Friday 10th October 2025
Blog Page 839

Student activism countering Oxford’s “social apartheid”

Mia Millman and Amelia Horn
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Student activism countering Oxford’s “social apartheid”

According to David Lammy, Oxford needs to stop “hiding under the bushels” and “instinctively blaming schools and educational inequality for the problem that they have”. But the extent of student activism aimed at reducing inequality suggests that Oxford students at least are not shying away from the problem.

Students and societies have spoken out in response to criticisms made against the University last week. Speaking to Cherwell, Lammy emphasised the “important role” of students in forcing change.

Last week’s report made national headlines for its exposure of racial inequalities at Oxbridge. Following a series of Freedom of Information requests, data was released revealing that ten out of 32 colleges failed to admit any black British A-level students in 2015. The data also showed that Oriel did not admit a single black British A-levels student from 2009-2015. In light of these findings, Lammy accused the University of “social apartheid”.

When Cherwell asked Lammy about how to change the University, he said: “Students play a really, really important role.”

He went on to state that colleges that have “have consistently been very progressive in how they have gone about trying to get a diverse intake” are often those where “work has been led by student officers really obsessed with the issue of getting access to these young people”.

Several JCR representatives, as well as Oxford’s African and Caribbean Society (ACS), the Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality, and Common Ground have spoken out following the publication of Lammy’s report.

While last week’s report provides a damning criticism of the University, it did not acknowledge the access programmes and initiatives being championed by student activists to counter these inequalities. Earlier this week in a statement, ACS said: “Attempting to reduce such a complex issue to a series of political soundbites only serves to obscure the depth of the problem and can often do harm to the progress being made in the area of changing perceptions and breaking down barriers to the students at the very heart of this discussion…

“Oxford is a microcosm of the deep structural issues embedded in the British educational system”. They emphasised that the data fails to show “how many young black students are actively discouraged from applying to Oxford by their teachers, despite achieving the grades, because ‘Oxford isn’t for them’”.

In order to boost application rates from the Afro-Caribbean community, ACS “developed an independent access framework” to help young black students. They have three main access initiatives – an Annual Access Conference (AAC), the Visions Programme workshops, and a shadowing scheme.

Speaking to Cherwell, JCR BME representative Isabella Rooney agreed that student-led equality and diversity organisations are not given enough attention. In response to Lammy’s publication, she said: “While these statistics do convey that the reality of the diversity in Oxford needs urgent work, it also puts prospective students off applying.”

Among other initiatives put in place by students is Common Ground – an organisation which aims to analyse and tackle present day inequalities through investigating Oxford’s colonial past. Last term, they held a symposium that featured over thirty events.

Speaking to Cherwell about their progress so far and plans for the future, they said: “Now we have almost 1,500 followers on our Facebook page, and want to continue the discussion interrogating Oxford’s racist, classist, and colonial past. Not only continuing the discussion, but working with the University to make structural changes. ”

Neha Shah, co-chair for Oxford SU’s Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (Crae) also responded to Lammy’s research into diversity at Oxford. Shah said there is an “entrenched systematic bias” which “persists at all levels of the university, especially with regard to racial and ethnic diversity”.

Shah also condemned the University’s reluctance to fully publish the ethnicity data, which Lammy referred to as ‘defensive’ and ‘evasive’, according to The Guardian. CRAE also criticised the University’s response that they couldn’t release the data on the grounds of the Data Protection Act.

Shah said that this “tells us all we need to know about the number of ethnic minority students at Oxford”.

Hertford BME representative Aisha Nado told Cherwell: “More can be done by Oxford in terms of progress and access.” Echoing the sentiment expressed by many other students, she added that changes at Oxford need “to be backed up by a change to a system where socio-economic factors determine where you end up in life”.

Exploring the poetry of the everyday world

Lucy Enderby
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Exploring the poetry of the everyday world

Many of his fans have long tipped Murakami for the Nobel Prize in Literature, with his cult-like followers packing the ceremony as they do his signings and readings. When he missed out to Kazuo Ishiguro this year, his ‘Harukists’ as they have been dubbed, were disappointed once again.

