Monday 11th August 2025
Blog Page 673

Making myself at home

Laura McGriele
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Making myself at home

December in Oxford; interviewees arrive at colleges eager to get a break from their home towns while tourists shop and explore the Rad-Cam, the Bodleian, and perhaps even the Eagle and Child.

December is a festive and busy month, a place to visit briefly, look around, and leave. For us students it seems to be the same; we are here for eight weeks, we look around at the restaurants, the clubs, and then we get to leave and go home too. Oxford never seems to slow down, it’s always bustling, always full, and I am never separated from it.

It’s hard to make Oxford your home when it’s always churning. I have been estranged and independent since I was fifteen, so the notion that I belong anywhere is alien. Pair this with imposter syndrome and Oxford does not feel like something I have earned or can enjoy. Rather, it feels like I am back in my early teens, jumping from home to home, waiting to be kicked out.

In truth, I don’t believe anyone truly feels as though they belong in Oxford. But, the thing is, they don’t have to – you can just fake it for eight weeks before going home where you do belong. However, when you’re here for most of the year, making this city your true home is a feat that seems impossible.

If you stay here over the vacation; the college makes you feel unwanted. If the interviewees are loud and disrespectful; you just have to be overly gracious – this is not your home now insomuch as it is theirs. If you cannot fund yourself over the vacation; you must sacrifice a portion of your overdraft (or all) to be deducted next term.

The University does a good job of reminding you that you’re here on loan.

Don’t get me wrong, in some ways I am privileged. Oxford does not get to keep me for the whole Christmas vacation – I can go back to a friend’s home in Wales for a bit. I get to go back to their cats, their home, and their food, and to my friend’s loving and caring father who, although I wish he were, is not my own.

My friends are in Oxford over the vacation too. Beautiful, honest people that everyday go through the same struggle of feeling mismatched and misplaced, yet still are able to remind me that if believe they belong here, then I must belong here.

I think that to make a home out of Oxford University you don’t need to feel as though you belong, you just need to surround yourself with people who make you feel accepted and wanted. To me, term time feels like I need to prove that I belong here academically, whereas vacation time feels as though I need to make myself believe I belong anywhere at all.

I know that I do not belong here, there, or anywhere. But I know that one day, if I use this education wisely enough, I can make sure that I never feel this way again. I can truly belong.

Union refute Purple Turtle allegations of “childish” behaviour

Eve Webster
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Union refute Purple Turtle allegations of “childish” behaviour

The Oxford Union have refuted Purple Turtle’s accusations that it was “always their intention” not to renew the club’s 20-year lease of the Union’s Frewin Court premises, dismissing them as “baseless.”

According to the Union, negotiations were only “impeded by the impossibility of an agreement on rent.”

Purple Turtle’s lease expired in September 2018. They will be replaced by Plush, who have signed a 20-year lease with the Union and will move into the premises in the new year.

Purple Turtle owner, Daniel Freifeld, described the Union as “reluctant” to negotiate new lease terms.

He told Cherwell: “We had been attempting to discuss a new lease with the Union for the past two or three years. The discussions finally started around the end of the summer only months away from the expiry date of the old lease.”

Freifeld added that the club had planned to spend up to £250,000 refurbishing the venue but were unable to commence plans without a renewed lease from the Union.

The spokesperson for the Union, Stephen Horvath, told Cherwell: “The Union proactively commenced negotiations for the renewal of the lease from December 2017, and obtained and acted in accordance with advice from professional land agents and our solicitors.

“Between December 2017 and October 2018, numerous meetings took place between both parties – often at the suggestion of the Union. Our professional advisors set fair and reasonable terms for the lease of a commercial premises in central Oxford.

“The Purple Turtle were not prepared to enter into a new lease on these terms, which were very reasonable in context of the growing and competitive property market in central Oxford.”

Freifeld told Cherwell that he only knew for certain that Plush would be the new tenants after the Union made their official announcement, despite matters such as licensing and security needing to be transferred between clubs before Purple Turtle moved out.

He said: “I only wish they would have had the decency to give us longer notice for us to find a new venue instead of two weeks.”

50 Purple Turtle staff members were made redundant last month.

According to the Union, a ‘tenancy at will’ agreement was issued to Purple Turtle in September which allowed them to continue operating beyond the lease expiration date.

