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Eight colleges to raise hourly wages to £13.15

By
Daniel Thomas
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Nils Lindner via Unsplash

Eight colleges are set to raise hourly wages in line with the latest measure to increase the living wage in Oxford by 10%. This is part of a series of measures by the Council to promote wage fairness in the local economy. The new Oxford Living Wage will be raised to £12.49 an hour, and be pegged at 95% of the London Living Wage, currently £13.15.

The Oxford Living Wage, first introduced by the City Council in 2008, is part of the broader Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership between local government and civil society, to promote equality & sustainable opportunities across the county.

Oxford’s colleges have long been criticised on the grounds of labour rights. A student-led campaign for better wages and conditions in University employment, Oxford Worker Justice, has drawn attention to issues such as the lack of transparency over precisely how much non-academic workers at the colleges are paid, as well as over the use of zero-hour contracts and agency staff.

An annual ranking of colleges published by Oxford Worker Justice finds low pay, insecure contracts, and massive wage inequalities to be prevalent across the majority of colleges. Past investigations by Cherwell, meanwhile, have brought light to exploitative labour practices and stressful workplace conditions among University housekeepers in the “scout system”.

Additionally, the City Council’s employer recognition incentive, that encourages employers who pay the Oxford Living Wage to accredit so they can get wider recognition, indicates that less than 25% of Oxford’s 38 colleges have been accredited. From a list of over 120 accredited employers, only Magdalen, Merton, New, Somerville, St. Cross, St. John’s , Wadham, Worcester Colleges appear, in addition to local businesses frequented by students, such as Common Ground Cafe & the Old Fire Station arts hub.

As an incentive, the Council argues that providing a living wage may help businesses “improve both recruitment and retention.” Research from the Living Wage Foundation backs this up; 75% of surveyed employers reported that paying a living wage had increased workers’ motivation and retention rates, while 94% felt that it had benefited their business overall.

Set to come in from April 2024, all businesses will be accredited through a recognition scheme, operated by Oxford City Council and the nationwide Living Wage Foundation. 

Oxford partners with IMF to predict disruptions to global supply chain

By
Cherwell News
-
Gnovick

In collaboration with the IMF, Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute has launched ‘PortWatch’, an online platform monitoring and simulating disruptions to global maritime trade from external shocks including those caused by climate change. It was a winner of the 2022 IMF Climate Innovation Challenge, which fosters innovation and collaboration to tackle economic and financial issues related to climate change.

The platform uses satellite data to model actual and expected trade disruptions to maritime ports and assess subsequent spill-over effects on global supply chains. It also allows users to identify current vulnerabilities within the maritime trade network based on new climate scenario analysis developed by Oxford researchers. 

Disruptions to global supply chains, including from Covid-19 lockdowns and extreme weather events, have lost the global economy billions in recent years. University of Oxford Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks, Jim Hall said “Shocks to trade and supply chains can propagate rapidly around the world, leading to economic disruptions and real impacts for people”. He is hopeful that “using PortWatch, we can track shipping disruption at ports and in critical shipping lanes around the world, providing up-to-date information for decision makers.” 

PortWatch is available for public use online, but is intended primarily for policymakers and analysts. IMF Chief Statistician, Data Officer, and Director of the Statistics Department, Bert Kroese said that “the platform’s innovative data sources and visualization tools are designed to help facilitate international dialogue and inform policy decisions.”

Other collaborators on the project include the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the United Nations Global Platform (UNGP), the World Bank (WB), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It received initial funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

The project is available for public access at portwatch.imf.org.

Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil held in Radcliffe Square

By
Sloane Getz
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Image credit: Sloane Getz

Oxford students, staff, and community members gathered in Radcliffe Square last night for a Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil, organised by the SU LGBTQ+ Campaign to “honour the memory of trans lives lost to violence, hate crimes, and transphobia.”

This observance marks the fourth vigil held in Oxford for Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual memorial founded in 1999 to commemorate Rita Hester and Chanelle Pickett, two Black trans women murdered in Massachusetts. 

Standing next to a memorial tied to the Radcliffe Camera’s fence that listed the names of trans victims of violence, speakers shared memories, recited poems, and performed songs.

One speaker, Chrissie Chevasutt, an outreach worker for the trans, intersex, and nonbinary community at St. Columba’s United Reformed Church in Oxford spoke about the “hate” perpetuated by many churches and media outlets as a major driver of transphobic violence. 