The author himself however, notoriously shies away from the glare of the media. On his blog ‘Mr Murakami’s Place’, he spoke of his annoyance at the annual fuss surrounding the Nobel Prize, telling a fan “This is not a horse race.” Indeed, despite having book sales to rival those of J.K Rowling and Dan Brown, he maintains a relatively low profile, rarely giving interviews and refusing to comment on most public affairs. This quiet, mysterious aspect of his character no doubt fuels his cult like following.

He started writing his first novel, Hear the Wind Sing at the age of 29, after a passing thought while sat watching a baseball game. He owned a jazz bar in Waseda for nearly 10 years with his wife, and has said in an interview with Context magazine how he was “deeply influenced by this kind of music- the rhythm, the improvisation, the sound, the style”. Indeed, like jazz, his books often seem to have been shaped by a fusion of cultures. Although he was born of two Japanese literature teachers, his work is influenced most notably by Western authors, from Dostoevsky to Vonnegut.

Growing up in a post-war era, the influence American culture had on his work is clear, often incorporating these clearly into his work. His 1987 nostalgic love story Norwegian Wood takes its name from the Beatles song, whilst he has translated into Japanese the works of authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Chandler. “When you fall in love, the natural thing to do is give yourself to it. That’s what I think. It’s just a form of sincerity”, as the pages of Norwegian Wood proclaim.

The author is known for his pensive, surreal novels that dip into the metaphysical realm, but which centre around contemporary emotions with magically ordinary characters. He has spoken of aiming to fuse a poetic version of the everyday world with a fantastic, supernatural realm in his work. Imperfect, unfulfilled, and passive characters who feel deeply populate his novels.

His latest book, Men Without Women, is a collection of short stories about men who find themselves alone. Like Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage, he touches once more on the concern of loneliness. In an interview with The Guardian, he said “I’m an outcast of the Japanese literary world”, with the country’s top literary critics dismissing his lack of traditionalism and awareness of language as a fictive construct.

Despite this, his novels seem to gravitate back towards Japan, but addressing subjects of love, introspection and surrealism which have a truly transnational appeal. Jay Rubin notes that “You don’t go to Murakami for views of society but of the human brain.”

Oxford academics unite to condemn MP’s “creepy” letter

Emily Lawford and Matt Roller
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Oxford academics unite to condemn MP’s “creepy” letter

Oxford college heads, senior fellows and alumni have criticised Tory MP Christopher Heaton-Harris after he wrote to universities asking for a list of tutors lecturing about Brexit.

Speaking exclusively to Cherwell, a number of leading university figures have variously condemned the letter from the Eurosceptic Tory whip as “creepy”, “stupid” and an “implied threat” to the universities and academics who received it, suggesting that Heaton-Harris “should lie down in a darkened room and think about his behaviour.”

The letter, which was sent to all UK university vice-chancellors, asked for a copy of each institution’s syllabuses and links to any online lectures relating to Brexit. Helena Kennedy QC, principal of Mansfield, told Cherwell: “I think Mr Heaton-Harris has a rather narrow understanding of what happens in a university.

“I have no doubt he holds the view that most academics are proEurope and he would be right but it does not infect the intellectual process.

“The nature of academic discourse and inquiry is to examine issues from all sides. If Oxford did not do that, how come it produces politicians across the spectrum?

“His kind of thinking is what produced a narrow curriculum in our state schools and the invention of Clause 28 to prevent any discussion of homosexuality in schools back in the late eighties and through the nineties.

“Whatever he says, his true purpose is about proscription and it is inimical to the true purpose of education.”

Downing Street responded to Heaton-Harris’ letter by telling reporters that the MP had not been acting in his capacity as government whip when writing to university leaders, but as a member of parliament.