Hovrath said: “At this junction, it would seem the responsibility of the tenant to inform their employees and suppliers of the insecurity of their position.”

Freifeld has stressed to Cherwell that Purple Turtle will continue and that they are looking at new venues to house the club.

He wrote in a statement: “After all it’s never been the building that makes the Turtle, it’s the Turtle that makes the building”. 

Over 100 people were seen queuing outside to gain access to the club by about 10:45pm on the club’s final night.

 

Oxbridge must take responsibility for ‘systemic’ access issues

Molly Innes
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Oxbridge must take responsibility for ‘systemic’ access issues

Every week seems to bring more news, more statistics, and more proof for how incredibly skewed our university is towards accepting those from the ‘elite’ schools. The Sutton Trust have found that eight schools sent 1,310 students to Oxbridge between 2015-2017, whilst the combined total from 2,894 other schools – roughly three quarters of all schools and colleges – was 1,220. Disappointing, but unsurprising. Those of us who already feel the prominence of the private sector within the university and our individual colleges won’t be surprised by this data, but hopefully it highlights the shocking proof to those who have been ignorant to it so far. Although, I ask, how many reports do we need to read before obvious change happens?

Oxford’s Vice Chancellor wrote in May 2018 – at the same time the university’s access report was announced- that “We still reflect the deep inequalities in British society, but we provide a powerful engine of social mobility for all our students.” Well, as the new data shows: some students are more mobile than others. Oxford and Cambridge cannot claim to be the best universities in the country whilst continuing to deflect responsibility. The argument that inequality is deep rooted in society and impacts children from a young age is undoubtedly correct; according to TeachFirst, “33% of pupils on free school meals achieved 5 A*- C at GCSE, compared to 60.5% of pupils overall.” Universities obviously face problems when accepting students, with the urge to accept the ‘best and brightest’ leaning them towards accepting students who have paid for that label. Contextually, however, the sheer determination of the underprivileged to cross a variety of barriers in schooling indicates they are more than capable of achieving places at Oxbridge. 3 A*s from a special measures state school far surpass 3 A*s from Eton. Admissions need to be contextualised to a greater level than they clearly are currently being.

I’ve said it before and I’ll carry on saying it until I’m forced to stop: a centralised system would dispel many of the access problems. The issue of access at Oxford has been raised to such a convoluted level that it seems near impossible to change the seemingly inherent inequality within the University walls. Structurally, this is on purpose. The people – largely – controlling the system don’t want it to radically change, why would they? Therefore, it seems like a harder issue than it really is. But it isn’t as complicated as we are led to believe.

The issue is systemic, as we are so frequently told. Yet, Oxbridge hides behind this word ‘systemic’. These institutions deflect blame. Yet, if Oxford and Cambridge do want to improve access, they have the ability to do so from the inside. When an issue is ‘systemic’ this is not give individuals the right to avoid blame. For such supposedly ‘intelligent’ universities, how can they constantly be so negligent and ignorant when it comes to access? The same universities that claim to want to push for more equality in access and diversity in admissions are the same institutions that accept 70 to 80 students from Westminster school a year, but between 2015 and 2017 a quarter of Oxford colleges failed to admit a single black student.

The BBC has collected testimonies from state schools that have seen a rise in the number of Oxbridge candidates being given offers in the last few years. I found these particularly interesting, especially the comments from William Baldwin, principal of non-selective state sixth form Brighton, Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College, where 57 students received Oxbridge offers; 27 of these were students of ‘less affluent’ backgrounds. Baldwin “put the success down to dedicating college resources to admissions and employing a full-time co-ordinator of Oxbridge applications.” Most state schools do not have the resources to do this. My school certainly didn’t. Statistics from The Department of Education this year found that the number of teachers working in state-funded schools in England has “fallen to its lowest level since 2013.” Quite simply, some state schools barely have enough teachers, let alone the resources to hire an Oxbridge specific co-ordinator. And why should they have to? Oxford University should be accepting students on the basis of interview training, verbal reasoning, or cultural capital.

