Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Blog Page 5

Growth, but at what cost?

By
Ella Cody-Michael
-
Image Credit: Latvijas Futbola federācija/ CC ASA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The women’s game has been ever-growing, in the UK and elsewhere, especially since the Lionesses’ win in the 2022 Euros. From sold-out stadiums and wider broadcasting to grassroots campaigns, the growth of the game has been magnificent. But with an increase in popularity and awareness, underlying issues have surfaced, and they need to be addressed. 

At the club level, there are astonishing disparities.The clubs at the top soar high; we can see the increasing attendances in the Super League when we see a sold-out Emirates for Arsenal, and when Chelsea play world champions Barcelona at home. But the heights of these clubs obscure the lows of others. Take the case of Reading Women FC. 

Reading, in the 2022/23 season, played in the Women’s Championship, just below the Women’s Super League. Notable players who have played for Reading include Fara Williams, Fran Kirby, and Golden Glove winner Mary Earps. However, in the summer of 2023, the club released a statement revealing they had withdrawn from the Championship for the 2024/25 season, subsequently dropping the women’s first team to Tier 5. The club revealed that this decision was taken due to a basic lack of funds. This is the harsh reality for many women’s clubs, and it’s the players who suffer for it. Not only has financial disparity had an effect on clubs in the lower tiers, but even those within the WSL.

Look at Manchester United. With the likes of Ella Toone and her lovely chipped goal in the Euros final, and with the team advancing to the UWCL group stages in the 2022/23 season, the women’s team looked to be in a healthy spot. But in the summer of 2023, it was announced that the women’s team was to be moved into portable buildings whilst the men’s team moved into the women’s facilities as theirs were being ‘revamped’. It was a simple but clear signal; women’s football ‘isn’t football’. They were less important than the men, and so had to make do; a story far too familiar for women in general.

On the international stage, it has become increasingly obvious that women’s teams are not afforded the same facilities and finances as the men’s. During the women’s World Cup 2023, the South Africa women’s team launched a fundraising campaign to cover the cost of their preparations, claiming that the federation had withheld bonus payments due to them. This, for a team that would ultimately finish in the Round of 16. If such institutional differences plague even the top teams, what can the others expect for the sport they love?

Even the health of players hasn’t been left untouched. With growth comes the desire of clubs to chase ever-larger profits, causing clubs to push their players harder and for longer. The increased number of matches have resulted in widespread injury concerns. In particular, ACL tears are a growing concern; women seem to be especially susceptible to them, which may be compounded by poor boot design. There weren’t even boots designed for female feet until the Phantom Luna!

Nevertheless, no one could have expected the exponential increase in ACL injuries. In total, 37 players would miss the 2023 World Cup as a result of them, including players like England captain Leah Williamson, Euros Golden Boot winner Beth Mead, and all-time leading goal scorer for the Netherlands, Vivianne Miedema.The rise in injuries is blamed on the increase in matches players play, but there’s simply very little research on why female players are more prone to ACL injuries. Is it boots only? Is it hormones? There seems to be muted interest in finding out. The growth of the women’s game threatens to cannibalise itself; it cannot afford to keep injuring its best players if it wants to keep going further.

The growth of the women’s game should have happened long ago, and we happily welcome it. But changes are needed to ensure the sustainability of the game. When players themselves speak out against their federations, when players speak out against the pressure, when players worry that they may not have a career anymore, it is clear that the game is in need of reform. More must be done to ensure both the physical and mental wellbeing of players are as good as they can be, and that football is made to work for the players and the fans. 

Bridging the gap to a better clubbing scene

By
Anna Crowley
-
Image Credit: Maor Attias, CC by 2.0 via Pexels

Monday: reggae and dancehall. Tuesday: house and techno. Wednesday: garage, grime, and jungle. Thursday: UK hip hop. Friday: disco, funk, and soul.

Although Oxford students nowadays would not even know what to do with such variety, this exciting nightlife was the reality just ten years ago. Talking with Simon Devenport, the founder of Deep Cover, a local events collective and record label, I gained an insight into what the going-out scene used to be like in Oxford and the challenges it is currently facing.

The club playing the eclectic mix of music I just mentioned was The Cellar, a family-run music venue off Cornmarket Street open for nearly 40 years. It closed its doors in 2019 after disagreements over rent with the landlords, St Michael’s and All Saints’ Charities.

