Tuesday 22nd July 2025
Blog Page 744

Merton student society hosts ‘genetic selection’ debate

Isabel Morris
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Merton student society hosts ‘genetic selection’ debate

The Neave Society, a Merton College debating group, hosted a debate on the topic of “genetic selection” on Tuesday, under heavy criticism from members of their JCR.

The event was held a week after a St Antony’s debate on eugenics was cancelled amid heavy backlash from students.

The Neave Society’s original event description read: “Did you want to go to the debate at St Antony’s on eugenics before they decided that it was too controversial for you to hear? No problem, come to Neave!

“Little or no knowledge of eugenics, come and take part!”

The proposed debate topic was “This House Believes that we should legalise genetic selection of human embryos.”

A post advertising the event on the Merton JCR Facebook page received many comments from students protesting the controversial debate topic.

One student wrote: “Oh of course, if an event gets banned at another college (for a damn good reason), then it definitely seems like a great idea to run the same event….

“There is no debate about eugenics. If you think there is, you clearly don’t understand the difference between genetic engineering and eugenics. If you want to have a debate about genetic engineering, have one, but don’t use something so deeply rooted in hatred to try and get attention.

“It’s cheap and frankly disgusting.”

[irp posts=”112822″ name=”St Antony’s ‘eugenics’ debate cancelled amid backlash”]

Another student wrote: “Ah yes, free speech always ends bad ideas and intolerance – that’s why Western liberal democracies with free speech are paragons of modernity, humanity and have absolutely no remnants of any intolerant or hateful ideas.

“Or maybe it’s that giving extreme ideas like these the oxygen of publicity and legitimacy lets them take hold with even more power.”

Very few students attended the event, with only six students having marked “going” on the event page.

The Society changed the event description after its negative reception by the JCR. The new description read: “We will be debating ‘This House Believes that we should legalise genetic selection of human embryos.’ Little or no knowledge on the subject, come and take part!”

Merton JCR President, Jules Desai, told Cherwell: “The Neave Soc intended to have a debate about genetic selection, a subtly but crucially different topic to eugenics.

“Some confusion and miscommunication may have occurred, meaning that the event details were not entirely accurate, however as soon as this was realised, the society amended any confusion and made it clear the debate was on genetic engineering and selection only and not the wider topic of eugenics.”

In defence of their topic choice, The Neave Society President, first-year Lewis Hart, replied to comments on the page: “The Neave Society debated no-platforming and we voted that we were in favour of free speech. If you feel strongly against the concept of eugenics come and speak about it.”

The Neave Society Treasurer, first-year Conor Ó Síocháin, added: “Obviously no racism/sexism will be tolerated, but we hope we can have an honest debate where people can share their views.

“If a view is intolerable then it will (I hope) be properly dismantled in an argument.”

When contacted for comment, The Neave Society told Cherwell: “Tuesday’s Neave Society debated the motion ‘This House Believes that we should legalise the genetic selection of human embryos.’

“It was not to do with eugenics and we did not intend any suggestion of a link between the two.”

TuskTasks app links Oxford students to odd jobs

Jeremiah O'Mahony
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TuskTasks app links Oxford students to odd jobs

A group of student entrepreneurs from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes launched a task-sharing service in April with the aim of “bringing communities together”.

The service, called TuskTasks, connects students with people in the Oxford community who need to run errands but may not have the time.

Members of the public post their tasks on the website along with the price they’re willing to pay for it, and the students choose whichever tasks they can complete.

The response rate is often as quick as a few minutes, Micheal Hodnett, a co-founder of TuskTasks and finalist in real estate management at Brookes, told Cherwell.

So far, according to Hodnett, the service has 201 users. “The idea came when I was lying in bed thinking how much I needed money, and how I was going to make it,” Hodnett said.

Hodnett’s main source of income was doing odd jobs for friends and family, but he wondered why he had to be limited to working for people he knew.

“So I set out to try and create a platform to connect people who need help with students who need work.”

While finding students work is an important aspect of TuskTask’s mission, Hodnett also recognises how the service can bring a community closer together.

He told Cherwell: “There seems to be a lot of negativity towards students within university towns and as such we wanted to paint students in a better light. Students do drink and party – sometimes – but they also work incredibly hard and can be a very reliable taskforce.

“The platform is about helping one another. Helping the students earn money, while they are helping you.”

