University officials have voted to raise the rent on graduate accommodation by nearly 6% next year, with no new services or improvements being provided to the current accommodation.
The University’s Property Management Sub-Committee voted to raise rents for all graduate accommodation – including Castle Mill, Summertown House, and 25 Wellington Square – by 5.8%. This was despite the dissent of sole student delegate and Oxford SU VP for Charities and Community, Tom Barringer.
Oxford SU has now invited the chair of that committee – Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Resources, David Prout – to an open meeting, where students can ask him “about how this decision was made and listen to any concerns graduate students might have.”
The rent hike will only affect central University housing, likely creating greater demand for the limited college accommodation available to graduates.
Barringer told Cherwell: “This 5.8% rent increase is very concerning, especially for students who are already struggling to make ends meet in Oxford as a graduate student.
“Students are the University’s beating heart, and where the University should be investing the most. In particular, graduate students should require special attention here because of the additional challenges facing them (including typically less access to college accommodation).
“This rent increase is another worrying example of the University treating education as a market product, treating students as consumers from which to extract money and staff as precariously employed and unable even to get a decent pension.
“We would welcome all students to the SU on 4 Worcester Street on 3rd May to raise any questions or concerns they have with David Prout.”
During the 2016-17 academic year, 57% of all full-time graduate students and 70% of full-time graduate freshers were housed either by the University or in colleges.
ITV’s new installation of mannequins, positioned as though about to jump off the top of their studios, needs to be met with serious consideration of what it means to raise awareness of an issue. This includes thinking about who, amongst a potential audience, should be prioritised when it comes to their personal response.
The television network says the statues are intended to raise awareness about high male suicide rates. There are 84 figures, to represent the 84 men who take their own lives each week in Britain. The installation is part of a campaign called Project 84, and is being run in collaboration with mental health charity CALM. The campaign aims to provoke the government into improving suicide prevention support for men and to engage with the public on the issue. The chief executive of CALM said, ‘We wanted to make the scale of the situation very clear to everyone that sees the sculptures.’
These are important aims, but crucially the project neglects to consider the impact this installation will have on people actually at risk of suicide.
More than fifty studies worldwide have found that the risk of additional suicides increases when news stories explicitly describe or include photos of methods of suicide, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). The Netflix show ‘13 Reasons Why’ received widespread criticism for showing how the protagonist killed herself for this very reason. And yet ITV’s installation has been met with praise, despite depicting a method of suicide in a public space where people cannot choose what they see – unlike with television. After all, it is “raising awareness”.
But what are the statues actually raising awareness of? Suicide and its particular prevalence amongst men is not a problem people are unaware of, even if many may not know the exact 84-a-week statistic. What is really needed is awareness about what leads to suicide and its inflated risk among men, what friends and families can do, and, most importantly, what help is available. The frightening and hopeless spectacle of what seems like men about to jump achieves none of this.
As someone who has post-traumatic stress disorder after supporting a suicidal friend for a long period, for me what started as a pleasant walk along the Southbank ended in humiliating public flashbacks and trying to find an alternative route on my return journey. I can only imagine the impact the installation could have on those currently struggling with suicidal ideation. At the very least, it makes the Southbank less accessible for mentally ill people – and at worse, as the AFSP makes very clear, even exacerbate the problem they are trying to prevent.
Although clearly done with a very different intent, I had hoped we would have learnt from the stupidity of YouTuber Logan Paul – who filmed the corpse of a suicide victim – that raising awareness is not a good enough excuse for making a spectacle of an individual’s pain, particularly if it is likely to be to the detriment of others who are also at risk from suicide.
Suicide, and its high rates among men, is a serious and pressing issue, and the campaign is right to aim to raise public awareness and spur the government to action. Mental health services are particularly underfunded within our squeezed NHS, and this must be addressed. However, when attempting to campaign for the issue, we must not prioritise long term goals over the immediate wellbeing of those they claim to support.
When freshers arrive at Oxford, they are given all sorts of reading material to sink their teeth into. Pidges are filled with copies of the college rules, a guide lovingly prepared by freshers’ reps, and maybe even a copy of Cherwell’s sister publication, Keep off the Grass.
