Wednesday 29th April 2026
Blog Page 815

Plagiarism is a modern malaise that must be avoided

John Mainland
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Plagiarism is a modern malaise that must be avoided

Oxford recently released a report which showed that a record number of students have been found guilty of ‘academic misconduct’ over the past year. 53 of these were cases of plagiarism. The figure reflects an increase of 47% from 2016-17, and an almost sevenfold increase since 2008-09. In the wake of these findings, many have questioned whether the results can be put down to the intense academic pressure felt by the students at this institution.

Academic pressure is nothing new at Oxford or at universities generally, so the idea that this explains such a vertiginous increase in plagiarism over the past decade can be pretty easily dismissed. Instead this, like so many modern social ills, is best explained by the Internet.

It is true, the Internet has increased the ability of institutions to detect plagiarism. A simple Google search can reveal copied work and on top of this Oxford has an arsenal of anti-plagiarism software at its disposal, designed to root out more advanced plagiarism techniques.

 

However, the Internet has also made cheating effortless. Not only do we now have a host of academic materials available to copy at our fingertips,but there also are a whole series of websites which are specifically designed to facilitate cheating. These sites allow students to buy ready-written essays and papers. What’s more, the hiring of professionals is now easier and quicker than ever. Students, especially well-funded students, therefore have a temptation to plagiarise that goes beyond simply copying passages from Wikipedia during an essay crisis.

Indeed, it appears that the many of those caught plagiarising are the most financially well-off – the majority of plarigarisers were found to be international postgraduate students at the Saïd Business School. It has been suggested that such students feel compelled to plagiarise due to their high fees and potentially having to deal with greater linguistic challenges in publishing academic work.

 

However, this doesn’t explain why the plagiarism is largely confined to Saïd, nor does it acknowledge the link between the disparity in wealth between international students, who make up a greater proportion of plagiarism cases, and domestic students, many of whom face enormous economic challenges in studying at Oxford.  

It seems to me, instead, the most likely explanation is that these wealthier Said students are also those who are entering highly competitive industries where success is too often prioritised over integrity. They have both the motivation and the means to cheat, and they deserve no sympathy for doing so.

 

Pembroke prevail on penalties to reach Cuppers final

Abby D'Cruz
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Pembroke prevail on penalties to reach Cuppers final

Pembroke Women’s Rugby team won a penalty shoot-out in the Cuppers semi-final against Keble to take a place in Saturday’s final against a mixed Brasenose and Wadham team.

The late kick-off started brightly, with Pembroke coming out strong and producing some powerful carries and big hits in the opening phases. Keble managed to weather the storm and soon came back in kind, with the breakdown fiercely contested by both sides throughout. There was nothing between the two teams in the first half, with probing runs being met with staunch defence all over the pitch.

The pace of the game increased in the second half, with attempts to spread the ball wide met with some quick-witted cover defence from both teams. One of the best chances came from a chip and chase from Keble’s fly-half, who collected her kick and drew the fullback before passing to winger Ellie Taylor for what looked like a certain try.

It took some last-ditch heroics from Pembroke captain Alice Mingay, whose desperate tackle right at the try line saw the navy-blue winger bundled into touch, to keep the scores level. The Pembroke forwards then turned up the heat, best exemplified by a storming run from prop Immie Hobby down the middle of the pitch, only to be met by an exceptional tackle at the last line of defence from Keble full-back Charlotte Rougier.

Keble received the kick-off again and worked it to their favour as they forced Pembroke to defend their try line through repeated phases. Despite a battering from Keble’s forwards, the pink defence continued to hold strong until the breakthrough came late in the first half of extra time. Shekinah Opara found an exquisite line for Keble and crashed through the Pembroke wall for the first try of the match.

Not to be deterred, the women in pink came out swinging for the last five minutes of extra time. Some incisive running from Pembroke backs Bethan McGregor and Jess Forsyth pushed play all the way back to Keble’s try line. With less than a minute to go, it was again a forward who found the glory, with a strong team build up for Pembroke finished off by prop Hobby for the equalising try.

The game went to penalty kicks, with five kickers from each teams stepping up in the most nerve-wracking of circumstances. The end result ultimately didn’t reflect the closeness of the game, with Pembroke taking the honours 4-1.

Pembroke’s Helen Cossar and Sydney Gagliano were both exceptional, and put in their best performances in the pink jersey to date, while Claire Castle, Nina Jenkins and Maddie Hindson were the standouts in navy-blue.

In the men’s tournament, St Edmund Hall beat Jesus to set up a final with St Peter’s, who came out on top against Hertford.