The service can go a long way towards reducing what Hodnett calls ‘studentification’, the impact of a huge group of students being integrated into a city.

Saam Medizadeh, director of the TuskTasks platform, told the Oxford Mail: “It gives students a chance to bring communities together, reduce the friction between communities and students and have people realise that students can help out.”

Though only a website currently, the TuskTasks team is planning to turn the service into an app by the end of 2018.

Hodnett told Cherwell: “This is the perfect way for students to make money as and when they need it, without having to commit to a regular job that affects their studies-and if we can give students a chance, I’m sure everyone will be surprised.”

Lynne Ramsay reminds us that childhood isn’t a fairytale

Rosa Thomas
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Lynne Ramsay reminds us that childhood isn’t a fairytale

So often our focus on childhood is rose-tinted, coloured by the belief that our childhoods were a simple time, devoid of worry. In this candy-coloured bubble of nostalgia, the work of writer and director Lynne Ramsay is striking. Ramsay has gained fame and critical acclaim for many of her feature length films, including We Need to Talk About Kevin and You Were Never Really Here. However, to appreciate her depiction of childhood, watch Small Deaths – Ramsay’s graduation short film, which won her the Prix du Jury at Cannes in 1996.

This short, running for just eleven minutes, is divided into three moments focusing on experiences of loss in the life of a young girl. The dialogue is infrequent and the plot, if you can call it that, is unclear. Ramsay studied art at Napier College and this is clear in her projects which often focus on image and aesthetic. In Small Deaths, the Camera focuses unflinchingly on the face of a young girl growing up in a Glasgow housing project. In the middle of the tripartite structure the girl watches a cow, hit with a rock by local children, dying. The camera focuses on the girl’s eyes as she takes in the scene in front of her. The little girl watches death and, as an audience, you squirm. The audience, like the girl, are forced to confront the complexities and imperfections of childhood.

Traditional coming-of-age films perpetuate the false idea that our childhoods are carefree periods from which we come of age in one, feature film length, metamorphosis. Ramsay’s frequent exploration of childhood in conjunction with the macabre and the complicated reminds us this is not the truth. The idea that ‘childhood’ is a discreet, different time in our lives, is false. There probably never was a time when we possessed perfect innocence and there is no single, liminal time in which we magically come of age. Instead Ramsay suggests that we are changed by the realities of life that confront us no matter our age.

The flipside of childhood is of course parenthood. This too is questioned by Ramsay’s simultaneously poetic and unforgiving camera, most notably in her film We Need to Talk About Kevin. The film explores the predicament of Eva, a woman whose son Kevin has committed a school massacre. What happens, the film asks, when bad children have good parents? Or maybe ‘good parents’ never existed to begin with. Although cinema is fascinated by the effect of parenting on children, few films ever stop to assess the effect children have on parents.

Ramsay’s latest film, You Were Never Really Here, again examines the darker side of childhood. The film surrounds a hitman who is paid to rescue young girls from sexual exploitation. The gripping narrative is interspersed with horrifying flashbacks from his childhood for which we have little context. Similarly, the girl he is determined to save hasn’t had a childhood, or at least the one we are constantly sold, as she is passed around by different powerful men from a very early age.

Ramsay reminds us that childhood is not just the cause of nostalgia but the root of trauma. Her work asks us to forget the ‘Coming of Age’ trope adored by the cinema. She tries to remind us that childhood inevitably and inescapably interacts with harsh reality, bringing with it the potential for loss, cruelty, and loneliness. For this alone she should be considered one of the most important and innovative directors of our time.

Driverless cars trialled in Oxford

Daniel Hall
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Driverless cars trialled in Oxford

Driverless cars were tested on the streets of Oxford last week as part of a research project conducted by DRIVEN, a UK-based consortium.

The 30-month project, which began in July 2017, aims to make it easier for autonomous vehicles to get onto the commercial market.

Lead partner of the DRIVEN consortium is Oxfordshire-based Oxbotica – a spin-out company from the University’s Robotics Institute, set up by Oxford Professor Paul Newman – as well as Oxfordshire County Council and Transport for London.

Last week’s test, which was deemed successful by researchers, saw two vehicles trialled on Oxford’s streets. The cars encountered pedestrians, cyclists, and other traffic autonomously.

Oxbotica told Cherwell that though driverless cars have been trialled on Oxford streets before, this test was to demonstrate the interactions between the cars.

