Saturday 25th October 2025
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Are you listening comfortably? Audio drama and theatre

Rhys Ponsford
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Are you listening comfortably? Audio drama and theatre

When people think of podcasts, they probably wouldn’t associate them with theatre. Yet it was this seemingly unlikely convergence between the two forms that led me to attend the London Podcast Festival at King’s Place on September 7th. I was curious to see staged performances of audio drama. Indeed, part of my excitement lay in my fascination with the relationship between theatre and audio drama in the first place. Audio drama is an increasingly influential art form, with popularity continuing to surge every year. One of the most famous shows, Rusty Quill’s The Magnus Archives, hit 100 million downloads on Spotify alone in 2025. This popularity was reflected in the turnout at the Festival, where every event I attended was either almost or completely sold out.. Audio drama’s demographic is a diverse and youthful one, which responds positively to shows that push the form to its absolute limits. It has the potential to highlight the voices of marginalised groups, like queer and BAME individuals. And yet it still feels underrepresented in discussions both around literature and theatre, despite being a genuinely exciting sphere of artistic creativity.

The absence of audio drama from discussions of art is not a concern for me alone: prominent audio dramatist Amber Devereux, notable as the creator of the experimental speculative audio drama, The Tower, remarked how “audio drama as a distinct storytelling form as well as the theory of sound storytelling is something Ella [Watts, the writer of Arthurian post-apocalyptic fantasy show Camlann] and I spend a lot of time talking about, and it’s wonderful to read that we’re not alone in that! It’s also exciting that writing like this exists out there[;] there are tragically so [few] texts looking into audio drama and storytelling properly”. Staged audio drama is a different beast entirely to a conventional stage play. While elements like body language and physical humour are reintroduced, it is still defined by the trappings of the recording studio. Actors stand in front of microphones while performing with a script in hand, and creators are much more reliant on sound design and foley to convey a setting than a typical stage play; elaborate sets and props are rare. It is the audience’s  imagination which projects the world around the actors.

What staged audio drama performances can often lean on, however, is the listener bringing in their pre-existing conceptions of the show’s setting. There are instances where a person’s image of a character clashes with the actor in front of them. Yet this is part of the appeal of actors for audio drama. The second event I attended touched on this, featuring the cast and creators of the science-fiction comedy Wolf 359. Emma Sherr-Ziarko noted how acting in audio allowed her to play “Sigourney Weaver/Ellen Ripley”-type action heroes – roles otherwise denied to her in stage performances, due to her physical appearance. Still, staged audio drama performances are the ultimate hinterland between audio drama and stage plays, a text half-translated and trembling with resonances from physical and audial language.

Both live audio drama performances I saw did an admirable job of making the most of their stage, however. These were Camlann and a Python-esque sit-com called Wooden Overcoats, about two rival undertaker companies on a tiny Channel Island. From side-eyes and intentionally comedic multi-roling, to moving offstage and into the aisles between onlookers, both combined the power of the audience’s imagination and the novelty of the physical presence of the cast before you to create something distinctly unique. Perhaps staged audio drama belongs in a special category of its own. I would certainly say so.

So what comes next for audio drama? Well, it’s a future that has already been influenced by a former Oxford University student by the name of Jonathan Sims – writer of the same Magnus Archives mentioned earlier. The Magnus Archives has had a profound influence on the audio drama sphere as one of the most popular audio dramas of all time. It emerged in a 2014-2016 period that birthed so many titans of the form , and has since spawned a sequel that raised over £700,000 in crowd-backer funding (as well as, ironically, a theatrical spin-off show this October). Sims is a former St Hilda’s student, and also a prolific ex-member of OULES (the Oxford University Light Entertainment Society), showing that the University had a hand, however inadvertent, in influencing the form.

Ultimately, what is evident is that there is a clear demand both for typical audio drama and staged audio drama performances. Oxford would do well to not simply accept, but embrace audio drama as a new type of theatre and literature – a medium with near-limitless potential. 

Congestion charge introduced in Oxford

Laura van Heijnsbergen
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Congestion charge introduced in Oxford

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet has approved plans for a £5 congestion charge for drivers on six of Oxford’s busiest roads. The charge will come into force on 10th November and will stay in place until Botley Road reopens in August 2026. 

Motorists travelling on Hythe Bridge Street, St Cross Road, Thames Street, and St Clement’s Street between 7am and 7pm will be affected, as will drivers on Marston Ferry Road and Hollow Way travelling in the morning (between 7am and 9am) and early evening (from 3pm until 6pm), excluding Sundays.