In statements made before the event, they also praised the decision made by several Oxford colleges to fly the trans pride flags in observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance this week, saying “my whole soul and body breathes a deep sigh of relief, to know that many of Oxford’s colleges are flying the flag. 

“This is huge, in the immediate, it sends a message of hope, that culture and society is changing.” 

Speakers also addressed the ongoing conflict in Israel-Palestine, reading out messages from queer and trans Palestinians posted on the website “Queering the Map.”

The vigil concluded with a moment of silence commemorating the lives lost to anti-trans violence in the past year, following a poem by the co-chair of the SU’s LGBTQ+ campaign, Joel Aston, who expressed their “grief and anger” at transphobic violence. Commenting on the vigil, Addi Haran Diman, president of the Oxford LGBTQ+ Society, said “on [Trans Day of Remembrance], we are rightfully saddened and enraged by losing so many community members. May their memory give us the power to continue fighting another year.”

Kevin and Timmy let it out

By
Sean Hartnett
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How to judge a book by its cover

By
Ananya Parakh
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Image Credits: CC BY 2.0 / by tejvan, via. Wikimedia Commons

Let’s be real. You’re in Blackwells looking for a book to read if you’re cool, and buying a mug with a world map on it if you’re not. You wouldn’t sit there and flip through the pages absorbing the information in the book to then decide whether or not you should spend 8 pounds on it after you have practically fully read it. If you do that, you’re a sociopath. Therefore, the ability to judge a book by its cover is a skill that is essential for any reader’s repertoire.

The first thing that would catch any normally functioning human’s eye, would be colour. Yeah, pretty books make for great coffee table decorations, but no, you must not be lured by that. Resist the temptation. What you are allowed to judge a book by, though, is the name. Usually. Well written books tend to have interesting names. Maybe some alliteration thrown in there, some banter with words, something not cheesy please, or just something classic or comforting or beautiful. A few examples of the following are, ‘The Elements of Eloquence’ (great relevance for the book’s content too), ‘The Enchanted April’ (doesn’t that just sound like a beautiful read?!) or ‘Where the Crawdads sing’ (What are crawdads? And why do I care about where they sing?). But this doesn’t always work. For example, ‘Pineapple street’. I thought it was a cute name, but it’s a shit book. I guess I was at fault because the cover was orange, my bad.

The next thing I’d consider would be the author. Have I heard their name before and in what context? Did someone cringe at their name or was there reverence and brimming excitement. Was it booktok or a Guardian recommendation? I mean you do you, but I’d totally judge. Some classics like Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf and George Orwell are just timeless and you could blindly pick those up and know they won’t be bad. A risk pays off sometimes though, but if you wanna play safe, the older ones that are still sticking around bookstores are usually pretty good.

Lastly, the vibes. Did you see it in a section that is surrounded by similarly good books? Is it close to other books that you have read and liked in the past? Does the blurb sound unique and make you feel something? Does it make you wish that there was more? If the synopsis feels too long you’re not getting through 5 pages of that book. Skim through the first page of the author’s introduction if they have one(trust me). Is that engaging? If yes, that book will change your life.

Out of a compulsion to not discriminate against any books, I would like to state that all books offer a special insight into the writer’s perspective on life. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s a couple of basic rules: if the book has been adapted into a young adult movie, it goes down by 5 points. If it has pictures of real people instead of graphics, minus 3. If the reviews on the book say ‘deliciously fun’, ‘poignant’ or any stupid word you could use to describe your chicken, minus 10. If it talks about taking you on a journey, run the other way. Now that you’re fully equipped with the skills to judge a book by its cover, I wish you all the best with wise spending and enjoyable experiences for the rest of your life’s journey.

High Commission “disappointed” with Turkish Society’s platforming of Ersin Tatar

By
Jakub Trybull
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High Commission of Cyprus, Ersin Tatar
Image credit: Wikimedia

The High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus in the UK has expressed “serious concern and disappointment” with the presence of the elected leader of the Turkish occupied area of Cyprus, Ersin Tatar, at an event hosted by the Turkish Society. Concerns lie largely with language and symbols used to promote the event.

On Monday, the Oxford University Turkish society hosted an event with Ersin Tatar, branded as “a talk by [the] President of [the] Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” the “TRNC”. As part of the event’s social media marketing, the presidential seal and a link to Tatar’s website was included. 

The High Commission was particularly concerned with word choice regarding Tatar’s position as it implied that the TRNC is a sovereign state. In fact, it is only recognised by Turkey and not any of the other 192 UN member states, which consider it to be legally part of the Republic of Cyprus.