The dispute began in 2017 when it was decided that the space would be used as storage for the upstairs retailers. But these plans fell through when 13,600 people signed a petition against the developments. However, the landlords then reduced the capacity of the venue to 60 people after the fire escape was found to be 30cm too narrow, and despite raising £92,000 to fix the issue, the owners ultimately decided to close down the venue.

The closure of The Cellar was a huge blow to the nightlife, says Simon. He saw the venue as the “lynchpin” for the underground music scene. Students today have the limited choice of Bridge and Plush in central Oxford, with only the Bullingdon and O2 in Cowley offering slightly alternative gigs. As such, the clubgoers of Oxford are not left with many options.

There are two issues with this. Firstly, there is a lack of diversity in the music being played throughout the city – there are only so many Macklemore’s ‘Can’t Hold Us’ a girl can listen to! The current sounds of Oxford are not representative of its whole student body. An important factor Simon highlighted was that the different nights I began this piece with were run by different promoters who specialised in specific genres. In most of the clubs in Oxford today, the same promoters are responsible for all the nights, which makes it hard for an authentic sound to be heard through the speakers.

Secondly, the monopolised club scene in Oxford dampens the creativity and expression of young artists. With expensive booking hires and minimum spends, renting a club and running a night is virtually impossible as a student. There are very few spaces for aspiring event managers, DJs, technicians, and so on to hone their craft.

The closing of The Cellar also highlights the bigger issue of the Oxford community not being respected by companies and institutions. The Music Venue Trust accused the landlords of The Cellar of being in pursuit of “maximum profit”. Their desire for money meant that an important cultural space for the community was lost.

Another example of this commercial neglect is Plush’s decision to start a Wednesday sports night in the aftermath of losing yet another club, ATIK, a few months ago. Many a student article has been written on the lack of LGBTQIA+-ness in Plush in recent years, and their choice to start a regular non-queer night adds to this frustration.

The Oxford Union is the landlord of the space and was only recently involved in the controversy of hosting the transphobic speaker Kathleen Stock. It is disappointing that Plush, which is meant to be a safe space for the queer community, is tied to such a harmful event.

But what can be done?

Firstly, the companies and institutions I have drawn attention to need to recognise the importance of diverse cultural spaces. In Oxford, a variety of new sounds should be valued, and safe spaces for the queer community must be prioritised. Simon pointed out that not only have over ten clubs closed down since he was a student here ten years ago, but many of these spaces remain unoccupied.

He suggested that the council could facilitate their use as temporary spaces for gigs and other cultural events. Take Common Ground as a successful example. The space used to be a disused old Barclays Bank, but now it is a social enterprise and community hub. These spaces have so much potential to serve the community.

We, as students, also have a responsibility. Where and how we spend our night out is us casting a vote. We must make the effort to go to alternative spaces that respect and uplift the community. Tap Social, for example, is a social enterprise on Botley Road which “believe[s] in creating community spaces” and “ensure[s] that the alternative scenes in the city are not forgotten”, according to their events manager, Char Chaplin. The venue trains and employs people in prison and prison leavers to work, and Char says they also “work with local promoters and artists to … help keep the events scene in Oxford alive”.

Crucial to uplifting the music scene is that we get over the bizarre mental hurdle of venues being too far from central Oxford to make an effort. In any other city, Tap Social and similar venues would be considered down the road! It is important that during our short time here, we choose venues we believe in when we go get drunk and have a boogie.



Christmas mourning

By
Freddie Sweet
-
Image Credit: Inga Sv//Pexels License via Pexels

I don’t know what it means to grieve. I have seen others grieving, I have witnessed those who were there start taking their five steps, but I remain firmly rooted to the deathbed. I can’t leave its side and I haven’t tried to. I exist in a space where she is alive but unseen, living a few hours away on a train that conveniently never has tickets. I helped her die – eased the way by brushing her hair, washing her legs, giving her hope. I sat with her day after day, telling her she would live, even as she exasperatedly said she wouldn’t. She still refused to go quietly – she knew it wasn’t her time, and she didn’t let the fact she was going to die change that. It was easier to let her believe she could fight than to explain we thought the hospital had killed her, that they had given her the wrong drugs, or the right drugs too quickly; sent her into a seizure-fuelled psychosis. We will never know exactly what did it; the evidence now dust, ashes to be sprinkled in Scarborough bay and to take their secrets with them.

