Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Blog Page 853

“Student theatre at its finest”

Miriam Nemmaoui
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“Student theatre at its finest”

The Corpus Christi quincentenary production of As You Like It was an absolute feast for the senses.

With a cast of nineteen actors (including students, staff, and the college’s recently retired President), a six-piece band, free wine, no fewer than six locations, and two delightful stage managers shepherding the audience around college, there certainly were a lot of plates to keep spinning at once. And with half of the production taking place outdoors, a few drops of rain could have brought everything clattering to a halt. But, I must say, they really pulled it off .

Every speech, song, and scene transition was executed skillfully, with the kind of good-humour and smoothness which you expect from professional theatre. Clearly, this was in part thanks to the professional direction of John Retallack and Renata Allen, who exploited the talents of the cast and the gorgeous performance spaces expertly.

The decision to stage the play in promenade was a risk, and after the first two scenes, I wasn’t sure it was paying off . The break in immersion, particularly after the first scene, felt a little too sudden, and I definitely heard a few grumbles from confused audience members as we filed out to the next location. The underwhelming opening wasn’t helped either by a very red-faced tutor in loud shoes running down the back of the cloister behind the actors (please, someone make sure she gets the memo next time). Yet, this slow start was quickly eclipsed by what followed.

The play, which centres around the journeys into the Forest of Arden, does lend itself very well to this kind of staging. And certainly, a walk through college gardens on a summer evening beats sitting in stuffy darkness whilst stagehands drag furniture into the wings.

As the actors draw you into the mad world of lovers, you become increasingly excited to explore more of the college, and discover what delights the next scene will have in store. The ending in the Hall was a fitting finale to what became a glorious celebration of the College on its 500th birthday.

As You Like It showcased some of the best acting I’ve seen in Oxford theatre. Tonally, it was near-perfect throughout. The whole cast deserve praise for delivering their lines with the freshness and attention to detail which Shakespearean comedy demands. Georgie Murphy (as Rosalind) rightly stole the show: her intelligent and heartfelt performance beautifully showcased Shakespeare’s tricky language.

Special mention must also go to Beth Evans, who played Touchstone with such charisma that you never wanted her to leave the stage. The coupling of Evans with Harry Carter (Audrey) was a stroke of genius: their hilarious physical acting made for exquisite comedy.

Christopher Page and Ben Thorne gave considered performances as the lovesick Orlando and Silvius. The pair always teetered on the verge of irony or self-mockery, preventing any slips into over-seriousness.

The presence of ‘real adults’ in Oxford student theatre was refreshing and created a different dynamic between the old and young characters. David Leake, the College gardener, gave a particularly heartfelt performance as the loyal servant Adam.

Undoubtedly, the musical interludes were a key part of the evening’s entertainment. It helps that Howard Goodall’s score is already irresistible, but it was taken to new heights by the fantastic live band (led by Musical Director Katherine Pardee).

The cast’s singing was universally good. I especially enjoyed Laura Coppinger and Alex Taylor’s duets. In the music, as in the acting, the cast managed to inject copious amounts of fun and joy into their performances.

By the final transition, from the Chapel to the Hall, I have no doubt that every audience member was utterly seduced by it all. Indeed, anyone who wasn’t singing along with Audrey and Touchstone as they entered the hall needs to reevaluate their theatregoing.

Corpus Christi Owlets have pulled off Shakespeare with a distinctly Corpus flavour. The audience was indulged in boundless fun and frivolity, served up with an unselfconscious flair for weirdness. This truly is student theatre at its finest.