Heaton-Harris, the MP for Daventry and a hardline Eurosceptic, clarified that the letter had been sent in a personal capacity, but failed to provide an explanation for his requests. “To be absolutely clear, I believe in free speech in our universities and in having an open and vigorous debate on Brexit,” he tweeted.

Lord Andrew Adonis, former Labour minister and Oxford academic, agreed, telling Cherwell: “academic freedom is the bedrock of a free society. Universities and academics should simply ignore this implied threat to their freedom.”

Robert Gildea, Oxford University Professor of Modern History, who is writing a book on Brexit and the legacies of empire, thought the letter was more “huffing and puffing rather than a Leninist or McCarthyist threat”.

He added, “the letter demonstrates the shallow and two-dimensional mindset that Brexiteers are increasingly showing, as their project becomes more and more embattled. “It shows an ignorance about how universities and research work – no-one ‘teaches Brexit’ and Brexit isn’t just about ‘European affairs’. Our task as historians or political scientists is to understand how Brexit came about, and what its significance is, and this requires deep and multi-layered thinking, which is what we are paid to do.”

Lord Macdonald, Warden of Wadham, agreed that the letter did not pose a real threat to academic freedom. Speaking to Cherwell, he said: “Sending this letter was a stupid and creepy thing to do. I expect Mr Heaton-Harris regrets it.

“Though I doubt it has any implications for universities, since no-one will take this infantile nonsense seriously.

“He should lie down in a darkened room and think about his behaviour.”

Another senior politics fellow, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed his disappointment with the letter, remarking: “It is notable that Mr Heaton-Harris suddenly developed an interest in one tiny part of our teaching rather than Physics, Chemistry or any other subject.

“If Mr Heaton-Harris is so interested, he could of course resign from parliament, enrol as a mature student, and contribute to seminars himself.”

Oxford vice-chancellor Louise Richardson declined Cherwell’s request for comment.

Revealed: how Richardson splashes the cash on flights, hotels, and hospitality

Fred Dimbleby
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Revealed: how Richardson splashes the cash on flights, hotels, and hospitality

Oxford vice chancellor Louise Richardson has claimed nearly £70,000 on expenses since her appointment in 2016, Cherwell can exclusively reveal.

The figures, obtained by a freedom of information request, show that the University spent £30,818 on Richardson’s travel, accommodation, and hospitality in the seven months since taking the job. Since then, a further £38,339 has been claimed in total expenses.

The vast majority of costs were claimed for air travel, with £56,522 being spent on 26 round trips throughout the period, giving each round trip an average price of £2,173.

In 2016/17, £29,969 were spent on Richardson’s air travel. This is nearly four times higher than the average of £7,762 claimed by university VCs on air travel in 2015/16.

£1,911 was spent on non-air travel, such as train and taxi fares. A University spokesperson said Richardson takes economy class flights for short-haul journeys, and travels in business class on longer trips. These longer journeys could include long-haul flights to the US and the Middle East.

Richardson has previously stated that she has “a transatlantic marriage” with her husband, Dr Thomas Jevon, who works in the US. A request for a list of specific flight details was denied by Oxford officials, despite similar FOI requests being approved by other universities.

The University spent nearly £10,000 on Richardson’s accommodation during the period covered by the request.

A request for the names and individual rates of hotels that the vice chancellor stayed in was refused by the University.

This differs from the information release policies of other UK universities. A previous request to the vice chancellors of Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities led to a full breakdown of expenses, including receipts for the purchase of a slice of cake and a bottle of water.

The limited release follows criticism at Oxford for initially refusing to respond to David Lammy’s FOI request into the breakdown of Oxford’s offer holders, prompting to him accuse them of being “evasive” and “defensive”.

President of Oxford SU, Kate Cole, told Cherwell: “Without seeing all of the details, this seems like a high level of spend.

“In a time of increasing pressures on budgets of student services we would want to see as much money as possible being spent on developing the student experience and improving the quality of education.”