Merton defeated in University Challenge final

Matthew Roller
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Merton defeated in University Challenge final

Merton College were beaten in the final of University Challenge this evening, as they lost 145-100 to St John’s College, Cambridge.

After racing into an early fifty-point lead, Merton fell away as the show went on, as first-year St John’s student Rosie McKeown impressed with a series of correct answers.

The result means that the competition has now been won by a Cambridge college for four out of the past five series.

Merton had impressed throughout the series, and racked up the most points out of any team in both the first round and the quarter-finals.

They overcame Newcastle University in last week’s semi-final with relative ease, but an impressive St John’s side lived up to their billing as favourites on the night.

Tonight’s final was also the fifth in a row to be contested between an Oxford college and a Cambridge college.

Despite the college’s reputation for academic excellence, and the fact that they have regularly topped the Norrington Table in recent years, Merton have only won the competition once before.

That year’s team beat a Queen’s College, Cambridge side that included Stephen Fry in the final.

A member of the 1980 team, Steven Gunn, now works as a History professor at the college, and has taught two members of this year’s runners-up: Edward Thomas and Alex Peplow.

While the Oxbridge stranglehold on the competition has continued in this series, this was the final first since 2010 to feature a female-identifying student on both teams.

In the past few years, the show has come under the spotlight due to the lack of contestant who identify as female featuring in the latter stages of the competition.

Last year, St Hugh’s College was criticised for fielding an all-male team. Critics asked why a formerly-all-female college had chosen a team featuring four men.

In November, Wadham decided to enforce a gender quota for its entry into this year’s competition.

Last year’s series was won by Balliol College, who made headlines after refusing an interview with the Daily Mail, which they labelled a “fascist rag”.

Oxford student places 10th in London Marathon

Alice Bruce
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Oxford student places 10th in London Marathon

Oxford PhD student Eoghan Totten finished tenth in the 2018 London Marathon on Sunday, running the non-elite race in a time of two hours and 26 minutes.

One of over 40,000 runners completing the field, Totten will be the first Oxford athlete to earn a full blue in marathon. He completed the race, which was also his marathon debut, within the full blue standard time of two hours 30 minutes.

Earlier this year, Totten represented Northern Ireland in the Antrim International Cross Country.

Speaking about his debut, Totten told Cherwell: “I learned that you must respect the distance and that factors at variance with other, shorter distances, come into play over 26.2.

“For example, I was not aerobically taxed today but troubled by cramps from fluid intake, which impeded my running. I will learn from the experience and move forward.”

The marathon varsity match was won by the Oxford men’s team, however the Cambridge Hare and Hounds won the women’s match, bringing OUCCC’s varsity record this year to seven wins out of nine matches.

Katie Truslove, a junior dean at St Hilda’s College, led the Oxford women’s team, finishing in just under three and a half hours.

Rahil Sachak-Patwa was the second Oxford finisher with a time of two hours and 41 minutes, which falls within the half-blue standard and beats his personal best by one second. This is an improvement on last year, when Rahil collapsed during the closing stages of the marathon.

Eliud Kipchoge, who visited the Oxford Union for a talk about his marathon successes in Michaelmas, won the men’s marathon with a healthy lead, in a time of two hours and four minutes. 

Vivian Cheruiyot, the 2016 Olympic 5000m champion, won her first London Marathon in the women’s race.

The marathon was the hottest on record, reaching a top of 24˚C.

In related news, Alexander Betts, a professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs and fellow at Green Templeton College, completed the 2018 Boston Marathon earlier this month.

In doing so, Betts set the world record for running the six Abbott World Marathon Majors in the fastest combined time, averaging at two hours 41 minutes.

Playlist: Childhood

Maxim Mower
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Playlist: Childhood

This week’s playlist contains a mixture of youthful joi de vive and warm waves of nostalgia, as the likes of Avicii, Ed Sheeran and the Beatles combine in a unanimous celebration of childhood. Whether yours was spent climbing trees, donning the infamous Bieber flick or playing Minecraft, these songs give us reassurance that youth is most definitely not wasted on the young.

 

Single-minded Brexiteers are the real snowflakes

Nora Baker
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Single-minded Brexiteers are the real snowflakes

So dainty and fragile are their egos that they cannot bear the sight of a blue starry flag or the words “European Union” on an identity document. They want to seal themselves into
a “safe space”, where those whose opinions and traditions don’t mirror their own are banned.
They are triggered by the colour of their passports and insist that their self-styled identity as ‘British’ be respected by all whom they encounter.
They make heartfelt pleas, proclaiming that they want their country back, and they surround themselves with those who agree with them.
They are wrapped up in protective, protectionist cotton wool dyed the colours of the Union Jack (wool from Commonwealth sheep, one expects).
It seems the days are gone when you could say you were in favour of freedom of movement without offending someone. Any mention of the single market is likely to get
you shut down with some fluff about Brexit indeed meaning Brexit. Proposing to let the public have a say on the customs union could get you labelled a ‘Remoaner’.
Whatever happened to free speech and debate?
Here’s what happened: snowflake sensibilities stem from a culture where people are told they can ‘have it all’. Many of those spouting pro-Brexit messages matured in the echo chambers of old boys’ clubs. Narcissism develops when virtues are extolled and negatives never questioned.

