Tuesday 8th July 2025
Blog Page 575

OURFC find success in first week

Lucy Tansley
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OURFC find success in first week

Both men’s and women’s Blues rugby sides have started their season successfully, with several fixtures, both for BUCS leagues and friendlies, taking place in the first weeks of term. The men’s Blues took on the Croatian national team at Iffley Road, and ultimately proved too strong for the international opposition. The home side scored twelve tries, including six from Tom Stileman, who provided a hat-trick in each half, and eight tries were successfully converted. The opposition fought hard, but were only able to come up with two in reply, meaning the final score was 76-10 to the Blues. Meanwhile, the Men’s 2nd XV, the Greyhounds, headed to Aldershot to play the Army U23s. The opposition started on top, gaining a penalty after only a few minutes, but from then on, the Oxford side were dominant, scoring three tries in the first half and two in the second, ending with a final score of 33-3.

The women’s team fronted a mixed Blues and Panthers squad to play a friendly against Bath Ladies Spartans, which saw an impressive twelve tries scored, of which five were converted, with none in reply from the opposition, and a final score of 70-0 for Oxford. Abby D’Cruz alone scored two tries and five conversions, while Meg Carter, Connie Hurton and Clodagh Holmes also contributed two tries each.

Following this, the other Army U23s team who were due to play the men’s Blues the following weekend were forced to pull out, meaning that the game was instead turned into an internal competition between the Blues team and the OURFC second team, the Greyhounds. Dubbed the first ‘Friday Night Lights’ fixture of term, this was a good chance to put both teams against each other in an exhibition of all OURFC has to offer.

The first half was very close, and play stopped at half-time with a score-line of only 7-0, with the Greyhounds having much to be proud of. However, as the second half went on, the Blues’ quality began to show itself, and a further four tries were scored, bringing the final score to 31-0. Tries were scored by Tom Stileman, Sven Kerneis, Dan Stoller, and Henry Martin, who bagged two. Louis Jackson smoothly provided two conversions, and Dan Stoller a third. Overall, although the score may have reflected differently, the match served to display the talent in both sides.

Due to the Greyhounds being tied up in this clash with the Blues, the Men’s 3rd team, the Whippets, stepped up to play their annual fixture against Kew Occasionals RFC on Saturday afternoon. This was the first fixture of the season for the 3rd XV, with a number of new players making their debut.

Last Wednesday saw the Women’s Blues team play their first BUCS match of the season against the University of Sussex. The Blues will play league matches against teams including Cardiff, Bristol and Cambridge later in the season. The match, played at home to a small but supportive crowd, was hard fought, and Oxford’s preseason work in Gibraltar seemed to pay off as the side came away with a 29-10 win. The Blues started the match with three tries from Sile Johnson, Hannah Cooper and Nina Jenkins, with one conversion from Abby D’Cruz. Sussex managed to respond with a try before half-time, and one again just after the break, bringing the gap between the two sides closer. However, the Oxford side responded with two tries from D’Cruz and another from Johnson, meaning the home side stormed to success. Forward of the match was awarded to Hannah Cooper for her efforts in attack, while Player of the Match was given to Abby D’Cruz.

Meanwhile, the Women’s 2nd team, the Panthers, played their first fixture, a friendly against Oxford Ladies, held at their pitch in North Hinksey Lane. For the first time, they are now in their own BUCS league, bringing further prominence to women’s rugby at Oxford, and this game was a good opportunity to practice before the start of the league’s season.

Although they lost the match, there was promising play all-round, with Jess Woods scoring her first try for the team, and overall the squad came away from the match with a positive feeling. The Panthers will play their first BUCS fixture away against Nottingham Trent on 23rd October.

What should we expect from new Premier League managers?

Joe Hyland Deeson
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What should we expect from new Premier League managers?

We are often told that football is purely a results business for the men who stand in the dugouts. That the best and most-loved managers at Premier League clubs are said to be at risk every week that their teams slide further down the table. Patience wears thin and chairmen grow restless. In 2017, Crystal Palace sacked Frank de Boer after just four games. Earlier this season, Watford did the same to Javi Garcia, who had taken them to an FA Cup final just four months earlier. It seems as though the situation is getting worse and worse. Watford are perhaps among the worst offenders – Garcia was their first manager to last more than a full season since 2013.