Snapshot: Brasenose Ball

Esme Ash
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Snapshot: Brasenose Ball

Flying high on four hours sleep, I offer my reflections on Brasenose Ball. Dispense with the yardstick of Brasenose’s 2009 efforts—including a headliner from Calvin Harris—and discard half the sugar content of some of the ‘cocktails’, and you’re onto a solid performance for a Second Week event. Feeling slightly flustered from a make-up nightmare, we arrived in time for some obligatory Rad Cam shots. Unlike other balls, where you pick the square as a useful accessory to show off to your home friends, the Radcliffe Camera is actually right next to Brasenose, so it’s a convenient backdrop.The haunting memory of the 2016 Magdalen queue still fresh in my mind, we experienced a quick and painless entry, greeted with champagne and hog roast. Making use of the cloakroom—I’d soon be changing into trainers—we did a quick recon, using the questionable ‘map’ as a guide. Given that Brasenose is two quadrangles, how they arrived at the pictorial representation of six circles is completely beyond me. Clearly, I was transcending the earth’s limits already, just as the programme had promised I would.

Stuffing my face full of Turkish toasties, vibing to the DJ in the chapel, and trying my hand at the escape room (and failing miserably) were a couple of highlights. The alcoholic milkshakes were out in full force, always a crowd pleaser, with the well-received addition of a candyfloss machine: if your teeth hadn’t fallen out of your head already from the drinks, they were about to. The ‘disco dome’, AKA bouncy castle, was good fun if you didn’t mind flashing your bits to the heavily overcrowded jumping arena, and seemed to be a hotspot for canoodling couples, who I managed to take out with a mistimed bounce on more than one occasion.The ‘planetarium and space time continuum installation’, or cluster of large papier-mâché balls, was slightly dubious and looked like a vulnerable target for rain but luckily, none came. The rewarding 3am staple of a silent disco, however, did come, with The Jackson 5 and The Killers playing us out until five, after a great performance from Shakka (and resident BNC DJ, Gautam).

The added bonus of a smaller ball is that, if you lose your friends, you’ll always find them—either asleep in the cinema room, or gravitating towards the tray bakes down at the bar. In other evidence of how the good night was, my knee has now swollen up to resemble one of the papier-mâché planets, suggesting wild dancing and dangerous merriment. Bring on Brasenose 2019!

How do antidepressants affect our brains?

Olivia Murray
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How do antidepressants affect our brains?

Mental health issues like depression can be some of the most challenging health related problems we can ever face. Those who suffer from depression deserve the best possible treatment and support available. With the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants having risen significantly over the last few decades and 1 in 11 adults in the UK currently being prescribed antidepressants, how do antidepressants actually work?

Depression is often commonly explained as a “chemical imbalance” or a “serotonin deficiency”. In reality, it isn’t that simple and can be associated with a wide range of possible causes ranging from genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, and faulty mood regulation by the brain. Antidepressants increase the activity of certain chemicals in our brain called neurotransmitters, that pass signals from one brain cell to another. Increasing levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin and noradrenaline have been shown to improve mood and emotion, although, this process itself is not fully understood. The basic theory is that keeping levels of these neurotransmitters high could improve communication between the nerve cells and strengthen the circuits in the brain that regulate mood.

The most common types of antidepressants are reuptake inhibitors. Reuptake is the process by which neurotransmitters are naturally reabsorbed back into the nerve cell from the synapse (the space between nerve cells) after being released to send messages between these nerve cells. A reuptake inhibitor, unsurprisingly, inhibits the reuptake of these neurotransmitters back into the nerve cells, so that they temporarily remain in the synapse. Common types of reuptake inhibiting antidepressants are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), SNRIs (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) and NDRIs (norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitors), which are the most commonly prescribed in the UK.

Other types of antidepressants include tetracyclic and SARI antidepressants. Tetracyclic antidepressants work by stopping neurotransmitters from binding to specific receptors on the nerves, resulting in a build-up of neurotransmitters in the synapse. SARI (Serotonin Antagonist and reuptake inhibitor) antidepressants appear to both prevent the reuptake of serotonin and also prevent serotonin particles from binding at certain undesired receptors, redirecting them to other more beneficial receptors on nerve cells involved in circuits that regulate mood.

Older types of antidepressants are tricyclics and MAOIs (monoamine oxidase inhibitors); these are much less common as they can result in serious side-effects such as nausea, diarrhoea, low blood pressure, headache, dizziness, difficulty urinating, and insomnia. However, they also happen to be some of the most effective antidepressants and so are only prescribed to people with treatment-resistant depression.