DRIVEN project director and Oxbotica CEO Dr Graeme Smith told New Scientist: “This is a significant landmark in the development of vehicle autonomy, which has always been about more than simply self-driving.

“This public trial demonstrates that our technology is able to share data and information that vehicles are then able to use to plot more effective routes, avoid potential hazards, and anticipate conditions more effectively.

“This will have huge implications on the way autonomous vehicles will operate and how the future of road travel in the UK looks, improving safety, efficiency and productivity.”

The cars used in the trial operate using what is known as “Level 4 autonomy”, meaning the car can “[drive] itself most of the time without much human input”, Oxbotica told Cherwell. According to DRIVEN, the trials they are conducting are the most complex public tests of autonomous vehicles so far.

When asked how driverless cars would be able to navigate around the high number of cyclists in Oxford, Newman told Cherwell: “We have always been Oxford-based, so the brain behind our driverless cars, called Selenium, has learned from data collected in and around Oxford.

“Oxbotica technology is incredibly adept in dense urban environments, and is used to interacting with lots of cyclists, pedestrians, buses, taxis and cars.”

Newman also emphasised how driverless cars are compatible with the local government’s transport vision. He said: “The DRIVEN consortium involves a number of partners, including Oxfordshire County Council. This means we can work very closely with the local authority to align our plans for future transport in Oxford.”

Oxford MP Anneliese Dodds told Cherwell: “It has been good to see Oxford yet again pushing forward innovation, with driverless cars now being tested on our streets. Driverless cars offer enormous potential, especially if they enable more people to share the same
vehicle, as indeed is scheduled to occur in the autonomous pods that will be used by commuters between Didcot Parkway station and Milton Park.

“However we have to be aware of the safety concerns that have been raised by pedestrians and cyclists, and of the potential employment impact on those who drive for a living. I know these and other issues are being taken seriously by those who are developing the technology in our own city and county.”

DRIVEN plan to have a fleet of six driverless cars being trialled around Oxford’s roads by the end of the year. Newman says the final aim of the project is to have autonomous vehicles “driving between Oxford and London.”

In January, Cherwell reported on how driverless cars could be the future of transportation in the city. Nigel Tipple, chief executive of OxLEP, told Cherwell: “Students are, of course, among those living and working in Oxford who could benefit from this type of transport innovation; pods could bring cheaper, more efficient and economical travel, particularly around the city centre, and the introduction of such new technology would also mean we all benefit from living and working in a cleaner, greener, less congested city.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that this was the first time driverless cars had been tested on Oxford’s streets. Additionally, it referred to DRIVEN as a ‘company’ rather than a consortium, and said the driverless car project began in April 2017. These mistakes have been corrected. 

Clean Break – Theatre and the Criminal Justice System

Cesca Echlin
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Clean Break – Theatre and the Criminal Justice System

It was in the summer after GCSEs that I first encountered the work of the theatre charity, Clean Break. The production, entitled ‘Little on the Inside,’ followed the relationship between two female prisoners as they attempted to cope with life behind bars. This seemingly ‘simple’ premise challenged the actors with the not-so-simple task of embodying the complex consciousness of two imprisoned women. The result was a bold piece of theatre that broke down the politically loaded problem of our prison system by centralizing the stories of individuals.

Clean Break itself was set up in 1979 by two female prisoners who sought to provide a theatrical platform for the consistently marginalized women that exist within the UK’s Criminal Justice System (CJS). Offering theatre-based programmes both within prisons and at their all-female premises in north London, Clean Break works to provide society with a more nuanced representation of women who are involved in the CJS.

Representation is a consistently discussed issue across our society nowadays, and rightly so. By representing women involved in the CJS, Clean Break provides a means through which society can be confronted with harsh realities that we too often choose to overlook. Speaking to Clean Break, I suggested that, as a women’s charity, it is inherently entrenched in the feminist movement. They agreed, and confirmed that addressing inequality is an important part of their work. It would be difficult to exclude the topic of feminism from the discussion of a charity that makes it clear that they ‘keep women to the fore in everything [they] do.’

‘Intersectionality’ is a relevant (dare I say it) ‘buzzword’ when you consider the work of Clean Break. Intersectionality can be defined as ‘the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination and disadvantage’ (OED). Clean Break’s specific client group allows us to grapple with a specific form of intersectionality: how female oppression intersects with the disadvantages that arise from involvement with the CJS.