But 35 years ago, ‘freshmen’ were given a copy of The Little Blue Book, an unassuming, 60-page handbook that JCRs arranged to be pidged to them. The introduction to the 1983 edition makes no bones about its contents: “This booklet is about sexuality,” it says.
“It was originally written, by students for students, because it had been estimated that 60% of students who have intercourse take NO contraceptive precautions the first time,” the introduction continues.
“Over 30% of students have never had sexual intercourse when they leave university. While we realise that many students will have no immediate need for the information in this book, we hope that the content will be of interest to all.
“It has been impossible to write this book without expressing, to some extent, our moral standpoint. Some will disagree with us; sexuality should be a matter for responsible individual choice.”
After a trawl through the archives, Cherwell can reveal its wide-ranging advice on contraception, sexuality, and unwanted pregnancies, and while The Little Blue Book’s conclusions are often outdated, baffling, and at times hilarious, there are many areas in which it is clear that little has changed.
Sexual Behaviour
Following a diagram-filled section on anatomy and physiology, the booklet moves on to talk about sexuality and the importance of openness. While it may have been written some 35 years ago, much of the section’s contents rings true today.
“Unfortunately, few people are able to talk easily and honestly about their sexual feelings,” it reads. “This leads some people to feel that every sexual relationship should involve intercourse.
A key feature of The Little Blue Book is its focus on openness and dialogue within relationships.
“It is often difficult to talk to your partner about what gives you pleasure and there is often an unspoken feeling that sex ought to come naturally and that talking about it takes away the romance,” it claims.
“You may feel very vulnerable in indicating what gives you pleasure; will your partner like doing it, or mind? Will he or she feel hurt at having to be told? Usually it is reassuring to know that the things you do give pleasure and are also mutually stimulating.
“Intercourse may be a great disappointment,” it reminds its readers. “Patience, good humour and understanding usually overcome these difficulties, and most people find their sexual relationships improve with experience.
“It is unfortunate that embarrassment prevents people from seeking help, such that they have to put up with a state of affairs which may be making them very unhappy.”
Homosexuality
A list of hotlines and societies for students to discuss their sexuality
This section proves very interesting, both in legal and political terms. For a start, it serves as a stark reminder that in the 1980s, the LGBTQ+ community faced significant discrimination from UK law.
“Homosexual acts involving men under the age of 21 are illegal, whilst the age of consent for heterosexual intercourse is 16,” the booklet says. Indeed, it is easy to forget that it was only in 2001 that the age of consent was finally equalised; until that point, it had always been higher for gay men.
“Anal intercourse, which is illegal between a man and a woman, is legal between consenting males over the age of 21 in private. In England and Wales homosexual acts (which may even be taken to include holding hands) are illegal in public,” the section continues. “In Northern Ireland homosexual acts are illegal at any age, even in private. For historical reasons lesbians are not encumbered by these legal restrictions, but all-purpose charges are available should the police feel they are needed.”
But the editorial team is firm in its stance that the law was unjust, and encourages students to be open-minded about their own sexuality.
“Homosexuality may be a possibility in all of us and the point at which we label someone a homosexual is arbitrary. It is only one aspect of you, and does not define you.
“Unfortunately, society has a long way to go before accepting sexual contact between two people of the same sex. We are all under pressure to devalue, supress [sic], and conceal any homosexual elements of our nature, even those who feel firmly heterosexual.
“Intolerance and discrimination against homosexuals means that many gays have to be secretive about their feelings and lie to their employers, family, friends and even themselves. Discrimination is faced in jobs, accommodation and social life.
“This is an unacceptable feature of society and it is only by being open about one’s feelings that social attitudes can be changed.”
The booklet also provided students with ‘further reading’ regarding sexuality, and a list of contact numbers if they wished to discuss their feelings. These includes hotlines called ‘Gay Icebreakers’, ‘Gay Switchboard’, and ‘Oxford Lesbian Line’, as well as an advertisement for ‘Oxford Gaysoc’, the precursor to the University’s LGBTQ+ Society.
Contraception
A diagram of various forms of contraception
If The Little Blue Book is anything to go by, first-year students often arrived in Oxford with some confused views about contraception: “Taking risks and keeping your fingers crossed is not a form of contraception,” it reminded them.
It goes on to list various contraceptive methods, but it is the section entitled ‘useless methods’ which is the most eye-opening as to what freshers might have considered sufficient.
