Wednesday 8th October 2025
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Controversial ex-Union president made new universities minister

Libby Cherry
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Controversial ex-Union president made new universities minister

The new universities minister, Sam Gyimah, attracted controversy and criticism while studying at Oxford.

During his term as Oxford Union President, four out of his eleven committee members resigned from their posts citing both overwork and “the people who hang there”, in the words of the then Secretary.

A contemporary Union source claimed “that Gyimah’s attitude towards his staff is one of
the reasons for the resignations.”

Gyimah later caught the public eye in October 1997 when he attempted to invite Tariq Aziz,
the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister described as “the right-hand man of Saddam Hussein”, to speak at the Union.

However, the Foreign Office refused Aziz a visa and said he was not allowed to travel in Britain.

Gyimah also found himself at the centre of disputes with the student union. He was accused by its president, Simon McDougall, of giving the impression that the Oxford
Union and the student union were one and the same.

In a letter that encouraged new students to become members, the institution described itself as “the most famous student union in the world.”

Gyimah dismissed the claims, saying: “We’re central to student life. The language you employ talking about this is the language of a student union.”

He often attracted the attention of the student body in his addresses to the Union.

Cherwell reported in November 1997: “Sam Gyimah knows that (comedian) Bob Monkhouse is no good in bed.

“He slept with him. This was the revelation which failed to raise the merest titter amongst the assembled crowd.”

He also took part in a Union debate dressed in a blonde wig and a nun’s habit.

More recently, Gyimah used his platform on the BBC’s Question Time to praise Theresa
May in her refusal to endorse Donald Trump’s retweeting of the far right group, Britain First.

He said: “It takes great bravery to stand up to your enemies, it takes even more bravery to stand up to your friends.”

However, these words turned out not to be his own. Harry Potter enthusiasts soon identified the epigram as first spoken by JK Rowling’s character Albus Dumbledore.

Gyimah, an alumnus of Somerville College, today continues to help support the College’s bursary fund.

The College helped him with his own financial difficulties during his time at Oxford.

He said: “They converted my entire rent while I was there into a loan which I subsequently paid when I graduated.”

The College issued a statement congratulating Gyimah on his appointment.

They said: “Congratulations to Somerville alumnus Sam Gyimah (1995, PPE), who has
been appointed Minister for Universities and Science.”

Cellar praises ‘crucial’ bill to protect music venues

Matthew Roller
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Cellar praises ‘crucial’ bill to protect music venues

The owner of Oxford nightclub Cellar has praised a “crucial” new planning bill designed to protect music venues.

Tim Hopkins said John Spellar MP’s ‘agent-of-change’ bill “makes total sense”, after it passed to its second reading in parliament on Wednesday.

If made law, the bill’s proposals would require developers to consider the fates of pre-existing businesses before proceeding with new projects.

Hopkins, whose father opened Cellar, told Cherwell: “the bill is crucial to the survival of so many small live music venues and clubs across the country.

“It’s also very fair because it does work both ways. If a builder built next door to a venue they can’t get it shut down on account of the noise – they have to take responsibility for soundproofing their development.

“We are lucky at the Cellar: sound issues are not an issue we have to deal with. However, we do care and support this bill, because we want to support our fellow live music venues across the country.

“It is exactly what is needed when it comes to such financial drains and stresses on small venues that are – more often than not – already over stretched.”

The UK Music association estimates that 35% of the country’s live music venues have closed in the past decade.

The body’s chief, Michael Dugher, criticised companies who develop next to pre-existing venues. He said: “All of a sudden, the people in a block of flats are complaining about the noise of a venue.”

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran also supported the bill, having publicly backed the ‘save Cellar’ campaign last summer.

Some 13,000 people signed a petition to keep Cellar open, after its landlords put forward a planning application to redevelop the space.

Moran said: “The idea would be to look out for existing businesses before granting planning permission.

“As a new MP at the time of the proposed closure of the Cellar, it was really encouraging to see so many people getting involved with the planning and political process for the first time in a bid to save it.

“I’m particularly glad that people power won the day.”

The club has hosted early gigs for several successful Oxford bands, including Foals and Glass Animals.

