Friday 11th July 2025
Blog Page 49

The day I saw magic on the cricket pitch

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All sport is an endless struggle to scale the heights of human perfection. That sentence reads like a hopelessly pompous platitude, but I think it’s still true. We strive for perfection in our strength, our speed, our skill, our mental toughness; we chase that magic every time we step onto the field.

Perfection is an unattainable ideal. Some may touch it briefly, but none can be truly perfect. Everyone who chases it knows this. But when we see someone or something touch that greatness, some great catharsis takes place in the human heart. For as short a time as it may be, the human endeavour seems complete. The ideal seems attained. 

This is the story of as perfect a Test match as I have ever watched. The Boxing Day Test of 2024, at Melbourne, between Australia and India, is a match that’s had a rather romantic effect on me (as is very visible to the reader). Some Tests may have had thrilling endings, or magnificent performances, but few have been perfect in every single moment. This match was.

Coming into Melbourne, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was tied 1-1 after three Tests. Before the series had started, it had been billed as the heavyweight fight in world cricket: the two best teams in the world taking each other on. Australia had beaten India in the World Test Championship Final in 2023, but India had held the Trophy for ten years at that point, which included two series wins in Australia. The relatively equal strength of both teams led people to expect some cracking, evenly matched cricket.

Until Melbourne, that hadn’t really been the case. In the first Test at Perth, India demolished Australia, winning by 295 runs thanks to a Jasprit Bumrah spell from hell. Then the second Test came around in Adelaide. Mitchell Starc tore through the Indians with his pink-ball magic, and then Travis Head scored a remarkable century to thrash the Indians in return. In the third Test in Brisbane, another Travis Head hundred buried the Indians under a mountain of runs. India escaped the Test with a draw thanks to rain. 

Though the series was level 1-1, none of the matches so far had been particularly close. The contest was searching for something greater than the one-sided affairs it had seen so far. Where were the two great teams who could match each other blow for blow?

Boxing Day gave us that. From the very first day, from the very first moment, no single team held the balance of power. The first day began with 19-year-old debutant Sam Konstas taking Bumrah on; a comical idea, if not for the fact that it worked. His ramps and slaps helped Australia off to a strong start, but India regrouped to limit the Australians to 311/6, and so the day finished evenly.

Day two belonged to Australia. Steve Smith raced to a massive 140, and Australia finished at 474 all out. Then India started batting. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli began to pile on the runs. Jaiswal looked set for a hundred. Then, in the last half-hour, everything came apart. A mix-up got Jaiswal run out, Kohli edged one to slip, and the nightwatchman was caught off the last delivery of the day. 

Day three India batted, then batted some more. Nitish Reddy came in at number 8 and made a brilliant fighting hundred. At the end of day three, India was still batting, and the task had got much tougher for Australia now. The balance was swinging back in India’s favour.

Day four began with another Bumrah rampage. By the end of his spell, Australia was 91/6, and India was well ahead. But the Australians dug in. Marnus Labuschagne made a gritty 70. The last two batsmen, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland, dug in too, and put on a 50-run partnership. I still believe that final partnership was the most pivotal of them all. Giving India 290 to chase in about 100 overs was a very different prospect from giving them 340 to chase in 80 overs. At the end of day four, the match hung on a knife’s edge.

Day five, the last day, began with India clearly trying to play out the draw. India didn’t lose a wicket in the first hour, but then lost three in the second, and the Aussies felt they were ahead. Then Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant batted through all of the second session, and now it was clear that India was ahead. Australia would have had to take seven wickets in the last session. It didn’t seem possible.

The final session began slowly, but then everything changed when Pant decided to swing at a ball bowled by Head. Mitchell Marsh caught it at long-on, and that sparked a collapse to reach the most remarkable crescendo. One by one, the Indians lost their wickets, and when Jaiswal gloved a short ball to the keeper, the match was as good as finished. Lyon took the final wicket in the last half-hour of play. Australia had won it.

I remember the end of that match very clearly. I was at my grandparents’ place, and I was huddled around a smallish TV with a grainy broadcast with my grandpa, uncle, dad, and cousin. It was late in the morning, and I had gone into the shower at the end of the second session, feeling quite certain that it would be a draw. When I came out, I was told that Pant had holed out. With my own eyes, then, I saw that final-hour collapse. 

The lasting memory of that Test is the scene of that final wicket. Lyon was bowling to Mohammed Siraj, and I reckon they had eight fielders in catching positions all around him. He bowled one that went on to hit Siraj on the pads, and the entire field erupted in appeal. Lyon went down, appealing on his knees, his hands flailing, begging the umpire. When that finger went up, I remember his roar vividly. He pumped his fists with a ferocity I’d never seen before; his entire body was shaking. The crowd noise went mad, and the fielders swarmed Lyon. It was absolute pandemonium on that pitch in Melbourne. And back home, my uncle simply got up and walked off quietly. 

What makes the perfect Test? The match has to have high stakes; a series has to be on the line. The quality of cricket must be high; strong batting and bowling performances from both sides. The match must be tightly contested, and the result should be close. And ideally, the match should go the whole five days, until the very last moment, when a full house must explode with delight. 

Melbourne 2024 follows these guidelines so closely that it may be taken as the template. Australia battled for five days, eking out leads, losing them as India fought back, and at the very end, came out on top. For the first time in ten years, they went up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

There was a Test in Sydney after, where Australia hammered home their series win, but Melbourne felt like the true final act, the climax of a long series. What was it about Melbourne that got me so misty-eyed? I think it is the joy of having seen magic on the cricket field. I knew then, as the umpire’s finger went up, and Lyon pumped his fists, and my uncle walked off, that this was an instant classic. The match seemed to have a will of its own, striving to go harder and harder, until it touched perfection for that brief moment. Sitting in my grandparents’ house deep in South India, I couldn’t help but smile at the scenes of Australia winning. The ideal had been attained. The cricketing endeavour was complete.