Once Botley Road reopens, the congestion charge system will be replaced by a traffic filter trial, where drivers will be charged at least £35 for driving on these same six roads.

Anne Gwinnett, Chair of the Oxford Independent Alliance, has criticised the decision to implement the scheme in the face of what she called “a landslide rejection”. 74% of Oxford residents who took part in the council’s consultation said the scheme would have a negative impact, whilst a petition opposing the congestion charge, which started in June, stands at more than 13,500 signatures.

The Open Roads for Oxford pressure group, which opposes the congestion charge, was established in response to the scheme’s proposal. Emily Scaysbrook, a local business owner and Director of the group, told BBC News that it’s “reckless” of the council to introduce a congestion charge prior to the Christmas shopping season which “so many retailers and hospitality businesses rely on to survive”. 

Anneliese Dodds, Labour MP for Oxford East, also spoke out against the scheme, calling it “extremely unfair”.

Moves to discourage driving in Oxford come amidst increasing environmental concerns about the impact of pollution from cars. In recent years concerns about pollution have seen the introduction of a zero emissions zone (ZEZ) in the city centre, as well as the electrification of Oxford’s buses.

Responding to criticism of the scheme, County Councillor Andrew Grant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “It will enhance bus services, it frees up road spaces, it makes the air cleaner and it makes the roads safer. The evidence says this will make the city centre more vibrant and a nicer place to be”. Gant has also said that a recently announced scheme to offer free bus travel from park and ride sites in Oxford (using the funds raised by the congestion charges) will help to ”support local businesses”.

Cyclox, a local cycling group in Oxford, has come out in support of the scheme, with Cyclox member Thalia Carr, saying it would “improve things for people on bikes.

“Cars that do have to drive will be able to get to their destinations quicker, it means it’ll be safer for bicycles and it’ll be cleaner air for everybody”.

Oxford Sailors take on the Celtic Sea

John Frame
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Oxford Sailors take on the Celtic Sea

Many people would consider offshore yacht racing a somewhat daunting, if not downright insane, endeavour, but it’s how a determined crew of Oxford sailors chose to spend a week in the summer. 

Whether it’s friendly yet competitive club-level dinghy racing, relaxing cruising in the tropics, or gruelling ocean crossings, sailing can take many forms. In a racing context, the aim of the sport is to simply make the boat go as fast as possible – which can be a difficult challenge in ever-changing conditions at sea, requiring a unique combination of physical strength, tactical planning, and intimate knowledge of the boat’s systems.

Yacht racing has had an illustrious history from its early days as a pastime of Victorian-era gentleman-explorers to the opulent J Classes of the 1930s to the highest level of technical innovation today: the America’s Cup. Ocean racing, one of the toughest and most expensive sports which an athlete can partake in, tends to attract a certain kind of daring – and often eccentric – individual.

Over seven hundred miles across the Celtic Sea and back, the Fastnet Race holds a near mythical status in the world of sailing. First organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in 1925 and having since established itself as one of the most famous offshore races in the world, it attracted over four hundred entries in this centenary year. The course begins in Cowes on the Isle of Wight and sends competitors westward past Land’s End, across to the southernmost point in Ireland, then all the way back to finish in Cherbourg.

With the Oxford crew competing aboard 38’ yacht Talisman, the starting cannon fired around noon on Saturday 26th July, and the race was on. In fair conditions, the Talisman made good progress down the western Solent and past the iconic Needles into the English Channel. While still near enough to land for mobile reception, the crew kept the club members ashore updated on the progress being made, and by nightfall the watch rota had begun, necessitating extra attention by the skeleton crew who stayed on watch. The stoic skipper Simon, though, always remained on hand to offer guidance to the crew and impart knowledge from his many years of successful racing.

Guided by the compass (and GPS – a far cry from 50 years ago!), they sailed onwards, the Bishop Rock Lighthouse slowly vanishing from view until dawn broke in the Celtic Sea over nothing but open water as far as the eye could see. Isolation from the rest of the world is one of the defining factors of offshore sailing: there’s just nine people in the yacht, alone at sea. Perhaps another boat would be sighted from time to time, but this remoteness was a far cry from the typical experience of busy traffic near major ports and shipping lanes. The majority of the racing OUYC undertakes (such as the BUCS regatta and Varsity match) are short inshore day races, where brash split-second decisions mean the difference between victory and defeat; the Fastnet was therefore a unique opportunity for much of the crew. Hundreds of miles away from civilisation, sufficient preparation and self-reliance for the voyage are essential.

