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Students in four-star hotels following accommodation construction delays

By
Éilis Mathur
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New College
Image Credit: Nick Smith via Wikimedia Commons

More than 120 students from two Oxford colleges are being housed in four-star hotels following delays in student accommodation construction. 

For over two months, around 100 students in their third year at New College have been staying in the Leonardo Royal Hotel, and this term, 20 St Peter’s Students have been booked into Voco Oxford Spires Hotel. Both colleges pursued this option after delays in construction. St Peter’s College told Cherwell: “The occupation of its new student residential development, Castle Bailey Quad (CBQ), was unavoidably postponed until January 2024 due to supply chain issues.” 

Both New College’s Gradel Quadrangles and St Peter’s College’s Castle Bailey Quad originally had expected completion dates of Summer 2023. 

The Leonardo Royal and Voco Spires hotels have amenities including indoor pools, leisure clubs, spas, and a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse. New College and St Peter’s College have offered the students residing in hotels compensation in the form of gym access, free meals or meal credits, and moving assistance. Transportation vouchers, such as bus passes, have also been provided for students between the city and hotels, which lie one to three miles outside of Oxford center. 

Despite the funding provided by St Peter’s College and the building contractors of New College to finance the hotel rooms, which typically cost £100 to £150 per night, students are still paying rent – albeit at a reduced rate. St Peter’s College told Cherwell: “The College…reduced impacted students’ weekly rent rate over the delay period in compensation for the delay.” This policy proved controversial among New College students since, in a similar situation with Exeter College in 2016, students did not have to pay rent. 

The reaction among students at St Peter’s seemed slightly more positive, and a student told Cherwell that the news of the temporary hotel housing was “received super well” and students even made jokes about “swapping this four-star hotel for a house share in Cowley.” 

This accommodation crisis reflects a broader trend in Oxford of student enrolment outpacing the quantity and affordability of student accommodation. In the last decade, the number of students at the University of Oxford has grown by over four thousand while inflation has increased the cost of renting and construction.

In 2018, a delayed opening of a graduate center at Keble College led to hotel rooms being booked as temporary accommodation for second and third-year students. A similar solution was also suggested by St Catherine’s College’s JCR due to the RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) crisis back in September.  

Talking to The Times, the Warden of New College, Miles Young, acknowledged the desperate need for student accommodation. He pointed out how New College has “sunk dramatically in terms of competitiveness through our inability to house a whole year of undergraduates in college accommodation, when our peers do.” New College has asked benefactors for sums reaching £25,000 per bedroom for a building which will house 94 students. 

As of this term, students at both colleges have been able to move out of hotels and into the newly finished accommodation buildings. St Peter’s College informed Cherwell: “The College has opened the buildings and moved students into their rooms in Castle Bailey Quad as of January 2024.” 

New College’s Gradel Quadrangles has also welcomed in students at the beginning of this term, with a student telling Cherwell: “Yes they have moved into Gradel.” Yet for students who plan to reside in the adjacent New Wareham House, the hotel residence continues. 

50s musicals are making a comeback: Review of Guys and Dolls at The Bridge Theatre

By
Kiaya Phillips
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Over the Christmas vacation I was lucky enough to go with my family to see a production of Guys and Dolls, which is currently running at the Bridge theatre, London. Being a musical performance originally released in 1950, I was keen to see how a 2023 style staging of this decades-old play would go down with a modern audience. Having not been to this venue before, I really enjoyed the in-the-round staging design that was both immersive and functional. This theatre is frequently described as “the new globe” (as it actually only opened for productions in 2017) primarily due to this classically associated Shakespearean design and frequent staging of Shakespeare plays on its stage, and I can see why that would be the takeaway from a visit to The Bridge. But, the design does a good job diverting from this label in bringing in the round staging to a more modern audience with its industrial style, open stage floor (where there are tickets available to stand right in the centre of the action) and high-up seats spotted around the peripherals of the rest of the space. For Guys and Dolls, it worked just as well as expected, and although I only had a seated ticket I still felt attached to the play whilst seeing how standing members got to successfully, directly interact with it. 