Some unelected politicians living it up in Brussels – such as former Ukip leader Nigel Farage – have had their every effort praised by their lackeys. Michael Gove manages to gloss over the abuses of Empire in saying that it “exported” democracy worldwide.
Is it any wonder that some yearn to bring back a time when Britain was seemingly free from the rule of alleged ‘European overlords’?
It is often said that overpraise of a child’s achievements plus a lack of reality checks equal fantastical expectations. This explains the childlike reasoning of many Leave supporters. Cocooned from responsibility, when things go awry, they immediately assign blame on others. This is why issues with the NHS are all the EU’s fault, despite the fact that France, Germany and the Netherlands all have wellfunctioning universal healthcare systems.
But surely the real world is a place where we have to learn to make compromises, to be challenged.
We have to acknowledge that every state is, in its own way, problematic. How solid can an identity be if it can’t handle criticism? These Leave voters need to get used to the fact that they have to engage with people with views that may be different to their own. These people may not even – wait for it – speak the same language as them. As the saying goes, no man is an island.
Great Britain may be an island, but the United Kingdom is not – it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland, and its dependency, Gibraltar, shares one with Spain. Right-moaners may shake their fists at the mention of ‘foreigners’, such as Turkish barbers and Polish interpreters, stealing traditional British jobs. They may require trigger warnings before having to set eyes on photos of French or German diplomats who have a hand in shaping policies that affect Britain. They may wriggle around the facts by mentally no-platforming forecasts of Brexit-related economic woe. But sooner or later, it becomes necessary to grow up and break out of the nationalist bubble. It’s important to learn to play, if not nicely, then at least respectfully with others.

Here’s an example of silly sensitivity that almost warrants a content notice: some Conservative MPs recently said that if the UK left the EU, on the day of leaving, the bell of Big Ben should chime in celebration. Naturally, I’m all for letting people love their country in whatever way they like at home and in privacy, but do they have to shove it in everyone’s face in public? What lesson might children take from such overt displays of patriotism? Indeed, if such sentiments continue, we face a whole generation growing up thinking that British imperialism is or was somehow natural.
It is time for such discourse to be put firmly aside: it is damaging not only for us, but for
future generations.

1932: The year Picasso had something to prove

Grace Morgan
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1932: The year Picasso had something to prove

There are very few artists who could fill an entire exhibition with work created in a single year. Yet the Tate’s 1932 Picasso- Love, Fame, Tragedy centres on one year of Pablo Picasso’s life and career, a period of intense and exhilarating creativity in which he produced some of his most fêted works.

This vast collection of artwork is organised chronologically, with each gallery representing a progression through 1932. Every piece of work is labelled with the exact date it was created, emphasising just how astoundingly prolific Picasso was – masterpieces such as ‘La Rêve’ were churned out in the space of one afternoon.

The premise of the exhibition means that extraordinary pieces are interspersed with unspectacular experiments, providing the viewer with a tantalizing glimpse of Picasso as he is not often seen: warts and all.

This focused approach enables the viewer to chart the development of Picasso as an artist, in the context of developments in his personal life. By 1932, not even halfway through his career, he had already achieved international recognition as an artistic demigod. This was not an unchallenged status, however; Picasso’s determination to rejuvenate his work and reaffirm his reputation is palpable throughout the exhibition.

Although at the time retrospective exhibitions were unusual for living artists, Picasso curated his own in June of 1932. One gallery of the Tate’s exhibition recreates part of this original retrospective, which mixed art from various periods – early works, such as neo-classical paintings of his wife, are displayed alongside his Cubist ‘Seated Nude’ of 1910.

It was at this 1932 retrospective that Picasso’s wife finally recognised his infidelity. His young lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, is the heart and soul of the year’s body of work. Her distinctive aquiline nose and blonde hair reappear time and time again, immortalised in innumerable paintings, drawings, and sculptures. These works are permeated with unmistakable desire; broad and generous strokes of pencil and paintbrush form luxurious, undulating curves. ‘La Rêve’ depicts his lover in blissful slumber, whilst her head forms a phallus and her hands curl between her legs: transforming her body into a representation of the artist’s lust.