It gives rightly damning verdicts on methods including douching (“this is not a means of contraception”) and the ‘sponge method’ (“not only is it ineffective but it may interfere with intercourse”), but three more alarming options are also outlined.
Regarding ‘coitus reservatus (or holding back)’, the Blue Book reads: “In theory the man is not meant to ejaculate at intercourse. No doubt reservatus often turns into interruptus and it is a very frustrating form of contraception which is most unlikely to succeed.”
On coitus saxonicus, it says: “In theory, one is meant to divert the semen into the bladder instead of through the penis. In practice not only is it painful but also does not work.”
And finally, on the ‘cling film’ method: “This is used in much the same way as a sheath [condom], except with a rubber band to keep the film on. This is unreliable and probably extremely uncomfortable.”
The editors dispel a few final myths at the end of the chapter.
“Some couples think that they will be safe if they have intercourse standing up, or if the woman sneezes, coughs hard, or holds her breath during the man’s orgasm. In addition, there are some people who falsely believe that women will not conceive if they don’t have an orgasm, or if they get up immediately after intercourse and walk around, jump up and down, or urinate.”
We can only hope that the Oxford students are better informed.
Pregnancy and abortion
A map of the city’s family planning clinics
The Little Blue Book’s exploration of these topics largely involves a list and a map of the nine family planning clinics in the city at the time.
However, it also offers some advice to undergraduates who find themselves with unwanted pregnancies. “Society is still such that it is difficult for a single parent to bring up a child,” it says. “The conditions for the availability of abortion are still under debate – the availability varies enormously from area to area.”
Again showing their progressive ideas, the editorial team champion the 1967 Abortion Act, which legalised abortion in the UK. They write that the act was “thought to have greatly reduced the number of illegal or do-it-yourself abortions,” and advise students on how to terminate a pregnancy if they wish to do so.
STDs
The introduction to the ‘STDs’ section of The Little Blue Book
The booklet’s guide to sexually transmitted diseases is thorough and largely accurate, although its description of AIDS shows that even in 1983, there was a huge societal stigma about the illness.
“In recent years this serious and usually fatal condition has been reported, usually in promiscuous homosexual men, heroin users, haemophiliacs and Haitians – and their sexual partners,” it claims.
“The cause and the mode of transmission are unknown, but it appears to be spread in the same way as Hepatitis B, possibly by an as yet unidentified virus. The normal body defences of those affected are severely reduced, so sufferers tend to develop skin cancers and overwhelming infections.
“There is no known treatment as yet but research is being actively undertaken.”
Rape and sexual violence
An extract of the booklet’s section on sexual violence and rape
The book outlines the legal descriptions of rape and sexual assault, and offer advice to female students as to how they can avoid attacks.
“One would not want women to curtail their social activities in order to minimise the danger of assault,” it reads. “Nevertheless some steps can be taken to reduce the risk.”
It advised the following:
Where possible don’t walk alone after dark
Always be alert and don’t be reluctant to take evasive action such as running away or crossing the road to avoid a “suspicious” person
Avoid short-cuts and dark deserted areas such as car parks and subways
Walk facing the traffic and do not hitch-hike alone
Carry a torch and whistle or alarm after dark
To avoid delay keep your keys in your hand when approaching vehicle or home.
If attacked SCREAM and SHOUT as loud as you can.
In the midst of the #IBelieveHer movement, the editorial view is particularly interesting.
“Although the police and courts are now adopting fairer and more compassionate attitude to the victim, many women report that giving evidence and facing cross-examination are nearly as distressing as the assault,” the booklet reads.
“The majority of rapes are not reported; possibly because such a high proportion of attackers are known to their victims.”
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The Little Blue Book was written and published by the WOLS Committee of the Oxford University Medical Society, and the editorial team (made up of six women and one man) expressed their thanks to Green College – which merged with Templeton College in 2008 – in the acknowledgements section.
Its editor in 1983 was Gillian Lockwood, who is now a leading specialist in fertility treatment. She has been contacted for comment.
The Oxford African and Caribbean Society (ACS) has been named national ‘BAME Society of the Year’ at The Tab‘s Society of the Year Awards 2017/18.