In a conversation with Cherwell, the High Commission said that they have informed the University and St John’s College of their concerns. They added that they “respect free speech” but urged any symbols and language used to be in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions. These called upon all states “not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus” and “not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity”.

Nicholas Kyriakides, the chairman of Oxford University Society in Cyprus, told Cherwell: “This terminology directly contradicts recognised international norms and is offensive to the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus.”

In response, Oxford University Turkish Society stated: “We were asked to host the event by the President himself and the Turkish Embassy, so we used the title that they asked us to use. It was not a political statement by our society but simply how the guest chose to identify himself.

“We recognise that Cyprus has had a challenging path to peace with ongoing international disputes and suffering on both sides. Tatar’s two state solution is one of the proposals for lasting peace and he is a democratic representative of the Turkish Cypriot community, he deserves to be heard out on those grounds.”

St John’s College told Cherwell: “The College looked at the event carefully. We had a number of aims to consider, including both the wellbeing of all our members, and also our legal obligation to uphold freedom of speech within the law.”

“Having reviewed this, we felt that the event should proceed, but noted that hosting any speaker or society does not imply College endorsement of their views. We asked the organisers to make it clear that the invitation to speak comes from them, not from the College or University, and also asked them to ensure that the event was managed in such a way as to avoid distress or disruption to members of the College and wider community. The President did receive a letter from the High Commission and responded to it.”

In a statement to Cherwell, the High Commission said: “Being certain that Oxford University would have never agreed to hold at its premises any event that would have hosted a representative of an entity that the international community through UN Security Council Resolutions, has declared as illegal, null and void, and the sensitivity of the message and effect of giving a platform to Mr Tatar especially when he was listed in the invitation/poster of the event as the so called “President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, we respectfully urged the University authorities to reconsider their decision to allow this event to take place even so this was not an official University event.”

Ersin Tatar and the University have been reached for comment.

UN Report featuring Oxford analysis finds trillions in hidden costs of agrifood systems

By
Matthew Grigg
-
Daniel Stick

A new United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report based on Oxford research has found that hidden social, environmental and health costs from agrifood systems globally were up to $12 trillion in 2020. Significantly, costs from limited productivity and lifestyle disease associated with unhealthy eating represented almost 75% of total costs.

Hidden environmental costs, including nitrogen pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, accounted for 20%. Social costs related to poverty represented 4% of hidden costs. The report features analysis by a senior researcher in food system economics with Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI), Dr Steven Lord, which importantly breaks down the distribution of these costs. 

Health costs linked with unhealthy diets were mostly found in high-income countries, such as the UK and Germany, whilst environmental and social costs were more prevalent in low-income countries. Dr Lord highlighted an important discrepancy: “The majority of the quantified hidden costs are generated in high- and upper-middle-income countries, in particular in the United States and the BRIC countries. However, the greatest economic burden falls on low-income countries.” 

Indeed, future hidden costs could account for over a quarter of low-income countries’ gross domestic product.

The FAO report aimed to address uncertainties in quantifying pollution and future costs to better inform policy, utilising a model developed at the ECI. Potential damage of these costs indicates how pressing their consideration in future policy is. Dr Lord reflected how “$12 trillion is about 33 billion 2020 PPP dollars per day, which is equivalent to a June 2022 Pakistan flood every day or a September 2022 Hurricane Ian every four days.” 

Costs identified by the study were measured by the reduction in welfare associated with a decline in purchasing power, with all currencies treated equally by the measure of purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars in 2020. 

The report comes weeks before the next UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in December, which will for the first time place a major focus on agrifood systems. However, agrifood systems pose a unique set of specific challenges beyond carbon dioxide emissions, such as nitrogen pollution and methane emissions, which must be addressed with different policies. 

Dr Lord has said: “For policymakers, reducing the increasing economic risk posed by agrifood systems activities…requires policies characteristically different to the decarbonization pathway required of other sectors.”

The economic discrepancy identified between which countries shoulder agrifood costs also comes ahead of a crucial moment at COP28 for establishing a working loss-and-damage fund after initial COP27 agreement, to assist lower-income countries often at the forefront of climate change. COP28 provides an opportunity to develop policies to mitigate against risks from agrifood systems that recognise the unequal weight of their hidden costs. 