The FOI data follows a number of recent controversies involving the pay and expenses of Louise Richardson.

In August, the New College bursar attacked the “grossly excessive” pay of the VC, which totals £350,000 per annum.

When her pension is added in, the total figure is £410,000 per year, making her the third highest-paid vice chancellor in the UK.

Richardson has attacked “tawdry politicians” for their criticism of her pay figures.

The new data show Richardson’s expenses costs are slightly lower than the year 2014-2015 when £44,239 was invoiced for the expenses of her predecessor, Andrew Hamilton.

Over the four years since 2011 covered in the response, £152,695 was spent on Hamilton’s expenses. At the time Hamilton was also criticised for his high level of pay which totalled £462, 200 in 2014-15.

The figures show that the University has spent £221,852 on vice chancellor’s expenses alone since 2011.

This amount would pay for just under eight full three year undergraduate courses, costing £9,250 each, at the University.

It would also pay for just under 60 annual bursaries, costing £3,700 each, for students who have a family income of £16,000 or less.

An Oxford University spokesperson told Cherwell: “The vice chancellor’s expenses reflect her role at the head of a £1.4bn organisation with global responsibilities.

“She has regular commitments representing the University internationally, and all expenses are kept to a minimum – for example, the vice chancellor flies economy class on all trips within Europe and within the US.”

University accused of refusing to open empty buildings to rough sleepers

Henry Straughan
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University accused of refusing to open empty buildings to rough sleepers

Oxford University has been accused of refusing to open up its empty and unused buildings to the homeless over the winter by Green councillor David Thomas.

Thomas condemned the University for its “lack of imagination and genuine compassion and empathy” in regard to Oxford’s homelessness crisis.

The Green Party reportedly approached the Council and the University in February to ask if there were empty buildings in Oxford that could be opened to the homeless, with the hope of reducing the number of people sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures over the winter.

But despite the Council reporting there are over 300 empty homes in the city, and the University also noting that they had many empty buildings in their possession, neither body would make a single building available.

Oxford University told Cherwell: “We have been in talks with Oxford City Council and Oxford Homeless Pathways, but unfortunately we do not have any available buildings which would be suitable for temporary use as a homeless shelter.

“We want to continue our conversations with the City Council and we will offer help if a suitable building becomes available. We are genuinely committed to working with these partners to help Oxford’s homeless, particularly as winter is approaching.”

Thomas suggested however that in conducting their investigation into empty buildings, the University established so many conditions and unrealistic standards that they set it up to fail.

He added that the University failed to see the buildings from point of view of homeless people, who often have the skills to bring buildings up to minimum health and safety standards.

Thomas said he suspects the University and colleges have plenty of appropriate buildings available, and that if colleges and students knew about this they could mount pressure over the question of: “why the hell will there will be empty buildings in Oxford city centre with men and women out in sub-zero conditions this winter?”

The University claimed that none if its unused properties were suitable for accommodation.

The request by the Greens came after the homeless community successfully cooperated with Wadham College over Iffley Open House. Last winter, a group of around twenty homeless people, known as Iffley Open House group, used squatter’s rights to take possession of a disused Volkswagen garage on Iffley Road owned by Wadham College.

On occupying the building, they converted it so health and safety was up to standard, and stayed for several weeks. Councillor Thomas negotiated between the homeless and the college, so that the two groups settled on an end date for the squatters with the result that there was a smooth handover of the building when the date came.

Thomas suggested that the homeless group demonstrated that they could go into a building, use it for a temporary period and not pose any danger and raise health and safety up to standard.

Thomas further claimed that the group showed the possibilities opened by allowing the homeless to use empty buildings in this way. With many of the group getting their housing, education, and health sorted – so that a portion of the group got off the streets permanently.

He pointed out the benefits of such stability for homeless people, telling Cherwell: “If you have nowhere to keep your stuff, to sit down, and you spend all your time just surviving, you don’t have time to make plans and get set for the future.”