A university where “independent school pupils are 7 times more likely to gain a place at Oxford or Cambridge compared to those in non-selective state schools” is not a diverse, inclusive or encouraging place to be. It’s unnecessary. The Sutton Trust report highlights how prejudiced Oxbridge is. Prejudice we already knew existed, but information that provides more evidence for holding the institutions accountable. The continuation of a few ‘elite’ independent schools to dominate, reflects the combination of a flawed university and a flawed society colliding together to create a space where money and connections hold greater value than grit, determination, and working against a prejudiced system.

I want to suggest that Oxbridge is not the cause of the inequality and lack of social mobility currently present in the country, and that these universities are symptomatic of a flawed state. But let’s not forget that roughly a third of all MPs were privately educated, with almost one in ten studying at Eton. Oxbridge’s problem with inequality and its’ lack of diversity is not confined to the universities, but neither is Oxbridge removed from society. Oxbridge’s influence is, unfortunately, felt everywhere. They should take responsibility for this.

Study shows eight schools dominate Oxbridge admissions

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Study shows eight schools dominate Oxbridge admissions

A study by the Sutton Trust revealed that eight elite schools admit more pupils to Oxbridge than over 2900 other schools combined.

The report revealed that the group of eight schools, which includes top schools such as Westminster, Eton, and St Paul’s Girl’s School, collectively sent 1310 students to either Oxford or Cambridge between 2015 and 2017, while 2900 other English schools sent a combined 1220 students to the universities in the same period.

Based on published admission statistics, Cherwell understands that just two of the eight are state schools: Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge and Peter Symonds College in Winchester.

The Trust’s study also highlighted geographical disparities between regions, with areas such as Rochdale, Salford and Southampton sending just two or fewer state school pupils between 2015 and 2017.

Founder of the Sutton Trust, Sir Peter Lampl, said: “If we are to ensure that all young people, regardless of their background, have a fair chance of getting in to our top universities, we need to address the patchwork of higher education guidance and support.

“All young people, regardless of what area they grow up in, or what school they go to, should have access to high quality personal guidance that allows them to make the best informed choices about their future.

“The admissions process also needs to change. We have made the case for giving poorer students a break through contextual admissions, but we also need universities to make it clear what grades these students need to access courses.”

The charity recommended that universities should publicise their criteria for contextual admissions more widely, and explain clearly how they can affect an application. The report suggested implementing an “easy-to-use lookup tool on university websites” which would allow “candidates to enter their details and find out whether they qualify”.

They also suggested that universities introduce a “geographic” element to be included in university access agreements, focusing on “peripheral areas”.

Cherwell has contacted Oxford University staff for comment.

Former Nuffield fellow denounced for “racist pseudoscience”

Ben van der Merwe
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Former Nuffield fellow denounced for “racist pseudoscience”

Former Nuffield College researcher Noah Carl has been denounced by hundreds of academics for what they describe as his “racist pseudoscience.” Carl is now a Fellow at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge.

Over 200 academics from across the country expressed concern that Carl’s association with the University of Cambridge would legitimise “discredited ‘race science’”.

In an open letter, the group called on St. Edmund’s College to investigate how the Toby Jackman Newton Trust Research Fellowship was awarded to Carl.

The letter read: “We are shocked that a body of work that includes vital errors in data analysis and interpretation appears to have been taken seriously for appointment to such a competitive research fellowship.”

The academics noted that his “pseudoscientific” papers have “been used by extremist and far-right outlets with the aim of stoking xenophobic anti-immigrant rhetoric.”

An article in which Carl argued that public prejudices against immigrants were “largely accurate” was re-posted on far-right outlets including The Daily Caller, InfoWars and Free West Media, despite one external reviewer writing that “it is never OK to publish research this bad.”

Carl has written numerous articles for publications with links to the far-right. He is on the review team of Emil Kirkegaard’s OpenPsych and is the website’s most prolific contributor after Kirkegaard himself. Kirkegaard describes himself as a “self-taught” geneticist who has previously defended child rape, and appeared on the far-right webshow Reality Calls to discuss the “future of eugenics.”

Among Carl’s OpenPsych papers is one arguing that an increased Muslim population leads to more terrorism in the country. The paper was subsequently reviewed by Kirkegaard and self-described “race realist” John Fuerst.

Carl has also written for Mankind Quarterly, described as a white supremacist journal and published by the Pioneer Fund, a pro-eugenics fund which also bankrolls Jared Taylor’s white nationalist American Renaissance.