Moran, a Liberal Democrat tipped by senior party figures as their “best hope of a revival”, said the furore around Cellar led her to believe there should be “a re-think of planning policy to better protect well-loved music venues from future developments.

“This is a law designed to protect the little guy… it is designed to allow them to fight back.”

A group of MPs, peers, and musicians gathered outside parliament ahead of the bill’s reading, including Billy Bragg, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, and former culture minister
Ed Vaizey.

A lot to swallow: the new Westgate Centre

Ticiana Alencar
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A lot to swallow: the new Westgate Centre

Walking into Westgate, as all Oxford students did for the first time last Michaelmas, it is easy for anyone to be distracted by the numerous new shops that are now easily accessible in our uni environment.

I found myself tempted to stop at various clothes shops but, of course, I could not wait to find out which new restaurants had opened. Breakfast is definitively the best part of the day – trust me. It will be too easy to spend mornings eating delicious meals at Westgate.

Whether your New Year’s Resolution is to eat healthy food, or you can’t actually be bothered to wake up in the morning to eat breakfast food, or even if all you want is some good bread and spreads, you can find all three options in one place in Oxford now.

Firstly we have Boost Juice Bar. Located on the Upper Ground Floor, neighbouring Primark, Next and John Lewis, this is the perfect place for anyone in need of a break- fast you can eat on the go.

As one might imagine from its name, Boost sells juices and smoothies. There is a suggested menu but, excitingly, you are also able to create your own custom flavour. From mango and berries, to bananas with passionfruit, the combinations are numerous.

Any budding gym lovers can choose to add ‘boosters’ to the fruity mixes, such as protein powder or ‘super fruits’ like acai and goji berry.

Some of their smoothies also include vegetables, which is perfect for anyone trying to up their intake of greens in 2018.

The aim of the juice bar, which originally started in Australia, is to provide a healthy option in shopping centres.

It is a really easy and nourishing spot, and also removes the need for you to painstakingly clean a blender yourself.

Le Pain Quotidien lives on the Lower Ground Floor of Westgate, adjacent to John Lewis. It is certainly one of the finest places for anyone who wants to catch up with a friend they haven’t seen in a while over a cup of coffee, which, like all of their hot drinks, comes in a handle-less mug, resembling a small bowl.

The ‘Le Pain’ spreads’ are certainly the highlight of any trip to this breakfast location. Every order of bread or pastries will be accompanied by various jams and spreads, and you can ask for their specialities, such as their Speculoos biscuit spread, their ‘Noisella’ hazelnut-flavoured spread, their ‘Brunette’ hazelnut and praline spread, or their ‘Blondie’ spread made from white chocolate.

The chances are that after you’ve finished your meal, you’ll sit there putting more and more spreads on your plate that you’ll eat either with breadcrumbs or just raw, chatting over your last few sips of coffee.

Whilst you might feel like you’re living the yummy mummy life – about to go to her yoga lesson before picking her children up at school – Le Pain Quotidien is definitely a great place to go to for breakfast with a groups of friends.

Finally, you’ll find The Breakfast Club on the Roof Terrace of Westgate. Their London branches are infamous for their impossibly long queues, and my experience of the Oxford branch has been no different. However, if the only hangover cure you want is is a stack of pancakes or a fry-up sometime in the mid-afternoon once you have finally managed to get out of bed, then this place is perfect for you.

To accompany their all-day brunch menu, they have lunch and dinner options, which makes it the perfect place for you to take anyone who cannot stand the thought of eating breakfast at a different time in the day (you don’t need that negativity).

And, if you really are cured of your hangover, you can try to find their secret bar…

@tici_alencar

Philosophical economists and privatised oceans

Barney Pite
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Philosophical economists and privatised oceans

conomics is a discipline filled with jargon. Obsessed with scientific objectivity and mathematical truth, the study of the economy can sometimes seem too technical to tackle without expertise. According to Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek Finance minister during the 2015 Financial crisis: “There are no real experts, and the economy is far too important to leave to the experts.”

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy explains the theory without the jargon. Through myth, literature, and Varoufakis’ personal experience as an economist, teacher and parent, he investigates debt, trade, markets, and inequality. Varoufakis’ daughter Xenia lives in Australia, so he starts his discussion by asking why the British invaded Australia and not the other way around.