Oxford Union under scrutiny for extravagant spending

Greg Ritchie
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Oxford Union under scrutiny for extravagant spending

The Oxford Union’s Standing Committee spent £291,791 in the 2016 financial year, Cherwell can reveal.

However, despite President Chris Zabilowicz’s public declaration earlier this month that he wanted “our Society to be as transparent as possible”, the Union refused to let members view the detailed records of expenses claimed by elected officials. This is despite their own rules appearing to mandate it.

Accounts seen by Cherwell give an insight into where thousands of Oxford students’ membership fees go. Of the £291,791 spent, over £50,000 went on ‘debate costs’, which includes exclusive dinners, speaker expenses, and drinks. This represents an increase of over £10,000 from the 2015 figure of £40,128.

When approached for clarification on the figure, the Union stressed the costs of paid staff to make and serve the dinners, as well as the expense on table cloths and other items.

One member, who was invited to an exclusive Union dinner, told Cherwell: “The dinner was three courses of high-quality food. Costs will have been driven up by the large amount of free alcohol available – both white and red wine, with port at the end. It felt a bit like an exclusive club.”

There has also been a rise in ‘food and stationery’ expenditure by the Committee. While in 2013 this was £5,025, by 2016 it rose to £8,222.

Cherwell understands that an £8 per day food budget for Union committee members working a full vacation day was a major contributor. A £120 breakfast budget in the Easter and Christmas holidays, rising to £200 over the summer, were further significant expenses within the category.

While these figures shed some light on the Union’s finances, the accounts seen by Cherwell do not include what is commonly accepted as full records of expenditure – despite this being permitted to all members by the Union’s own financial regulations.

The Society’s rules state that “all income and expenditure records will be available for inspection by any member by appointment with the President”.

Despite making an appointment with President Chris Zabilowicz in advance, the Bursar Lindsey Warne refused to let Cherwell staff see receipts, not believing these to constitute part of the expenditure records. This interpretation was later confirmed by Zabilowicz.

Instead, the Union only allowed the figures which are already available to any member without an appointment.

Cherwell contacted the Financial Director of a major UK law firm for an expert opinion. They disagreed with the Society’s interpretation that “income and expenditure records” only refers to the audited accounts.

Instead, they stated that the rules permit members to a more transparent view into the Society’s finances, including a detailed breakdown of income and expense claims. They told Cherwell it would be “very hard to argue” that Rule 63(b) just meant audited accounts, “as if that was the intention there would be no point in adding 63(b) as 63(a) would suffice”.

As per the Society’s rules, a request was also sent to the Treasurer Gui Cavalcanti to see the ledger, which is meant to contain “the receipts and expenditure of the Society… which shall be open to the inspection of Members”.

On arrival at the appointment, however, it became clear that the ledger did not exist and had not for some time.

There is no suggestion of criminal wrongdoing by the Oxford Union Society.

This is not the first time the Union has come under fire for appearing to not adhere to its own rules regarding its financial transparency.

The Oxford Student used Rule 63(b) to request access to the full 2008-09 income and expenditure records in 2010, after initially being refused access to the full receipts.

At the time, Simon McIntosh of consultancy firm Grant Thornton said: “Bluntly, records of expenditure do include expenses claims and all that goes with them.”

The Union later backed down in the face of growing student pressure, giving members access to expenditure records including receipts.

When contacted by Cherwell, the Union refused to comment on why their understanding of “income and expenditure records” has changed since 2010 to not include receipts.

The 2008-09 accounts seen by The Oxford Student are considerably more detailed than those available today. For example, they list the amount of money spent on miscellaneous expenses by individual positions, such as the President, Treasurer and Librarian.

The accounts are now itemised so that assessing the expenses of individuals is impossible. Instead, the Standing Committee account has a ‘Miscellaneous’ category.

The old accounts also revealed how much was spent specifically on dinners and drinks by the Committee. Now it is grouped under ‘debate costs’.