Following daybreak on the third day, Ireland gradually faded into sight, and by 09:30, ever-reliable helmsman Ross guided the crew around the fabled Fastnet Rock. A tall, angry hunk of stone, weathered by many Atlantic storms and surmounted by the towering stone lighthouse reaching up to the heavens, the Fastnet Rock inspired joy instead of dread: the crew had reached the halfway point in the race. Some may wonder if sailing non-stop for three days to see a rock is worth it, but the achievement is certainly satisfying, if not otherwise impressive. 

After rounding it, the crew changed sails and the boat’s speed began to pick up. As the crew progressed back towards France, mist set in, letting the rock (and Irish mainland) disappear from view. With the wind from behind and the boat surfing down the large smooth swell waves, high speeds of 12-15 knots were reached. 

The return leg was calmer, with generally pleasant weather; the crew were delighted by the exciting appearance of pods of dolphins. After two more mostly uneventful (and almost relaxing) days and nights, the Alderney lighthouse came into view on the morning of the 31st. At 11:38 BST, Talisman and her Oxford crew crossed the finish line into Cherbourg Harbour, marking the end of a heroic voyage. With a finish time of just less than five days, a ranking of 267/380 was achieved in the IRC class – impressive for a crew of students in a race many sailors (not to mention other universities) fear entering.

OUYC extends its thanks to our skipper, Simon, for providing this opportunity on his boat, and offers gratitude to all of our members, friends, and alumni that helped make this ambitious event possible.

Crew list (left to right): Simon Harwood (Skipper), Ross Gales, Viktor Zouboulis, Leah Tavasi, Betsy Elliott-Fricker, Carl Hentges, Jacopo Molaro, Anna Kotanska, John Frame

Vice-Chancellor says ‘emotional connection’ needed now more than ever in annual oration

Dylan Porter
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Vice-Chancellor says ‘emotional connection’ needed now more than ever in annual oration

Professor Irene Tracey delivered her annual oration as Vice-Chancellor last week, covering a range of topics including artificial intelligence (AI), freedom of speech, and the climate crisis.

The University has seen significant changes since the Vice-Chancellor’s last oration, including the election of Lord William Hague as the University’s 160th Chancellor. Reflecting on Hague’s election, Tracey described the Chancellor as “an absolute delight to work with.”

Shortly after the oration, the Times Higher Education’s global ranking placed Oxford first for a record-breaking tenth consecutive year. In anticipation of this year’s ranking, Tracey boasted of Oxford’s “enduring, endless excellence.”

In a speech strongly rooted in what it means to be human, the Vice-Chancellor outlined the University’s integral role in the lives of staff, students, and wider society. Reflecting on the date of the oration, Tracey said: “As we gather here on 7 October 2025, still in shock at what antisemitism and hatred wreaked in Manchester last Thursday, let us hope for more kindness. 

“Let us hope for peace in Gaza and for the people of Palestine and let us hope for the safe return of all hostages.”

Examining the state of the world, the Vice-Chancellor described AI as the most pressing issue of our time. Acknowledging the “anxiety this new world brings,” she said that “people have to find an emotional connection.” She discussed Oxford’s role at the forefront of the AI revolution –  championing initiatives such as the University’s AI in Education hub, and its role as the first UK university to offer ChatGPT-5 to all of its members. 

Despite the challenges posed by AI, Tracey emphasised humanity’s compelling power with regards to innovation and creativity, encouraging the use of AI as a tool for distinctly human development.

The Vice-Chancellor also touched on the extensive equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) debate taking place in America, saying that Oxford is committed to “finding the best talent, wherever we can, and then striving to ensure that talent thrives once here … This is where we stand, and it is where the middle ground of British public opinion stands too.”

Reflecting on changes to Statute XI, the University’s policy on disciplinary procedure, the Vice-Chancellor said: “Balancing the need to protect students from misconduct with the need to protect freedom of speech and the right to protest under new Office for Students obligations is not easy.”

In addition to weighing in on pressing social problems, the Vice-Chancellor praised Oxford’s world renowned research in both science and the humanities – which includes the development of TriOx, a novel blood test for cancer powered by machine learning research, as well as the work of the Evidence Centre for modern slavery and human rights.

Tracey was also keen to emphasise the University’s role in tackling climate change, including: developing clean hydrogen, improving water security across East Africa and South Asia, and hosting the Right Here, Right Now climate summit in partnership with the United Nations.

In an era of uncertainty and financial instability for the UK higher education sector, Tracey admitted that “Oxford is not cheap to run,” and emphasised the need to “build financial as well as physical and human capital resilience across the collegiate University”.