Whilst some of these nude studies are deeply intimate, many are somewhat disturbing. His series of Reclining Nudes manipulates the female body into fantastical, crude contortions, so that every side and orifice is visible. In ‘Sleeping Woman by a Mirror’, the face is seemingly slashed and gauged with paint, whilst her breast is flipped so that it forms a phallus emerging from between her legs. This visual language of violence appears most explicitly in the rare studies of his wife, reflecting marital strain, such as in ‘Woman with Dagger’.

This underlying darkness gains prominence as the year nears to an end. The last gallery, November and December, is dominated by images of drowning and rescue, based on Marie-Thérèse’s contraction of a serious infection after swimming in sewage-contaminated water. These are accompanied by depictions of sexual violence, revealing the artist’s troubled state of mind. It has been claimed that since the childhood death of his sister, Picasso felt cursed to inflict suffering upon women.

This unsettling conclusion to the exhibition perfectly highlights the significance of 1932 for Picasso, both artistically and personally. Marie-Thérèse  was soon to become pregnant, thereby ending his marriage to Olga, who subsequently moved away with their son. Meanwhile, fascism and Nazism engulfed much of Europe, paving the way towards another world war. Picasso described this as the worst period of his life; the so-called ‘year of wonders’ had undoubtedly come to an end.

Forensic scans show Oxford dodo was shot

Isabel Morris
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Forensic scans show Oxford dodo was shot

The iconic Oxford dodo – the world’s best-preserved specimen of the extinct bird ­– died after being shot in the head, researchers using a new form of CT scanning revealed.

Analysis of the particles lodged in the dodo’s head and neck show them to be lead shot pellets, the sort used to hunt wildfowl during the 17th century.

Source: Warwick University/Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The findings, reached through a collaboration between the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and WMG at the University of Warwick, challenge a long-standing consensus that the renowned specimen lived out its life as a show bird in London before arriving in Oxford in 1683 as part of the Tradescant collection.

In 1638, the writer Sir Hamon L’Estrange recorded a building in London where visitors could pay to see a dodo.

Dodos, native to the island of Mauritius, became extinct in the 17th century following the arrival of sailors and the animals that accompanied them.

Professor Paul Smith, director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and a member of the research team that carried out the scanning, told the Guardian: “Not many dodos made it from Mauritius live to Europe, so the natural assumption was that the dodo that you could pay to see in 1638 had died by 1656 and was in the collection of John Tradescant, and then came to Oxford.

“We thought we knew the history quite well, that is the reason why it was a bit of a surprise when we put the specimen in a CT scanner.

“In a way it raises more mysteries… If it was the bird that was in London in 1638, why would anyone just shoot a dodo in London?

“And if it was [shot] in Mauritius, which is I suppose marginally more likely, there is a really serious question about how it was preserved and transported back, because they didn’t have many of the techniques that we use in the modern day to preserve soft tissues – and we know it came back with its feathers and its skin intact.”

Source: Warwick University/Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The Oxford dodo is the only specimen which contains soft tissue, making it an invaluable resource for DNA studies.

The research team hopes to conduct further research on the shot, using chemical analysis to deduce where the lead came from.

Compulsory sport should stay in school

Hannah Patient
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Compulsory sport should stay in school

It is the dead of winter. Snow carpets the ground. Somewhere, a whistle shrieks and a woman closely resembling a Staffordshire bull terrier barks orders at the shivering girls who are running laps around the perimeter of a large metal cage. One asthmatic girl lags behind and the woman descends on her. “Put your back into it!” she screeches as the girl struggles to contain her tears.

What is this dreadful scene I have just described? Is it a Siberian women’s prison camp? No, dear reader. It is just one of the many sports lessons I suffered through during my five years at a girls’ grammar school.

Time and time again, while I endured icy winds, driving rain and unflattering outfits, my PE teacher was snugly wrapped up in her thermal-insulated tracksuit. I wondered what heinous sin I had committed in my previous life to explain why I was going through this ordeal. The same words, drummed into me so many times, resounded through my head. Exercise is good for you! It boosts your endorphins! It decreases stress! It allows you to live longer!

None of this can be denied. In light of the current obesity crisis and the record numbers of students with mental health problems, exercise is perhaps more important than ever. But I’d like to suggest that forcing students to participate in sports against their will, and promoting ‘Sports Wednesdays’, as other universities do, is not the answer to our problems.

Let me get something straight: I don’t actually dislike exercise. I love dancing and cycling and going for long walks with my friends. But after enduring fourteen grim years of government-prescribed Physical Education, I never want to join a sports team again.