Varoufakis is primarily interested in exploring an sustainable and democratic economic model. He suggests that in the wake of environmental degradation and ecological destruction the next eras of human existence will be typified by a clash between an urge to “commodify everything” and to “democratize everything”; Varoufakis envisages a world in which the oceans and the forests and the atmosphere are privately owned by large groups of people, to safeguard them for the future.

A central point Varoufakis argues is that Western societies have become overly dominated by their markets; no longer do our civil structures contain marketplaces, but markets have become the driving forces behind our social structures and lifestyles, which has generated, in Varoufakis’ view, deep inequality. He traces this change from the start of the Industrial Revolution to today.

The consequence of a society dominated by markets is that societies value the exchange value of goods and services more than their experiential value. For a market society,a forest fire is a good thing; trees have no exchange value but the water and helicopters used do.

Varoufakis’ political and economic opinions are progressive, but this book is persuasive and clear. With examples and analogies as far reaching as Mephistopheles and debt, Oedipus and prophesies, and Prisoner of War camps in the Second World War, Varoufakis seeks to reimagine economic education to make it more accessible and humane. What Varoufakis is really interested in doing is reinventing the study of economics; in his view, economics is really a form of philosophy, and not a verifiable science. Economics investigates human behaviour; with all it’s mathematical models and technicality, economics can’t predict the future and the discipline would benefit, he argues, if experts stopped pretending they were oracles of wisdom and truth. While economists would lose a lot of power if this shift were to take place, they would, according to Varoufakis, stop making mistakes for which they are ultimatly responible

Restoring the silenced voices in Wide Sargasso Sea

Musty Kamal
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Restoring the silenced voices in Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea is a novel that was written as a prequel to Jane Eyre, 120 years after Brontë’s work was originally published in 1847. Both texts can be viewed as feminist works, yet the notion of womanhood differs drastically in each. Although both novels also heavily criticise male control over the female experience, Rhys adds in the dimension of racial oppression pertinent to Victorian Britain. We can see this revisionism present in modern day feminism. Rhys’ novel invites us to question how linked issues of race and gender are – this concept of ‘intersectionality’ is a source of great contention between schools of feminism.

Jane Eyre traces the journey of the eponymous heroine, and provides a social critique for the repression and obstacles that restricted women in Victorian Britain. We are fl eetingly presented with the mixed-race character Bertha, who serves as the protagonist in Wide Sargasso Sea. Although Brontë largely conceals her in Jane Eyre, a modern reading allows us to view her as the principal victim of the cultural oppression that Jane alludes to. Bertha is deprived of a voice in Jane Eyre, but Rhys seeks to restore that voice in Wide Sargasso Sea.

The respective plots of the novels revolve around the female experience in relation to societal repression, much of which manifests itself through Rochester. He is an expression of the Victorian patriarchy, and his attempts to control both Bertha and Jane are reflections of the stifling environment of Brontë’s era.

In Rhys’ novel we are presented with the story behind Rochester’s marriage to Antoinette, later to be known as Bertha, who is of creole heritage. Rhys depicts her as an intermediate between black and white. As the daughter of a slave owner and his slave, Antoinette experiences an identity crisis, compounded by poverty and bullying as a child. Rochester never loves her, yet marries her for a £30,000 dowry. This seems to represent Britain’s soulless relationship with its colonies in the Victorian era, and the compression of her personality by both misogyny and imperialism subsequently leads to the severe deterioration of her mental state. The disparity between the novels is that in Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette is a victim. In Jane Eyre, however, she is bound to a chair and locked away in the attic.

Whilst Antoinette is portrayed as mentally unstable in both novels, Rhys’ work is more aligned with modern ideas of mental health, and Rochester’s disregard for the causes of his wife’s discontent can be considered emblematic of the current failings of mental healthcare.

He is portrayed as a convinced manifestation of white male privilege in both books, but Rhys’ reading is starker with his colonialist disdain for her difference; Antoinette’s curly hair, distinct English diction, and different mannerisms enrage her husband.