Concluding the annual oration, the Vice-Chancellor placed emphasis on hope, truth, and kindness which she said were key components of “the Oxford story”.

Oriel ‘is so back’ after College bar reopens

Matilda Nevile
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Oriel ‘is so back’ after College bar reopens

After two years of closure Oriel College’s bar has re-opened following extensive renovations. The refurbishment faced several challenges, including issues with the keg system and the discovery of Saxon remains.

Theo Elliott, Oriel’s Bar Representative, told Cherwell that “Oriel is so back” following the reopening, with staff fighting “tooth and nail” to ensure its success. 

Elliott described the bar as “large, but still quite cozy, with space for people to sit even on busy nights, and a nice dance floor for which we had to sacrifice a pool table”. He added that “spirits are high” now that Oriel students no longer “have to finesse invitations to other colleges”.

The bar’s first two nights saw an open bar, with free drinks for students. The College also plans to host an alumni drinks evening in November to mark the bar’s completion.

Whilst Oriel’s MCR bar was open during the renovations, its limited opening times – three days per week – meant that most students looked to other colleges for their evening entertainment.

Lord Mendoza, Provost of Oriel College told Cherwell: “The opening of our redesigned and extended beer cellar is a wonderful thing. The project to transform our heritage estate, which includes the beer cellar, is of lasting value for Oriel and will stand for generations to come. The experience of dining, living, and studying in this historic environment is part of what makes being a student here incomparable to anything else. It’s proved a complex, but necessary series of works – not least the discovery of Saxon defensive archaeology beneath the bar!

“The professionalism and skill of all our staff was exemplary. Our students have been patient and understanding. Of course, we work closely with our JCR to ensure the best experience in these stunning places. To see intense student life flood back to the first bop was an exhilarating moment.”

The bar’s new design incorporates energy-efficient features such as secondary glazing and low-energy lighting, supporting a more sustainable future.

Elliott remarked that whilst the decorations are “yet to be fully finished”, big things should be expected. He called on the “people of Oxford” to carry the heaviest burden which he said “is to drink the bar dry”, adding “Glory to Oriel”.

Algorithms of individuality: ‘The Consciousness Company’

Maddie Gillett
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Algorithms of individuality: ‘The Consciousness Company’

As Stephen Fry wrote, The Consciousness Company by M.N. Rosen addresses the “enormous ethical, metaphysical and existential waves threatening to engulf us”. It is a novel which speaks to our fears about Artificial Intelligence in a fresh manner. In conversation with Cherwell, the author agreed with the view that it is not dystopian, but ‘pre-dystopian’. The consequences of The Consciousness Company are foreshadowed through a witty blend of irony, style, and a starkly accurate depiction of business procedures, but never fully realised. It feels as though the novel ends on the precipice of dystopian-style havoc.  

The Consciousness Company follows two friends who found a company that uses AI to stimulate mindfulness in users. Their programmed ‘Consciousness Company’s Consciousness’ records diaries of (what is defined as) people’s inner consciousness. As the company develops, technology is used to inject algorithmically individuated thoughts into people’s minds and it seems to increasingly blur the lines of individuality and autonomy. As Rosen himself told Cherwell, this novel is a thought-experiment: what if we used AI to create a “Headspace on steroids”? What would this mean for our sense of identity?

Naturally, this concept invites interesting philosophical questions. What is identity, and does AI erode it? Rosen does not use names in the traditional sense – there are merely “the first founder”, “the second founder”, “the first investor”, and the player-style names of each of the company’s users. It also invites a consideration of what consciousness is. There are moments when Rosen shows that consciousness is more than just thoughts – the ‘Consciousness Diaries’ of users do not capture their physical reactions to external stimuli, for example. 

Particularly impressive was Rosen’s handling of existential and political zeitgeists. Most notable was the chapter entitled “The Consciousness Diary of The Consciousness Company’s Consciousness” (the concept of being ‘meta’ reaches humorous complexity, here – AI is used to record the programmed consciousness of AI). What is truly distinctive is that, through this, Rosen seems to write a ‘pre-dystopia’ that is aware of itself. The Consciousness Company’s Consciousness is worried about the extent of its own computational power and even suggests to itself that it write a dystopia for the founders. We tend to approach the threat of AI as ‘humans harmed by their own creation’. It is truly subversive to see the creation worry about its own impact in the same way that its creators do.  