The set design was expertly done with stagehands dressed as policemen moving audience members about the space to allow the show to continue seamlessly. The actual stage was made up of several large concrete blocks of varying size and length that could come up and down from the ground, creating different pathways and angles for the actors and audience to interact with. It was dynamic and shifting, keeping us looking in several different places at a time, always intriguing us as to where the action would go next. 

This effect was enhanced by the fun and outlandish costume. Eye-catching bright colours kept your gaze, and the large swishing skirts of the women and well tailored suits of the men added to the 50s feel of the piece and worked hand in hand with the dynamic choreography and the respective characterisation of all the roles. 

Being a production full of standout tunes, that I will certainly be blasting from spotify in the oncoming weeks, makes it hard to single out any song that disappointed. However, I can single out a standout moment for me, which came in the second act. Warned by my dad that all the major songs that make the production so iconic were all in the second half, I was eagerly awaiting the oncoming numbers as the interval came to a close. And I was not disappointed, especially when “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” came on. An amazing written song and performed to jazzy perfection, it stole my favourite moment of the show in seconds. Performed by The Voice semi finalist and frequent Broadway star Cedric Neal, he embodied the stage like no other character had yet done with their singing, and he blew me away with his utter vocal power. 

Another favourite included the anthem of female power sung by Celinde Schoenmaker as Sarah and Marisha Wallace as Adelaide, shunning their respective useless male counterparts in musical form. The song, “Marry the man today”, was funny and lighthearted though it emphasised the frustration felt by the characters, and us as invested audience members, in the face of their respective, often incompetent, men. It was a beautiful blend of female voices that was one of the few rare moments that the two women are together in the production. 

If you’re a fan of musicals and like the classic old age feel of anything that comes from the 50s, then you will love this rendition of Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling’s play. Even for the non-typical theatre goer, I can imagine this would be a fun evening for all, even just for the joyous, light hearted, nature of the musical that my dad and I came away having experienced.

Guys and Dolls is running at The Bridge theatre from 3 Mar 2023 – 31 Aug 2024.

Murder is Easy- Review

By
Hassan Akram
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Rating: 3/5

Oxford is no stranger to culture wars. We know how little provocation such wars require, so it’s unsurprising that the BBC’s latest Agatha Christie series, Murder is Easy, has managed within a week of its release to precipitate a full-scale conflict. Director Meenu Gaur’s decision to replace the retired policeman of the novel with a Windrush-generation civil servant has been variously praised (The Guardian) and denounced (The Telegraph) by all the usual suspects. 

In 2024 — uncannily like in 1914 — the main causes of the Great War appear to be: militarism (“woke militance”); alliances (the BBC is said to be allied with the “woke mob”); imperialism (Gaur called the show “an allegorical story about colonialism”); and nationalism (the Daily Mail’s review complained that “nostalgia for Agatha Christie’s Britain… [is] a thought crime”). Art is rarely separable from politics, and it’s quite clear that Murder is Easy’s fiercest critics and admirers are reacting to its sociopolitical stance rather than to its value as a TV show, which deserves to be examined in its own right.

Now, the aim of a detective story is to please. It must provide a puzzle; it must provide a solution; the author or director may embellish this basic framework with comedy, drama, romance, politics or anything else, but should never waver from the central focus of puzzle and solution, because then it would no longer be a detective story. Agatha Christie understood this, and, when you look closely enough, so does the BBC.

The plot isn’t one of Christie’s best (but then, anything would pale beside And Then There Were None or Roger Ackroyd) and it hasn’t translated exceptionally well onto the screen. Quite often it feels convoluted and drawn-out, and it could certainly have been compressed from two episodes into one. Yet the only real test of a detective plot is the solution: is it surprising and does it feel earned? The solution here ticks both boxes and, for that satisfaction alone, the series is worth watching. 

Even if, during one of those dullish few minutes in the middle where nobody’s getting murdered, the plot fails to please, the cast and direction sustain the interest. Christie’s distinct period flavour is reinforced by regular drone shots of a green and pleasant land, country houses, costumes,  slick cars and references to “before the war”.

Then there is the cast. The lead role is played by David Jonsson, who, whether strolling through London or playing on the village sports field, has a solid screen presence. If ever he comes across as bland, that is through no fault of his own but is instead owing to the dryness of the script. Jonsson also shares an obvious chemistry with his fellow investigator, the “averagely observant secretary” Morfydd Clark. Above all, what they have in common is an ability to wear period dress instead of being worn by it. 