Many laud Rhys as a pioneer for highlighting the discomfort of the British when confronted with social difference, and it is interesting to note that she was writing as a contemporary to the climate of Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. Wide Sargasso Sea presents a more fluid concept of what it means to be a woman, and provides a more modern insight into the many layers of oppression suffered by Antoinette, including patriarchy and colonialism. Feminist commentators have added that the novel was a necessary addition to Jane Eyre, in the same way that modern feminists suggest that feminism must draw on various oppressions such as racism and classism to truly create a holistic image.

The best illustration of this dynamic is when Rochester imposes the more English name ‘Bertha Mason’ onto his wife, in place of the more florid ‘Antoinette’.

This is an example of how Antoinette’s individuality is such a threat to Rochester that he has to reshape her identity so that he can feel at ease: a kind of censorship of her difference.

As with all great works, Wide Sargasso Sea has many echoes relevant today. We cannot view feminism as a binary struggle between male power and female disenfranchisement – there are several facets of such dynamics.

The case study of Antoinette also serves as an example of the complexity of mental health. At the end of Jane Eyre, she sets Rochester’s house alight and commits suicide: a potent way of describing the dangers of mishandling mental health.

Reimagining the Ordinary

Tilda Coleman
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Reimagining the Ordinary

 

This week, Amber Sidney- Woollett explores the work environment by restructuring dark space, whilst Georgia Heneage uses expressive brush strokes and texture to add new depth to familiar scenes. Meanwhile, the work of Anna Mujahid questions reinvention as she seeks to realistically portray friendly faces.

by Georgia Heneage
by Amna Mujahid
by Georgia Heneage
by Georgia Heneage
by Amber Sidney-Woollett
by Amna Mujahid
by Georgia Heneage
by Amna Mujahid
by Amna Mujahid

 

Union announces majority-female term card

Libby Cherry
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Union announces majority-female term card

The Oxford Union has released its Hilary term card, which promises a host of influential names and introduces a new ‘Women’s Leadership Speaker’ series.

Just over 50 per cent of all speaking participants are female, compared to just 21 per cent in Michaelmas term.

Of the 75 guests at the Union, 18 identify as BME, which is an 11 per cent point increase from previous president Chris Zabilowicz’s term.

The speakers include Oscar-winning Hollywood actress and activist Whoopi Goldberg.
Joining her is Saturday Night Live actor Alec Baldwin, currently filming the latest Mission Impossible film. Baldwin was recently criticised after his comments on the #MeToo campaign.

The founding president of Google China, Kai-Fu Lee, will speak at the Union in first week.
Prominent American conservative commentator Ann Coulter, North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee, and Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty will also deliver talks.

Among the seven women making up the new ‘Women’s Leadership Speaker’ series are former President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, as well as UN health advocate, Dr Alaa

Murabit, and British Fashion Council Chief Executive, Caroline Rush CBE.
From the sports and entertainment world, Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie CBE, Spice Girl Mel B, and DJ duo The Chainsmokers all feature.

This Hilary term at the Union will also see notable partnerships with Oxford societies. In association with OU LGBT+ Society, the Union will welcome trans rights activist Gavin Grimm, who last year took a case about transgender bathrooms to the US Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the Oxford University Islamic Society have teamed up with the Union to host a panel discussion on ‘Islam and Politics’ in 4th week, which includes a former Director -General of Al-Jazeera.

Such panel discussions are a new feature of the Hilary line-up. In fifth week, a panel including the President of NARAL Pro-Choice America will discuss the need for abortion reform.

A discussion on whistleblowing includes a Guardian journalist who covered the release of the Snowdon papers, and a Wikileaks Administrator. It will take place in seventh week.

In her welcome message, new Union president Laali Vadlamani wrote: “It is in diversity that we find strength.

“The advent of globalisation means that we are more aware than ever before of the issues that affect even the most remote corners of the world. We can no longer simply sit by
and watch.”

Speaking about the Women’s Leadership Speaker series, Vadlamani wrote: “Leading an institution which was founded at a time when women were not even allowed to enrol for
degrees at the University does, at times, feel rather surreal, but it is only through discussing the issues that women face that we can hope to further these incredible voices, and what they represent.”

In the weekly debate listings, the Union will discuss the Partition of India and whether tech empires threaten society. In first week, members will debate whether celebrity icons have corrupted feminist movements. By fifth week debaters will tackle the proposition that Westminster’s concerns do not extend beyond the Home Counties.