To me, this overarching focus on women is what makes Clean Break unique. There are other notable charities that use theatre in conjunction with those who have been involved in the CJS – but none of these charities were conceived with the same female-centric ethos as Clean Break.

In the UK’s Criminal Justice System, the nature of female offending is very different from that of male offending. Whilst women make up only 5% of the UK prison population, they have particular and complex needs. Nearly 65% of women in prison reported that they had mental health issues compared with around 42% of men. In addition, 53% of women in prison report having experienced some form of abuse during their lifetime. A fundamental aspect of female imprisonment is the catastrophic effect it has on the prisoners’ children. Only 9% of children whose mothers are imprisoned are cared for by their fathers during their mother’s absence. The statistics are overwhelming, but do not in themselves suggest the subsequent cross-generational cycle of abuse, trauma, crime, incarceration, and subsequent reoffending.

Clean Break’s focus on women in the CJS allows them to keep the specific needs of their client group paramount. Their spokesperson remarked: ‘We have to bear in mind the personal experiences of the women… Violence, addiction, abuse are all subjects that might be painfully close to home for some of them. But if we’re working with a group of artists to teach them about working with vulnerable women, those same subjects might be vital to understanding what they need to do.’

There is an important point I should clarify – Clean Break’s theatre-based work is not ‘drama therapy.’ Their practitioners are carefully trained to manage group dynamics appropriately, and individuals are certainly not compelled to use their own experiences as a creative springboard. This is vital in sustaining an artistic environment that feels safe for everyone involved. All this being said, the idea of totally avoiding subjects like addiction and abuse carries with it an uncomfortable sense of falsehood. Acknowledging the realities of many of the women they are working with is crucial to Clean Break’s work – albeit it in a safe way for everyone involved in the creative process. Mental health is certainly not overlooked at the charity. They provide strong, in-house student support and offer specialist forensic psychotherapy from Holloway United Therapies (HUT).

With prison reform at a critical point in our society, a greater awareness of the impact of factors like abuse and addiction on criminal behaviour, and an overall deeper understanding of the devastating effects of female imprisonment on subsequent generations, it seems to me that the role of Clean Break has never felt more relevant. So, where can you see their work? ‘Thick as Thieves’ by Katherine Chandler is on tour later this year – see their website for more details.

Clean Break:

cleanbreak.org.uk

Holloway United Therapies (HUT):

hollowayunitedtherapies.org.uk

(Sources: womeninprison.org.uk; prisonreformtrust.org.uk)

Victors: a sneak preview

Steph Santos-Paulo
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Victors: a sneak preview

On yet another sizzler of a hot day in Oxford, it seemed a perfect time to venture across the sun-soaked roof terrace of Westgate to Victors, the new Hamptons-inspired restaurant and bar.

Although the fine-dining hotspot will see its official launch tonight, last week the Victors team kindly welcomed Cherwell for an exclusive sneak peek of what’s to come.

Sleek glass panels and the gleam of yet-unused crockery convey a modern feel, yet this somewhat imposing grandeur is softened by the communal dining style of circular wooden tables and cushioned booths sitting in prime view of a huge fireplace. Though the audience is yet to arrive, the stage is set. Victor’s is ready for its first guests, with a stunning restaurant complete with curtains of purple wisteria flowers that cascade from ceiling to floor. The centrepiece, however, is the large bar at the heart of the restaurant, where we meet Roberto, our Victor’s barman for the afternoon.

It’s a struggle to pick just one from the menu of 15 signature cocktails, including the the sweet and fruity ‘Butterflies’, the fiery-flavoured ‘Beasts’, and the ‘Flowers’, offering sharer size for those of us partial to Spoons’ pitcher-style portions.

First in the line up of three cocktails (oops) is ‘James and the Giant Peach’, a sweet vodka-based drink that decorates your upper lip with a moustache of egg white foam and leaves behind fruity flavours of pear and peach. ‘Neat Chic Petite’ is up next, putting a twist on a classic G&T with rich spicy undertones of ginger and agave — an ideal refresher for an intensely hot, treat-yourself kind of day.

To conclude our cocktail round is ‘Kiss and Candy’, a suitably elaborate finale comprising a base of vodka, vanilla and lychee, served alongside a shot of prosecco crowned with candyfloss. This deconstructed style of cocktail, I am told, is a recurrent feature of some of the Victors’ signatures.