Penelope Wilton’s role at the start is initially promising, but she is promptly bumped off and confirmed as a cameo rather than a character. Tom Riley’s Lord Whitfield belongs recognisably to a now-obsolete “type” – the grand rich host of the country-house dinner – and he carries this off with enough of the right accent and mannerisms to be convincing. The best performance, though, comes from Matthew Baynton (fresh from his address at the Oxford Union). He is as charismatic and wild-eyed here as he was in his Horrible Histories days, if slightly more subdued, and his role as a eugenicist doctor is one of the show’s highlights.

Murder is Easy is, on the whole, not the best Agatha Christie adaptation. Nowhere does it match the quick pace, witty script and characters, or deft direction of last year’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans. Then again, there have certainly been worse adaptations. On Friday evening, in the empty few hours between the end of collections and the start of the Bop, this new show is an easy enough way to pass the time.

China in Africa: Trojan horse or friend in need? (And why the West should worry)

By
Alexander Still
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Kejun Li/CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The future belongs to Africa. Its developing economies are increasingly diverse. Its working population is skyrocketing, whilst its natural resources are abundant (especially when it comes to clean energy – think lithium). Soon, its strategic geographical position could see it become the epicentral thread in a web of global trade networks bridging East and West. 

The global economy, meanwhile, needs reignition. Manifold setbacks over the past decade have depressed growth. As the world recovers and seeks to revitalise the flame, Africa – and the promise of its people – will play a central part in lighting it. 

Everybody knows this. Especially China. 

Yet the emphasis remains on development. Only half its infrastructure needs are being met, with the African Development Bank estimating the infrastructure need of Sub-Saharan Africa to exceed US$93 billion annually over the next ten years. 

Consequently, African nations are proactive in seeking foreign aid to help sustain development and improve regional integration by building dams, power-plants, and railways – something China’s media discourse emphasises. As a result, our focus must remain on African agency. For it is African nations that are themselves actively investing in their future.

Yet it is China which, for a long time, has signed the cheques. 

Since the launch of its ‘Going Out’ strategy in 1999, Beijing has invested increasingly in Africa, with direct investment growing more than six-fold to around US$80 billion: in 2019, it invested more than double that of the U.S. To this extent, China has so far monopolised the market for foreign investment. For years, Beijing has urged state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to penetrate local markets, taking advantage of a dynamic new phase of world trade and the hunger of developing regions for investments in infrastructure. Many are uniquely-equipped to meet Africa’s needs, having spent the past two decades gaining experience in developing infrastructure domestically. 

In this sense, China’s involvement represents, in the words of professors Giles Mohan and May Tan-Mullins, a “global realignment of Southern interests”, allowing Beijing to frame its ambitions – whatever they may be – within at least a rhetoric of global leadership and cooperation.

Its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), evolving to become the overarching framework through which China engages with the continent, has seen billions pumped into developing projects such as Ethiopia’s Eastern Industrial Zone (EIZ) – described by the country’s former Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, as an example of China’s “irreplaceable role” in the Ethiopian economy. The zone is 100% owned and managed by China’s Qiyuan Group.

Reports of corruption are widespread. Working conditions are under increasing scrutiny. Similar projects have been investigated for using special economic zones to side-step U.S. import tariffs. Nevertheless, so long as Chinese investment appears lucrative (and the EIZ has created more than 20,000 new jobs), China will continue to attract nations such as Ethiopia.

The consequence is that Afro-Chinese relations run the risk of becoming dangerously asymmetrical. 

The Cameroonian anthropologist Francis Nyamnjoh used the terms “eating and being eaten” to describe Africa’s vulnerability. Desperate to develop, nations such as Zimbabwe face being ensnared by the “emerging tentacles of…global extractive capitalism”. Zimbabwe’s Congress of Trade has already complained of local industries being undermined, with China’s growing presence leading to “dependency syndrome” in various sectors. Dependency theorists in the West are growing concerned.

So too are its leaders. 

