and makeup. But when he realised he was supposed to be a boy and started taking testosterone, his church accepted him. All better now!”

Outlining her perspective on trans rights, Todd wrote on her website: “As a gender critical feminist, I have seen my views misrepresented on social media and elsewhere. So here, I explain my views. By ‘gender critical’, I mean that I believe that men and women are defined by their sex, not by culturally constructed gender norms. You can’t change sex – biologically, that is impossible.”

“I believe that UK law should remain as it is, with sex a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act, against the claim of some trans activists that people should be able to define themselves as men or as women simply by describing themselves as such.” 

“The notion that people can ‘feel’ like a woman or like a man is highly socially conservative, implying as it does that being a woman rests on dressing or behaving in a ‘feminine’ way. Being a woman rests both on certain biological facts and on the experience of living in the world as a woman, from birth, an experience that is shaped by particular kinds of oppressions. A movement that claims to be advocating a liberating kind of ‘fluidity’ is in fact reinforcing and promoting highly conservative gendered stereotypes.”

“The claim that some people ‘naturally’ feel feminine is ahistorical, since it overlooks that what is understood as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ has changed over time.”

In January this year, Cherwell and other news outlets reported that the University had issued Selina Todd with security personnel at her lectures, after she received a tip off from two students that threats had been made against her. 

The protection accorded to Todd comes after attacks on other feminists who oppose the proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act. Julie Bindel was attacked by a protestor after giving a talk on violence against women at the University of Edinburgh last year. 

Bindel told The Independent in June that the attacker had screamed at her “saying that I was scum, I was a c***, I was filth,” before attempting “to punch me in the face but was dragged away by security.”

In December 2018, Rosa Freedman, a law professor at the University of Reading, said that she had received phone calls making death and rape threats and had urine poured under the door of her office, in retaliation for her public views on gender issues.

A spokesperson for Exeter College wrote in a statement on Saturday “In May 2019, Exeter College, Oxford, agreed to provide the venue for the Women’s Liberation at Fifty conference, in enthusiastic celebration of all that the feminist movement stands for, and in recognition of the symbolic importance of the former Ruskin College site, which now houses Exeter College Cohen Quad. Exeter College has played no role at any stage in the taking of decisions about the programme or its speakers.”

“Exeter College is committed to the open and respectful discussion of ideas and to providing a supportive and inclusive environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected and valued, and in which people can work and study, without fear of discrimination or harassment.”

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