The former Nuffield postdoctoral researcher attracted controversy earlier this year, when London Student revealed that he had repeatedly attended a secretive conference on eugenics at UCL. The London Conference on Intelligence is closely linked to the Pioneer Fund, and was organised by Emil Kirkegaard.

The conference saw researchers argue that racial ‘admixture’ has a negative effect on population quality and that the number of Nobel Prizes won by different countries can be explained by racial differences in male hormone levels.

The academic left Nuffield College at the end of his contract this summer.

Oxford announces plans for new postgraduate college

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Oxford announces plans for new postgraduate college

Oxford has today announced plans to create a new graduate college, hoping to recruit 200 graduate students in 2019-2020 for admission in September 2020.

The 39th Oxford college, which has yet to be named, will specialise in the Division of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences, although students from other subjects will also be admitted.

The new college will be built on the site of the Radcliffe Science Library on Parks Road. The University says students will “enjoy a central Oxford location and a vibrant scholarly, sporting and cultural life.”

Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, has offered the position of Head of House of the college to Professor Lionel Tarassenko CBE FREng FMedSci, who has held the Chair in Electrical Engineering at Oxford since 1997.

Professor Richardson said: “Lionel Tarassenko was the driving force behind Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, in which he also established a Centre of Excellence in Medical Engineering. 

“The Institute was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2014 for success in forging collaboration between engineering and medicine. He is indefatigable in translating ideas into practical impact and in bringing smart people together. 

“A committed researcher and teacher, Lionel has supervised more than 60 doctoral students and is superbly qualified to lead Oxford’s 39th college.”

The plan, hinted at in a previous announcement in August, is part of a wider strategy by Oxford to increase its postgraduate intake by 850 per year by 2023 while continuing to pride itself on world-class tutoring and research.

Armitage’s Gawain: translating in wylde wayeȝ

Penry Buckley
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Armitage’s Gawain: translating in wylde wayeȝ

This Michaelmas, in the first of his final year of lectures as Professor of Poetry, Simon Armitage chose to revisit his 2007 translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, of which a revised, illustrated version has just been released.

A medieval text which lay dormant in an undiscovered manuscript until the mid-nineteenth century, Gawain has found new life in translations, of which, as Armitage admits in his original introduction, there exist “dozens, possibly hundreds” – some of them scholarly, some in verse, some in prose, many of them amateur and posted on the Internet.

Armitage’s own celebrated translation is unusual in its attempt to convey the original poem’s alliterative metre and four-stress lines in modern English. Armitage, like the Gawain-poet, is a Northerner and thus shares an affinity with the original poem’s distinctive dialect. Despite this, he is an unapologetic defender of modern translation, which as he says, opens up what would be a poem of minority interest to a much wider audience. This translation preserves the entertaining narrative and timeless questions about moral codes, as well as our relationship with the natural world.

With a poem like Gawain, whose difficult, winding language makes contemporaries like Chaucer seem easy-going in comparison, translation makes sense as an aid even to scholarly readers. But Armitage’s defence of translation reflects its continued low status – it seems a widely-held belief by those in the know that literature is always better in the original, a belief which seemingly discourages many from ever reading foreign language texts – by recent estimates, translations only account for 2% of books sold in the United Kingdom.

Having studied English and modern languages and read texts in the original and in translation, it is hard to say which has more value. The realities of a languages degree are such that is often hard to read a text entirely in the original in time for a class or a tutorial, and English translations quickly present themselves as a time-saving option, their unimpeded reading, I have found, often resulting in a better sense of the essence of a text.

To read in the original language is to get a stronger sense of the language spoken by the author and in which their ideas were formulated, but the frustration of trying to keep in mind, say, the many clauses and sub-clauses of a 600 word Proust sentence, before finding you have to look up a word in the middle, inevitably leads to a more frustrated sense of these ideas. As imperfect readers, our individual frames of reference are such that we only gather some of what is being said – familiarity with the original language of a text, although important, is only one of these frames of reference.