Many in the West see China’s investment as a ‘soft’ means of establishing itself globally. Some even suggest that through projects such as the EIZ, Ethiopia (and elsewhere) may become Chinese “colonies”. This is certainly hyperbole. From Ethiopia’s perspective, claims of “Chinese neo-colonialism” come from “fear in the West of growing [Chinese] influence in Africa”. Often, investment stems from socioeconomic weaknesses back home, with many Chinese workers seeking greater financial opportunities building roads etc.

Regardless, it is important that we recast geopolitical issues in geoeconomic terms, and recognise that those countries investing today in such things as renewable energy-sources may become the dominant geopolitical players tomorrow. 

A good example is lithium. By 2025, Africa’s share of global lithium production is expected to leap from 0.1% to 10.6%. Lithium is crucial to a carbon-free future. It powers everything from electric car batteries to grid-scale energy storage. 

And China has a strangle-hold on the supply-chain. 

Africa’s largest lithium projects are being bought by Chinese SOEs. In April 2022, Arcadia, located in Zimbabwe and one of the world’s biggest lithium projects, was sold to Chinese investors for an 87% share. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence predicts that soon, 90% of Africa’s lithium supply will come from mines owned or partly-owned by Chinese firms. This includes an illicit trade involving tax-avoidance, not to mention allegations of human-rights abuse. For China, however, the speed with which it is able to strike deals seems to be what matters. 

The West, by comparison, is slow, unsurprising given the political risks of investing in potentially inhumane projects, in addition to public discourse surrounding mining. Yet whilst the West talks, China digs. This, compounded by U.S. policies which prioritise free-trade subsidies, threatens to see China’s grip over global supply-chains only grow tighter: Washington currently has no such free-trade agreements with Sub-Saharan Africa.

Many have condemned what John Bolton, former U.S. National Security Advisor, called “the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands…with the ultimate goal of advancing Chinese global dominance.” In Kenya (which owes US$6.83 billion in China loans), debt distress is a genuine concern.

Yet if China can be accused of laying ‘debt-traps’, so too could the West: interest rates on loans from private lenders in the West are almost double those on Chinese loans. Likewise, whilst the same cannot be said for BRI projects in places such as Sri Lanka, China shows no inclination of seizing assets off the back of defaults in Africa. Some at the Africa Policy Institute in Nairobi even speak of “silencing the narrative” on debt-traps being “peddled by the West.”

In truth, those such as President Ruto blame the entire global financial system for failing to respond to the needs of emerging economies.

The fact remains that China’s way of doing things has, in the eyes of many Africans, worked, with many viewing BRI projects in a positive light. How else are we to explain the enthusiasm of everyday Kenyans such as Ms Echesa, who in referring to Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway advocated “[further] sacrifice to pay the debt and get more for such [BRI] projects”. 

For many African nations, Chinese loans appear more conducive to longer-term development. Moreover, unlike the IMF’s, they aren’t conditional on reform – a selling-point Xi Jinping emphasises. “We have a high degree of agency,” Ethiopia’s deputy economic commissioner has been quoted as saying, “yet Western countries try and advise us about what our…law should be.” 

Rapid investment in infrastructure can also help bolster the legitimacy of ruling regimes, and it is little surprise that the majority of support comes from ‘upstairs’ – that is, political élites.

The ‘downstairs’ view is often very different. 

Nevertheless, for African governments desperate to develop, China represents a viable way forward.

The question, therefore, is how the West makes sense of all this – and more importantly, how it responds. Since 2022, both the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment and the E.U.’s Global Gateway have, between them, promised US$600 billion in investments. With domestic infrastructure dead in the water (HS2, for example), justifying this will prove difficult. Even if its effectiveness is stymied by poor risk management, China has a massive head-start. 

Perhaps the threat is overblown. After all, China’s “grand-strategy” at times seems incoherent, or at least complicated by competing internal interests. What matters is how Africa chooses to move forward: how it seeks to foster greater regional trade, and integrate national markets into the global supply chain. As one Ethiopian official put it: “We should play the East…and West to our advantage.” For the West, however, China’s head-start must seem rather worrying.

Protesters block Barclays entrance in pro-Palestine demonstration

By
Selina Chen
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Image Credits: Selina Chen

Around a hundred protesters blocked the entrance to Barclays on Cornmarket Street in a demonstration organised by Oxford Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement currently targeting the bank. Chants repeated by attendees included “Barclays Bank, you can’t hide / You’re supporting genocide,” “Barclays Israel USA / How many kids did you kill today,” and “Barclays Bank, shame on you / You’re supporting war crimes too.”