But it is worth pointing out that managerial replacements are often undoubtedly correct decisions. Following de Boer’s sacking, Palace hired Roy Hodgson, and few would dispute the benefit of this in the long term, with the club now sitting in 8th after a strong start to their record-breaking seventh season in the top flight.

One of the major managerial changes of this summer was the loss of Rafa Benitez at Newcastle and the hire of his unglamourous replacement Steve Bruce. However, with eight games played this season, the club has eight points. At the same stage last year, with Benitez at the helm, they had just three. But neither Bruce nor Hodgson seem to be case studies of the stereotypical ‘new manager bounce’. The former was hardly greeted with enthusiasm and optimism in the North East, and the latter began his reign at Palace with successive 5-0 and 4-0 losses, albeit to the Manchester clubs.

Both members of the managerial oldguard have slowly and meticulously implemented their style on their clubs. Of course, Newcastle are by no means safe this season, but if Bruce turns them into a difficult club to beat with a knack for grinding out results, it should be a surprise to very few.

With this in mind, it may seem logical that safe choices lead to stability. However, the appointment of Graham Potter by Brighton this summer was something of a departure from this mentality. With only one full season spent in England managing Swansea to a mid-table Championship finish, he could not be more unlike a figure like Bruce. Yet early signs are broadly positive. Brighton sit 14th in the table after a mediocre start, but it should be remembered that they finished last season with just three wins in twenty-three games.

Perhaps even more bold than Potter was the appointment during last season of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United, following the steady decline in popularity and results of previous manager Jose Mourinho. This time, the boost to results was immediate. United won his first six games, and went on to win eight away games in a row. This was a vintage case of the ‘new manager bounce’ as United’s season slowed down and the team finished in 6th, the same position they were in when Solskjaer took over.

Over the summer, United were widely praised for strengthening their back four with the acquisitions of Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, for record fees. But ironically, after eight games this season, they are positioned far below the two clubs from which they made these signings; four places lower and four points worse off than they were at this stage last season, and hearing United fans calling for Solskjaer to be replaced has been a common theme of 606 and TalkSport this season, a curse that Mourinho became all too familiar with. Additionally, despite spending £587million since Alex Ferguson retired, with several injuries amongst their strikers, and Alexis Sanchez out on loan, the team were left in the position a couple of weeks ago without reliable forwards to fall back on, an oversight which surely Solskjaer should take the blame for.

It is, of course, an important point that many of these managers simply inherit teams from their predecessors. They manage players which they are not personally invested in, nor have a longstanding relationship with. Of the current managers in the Premier League, only a handful can point to their starting eleven in the full knowledge that they have built the team which they pick each week. However, Solskjaer has had a summer to at least make his mark. This is often key to those arguing for his removal. It seems to many as though he has simply run out of ideas. In some ways, this was why Chris Hughton left Brighton at the end of last season. Having taken over when the club was threatened by relegation to League One, he built a successful team which held onto Premier League status. He remains an extremely popular figure at Brighton, yet the decision to terminate his contract was predominantly met with feelings of sympathy rather than outrage.

No figure can rival Frank Lampard in personal popularity. As a club legend, he gains an extra period of grace. Furthermore, with the transfer embargo currently imposed on the club, it looks like he will be given at least to the end of this season before he is expected to begin challenging for a title again. His was an appointment for the long term, where Solskjaer was drafted in as a caretaker and only appointed permanently several months later.

It appears very much as though supposedly general trends of ‘new manager bounces’ and ‘making a mark’ on a team cannot truly be applied consistently to different situations. Clearly, if a team has stagnated then even just the announcement of a new manager can change the mood completely. Who could forget the barely-concealed antagonism surrounding key players and executives at United in the last days of Mourinho? Yet the idea of abandoning what is safe and taking a leap of faith into the unknown is enough to maintain managers’ job security. The longest serving managers in the league, notably Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe, often oversee periods of inconsistency. Burnley finished last season eight places lower than the season before, yet there was rarely a suggestion that they might look to a new manager.