46% of external debaters are female, while 20% identify as BME, both increases on Michaelmas 2017.

The growth in female and BME involvement in the Union’s calendar for Hilary 2018 follows Cherwell’s report on the society’s mainly white male term card in Michaelmas.

At the time, Oxford SU’s then VP for Women, Katy Haigh, said the institution “should surely have adequate power and resources to engage a more diverse range of speakers.”

The debates for this term, in full, are as follows:

  1. This House believes celebrity icons have corrupted feminist movements
  2. This House believes democracies should never ally with authoritarian regimes
  3. This House believes the rise of tech empires threatens society
  4. This House believes we cannot thrive without religion
  5. This House believes Westminster’s concerns do not extend beyond the home counties
  6. This House regrets blaming Wall Street for the global financial crisis
  7. This House regrets the partition of India
  8. Head to Head: Is NHS reform needed?

The speakers in first week will be Jamie Roberts, Twinkle Khanna, Alec Baldwin and Kai-Fu Lee.

The full release is expected on the Union’s website later today, and physical copies of the term card will be out on Wednesday.

Who’s speaking

Alec Baldwin

Having been an actor on television, film and stage for almost 30 years, Alec Baldwin is one of the most well-known figures in the industry. He is the male performer with the most Screen Actors’ Guild Awards ever,  and in recent years has received worldwide attention for his portrayal of Donald Trump in Saturday Night Live. He is currently filming his role in the latest Mission: Impossible film. He has also recently been embroiled into political controversy of his comments about the #MeToo campaign.

He will be speaking on Friday, 19th January, at 4pm.

Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter is an American conservative social and political commentator. She rose toprominence in the 1990s as an outspoken critic of the Clinton Administration, and has more recently become one of PresidentTrump’s most notable supporters. She describes herself as a polemicist who like to “stir up the pot” and “does not pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do.”Coulter has vehemently defended her beliefs in twelve best-selling books, including her recent works Adios, America! and In Trump We Trust.

She will be speaking on Monday, 12th February, at 5pm.

Whoopi Goldberg

An actor, author, comedian, television host, and human rights activist, Whoopi Goldberg is one of the few entertainers to win an Emmy Award, Tony Award, Grammy Award and Oscar. In a career spanning over three decades, Goldberg has been famed for roles in The Color Purple and Sister Act, as well as as hosting the popular daytime talk show, The View. She has stood by Cyndi Lauper in the Give a Damn campaign, combatting discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, as well as having co-founded andhosted Comic Relief in the US.

She will be speaking on Saturday, 24th February, at 12 noon.

Glenn Close

Notable for her performances in the films The Big Chill, Fatal Attraction and as Cruella Deville in 101 Dalmatians, Close hassix Academy Award nominations to her name. She also starred in the drama series Damages, winning a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards. As a passionate campaigner for gay marriage, women’s rights and mental health awareness, Glenn is the founder of BringChange2Mind and notably petitioned President Obama to pass the Excellence in Mental Health Act in 2014.

She will be speaking on Wednesay, 7th March, at 8pm.

Gavin Grimm

Shortly after he began presenting as a man whilst at high school in Virginia, USA, parents of other pupils at his school complained about him using the male bathrooms. When the school board banned Grimm from doing so, he took his case against Gloucester County School all the way up to the Supreme Court. Grimm’s bravery in the first ever trans rights case argued before that court earned him the accolade of one of TIME’s 100 for 2017.

He will be speaking on Wednesday, 21st February at 5pm.

Bryan Cranston

An American actor and director, Bryan Cranston is best known for playing Walter White in crime drama series Breaking Bad, a role for which he has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor no fewer than four times. He was also widely praised for his portrayals of Hal in the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle, and Dr Tim Whatley in Seinfeld, and is currently starring in Network at the National Theatre. He is further known for his active campaigning against AIDS, a cause for which he raised donations at his 2014 Broadway show All the Way.

He will be speaking on Monday, 22nd January at 1pm.

Mesut Ozil

Özil plays for Arsenal whilst also maintaining his position on the German national team – he has represented the country in two UEFA European Championships, as well as in two FIFA World Cups, contributing to 2014 World Cup victory. Considered by many as one of the world’s best players, Özil has won countless awards and Ballon D’Or short-listings.