Translation is not without flaws – it cannot help but alter authorial voice, although the degree to which this takes place is certainly not consistent. Indeed, Armitage’s translation, with its clear sense of his own voice, often reads like a retelling, and might more accurately be described as adaptation (though the line between the two is certainly vague).  While sometimes modern English allows him able to stay close to the original – ‘his vesture uerayly watȝ clene verdure’ becomes ‘In all vestments he revealed himself veritably verdant!’ – his decision to stick with alliteration often results in a slightly different meaning. In the translation of a line like ‘syþen waked me wyþ’ into ‘yet you joined in my revelling right royally every night’, Armitage’s modern alliteration, a technique now more associated with nursery rhyme than romance, imbues the translation with a comic delight in the quaintness of medieval life that is not in the original.

Similarly, it is a reflection of the slow death of regional dialects in the United Kingdom that Armitage’s broadly Northern tongue only approximates the original poet’s more localised Staffordshire-Cheshire dialect. Although Armitage could not be accused of obscuring Gawain’s Northernness, translation clearly does have negative potential, not helped by the fact that translators into English are more often than not native-English speakers, who, in translating the literature of countries that might have been former colonies, might have an inclination to obscure the political or cultural ‘Other’. Clearly, in reading in translation, it is just as important to have a sense of the translator and their intentions as it is of those of the author.

Ironically, medieval attitudes to authorship and transmission were far more relaxed than our own, and there was the expectation that texts would change via the hands of different scribes. The Gawain manuscript, for example, is widely accepted not to be in the hand of the author, and the text itself is the product of mutual exchange between languages and cultures through translation – the French romances which English Arthurian tradition drew on postulated themselves as re-imaginings of Ancient British oral traditions.

The sense of an individual authorial voice is evidently more important for modern readers: the value we accord to a translation comes down to how important we view the pure preservation of this is, in relation to the other things we gain from the literature of the past and of other languages. Whether these are universal themes, or an understanding of the individuals and periods that produced it, Armitage’s Gawain seems to find a balance.

Oxford Men win 137th Rugby Varsity Match in a stunning show of teamwork

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Oxford Men win 137th Rugby Varsity Match in a stunning show of teamwork

Oxford won the 137th men’s varsity match today 38-16, after a thrilling game saw them surge to a succession of tries in the second half. This is the first varsity victory for the dark blues since 2015, preventing a Cambridge hat-trick, and bringing the varsity total scores to 63 for Cambridge to Oxford’s 60 wins.

In the first quarter of the game at Twickenham Cambridge seemed to dominate, with the score at 6-0 to the light blues after fifteen minutes. Oxford struggled with high balls and were making errors. Oxford also suffered injuries in the early stages with number eight Sven Kerneis being replaced with Ryan Jones due to a blood injury, five minutes into the game. Mike Phillips converted both of Cambridge’s early penalties but by the twenty-minute mark Oxford seemed to come into the game. Fly Half Tom Humberstone cleared a penalty, giving Oxford their first points. This was to be the first of 6 successful kicks for the number 10 who successfully converted all five of the subsequent tries for Oxford. Going into the final ten minutes of the half Oxford appeared to be moving laterally and not managing to push the game forward towards the try line. After a scare of a near-miss Cambridge try and another successful penalty kick from Phillips, Oxford won a lineout at the 37 minute mark. Fantastic and quick partnership work from full back Ben Ransom and winger Dan Barley down the right side of the pitch brought Oxford their first try by the end of the half.

The second half was a different story and a convincing display of Oxford talent led to a flurry of tries which secured the final score. Four minutes in, Charlie Pozniak, the dark blue blind side flanker, scored Oxford’s second try. Scrum half George Tressider had a poor game and Cambridge snuck back some possession but the third Oxford try came at the 60 minute mark. An impressive insertion of pace by Tom Stileman brought Oxford over the try line again in the left corner. After a yellow card for Cambridge kicker Mike Phillips left them a man down, there was a repeat of Oxford’s first half try with Ransom making another crucial pass which allowed for Barley to touch down again. With the score at 29-9 Oxford appeared to have the game but Cambridge captain Koster brought the light blues their first try, increasing their points to 16. In the final moments of the game, after a smooth and powerful final drive from Oxford, another stunning show of flair from consistent kicker Humberstone led to Oxford’s fifth try when he touched down after a series of fast passes crossed the ball across the pitch.