Overall, the success of Potter and Solskjaer remains to be seen. Manchester United have had their worst start to the season in thirty years, garnering only nine points and sitting in twelfth position on the table. There is nothing to say that any potential replacement of Solskjaer would improve results in the long term. Football clubs are run as businesses, and value stability just as highly. The turmoil at United which has been ongoing largely since the departure of Alex Ferguson, for all the club’s money and transfer pull, has left this as the one attribute out of the club’s reach. This ideal should perhaps be the priority when considering managerial replacements. Some have argued that players should be held more accountable, and with United spending their highest wage bill ever this season, at a time when footballers are paid more than ever, many would be inclined to agree.

The time required to make a team a manager’s own, however, is often longer than their chairman’s patience. Until this imbalance can be addressed, it seems highly unlikely that United will invest the necessary time and money into a manager who can build a team from scratch. It does not look like Solskjaer will be given this benefit, his days seemed numbered almost from his permanent appointment in March when the tide of results turned against him, yet this model is surely unsustainable. Ferguson was given four years before his first major piece of silverware, nowadays his successors are lucky to get four months before pressure begins to mount.

Overall, managers are a highly mobile commodity in modern football. As much as many clubs would value stability and long term appointments, it is hard not to be sympathetic to United fans calling for change. However, they must acknowledge that another rash appointment will not have a long term benefit. Only when choosing a manger who will be given a chance to clear the existing dead-wood and bring in their own players can that person be held fully accountable by the fans. Clubs like Watford must also acknowledge this, or risk forgetting just how precarious the position of any supposedly-mid-table club is in the Premier League. For any club, regardless of their position, papering over individual cracks with managerial changes can only work for so long, before clubs risk complete collapse.

Whose Revolution? The winners, the losers and the left behind

Annie McGahey
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Whose Revolution? The winners, the losers and the left behind

Two clear streams run through Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing– a gut-wrenching tale of intersecting lives at the centre of the Troubles: that of revolution and that of tragedy. If one is often thought of as glorious and the other, harrowing, this story does much to scramble the distinction. In the kaleidoscopic maze of the Troubles, it seems neither ventures far without the other. They creep and twist a fraught dance, ultimately converging in the ashes of the most vulnerable, the left-behinds.

The story begins and ends in the same place; in the lonely, towering figure of Divis Flats, which crowds over the Catholic neighbourhood of West Belfast. In 1972, Jean McConville, an isolated mother of ten, was rehoused here, only to be taken away one night with a knock on the door. However, one night, there is a knock at the door and Jean is taken away. Within the malaise of the Troubles, Jean’s disappearance becomes symbolic of the slow trains of fate, destiny and retribution, clutching the strands of disparate lives closely together. 

In parallel with the unfolding of this narrative, we are introduced to two key characters. Loquacious and strong-willed, Delours Price is a woman at the heart of the organisation responsible for these circumstances. Price’s life ricochets from an initial commitment to peaceful protest, to a bombing campaign and hunger strike, eventually culminating in a steady demise fuelled by abandonment, alcohol and prescription drugs. 

In a similar tempo, we meet the young Brendan Hughes; a simple but ‘shrewd and tenacious soldier’, who finds comfort somewhere below the loftier politics of figures such as Gerry Adams, the true IRA command. Within the whipped-up frenzy of the Troubles, these previously conventional lives appear to tiptoe on the brink of something remarkable. Men like Hughes are forced to make life or death decisions, choosing between saving the life of young comrades, or continuing the Hunger strike. Ordinary people ghost around the streets, entangling with love, death, guns and mortality. They take on Thatcher and almost win. 