Finally, the 2008-09 accounts were termly, meaning one could attribute their numbers to a particular administration. The audited accounts given to Cherwell were only annual figures.

This is in contravention to Rule 63(a), which states that all termly budgets and accounts must be kept on file in order that members may view them at any time during office hours.

The Oxford Union’s Bursar stated that she could not recall when these changes occurred.

Zabilowicz told Cherwell: “The Oxford Union staff and committee are scrupulous when it comes to the Society’s finances. The Society has never – and, I imagine, will never – offer speakers’ an honorarium [sic]. Any expenses of the Society must be reasonable (a theme throughout the rules), and this is closely scrutinised by the Society’s Finance Committee which any member can attend.

“Every year, we have professional and external auditors go through the accounts, after which the accounts are available for any member to view. Debate Select Committee expenses have to be approved by both the Treasurer and the Bursar during a meeting of the Finance Committee.”

Confessions of a Drama Queen: My University Career Begins

Katie Sayer
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Confessions of a Drama Queen: My University Career Begins

After discovering myself in South East Asia, I have finally found my spiritual home at Oxford University, the great land of my forbearers – and it only took two applications! Still, who doesn’t love a gap year?

Michael Palin, Rosamund Pike, that guy who was in Four Weddings and a Funeral… how privileged I feel to follow in their footsteps at this almighty institution, where I plan on dedicating my life to the stage and scraping by with a 2:2. This shouldn’t be too difficult, I am studying English after all.

I’ve already secured my first audition, for a play called Hedda Gabbler. I hadn’t heard of it, but friends tell me it’s quite good. I’m sure once I show up to an audition they will recognise my natural talent at once and immediately cast me as Hedda – assuming I’ve understood the Wikipedia page correctly, and ‘Hedda’ is actually the name of the main character, and not some kind of Scandinavian slang to do with blow jobs. I don’t want to boast, but I was actually once in an advert for Dairylea Dunkers, so I reckon I should have this audition nailed.

I’ve also made an Instagram account and put in the bio that I’m a “model”. (It isn’t technically a lie, as in year 10 my friend asked me to play Marilyn Monroe in her Film Studies coursework, which definitely counts.)

Anyway, I must go and learn Hedda’s main monologue, and Facebook stalk the auditions event to analyse the competition. I’ve had a look, and it seems like the done thing here is
to update your profile picture to a really badly-edited promotional image from the last production you’ve been involved in. Consequently, I’ve added ‘Fairfield Nativity, 2007’ to my own, along with a gross orange filter.

Fear not, I’ll update you on my progress a week hence, but I think we all know: I will be getting the part. Until next week, then. Adieu, fair readers! Adieu.

Cyrano de Bergerac preview – “heartwarming and heartbreaking”

James Woodbridge
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Cyrano de Bergerac preview – “heartwarming and heartbreaking”

Cyrano de Bergerac, a skilled poet and swordsman, is head over heels in love with his beautiful cousin Roxane. Be it composing poems to her beauty or courageous duels in her honour, his existence centres around her happiness. In return, she adores Cyrano and there is clearly a connection between the two. Perfect, roll on the romance, except… he has a ginormous nose and so believes she could ever love him. Yep, really.

Sam Norman and Aaron King’s adaptation of this well-loved seventeenth century French legend is packed full of original songs written in partnership with the composer of Les Mis and Miss Saigon reminds us that Cyrano de Bergerac is responsible for introducing the word “panache” into the English language. From a chase scene between husband and wife to a dramatic ode to a cinnamon bun, each scene is performed with energy and emotion and each song is wonderfully captivating.  James Bruce plays a sympathetic, entertaining and ultimately bathetic Cyrano whose relationship with Roxane (Greta Thompson) is genuine, affectionate, complex and difficult, especially once Christian (Liam Sargeant) is on the scene. Many of the more emotionally complex scenes centre around these characters. The Compte de Guiche (Alex Buchanan), by contrast, is perfectly devilish and performs one of the musical’s most entertaining yet equally intense songs, ‘Tedious’, with style and ease. As a cast they work well at maintaining energy and capturing the audience’s attention.