The Society topped the ballot with 295 votes, beating 12 other UK university groups. ACS’ award, given in partnership with Bloomberg, recognises groups “doing the most to support BAME communities at uni.”
The Society said on its Facebook page: “We’re delighted to announce that your ACS has won its first national award!!…Thank you to everyone who voted for us.”
We're delighted to anounce that your ACS has won its first national award!! We are The Tab x Bloomberg's BAME Society of the Year 17/18! ✨Thank you to everyone who voted for us ❤️
ACS was the only Oxford society to be recognised in any category at the Awards.
ACS vice president, Josh Tulloch, told Cherwell: “It’s a great honour to be recognised for our tireless efforts to maintain and expand the space for Afro-Caribbean students at Oxford on such a prestigious national level.
“Going forward, we aim to take our pioneering, grassroots approach to access and outreach to thousands more students across the country.”
Second behind ACS was Newcastle University’s BAME Network with 228 votes, while Reading’s Reading Marrow and Sussex’s South Asian Students’ Society took third and fourth places respectively.
As part of their work, Oxford ACS organise the Annual Access Conference, the largest student-run access conference for students of African and Caribbean heritage. This is designed to support Year 12 students of African and Caribbean descent in making applications to Oxford.
Earlier this academic year, ACS invited Stormzy, their person of the year, to attend. The purpose of this conference is “to demystify the Oxford application process for students and teachers”, while also raising “the academic aspirations of able students.”
A spokesperson for the University of Oxford told Cherwell: “The University warmly congratulates the African Caribbean Society on its well-deserved success.
“Together ACS members promote and celebrate African and Caribbean culture with fantastic energy and creativity. They are also constructive critics, extraordinarily good partners and exemplary ambassadors in the collegiate University’s vital outreach activities.
“The ACS acts upon a deep commitment to helping the next generation of African Caribbean students, and in recent years the society’s advocacy, polished organisation and impact has been superb.
“Oxford is a diverse university and this diversity underpins its success– but we know we have more to do to ensure that Oxford is fully inclusive and reflects wider society.
“We strive to support and are working to see more black students gaining places here. We will not stand still.”
Awards are also given to groups which have particularly contributed towards achieving greater gender, disability and LGBTQ+ equality respectively at UK universities.
The winner of the gender category was Birmingham University’s Conservative group, while Sussex’s DragSoc was voted as doing the most to support the LGBTQ+ community. Birmingham’s Monday Night Club topped the category for groups supporting the disabled community.
Societies featured in the awards will visit Bloomberg’s HQ for mentoring and for training sessions through Bloomberg’s diversity and inclusion communities. They will also be profiled by The Tab.
Oxford ACS’ recognition follows several recent cases which highlight the need for work to be done in improving Oxford as an accessible and inclusive environment for BME students.
Armstrong and Bain are no doubt comedic geniuses. Peep Show is surely one of Britain’s greatest comic triumphs in recent history. Almost a decade after they distilled the entire breadth of the human condition into Peep Show’s two sad middle-aged protagonists, the duo turned their attention to the younger generation and thus Fresh Meat was born.
The premise is simple. Take six clueless, unprepared students. Dump them in a house in Freshers’ Week, then observe and as they flounder through uni life. But, the execution is far more complex and finessed.
Fresh Meat is less a university Inbetweeners – hardly a ‘documentary’ of the mishaps of a bunch of mates. It is instead a university Peep Show. Fresh Meat manages to capture the moments which make a student’s life just that: a student life.
It isn’t a narrative following some friends in their daily lives. Instead, it poignantly captures the everyday dramas we go through, the good bits and the bad bits, the fallouts and the friendships.
Fresh Meat’s main attraction is the connection we feel towards the six main characters. While it may be that we’re stuck with them for four seasons, or that all of us are awkward and uninformed students, it seems the real reason Fresh Meat is so damn good is that we see ourselves so markedly in these oddbods.
By taking bits and pieces of our beloved Vod, Oregon, Josie, Howard, Kinglsey and JP, we can concoct literally anyone we meet around college, around Oxford and even at home. We all know someone who’s, say, an Oregon-Vod, or maybe a Howard-Kinglesy, or maybe just a straight up JP (they probably go to Christ Church). If you don’t think you can see even a tiny bit of yourself in these characters then you’re a liar.