And then suddenly, the chase stops. The glorious hysteria whipped up by quasi-demagogues such as Gerry Adams collapses. Just as Michael Collins had done in 1921, Adams succumbed to a British Treaty. While some would see this as a bastion of peace, others, including Hughes and Price, viewed it as the ultimate betrayal. The little-men were cast out of orbit and Adams, (who, it is claimed in the book, was ‘probably the best friend Hughes had ever had’) vehemently denied ever having been associated with the IRA. The obedience, loyalty and long-game thinking upon which the lives and deeds of Price and Hughes had been premised, quickly tumbled as this softly-spoken, bearded mastermind turned his back on violence. The revolutionaries are left with nothing but a sense of dissipated conviction and the tragedy of their own, endlessly intertwining stories.  

This is the most successful and haunting paradox of the book. For as you begin to pity Hughes and Price, left to stew in their broken dreams, you begin to unravel the real circumstances of Jean McConville’s death. The reality is as you probably suspected all along but that does not subtract from its confusing gravity.

Alone in Divis Flats, you feel for Hughes like a child. Stalked by the many images of his hero Che Guevara which plaster his walls, he reflects glumly on his own failed revolution: ‘the boat is away, sailing on the high seas, with all the luxuries that it brings, and the poor people that launched the boat are left sitting in the muck and the dirt and the sand behind.’ 

For Hughes, Gerry Adams was the one that got away. No less guilty for the crimes that he now denounces, his former comrades are less than fooled by his platitudes and persona. In asking ‘who’s revolution?’, we witness the brotherhood, camaraderie and loyalty quickly strip away. The seas calm, and people like Hughes and Price are left staring bleakly down to its clear depths. 

Final year blues

Hakim Faiz
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Final year blues

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. I’m inclined to believe that Jack would have had a quarter life crisis regardless of the path he took, but maybe that’s just me.

Moderation is not a skill I have been able to or really wanted to learn, and it’s too late now – old dog new tricks. Exams and essays, like bad fashion choices, have been committed to and forgiven. Coping mechanisms have evolved, mutated and reached Trudeau-esque levels of perfection, only to be bowled over by ghosts of the past and the curveballs of the near future. We have lived and we have learnt.

But to now be at the cusp of the career you think you want, with a 2:1 or higher being all that stands between you and job security, stable income, and your dream dog, maybe it is time to don the blinkers. Time to start reading for the essay the day it’s set, to regularly revise and add-to notes for the exams, to set early bedtimes and find a favourite seat and desk at the RadCam, a space haunted by your water bottle and the patter of typing fingers. You limit your nights out, people assume the college library is your second home, and your red reverse card is making passive aggressive posts about noise on the quad. Kudos to those who sustain this, participation certificates and alternative routes for everyone else.

Having rusticated mid-second year, my second second year, and I hope I haven’t lost you yet, was spent witnessing my year’s final year. I learnt that stress could be a gentle lover and a vicious viper, almost always in unison. That study dates really did work, but that time spent together just being was as important.

Each person has their own manner of approaching the final year, but the element of a common goal binds the community and helps carry you through. Motivation becomes as common as cups of tea, and breakdowns are dealt with professional expertise and smoking area therapy. The community, albeit based on the shaky foundations of three years of acquaintance, short terms, differences in opinions, and rage at food thieves, will come together. Their insights will almost always be useful, their concern supportive and their love boundless – but it lies within you to make sure you do not spend the entire year in a nonchalant fog, or in a manic stressed haze.

Hannah Montana must have known something they deliberately keep from double agents. The best of both worlds, academic and social, is attainable if you are willing to live at break neck speeds. Speed thrills but kills, so I would rather set short-term goals, achieve most, and sweep the rest under the rug. Attempted moderation too is an art, and one I intend on perfecting. Final opportunity to really enjoy Oxford, final chance to get the grades, final year with your friends – I want it all.

Christ Church tutor accused of selling Bible fragments

Rachel Cordery
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Christ Church tutor accused of selling Bible fragments

Dirk Obbink, a Classics tutor at Christ Church and one of the world’s foremost experts on papyri, has been accused of selling chunks of ancient text without permission

Obbink is accused of selling the items to US-owned arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby.

In a statement to Cherwell, Obbink said: “The allegations made against me that I have stolen, removed or sold items owned by the Egyptian Exploration Society collection at the University of Oxford are entirely false. I would never betray the trust of my colleagues and the values which I have sought to protect and uphold throughout my academic career in the way that has been alleged.