Tricyclics work like reuptake inhibitors, by blocking the reabsorption of serotonin and epinephrine back into the nerve cells. An enzyme called monoamine oxidase is involved in removing the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine from the brain. MAOIs prevent this from happening, resulting in the levels of these neurotransmitters getting a boost.

Patients treated with antidepressants show substantial improvement; however so do those treated with a placebo drug. In 1998, a study of 2318 patients claimed that the placebo effect could be accountable for 75% of the effects of antidepressants. Whether their effect is due the placebo effect, or due to actual neurological effects, antidepressants still produce the desired outcome and seemingly outperform the placebo effect.

“A piece of theatre that feels incredibly close and genuine”

Nina Crisp
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“A piece of theatre that feels incredibly close and genuine”

Two men stand on a street corner. One remarks that the other looks nice. The other replies that that’s not what he’s looking for. They return home and sleep together. Afterwards, they discuss other men and how similar they actually are and how well one knows the other.

This new writing by Sam Moore is described by directors Rosie Richards and Georgia Reddington as Pinteresque, postmodern, and about “stigma, repression, mental health, and intimacy”.   We see characters who are intimate with and share experiences with each other, but in other ways are detached. As an audience, we may watch characters having sex and experiencing panic attacks, but we don’t seem to know their real names.

The writing is clever. In the scenes I saw, the words “I know you” were said, questioned, and disbelieved many times, with different contexts and meanings each time, and were used as a motif to help the audience track the ways the characters reflected on themselves and each other. But will we ever really know them? This, and the things that are left unsaid, raise just some of the questions we are meant to think about.

There were apprehensions from the cast about taking on roles so different to what they are used to, with backgrounds in musical theatre, and a lack of experience playing older characters. However, Sammy Breen (Kid),  Benjamin Ashton (John) , and Joshua Cathcart (Pumpkin) all embody the characters—the young sex worker with depression, the reserved older man, the ex who keeps coming back—really well.  A week of characterisation workshops, the freedom to adapt and develop the script on their own and with Moore, the ability to put in as much of their own personality as they wished, and the challenge to not put too much of themselves into the play, have worked well to bring these characters to life.

Cathcart calls the play “voyeuristic”; I would totally agree. It sometimes feels too intimate to watch. Not because of the sexual content, but because we see the characters in their everyday lives, including at their most vulnerable. The set represents both the street corner and the bedroom, emphasising both the public and private in the play. The depiction of mental illness, both the character experiencing it but even more so the reaction from outsiders, is astonishingly realistic. The cast and crew have developed a piece of theatre that feels incredibly close and genuine. I Know You definitely has my recommendation.

‘Plebs’ triumphs despite low expectations

Katie Sayer
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‘Plebs’ triumphs despite low expectations

Billed as The Inbetweeners in Ancient Rome, critical expectations were not high for Plebs when it first aired on ITV2 in 2013. Many compared it to an inferior version of Blackadder, and its combination of deliberately anachronistic idioms and a traditionally serious setting was predicted to be a flop à la The Last Days of Pompeii. It is a credit to writer-creator team Tom Basden and Sam Leifer that Plebs has just been renewed for a fourth series, having earned a BAFTA nomination and broken ITV viewing records.

The premise of the show is simple: Marcus (Tom Rosenthal) and Stylax (Joel Fry), two desperate young men hailing from suburbia, move to Rome with their slave Grumio (Ryan Sampson) and attempt to impress girls and hold down jobs in the big city, right at the height of Rome’s imperial power. While the stereotypes are certainly present—the first episode is named ‘The Orgy’, and a cameo from Danny Dyer as a macho gladiator is not to be missed—the show is very aware of the epic tradition it is channelling, and reconciles its grandiose setting (which uses, in fact, the same purpose-built studio as Spartacus and 300: Rise of an Empire) with decidedly 21st Century language and humour.