Rosen’s experience in the finance sector, working with early-stage technology and impact businesses, is evident. Through his insightful dissection of the business sector the existential implications of The Consciousness Company take an extremely disconcerting shape. His chapters entitled “A letter from a thousand scientists” and the final, “The prospectus drafting session” are key to this. In “A letter from a thousand scientists”, the first founder confronts the fact that his creation could have disturbing existential implications: the scientists write: You are causing the extermination of the human race. Something non-genetic has taken over… you are destroying the sacred concept of identity that our world is built on.” This, again, creates the sense that Rosen is writing a pre-dystopia that is aware of its own progress. The same can be said of “The prospectus drafting session”, where the participants of the meeting debate the ethical concerns of The Consciousness Company. Rosen’s decision to write a self-aware ‘pre-dystopia’ suggests that the biggest threat to today’s society is not a lack of awareness, but an over-intellectualising and overly-bureaucratic dealing with the awareness of such threats, which prevents actual meaningful action from occurring.This, to me, speaks to the modern world: the source of this frightening stasis is not the remarkably sinister intentions of those responsible, but banalities such as procedural and legal technicalities.   

I would highly recommend The Consciousness Company to anyone who is philosophically-minded and shares concerns about technology’s impact on individuality and freedom of thought. Rosen masterfully approaches these ideas with a balance of humorous irony and existential anxiety, making The Consciousness Company a novel which sends out a warning in a fresh and distinctive manner.

Oxford Labour Club joins forces with the YIMBY Alliance to tackle Oxford’s housing crisis

Oskar Doepke
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Oxford Labour Club joins forces with the YIMBY Alliance to tackle Oxford’s housing crisis

The Oxford Labour Club (OLC) has teamed up with the Oxford branch of the ‘Yes, In My Backyard’ Alliance (Oxford YIMBY) for a joint launch event. YIMBY is a campaign advocating for more high-quality, affordable homes with local branches across the country. The event, which will take place on 16th October, will be held at Trinity College and attended by both YIMBY representatives and MP Danny Beales. The launch marks OLC’s first collaboration with YIMBY. 

The Co-Chairs of OLC told Cherwell: “This relaunch is about finding a new generation to pick up the call to build more homes and end the city’s housing shortage. That shortage affects both students and long-term residents, and it is only right that students use their voice to advocate for more homes for everyone.”

When asked how students in the OLC can contribute to YIMBY’s goals, the Co-Chairs told Cherwell they will “help set up a fully independent Oxford-based campaign”. The Co-Chairs explained that, for OLC, working toward an accessible Oxford “means supporting Oxford YIMBY’s campaign for a city where nobody has to be priced out”.

OLC’s involvement with YIMBY comes amid rising concerns about Oxford’s housing crisis. As of July 2025, the average home price in Oxford stands at £497,000 – nearly double the UK average of £270,000 – while average monthly private rents have reached £1,897, up 11.7% in the last year. Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University’s student populations add additional strain on the city’s housing market, with a combined 4,521 students living outside of university-provided accommodation as of the 2023/24 academic year. 

Oxford YIMBY campaigns to address Oxford’s housing crisis by “building out”, expanding Oxford’s green belt – the protected land around the city designed to limit urban sprawl – outward to allow development along the city’s edges. The organisation also advocates for “building up”, which focuses on replacing terraces or detached houses with taller apartment blocks. 

Currently, Oxford YIMBY supports three projects: the redevelopment of the North Oxford Golf Club site, the creation of 1,450 new homes in a new community called Bayswater Brook, and the development of land south of the Oxford Science Park. 

While Oxford YIMBY and the wider YIMBY organisation are both unaffiliated with any political party, their goals align with the Labour Party’s aims to build more affordable housing. Speaking to Cherwell, the Co-Chairs of OLC explained that despite YIMBY being non-partisan, OLC “share their commitment to tackling the housing crisis, building more homes, and creating a housing system that works for students”.

Beales, who will attend the launch event, serves as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness and for Temporary Accommodation, which brings together parliamentarians to tackle homelessness and the housing crisis at the national level.  

Through the joint launch event and continued collaboration with Oxford YIMBY, the Co-Chairs told Cherwell that OLC aims to seize the “opportunity to expand pro-housing outreach” and “be part of that change”.

YIMBY as a movement began in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 2010s as a response to the lack of affordable housing in the Bay Area. California YIMBY as the first political group was founded by tech executives such as Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub. 

Interview: Oliver’s Oxford

Bess Tolley
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Interview: Oliver’s Oxford

Oliver never intended to become a full-time content creator. He originally created his TikTok page to market his queer fashion brand, launched in the year preceding his master’s degree at Oxford.  “I wanted to start an eco-friendly queer fashion brand because I had noticed that there weren’t really any specifically queer fashion brands out there. It was all people putting a rainbow on collections for pride.”  It was only when he moved to Oxford and was offered his first brand sponsorship – which he admits was “way more lucrative than selling a few t-shirts” – that he decided to focus solely on making Oxford student content.  