“I am aware that there are documents being used against me which I believe have been fabricated in a malicious attempt to harm my reputation and career. I am working with my legal team in this regard. I am unable to comment on the ongoing investigations but I am co-operating fully with the University’s investigation and am confident that I will be completely exonerated.”

Owned by the Green family, prominent Christian Evangelicals, their other family projects have included the foundation of the $400 million Museum of the Bible in Washington, under the guidance of Hobby Lobby president Steve Green.

The news emerged after an investigation by staff at Oxford’s ‘Oxyrhynchus Papyri’ project, which Obbink oversaw.

According to a statement from the Egypt Exploration Society, which owns the collection and conducted the investigation, it was told by the Museum of the Bible that Obbink sold them 11 fragments in 2010.

The Oxyrhynchus collection comprises over 500,000 fragments of literary and documentary texts, dating from the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD.

Originally uncovered in the 1890s by two British explorers in an ancient Egyptian rubbish dump, the texts are written in Greek, ancient Egyptian, Coptic, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew.

The papyri were preserved under drifted sand, but they were brought to Britain and housed at Oxford University ever since.

A researcher at the museum released an apparent contract between Hobby Lobby and Professor Obbink, detailing the sale of several gospel passages.

The document was redacted and the amount paid is unknown.

The society added Obbink was removed as general editor of the project, “because of his unsatisfactory editorial duties, but also because of concerns, which he did not allay, about his alleged involvement in the marketing of ancient texts.

“In June 2019 the [society] banned him from any access to its collection pending his satisfactory clarification of the 2013 contract [for another fragment sale]. Oxford University is now investigating, with [the society’s help], the removal from university premises and alleged sale of [society] texts.”

Obbink has previously denied some of these allegations, but was banned from accessing the collection in June.

In 2018 he told the Daily Beast that the claim he sold a fragment of the first chapter of the gospel of Mark to Hobby Lobby was not true.

A spokeswoman of the Museum of the Bible said that the items were acquired in good faith and said the museum had previ- ously helped in the recovery of treasures that should never changed hands.

She said that the museum had “helped the Egypt Exploration Society recover antiquities sold illegally between 2010-13.

“A known expert sold antiquities he did not own, and Museum of the Bible helped the buyer return those antiquities to the rightful owner.”

Both the society and the University are investigating Obbink, but he has continued to be employed at the University.

This article has been amended to include comment from Dirk Obbink.

Sexual harassment: Additional measures adopted by University

Rachel Cordery
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Sexual harassment: Additional measures adopted by University

Oxford University has outlined several additional measures it will take to tackle student harassment and violence, it was announced on Monday.

New measures to support students include an increase to staff numbers in a dedicated support centre, the appointment of specialist staff, and changes to disciplinary procedures.

The procedures set out the timelines for different parts of the disciplinary process, written in clear and concise language, and explain what both reporting and reported students can expect from the process.

Changes follow the launch of a Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service last October, which provides a safe place to “be heard independent of your college or department.”

Run by a team of specialist advisors and an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) who work independently of the University, the team has increased to seven members of staff since its launch.

Roisin McCallion, Vice President of Welfare & Equal Opportunity at Oxford SU, said: “We are delighted with the additional steps which have been taken to support students affected by sexual harassment and violence.

The Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service is something we truly believe in and we feel confident signposting our students to it for the best support.”

The all-in-one service offers free, professional and confidential support for all students, regardless of age or gender. The service supports students across the university “whatever they choose to do”, including if they decide to make a formal report against another student.

In cases of sexual misconduct, new disciplinary procedures outline considerations that should be considered, as well as actions the University can take during ongoing investigations.

Independent reviewers will join the Protectors’ Office to lead cases relating to sexual harassment and violence.

Appointed on a five-year term, reviewers will receive specialist training and will be supported by specialist caseworkers who will ensure that complex and sensitive cases are being handled appropriately.

Professor Martin Williams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, said: “The University of Oxford does not tolerate sexual harassment and violence in any form, and we all have a responsibility to act.

The additional measures we have taken this year further highlight our resolve in tackling this issue and our commitment to supporting our students.”