He will be speaking on Tuesday, 20th February, at 5pm.

Christ Church risk student safety at bops

Susannah Goldsbrough
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Christ Church risk student safety at bops

For the last five years, Christ Church has failed to comply with its own fire safety regulations at bops.

The regulations, dating from 2012, limit the number of students allowed to attend events in the JCR where bops take place. They were introduced after a fire in Peckwater Quad in 2011.

The capacity limit of 130 people was not enforced until the final bop of Michaelmas 2017, when a ‘one in one out’ policy led to a large queue outside the JCR.

In an email seen by Cherwell, that was sent to JCR members during the vacation, Junior Censor Geraldine Johnson explained why the fire safety policy had suddenly been enforced.

She said she had been informed “very late in the day” about a regulation that “limited the JCR’s capacity to only 130, with up to 170 allowed exceptionally with a managed evacuation plan in place.”

She went on to say the regulations had existed “ever since the College Surveyor undertook a risk assessment following a serious fire in Peck in 2012.”

In a statement to Cherwell, the Dean of Christ Church, Martyn Percy, said: “We acknowledge that the failure to ensure that the fire regulations were widely understood beforehand was an unfortunate oversight.

“However, there is no evidence that conditions for students were unsafe at previous bops and, fortunately, no students have come to harm.”

One Christ Church student told Cherwell: “In previous years, you were allowed to bring as many guests as you liked. People just let their friends in at the gate. It was chaos.”

Another said: “I think it’s concerning that the college has flouted their own safety rules in the past, [they have] also compromised the trust between the college and its students.

“It’s good that this is now being taken more seriously in light of recent events.”

When asked why she and previous censors had not been made aware of the safety regulations, the Junior Censor told Cherwell: “Colleges are complicated organisations.

“The Junior Censors are told to a certain extent about our responsibility towards fire safety, but we’re not the primary fire safety officers.”

She added: “I don’t think we’ve [previously] been massively exceeding the number limits in a way that would have caused serious fire risks.”

Johnson said it was only while in the process of checking the capacity of the Graduate Common Room for a private party earlier in Michaelmas term that she realised there might
be a capacity issue for the JCR.

The Dean said: “We take the safety of the whole college community extremely seriously. Once the Censors became aware of the need to limit numbers at bops, conditions
were reviewed.

“Over the Christmas vacation, the alarm system was upgraded and additional evacuation management procedures were put into place.

“The good news is that we can now increase the safe upper limit to 170 for bops, something we hope our students will welcome.”

Plenty of snow but little silverware for Oxford’s skiers

Digby Hopkinson-Woolley
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Plenty of snow but little silverware for Oxford’s skiers

For many on the Varsity trip, arrival in the Alps heralds hurried checking-in before an immediate trip to the local supermarkets for raids of all the pasta and boxed wine in sight. Then people can look forward to a week of sun and snow, late nights and lie-ins, après
afternoons, and perhaps some skiing thrown into the mix.

Needless to say, these aspirations differ to those of the competitive skiers. Indeed, both OUSSC and CUSSC travel out earlier than the merrymakers to squeeze in a few extra days of training before trials and the races.

Oxford’s skiers were keen to build on successes of previous years, specifically the double victory in 2016 of the men’s and ladies’ Dark Blues teams. Thus, the intensity of OUSSC training shifted up a gear this Michaelmas. Rising club numbers led to strong representation at training sessions at Iffley and twelve athletes were enrolled in the Blues’ Performance Scheme.

News of freshly-fallen snow greeted skiers upon their arrival; a good omen as snowfall is often a concern given the timing of the trip in early December. However, because the snow had been so unexpected, the ‘Stade’ (the race piste finish opposite the VarCity) had not been prepared by the resort staff and so skiers were faced with a commute up to the glacier, where no spectators were allowed to watch, and skiers were chased down the Alps, a wind chill of -28°C at their backs.

The Varsity races’ format consists of two runs of giant slalom (GS) followed by two runs of slalom (SL). The collated times of the fastest four in each team in each event are put into the scoring system, and the team with the quickest overall time are declared the winners.