Cyrano de Bergerac is a myth made musical, both heart-warming and heart-breaking, but always entertaining. Rosie Richards (director) has successfully balanced naturalism with a complex and vibrant performance, stating that her aim was to make three-dimensional, empathetic characters to tell this hilarious yet tragic tale. The music is brilliant, the script charmingly astute and whether you like action, music or comedy this looks like a performance not to miss.

Cyrano de Bergerac is playing at the Keble O’Reilly, Oxford, 25-28th 7.30 (+2.30 on Saturday) – tickets available at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/nk-productions

 

Alain de Botton: “The university system is failing people”

Lucy Enderby
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Alain de Botton: “The university system is failing people”

Alain de Botton started his career with the philosophically charged novel Essays In Love, but now his broad range of work crosses genres from architecture to psychology, and most recently has attempted to teach people to develop emotional intelligence through The School of Life. In an era of specialization, de Botton is uniquely polymathic.

In his books, and most recently his series of YouTube videos, de Botton draws upon what thinkers, and philosophers over time have argued about love, work, and purpose in life. Although this has placed him on the receiving end of criticism from traditional academics, who desire the esoteric to remain so, his unpretentious inclusion of and engagement with philosophers has helped build his large audience within a younger generation. Does he see himself mediating and interpreting the often impenetrable, like Nietzsche, to the masses? His response is surprising: “I have no real interest in Nietzsche himself, or philosophy itself, or any of these great thinkers themselves, I simply see them as a resource to exploit in order to mine potentially interesting ideas.

“Academics and the whole academic superstructure see themselves as very much having a responsibility to people who lived hundreds of years ago, and they see their life as trying to recover what so and so actually said, and what so and so actually meant.”

But, he tells me: “That’s not really my project at all, I don’t really care what they meant. What I’m more interested in is how what they said is of relevance to me and how I see the world. So I think that’s different from writing a Wikipedia entry on a thinker, which is a valuable project but not really the one I’m engaged on.

“I’m trying to develop my own thinking, by sharpening it against the insights of other people.”

In fact, de Botton sees these prohibitive “academic superstructures” across the whole university system. “I think in the humanities, the current university system fails about 60% of people, because what it does is to excite, by using these amusing cultural figures, who really did want to change the world, help us to live, and open up our eyes.

“But then the academic system more or less just kills it by forcing one to do very weird things with these people, with no idea what these cultural figures themselves were up to. Nietzsche wouldn’t have gone to university to study Nietzsche, Shelley wouldn’t have gone to university to study Shelley, it’s paradoxical that we’re doing something, which however respectful it seems, is actually a betrayal of the figures that one studies.”

Instead, de Botton proposes “dismantling” the current university system. He would make a “big change” and “change what people are rewarded for.” “Given that most young people go to university particularly to study the humanities – broadly speaking, to learn how to live – people should be rewarded for how well they have achieved that. This would mean that they are better teachers, better writers, better communicators – not just at the level of language, but picking up on what the real sources of distress and curiosity might be in the audience that they’re dealing with. The system of incentive should be geared towards that.”

Despite his fascination with the great names of philosophy, de Botton advocates a “massively redesigned” curriculum which questions “some notional idea of the canon, which is often full of really quite peculiar choices, which hasn’t been interrogated for many, many decades.”

He views philosophy as a vehicle for public virtue: “I am keen on the concept of relevance, which is a very frightening word for most academics, because they immediately think that one means they should make some money, whereas I think it means that they should help some people.”

Despite a Double First from Cambridge, and a Masters in philosophy from King’s College London, de Botton eventually packed in his PhD in French philosophy at Harvard in favour of writing books that have sold millions of copies.