The Support Service and the new measures are being promoted through the ‘Oxford Against Sexual Violence’ campaign, launched in 2018.

Sending a clear message that sexual violence or harassment of any form is unacceptable, the campaign is a joint venture between Oxford University and the OU Student Union.

The University plans to work in partnership with the Thames Valley Police to prevent sexual offences.

Detective Inspector James Senior of Thames Valley Police said: “Just one sexual offence in Oxford is one too many and my team and I are committed to ensuring that students wanting to have an enjoyable night out at pubs and clubs are able to without fear of being sexually assaulted.

“This behaviour is clearly unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

The Support Service says it will go through the options available with a specific focus on the needs of individual students. These fall into four areas, “Immediate health needs, reporting options, therapeutic support options and practical support.”

Thousands to visit Oxford Science Festival

Rachel Cordery
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Thousands to visit Oxford Science Festival

Oxford Science and Ideas Festival will be held later this month, organised by Oxfordshire Science Festival and trustees.

From Friday 18th to Monday 28th October, the festival will feature more than 100 different events across the city.

Dane Comerford, who has worked in public engagement with research for the past decade, is this year’s festival director.

Previously the Head of Public Engagement at the University of Cambridge, Mr Comerford is interested in “developing the conversation about what research is, what universities are for, and how innovation locates within society.”

Known as IF Oxford, dozens of venues across the city are taking part.

The website said: “We want the complexity, wonder and opportunities of scientific research to be explored, challenged and enjoyed across society.”

“The festival team coordinates an accessible, thought-provoking and interactive science and ideas festival creating an opportunity for over ten thousand face-to-face interactions between Festival visitors, researchers and innovators.”

One of the events, named Only Expansion, will run at the Oxford Playhouse from Saturday 19th October. Other venues include the Weston Library and the Oxfordshire County Library.

According to organisers, those taking part in Only Expansion will be able to choose their own route and experience an audio walk through the city. Headphones with customised electronics capture and manipulate the sounds around them.

At Christ Church Meadow, there will be the Uncomfortable Oxford tour: literary edition, within which the tensions of imaginary maps of Oxford found in literature will be brought to modern realities.

Chelsea Haith, the mind behind the literary edition of Uncomfortable Oxford, is a DPhil Candidate in Contemporary Literature.

She said: “I am interested in how people think about their lives, and how their physical environments shape their sense of self and their sense of their world.”

“Now I live in Oxford, a place of great enquiry, I see alternative sides to the city’s history that are less often heard or shared.”

“My research examines architecture, inclusion and exclusion, and city spaces in science fiction… Our Futures Thinking events at the Festival are an example of how Science and the Humanities work hand-in-hand and I look forward to learning what you think about how we can bring these two fields into closer conversation.”

Oxford has hosted a science festival every year since 1992, with 500,000 members of the public visiting over the past 25 years, including 13,500 visitors in 2018.

Plea for £1.5 million to fight homelessness

Rachel Cordery
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Plea for £1.5 million to fight homelessness

A new city-wide partnership was launched last week to reduce rough sleeping in Oxford.

Designed to be “innovative and inclusive,” the Oxford Homeless Movement (OHM) is a partnership of local homeless charities, housing providers, the Oxford City Council and health providers, among others.

The movement aims to bring greater visibility to all Oxford’s work in the sector, guiding volunteers and homeless people alike.

At the launch, celebrated on World Homeless Day (October 10), partner organisations announced a range of new, collaborative measures to reduce the number of rough sleepers on Oxford’s streets.

Launched at Open House, a public talking shop on housing and homelessness, the movement called on the public to raise £1.5 million in six months to help tackle rough sleeping. The website will allow people to make donations online.

Jane Cranston, chairwoman of Oxford Homeless Movement, said at the launch: “The one thing that is inevitable is that help needs money.

“All the organisations in the sector, including the government ones, are strapped for cash, and if we, through this community movement, can raise £1 million or more just think what a difference we could make.”