This means that a cocktail at Victors doesn’t just guarantee you an extra ten likes on your Instagram post, but also offers up a sweetness to alcohol ratio that suits your taste. If you’re daring enough to go off-menu, the bartenders are just as happy to synthesise an original cocktail to suit your specific craving.

Victors will be open from breakfast until after dark — at 10.30pm when dinner is over, the restaurant is transformed into a nightlife venue, featuring live jazz and DJ sets to keep the party going way beyond the dessert course.

With a tantalising menu of Modern American sharer platters by day, and a unique bar experience by night, Victors’ debut on the Oxford dining and nightlife scene promises to make a stir — or should I say, shake?

A Band With Purpose and Integrity

Shona Galt
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A Band With Purpose and Integrity

I trek to Cowley for the first time in daylight, excited to see my favourite band for the sixth time. But this time would be different, offering the opportunity of an interview.

No doubt, over the years the Geordie five-piece Little Comets have had it hard, having experienced changing line-ups, being dropped by labels, and, eventually, becoming totally self-sufficient. But after I sit down to interview Rob Coles (lead singer/guitarist) he puts a positive spin on this. As they’ve never had any huge success, they really get to know the people who regularly attend their gigs. The boys genuinely appreciate the support.

The gig begins with an electric rendition of their newest track ‘The Punk is in the Detail’. Released alongside ‘M62’, it demonstrates the band’s practice of putting tracks out in pairs, rather than feel the pressure to rush through enough for an album: one of the many perks of independence. The song, condensed from an original eight verses in length, connects examples from Eastern European immigrants, to the Grenfell Tower victims, and with the chorus line “We are here / Deal with it”, those disempowered individuals become an empowered group.

This is something Rob tells me as we chat:

“The chorus of ‘The Punk is in the Detail’ can be representative of anybody. It was a good one to write. I felt lighter when I’d finished writing it.”

His catharsis manifests onstage. The track’s solemn lyrics initially contrast its upbeat soundscape, engineered by Rob’s brother, guitarist Mickey, which intensifies throughout the performance. By the time we reach the chorus line’s final chants it feels anthemic and universally empowering.

This energy is matched by ‘À Bientôt’ off 2017’s Worhead. It is a track which reflects on ignorant attitudes towards the refugee crisis, drawing on the tragic photo of Alan Kurdi washed ashore on a Turkish beach. Screeching feedback electrifies the room and enforces the vitality which drives the song, as well as the desperation of those it defends.

Matt Hall, bassist and long term member of Little Comets

An unapologetic pride of being oneself resonates with me after chatting to Rob about the particular feelings created by playing in Oxford. Across their oeuvre, Little Comets have many tracks which communicate frustration at societal elitism, buttressed by the culture bred and fostered by institutions like Oxbridge. He insists that “people are people” and that it barely occurs to him when playing to an Oxford crowd. However, it does make him reflect on how studying Land Economy at Cambridge shaped his character:

“It’s a magical place, but you do really feel the weight of the history. At Cambridge, I went backwards as a person.  I lost confidence by going there because there were so many confident people and I went into my shell a bit. Many of those students have an enhanced sense of self and confidence from it and, because the next stage they go onto is often as set up in their favour, [they] just kind of go further and further into the bubble.”

Rob speaks of his frustration at the disparity that institutions like Oxbridge can perpetuate, in tracks like 2012’s ‘A Little Opus’.  When I remark that there probably weren’t many other Geordies at Cambridge, he touches on David Lammy’s report on state school admissions statistics. He compares his experience as the only pupil from his school to go to Cambridge that year to that of grammar school students who often matriculated with many friends from home.

‘A Little Opus’ always proves popular, but this time my ears prick up after our chat about the Oxbridge bubble. Rob sings “I’d rather starve than become a member of your old boys’ club / Sooner depart than see the ascension of the Bullingdon”. While singing along I wonder how conscious other fans are of the lyrics’ contextual significance. I half-expect a slight undercurrent of self-awareness from students but don’t detect any atmospheric change.

After pondering the need for improving access to Oxbridge, Rob thoughtfully relates it back to his role in the band. Reflecting on the all-male line-up of Little Comets and their support acts he says:

“I think as tours go forward we need more diversity. I had an idea to have people speaking at gigs between bands, like poets to come and read. I think going forward that would be a good one because you never see it and people would really appreciate it.”