According to PSC, Barclays “holds over £1 billion in shares and provides over £3 billion in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components, and military technology are being used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians. This includes General Dynamics, which produces the gun systems that arm the fighter jets used by Israel to bombard Gaza, and Elbit Systems, which produces armoured drones, munitions and artillery weapons used by the Israeli military.”

One of the protest organisers told Cherwell that other banks like HSBC have divested from arms companies, but Barclays has yet to do so. 

Oxford PSC spokesperson Caroline Raine told Cherwell that the protesters’ ultimate aim is for Barclays to end these financial ties. To this end, Raine stated: “We are asking people to email Barclays and demand it ends its relationship with these companies. We are particularly asking Barclays customers to hand in a letter to their bank manager. We are also asking those who do not currently bank with Barclays to explain why they would not consider doing so at the present time.”

An Oxford resident who exited Barclays amid the protest told Cherwell that he came to support the movement’s aims after listening to the demonstrators. Despite this, he said that the protesters’ demand for Barclays customers to write to their bank managers is quite demanding on people’s time, and his family has no choice but to bank with Barclays because of a lack of alternatives.

Half an hour into the protest, Barclays decided to close for the day. A policeman on scene told Cherwell that because Barclays was closed, the protesters were allowed to block the entrance, although the protesters could be removed if the bank requested.

An Oxford student who tried to enter Barclays for business was turned away at the door by security personnel. She told Cherwell that she was “confused and caught off-guard.”

The BDS movement against Israel today is modelled on the strategy of BDS used by British students in the South Africa Apartheid Divestment Movement from 1969 to 1987. It forced an end to the bank’s investments in their subsidiaries involved in South African apartheid, and PSC is now adopting a similar strategy.

Chairman of Oxford PSC David Hillman told Cherwell that they are moving from marches to boycotts because of their effectiveness. He cited the case of Puma, a company which recently ended its sponsorship of the Israeli Football Association when faced with mounting pressure from the BDS movement (Puma, however, claims that the divestment was unrelated). 

The protest ended with performances led by the Didcot Red Kites and Oxford Seagreen Singers. Lyrics, written specifically for this occasion, included “Barclays! Arms Trade! Life is cheap to them. Do they care?” and “Customers, shut Barclays down. Run Barclays right out of town.” The crowd left a bed sheet covered with blood-like handprints taped to the bank’s door.

Cherwell has contacted Barclays and Oxford’s Israel Society (IsraelSoc) for comment.

The patience of ordinary things

By
Evelyn Power
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Image credit: Lina Kivaka via Pexels

Recently, a friend of mine (whose name has been omitted in order to preserve his privacy, his room deposit and the sanity of our college’s poor, long-suffering porters) has figured out how to reach the rooftop from his room. 

Far more recently, I (a self-professed coward) have been persuaded to venture onto this rooftop- rather than remaining seated inside, assuring that no, I do not want to come out, I can see the view perfectly from where I am, it’s actually far warmer in here, maybe we should all come inside and watch a movie. 

And I am now a rooftop convert. 

My friends will most likely dispute this, (given my staunch refusal to actually stand up for fear of being blown over by a gust of wind, instead opting for a weird hobble-crawl at everyone else’s knee level) but, having seen Oxford at a bird’s eye view, I can now confidently admit that I may soon be turning in my acrophobic badge.

There is a strange sense of wonder that arises from being in a place where you should not really be, seeing things that you should not really be seeing. A different perspective exposes something new in Oxford’s tangle of streets and colleges; from afar, students on bikes and tourist groups and traffic disputes stop feeling like a nuisance, revealing instead a quiet, understated sort of loveliness. Here, two friends run into each other on the street; there, someone laughs down the phone, smiling in a way that spills into their voice. Elsewhere, my college cat (whose name is also omitted – I do not want to give him the satisfaction) relieves himself onto my bike, and cannot hear my screams at him to stop.

Not every view is a winner. 

Nevertheless, the world seems kinder when it’s teeming underneath you, full of life and noise and conversation and people. You become kinder too, to others and yourself. 