An (Oxmas) gift-giving guide

By
Iona Neill
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Image Credit: Juliescribbles/CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED via Wikimedia Commons

As a child, my dad once got a ketchup bottle for Christmas. It is a story that inevitably resurfaces every year as we sit around the Christmas dinner table, discussing the presents we have received – the good ones as well as the not-so-good ones. As the story goes, he once made a passing remark to an aunt about liking ketchup, and it appeared she took the comment to heart. 

Another genuinely bizarre gift that comes up in family conversations is the bra travel case I received when I was twelve or thirteen. At the time I didn’t own nearly enough bras to put in it, nor did I have many exotic places I needed to transport them to. A few years later I opened a Christmas present from a not-to-be-named family member – a new notebook. Upon opening it, I found there were already multiple entries inside. “Dear diary,” one of the entries read, “Today I got dumped”. 

In the wake of these terrible but amusing presents, I decided to try to discover what it is that makes a good present. In my search, I stumbled upon a video by Van Neistat called The Rules of Gifting. In it, Van (the lesser-known brother of famous NYC vlogger Casey Neistat), lays out his ‘Holy Trinity’ of gifting rules. What the Holy Trinity decrees is that a gift should always have at least two of the following three qualities present (see what I did there). 

The first of the Holy Trinity is thoughtful. Thoughtful presents are ones that are specific and show you have thought about what the person you are giving it to likes. A good example of a thoughtful gift I still think about is a CD I was given several years ago when I had just started driving myself to college. My car, a tiny Ford Fiesta, was equipped with a radio and a CD player but no aux outlet. When one of my friends noticed this, they bought me my favourite album on CD. Very thoughtful.

The second of the Holy Trinity is nice. Nice should be self-explanatory. If the present is something you know the receiver will enjoy, then it is a nice present. Niceness, whilst fairly abstract, should be the easiest of the Holy Trinity to achieve. It is a property found in any good-quality, well-made object. If you are really stuck, Van’s rule of thumb is to buy something which is cheap but expensive. There are certain things that are usually cheap, but if you spend a little more money than usual, they become nice. Take chocolate, for example. Chocolate is cheap, but nobody wants just a Snickers for Christmas. Yet, investing ten pounds in some artisan chocolates from a local store should be relatively affordable and result in a gift that is undeniably nice.

The third of the Holy Trinity is made. Made is a little more ambiguous, and the hardest to achieve of the three. What made means is either making a gift yourself or leaving a personal mark on it. Books are an easy way to incorporate an element of made-ness since you can write a short message on the inside cover. Adding the receiver’s name, a short greeting, and the date can go a long way. If you are creative, then homemade jewelry, home-baked goods, playlists and old-school CD mixes, as well as crafted, knitted or crocheted items are all examples of made gifts. Of course, making gifts isn’t always easy in practice. If you’re not very creative nor artistically inclined like myself, then there is often the option to add someone’s initials or other details on items like notebooks, wallets, or bags. Made means that your hand is in the gift in some way.

Van includes an additional rule to made gifts which I should also mention. Gifting an object that you have made entirely yourself can be a risky business. Whilst it is usually true that the gift receiver will like something that you have made yourself, there are always cases when this can go wrong. You don’t want to give someone a large painting that won’t fit in their tiny student house, no matter how good it is. Therefore it is a good rule to only give homemade gifts that are smaller than your hand. This way, it won’t take up too much space, and they won’t feel too bad if they don’t like it.

Thoughtful, nice, and made. Two of these together will make a good present. But if you can check off all three, that’s the Holy Trinity of gift-giving.

Van adds that if you listen to the people whom you need to buy gifts for, they will usually tell you exactly what they want. If you are shopping with a friend and they make a comment about their favourite perfume or a book they have been wanting to read, make a mental note of it. Or, better still, write it down to save for later. This way you will always be prepared for what to buy for someone. 

Buying gifts for lots of people – especially at Christmas – can certainly be overwhelming; hopefully this advice helps.

Adapted from Van Neistat’s video, The Rules of Gifting – all credit to him. Go check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqYIkm66RSI

Oxford team rediscovers “bizarre, egg-laying mammal”

By
Selina Chen
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S J Bennett / CC BY 2.0 Deed via Flickr

Expedition Cyclops, which explored the Cyclops mountains in Indonesia and included researchers from the University of Oxford, rediscovered Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna which was last recorded in 1961 and feared to be extinct. Alongside Oxford scientists, the expedition was composed of students and researchers from Indonesian NGO YAPPENDA, UNCEN University, Papua BBKSDA, and Re:Wild. With the help of Papuan guides, the team of scientists trekked the harsh rainforest conditions for weeks, with 80 trail cameras and multiple ascents totalling over 11,000 metres. They faced venomous species, illnesses, hostilities, and an earthquake, but as the expedition neared its end, the echidna still remained elusive.