Little Comets’ lyrics accentuate this conscious desire for increased artistic and social inclusivity. I notice a subtle shift in the lyrics of 2011 release ‘Joanna’ from “girls with three syllable names” to “people”, once again reflecting a self-managed and self-produced band’s freedom to play with their own material. Artistic independence means there is no reason why Rob shouldn’t be able to achieve these other ambitions.

But as a busy family man, greater diversity has an extra bonus according to Rob; “I think I’d really appreciate it as well because I don’t really go out much!” As a father to five-year-old William and sixteen-month-old Martha, he has often spoken of fatherhood’s influence on his daily routine, lyrical approach, and outlook on life. He tells me this is intensified by having Martha:

“Having a daughter is very different to having a son. The way she will experience the world will be very different to William. She won’t have the same privileges that he has, and he needs to understand that as well.”

This conversation makes the performance of their 2015 song ‘My Boy William’ even more striking. A song that reflects Rob’s hopes for his son’s future, it’s the first time I’ve heard it without omitting the heart-warming recording of William playing with Mickey’s son George. I thought this intimate insight wouldn’t have the same effect played live as it does on the album version; blaring this sweet snapshot into family life into a room full of people is a risk. Yet it remains tender and profound, particularly preceded by Rob describing wanting to protect his son’s innocence; “I cut all the pages from a magazine / So my boy stays true enough to dream”.

Our conversation ends with me asking Rob if there’s anything he would change if he could go back ten years to the birth of Little Comets. His answer is a firm no:

“I wouldn’t be here now and I wouldn’t have William or Martha. When we started we thought we wanted the touring and the success, but that’s just not what it’s about for me. If Little Comets finished tomorrow, it would be saddening but my priority is in the house.”

The Little Comets are a band with purpose and integrity. Their performance was impeccable, and after chatting to Rob I realise they don’t just seem, but are, refreshingly grounded. They genuinely just want to write and play music.

 

The simplification of our politics is a modern scourge

Cherwell
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The simplification of our politics is a modern scourge

“In the battle between rigid officials and Alfie’s parents…I know where my heart lies.” So read the text under the Daily Mail’s masthead last Thursday, reflecting on the tragic story of Alfie Evans, who passed away on Saturday: a terminally-ill young child for whom judges ruled that it was in his best interest to withdraw all but palliative treatment.

Wherever one stands on the ethics of this case, the way in which popular reaction has manifested is most revealing of our times. All over Twitter: accusations against doctors and nurses of conspiracy to murder; a group of protesters storming the entrance to a children’s hospital, only to be held back by a forceful police line.

Let us take step back for a moment. Responsible and mature adults accusing highly dedicated medical professionals, whose ultimate personal calling is to preserve and protect life, of killing. Do we really think this is the case? A mob causing violent disturbance outside a children’s hospital – decent people surely know this is nothing but despicable and harmful.

In truth, we should be greatly alarmed. Issues on which we as citizens are exercised are increasingly defined by a sense of some crusading battle between two polar – and totally exclusive – opposites. On so many issues is the supposed virtuous path juxtaposed with an irreconcilable foe. Take the ‘rigid officials’ involved here, in a story of unimaginable pain for those involved, and one so medically and ethically complex it could never be distilled into this simple dichotomy. Why do we stand for this damaging simplification?

Whilst the sadness of Alfie’s story is incomparable, features of the public reaction we’ve witnessed this week are found elsewhere. It extends into our politics. Just look at the most pressing international issue of recent months: what to do about Russia and its effective client-state, Syria. Anyone suggesting a pause to full military action was a ‘traitor’, executing some kind of betrayal. Those not on the war-path were conspiring with the ‘enemy’. And that’s all before considering the perennial Brexit headache. From the beginning of this saga, how many times have you of course heard ‘Leavers’ dismissed as some kind of barbarous ‘illegitimates’? I happen to be both in favour of military strikes and Britain’s membership of the EU, but our impulse to the extremes in all these debates is plain wrong.

I’d suggest that such simplification supplies a sense of comfort. It’s easier to be outraged than to look an avowed opponent in the eye and calmly put forward your case. Indeed, perhaps plain outrage should be treated as a form of apathy. Public opinion is not as powerful: raw outrage enables officials to skirt real scrutiny, and issues escape proper analytical debate. However much I disagree with their campaign, supporters of parents’ absolute rights over the best interests of their children should make their case — sensitively, compassionately, but not from the suspicion-filled starting point that those on the other side are somehow conspiring against them, or actively seek to do bad.