Armstrong and Bain distill our friends (and our enemies) into six genuinely relatable, laughable and loveable characters. Regardless of how times may have changed since 2011, be it the government’s ever-changing relationship with tuition fees and the likes, the experience of uni is grounded in who you meet. That much remains the same. Fresh Meat is relevant as ever and I presume will stay that way so long as our universities stick around.
Three previously unpublished artworks by Lord of the Rings creator JRR Tolkien will be displayed publicly for the first time this summer, as part of a major exhibition at the Bodleian Libraries.
‘Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth’ will feature the three unseen works, along with other manuscripts, letters, maps, and artwork by the author and illustrator, all sourced from the Bodleian’s expansive Tolkien archive.
Scheduled to run from June 1, the exhibit aims to explore Tolkien’s “amazing legacy from his genius as an artist, poet, linguist, and author to his academic career and private life.”
The three previously unpublished pieces include a 1960s stark drawing of bamboo, called “Linquë súrissë.” The title, which translates as “grass in the wind,” is in Quenya, one of the Elvish languages that Tolkien created.
The Bodleian’s Tolkien archivist and the exhibition’s curator, Catherine McIlwaine, told TheGuardian: “They don’t relate to his fantasy works directly, but two of them have the Elvish text on them, which links them directly to his writings on Middle-earth, the imagined world where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were set.
“You wouldn’t look at them and think ‘that’s Tolkien’, as you might with his watercolours.
“They show that he was always experimenting with his artwork. He wasn’t afraid to try totally new styles.”
There is also a 1914 abstract painting dating back to Tolkien’s undergraduate years at Exeter College, and an ink drawing bearing intricate geometric patterns and Elvish lettering, sketched on the back of a Merton College meeting agenda from 1957.
Tolkein studied at Exeter College, graduating in 1915.
McIlwaine said of the 1957 drawing: “It looks to me like a book cover design … Whether he was thinking of creating a new work or whether this was an artefact from Middle-earth, I just don’t know.
“There’s nothing else like it, and there’s no indication of what it might refer to or what he was thinking. That’s [one] for future scholars.”
A spokesperson for Taruithorn, the Oxford Tolkein Society, told Cherwell: “As a society we’re very much looking forward to what will certainly be an immersive visual and literary spectacle.
“As well as the excitement of previously unseen artwork and rare maps & manuscripts, experiencing this collection from archives the world over will be a wonderful way to explore Tolkien’s imagination and stories; we hope it will enable both fans and newcomers alike to appreciate the breadth and depth of Tolkien’s work, and of course to discover something new that they might want to look into further!
“We hope that through the exhibition the Boldeian will be able to inspire visitors by displaying the extraordinary work of one of the University’s most renowned and beloved professors to a wide audience.”
Tauruithorn also confirmed that they have been contacted by exhibition creators for input, and have also been involved in helping to design the Bodleian’s public engagement events which will run alongside the exhibition.
Tolkien spent most of his adult life in Oxford, beginning at Exeter College, where he studied Classics – the ‘Greats’ – before switching to English during his first course. He later taught Anglo-Saxon and English at the University.
He spent his retirement in Oxford, working on The Silmarillion, published posthumously in 1977. Tolkien and his wife, Edith, are buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford.
The news comes as Amazon announced it is planning to make a TV adaptation of Tolkein’s stories set in Middle-Earth.
Exciting showbiz news! Amazon is going to make a TV adaptation of the fantasy stories of Exeter alumnus JRR Tolkien (1911, Classics and English) – apparently it could be the most expensive TV series ever! https://t.co/9EGDsQIxoy
— Exeter College, Ox (@ExeterCollegeOx) April 6, 2018
The Libraries are expecting significant audiences for the forthcoming exhibition, and as such plan to use a ticketing system for the first time in the Bodleian’s history.
Oxford is the fourth most unequal university in Britain for admitting students from different socio-economic backgrounds, according to new rankings.
The results, published in a report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), came from calculating the “Gini coefficient” for UK universities based on their share of student entrants that came from the five different Participation of Local Areas (POLAR) quintiles in 2016.
The measure is widely used to assess how advantaged an area is, based on levels of higher education participation.
Cambridge was ranked worst, while seven other Russell Group universities – including St Andrew’s, Bristol, Durham, and Aberdeen – helped make up the bottom ten.