By transplanting modern dilemmas into a classical setting, Plebs manages to be both funny and original. For example, Marcus’s attempts to woo long-term love interest Cynthia at the Roman festival of Saturnalia is evocative of a New Year’s Eve party, and a somewhat taboo debate about the pros and cons of porn is introduced with the arrival of an erotically decorated vase. This is all accompanied by an upbeat and jovial ska soundtrack, which contributes to a general feeling that history and modernity have been reconciled in this cheerful production.

For those looking, the classical references and nods towards history that do crop up are wonderfully understated and unassuming. From the use of red-coloured Corinthian columns on temples, to the prevalence of graffiti similar to that found at Pompeii, Plebs is far more self-aware than its idiomatic dialogue would suggest. Particularly delicious is the moment in series three when Marcus and new girlfriend Delphine have a night in to catch up on box sets—the box set in question being Virgil’s Aeneid, newly released.

For those select, classically-trained viewers who picked up on the fact that ‘Grumio’ and ‘Metella’ have been lifted straight out of the Cambridge Latin Course, it may come as no surprise that one of the writers, Sam Leifer, studied Classics at Oxford, and that the show had Mary Beard on board as a historical consultant. Consequently, what could be a gimmick in fact becomes a defining attribute of the show, and one that the writers never lose sight of. The storylines, while incorporating aspects of modern life, are nonetheless very grounded in the classical setting, with minor subplots about Roman religion, incest, and political marriage.

This is not to say that Plebs is inaccessible to those not versed in Plato and Horace—the humour is adult and far more universal than merely a few jokes about colosseums and phalluses. In fact, it is this aspect of the show that is so appealing—the fact that almost in spite of the setting, at the heart of the production, is a universal and relatable human scenario. The humour of Stylax learning to do a three-point turn in his chariot needs no grounding in Greek verse to understand. It is this that makes Plebs such an original, self-aware, and engaging adult comedy.

For my interview with Plebs writer and creator Tom Basden, check out Cherwell Broadcasting.

Torpids, trashings, and other traditions

Mia Millman
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Torpids, trashings, and other traditions

Bops, battels, blazers, fifth week blues, carnations, collections, crew dates, college marriages, cuppers, quads, subfusc, sconcing, sharking, shoeing, scouts, porters, pidges, punting, plodge, matriculation, trashings, tutes, Torpids, JCR, MCR, SCR.

For those at Oxford, there’s nothing strange about this list. These words form an important part of our everyday vocabulary, and their meanings a valuable part of our everyday life. But for people outside of the Oxford bubble, it’s a foreign language.

Oxford traditions are a crucial part of our student experience, but for those unacquainted with Oxford’s quirks, they can appear elitist and alienating. Some of the greatest moments we have at this university are our experiences of these traditions. Matriculation is a rite of passage: it’s the day that we’re allowed to be proud, even smug, about the fact we managed to make it to Oxford. As Maisie, a JCR Access Rep, says: “events like matriculation made me realise how lucky I am to be studying here.” For one day, we are allowed to acknowledge that being here is, in itself, an achievement.

As annoying as it is to scroll through your Facebook feed in mid-October and only see excitable freshers clad in subfusc re-enacting that famous Bullingdon Club photo, it is the moments like these that we remember. These traditions are more than just a source for Facebook likes, they make us feel like we’re part of something.

It may be a pain not being able to sit exams in more comfortable clothes, but there is something to be said for the ceremony of putting on subfusc: adding the ribbon/tie/bow-tie, putting on the gown, and pinning on the first white carnation which had (hopefully, if they didn’t forget) been bought by your college family and put in your pidge. Subfusc has been a contentious issue in the past, with OUSU conducting a student referendum in 2014 about getting rid of it. Given that 75.8 per cent (6403 students) voted to keep it, it’s clear where the students stand. Despite its oddness, we love subfusc.

It does definitely has its perks. In the same way we enjoy dressing up in black tie for the balls, it can be fun to put on subfusc. Even when looking at the concept from an access perspective, it isn’t all bad. On one hand, subfusc is designed to separate town from gown.