On the last day, with the last images on the final memory card, the team hit the jackpot with their now widely-publicised footage capturing the mammal with “the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater, and the feet of a mole.” 

Named after broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and the half-human half-serpent Greek echidna, the unusual creature is a monotreme, an ancient and rare order of mammals consisting of five living species including the platypus. They notably lay yolky eggs instead of giving birth. In addition to being critically endangered, the echidna also eludes scientists’ gaze due to its nocturnal and burrowing habits.

Oxford researcher Dr. James Kempton credits the locals for this breakthrough. He said in a statement: “With the help of YAPPENDA, we have spent years building a relationship with the community of Yongsu Sapari [village]. The trust between us was the bedrock of our success because they shared with us the knowledge to navigate these treacherous mountains, and even allowed us to research on lands that have never before felt the tread of human feet.”

In addition to sighting the echidna, the team also discovered hundreds of other species such as a shrimp that dwells on trees. When a member of the expedition accidentally fell into an obscured entrance, the team discovered an unexplored cave system that harboured new species such as blind spiders and a whip scorpion. They intend to name many of the species after Papuan members of the expedition.

‘Oh no, the sky is falling’: This is How We Walk on the Moon Review

By
Grace Park
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alt= this is how we walk on the moon
Photography by Coco Cottam (Instagram: @cocos.pix)

A full-moon shaped circle of chairs awaits the audience. We’re directed to stand in the middle of the circle and one by one, characters step on chairs and surround us, and each time someone new speaks, the collective sway of our heads reminds me of a back-and-forth tennis match. The set itself is intimate, with stars dotted around the ceiling and a giant papier-mâché moon looming high on one side of the studio. All of this is telling: This is How We Walk on the Moon is not a play to be observed but to be immersed in. 

Seven personal truths told in the form of carefully crafted monologues, it’s not at first obvious that there are seven different writers behind the scenes. Of course, the characters mostly do not interact or seem aware of each other’s existence, each delivering an earnest monologue from somewhere deep-seated in their distinct personal histories. But the script is hardly sporadic patchwork as one may expect when there are so many writers- it flows with a purpose, and what are at first unrelated storylines begin to merge. 

KFC Lover’s (Wong Man Shun) newfound pining for a co-worker draws parallels to the love that Eli (Felix Kerrison-Adams), the romantic poet, has been professing in devoted rhyme for the first half of the play. The reaction of loved ones to Midnight Pirate’s (Susie Weidmann) grand voyage fantasies reflects those who constantly undermine Jodie’s (Juliette Imbert) physical pain from fibromyalgia, telling her it’s all in her head. And perhaps Ammonite’s (Ethan Bareham) fixation with the fact we’re all standing on such an ancient planet compares to Jealous Bitch (Hope Yoon) and Hairdresser Dave’s (Cosimo Asvisio) obsessive storytelling.

Despite seven unique personalities to convey, the stellar cast all hold their own. In particular, I’m compelled by KFC Lover’s story. He has been traumatised at the hand of his near-evil boss, burned by a steamer. Four small holes are branded into his arm as if he needed any more reminding. It’s clear that the damage done by the burns- physical and mental- are constant, maybe even irreparable, and yet, he stays at his job, now yearning for tenderness and affection from his new co-worker Dani. It’s painfully realistic, but the script also left room for humour, the occasional KFC quips providing the break for some comedic relief. 

Each character’s story is halted by the introduction of another’s – cautious glimpses are offered into their minds, more withheld for gradual reveal- but the play is far from disjointed.  They’re held together by one common glue- the all-too-human desire to at last be understood. It’s as if when one person starts speaking, another is finding ways to relate. Each character endures varying levels of alienation and isolation, but as Ammonite reminds us, we’re all suffering the same human experience on this planet, alive at the same time.

While there is no clear happy ending, there is a feeling of closure by the climax and final moments of the play. Without noticing, the characters had become my friends, secrets and pain spilling out after being swallowed down too long, and finding their vulnerability was not met with judgement but the understanding they’d longed for: this is how we co-exist. Even when we think, ‘Oh no, the sky is falling’- maybe there is someone out there for us.

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