Oxford and Cambridge were on relatively equal standings going into the match, having both won seven of their ten warm up fixtures. Despite Cambridge having ten returning blues to Oxford’s five, the dark blues had the advantage of five players in the team having had experience playing for premiership sides. Captain for Cambridge, Nick Koster, who has played in South Africa and for Bath and Bristol, had a good game but suffered a blood injury in second half and did not manage to inject needed aggression and power into the Cambridge side in the second half. The standout players for Oxford were Waldouck, Humberstone and Barley as well as Ben Ransom who was awarded player of the match. Reflecting on the victory Ransom noted that Oxford had a “tough first 20 minutes” but they managed to “build into the game and score some nice tries in the second half.”

Speaking to Cherwell, Oxford Captain Dom Waldouck said that the most important thing for him was that Oxford managed to weather the pressure early on. Reflecting on how the team dealt with the pressure of Twickenham Waldouck said “the focus on processes and the focus on us helped us deal with the occasion, we had to take the factor of the occasion out and focus on exactly what we were doing.”

When asked about his captaincy, Waldouck told Cherwell: “its been a huge learning curve in understanding and managing people and how to communicate, I’m so proud of what the group has become, how close we are, how much we care about each other and I think we showed that when we came under a lot of pressure today.”

Oxford’s George Robson also commented on the nature of the team, telling Cherwell that he was “so proud, I have friends for the rest of my life now which makes it all the more special. The whole squad came on and everyone did their bit, we had trust in each other and showed resilience.”

Cambridge win 30th Women’s Varsity Match 8-5

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Cambridge win 30th Women’s Varsity Match 8-5

Cambridge won the 30th Women’s Varsity Match 8-5 at Twickenham today. This is their fourth win since 2015 when the women’s matched moved to the home of English rugby. Oxford last won in 2016 and fought hard today, coming back from 8-0 at the 74th minute with a try from lock Katie Collis. Cambridge’s early try, 28 minutes in, by number eight Emily Pratt gave them a surge after early Oxford dominance. Despite holding a large amount of the possession throughout the match the Oxford side failed to convert this pressure into points and ran out of time in the second half in what was a very closely fought game.

In the first half, sharp pace from the dark blues brought them very close to the try line and they kept the ball in Cambridge’s half. A powerful tackle from vice-captain Sophie Trott, who was competing in her fourth and final varsity match, led to a line-out which was won by Oxford. This was the start of a very strong game for Trott who along with Captain Abby D’cruz appeared to be the star players in dark blue, holding the team together and providing essential speed. After keeping the play under their control for 20 minutes Oxford responded to a quick attack from Cambridge with full back Connie Hurton acting as Oxford’s last line of defence and tackling the light blue player efficiently. Despite very good play from both Oxford winger Wigginton and Hurton (who today adds another blue to her cross country blue from 2017), Cambridge put into a scrum just meters from Oxford’s try line and Pratt was able to take a try for the light blues. Cambridge were unable to convert however and five points down Oxford’s women pushed onwards, led by Lock Shekinah Opara. After powerful clashes both Coleman and Bradshaw for Cambridge were treated for blood injuries and taken off with seven minutes of the half remaining. With five minutes of the half to go Katie Collis pushed over the Cambridge try line but was unable to touch down, unfortunately such scenes optimised the game, Oxford had chances and held onto possession but failed to convert into points. Going into half time Oxford certainly looked the better side but despite their efforts were unable to capitalise on their own strength.

From the restart Cambridge kept the game in Oxford’s 22 and gained a penalty with light blue Alice Elgar taking the kick and adding three more points to their total, nine minutes into the half. D’Cruz, often acting as the key screw in the Oxford machine made a break along with Wigginton and pushed into Cambridge’s half. After a string of replacements and Sophie Farrant, winger for Cambridge, being taken off on a stretcher with a leg injury, Oxford seemed to be making a comeback into the game. A renewed effort with eight minutes of the game remaining led to the dark blues edging ever closer to their try line, after a scrum and D’Cruz kicking into the corner, Oxford won their lineout and Katie Collis pushed over the line for Oxford’s first try. This was not only Oxford’s first try of the game but also their first at the Twickenham varsity match. Captain D’Cruz missed the all-important conversion which would have closed the score gap and it was starting to look like an Oxford win was falling out of grasp with four minutes remaining. Oxford won several more lineouts and kept possession allowing for Sophie Trott to sprint forward over 30 meters in a last dash for points, but time was up and Cambridge took the victory.