Europe’s ‘Silicon Valley’ to be built between Oxford and Cambridge

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced plans to develop the area between Oxford and Cambridge into what she said could become “Europe’s Silicon Valley.” She described the plan as building a “growth corridor” aiming to better harness economic and research opportunities. In a speech at Siemens Healthineers in Oxfordshire, Reeves outlined several major investments, including proposals to expand transport links and housing between the two university cities.

The project would see increased funding for East–West Rail, which already links Oxford and Milton Keynes, accelerating its continuation on to Cambridge. It also proposes 18 new towns along the rail line in the hopes of attracting and accommodating “world-class talent” to the “world-class companies” which operate in and around the cities. Oxford University’s vice chancellor Professor Irene Tracey expressed support for the plans, referring to the Oxford–Cambridge region as a “powerhouse of innovation and an economic crown jewel.”

The initiative has also been backed by Susan Brown, the leader of Oxford City Council, who commended its potential to create “well–paid jobs for our children and grandchildren”, while local Liberal Democrat MPs including Layla Moran said in a joint statement that they were “pleased to see the government’s commitment to East West Rail”, but that there is still “much further to go”.

The chancellor also announced a new Growth Commission for Oxford, similar to one already set up in Cambridge, and appointed Sir Patrick Vallance as its “Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor champion.” Vallance has said that he is in a hurry “to get things done” and has called the initiative “a crucial development”.

He also offered assurances that the plans would not “overturn the things that we need to do for biodiversity”, emphasising the corridor’s potential to advance “green technologies”. Since first being proposed in 2017, the project has been condemned by environmental groups such as the RSPB and Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. The director of CPRE Oxfordshire Lisa Warne expressed “grave concerns” about Labour’s growth agenda, stating that the plans could not come “at the expense of the countryside”.

Do ‘you-need’ Youni? 

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More than a year on from their official launch in Oxford University, it is time to consider the success of the alumni-founded startup app ‘Youni’, and whether there really is a gap that needs filling within the student community. 

We’ve all seen Youni in Oxford. You may have been interviewed by the team at the Freshers’ Fair. You might have claimed the free Najar’s wrap they offered to users of the app last year. Perhaps you simply stumbled across a ‘POW’ (Pick of the Week) Instagram reel made by its co-founder, Georgia Gibson. The point is, their marketing is good. They are familiar faces. The real question is: what do they do? 

Speaking to Cherwell, Georgia emphasised that Youni does not want to be another ticketing app. What they want to be is a community network; an events platform tailored to the university experience, with the genuine aim of making the world less lonely. For students, Georgia says the app is a place “where you can see everything that’s happening and who is going to what.” Youni’s feed is purely composed of events, and includes the recently introduced feature that allows you to see which of your friends are going to each of these events. 

I noted that Facebook pioneered the use of this feature, to which Georgia responded: “but students don’t have Facebook.” This was certainly true for me; I only downloaded Facebook upon arrival at Oxford when I realised that it was the predominant means of communication for my college’s JCR. Georgia joked about the clutter of content on Facebook as a platform, quipping that you might see a mixture of ads, Oxfesses, and updates from your granny on her plants’ progress. 

In her view, Youni has taken the best bits of Facebook and FIXR and combined this to build an events app that “creates FOMO in foresight” as opposed to hindsight. Unlike other social platforms, their focus is on boosting attendance at upcoming events rather than scrolling through highlights of past events. Youni also has the specificity that FIXR lacks; only events that are happening at your university appear on your feed, simplifying your search for something to do. 

Youni has launched across five campuses so far, but has prioritised Oxford, where its co-founders have strong links. Georgia Gibson and Omar Lingemann both graduated from Oxford in 2022, and have since been working on Youni full-time alongside a growing team. Their society partnerships are mostly derived through personal relationships formed via coffee chats between Georgia and society presidents, as well as sponsorship offers, and their knowledge of how the Oxford student community works gives them an unmatched advantage in forming these connections here. 

A brief scroll through the app does indeed reveal a host of events in Oxford, ranging from Wadham College’s Commemoration Ball to joint-college megabops at the Varsity Club to Oxford Media Society’s next speaker event with Gabriel Gatehouse. Across the UK, Youni has 17,000 users, 350 organisers registered, and has sold over £160,000 worth of tickets in the app itself. These figures have increased significantly since interviewing Georgia in early December. This all points towards a real need for the app amongst UK student communities.  

But what is this need?

The post-COVID world is one dominated by screens, in the wake of a period where an unprecedented amount of the university experience shifted online. It is yet to shift back entirely: lectures are now often recorded, digital platforms such as Canvas are used to set assignments, and SOLO’s abundant store of online resources means that even a trip to the library is no longer a necessity. This inevitably means more time on our screens. Georgia sees the “big problem” being that “students are spending more time in their rooms, disconnected from each other.” She and Omar firmly believe that the most important part of being at university is the experiences with your friends, and Youni aims to prioritise this in the events space. 

Youni is still very much in development, and there are areas for improvement. I raised one such area that I had discovered myself as President of a society on Youni: that any student group whose audience extends beyond university students cannot ticket exclusively through the platform. Music concerts or plays where parents or members of the public want to attend have to make use of other ticketing platforms. Georgia emphasised that Youni’s strategy is to listen to their users and adapt on the basis of their recommendations, and she was true to her word; as of this week, you can now ticket to students outside of university on the app. 

Some other recent updates include introducing FaceID for login to speed this up, new group page designs, the ability to manually search up guests on attendee lists and check them in, and more. Beyond this, some enhanced filtering of the events feed in-app, whether that is chronological or profile-based, would also ease navigating through the plethora of events on offer. 