I can’t bear the thought of playing sport for ‘fun’ because I associate it with humiliation and misery. A long time ago, when I was a carefree Year Seven, this was not the case. In the folly of my ignorance I signed up to after-school athletics sessions. My reward for this was being forced to run around the athletics track three times with one other girl who had also happened to be ‘late’ as the aforementioned sadistic PE teacher stared at us and screamed like a howler monkey if we were slacking.

Everything associated with sport still has the power to make me shudder with horror, just as that PE teacher did all those years ago. The muddy-wet-grass-and-sweat smell of changing rooms, nauseatingly masked by Impulse strawberry spray; the insidious shuffling sound made by mats as they were dragged along the hall floor; the animalistic, murderous instinct I felt whenever I happened to be holding a javelin and saw the PE teacher walking past. All these experiences continue to evoke that feeling of horror.

However, this is more than just a personal phobia. I maintain that sport can be bad for our health. Forcing us to run through the snow was a health and safety hazard that would not have passed the risk assessment if the PE teachers had ever bothered to conduct one. In the summer they made us jump into a sandpit which smelled suspiciously like cat urine. Worst of all (if we weren’t so lucky as to have an ear infection or a period – yes, not having to do sports makes even periods bearable) we were forced to swim in a dated, lukewarm pool, a perfect breeding ground for germs, in which there was always at least one clump of hair and a free-floating used plaster. And it isn’t just school sports that are unhealthy: my brother’s friend spent so much time practising his bowling action as a child that he now suffers from scoliosis, while my mum’s midwife died falling off a treadmill. Really, they would have been better off spending their leisure time lounging on the sofa scoffing crisps and watching Fat Pets Fat Owners.

Not only this, but sport can have a detrimental effect on self-esteem. In swimming lessons, students who were constantly comparing themselves to their peers in class and on social media were suddenly lined up next to them in swimming suits which had the magical power to transform even the most stunning of supermodels into a blobby lump. And if this were not cruel enough, we were forced to wear swimming hats not dissimilar to the bald caps used for the rubber-headed aliens from Star Trek. Depending on our house colour, we looked like globules of snot, blood clots or bald chickens as we floundered around in the pool.

And that was just swimming. Can you imagine how it felt for the asthmatic girl in our class to be repeatedly told she was lazy? Or the girl for whom a new grade was invented because the PE teacher thought the lowest mark didn’t accurately reflect her tennis ability? The trope of being picked last for a sports team is often used in a humorous context, but its implications are serious: people are shamed for being bad at sports. The athletic children are at the top of the social hierarchy while the lesser mortals are left with burning cheeks and a feeling of inadequacy as they are sent to the team with the fewest people.

I know that what I have to say won’t convince everyone. Many people have fond memories of jolly days spent whacking lacrosse balls and lolloping gaily across the tennis lawn. Yet I beg you, please spare a thought in your smug happiness for those of us who skipped with joy when our final rounders lesson was over, who spent two terms stuck at the bottom of the class table tennis league, who are delighted to be at university where we can finally be free of all such tortures forever and get on with doing those things that truly interest us.

Café circuit: The Missing Bean

Ticiana Alencar
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Café circuit: The Missing Bean

When The Missing Bean came up in conversation with a friend, she immediately told me she found the coffee shop ‘sweaty’. Had I been holding my Missing Bean branded KeepCup at the time, I would definitely have been tempted to hit her with it – and if I had, it would absolutely have been deserved.

There is no better location for a coffee shop in Oxford than Turl Street, although an English student might say that one is necesary in their faculty. Luckily, The Missing Bean has branches in both of those locations.

Yes, the Turl Street windows might steam up when it is cold, but this is only because it provides warmth and comfort to anyone who needs a caffeine kick over work. In the summer, the windows provide lots of natural light and the opportunity for some great people watching.

The delicious selection of food make for a tasty treat at any time of the day. The toasted sandwiches, bagels, cakes and pastries are always fantastic – you can count on the Bean no matter what you want.

And let’s not forget the coffee. Not only is latte art gorgeous and incredibly Instagrammable, but their roastery on Magdalen Road provides the best blends out there.

Ignore anyone who says that JCT’s coffee tastes better – they have clearly never had the pleasure of sipping a flat white, while enjoying the very Oxford view of bicycles leant against Lincoln College.

Dominated by Lincolnites, laptop users and tourists, The Missing Bean is often very busy during term time and it can be difficult to find a spot to sit in. But this is just a testament to how unmissable the coffee, drinks and vibes are.

I once queued from outside the shop for a drink, and I can wholeheartedly confirm: I would certainly do it again – sweaty or not.

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