This initiative is the result of years of increasing street homelessness, with figures reaching record levels in 2017. The Office for National Statistics estimated that 33 homeless people died in Oxford between 2013 and 2017, making the city one of the worst areas in the country for rough sleepers.

Councillor Linda Smith said: “We’re doing more than ever before to prevent and reduce rough sleeping, including more beds and better assessment services to help people off the streets as quickly as possible.

“But the number of people experiencing homelessness is still too high. We have to undertake street counts every two months and what we’re finding is that a quarter of people are new to the streets. We can’t end homelessness on our own. We need Oxford to join us in the Movement and help beat homelessness together.”

With around 40 organisations participating, organisers of the OHM hope to trial new approaches and make seeking help easier.

The new measures include a citywide charter created by Oxford’s homelessness agencies and charities to ensure nobody should have to sleep rough on the streets.

It aims to increase public awareness and understanding of rough sleeping and generate funding to deliver effective and permanent solutions.

A new Impact Fund is designed to close the “critical gaps” in the city’s response to reduce rough sleeping, as part of a collective fundraising effort under the initiative.

Cranston added: “It’s time we all said ‘Enough is enough’. It will take a whole city effort if we are to have a serious go at preventing anybody from having to sleep rough on our streets.

“Oxford Homeless Movement is an exciting step in the right direction. Getting this far has required huge progress in co-operation and trust and to truly launch the Movement we need you – individuals and Oxford based businesses and organisations – to come on board and get involved.

“Join the Movement today by signing the charter, raising awareness and understanding of homelessness and commit to volunteering or to making a donation. We all have a role to play.”

Together with the efforts of the OHM, many local organisations and individuals are lending their support to preventing rough sleeping in Oxford.

In September, a pilot Housing First scheme was launched enabling rough sleepers from South Oxfordshire to receive local housing and intensive support, and a new supported accommodation service at Matilda House has been commissioned, offering support and shelter for 22 people participating, organisers of the OHM hope to trial new approaches and make seeking help easier.

The new measures include a citywide charter created by Oxford’s homelessness agencies and charities to ensure nobody should have to sleep rough on the streets. It aims to increase public awareness and understanding of rough sleeping and generate funding to deliver effective and permanent solutions.

A new Impact Fund is designed to close the “critical gaps” in the city’s response to reduce rough sleeping, as part of a collective fundraising effort under the initiative. Cranston added: “It’s time we all said ‘Enough is enough’. It will take a whole city effort if we are to have a serious go at preventing anybody from having to sleep rough on our streets.

“Oxford Homeless Movement is an exciting step in the right direction. Getting this far has required huge progress in co-operation.”

Oxford graduate awarded for work improving Oxbridge access

Simon Hunt
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Oxford graduate awarded for work improving Oxbridge access

Joe Seddon, founder of Access Oxbridge, has been awarded a Points of Light award by the Prime Minister for his efforts to improve access to Oxford University to students from underrepresented backgrounds.

In a personal letter to Seddon, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I know you do this with no thought of praise or reward, but allow me to offer my own recognition of how ‘Access Oxbridge’ is giving the most talented young people from under- represented backgrounds the skills andconfidence to win the places they deserve at two of our country’s finest, world-leadinguniversities.”

Seddon said: “I am honoured to receive this award from the Prime Minister on behalf of Access Oxbridge, and would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our incredible mentors and inspirational students.

“Education has the ability to transform lives, and we must continue to work to ensure that those with incredible talent are able to succeed irrespective of background.”

Access Oxbridge was set up in 2018as a mentoring programme to connect disadvantaged students with current andformer students from Oxford and Cam- bridge in order to give them the “resources and soft skills” needed to allow them to“compete on a level playing field with theirprivately educated peers.” The mentoring programme consists of a series of weekly one-hour video turorials with a mentor, delivered through an online app. After itsfirst year, 50 students from disadvantagedbackgrounds were admitted under thescheme, representing a 30% success rate.

The Points of Light award was set up in

2014 as a scheme to recognise “outstanding individual volunteers.” An award is made by the Prime Minister on a daily basis to volunteers “doing everything from tackling knife crime, to supporting families of dementia patients.” Seddon is the 1256th person to be given an award under the scheme.