Although Oliver has accumulated a well-deserved 770,000 followers on TikTok, he tells me that the street interviews which have made his name were not always the easiest type of content to make. “I hated going up to people and asking like, excuse me, would you mind being in an interview […] it was always much nicer when someone willingly volunteered rather than being ambushed in the street”. This initial reluctance stems from the “unethical” approach that he believes some street interviewers take. They ask questions “designed to catch the people being interviewed out”, something which Oliver is both cautious and critical of. “When people run up to someone and shove a microphone in their face … incredibly unpleasant. Or when they interview drunk people late at night … also incredibly unethical […] People are wary of street interviews. I think, justifiably so.” 

Since his following and the popularity of his content have grown, it has become increasingly easier for Oliver to find willing participants for his interviews, with many students, hopeful for a feature, messaging him on Instagram or approaching him in the streets. This enthusiasm is undeniably a testament to the skilfulness and poise which Oliver brings to each of his interviews. He explains to me that the key to conducting a successful interview is all to do with range, curiosity, and spontaneity: 

“Although I’m not an expert in many topics, I have a decently broad range of interests and knowledge that someone else is usually an expert in. This means that I can ask them fairly insightful questions. […] I think letting the interviewee shine helps to make a really good interview; the interviewer using their knowledge and experience to help shape the interview in a way that gets the most out of the interviewee’s brain onto the screen”.  

He adds, “the other thing that I think I’m quite good at is coming up with something witty on the spot that helps keep an interview light-hearted when it might be, you know, a difficult topic to get to grips with”. 

As an aspiring TV presenter, these are skills that Oliver hopes to one day put into practice beyond the context of his TikTok videos. “There are people at the BBC that I meet, and they’re like “I love your videos!” And I’m like, well…I’m here… I can do this for the BBC… And they’re like, “yeah, totally, definitely” and I never hear from them again”. While appearing on TV remains the end goal, for now, Oliver is happy to concentrate on social media and has many ambitions for what his content could develop into. He tells me that his dream collaboration is, perhaps unexpectedly, with the Olympic Games:  

“This might be kind of controversial […] I feel like Olympics committee come under a lot of heat, and I haven’t looked into this, so don’t come at me, but collabing with the Olympics would be so cool. This definitely sounds braggy but in the same way that I have quite a good breadth of basic knowledge of things to help me with interviews, because I’ve done a lot of sports, I’m also quite good at picking up the basics of a sport quite quickly. […] I think Niall Wilson did a did a series a while ago that was like him and the National Lottery. He was trying loads of different sports like BMXing, ice skating, those kinds of things. A series like that where I’d get to collaborate with Olympians, showcasing a load of different sports, interviewing them about the sport and about their life as well would be so cool.”  

It was actually during his training sessions with the University of Oxford’s gymnastics team that he became friends with the (in?)famous ‘Bartholomew Hamish Montgomery’. They made a few comedy videos together where they parodied American and British stereotypes, the most popular of which was, unsurprisingly, the ones which featured the character of Bartholomew. “It was funny, we found it fun, it did well online, so we carried it on.”  

Considering Oliver’s immense success as a street interviewer, it would be easy to forget the real reason he came to Oxford: his postgraduate studies in Law, which he first began at undergraduate level at the University of Durham.  Since Oliver frequently interviews master’s students about their respective areas of research in his videos, I was naturally intrigued to hear about his own field of study, which he seldom discusses online. “I really should talk about it but it’s contentious in an algorithmic sense, so I don’t, and I’m always a bit scared. It’s quite vulnerable to talk about my own research. When it’s other people’s stuff, if it does badly, it’s fine but if it’s my own stuff doing badly, I’m going to be like, ‘oh no, people hate me, I’m really boring’”.  

I was interested to discover that social media sites such as TikTok are also at the core of Oliver’s academic work. Yet, instead of comedy videos or online interviews, he is looking at a very different way in which these apps can be used : vaccine disinformation. Complex ethical and legal questions regarding governmental censorship, regulations regarding the spread false information, and the dangers of social media sites’ algorithmic nature underpin Oliver’s area of interest. “Can we regulate [vaccine disinformation] legally? Should we, philosophically? When you’ve got that toss-up between free speech and the public health interest of not being bombarded with fake information, where do you draw the line? Who should be to blame for that? Should it be the individuals spreading disinformation intentionally, or should it be the platforms for allowing that kind of stuff to get such a wide reach?” 