Yet, on the other hand, subfusc acts as a school uniform. It is an equaliser. Just as, when we were at school, uniform prevented judgement based on clothing—the same applies for subfusc. Once we are in subfusc, we all appear equal—we’ll all be equally screwed anyway if that one topic comes up that no one understands.

This was one of the main arguments put forward during the subfusc referendum in 2014. At the time, one student campaigner, Harrison Edmonds, said: “I think it sends a positive message from the students in Oxford that subfusc isn’t elitist but is egalitarian. No matter your background, race, class or gender, when you go into exams wearing the gown, you are equal.”

Indeed, as another Oxford student, Vicky, says: “It’s just some clothes, so really not that deep—it’s not like we all go around doing Bullingdon club-esque activities all day everyday—the traditions are kind of endearing in that sense?”

The uniform aspect also helps to put people in an exam mind-set. There are some traditions which we need to re-evaluate, but in the same way that we shouldn’t just blindly accept the institutions and traditions we have inherited at Oxford, we should not mindlessly reject them out of fear of being branded as pretentious and elitist. Some of these traditions retain their meaning; they are still important to students.

Oxford traditions and lingo help to form a unified student identity. For many, the collegiate system dominates a lot of what we do here. When so much of our university life revolves around college, we need things that unite us as Oxford students—other than the sense of impending dread when beginning an essay crisis or entering a tute far less prepared than you would have liked. We all have college families, wear carnations to exams, and spend extortionate amounts of money on confetti in Celebrations—these are traditions that unite us.

We do still need to remember that our jargon and traditions can appear superior and have damaging effects. It doesn’t take long for the traditions and terminology of Oxford to become routine. Our familiarity with trashings, tutes, and Torpids often allows us to forget that, for the majority, these words are meaningless. It becomes a problem when these traditions and terminology become alienating. It may just be your friend visiting from another university sitting quietly for ten minutes while you’re chatting before eventually asking ‘what are bops?’. But it may also be a nervous 17-year-old, already daunted by Oxford, finding that these traditions cement their fears of the posh, old, intimating university.

This opinion was echoed by some of the people who I spoke to. Maisie said: “A student considering applying here could easily be put off when hearing about all of these alien traditions, as it could definitely make you feel like you wouldn’t fit in, or Oxford isn’t for people like you.”

Even if the only impact is that someone visiting from another university is confused and alienated during conversation, and there is no impact on prospective applicants, this can still be damaging. It perpetuates the Oxford stereotype amongst our peers and creates an elitist image which will follow us into the workplace.

It is important that we continue to check ourselves. Especially in the context of open days and other opportunities to interact with prospective students who may be intimidated by the vast, confusing system that is Oxford, we need to remain vigilant. They’ll learn the difference between Hilary and Trinity when they get here, but for the time being it’s vital that they still want the chance to get here.

For some, a part of that decision will be determined by whether Oxford lives up to the snobbish image it retains. As Immie, a member of Pembroke JCR, points out: “when they are taken too seriously they can become more than symbols of the university’s culture and can be used by some to exclude others.”

The University continues to try to shake this image, putting increasing amounts of money towards the cause. Speaking to Cherwell on the topic of Oxford traditions and their possible negative impact on outreach, a spokesperson from the University said: “Outreach activities such as the annual UNIQ summer school bring students from under-represented backgrounds to Oxford to become familiar with its colleges, tutorial system and traditions.

“This allows young people to see for themselves what life as a student here is really like.”

Yet all this can fall short if the students themselves don’t reflect the image the university aim to put forward. Avoiding the foreign language that is Oxford lingo is a small step, but a crucial one.

Talking to students in Oxford, a few things became obvious. It was clear that these traditions are close to our hearts—they make Oxford unique and we shouldn’t underestimate the positive impact they can have. People love dressing up for bops and going to formal.

Many traditions are not just there for the sake of it—they are maintained because they are enjoyable in themselves. The fact that they are Oxford-specific traditions is irrelevant to our enjoyment of them.