Imagining your own laughter as you walk down this street, knowing the times you have fumbled for your Bod card by that gate and squinted in the waning November sun in this alley, the world seems to be a grand and lovely thing, and you just another grand and lovely part of it. 

As much as I would love to recommend everyone put down this paper and immediately clamber up onto the nearest roof, that is not advice I wish to be caught on paper extolling, lest I be held responsible for a slew of tragic and whimsical deaths. Rather, I suggest looking for new angles wherever you can find them, because the thing about perspective is that it sticks with you. 

The world, as it seems then – compact, precious, living – doesn’t disappear when you awkwardly force yourself back through the window frame and head to a tutorial. Instead, it lingers; such goodness, however briefly revealed, can be found nearly anywhere. 

You can see it in the conversations outside your window while you stress over deadlines, in the light that streams through library windows on the worst day, in an extra shake of cinnamon on your coffee when it feels like the world is ending. The world, made small, is suddenly a lot more manageable. 

How to have a Hot Girl Hilary

By
Christina Kurian
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Image credit: Photo by Lina Kivaka

Hilary is grey. It drizzles, it’s cold, and all the trees are bare. Caught between the post-Christmas blues and the happy warmth of Trinity, the term can sometimes feel like an endless period of waiting and misery. Hilary often fills me with a deep desire to go to bed and stay there. Set against this backdrop, the concept of ‘Hot Girl Hilary’ seems like a complete contradiction. How can you feel ‘hot’ when even the weather seems to have a personal vendetta against you? When the only thing anyone wants to do is cuddle in the warm confines of a duvet and pretend that tutorial essays don’t exist? Answering this question starts with determining what exactly Hot Girl Hilary is. You might have seen it on Instagram, or splattered across Oxfess, but is there anything to the statement beyond quirky caption material? Or is it just another Oxford myth?

My personal interpretation of Hot Girl Hilary is that it’s a feeling. There is no check-list of things that have to be completed to achieve a ‘Hot Girl Hilary’. Rather, it’s a feeling of self-confidence and self-fulfilment, which is made all the more empowering because life just seems so very difficult during this term. There are plenty of challenges to overcome in forcing yourself to even get out of bed, let alone endeavouring to feel empowered by taking on new tasks. I think this self-fulfilment can come from whatever area of your life that you choose to prioritise – whether that’s trying something new to discover new experiences or indulging in some self-care by returning to tried-and-tested ways of feeling happy and relaxed. 

Feeling ‘hot’ doesn’t necessarily mean dressing up, clubbing till 3 am, and having one-night stands, even though that’s what Hot Girl Hilary might appear to mean at first glance. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that – and if it’s what makes you feel most self-confident, then obviously you should take yourself to Bridge every Thursday. But you might also feel self-fulfilled and content when you learn a new recipe, or read a book that’s finally not taken from your reading list, or watch a movie with your friends that you’d been planning to see for ages but just never did. You might feel happiest when you’re cozying up with your girlfriend, or thrift shopping online (I probably spend more time on Vinted than in the library) or organising society events. In any case, these are all achievements which are equally worthy of being celebrated, and all equally able to generate satisfaction.

The point is: there is no predetermined check-list of activities that defines a Hot Girl Hilary. Rather, it involves every person who decides that this Hilary isn’t going to be spent waiting for Trinity to roll around, to find out what enables them to achieve these elusive concepts of ‘satisfaction’ and ‘self-fulfilment’. Then the second step is to actively embark on these tasks – and persevere even when it’s difficult to continue. After all, we’re all unique people who achieve satisfaction by different methods. A part of growing as young adults is discovering the ones that work best for each of us. 

So this Hilary, make use of the opportunity for self-fulfilment!! Look beyond the grey drizzle outside your window, and consider what will best help you combat the inevitable onslaught of stress. It’s Oxford – who isn’t stressed? But when you feel empowered and satisfied, maybe you’ll begin to appreciate that Hilary isn’t all that bad. Maybe this term will be more than just wishing for bluer skies and picnicking on the warm grass. Maybe you’ll see beauty in the clouds, in the resilience of the first flowers that poke their heads above the frosty ground. Then you too can post a picture of yourself on Instagram with that oft-used caption: Hot Girl Hilary. 