She said I was a ghost once, that I was the devil, that I was her son, her daughter. Her surroundings weren’t stable in her mind – her hospital bed became a war zone, a cricket pitch, her childhood home. The only constant was that I loved her, and that she was ill. Eventually, it was that she wouldn’t get better. In her lucid moments I would moisturise her legs, style her hair, let her see her face again. She thought she’d lost it – that her face was just a canvas of stretched skin with a scar for a mouth. Still, she sang ABBA with me quietly, but every song sounded sad to her near the end. The prospect of death stained everything. ‘As Tears Go By’ would echo in her mind; I remember how her face would drop as the joy of memory was infected by a panic-ridden morbidity, as she understood why it had come to her at all.

She panicked when I walked into the room. That was the cruellest thing. My presence became a silent emblem of the most likely outcome; I would not have hurried and stayed during those weeks if we didn’t think they were her last. She was glad to see me, but cried helplessly as she realised why I had come. Anxiety seeps into me as I imagine the seizing panic that must have laid with her in that bed. She stayed for her 57th wedding anniversary and then left us.

Our first Christmas without her arrived quickly. My grandfather got too many gifts from her best friend, and he told my aunt that they were keeping each other company. She shares her middle name with the woman whose bed she now sleeps in. He promised there had been no overlap. Still, we have not had a straight answer about when it started. She heard the news of this affair on Christmas morning, and was made to keep it from us, so we could hear it from him. I never did hear it from him. During the Hilary term of my second year, my father took me to lunch at Gusto Italian on the High Street, and ordered me a pint before he told me. I spent the next three days high in an effort not to kill myself. My grandpa has still never told me, and erases her from anecdotes in which I know she was a participant. Her absence from these stories makes her louder, more intrusive.

This will be my second Christmas without presents wrapped in wallpaper, and gift tags with clues on them rather than names. There will be no illustrations of the cat decorating my card, because they are both dead. I have her wrapping paper still, folded neatly between some books on my shelf; I see them between Plath and Didion. I have her illustrations tattooed on my skin – I will see them dance as I move my arms to wrap my own gifts this year.

And I write this as a gift for her, my final Christmas in Oxford is one I should always have gotten her a present for. I still have ideas for things I mean to give her, and something doesn’t quite make sense when I tell myself they will never be received. I am still knitting the scarf I knitted by her deathbed, unaware of whether it really needs to be longer or if I cannot bear to finish it. Here, each word is stitch, a rushed offering full of dropped purls and sweeping ladders made so she’ll have something to open on Christmas morning. I hope she will wear it, as I wear her poems and her mother’s jewellery. The winter sun will have to stand in for the silver crown that glinted when she smiled.

5% of Oxford students on creative arts degrees are from working class backgrounds

By
Euan Elliott
-

Over half of those studying creative arts degrees at Oxford University are from “upper-middle class backgrounds” and 32% are privately educated, while only 5% of students studying these degrees are from “working class backgrounds”. The report, published by the social mobility charity Sutton Trust, highlighted “elitism” in Oxford’s creative arts.

A recent investigation by Cherwell found that over the last four years the representation of state-school students at the University has been on the decline. Meanwhile, the proportion of private-school offers has exceeded the proportion of private-school applicants, with increasing disparity. The University’s admission of private-school students in the creative arts is reflective of the composition of the student body as a whole.

The Sutton Trust report also illustrates the overrepresentation of those holding an Oxbridge degree in the arts, citing how Oxbridge alumni constitute 12% of classical musicians and 9% of actors in the UK.

Sutton Trust CEO Nick Harrison explained that UK creative industries “bear the hallmarks of being elitist” because individuals from middle class backgrounds outnumber those from working class backgrounds four-to-one, and the privately educated are similarly over-represented.

Consequently, Harrison noted the “tragedy” that the inaccessibility of creative arts degrees at Oxford as well as other higher education institutions poses for disadvantaged individuals with aspirations of a career in the arts. The report finally makes recommendations to higher education institutions to promote inclusivity, including the effective use of contextual offers which recognise the potential of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as the provision of grants to allow students to meet equipment costs exceeding the value offered by maintenance loans.