They might be much more effective. Indeed, in this first week of term here in Oxford, can our own campaigners do the same? The success of ‘On Your Doorstep’ so far this year is its tenacity, not in blanket shaming the Council like others, but in focusing predominately on specifically archaic legislation and particular Council protocols for the homeless. This is far more challenging for those actually responsible for policy. On the issue of UCU strike action, how many students condemned as ‘scabs’ by their peers here and across UK universities will realistically and sincerely be persuaded to promote student-staff solidarity?

Ultimately, this might come back to be the overpowering individualism of our times. A predominate focus on rights, whilst crucial, as opposed to the duties to the community of which we are a part is characterising our protest. We expect, we demand, and we get. But actually, we won’t. In an age where freedom of expression is the perhaps the hottest topic of all, a renewed focus should be given to raising the quality and direction of the speech we produce. This should be our job, and it’s the best step to ensure progress on the issues we care about.

Tributes paid to ‘talented’ St Anne’s student

Cherwell News
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Tributes paid to ‘talented’ St Anne’s student

Tributes have been paid to a St Anne’s third-year student who passed away at the end of first week.

Joel Lewis joined Oxford in 2015 to study Computer Science. During his time at the University, he found success in both academic and non-academic fields. He competed for the University’s taekwondo team and won two competitions against Cambridge. He had also spent time working at an internship and had secured a second for this summer.

The principal of St Anne’s, Helen King, paid tribute to Lewis. She said: “We are devastated by Joel’s sudden and tragic death. He was a valued and cared for member of the College who is sorely missed.

“Our sympathy and thoughts are with his family and friends. I am proud of the way the whole College community is coming together to support one another as we grieve the loss of this talented young life.

“Trained College and University staff are on site to assist and a room has been dedicated as a 24 hour available space for anyone who wants to talk or just silently reflect at this sad time.”

The Computer Science department have also spoken about their sadness at the news. Head of Department Mike Wooldridge said: “I am shocked and very saddened by this tragic death, and on behalf of the Department of Computer Science I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Joel’s family and friends. I urge anyone who is struggling to come to terms with this tragic death to seek the support that is on offer.”

The college said: “A fuller tribute to Joel and arrangements to remember his life will take place in the coming weeks with details being made available in due course.”

If any readers wish to pay tribute to Joel Lewis, please get in touch via [email protected].

 

Wadham trials smoking restriction in Trinity

Jeremiah O'Mahony
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Wadham trials smoking restriction in Trinity

Wadham will trial a new smoking policy for Trinity Term that limits the act to areas “immediately” around eight smoking bins.

The college informed students of the new policy via an email on 24 April.

According to the email, Wadham “conducted a consultation last term on its smoking policy.”

“As a result, Governing Body has decided that for a trial period lasting for all of Trinity Term, smoking on the main College site will be restricted to the immediate vicinity of the existing smoking bins.”

A map attached to the email marks the locations of the smoking bins, most of which are skirting the edge of campus.

The email continues: “The College will be closely monitoring adherence to the new guidelines, and will review the smoking policy at the end of the term.

“It is essential that these new guidelines are fully respected. If they are not, the College will consider moving to a total smoking ban.”

The email also warned students that there is no smoking bin outside the MCR, “where many smokers currently choose to congregate.”

Wadham joins St Hugh’s college in trialling a smoking ban in Trinity, while seven colleges including St Edmund Hall and Mansfield have blanket bans on smoking.

St Hugh’s decision to trail a ban was criticised by some students as “ridiculous” and “parental.”

When Exeter announced a ban that was later withdrawn, Exeter JCR Disabilities Rep Grace Tully told Cherwell: “Habitual smokers are aware of the drawbacks and danger of the habit, but our community gains nothing from physically and socially ostracizing those of us who do still smoke.”

Emily Patterson wrote in a 2017 comment article for Cherwell that banning smoking “simply means that [smokers] do not do it in a way that makes an impact on other peoples’ lives and health.

“While colleges are not public spaces, we should remember that they are home to many people, and having an area filling with toxic fumes will not make everybody feel at home there.”

 

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