Can Youni really achieve its altruistic goals?

The main concern regarding the long-term success of Youni stems from its sustainability as a business model. Youni makes a point of being different from the other social media apps. They profit from our addictions to our screens; Youni wants to get us off them. So how will they make money? 

Georgia described how Youni had to “marry our monetisation and our mission.” Instead of generating income via in-app advertisements, or addictive short-form content like Instagram Reels, Youni had to find alternative avenues of funding. One such avenue is taking commissions from ticket sales made in-app. However, Youni offers the lowest booking fee on the market at £0.49 + 3% per paid ticket. In contrast, FIXR’s is £0.49 + 4.99%, and Eventbrite’s is £0.59 + 6.95%. Youni’s fee would be too small of a margin to sustain a business on its own. 

Therefore, the main way that Youni envisions generating profit in the long-term is through operating as a unique sponsorship service. Youni aims to monetise offline communities by sharing societies’ events on the app, and then offering a dataset breakdown to societies to provide greater insight into their active membership, which can then be used to secure sponsorship. As the middle-man, Youni takes a ‘connection fee’ for putting societies in touch with appropriate sponsors. For example, in Trinity last year, Youni matchmade Oxford sports societies with the company Runna, and it has facilitated a similar relationship this year between Bank of America and Oxford Women in Business society. The option to add in-app sponsorship banners for societies’ profile pages is currently being developed, helping to enhance this aspect of Youni and establish its importance in sponsorship processes. 

All in all, Youni is responding to a real longing for in-person connections, a reaction against the digitalisation of the university experience that we have witnessed over the past few decades. Their mission is noble; we would all love to see the success of an app that brings communities closer together through a more streamlined events platform. 

Whether this mission is compatible with a competitive business model remains to be seen. If Youni honours their commitment not to introduce subscription plans, advertisements, or increased booking fees, the big question will be whether their proposed sponsorship service can create enough revenue to sustain it. Perhaps a follow-up article this time next year will have the answer…

Disclosure: Cherwell’s publisher Oxford Student Publication Limited (OSPL) had an exclusive partnership agreement with Youni. Cherwell is editorially independent from OSPL.

The Ultimate Picture Palace: A Profile

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The Ultimate Picture Palace has been at the forefront of Oxford’s cinema scene for over a century. First opening in 1911, under the enthusiastic guidance of local actor and businessman Frank Stuart, it was the city’s first purpose-built cinema. Showing newsreels, comedies, melodramas and of course, most importantly, the Oxford-Cambridge boat race,the cinema has since then had a somewhat tumultuous history. 

Closed for decades after the First World War, the cinema was rediscovered in 1974 by Oxford alumni Bill Heine and Pablo Butcher, being, at the time, used to store furniture. The cinema, in true 70s style, turned its attention to rebelling against the norm. The Penultimate Picture Palace, as it was then called, pushed back against censorship. It showed obscure, rare and even illegal films. A clandestine showing of the then banned film, A Clockwork Orange, went so far as to land Bill Heine in court. 

During the 90s this rebellious attitude took more of a communal turn. Squatters took over the cinema, renaming it ‘Section 6’, and although it was all rather unofficial, with films projected onto bed sheets and audiences sat on the ground, the muck in and make do atmosphere built a sense of community amongst the cinema goers, so much so that the cinema was also adapted into a broader use community space, hosting live music events and giving families free tickets to film showings. 

These two themes, off-beat and community, are the essence of the Ultimate Picture Palace today. After the death of the UPP’s last owner Becky Hallsmith in 2018, a managing committee of Becky’s close friends and supporters of the UPP formed a managerial committee which decided it was time for the cinema to shed its skin.Consequently, the decision was made to place the Ultimate Picture Palace for sale via community shares. Thanks to over 1300 cinephiles around the city and beyond, buying between £30 to £5000 worth of shares each, UPP reached its target of £312 575 shares sold. Therefore, The Ultimate Picture Palace Community Cinema Ltd. bought The Ultimate Picture Palace. Not only did this give those in the community who are strongly invested in the cinema a chance to have a say in how the UPP is run, but ensured that the cinema maintained its autonomy. It is the last independent cinema left in Oxford. 

Being community owned, ultimately means that the UPP can stay focused on Oxford’s own aims and visions for cinema within the community. Although it does of course show mainstream films, it also prides itself on maintaining a connection to classic, foreign language and independent cinema. For example, the UPP has recently started a programme named ‘Honouring Jean-Luc Godard’ which sheds light on the mythic, French New Wave director’s filmography. 

Foreign Language films have been a big draw for students since the 1970s. The UPP is well aware of this and keen to encourage the city’s termly residents to engage with cinema, offering a free subscription for students giving them £5 tickets during the week and £6.50 tickets at the weekend. Today, the UPP is still heavily focused on getting out into the community, demonstrating the wonderful opportunities provided by their unique cinema. Consequently, the UPP sets up many special events throughout the year. By working in collaborations with groups such as Oxford Pride and Asylum Welcome, the UPP is able to organise relevant film showings, with pre-film talks conducted by members of their partner organisation. As well as participating in ‘Into Film’, which gives schools free screenings every November. 

Overall, the Ultimate Picture Palace is, and always has been, about giving the community the opportunity to access not just the mainstream blockbusters of today, but also a chance to experience unique, off-beat, daring cinema that challenges, reveals and rewards. As Tom Jowett, the programming manager at the Ultimate Picture Palace told Cherwell: “it really does have a special place in people’s hearts”.