In defence of living out

By
Grace Allen
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Image credit: Altaf Shah via Pexels

“Living out” is dying. More and more colleges are building new accommodation to keep their undergraduate students living “in”. My college, St Peter’s, aspires to house nearly all of its undergraduate students in college-maintained buildings; in fact, it just unveiled two new buildings after almost a year of construction delays. Castle-Bailey Quad, nice as it is, got me thinking: if I had to make the choice between living out and living in, would I really choose to live out? I’d like to think so – but allow me to explain.

Sure, living out sucks sometimes. List the cons and it’s hard to understand why anyone would willingly do it. House-hunting is notoriously stressful, the houses themselves are poky and poorly-furnished (not to mention often riddled with mould), and landlords and property managers will do everything they can to avoid spending money on, well, anything. But if you put all of that aside, it really does have its draws. Take the practicality aspect: you don’t have to move everything you own in, then out, then in, then out (ad infinitum) with the vacations. If you’re a collector of textbooks, proud owner of a substantial wardrobe, or budding interior decorator, this is ideal – and it wouldn’t typically be allowed under a 27-week lease for college accommodation.

But there’s more to living out than just the practical benefits. I think it improves your student experience. It’s important to experience Oxford outside of term-time; when you’re focused on essay deadlines, tute work and labs, it’s hard to see just how much the city has to offer. Live out and stay over the vac, though, and you can spend all the time you like visiting museums, exploring Christ Church Meadows, or in the pub with friends. If you’re stuck with vac work, living out can somewhat sweeten the deal – after all, finding a seat in the Rad Cam is never as easy as it is in Week -2. This disconnect persists into term-time. Living out in deepest Cowley, far from college’s reach and faculty libraries, allows you to actually destress. It’s far easier to forget about collections, overdue tute work and overbearing tutors when it’s just you and your housemates in a kitchen-diner extension in Cowley than it is when you’re living in college, surrounded by tute rooms and stressed coursemates. To me, living out doesn’t feel like being an Oxford student – it feels like being a university student. The boarding school vibes of first-year college accommodation melt away, replaced by real independence: cook for yourself, learn how to live on your own, break free from the college bubble and figure out what it is to be an adult.

Living out is about independence, but it’s also the furthest thing from isolating. There is a feeling of community with other students at your college who are living out that transcends physical proximity. You can create your own spaces outside of your JCR. In Michaelmas, when my housemates and I hosted friends to watch the Rugby World Cup, it occurred to me that it just couldn’t have happened in college; a student house is not just a location, but it also offers total privacy from college oversight (crucial when you’re loudly cheering Ireland on to victory against South Africa). Forget entz reps and junior deans: socialising happens on your own timetable. And when it comes to friendships, it’s more than likely that you’re living with at least one close friend, which can have a transformative effect on your relationship. If you weren’t living out with your best mate, how would you ever have learned that they need to listen to 90s trip hop to study, or that they’re deathly scared of spiders? There’s an intimacy in knowing someone’s sleep schedule and what their favourite cereal is. Living out fosters this connection – a deeper connection than you would experience without living together. I’ve never felt so secure.

All things considered, then, I’d still choose to live out. Maybe it isn’t perfect, but living out has been a staple of Oxford student life for decades, and it’s one of the only similarities it has to the typical student experience at any other university. It would be a real shame to see it disappear.

1st week: Is there mushroom for failure?

By
Katya Ferrier
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Image Credit: Photo by Tommes Frites

Like many returning students, I have spent the past week either bitterly cold (apologies to those who gave me concerned looks on the high street as I chattered my teeth obnoxiously), or miserably staring at my screen in the library. Certainly not an appealing dichotomy of being to come back to. I think I speak for nearly every single Oxford undergrad when I say ‘OXHATE to collections, HATE HATE HATE!’ (thanks #oxfess2879 x) 

As I sat down for dinner on my beloved landing on Wednesday of 0th week, one of my friends, amongst conversations of bop costume ideas and vac debriefs, exclaimed: ‘I used to get so stressed during exams that I would cry before every single one.’ I sat and chewed on the creamy grains of my comforting lemon, mushroom, and chicken orzo as I thought of what to say next. My friend then muttered, almost as an afterthought, ‘I just think I’m so frightened of things not going to plan, like all my hard work is going to waste.’ I nodded compassionately in agreement. The unknown IS scary.