When asked what the future holds for philosophy, he did not hold back. “The future for academic philosophy is I think, very bleak. I think it’s fated to be a completely marginalized subject, studied by a few die hard people, and it will essentially have no relevance and no import to society, and that’s tragic really.

“Kant thought that philosophers should be legislators to the world, Plato thought that philosophers should become kings, Emmanuel Macron who studied under Paul Ricoeur thought philosophy was the ideal grounding for a statesman.

“There are very many people who have made grand claims for philosophy, but I don’t see those being honoured in modern academic philosophy.

“But that said, in a way the salvation might come from a slightly unusual place – which is ordinary people’s ordinary curiosity in philosophy, and that’s powered, and changed what people think philosophers might be up to.

“Ultimately the definition of a philosopher is up for grabs, and we need to move away from the notion that a philosopher is someone who is going to tell you about Hegel and reference Descartes, and move towards a new model that a philosopher is really anyone who is trying to work through the great questions of life, and that can encompass a psychologist, an economist, even a journalist, anyone who is thinking rationally in small, logical steps with care and intelligence, is really in the meritocratic sense a philosopher.

“The professionalization of the subject, and the fetishism around referencing, has I think, been really unhelpful to the wider take up of the subject.”

De Botton’s School of Life is his attempt to change the role of philosophy in public life. It now has branches in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Melbourne and Seoul among many more around the world, and sells highly-priced hard-back books and ‘career prompt cards’.

He says despite its growth, his vision has remained consistent. “The goals are always the same, we’ve got better at what we’re doing. The main idea was to go beyond books, and create a home for ideas that might be in books as well, but give them a kind of resonant form by ensuring that they could exist in many different formats, including film or a pack of cards, or an event, or a set of programs for people in offices.

“So it’s kind of trying to amplify ideas and I’m very influenced by what religions are up to, and what impresses me is not their content but their form, and their ambition to touch us simply in a one on one experience like a book, but also to try and touch us through communal actions.”

The School of Life is now expanding its activities to include news, psychotherapy, and even a porn site. De Botton sees no limits to his vision of philosophy as a force for the common good: “Through music, through architecture, through the senses, through art, in a way to seduce us into being certain sorts of people, and that’s obviously a very dodgy sounding idea, but it’s got a lot of valuable things to it.

“So if you like, the School of Life is really an attempt to mirror some elements of religion, but using cultural content to hold people in a more engaged way through the process of living.”

What has happened to the north-west derby?

TJ Fitzgerald
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What has happened to the north-west derby?

The media circus was as strong as ever. Two titans of English football, Liverpool and Manchester United, were set to clash in the weekend’s biggest fixture. It was a match-up
between two clubs steeped in history, and one of the biggest rivalries in the world game.

However, the last four encounters have been draws, two of them goalless. Since 2016, there have been six games and only seven goals.

Like most great rivalries, there is more to this than just the success of the two clubs. The proximity of the two major cities they represent, together with their historic economic and industrial rivalry stretching back to the nineteenth century, adds another dimension to this match, on top of their success and support. Both of them can claim historical supremacy over the other, with United achieving more league titles, but Liverpool more often the champions of Europe.

However, the clash has not been much of a spectacle for a while – especially since Mourinho took over at United. His team came to Anfield, sat deep, and took the point. The visitors defended well as a team, and when Liverpool did threaten, David de Gea made some great saves. Liverpool came across as the more dominant side, and did well to take Romelu Lukaku out of the game, who completed fewer passes than even Liverpool’s goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

Admittedly, neither side was at full strength, with several key players missing. But while Liverpool dominated for the most part and probably performed better, the game went Mourinho’s way. Fans want to see an electric, end-to-end game between these two clubs, but this is never going to happen when games keep going this way. But this reflects the harsh realities of the Premier League. In a division where clubs must scrap for every point, is Mourinho not right to set up as he always has in big games? What is for certain is that unless the ex-Chelsea boss departs anytime soon, it will be some time before the fixture’s magic is rekindled.

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