Yet people are conflicted. We all know of the pretentiousness that is associated with Oxford, and have had the conversations with friends at other universities insisting that it’s ‘not that bad’. Equally, we can’t help but enjoy formals, croquet, and crew dates. We should also recognise that Oxford is not alone in having traditions and quirks. All universities share in these oddities, it’s just that the list is longer for Oxford.

For the time being, our traditions and jargon are here to stay. Oxford’s peculiarities may have the ability to be damaging, but we shouldn’t immediately run to abolish them—they hold a special place in our hearts. Going into that last exam wouldn’t be as tolerable without the red carnation, and coming out of it definitely wouldn’t be as fun without the trashing.

The shifting landscape of television news

Theo Davies-Lewis
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The shifting landscape of television news

What is happening to television news?

This question, the focus of a report by former Director of BBC News, Richard Sambrook, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of Research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, is on the minds of many of the world’s major news organisations.

After all, television viewing in the UK and the US has declined, on average, by three to four per cent per year since 2012, something that Sambrook and Kleis Nielsen believe is comparable to the declines in print newspaper circulation at the beginning of this century. Young people are moving online for their news: iPhone apps, Facebook ‘Live’ reporting, and Twitter ‘Moments’ are becoming more and more popular in the 21st Century.

The report, published by the Reuters Institute, draws out many of the core issues surrounding the future of television news, but perhaps the key idea presented in the thirty-page document is that of experimentation.

The authors note: “The need for experimentation is for us the most important conclusion from this review of what is happening to television news. We know traditional television is important but eroding. We know online video is growing rapidly and will continue to become more important as digital media becomes ever more important.

“And we know that finding the right way forward between these trends will require constant adaptation and a willingness to change, to try things out, to fail, and to learn from failure without losing sight of the underlying urgent need to change.”

This change undoubtedly revolves around the digital age. Broadcasters, both publicly and privately owned, can move ahead in a variety of ways. The report draws upon the work of Lucy Küng, who has identified seven features that innovative digital news organisations have in common: a clear sense of purpose, unequivocal strategic focus, strong leadership, a pro-digital culture, deep integration of digital technology talent and editorial talent, digital operations with a high degree of autonomy from legacy operations, and an early start relative to their competitors.

These are just words in a report, for now. Sambrook and Kleis note that traditional news providers have not put these features in place, as many key figures in broadcasting regard digital media “with a mix of scepticism, fear, and incomprehension rather than see them as a set of challenges to be confronted and opportunities to be seized.”

For television news to succeed, providers need to face the onrush of new challenges and make the most of the opportunities provided by the flourishing field of digital media. There is a future for television broadcasters; after all, the US population alone watches more than one billion hours of television every day.

However, as the report concludes, there is a clear opportunity for the world’s digital players—such as Google TV, Apple TV, and Amazon TV—to combine digital news with televised broadcasts.

There must be a balance: a balance between television and online broadcasting. The video market is ready to be conquered, while television remains an important vehicle for reaching large audiences.

The future of television news is aptly summarised by Sambrook and Kleis Nielson:

“The question should not be what will replace traditional television news. Nothing will. The question has to be how can we move beyond television news as we know it?”

Vice-Chancellor urged to renew commitment to city cyclists

Marianna Spring and Jordan Bernstein
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Vice-Chancellor urged to renew commitment to city cyclists

An open letter to the Vice-Chancellor has called for Oxford’s renewed commitment to the safety of cyclists in the city centre.

The move comes after Claudia Comberti, a DPhil student at the Environmental Change Institute, was run over and killed on Tuesday 9 May by a bus on Botley Road.

An inquest led by Coroner Darren Salter found on Wednesday: “When the lights changed she lost balance and fell sideways and was run over by the bus.”

The open letter, along with a petition addressed to Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson, asks for the University to restate its position on asking for the University of Oxford “to state its official position on road traffic to the Oxfordshire County Council as no private cars or motorbikes [should be allowed] within the area of town bounded by University and college property.

“Clearly marked and wide cycle lanes on all major roads throughout the Oxford area; and Physical barriers, such as kerbs, between cycle and vehicle lanes.”