The University told Cherwell that they “remain committed to widening access at Oxford across all subjects to ensure that those with the highest academic potential, from all backgrounds, can realise their aspirations to study here”. The spokesperson drew attention to the University’s Crankstart scheme which currently offers financial support and funded internships to 17% of UK undergraduate students from lower-income households, as well as the UNIQ programme which prioritises places for high-performing students from underrepresented backgrounds.

The Sutton Trust further highlighted broader social implications: “Art plays a vital role in shaping the society we live in.” By inhibiting working class representation in the creative industries, upper and middle class perspectives are exclusively represented in media, according to the report.

A defence of students’ reliance on AI (and how to fix it)

By
Holly Errington
-
Image Credit: Johnlearningwiki//CC by 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Unless my friends are particularly fiendish, I’m pretty certain that “I’m just going to ChatGPT this essay” is a phrase we have all heard. I would like to posit that it is no wonder many students succumb to this temptation when the work we are required to do is often as pointless as Elon Musk’s attempts to get people to start calling Twitter ‘X’.  

  It is not outlandish to claim that in the academic realm, final exam results are virtually all that most students prioritise. It is also not outlandish to claim that our peers are somewhat sensible for doing so. After all, we exist within an education system in which success is largely predicated on the maximisation of percentages. Thus, if an individual is tasked with producing sixteen essays over eight weeks, half of which will cover topics not on their final examination, the rationale behind focusing on non-examined topics becomes unclear. 

Of course, an ideal world would see us all so enthralled by our degrees that we want to produce a beautiful piece of writing on every topic, purely for the enjoyment of learning and the development of our writing skills. In some sense, many people I know do complete their work with this intention. An issue arises, however, when this intention clashes with the desire to lead a somewhat well-rounded life, and also to get enough sleep. Call me impulsive, but I truly believe that when faced with the decision to enjoy a unique evening with your friends or to dedicate yourself to a dull essay topic that is not going to contribute to your final grade whatsoever, it is much more sensible to enjoy the evening with your friends.

  I would like to make it clear that I am not advocating for such scenarios to be actively sought out. I believe that most students possess the necessary time management skills for the use of large language models (barring the use of them as a thesaurus, spell-checking device, or Google-substitute) not to be a common, necessary occurrence. I do however believe that a key reason LLMs are used is because we already fulfil our personal learning goals by engaging with examined topics, and therefore superfluous topics are logically relegated below a good night’s sleep.

  I admit I am speaking from a rather Oxonian lens. There are likely students at other universities–at which it is only required that students produce two or three essays per term–who still use ChatGPT as their heavy-handed assistant. Such cases do draw out my inner traditionalist.

  Of course, there is also a fine line between optimisation and over-optimisation. In machine learning, “overfitting” occurs when an analysis is too tailored to a specific (training) dataset, preventing it from accurately generalising to new data. Similarly, we must be cautious not to overfit ourselves when it comes to prioritising optimisation – optimising our lives to the extent that we lose the ability for creative thought and production. If we do not practise thinking for ourselves, I believe we may begin to lose ourselves. A loss of grit is not a trivial matter, and the sense of satisfaction obtained from completing a piece of work as an individual cannot be replaced. If you have found yourself succumbing to the pull of idle half-participation in your work, I thus challenge you to do your next piece of work without using an LLM. You will very quickly feel the positive consequences on your ability to think and communicate clearly. I also genuinely believe it will lead to you feeling much happier in the long run as you become more engaged with your own existence.  

Fundamentally, I believe most people would prefer to complete their work without the use of an LLM; the use of them for academic matters is typically a symptom of stress. To tackle this stress, course directors could, for example, trial the removal of written work on non-examined topics. Nonetheless: whatever the future of education holds, antagonising students for using ChatGPT is not the solution. To preserve creativity, we should address the root causes of students’ reliance on AI while encouraging original, human thought.

New guidelines on AI usage in academic work emphasise human responsibility

By
Liya Sebhatu
-
Pixabay//CC0 1.0 via Wikimedia Commons

New ethical guidelines for the use of large language models (LLMs), notably ChatGPT, in academic writing have been published by researchers from Oxford University and other leading global universities. The ethical framework aims to ensure the validity, integrity, and trust in LLM-assisted work.

The guidelines state that there must be a substantial human contribution to the work’s design, analysis, and data. At least one researcher must be able to guarantee the accuracy of the research and take responsibility for each substantive claim and piece of evidence in the writing.