Joe Seddon is a PPE graduate fromMansfield College, which has the highestpercentage of state school students acrossboth Oxford and Cambridge – 88% in 2018.

Seddon told Cherwell he found runningthe Access Oxbridge scheme “really enjoy- able.”

“I started it up as a side project but veryquickly I saw it had a significant impacton people’s chances of being admitted, in particular for people who wouldn’t consider applying to Oxbridge or from schools who have never sent people before.”

Seddon plans to match Access Oxbridge’s success of getting 50 students admitted under the scheme, and has plans to expandthe scheme beyond Oxford and Cambridgeto other Russell Group universities.

Seddon expressed his support for Foun- dation Oxford and Opportunity Oxford, the access schemes launched by the Universityearlier this year. He told Cherwell, “It’s goodto see the university getting innovative in this domain but they could go further.

“They need to expand their digital and online campaigns.”

Seddon suggested he would welcome the prospect of working collaboratively with the new schemes: “To get through to students who are harder to reach it is necessary to work with groups who can create hyper- targeted campaigns to reach out to people who wouldn’t ordinarily consider applying.”

Financial Times investigation slams Christ Church as “virtually ungovernable”

Cherwell News
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Financial Times investigation slams Christ Church as “virtually ungovernable”

An investigation by the Financial Times into the ongoing dispute between the governing body of Christ Church and the Dean, The Very Reverend Martyn Percy, criticizes both parties heavily.

Although details of the affair have been hard to come by, the report goes into detail and contains extensive comment from members of the college’s administration and academic body, largely anonymous, as well as figures from other colleges.

The investigation argues that the crisis which has swept Christ Church over the past year began with the Dean’s request for a salary rise, including a threat to adjust his availability and skip a fundraising tour to the United States.

According to the investigation, the Dean is perceived to be part of the “dwindling talent pool” within the Church, and “a low-key figure compared to the distinguished academics and civil servants who headed many other colleges” by fellows.

For his part, Percy cast himself as overworked and underappreciated. He said in an email that the college has a “culture of unpleasantness” and that “I have not received the smallest hint — not even a single sentence — of gratitude for my work”.

When Percy’s predecessor as Dean, Christopher Lewis, was asked whether he felt overworked in the role, he said, “No. You were busy.”

The investigation contains details about the current environment within college. It reports academics breaking down in tears over the dispute, the Dean refusing to attend meetings with certain people present, and clerical staff watching who sits with who at dinner as a way of determining loyalties.

One anonymous source said: “I go around hoping I won’t meet some people… If I meet them, we stare straight ahead so we don’t look at one another.”

The investigation concurs with the recent complaint made by former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken to the Charity Commission which criticised the college for spending up to £2 mil- lion on the case.

The dean himself is reported to have spent £400,000 of his own money on his defence.

Mr Aitken was critical of the attempt to withhold details of the dispute from the public, telling Cherwell, “Like many members of the Christ Church Alumni Association, I regard it as a scandal of governance that the full Govern- ing Body of the College has been refused sight of a full, unredacted copy of the Tribunal’s findings and reasons for clearing the Dean of all charges.”

“The notion that a small cabal of anti-Dean Dons can censor the Tribunal’s report is an attempt at self-serving protection for themselves because they are severely criticised in the Appendices of the report.”

“It would be morally pusillanimous to go along with the cabal’s redaction attempt.”

The Charity Commission replied with a statement of their own, saying, “We can confirm that we told the trustees of Christ Church to undertake a review of the charity’s governance.”

“It is good practice for all charities to undertake such a review from time to time. We will not be involved in the review directly, but we expect the trustees to report to us on its outcome.”

Christ Church gave Cherwell a statement in response, which said, “All at Christ Church are focused on the work of the College and Cathedral and are committed to its future success. As part of this, Christ Church is currently embarking on an independent review of its governance arrangements, and we will be working closely with the Charity Commission during this process.”

“We are aware that numerous inaccurate and misleading comments have been made in recent weeks, but unfortunately we are not in a position to address these at this time as it would be inappropriate to comment before the independent review has concluded.”

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