D.J. Taylor: ‘The great and the good very rarely say anything interesting, because they put it in their memoirs’

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D.J. Taylor is a biographer, novelist, and literary critic. He has written nearly thirty books in a range of genres, including the Whitbread Award-winning Orwell: The Life (2003), the Booker-longlisted mystery Derby Day (2011), the alternative history The Windsor Faction (2013), and the picaresque Rock and Roll is Life (2018). He is a regular contributor of literary journalism to national publications to the TLS, The Spectator, the Guardian, and others; a selection of his literary reviews and essays were collected in Critic at Large (2023). Last October in the basement café of Waterstones Piccadilly, I spoke to him about his time at Oxford, his career as a writer, and his literary influences. 

Cherwell: What were your impressions of your student life in Oxford, reading Modern History at St John’s College, and writing on Cherwell 

Taylor: It was a place that I wanted to love, but somehow couldn’t. To quote Larkin, it wasn’t the place’s fault. I suppose the thing that disillusioned me was that I always thought – arrogantly, as you do when you’re 19 – that the dons would be interested in me and my thoughts, whereas I found they were completely indifferent. At St. John’s I was taught by some brilliant, brilliant people, and half of me thought a little more resonance, a little more human warmth would be great. And then the other half of me thought, why should they be bothered with people like me, some shiftless 19-year-old undergraduate, while they’re off writing their brilliant books? I kind of saw both sides of it. 

These were the days, generally, where you were left to your own devices. I was giving a talk at Balliol last year, and as I went through the turnstile there was a sign that said “Anxious? Depressed? Come and have a little chat with the Junior Dean.” There was nothing like that when I was there. I’m not being flippant, but you could have died in your room and no one would have noticed. 

I remember the first year St. John’s admitted girls, there were still some bachelor dons who’d never taught women in their lives. I can remember us all sitting on the sofa of Dr Ross McKibbin, and Ross was terrified!

I can remember a vague idea for a thesis on the literature that grows out of urban history, and being told “What will that qualify you to do?”. In the end, I went back to London and was able to write things which I’d not have been able to do if I was a post-graduate.  

Cherwell: What did you do after graduating? 

Taylor: I wrote my first novel Great Eastern Land when I was about 23. For years afterwards, I continued working in the City, and I still dream about wandering those endless corridors, not quite knowing what I’m doing – it was traumatic, but also boring. To use that phrase of Orwell’s, you feel on a daily basis you’re pouring your mortal spirit out a pint at a time. 

Cherwell: Were you still writing when you were working in the City? 

Taylor: Yes – I won’t say I was shameless, but I’d be given my week’s work, and I would do it in a day, and then I’d do my own stuff. I wouldn’t go back and say “please can I have some more work?” Instead would quietly type up a book review. 

Cherwell: Do you know how many reviews you’ve written as a whole? 

Taylor: No idea. A lot. It’s a valuable discipline, because I’ve never known an academic reviewer to give you a better idea of a novel than your average review in The Spectator. The weekly book reviews give you a much better idea of how literature works. I’ve always admired weekly journalism, and always resisted the academic. It’s been fairly resistible. That is to say that there are all kinds of academics who are making marvellous contributions to the study of literature. The other thing is that I’m a generalist in an age of specialists. 

Cherwell: You’ve written 13 novels. The late Hilary Mantel  said that you were “marking out a territory as distinct and disturbing as Graham Greene”. Did you make a conscious effort to evolve a particular “Taylorian” style, and if so, what do you think are its main tenets? 

Taylor: I’ve written different kinds of novels, and I’ll be perfectly honest: I wrote them because I needed to make money out of them. I remember after Orwell, sitting down with my publisher and she said “What are you going to do next?”. I said “Well, I want to write a novel. I could either write you one of my deracinate provincial intellectual ones, or a historical one”, and she said “Do a historical one” almost before I’d finished. So that was why I wrote Kept in 2006, which is the only book I’ve ever written that you could really call a best-seller, and then another Victorian novel called Derby Day in 2011. What I really like doing is writing about where I come from, Norwich. I have an affinity with where I come from, I’m very located by place. But you can’t make money by writing about that. 

Cherwell: Can you give us a teaser for your upcoming collection of stories, Poppyland? 

Taylor: It’s about strange people living in the east. The stories have titles like ‘Yare Valley Mud’. 

Cherwell: In A Vain Conceit, your first non-fiction book, you critiqued English fiction in the 1980s. Would you say English fiction is still in a dire state in the 2020s. 

Taylor: Looking back, I now think in comparison to what came afterwards I was over-egging it. I was 28, I just went home to my parents’ house in Norwich and just wrote it, and I enjoyed writing it. I think probably the best bits are the chapters about individual modellers, the bits that expire, and also a bit about how literary society works. I probably still agree with some of that, but it annoyed a lot of people.

I was a hostage to fortune, because I should have realized at the time that it ruined any career I might have wanted as a novelist for the next 10 years. Because every time I wrote something, you would begin: “In A Vain Conceit, D.J. Taylor announced that a novel should do x,y and z, and let me tell you, dearie, that if he fails to do that …”. It my own stupid fault, and I felt that after that I was just there to be kicked. Having said that, I did genuinely believe, and continue to believe, that the kind of establishment style of writers like Kingsley Amis and Margaret Drabble were well worth having a go at. Margaret Drabble I think was a brilliant writer in the 60s and early 70s, but started writing these state-of-the-nation novels with very good intentions, and the general effect was like reading about a series of garbled-up things; the characters used to sit down at dinner and chat with each other about the AIDS crisis. I’m a great fan of Margaret Drabble, I wouldn’t want people to think I’m dissing her. The reviewing marketplace in those days was adversarial in a way it hadn’t been. At the end of the 80s, money is going into the newspapers, there’s space for arts journalism, there’s space for kids. You were almost tacitly being encouraged to rough people up. 

Cherwell: I want to talk a bit about two Georges who have influenced you: Gissing and Orwell. How did you first come to George Gissing? 