Player of the match was awarded to Cambridge’s Amelia Miller who at number 11 was able to contribute to Cambridge’s powerful advances. After the match Cambridge captain Kate Marks expressed that she “could not be prouder of every single one of [the Cambridge] girls”, she added that they had “worked so hard, every single girl has earned their shirt”.

Speaking to Cherwell after the match Oxford’s Sophie Trott said: “The work rate of the girls today was unbelievable. It was the best game of rugby we’ve played ever. Everyone managed to keep their heads. The standard this year, thinking back to my first year, the standard has grown exponentially.”

When asked about how it felt to be in the 30th women’s varsity match Trott said: “It was just a great display of rugby, of how aggressive it is and how hard people can hit, and its not just men that smash people, we do it too.”

Also speaking to Cherwell, Abby D’Cruz said that the women’s game has “come a really long way and I think the reason for that is the visibility that things like the Varsity match give to women’s rugby. There are loads of school kids here today, lots of young girls there knowing they can come to Oxford and Cambridge and play rugby and have that community.”

The occasion of the match was celebrated by past players of the Women’s Varsity match creating a guard of honour for the teams as they ran out onto the pitch. The player of the match medal was presented to Cambridge’s Amelia Miller by women’s captains Heather Lawrence (Oxford) and Sophia Mirchandani (Cambridge), who led the first women’s teams at the Varsity match in 1988.

The Winter’s Tale review – atmospheric and otherworldly

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The Winter’s Tale review – atmospheric and otherworldly

It is difficult to imagine how The Winter’s Tale might work in a black box theatre. Neither Florizel and Perdita’s pastoral scenes nor the open grandeur of courtly life would seem to lend themselves to such a small and dark interior. But in Agnes Pethers’s production, the obscurity of the black box becomes central to the show: sequinned cloths constantly shimmer in the background, and an alien blue light often only half-lights the actors. The music is eerie, and the set minimal: it is almost like walking into a cabaret club, but one that is occupied by a ‘kindly Edwardian gentleman, ensconced in an upholstered armchair by the fire, relating an old, half-remembered story’ (Jonathan Bate). Pethers’s production deals well with the strangeness of The Winter’s Tale by making it central to the show’s aesthetic.

Positioned just beyond the stage, Bate’s narrator is wonderfully adept at grounding what can otherwise feel otherworldly, verging on the ridiculous: he incorporates oracles, sea voyages and a onesie-dressed ‘bear’ into his storytelling. It is a particularly clever move to make a meta-theatrical feature of the play’s more fantastical qualities: the intimate relationship between audience and storyteller means that what is ‘real’ can be pushed far more than it might be otherwise. My only gripe was that the decision to have most of the seating on one flat platform slightly detracted from this effect: I often found it difficult to see what was happening on stage, particularly when actors spoke from the floor.

Harry Berry as Camillo, Tom Fisher as Florizel/Antigonus and Jonny Wiles as Polixenes are the stand out performances. Wiles and Berry are wonderful as they dress up in beards to spy on Florizel and Perdita (Kathryn Cussons): they provide great light relief throughout, and Berry is particularly amusing as the bashful husband-to-be of Paulina.

Kristen Cope’s choreography also contributes to this light-heartedness: dances between Hermione and Polixenes, or Florizel and Perdita, are unexpectedly touching. And what with Bate in the armchair and students playing the other parts, the decision to have a little girl play the part of Mamillius not only delights the audience (a chorus of ‘aahhs’ ensues whenever she appears) but really makes it feel as though this is a story being transferred from old to young.

But the show does have some more difficult moments. Whilst James Fairhead’s more subdued Leontes contrasts nicely with Wiles’s jovial Polixenes, Leontes’s violent emotional trajectory is not always convincing, and scenes between Leontes and Hermione (Teddy Briggs) struggle to reach tragic climax.

It is a production that sits more comfortably with the comic scenes in the play, and is at its best when it is entertaining: the second half of the play is certainly stronger than the first, led to its conclusion by the strength of Sophie Keynes’s performance as Paulina.

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