Wednesday 8th October 2025
Blog Page 752

Oxford students run for Council seats

Jeremiah O'Mahony
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Oxford students run for Council seats

Nine Oxford students are running in tomorrow’s Oxfordshire City Council elections.

The student-candidates include Jim Brennan, Matthew Hull, Finn Conway, Alexander Curtis, Adam Ellison, David Pearson, Harry Samuels, Emma Teworte, and Chris Witt.

Harry Samuels, a fourth-year Classicist at New College, is running as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Iffley Fields.

Samuels told Cherwell: “I’m running to give residents in Iffley fields – including hundreds of students who live out – the chance to vote for liberal values.

“I’m proud that the Lib Dems in Oxford are standing against Labour’s fines on the homeless and confiscations of property, in favour of more genuinely affordable housing, and continuing to stand up for EU citizens and guarantee they are supported while also calling for an exit from Brexit.”

Matthew Hull, a fourth-year Classicist at Oriel, is running as the Green Party candidate for Northfield Brook.

Hull told Cherwell: “I’m standing for fairer treatment of Oxfords homeless. Homeless numbers are skyrocketing, due to systematic neglect by national governments. Oxford should respond with care; instead, the Labour city council has fined homeless constituents and excluded them from public space.

“As a councillor, I would revoke these draconian council orders and protect vital homelessness services.“

Finn Conway, a second-year Classicist at Balliol, is running as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Holywell Ward.

Conway told Cherwell: “Our two primary issues this election are housing and homelessness. On both these issues, Labour have failed: they haven’t build nearly enough affordable housing; they’ve tried to bill tower block residents £50,000 per head for repairs; they’ve introduced fines that almost exclusively affect homeless people; and they’ve used new powers to confiscate their bedding and belongings.

“We’re offering an alternative this election: more compassionate solutions and a new approach to dealing with these issues – sorely needed in a council dominated by a Labour supermajority.”

Alexander Curtis, a third-year geographer at St Catherine’s, is running as the Conservative candidate for North Ward.

Curtis told Cherwell: “Oxford City Council is in a dire state, and the Labour administration running it have been allowed to get away with too much for too long. Rather than regularly voting in favour of the city council’s flawed policies like the Oxford Liberal Democrats, I would provide real opposition and promote viable alternatives to the current poor quality of governance if I was elected as city councillor for North ward.”

Jim Brennan, a second-year Geographer at St Peter’s, is running as the Conservative candidate for St Mary’s Ward.

Brennan told Cherwell: “The Conservatives next door in Cherwell have built 15 times as much affordable housing than this Labour council.

“I am the only candidate in my ward that actually lives there – do we really want career politicians? We back ourselves – the Conservatives are the only party and standing in every Oxford seat. Do we want this council properly opposed or not?”

He added: “To quote Public Enemy, fight the power.”

Adam Ellison, a second-year History and Politics student at Magdalen, is running as the Labour candidate in Wolvercote Ward.

Ellison told Cherwell: “Local elections can be hugely impactful in how we live our day to day lives. Young people getting involved in a local level, as voters and candidates, is essential to having our voices heard and ensuring that at all levels politics remains dynamic and representative of all ages and demographics.

“Democracy is healthier and stronger the more of us get involved and I hope not only to be a proactive and effective representative for the people of Wolvercote but to be a voice for students and young professionals in Oxford.”

David Pearson, a third-year Biologist at St Hilda’s, is running as the Conservative candidate for Holywell Ward.

Pearson told Cherwell: “I have always preferred the sincerity of grassroots campaigning to the dark arts of student politics. Policy starts with people, and this year is no different.

“I am excited to sand on a dynamic policy platform which really gets to the heart of the challenges facing our city.”

Emma Teworte, a first-year History and Politics student at St Hilda’s, is running as the Green Party candidate for Carfax Ward.

Tewrote told Cherwell: “I am standing in Carfax because I believe the City Council needs to be held to account. Labour currently has and will probably maintain an overwhelming majority on the Council – and that cannot be good for a healthy democracy.

“Having Greens on the Council is about more than improving democratic quality, though. We can make a real difference in policy.

“Climate breakdown is a global issue that I want to address on Council level. Just this week, a Green motion restricting single-use plastics was passed by the Council, for example. I want to work with student and local organisations to further this.”

Chris Witt, a DPhil student in Artificial Intelligence engineering at St Catherine’s, is running as the Green Party candidate for Blackbird Leys.

Witt told Cherwell: “It’s about giving the young people in Blackbird Leys choices; changing voting from something irrelevant to a realistic vehicle for expanding their horizons.

“The focus of the campaign is to make Blackbird Leys an attractive centre for start-ups, beginning with the grassroots of providing free IT training to residents. This will complement the anti-austerity and community building measures that the Green party stands for.”

The elections will be held tomorrow. Registered voters were sent poll cards with the details of their polling station in late March.

Students and residents protest Windrush scandal

Daniel Hall
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Students and residents protest Windrush scandal

Oxford students and residents came together on Monday evening to protest the government’s treatment of the Windrush generation.