The University of Hull was ranked first in the table, while Derby and Edge Hill were placed second and third respectively.
Nick Hillman, director of HEPI, said: “This analysis reveals which universities reflect wider society best, and those which have further to travel.
“The best way to deliver fairer access to selective institutions is the same as the best way to deliver widening participation overall, which is to provide more places,” he added.
Iain Martin, vice-chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University and author of the report, said: “It remains that we do not have an educational level playing field.”
According to the HESA report, just 2.8 per cent of the University’s intake in 2017-18 were from students who live in areas classified as the most difficult to engage in higher education.
The University has been contacted for comment.
Worst universities for equal access, according to the HEPI report
Gone are the days when ‘jeans and a nice top’ meant skinny jeans, most likely black, or maybe – if you’re particularly indie – ripped. Nowadays, you’d be wise to question, “Mom jeans? Flares? Bootlegs?”. Video may have killed the radio star, but wide-leg killed the skinny jean.
Okay, so maybe “killed” is too far. After all, skinny jeans are still a staple of any young woman’s wardrobe. “They go with everything!” and “They accentuate my curves!” are classic epithets that you’ll hear many a woman proclaim. Yet it’s certain that skinny jeans aren’t as necessary as they used to be. Indeed, Mo Riach, head of design at Topshop, told Drapers: “We are finding our customers want more variety in terms of fit. There’s definitely still a place for the skinny jean, but it’s no longer enough to have just one silhouette in your wardrobe.”
Nick Eley, head of design at ASOS, concurs. “Our customer still loves our hero styles such as the Asos Design Ridley skinny jean and our ASOS Design Farleigh slim mom jean, but we are seeing more and more sales coming through from wider-leg silhouettes and straight legs.” Nor does this seem to be something solely affecting the womenswear market, as Joel Clark, junior menswear buyer at BohooMan, told Drapers: “We can sell a core black jean day in, day out, but the customer is really looking for styles that stand out from the rest of the market.”
A few months ago, I found myself and a group of friends having a highly-fuelled debate about whether Joni or Jamie Topshop jeans were better. But, in retrospect, how often do any of us justify wearing our Joni and Jamie skinny jeans when we want to create a distinct and fashionable outfit? In the fight between Joni and Jamie jeans, Topshop introduced another competitor into the ring: the Mom jean. Classically edgy, and undoubtedly much more comfortable than skinny jeans, the Mom jean offered a valiant attempt at revamping tired-out wardrobes.
Yet even more powerful is the recent revival of the flared jeans. They offer all the tightness of skinny jeans around the bottom, allowing you to show off your favourite asset, whilst offering an edginess and fashion-forward look under the knee. However, this isn’t just my opinion, as it would seem that the world of twitter agrees. Scrolling through my newsfeed, I have seen on more than one occasion a meme featuring an out-of-breath SpongeBob SquarePants, used by Twitter users to express their disgruntlement towards the tightness of skinny jeans. In short, the skinny jean experience is thus: a battle to put on, hopping from leg to leg; and a war to take off, after having eaten during the day.
All this talk of jeans, but what about trousers? I find myself, and those around me, turning more and more to trousers, in any fabric: cotton, velvet, suede. When you’re going out for a meal and you know a food baby is looming, skinny jeans just don’t make the cut. Who wants people to think you’re pregnant when you’ve actually just enjoyed a good burger and fries? What’s more, there is nothing quite like a vertical striped trouser to create the illusion of model-legs, and undoubtedly a pair of statement velvet trousers act more like the ‘nice top’ than the actual top in the classic ‘jeans and a nice top’ combination.
So there you go, I’ve said it: I don’t find skinny jeans as necessary anymore, and I don’t think many other young women do either. Yes, I may wear them a lot, but when I love my outfits, I find it’s not when I’m wearing skinny jeans: maybe it’s because they have simply become ‘too ordinary’. So long live the skinny jean, and never forget I do love you, but I’m glad my options are widening and that I don’t need you like I used to.
Oxford number eight Will Wilson has been included in England’s twelve-man squad for this weekend’s Hong Kong Sevens tournament.
The 21-year-old will be one of four World Series debutants in a young squad picked with one eye on next week’s Commonwealth Games tournament.