Taylor: It’s difficult to remember, because I certainly read Orwell’s essay on him at an early stage and was fascinated by it. But I’ve got my kind of book repository. When I was a teenager, there was a very good bookshop at the University of East Anglia down the road, and I used to haunt it. It had the original Penguin Classics copy of New Grub Street, with an image of a nocturnal, smoky London on the front cover, and I’ve got an idea that that’s where my interest in Gissing came from. I don’t think it was all to do with Orwell, though, because I remember reading Born in Exile quite early on, and I don’t think Orwell ever read that. I’ve written a piece called “Orwell and Gissing” in a book coming out this year called The Oxford Handbook of George Orwell; it’s a longer version of the piece in Orwell: The New Life. 

I remember when I was in sixth form, I used to use New Grub Street as a friendship test; if I met someone and I thought we’d be mates, I’d say “see what you think”, and no one ever liked it. 

I also find Gissing’s English sense of melancholia is something I’ve always responded to. Orwell says that he writes about women and money, but in fact he writes about the emotional consequences of money’s absence. In other words, how you’re going to get on with women if you don’t have any money. That’s the link between Orwell and Gissing, I suppose. There’s the sense that Orwell, Gissing and Dickens form a triptych.  

The other thing is that at the time I started getting into Gissing, everything he wrote was being reprinted by Harvester Press – they were very expensive. I remember reading a review in The Spectator when I was about 16 of the London Diaries, and thinking “this is fantastic, I’ve got to have this”. John Spiers, the founder of Harvester Press, started this thing called the ‘Harvester Academic Book Club’ – it was clearly just to clear the warehouse of books that they couldn’t sell. I signed up for this and got all these chunky hardbacks for virtually nothing. They had to close it down because it was just a giveaway. That was really where I got into him. I remember reading The Nether World as an Everyman paperback, which was about 70p. I was thoroughly a Gissingite by the time I left school. 

Cherwell: Was Gissing one of the influences that made you want to be a writer? 

Taylor: Having read Jacob Korg’s biography of Gissing, I remember thinking that despite how awful Gissing’s life was, there was still a romanticism about it. The garret is romantic. The stuff in The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903) about choosing between buying bread or books, is romantic.  

Cherwell: Do you think Orwell was the main influence on you, or Gissing? 

Taylor: Orwell was the more formative influence. Obviously Animal Farm and 1984 are on the syllabi, but I read A Clergyman’s Daughter at the age of 12 or 13. It’s quite serendipitous because my parents were not particularly bookish people, but my mother had a shelf of old paperbacks, and she had the Penguin reissue of 1961, that I’d just picked up looking for something to read, and it was the first grown-up novel I’d really ever read. That was really the spur, then I read the other ones after. I read Down and Out in Paris and London when I was about

Cherwell: How did Orwell: The Life (2003) come about? 

Taylor: I finished Thackeray in 1999, and didn’t exactly bomb it – when they said what next, I realised the centenary of Orwell’s birth was coming up, and I suggested Orwell.  

Cherwell: Did you meet any big names of Orwell’s contemporaries? At that time, there must have been a lot more people around who remembered Orwell than today. 

You’re absolutely correct. The difference between the two books [Orwell: The Life and Orwell: The New Life] is that when I did the first one there were any number of 75- and 80-year-olds around who had drunk with Orwell and had tales to tell. 20 years later, the number of people who were alive in the world and knew him well was 7. The youngest today is 80.  

I met Anthony Powell once when he was 89, and sadly, his mind was going – his long-term memory was fine, his short-term memory was completely trashed. Lady Violet, his widow, was very helpful. David Astor was still alive. Having said that, the great and the good very rarely say anything interesting, because they put it in their memoirs. If you ask them, they trot out their memoirs. By far the best stories usually come from ordinary people who came across Orwell in quite banal circumstances. 

Cherwell: Onto Orwell: The New Life, your most recent book, you rewrote it from scratch. 

Taylor: Yes, I wouldn’t call it a revised version – it’s a completely new book. So I sat down, and obviously I used my original notes, but sometimes I found things that I hadn’t used before.  

Cherwell: Why should readers choose your 2023 biography, rather than the 2003 one? 

Taylor: Because it’s a snapshot of a personality in time, written by someone who’s 20 years older.  

Cherwell: You open the book by saying that for 50 years there’s been a whole industry of people saying that the Orwell game is up, but somehow he always goes on. Today, how important is Orwell’s place as: a), a thinker, b), a writer and c), a critic.  

Taylor: People say that Orwell cannot discuss international power politics, or the way that the world works and the hinges on which it turns, but they find out that he has some extremely bright things to say about that. Orwell’s criticism stands out for a kind of common sense – he will point you in directions you didn’t think you were going to be pointed. As a writer, he’s not the world’s greatest novelist, but taken as whole, there’s a real resonance to his fiction.  

Town bests Gown in Union boxing showdown

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There are few places on Earth as synonymous with disputes as the Oxford Union. Since its inception just over two centuries ago, the society has played host to numerous hotly-contested debates, first in the present-day library and then in its famous chamber from 1879 onward. For all the verbal sparring that has come to define the Union over its long, illustrious history, this year’s edition of the annual ‘Town vs Gown’ boxing proved that some arguments can only be solved when people let their fists do the talking.

Over four hundred people piled into the chamber, but the entirety of the Union facilities were closed off and in use for the event. Only the members’ bar stayed open for incoming guests to enjoy before the spectacle, and during the well-earned half hour interval that followed the sixth gripping bout. All of the other rooms were repurposed for the home and ‘away’ fighters (perhaps a slightly loose term when they likely live in OX1). 

2025’s Town vs. Gown marked the return to the Union for the first time since 2022, having taken a brief hiatus at Iffley Road, and while Oxford may have been staying on home turf, it didn’t seem to give them much of an advantage. Of the fights between OUABC’s (Oxford University Amateur Boxing Club) fighters and external competition, only men’s light heavyweight Michael Cheng ran out victorious in a gut-wrenching final contest that would have sent even the most hard-nailed hacks packing from St. Michael’s Street. 