The protest, organised by Oxford Stand Up to Racism, drew a crowd of over 50 people on the corner of Cornmarket and Queen Street.

Ian McKendrick, a spokesman for Oxford Stand Up to Racism, told Cherwell that the group was “calling for amnesty for Windrush and other Commonwealth citizens.” He said that the Windrush generation should be compensated for the homes lost, jobs sacrificed, and denied NHS treatment which came out of the government’s “hostile” immigration policy.

“We are attacking the whole immigration policy behind [the Windrush scandal] and Theresa May. The problem absolutely goes to the top.

“When Theresa May was at the Home Office, she was the architect of the hostile environment immigration policy for migrants. She’s fully complicit.”

Donald Norwood – a member of a church in Blackbird Leys, an area of Oxford with a large British Caribbean community– echoed McKendrick’s view. He said the scandal has “created a very nasty atmosphere.”

“It’s just not an accident, it was deliberate policy to make people feel uncomfortable.”

During the protest, members of the Oxford Windrush group spoke. They noted that 2018 will be the 70th anniversary of the year people from the Caribbean arrived in the UK on Empire Windrush, the ship that gave the generation its name. They announced events to celebrate the lives of members of that generation.

To pay tribute to the victims of the Windrush deportations, protesters laid lilies and sang songs, including Civil Rights gospel “We Shall Overcome”.

Chintha, a demonstrator and Oxford resident, told Cherwell: “You cannot undo the state of trauma and the state of total distress that some families went through – you cannot undo that.

“There’s no monetary reward that can take away the pain and the suffering and the sorrow of that period, so even if there is compensation and loads of apologies there’ll still be a lot of very hurt feelings.”

Dolcie Obhiozele, a member of the Windrush generation, moved from Jamaica to Oxford with her mother when she was 11. She recalled how both her mother and aunt had worked for New College as cleaning and catering staff.

Obhiozele told Cherwell: “Many of the colleges and the University, when I look at it, it is built on our back.”

Speaking of fellow Windrush citizens, she said: “These people have worked, and put in here – contributed to the NHS, to their pension. I can’t say how wicked and heartless it is.

“[The government] have just taken their money and everything from them, and just throw them out. It really isn’t right.”

Some of the protesters expressed disappointment at the low numbers of students who turned out to the demonstration. One protester asked: “This city has lots of students, and where are they today? Why can’t they come out for this?”

Louise Zakine, a French woman who has lived in the UK for 15 years, saw the event publicised on Facebook and wanted to show solidarity with the victims.

Zakine told Cherwell: “I’m worried for my friends, my French friends in London – I don’t know what will happen to them [after Brexit] so that’s a bit scary. They’ve been in the UK for over 15 years, and they live here.”

The leader of Oxford City Council, Susan Brown, condemned the treatment of the Windrush generation as “shameful”.

She said: “The way the Government has used its immigration laws to discriminate against the Windrush generation is utterly unacceptable and mean spirited. In Oxford we are proud of the huge contribution that they and other Commonwealth citizens have made to our city.

“On behalf of the City of Oxford I know that colleagues across the council will want to say ‘thank you’ to the African Caribbean community, as we do to all the different communities who contribute to the rich diversity of Oxford life.”

How do we stage Shakespeare in the digital age?

Lizzie Monaghan
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How do we stage Shakespeare in the digital age?

Since the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s passing in 2016, there has been an increasing pressure on directors to solve a problem. How, four centuries on, and countless revivals, adaptations, and re-writes later, could anyone say anything new about Shakespeare? How does one stage Shakespeare in the twenty-first century?

It’s a tall order. Given the sheer scale of Shakespeare’s theatrical legacy, it is a daunting task to provide an original take on the nation’s most celebrated playwright. Yet, in recent years, a few critically acclaimed efforts have  risen to the occasion, attempting to reimagine Shakespeare’s plays in ways that are innovative and contemporary, whilst still retaining that universality which makes them so compelling. Their solution? Digital technology.

With Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood recognises that weight of expectation felt by artistic directors as she follows a director’s attempt to stage a uniquely interactive production of The Tempest. The novel satirically mimics the supposedly definitive productions of our day.

Hag-Seed ridicules those lofty ambitions. It is as if the possibility of contributing anything meaningful with a modern adaption no longer viable. Instead directors must resort to absurd extremities in order to say something new.

Atwood makes a significant observation: she recognises the potential that digital advancements could have in unearthing unprecedented and authentic truths. “The Tempest is,” she says, “in some ways, an early multi-media musical. If Shakespeare were working today he’d be using every special effect technology now makes available.” And she suggests this in Hag-Seed.

The same year, these ambitions were played out onstage in Gregory Doran’s technologically ambitious production of The Tempest. The RSC painstakingly attempted to provide what they described as “a first-of-its kind live digital performance”. Atwood could easily have scripted Doran’s ambition to stage “a truly unique theatre experience, which marries our distinctive theatre skills with cutting edge technology, to give our audiences something out of the ordinary”.