At the time of writing, the petition had received in excess of 2,400 signatures. It also received public support from Sebastian Comberti, Claudia’s father.

He said in a statement: “If my beloved daughter’s death could achieve any possible good, it would make my heart very slightly less broken.”

The petition additionally asked for greater investment and publicity for cycle safety courses. Around 600 people dressed in bright coloured clothes gathered in Broad Street last Friday for a mass bike ride to celebrate Comberti’s life.

Broken Spoke bike co-operative, with which Comberti was involved and which is looking to improve the safety of cycling in Oxford after her death, said: “Claudia was a friend to us all at the Spoke, and a much loved member of our community. She embodied that which we try to create and nourish—a love of the world and its people, the outdoors, a zest for life, of living what you believe.

“On Friday something incredible happened—the biggest mass bike ride Oxford has ever seen. They came because they could no longer accept the danger we face when we ride our bikes on the roads of our city.”

“The feeling of strength, visibility, solidarity was palpable. We created safety in our numbers, a temporary space for ourselves to cycle without fear. We rode for three hours. It was an unprecedented and unique event.”

In a joint statement Professor Heather Viles, Head of the School of Geography and the Environment, and Sir Ivor Roberts, President of Trinity College said: “Claudia Comberti’s tragic death in a road accident has come as a great shock to everyone at Trinity College and at the School of Geography and the Environment.

“During her doctoral studies she lived and worked extensively in the Bolivian Amazon amongst the Tacana II peoples, and she leaves many friends and memories there. Our thoughts are with Claudia’s family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time.”

Speaking to Cherwell, an Oxford University spokesperson said: “The sympathies of everyone at Oxford University are with all those affected by the tragic death of our student Claudia Comberti last week, and we applaud this campaign’s efforts improve safety on Oxford’s roads.

“Cycling safety is a priority issue for us, and we offer our students and staff free cycle safety training and discounted D-locks, lights and arm bands. We regularly meet with Oxfordshire County Council to give our feedback on their transport plans, and to lobby for improved facilities for cyclists in Oxford.”

The campaign group End Cycling Deaths in Oxford, said: “The University is the dominant force in this city and gives a huge amount to it. It is in a strong position to ask for changes—and only through material changes can we prevent the loss of yet another life.”

Torpids trophies inequality

Lucy Enderby
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Torpids trophies inequality

Oxford University Rowing Clubs (OURC) has voted to launch an investigation after it emerged on Tuesday that the women’s teams who win Torpids do not receive a trophy, unlike their male counterparts.

Women have been able to enter Torpids since 1969, although the winners have never received a trophy.

Women’s teams who win Summer VIIIs do receive trophies. A captain of one of the men’s college boats told Cherwell: “We voted unanimously in favour of the committee investigating [getting] trophies which would record all winners of women’s Torpids back to its inception.”

He continued: “[It’s] really important that they are recognised along with the men seeing as they do exactly the same race, and it’s just very unfair that they wouldn’t be rewarded the same. Hopefully we will see this rectified by the OURCs.

“Whilst it will probably be quite expensive to put in place, for me, and I’m sure the majority of the other captains, it’s a point of principle that we uphold a commitment to equal opportunity.”

The co-captain of the Balliol women’s team, Nermeen Hilton, who also attended the meeting, said: “We absolutely want there to be a trophy for the women at Torpids.

“It’s a great inequality, and knowing people who have won the headship for other colleges we think it’s a real shame that there isn’t a trophy.

“In fact, there’s only a women’s trophy for [Summer] Eights because gracious Balliol donors Andrew and Peggoty Graham bought one when Balliol women won the headship in 2010.” Other students voiced their concern over the discrepancy.

Second year student Violet Smart, who rows for Mansfield, told Cherwell: “To hear of such blatant injustice within the collegiate rowing system is a massive shame.

“Both men’s and women’s teams put in enormous amounts of effort for Torpids and Summer VIIIs and for many college rowers these competitions form the apex of their university rowing careers.

“It’s easy to trivialise matters like these, but I think it’s important that we stop perpetuating the image that gender limits the potential of sportspeople.