In spite of the vastly different circumstances, the Union’s typical patrons turned up in droves on Saturday. Indeed, the dress code seemed to be even more formal than usual, as spectators clad in black tie piled into their seats and lined the balconies in anticipation of a mouth-watering card. Newly-anointed Union president Israr Khan watched on from a reliable distance befitting for an illustrious lawyer rather than an athlete. Oxford’s own Dana White can be seen exhibiting similar reactions to his UFC counterpart in the Instagram reel posted to the official Union page.

Both Town and Gown put forward a strong and diverse group of fighters, including OUABC’s [former hitman] Giles Moon, the long-lost third Klitschko brother (see OUABC fighter profiles for proof) and two women’s fighters who both battled valiantly despite falling to their opponents. Khan mentioned the second of Oxford’s female fighters, Eilish Farrelly, as a particular highlight as her fight culminated in a stunning final round where neither fighter left an ounce of effort on the table. Most of Town’s diversity came from the various university-based and regional backgrounds, with some hailing from boxing clubs as far flung as Bristol and the bright lights of Slough.

The visitors were remorseless in putting their opposition to the sword, with towels flying in from the red corner before the allotted three rounds of two minutes were up. Nevertheless, the Gown faithful remained undeterred and continued to cheer their fighters on until the final bell. The hallowed chamber was like a lion’s den for four short hours, with every jab, hook, and uppercut from an Oxford boxer soliciting another tidal wave of noise.

For those who were not satisfied by the extravaganza put on by OUABC’s finest, another boxing event looms on the horizon. The sensation that is ‘Fight Night’ will be held in Oxford for the very first time next term, having already swept the nation’s various other universities in support of Oddballs. If even that isn’t enough either, look out for OUABC’s announcement of their varsity fights against Cambridge, also hopefully coming soon.

Winners:

Jayden Walsh (West Herts ABC) bt James Somper (Oxford Uni)

Will Fahie (Oxford Uni) bt Giles Moon (Oxford Uni)

Holly White (UWE) bt Jasmine Guo (Oxford Uni)

Taylor Cordery (Kayani Camp) bt Rory Mitchell (Oxford Uni)

Ife Isaacs (Bristol Uni) bt Theo Anderson (Oxford Uni)

Dylan Wilson (Oxford Uni) bt Iain Pless (Oxford Uni)

Tom Wise (Oxford Uni) bt Madoc Wade (Oxford Uni)

Ciaran Oloan (Oxford Uni) bt Joseph Muckle (Oxford Uni)

Katie-Jayne Patek (Borehamwood) bt Eilish Farrelly (Oxford Uni)

Thomas Ivory (Borehamwood) bt Alex Hjorthol (Oxford Uni)

Michael Cheng (Oxford Uni) bt Arran Morton (Oxford Brookes)

Top 3 Travel Destinations for Students on a Shoestring Budget

24% of people have listed ‘travelling more’ as a New Year’s resolution. Whilst the idea of travelling is exciting, it can be difficult when you’re a student on a tight budget. However, just because you need to keep costs down doesn’t mean you can’t travel or have a good time whilst doing so.

There are tons of places to go that can facilitate a smaller budget and plenty of ways of keeping your expenses on the lower end. So, let’s look at three of the best places to visit when you’re a student on a budget. 

Porto, Portugal 

Despite being the second largest city in Portugal, Porto is a very affordable option, especially in the winter months. Known for its port wine production, cobbled streets, stunning architecture, and contemporary art, Porto has plenty to offer for students and explorers.

At an average restaurant, a three-course meal for two people is just €45 (around £38) and, although Porto is a great place to walk around, if you prefer not to travel by foot, a one-way ticket on local transport is only €2 (just under £2). 

Krakow, Poland 

One of the oldest cities in Poland, Krakow is a popular tourist destination for a reason. Not only are there plenty of medieval sites and architectural wonders, but it also boasts fantastic nightlife spots and hosts a variety of festivals throughout the year. Krakow is also very well connected and flights in and out of the city are often much cheaper than other European destinations. 

Eating out is perfectly affordable, with a three course meal for two coming in at 200 zł (around £40) and a one-way ticket on local transport is just 5 zł (around £1). 

Valencia, Spain

Spain is a great place to visit but some of the more popular tourist destinations, such as Barcelona, can be a little pricey. Valencia however, is full of great beaches, mesmerising views, and stunning cathedrals – all for a considerably lower price tag. 

The average three-course meal for two people is ever so slightly more expensive than Porto and Krakow, but is still a respectable €50 (around £42). Public transport is inexpensive, with a one-way ticket costing just €1.50 (just over £1). 

Top Tips for Travelling on a Budget

Now you know some of the best places to go, here are some of the ways you can keep costs down when booking your trip.

Shop Around 

The best thing you can do when on a budget is to shop around. Whether it be flights, accommodation, or activities and excursions. Don’t just pick the first thing you find as there are likely cheaper options or deals elsewhere. Packages can also be expensive, so consider booking each part of your break separately. Convenience often comes at a cost. 

Travel Outside of School Holidays 

Prices skyrocket for most places during half terms and holidays, so it’s best to travel when outside of these time periods. Of course this can be difficult when you’re a student because you don’t want to take a holiday in term time. However, reading weeks or straight after exams can both be good options. 

Use Your Phone Wisely

Some network providers charge considerably more for the use of data, SMS, and phone calls when you leave the country. Make sure you opt for eSIMs that are cost effective for travelling. 

Get Going!

Don’t let a smaller budget keep you grounded, by choosing an affordable destination such as Porto, Krakow, or Valencia, and keeping expenses down by shopping around, timing your trip well, and ensuring you don’t overlook the little things, you can still have a great time and not break the bank. 