Indeed, the use of motion-capture to generate Ariel’s avatar in real time onstage demonstrated a clear desire to do justice to the spectacle of The Tempest; to immerse the audience in “a human-digital interaction that feels ‘alive'”.

It was no doubt pioneering. However, this approach to adaptation is new and  imperfect. As a member of the audience, I noticed a stark disconnect between technological spectacles of storms and enchantments, and those moments of intimate and human exchange. Furthermore, the use of two-dimensional visual projections onto a three-dimensional theatre space doesn’t make it any easier to cultivate an experience that is immersive for a 270˚ audience in the round.

Some critics even dismissed the production as gimmicky, though I feel such a judgement is unduly harsh. The RSC is a theatre which professes to have “always been at the forefront of radical experiment”. It was right to attempt  to cross the digital with the theatrical so intricately. Whilst not an immediate triumph, it was an ambitious and worthy attempt, the first of its kind.

We are still in 2018. We are far from having a holistic view of what the definitive twenty-first century production could look like. Yet in looking at just the last decade, it is impossible to ignore the impact of modern technology on recent adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays.

Take, for instance, the 2017 production of Hamlet, directed by Robert Icke. Placed alongside the RSC’s earlier version from 2008, one can see the significant strides that have been made in such a short period of time. Icke’s clever staging more fully realises what the RSC’s Hamlet first put into motion, depicting Denmark as a recognisably modern surveillance state.

In 2008, the RSC dabbled in the occasional security camera, camcorder and false mirror. Ickes production goes all out. There are screens everywhere. The production opens in a control room with security guards closely monitoring dozens of locations on the screen looming large overhead. By its close, Hamlet has to shove a camera out of his mother’s face as she dies convulsing on the ground.

Icke, was able to more effectively integrate digital technology into the production without it appearing ‘gimmicky’. Instead, its use enriches the production, bringing the idea of the surveillance state into an authentically modern context.

Hamlet and The Tempest demand vastly different kinds of staging. It’s not hugely surprising that the latter, the more visually ambitious, has not yet reached its full potential at this early stage. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to envisage a similar progression for The Tempest, to imagine another director making the same kind of leap forward from Doran’s 2016 production, equipped with the right technology.

Doran’s adaptation is all the more significant for this reason. As a foundational production, it will shape future interpretations by providing that essential, basic template on which later directors will work. In time, it will come to good.

‘An anthology of divergent styles that promise a skyward trajectory’

Matthew Valentine
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‘An anthology of divergent styles that promise a skyward trajectory’

Geography feels like the beginning of something special. So polished is this selection of guitar-led, groove-infused tracks that it successfully belies an artist who is in fact only 22 years young and opts to produce his music in his bedroom. After having initially opted to veil himself from the spotlight before discovering his mellow yet stirring voice, Misch’s first full-length outing exhibits his journey from young producer to mature singer-songwriter.

That voice is emblematic of the mood on Geography. A distinctively British accent, it harks back to the mid to late 2000s’ surge in musicians who sang in the British vernacular. Misch’s voice is expressive yet effortless, never relying on belting out or falsetto to express himself, but rather mild, coffee-shop, musical minimalism. Clearly, he puts the craft of his songs above the pursuit of hedonistic showmanship.

Geography’s sonic amalgamation shows Misch’s insatiable hunger for expanding the range of styles at his disposal. However, his real talent lies in the fact that he has weaved all those styles onto one album with compelling conviction.

He displays this early on. ‘Before Paris’ is a soundscape discussing the issue of upholding artistic integrity in the face of the economic perils associated with a working musician.  ‘Tick Tock’, the album’s other instrumental skit, evokes a chilled house mood through its muffled synths and transitioning between a half-time swing feel to straight backbeat.  ‘South of the River’ betrays Misch’s true loyalties, proclaiming South London (and, more broadly, Britain) as where musical enterprise resides. A bold declaration, but one supported by the track’s lilting violin riff and driving funk guitar. It is a sonic universe, wrapped up by keyboard maestro Robert Araujo, who navigates the outro with a solo that will turn musos’ heads whilst inviting everyone else to the dance floor.

Collaborations see Misch work with old and new faces. Loyle Carner features on ‘Water Baby’, a track with a piano solo that exposes Robert Glasper’s influence, while ‘It Runs Through Me’ calls on the lyrical finesse of De La Soul. Here Misch seamlessly fuses his beat-making expertise with Latin rhythms, resulting in a song that sounds like a bossa nova indigenous to the suburbs of South Croydon. But it’s not just beats. Misch’s guitar playing prowess is littered throughout the album. ‘Movie’ is a slow jam which draws heavily on the nuances of John Mayer’s playing almost to a fault, sounding somewhat like the American’s equally emotive ballad, ‘Gravity’.

In many ways, Geography challenges conventional genre boundaries, culminating in a sound that has a finger in every pie. From hip-hop to Latin, it demonstrates Misch’s potent ability to draw from contrasting musical spheres, an ability which is sure to set his career on a skyward trajectory.

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?

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