GS is the race discipline most akin to the average person’s skiing style, medium length sweeping turns in a fairly regular meander down the piste. Conversely, slalom is more dynamic. The much shorter skis call for tight, sharp turns, almost bouncing between edges,
characterised by tracing a line down the course as close to the gates (coloured turning poles) as possible.

The drastic difference in requirement of these two disciplines forms the basis of selection, hence team members are split between those with technique and those with speed. With GS passing in the morning, the men’s and women’s 1st teams from Cambridge set
themselves a slight advantage, with all other teams remaining fairly evenly matched.

In the afternoon, initial speed out of the start proved to be critical on a very shallow course that grew increasingly rutted throughout the session to the extent that, by the turn of
the men’s and women’s 3rd teams, just negotiating the flume-like track without mishap was a greater concern than setting a fast time.

In the slalom, the Oxford 1st teams both made up ground on their Cambridge counterparts, while falls in the Cambridge 2nds and Men’s 3rds led to decisive victories
for Oxford.

Against stronger Cambridge competition than last year many Oxford skiers put in strong performances, Varsity veterans and near-novice alike, with the pool of skiers showing excellent promise for future competition.

Special mentions must include Ben Reeves, who placed 3rd overall in the men’s GS, and Olivia Jones, who placed 3rd in the ladies’ slalom.

Don’t kill the House of Lords, fix it

Serena Parekh
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Don’t kill the House of Lords, fix it

As we begin to recover from the New Year’s Eve parties and brace ourselves for the start of yet another year, there are new job titles awaiting those who have been appointed to the House of Lords in the New Year’s honours list. The recent appointments take the total up to 794 members, meaning it is the second largest chamber to China. Popular public opinion imagines the House to be an archaic institution whose members, kitted out in scarlet robes, rule the lives of the everyday person. The Lords’ function is to complement the elected House of Commons, by checking and challenging government.

Initially, it was designed to be an advisory body for the monarch, but with the emergence of the Commons in the 14th century, the Lords’ influence on affairs of the state diminished as the dominance of the Commons grew. Given its muted role, surely the contention concerning the House of Lords is misjudged?

Just by looking at the composition of the House, however, the cracks start to appear to reveal an outmoded institution. Women first entered the chamber in 1958 and calls for reform saw the New Labour initiative to reduce the number of hereditary peers in 1999.
Despite this, the House currently hosts more than twice the number of male members to female members and ninety-two of its members are hereditary peers.

David Cameron’s government saw the most members appointed by any Prime Minister, bloating the House. Therefore, when the bill to trigger Article 50 had to go through the Lords, the relevance of the House was once again brought into question.

Having the biggest democratic decision of our lifetimes requiring approval from an unelected body is difficult to justify, even though the Lords had no power in overturning the bill. This, along with circulating footage of peers falling asleep in sitting sessions has compounded to a very negative view of the chamber, out of touch with the public and unrepresentative of those they are instructed to serve.

Hence, there have been calls to abolish the House. Whilst this appears to be a democratic proposal, in practice it undermines democracy as it both removes the crucial checks and balances to our government, and the expertise that the Lords bring to the table.
The House includes retired generals, trade union leaders and academics alike who use their experience to enhance our laws. Therefore, the House requires reform rather than removal. However, proposed reforms such as having a hybrid house of elected and appointed members, or even having a fully elected house are unworkable.

To do either would confuse the relationship between the two Houses and would attract politicians rather than the experts that the House prides itself on.

Instead, the reform that needs to occur must be more specific, targeting the aspects of the House that are particularly undemocratic, yet retaining its uniqueness.

Limiting the number of members by not having life peers, phasing out the remaining heredity and Lords Spiritual peers and means testing expenses (which currently stands at £300 a day per member) are some measures that would help focus the House and restore public faith.

Ultimately, it needs to be a more representative body. London has five times more members in the chamber than the north–west of England, despite the two regions having similar levels of population. Therefore, in order for the House to continue to be relevant and conduct its role to the highest degree it must both comprise and engage with all members of society.

By doing so, the public can invest their faith in the Lords knowing they will comprehensively carry out the work the chamber was designed to complete. It is time the comfort of being an established institution is challenged and the House acknowledges the necessity of reform.

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