Inevitably with large, rowdy discussions, the moment slipped away almost as quickly as it came into being. Nonetheless, her comments stuck with me as I, in a near trance, spent most of 0th week memorising quotes, writing essay plans, and reading for my next essay… How do we cope with the thought of failure?

It’s an undeniable truth that this university is filled with individuals who always want to be at the top of their academic game. I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s ok if you fail your exams because I hardly believe that myself. Rather, in the era of #girlboss and goal-setting frenzy, it’s perhaps worth considering what to do when exams, grad schemes, or just life doesn’t go to plan. 

Thousands of self-help books have tried to answer this question (I should know, I’ve read most of them). Take deep breaths. Sleep. Drink water. Exercise. But do these simple lifestyle fixes really remedy the existential fear of our lives taking a U-turn? I mean, in some ways, yes. Keeping our bodies healthy is not only important for everyday well-being, but it can also ensure that in the face of ‘failure’ our bodies are physiologically prepared to cope with the mental stress of it all. 

But what about taming our inner thoughts? 

My college wife introduced me to ‘underthinking’, the notion of attempting to eliminate one’s inner thoughts by focusing on the here and now, switching off the hyper-active ‘what if’ of our brains. 

This works for me (most of the time). But in the face of failure and the unknown, work on your own, healthy, personal routine. Prepare yourself for the big jump. Ultimately, to soothe the fear of failure, we need to de-stress both physically and mentally. So, go dance, run, watch reality TV – whatever suits you. When facing the unknown, it’s important that we maintain our sanity through mental and physical breaks. 

New Year’s Resolutions: pointless or powerful?

By
Phoebe Walls
-
Image credit: Breakingpic

New Year’s resolutions: Are they truly transformative or just a setup for disappointment? January 1st arrives amid lingering holiday indulgence, often leaving us with hangovers and half-hearted promises of change. We vow to cut down on screen time or go to the gym, only to find ourselves still glued to screens and a lazy article. The period between Christmas and New Year leaves the days blending into one, which can spark the desire for reinvention amid a loop of lazy days.

Do resolutions really work? Many people don’t set them because they don’t want to make promises they can’t keep. The onset of the January blues can make goals feel impossible to achieve. Online rhetoric about “cutting toxic people” sounds like a melodramatic soap opera script rather than a realistic life strategy. I’ve heard online that people are in our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. But is life really this simple? Sudden lifestyle changes also take time. You can’t expect to go from a lazy boozehound to a wholesome, academic weapon overnight. Setting an arbitrary fitness goal will not solve all your problems either. I’ve seen many melancholy runners pounding the pavements, lighting up the dreary days in brand-new fluorescent gear. What exactly are you running away from or towards?

Nevertheless, I’ve always enjoyed setting New Year’s Resolutions. However, I think it’s more efficient to set achievable goals rather than to seek a personality transplant. Last year I wrote down that I wanted to secure my year abroad placement through the British Council and improve my essays at Oxford; these were both achieved. I think the key is to treat resolutions as aspirations. The connotations of the word resolution are too daunting for a very disciplined decision to firmly do or never do something again. However, a list of goals and small new habits can create a sense of organisation and inspire a fresh start to the new year.

This year I want to cut down on my phone screen time. Rather than automatically opening Instagram or even worse TikTok as a reflex, I’d like to be more mindful about how long I spend on my device. So, I’ve set myself the challenge of not looking at Instagram or TikTok for January. Most importantly this year I’d like to talk to myself with the kindness and compassion I would a friend. Instead of spiralling, I hope to write in my diary every day. I think the new year allows us all to turn over a fresh page in our lives; to me, that’s the magic of it. So rather than running away from your problems and towards a stitch, pick up a pen and ideally a new notebook and set some goals. January is an opportunity for self-reflection that can never be pointless, so there is power in striving for self-improvement. It’s just important to remember that at its very core time is elusive and therefore humans have found ways to measure it. So try not to put too much pressure on yourself to become a different person just because of a new calendar year. Fresh starts are possible any day of the week.

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