The Hong Kong Sevens, which has been held annually since 1976, is arguably the most prestigious leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series, and will be contested by 16 teams including last year’s winners, Fiji.
Wilson told Cherwell that he was “absolutely stunned” by the news.
“I played on the European circuit last summer, but had no idea that I could go from there to the World Series and gaining my first cap in such a short space of time while still trying to keep my head above water at Oxford,” he said.
“We’ve sent a slightly younger, less experienced squad to Hong Kong while most of the senior squad remain in England to prepare for the Commonwealth Games.
“We’ve come in for a little bit of questioning because of that, but it hasn’t affected us at all – if anything, it’s made us even more determined to perform well and put in a performance to make England proud.
“Because of our inexperience, we don’t really know what to expect or what we’re capable of, but I’m so excited to test myself against the best and see how far we can go. To do it at such an iconic venue as Hong Kong is really the icing on the cake – it’s without doubt the highlight of my career so far and I can’t wait to take the field tomorrow.”
Hong Kong Sevens Fixtures:
Friday 6th April, 11.48am: England vs Scotland
Saturday 7th April, 4.00am: England vs South Korea
Saturday 7th April, 9.26am: South Africa vs England
Sunday 8th April: All knockout games.
All games live on Sky Sports Action channel.
Wilson has plenty of experience at a high level, having previously played for Wasps U18s, captained an England U18 tour to Samoa, and won three Blues for Oxford.
He played at flanker in the Oxford side that won 12-6 in 2015, and started at eight in the 2016 and 2017 defeats, scoring a try in the latter.
England have been drawn in Pool C in the Hong Kong Sevens, alongside Scotland, South Africa, and South Korea. Their pool games, which are being shown live on Sky Sports, will be played on Friday and Saturday, while the knockout stages of the tournament are held on Sunday.
England’s head coach, Simon Amor, said: “Hong Kong is such a prestigious event on the World Series circuit and will be a brilliant opportunity for our younger players.
“They will have some really tough competition but we are excited to see them showcase their talent as they push on for further honours within England Sevens.”
England’s Commonwealth Games squad will be captained by Tom Mitchell, who started at fly-half in Oxford’s 2011 Varsity Match win.
“It works like a dream,” says Pete the barista, gesturing to the 30 year-old espresso machine as he loads in a fresh dose of coffee grounds. Many customers will greet him by first name and slip instantly into familiar chatter, whilst he concocts their brew of choice.
It seems unlikely that Pete, together with his friend Jake, both formerly in the dockless bikes business, opened up Common Ground Workspace as a pop-up store just a month and a half ago.
Fittingly, the large open space has an “unfinished” look to it, populated mostly by an array of mismatched tables and working desks, with customers’ bikes leaned against poster-filled walls. The coffee station, featuring the big vintage brewing machine and a tempting line-up of homemade bakes, stands in front of a blackboard wall covered in handwritten chalk scrawls.
Though the drinks selection seems at first glance pretty standard, the coffee itself is really something special. My current go-to is the ‘Dirty Chai’ which, for me anyway, has the coffee to sugar and spice ratio down to a T. Once you’ve tried it, together with a homemade slice of sticky vegan brownie or banana loaf, it’s easy to see why so many people keep coming back.
Common Ground sources its coffee from the Bristol-based Clifton Coffee Roasters, who pride themselves on ethical trade relationships established with coffee producers overseas.
It’s not, however, all about the coffee. As Pete puts it, the aim is to “provide a social space where you can go and talk to people and even talk to me.” In the academic pressure cooker that is Oxford, where exams and essays sometimes threaten to swallow us whole, a change of scenery can bring a much-needed glimpse of the bigger picture.
A hybrid of a cafe, library and JCR, Common Ground Workspace is just that — a relaxed, shared workspace that offers conversation as well as a caffeine kick. So whether you need an escape from the resident mouth breathers of the college library, fancy a cheeky Dirty Chai, or could do with an arty backdrop to your procrastination session, it’s well worth giving this place a try.
Common Ground Workspace is on37-38 Little Clarendon St, open seven days a week.
Common Ground sources its coffee from the Bristol-based Clifton Coffee Roasters, who pride themselves on ethical trade relationships established with coffee producers overseas. 