Handwriting is a necessary skill and a dying art

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I saw the writing on the wall, incidentally, in the writing of my undergraduate friends. Was this a possible welfare concern? No, but maybe it ought to be. What I was seeing was the slow, unceremonious death of handwriting. Last autumn The Telegraph reported that “Children’s handwriting is now so bad that teenagers need lessons in secondary school, experts have warned”. The Guardian again picked up the issue a week ago, publishing an essay which observed that “we are far more likely to use our hands to type or swipe than pick up a pen. But in the process we are in danger of losing cognitive skills, sensory experience – and a connection to history”.

For many, I suspect, the death of handwriting will be hardly felt, and most younger students will scarcely know what they are missing. Indeed, in the digital age, handwriting almost seems like an antiquated affectation. Such an impression is not helped when people learn that I can actually write with both hands and use a dip pen that might have witnessed the inauguration of President William Howard Taft.

Yet for history students at Oxford, reading and writing cursive handwriting remains a profoundly important skill that often goes understated by tutors. You can master the historiography, possess an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sources, come up with a clever, original historical argument, and write brilliant prose; but you nevertheless remain a hopeless historian if you cannot make head or tail of what your eminent historical subject has inscribed for you in the archives. As former Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust observed a few years ago, it seems the newest generation of budding historians has recognised this. Lamentably they responded not by practising their handwriting but by pursuing research topics that only  required reading published sources.

As a student reading for a DPhil in history, I have been privileged to be able to handle and read thousands of letters written by some of the most famous faces in British history. During the course of all that I have come to see handwriting not just as a necessary skill for the historian, but also as a dying form of personal expression that is like no other. In the archives, one quickly learns to distinguish the handwriting styles of different people: everyone’s writing is uniquely theirs. You won’t mistake the distinct hand of William Gladstone for the highly legible, schoolboy scribbles of King George V. On some level, I feel these literary fingerprints also convey the writer’s emotions more viscerally than any transcription.

Often replete with underlined words and a liberal use of exclamation marks, one can almost feel the fury behind a handwritten rebuke from Queen Victoria. Equally Clementine Churchill’s handwritten letters to her husband, which sometimes included adorable doodles of cats, always radiate a fuzzy warmth to me. 

Perhaps at this point, you may think I am dallying with a bit of pseudoscientific nonsense. But what I know for sure is that on email and on the soulless Word ‘processor’, every letter and word is formed in perfect uniformity, intimating nothing at all of the writer. There are no interesting pen strokes nor ornamental flourishes, nor quirky curlicues made in the moment. The quotidian Word document looks like it could have been written today, yesterday, or tomorrow; by anyone and no one. That is why you won’t see anybody flogging an email written by some celebrity, whilst there are plenty of people who will pay hundreds of pounds for a superstar’s chicken scratch on a piece of paper.

For all these reasons and more I continue to keep a humble handwritten diary of my time in Oxford. Hopefully the future Oxon will be able to read my handwriting without first taking a palaeography class; but seeing the writing of some of my undergraduate friends, I’d rather hold my pen than hold my breath!

Have an opinion on the points raised in this article? Send us a 150-word letter at [email protected] and see your response in our next print or online.

Gered Mankowitz: ‘AI is a nightmare for photography’

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Over a career spanning more than five decades, Gered Mankowitz’s lens has chronicled the evolution of music and culture, immortalising icons like The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Kate Bush. Now based in Cornwall, he devotes himself to exhibitions, publishing, and selling his evocative prints.

Growing up as the son of renowned writer Wolf Mankowitz, young Gered was no stranger to cameras. Professional photographers regularly visited the family home for magazine and newspaper shoots. Even then, Mankowitz showed early signs of his future calling: “I was always the one who wanted to look into the back of a camera, always the one coming up with suggestions.” 

But it was Peter Sellers, the legendary actor and a family friend, who crystallised Gered’s destiny. Sellers brought to Sunday lunch what would prove to be the instruments of inspiration: a Hasselblad 500C kit and one of the earliest domestic Polaroid cameras. Mankowitz recalls: “I’m weeping with laughter as Peter gets my brother and I to position ourselves for a shot in the style of Tom Thumb, and once it’s taken, he begins counting down the Polaroid’s development time in this insane Swedish chef voice.” When Sellers departed, Gered turned to his father and declared, “I want to be a photographer – and I want a Hasselblad.” 

The riotous cultural upheaval of the 1960s offered the perfect canvas for a young photographer. Rock and roll, breaking free from corporate constraints, was finding its raw, authentic voice. Mankowitz found himself at the vanguard of this visual revolution, forging bonds with artists eager to shatter the more clean-cut images of the past.

Jimi Hendrix
Image Credit: Jimi Hendrix, by Gered Mankowitz

“What I found working with these young artists was they wanted to break away from the ‘corporate look’. And I wanted to break away from that as well,” Mankowitz reflects. This rebellious spirit led to extensive experimentation, much of which proved too radical for contemporary tastes. Yet Mankowitz’s naïveté proved to be an unexpected asset. “I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to shoot into the sun. I just thought it looked amazing when everything flared. And so I just shot,” he laughs. This fearless exploration aligned perfectly with the burgeoning youth movement of the time, though he modestly adds, “Not that I think any of us thought we were part of a movement”. 

One of the most iconic moments of Mankowitz’s career came with the creation of the Between the Buttons album cover in 1966. Mankowitz had spent 18 months working closely with The Rolling Stones, describing himself as “very much part of the team”. After a nocturnal recording session at Olympic Studios, he turned to look at the band on the pavement and inspiration struck. 

The Rolling Stones Between the Buttons Album Cover
Image Credit: Between the Buttons, by Gered Mankowitz

“They were stoned, hung over and bedraggled, but they looked absolutely fantastic,” Mankowitz recalls. Armed with a homemade filter crafted from black card and Vaseline-smeared glass, he captured the band against the early morning light of Primrose Hill. “The filter worked absolutely beautifully, dissolving the trees and the sky into a sort of ethereal, slightly trippy tone. It was almost like a painting.” The shoot lasted a brisk 40 minutes before, as he puts it with a laugh, the cold and exhausted band “basically told me to fuck off.”

While the Stones and Jimi Hendrix often dominate discussions of Mankowitz’s career, his portfolio spans decades of music history. From multiple sessions with Suzi Quatro and Slade (“one of my favourite bands”), to the haunting elegance of Kate Bush and the avant-garde energy of Eurythmics, Mankowitz approached every subject with equal devotion. “I put as much into photographing Sweet as I did [in]to photographing the Stones.”

Image Credit: Eurythmics, by Gered Mankowitz

This egalitarian approach extended to his penchant for working with artists early in their journeys. “I’ve always had exciting artists, creative, beautiful, interesting people to work with,” he says. “I like working with people whose image isn’t quite formed yet. I like being part of the process of creating an image for somebody.”

The intimacy of portraiture lies at the heart of Mankowitz’s photographic philosophy. “I love simplicity,” he states. “A lot of my pictures are incredibly simple because I don’t want to take away from the subject. I always said to people, ‘You’re the hero in this photograph. Nothing to do with me… people must see you, always.'” This ethos proved particularly transformative with subjects like Annie Lennox, whom he describes as “like a chameleon… so beautiful and dynamic.”

Mankowitz’s choice of black and white versus colour photography reflects both practical and artistic considerations. While the ’60s often dictated monochrome due to printing limitations, Mankowitz’s artistic instincts played an equally significant role. For Jimi Hendrix, he found that black and white imbued the images with “dignity and respect and a sort of gravitas”, though he admits that it was “a stupid mistake commercially”. Other artists simply demand colour. “Kate Bush, for instance… her image demanded colour, because of her hair, her skin, her lips. Colour was how she should be seen.”

Image Credit: Kate Bush, by Gered Mankowitz

Perhaps most revealing is Mankowitz’s perspective on what makes for meaningful photographic encounters. Despite the prestige it might bring, he admits his “stomach would sink” at the prospect of photographing modern megastars like Taylor Swift – not due to any artistic reservation, but because of the barriers to genuine connection. 

“Photography is a very intimate thing for me,” Mankowitz explains. “A portrait of somebody is a very intimate thing. It’s really them and me and the camera.” 

This desire for authenticity has always guided his work, preferring to photograph artists early in their careers when genuine interaction was still possible. This philosophy explains why Mankowitz never actively pursued subjects, instead letting them find their way to him. “I like working with people whose image isn’t quite formed yet,” he reflects. “I like being part of the process of creating an image for somebody. I don’t mean imposing an image. I mean looking at them and feeling what it is that they’re trying to do with their music, with their work and finding a way of getting that across in a photograph.”

Despite Mankowitz’s embrace of digital photography’s conveniences, he maintains an analogue sensibility. “I impose an analogue pace, an analogue environment, even when I’m shooting digital,” he explains. Limiting himself to twelve frames and resisting tethered shooting, he prioritises an unfiltered connection with his subject. “You just try and get some sort of understanding between you and the subject. Some continuity, some fluid intimacy.”

Image Credit: Marianne Faithfull

However, Mankowitz’s views on AI are less accommodating. “AI is a nightmare for photography,” he asserts. “AI-created images have a superficiality, an illustrative quality to them. They just don’t look real.” He’s particularly disturbed by the animation of his historic photographs: “I’ve seen people animate my photography, taking pictures I did in the sixties of people and having them animate and singing along with themselves… in a way it’s very clever. But it’s just a gimmick.”

We concluded by talking about what single photograph he would take if it could be shown to the entire world, and Mankowitz’s answer reveals the humanitarian core of his artistic vision. “It would have to be something to do with peace,” he muses. “We live in such a confused, difficult and divisive time… I would try and create an image that would bring people together.”Today, Mankowitz’s work can be viewed at the Iconic Images Gallery in London, where examples of his photography are always on display. His latest publication, “The Rolling Stones Rare & Unseen”, offers an intimate glimpse into his extensive archive of one of rock’s most legendary bands. He is currently working on a new career retrospective, to be published in spring 2026.

McDonald’s to close at midnight after relocation down Cornmarket Street

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McDonald’s has been refused permission by Oxford City Council to remain open until 3am when it moves several slots down to a new location on Cornmarket Street, where Leon previously was. So far, the council report indicates the new venue will be allowed to stay open until midnight.

In its current location, McDonald’s has a licence to open from 6am to 3am every day, and the company applied for this same licence at its new location. The council has rejected this application on the basis that it is too close to residential areas, including student housing which is located above the new site.

In its reasoning, the council said that a 3am closure would “generate a level of activity that would be considered harmful to residential amenity,” pointing to nearby accommodation “including residential flats, The Store hotel, and Jesus College”. It said that “midnight is deemed an acceptable limit,” and is the same as the hours permitted to Cosy Club and the former Burger King in a similar location, both of which have consent from nearby student accommodation. 

The new site will offer a larger space for the restaurant itself, with submitted floor plans suggesting up to four floors will be employed, although only two will be open to customers. The basement will be used as kitchen space, whilst the second floor is set to be converted into offices and an employee break room.

Although the relocation was meant to happen this month, that now seems unlikely according to The Oxford Mail, giving students at least a few more weeks of late night Big Macs to savour.

In response to these devastating developments, one student told Cherwell: “McDonald’s has saved me after many a night out, and I know that I am not alone in feeling incredibly shocked at this news.”