The framework also emphasises the importance of researchers being transparent with their use of LLMs and other generative AI in their research. The article provides a template for authors to use in their work to help them declare the use of LLM. 

Recent improvements in LLMs have seen their increasing usage in academic work due to their high-level of performance, efficiency, and accessibility. The usage of LLMs in academic writing has generated some concerns about plagiarism, authorship attribution, and trust in research. LLM development has seen different models specialise in different academic fields. The most popular general LLMs include ChatGPT, Claude, and Bard.

The guidelines, published in Nature Machine Intelligence, state that “LLM use should neither lower nor raise the standard of responsibility that already exists in traditional research practices.”

The ethical framework was developed by researchers from Oxford’s Uehiro Institute, which focuses on contemporary ethical challenges, alongside researchers from the University of Cambridge, University of Copenhagen, and the National University of Singapore. 

Guidance for Oxford students from the University says that “unauthorised use of AI falls under the plagiarism regulations and would be subject to academic penalties in summative assessments.” Nonetheless, the guidance says that students can “make use of generative AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Bing Chat and Google Bard) in developing [their] academic skills to support [their] studies”, and even gives tips on how to use LLMs. 

In the last week, the use of AI became a point of contention for English students at Keble College as they were reminded in an email from their Director of Studies of their “responsibility to make sure that [their] work is not plagiarised…includ[ing] the use of AI (such as Chat GPT) to present the writing/thoughts/work of other sources as [their] own.” The email went on to highlight Keble and University guidance on plagiarism and academic misconduct. 

Department of Computer Science leads new cyber security project

By
Mair Andrews
-
Jpbowen// CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A new network aiming to protect cyber security will be led by Oxford University’s Department of Computer Science. The project, which is set to launch in early 2025, has received a £6 million investment from the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). 

The Cyber Security Research and Networking Environment (CRANE) hopes to create new insights into how to achieve security in accordance with Design and Default under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through utilising the benefit of technologies and intense collaboration.

The initiative’s ambition is to facilitate better cyber security across the nation’s economy, including a wide range of sectors, such as manufacturing, healthcare, and law enforcement. This variety will make businesses, charities and individuals more resilient against cyber threats.

Project lead Professor Andrew Martin from the Department of Computer Science said: “There is a pressing need for improvements in cyber security across a broad spectrum of social and technical research. We want to help the community to identify areas where research can bring the most benefit and encourage its development right across the UK and beyond.”

The UK is the third most targeted country in the world for cyber-attacks, after the United States and Ukraine. 

One of CRANE’s core objectives include maximising interdisciplinary research through collaborations with researchers in fields such as computer science, psychology, social sciences, law and economics. This will allow them to stay engaged with relevant technological advancements, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing. They intend to use a risk management strategy called “horizon scanning” to ensure that their project stays current and researchers remain ahead of trends and adapt to the changing digital landscape.

The project will be co-led by professors from Abertay University, University of Bath, University College London, and University of Birmingham. One of their ambitions is to foster a collaborative environment, with regional events to minimise travel and integrate a range of sectors, from government and industry to non-profit organisations. They are working with the UK National Cyber Strategy to strengthen the international cyber ecosystem and reach out to as many potential collaborators as possible. 

They intend to establish a new “learned society”, an organised group dedicated to research within a selected academic discipline, on cyber security research. This hopes to integrate UK businesses as well as voluntary and charity communities. 

Minister for Cyber Security Feryal Clark said that the new government has made cyber defences a “national priority” and this network will help generate “the UK’s cyber leaders of tomorrow.”

Price of a pint in Oxford rose by over 30p this year

By
Donovan Lock
-
Three Goats' Head. Image credit: Donovan Lock.

A pint of real ale in Oxford now costs £5.42 on average up from £5.06 last year, according to a survey of Oxford pubs. This comes after the new government budget’s promise to cut a penny off a pint.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) recently surveyed 25 pubs in central Oxford, excluding two JD Wetherspoon pubs that always sell at lower prices. CAMRA’s findings indicate a strong trend of pints rising in price, with the most common pint now costing £5.60 – a rise of over 24% from £4.50 in 2023. Additionally, 12 pubs now do not sell any ales for less than £5 per pint, double of the 6 pubs last year.