“To win Torpids as a a male or a female is just as much of an achievement, and that should be recognised in the same manner for both teams.”

Tom Coles, Sabbatical Officer for OURCs, told Cherwell: “OURCs was only made aware of the absence of a trophy shortly before the meeting where this was raised.

“The current trophies (the two trophies for Eights and the men’s trophy for Torpids) long pre-date the existence of OURCs as an organisation and are handled directly by the headship clubs without the involvement of OURCs.”

Coles added: “The current ownership of the trophies is unclear, but can be traced back to Oxford University Boat Club and is apparently lent out on a year-by-year basis.

“As resolved at the meeting—with the unanimous support of both the committee and the captains—we will be investigating ways to fix this inequality as a matter of priority.”

Women’s crews first rowed for the University in 1927, but it was only in 1974 when more colleges started admitting female undergraduates that female college level rowing took off.

Cyber experts encouraged to “redouble their efforts” following attacks

Felix Clarke
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Cyber experts encouraged to “redouble their efforts” following attacks

After a wave of cyber attacks that struck the world this week, Oxford experts have called on governments and computer users to take cybersecurity seriously.

The attack, which started on Friday and affected businesses and public bodies across the globe, including NHS hospitals and GP surgeries in Oxfordshire, has left victims and experts wondering who was responsible for the failure to stop the breach.

Responding to the cyber threats, Peter Knight, chief information and digital officer at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said that security measures were in place to protect systems: “Our strong security measures are holding solid.

“We continue to closely monitor the situation and have asked staff to be vigilant. Protecting patient information is our top priority. “We understand that NHS Digital has set up a dedicated incident line, and suppliers are working to find solutions to this ransomware outbreak,” he said.

Dr Ravishankar Borgaonkar, Research Fellow at the Department of Computer Science, told Cherwell: “The whole incident shed light on the speed with which we are making our society digital and spending less on making them secure”, blaming the attacks on the “poor management of networks”.

Andrew Martin, Professor of Systems Security at Kellogg College urged onlookers not to “blame the people who click”, arguing that rather than blaming the unscrupulous individual who clicks on a malicious email attachment, society should respond to such attacks by improving its security programming.

As well as this, he discussed how modern systems must not be vulnerable to attacks that exploit one individual’s momentary inattention.

Speaking to Cherwell this week, Professor Martin said: “Security experts have been anticipating things like this for years”. He called on the rest of society finally to take expert warnings seriously.

However, striking a tone of mutual responsibility, Professor Martin also conceded that it was up to experts like him to “redouble their efforts”. He argued that the excessive expectations of many experts had contributed to warnings being ignored.

Professor Martin warned of increasingly dire consequences, if the issues continue to be neglected. Appliances from ovens to medical equipment are increasingly being connected to the internet, forming what is known as ‘the internet of things’.

This trend means that cyberattacks will increasingly be able to cause damage that is physical rather than just informational, Professor Martin warned.

“Internet of things devices are potentially dangerous in a way that our old-fashioned information systems and file servers are not. What if all the dashboards on the M25 suddenly demanded a $300 payment?”

Not only are such devices capable of more harm if hacked, they are also more vulnerable to attack than conventional devices: “We’re rapidly deploying millions of new devices whose typical security characteristics are rather worse than those of a PC 15 years ago.”

No breaches of the Oxford University network have been reported.

Professor Martin praised the cybersecurity of the University, listing up-to-date systems and an enviable number of excellent staff among the system’s strengths: “Many organisations would be jealous of our numbers”.

The professor of Systems Security went on to counsel against complacency, however, and recommended that students should not be afraid to ask difficult questions about how their data is handled.

Colleges have reminded students to remain vigilant and to make sure that their devices are equipped with the latest anti-virus software and that their operating systems are also kept up to date with the latest protection software.

The weekend’s attack on the NHS was not exclusive to the UK. FedEx were also targeted, as were Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s rail network.

Security software manufacturers Avast say they have seen 57,000 infections in 99 countries.

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