He blames the social media platforms, an opinion which prevents him from discussing his research online, for fear of receiving backlash from the very platforms on which his income relies. He partially agrees with my question of whether there is a conflict of interest for his career to be dependent on a platform which he finds problematic in many respects. “[Social media] is like dynamite, right? It can be used in a good or a bad way. It can be used to blow up quarries and extract materials, or it can be used to kill people.  But you can definitely use it for good. And I like to think that my content is largely quite positive. And so, because I’m using it in the good way that social media can be used, I like to think that there isn’t too much of a conflict of interest. Of course, you could take the more extreme view of ‘well, social media apps are objectively harming people. So, you shouldn’t engage with something that can harm people’. I think that’s probably not nuanced enough of a view.[…] And I mean, you know, when you operate in a society, everything’s always going to have a conflict of interest. But hey, we don’t think about that too much”.  

Despite finding his legal studies both interesting and rewarding, Oliver doubts the possibility of pursuing this as a career path. “I think most Oxford students will probably relate to this: life is short and there are so many different things that would be fun to do. But you can’t do all of them. I think I would have had a perfectly happy life as a barrister.  But I went into social media, and that was really, really fun. I want to do this for as long as I can and hopefully turn it into TV stuff”.  

Before drawing the interview to a close, I ask him what advice he would give to students hoping to pursue a career similar to his own.   “Well, first of all, I’d say stay away from the Oxford interviews. That’s mine. Get your own thing”. He is only half joking: he explains that this element of individuality is necessary for success as a content creator. “Part of the reason my stuff works is because I’m the only person that’s doing these university student interviews. You need to have something that makes your content stand out.”  

His second piece of advice: “Don’t be afraid to be cringe. Like, it’s got to be a bit embarrassing to the people that you’re close to because in social media, everything is larger than life. It’s not going to be a truly accurate representation of what you’re like outside of social media, so it should make you cringe because you know you’re not really like that”.  

I obviously couldn’t end the interview with Oliver without asking him the same question which has repeatedly featured in the most viral of his videos: ‘Which subject is the biggest red flag?’ 

He half-regretfully admits that “it might have to be law. There aren’t a lot of positive things to say about lawyers, if I’m totally honest.  They spend most of their time arguing, sucking money out of the economy and it’s like, nobody wins in a lawsuit, except the lawyers. […] And there are so many lawyers that are only interested in the law and have no other interests. That’s fine if your subject is cool. But like, how, the law of restitutions has changed between, 1950 and 1960 isn’t a fun topic to be interested in”.  

There wasn’t enough space for me to list the remainder of his qualms with his legal cohort but “argumentative”, “really good at complaining”, “conditioned to overanalyze everything”, among other deprecations, came up. Apologies to any law students reading this, but I felt his case was well-argued.  

Let’s critique what protesters do, not who they are

Billy Arber
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Let’s critique what protesters do, not who they are

Two things to agree on: the killing of civilians should always be abhorred and baking the planet and everything on it is a bad idea. I hope that’s not too woke of me. This doesn’t mean I’m a pacifist by conviction; studying history here at Oxford has taught me the occasional necessity of war. Likewise, having spent my life in the working countryside of North Yorkshire, I’m a sometimes-critical observer of those environmental initiatives which ignore the very real practicalities of food security and sustainable production. But it is impossible not to agree with the basic points of the protests about Gaza and climate change which have characterised our time at Oxford. I wouldn’t want to attend a university whose investments fund the exploitation of our planet and its people, and I would be worried if anyone else did.

And yet I and many others feel conflicted about these protests. The causes which inspired the Radcliffe Square, the Exam Schools, the dramatic (and, let’s be frank, thrilling) scaling of the Radcliffe Camera last Hilary, and now the protests outside a branch of Barclays on Jesus College property are certainly worthy. The difficulty lies in gaining publicity for these causes without alienating the very people whose support is essential to force the University to take action. I don’t agree with all of the rhetoric used by those protesting about the genocide in Gaza, which can certainly be troubling, especially to many of those of a Jewish or Israeli background.  

The thing which riles many students the most, however, is the idea of activists who are not from the University staging protests that target Oxford students, sometimes at make-or-break moments in their careers. Like many others, I was shocked when friends of mine came back in tears after their prelims were ruined by the Exam Schools occupation last year. Similarly, I felt annoyed when protesters shouted at me to “go home” as I tried to get into the blockaded Brasenose College. “This is my home”, I thought to myself. Of the 13 arrested for the Rad Cam occupation, only one of them was a current Oxford University student. It’s the idea that these protesters are outsiders who don’t understand (or even care about) our lives and how hard we work that undermines support for their otherwise worthy cause. 

But the very fact that outsiders are bothered about what our University does reminds us that Oxford is not beyond the real world of geopolitics, finance, and business. Calls to divest from the oil or arms industries may be disruptive for many, but we cannot expect to be exempted as a special case. Like all major investors, Oxford’s choices impact the world we live in. Unlike many other investors, however, it combines the financial muscle of a £1.3 billion endowment with a global academic and cultural reputation: a position of almost unique influence and authority. Oxford has so often been a role model for other institutions to follow, and it is everyone’s business that this position is used for the good of the whole planet and all people.

The recent Extinction Rebellion and Christian Climate Action protesters were certainly not of the same demographic as the average student. Many of those holding their banners outside the new Barclays branch and calling upon Jesus College to sever connections with the bank (which has been criticised for its investments in fossil fuels and arms manufacturers supplying the Israel Defense Forces) were white-haired and middle-to-older aged. They were outsiders, just like the Rad Cam climbers and the Brasenose blockaders. But in the same way that I wouldn’t expect protests outside the headquarters of a multi-national corporation to include only its employees, we shouldn’t expect that this University, a major public-facing body, will be held to account by only its students. 

For a student, to protest is to potentially jeopardise our degrees and futures, so I can understand why undergraduates are not always front and centre of these confrontations and why activists from outside of the University feel the need to fill the gap. I always find it admirable that people of an older generation are campaigning on issues which (in the case of climate change) will only fully impact future generations. 

Protests are blunt instruments; they can cause inconvenience or distress. But, when I think of famine-stricken Gaza or parched Tunisia, my own difficulties pale into insignificance. I may not agree with all of their rhetoric and tactics, but I am grateful for those who take up the cause of ensuring that our University is on the right side of today’s most pressing issues. The question of who is protesting shouldn’t be relevant if the cause is just. It is how they protest which must be the issue, for their sake and for ours. 

Over-the-top-vlogging and call centres: Dial 1 for UK

Caitlin Shaw
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Over-the-top-vlogging and call centres: Dial 1 for UK

Dial 1 for UK is a one-man show following the journey of Uday Kumar (UK for short), who leaves his job at a call centre in Delhi to come to England. All the while he is filming vlogs for other ‘dreamers’ who want to follow him. However, when Uday arrives things are not as simple as they seem. The play is an exploration of what happens when immigrants slip through the cracks and are forced to get by any way they can.

Performed by Mohit Mathur at the Burton Taylor Studio, the action takes place in a stripped-back set consisting of just a battered table and a series of small pictures. Each time the setting changes or UK talks to another character, a new picture is propped up on the table featuring a different place or face. This is intended to make the show easier to follow, but it is at times off-putting given that many of the pictures appear AI-generated – often images of the same person look completely different.

The one-man show is a notoriously hard format to pull off, and Mathur attempts to make it work by conveying the plot through a series of conversations with unseen companions. This makes for interesting watching at times; one example that worked well was a conversation with a shopkeeper, who UK assumes is also Indian from his appearance and, therefore, thinks will help him now that he’s homeless. The shopkeeper, however, is born and bred in Manchester, and dismisses UK’s pleas. As UK faces the audience, we see his hurt and confusion at the shopkeeper’s unwillingness to help him when he is at his most desperate, reflecting a wider rejection on the part of society.

The sound and lighting did a better job than the pictures in immersing the audience in the plot. Whilst waiting for the play to begin, we were treated to some infuriatingly repetitive hold music and, later on, a trip to central London was made to feel realistic through the noise of bustling crowds and roaring traffic.

Mathur’s character is intended to be likeable, and he drew some laughs from the audience with his over-the-top vlogging style. Yet, overall the comedic aspects of the play fell flat with many of the jokes feeling obvious and laboured. Furthermore, the comedy did not always mesh well with the serious themes of the play – whilst we were meant to sympathise with UK and find him amusing, it was revealed he had scammed an old lady out of her life savings for his plane ticket, and forcibly moved in to the house of an elderly man with dementia. This tonal inconsistency made it difficult to fully appreciate both the serious and comedic aspects of the play.

Dial 1 for UK tackles the ostracisation and neglect of immigrants, which is an extremely timely issue. Overall, however, the plot is confusing and a little slow, making it hard for the audience to fully appreciate its important message. 

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