CAMRA also reported that the single most expensive pint of ale was found at the Head of the River, where a Fuller’s seasonal beer sells for £6.55. In second place was Turf Tavern, costing £6.45 for a Greene King special beer. Notably, prices at Wetherspoon pubs have decreased to £2.49 a pint, except for pints of Greene King IPA which are sold at £1.99 each. Outside of Wetherspoon pubs, the White Rabbit continues to sell the cheapest pints at £3.80.

The survey took place in light of last month’s budget, wherein Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a cut of 1.7% to draught duty tax, promising “a penny off a pint in a pub.” But pub chains warn that newly-introduced increases to national insurance and minimum wage will necessitate higher prices across pubs.

A bartender at the Three Goats’ Head told Cherwell: “Every year, most stuff in here goes up by 10 to 30p.” He explained the impact of the minimum wage increase on pubs, stating that it means “quite a lot more money that they’ve got to pay staff, so they don’t really have a choice, they have to increase prices.”

October’s budget saw the share prices of several pub chains plummet, including JD Wetherspoon, which suffered a decrease of 11.4% in a single week. Pub chain Young’s announced that they were expecting to make a loss of £11 million in light of the budget. Several experts and pub chain owners have warned of further price increases, citing the increase in national insurance contributions as the most damning factor.

Advert for a Girl

By
Silvia Andreoletti
-
Image Credits: Cherwell, Illustration by Joe Walford

Girl, 22.

Average height, 

Average weight.

Average-sized, father-figure shaped hole

2 inches left of lower sternum.

Needily accommodating

Selflessly self-deprecating

Outsize ego easily compactable

To fit all inferiority complex related needs. 

Available for evenings, a few months,

Or half a lifetime. 

You wouldn’t even need to love her back.

Brasenose hosts talk by suspended spokesman for the Israeli government

By
Cherwell News and Investigations Section Editors
-
Image Credit: Vlada Palanciuc

Over two dozen students protested yesterday outside Brasenose College during a talk by alumnus and former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy. Following Nikki Haley’s event at Blavatnik School of Government last week, this was the second time a controversial speaker was announced at short notice.

Protesters organised by Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) sat outside the college gate, temporarily trapping students and fellows inside. A student trapped inside told Cherwell that when they attempted to get out, they were “tramping over protesters who grabbed and scratched and screamed”. Protesters also yelled “Shame! Shame!” at people leaving and asked questions like “How do you feel about a genocidal maniac speaking at your college?”

According to a flyer posted inside Brasenose the day of Levy’s event, it “will be a valuable opportunity to gain some insight into the current conflicts in the Middle East, from somebody right at the centre of the events”.

OA4P called for an emergency rally about an hour before the event, alleging that Levy’s event was not announced until the last minute: “As has been patterned in recent talks this term, the University deliberately concealed the identity of the speaker until shortly before the event began, to avoid rightful accountability and reputation damage.”

This follows last week’s OA4P protests outside a Blavatnik School of Government (BSG) event featuring former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. OA4P alleged: “BSG clearly knew that the Oxford community would not welcome Haley’s presence, given that the School hid her identity as the Dean’s Forum speaker from the student body until this morning.”

Brasenose and BSG did not respond when Cherwell asked about the dates of announcing Levy and Haley as speakers respectively.

A Brasenose spokesperson told Cherwell: “Brasenose College values open dialogue and the exchange of diverse perspectives. The event, organised by students, provided an opportunity to engage with a speaker and alumnus who has held a prominent role in public affairs. We acknowledge that the speaker’s previous comments have sparked debate and took steps to ensure the event proceeded safely for all involved.

“Some disruption occurred, affecting some students, staff and visitors, but normal access resumed shortly thereafter. We respect the right of individuals to voice their views through peaceful protest and remain committed to fostering an inclusive environment based on mutual respect.”

Levy studied PPE at Brasenose and emigrated to Israel. He served in the Israeli defence ministry, worked as international media adviser to the president, and became the government’s English-language spokesperson following the 7th October attacks. Levy was suspended earlier this year following an online row with then-UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, BBC reported.

1...456...2,460Page 5 of 2,460

Support Student Journalism

Cherwell is Oxford’s oldest independent newspaper, founded in 1920. We are entirely student-run. By supporting us, you will contribute to keeping our paper in print and online. Every donation makes a difference.

Donate

Explore

Follow us

More

Oxford Student Publications Limited © 2024 - All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy