Monday 6th October 2025
Blog Page 867

‘A visual masterpiece’

Izzy Smith
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‘A visual masterpiece’

While incorporating moving character development and an entertaining plot, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is most notably a visual masterpiece. Clever special effects make the performance truly seem magical, with actors replacing each other within the same robes on stage slickly to create a convincing illusion of a Polyjuice Potion transformation, and characters appearing to travel through the solid wall of a phone box to enter the Ministry of Magic. Lighting effects make the entire set appear to ripple as characters travel through time.

The set is well chosen, with permanent instalments in the style of Victorian station pillars, obviously effective for King’s Cross and the high ceilings of Hogwarts, but also movable to create an imposing forest. The attention to detail is stunning, with the entire theatre, including the ceiling, revealed to be covered in ultraviolet writing at one crucial moment. Even set changes were spectacular, with well thought out costume and choreography replacing the typical hidden stage hands with swirling cloaks. One particularly emotive visual was the dementors, imposing and dramatic, floating into the audience and truly seeming animated, although uncannily not quite alive.

The Cursed Child tells a wonderful story in its own right, resisting the very real option of relying too heavily on nostalgia. New characters are foregrounded and complex, and both Albus and Scorpius are very different both to their actual fathers (Harry and Draco) and from the legends built around them. The choice to take Albus’ fear of being placed in Slytherin, as expressed in the final novel, and construct a ‘what if’ narrative around this idea was an excellent springboard for examining a complex and shifting relationship between Harry and his son. The boys are also often extremely funny, with Albus, disguised as Ron, trying to divert Hermione from his friends’ secret misdemeanours by declaring, “I want a baby!” and then, backtracking, “or a holiday.”

The plot impressively had enough to give for a play of such great length, although had a fairly weak villain, with both her dialogue and actress Esther Smith lacking nuance. It drew off and asked moral questions about old storylines while having the courage to forge completely new ones and focus on the development of relationships between new characters.

However, I am doubtful how accessible the play would prove for new viewers unacquainted with the original series – although I suppose this is a lesser risk when it comes to Harry Potter. Without this context, the significance of much of what is revisited through time travel would be lost. I also did really enjoy seeing familiar characters grown up (although this term seems generous in the case of Ron!) Seeing Hermione as the Minister for Magic, typically earnest and hardworking, whilst more confident and settled, is immensely satisfying. Noma Dumezweni’s performance wonderfully combines the character’s sincerity and warmth. Ginny as Sports Editor of the Daily Prophet is a less predictable great fit.

It is wonderful to see a developed and interesting adaptation of Ginny, who retains her fire and spirit from the books, after the films’ wet interpretation. While it was frustrating to see her fall into the common trope of a highly competent female character whose primary role is in helping the male lead grow, mature and ‘find himself’, the play otherwise does well on this count: when McGonagall compliments Albus, Harry agrees and compares him to Ginny, and Hermione is as formidable as ever.

Something I have always loved about Harry Potter is how it plays out fundamentally human experiences within a magical world, often using magic to render psychological experiences visceral. Boggarts explore how fear can be attacked with laughter: the charm cast by Lily’s sacrifice examines how active and protective a force love can be. The exploration of Harry’s trauma within The Cursed Child follows this tradition beautifully, and shows how everything does not simply return to normal with Voldemort’s death. The medium of stage allows for vibrant portrayal of Harry’s re-experiencing through nightmares, with the past just as solid and present on the stage as Harry himself. While Harry’s nightmares and paranoia hold magical significance, they also explain a great deal about the man he’s become.

The Cursed Child is rich with humour and warmth, with difficult and complex relationships at its heart – and if none of that draws you in then just go for the special effects.

The rise of nuclear weapons

Cherwell
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The rise of nuclear weapons

From sticks and stones to nuclear bombs, it’s common to find that with most advancements in technology, there is some advancement in weaponry. No case is more prominent than nuclear weapons – weapons so devastating that they have never ceased to leave the public eye. The destruction demonstrated by nuclear weapons have captivated the world in decades of paranoia, plaguing public perception of all things nuclear.

To an extent, this fear could be said to have kept large-scale war at bay between developed nations. However, questions are now being asked of proliferation as the actions of unpredictable states grow increasingly menacing. What devastation could a nuclear weapon bring?

The development of the first nuclear weapons begins with the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938. Fission was experimentally found to be induced by neutrons hitting nuclei of heavier atoms – Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch first theoretically modelled fission like a raindrop being split into two by an incoming neutron. Energy arising from fission can be thought of as arising either as the energy from the mass difference of the products and reactants, or as the energy of the repulsion between the two nuclei formed from fission.

It took the discovery of chain fission reactions to take energy from fission from the atomic scale to significant energies. With a critical density of certain isotopes of Uranium, it was found that a self-sustaining fission reaction can be triggered as neutrons released from fission go and induce further fission reactions in other nuclei, repeating the process and releasing incredible energy along the way.

Scientists were quick to recognize the potential of weaponising the fission process, but it would take the collective effort of a generation’s greatest scientists to develop and produce a first-of-its-kind nuclear fission bomb through the now infamous Manhattan Project. The technological challenges were incredible and diverse, but the Manhattan Project scientists were exceptional – over two dozen had won or would win the Nobel Prize through their careers.

The Manhattan project would produce two archetypal designs of the atomic bomb and three detonated warheads: plutonium fuelled implosion mechanisms found in the ‘Fat Man’ and ‘the Gadget‘ bombs, and Uranium fuelled gun-type mechanisms in the ‘Little Boy’ bomb.

Gun-type A-Bombs work by shooting together two sub-critical radioactive bullets to increase their combined density past the critical point for nuclear fission. Implosion bombs work by placing a radioactive core surrounded by explosions that are focused like a lens to uniformly compress the core till it reaches critical density.

On the 16th of July 1945, the Gadget became the first Nuclear device to ever be detonated. It yielded a 20 kiloton (kt) explosion that rained hell on the New Mexican desert. To gauge the power of 20kt, if dropped over the Radcliffe Camera today, the image below predicts the scale of the impact.

Source: NUKEMAP. The yellow circle represents the scale of the initial fireball, with the red outer circle demonstrating the region predicted to incur almost a 100% fatality rate. Radiation effects are not included in the diagram.

To get a sense of context, the largest bomb detonated prior to the Trinity tests was the modestly named Grand Slam bomb, clocking in at the equivalent of 6.5 tonnes of TNT. The Gadget was over 3000 times more powerful.

And so, the nuclear rat race began. Superpowers developed their nuclear technologies to greater and greater heights, until in 1952 the USA broke through with the first ever thermonuclear weapon, the first H-bomb.

Kilotons became megatons as the H-bomb revolutionized warfare once more. The breakthrough came through the genius of Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, architects of the Teller-Ulam configuration that is still thought to be the prevalent mechanism for H-bombs today.

Details of the Teller-Ulam configuration are strictly confidential – probably for the best – and so the exact mechanism of H-bomb is hard to come by. The general Teller-Ulam design of the H-bomb involves two separate stages – a primary fission bomb and a secondary fusion device.

The primary stage involves the detonation of a fission implosion bomb close to the fusion device. With fission bombs, a part of the energy is released as radiation. The H-bomb contains a special casing that reflects this radiation into the fusion device. The combination of the radiation, heat, and pressure from the fission reaction induces nuclear fusion to occur in the fusion device.

Nuclear fusion is the same process that powers the Sun – roughly, it involves the process of lighter elements binding their nuclei together. For lighter elements, the individual protons and neutrons have a greater mass than the combined nucleus. It’s this mass difference that is the source of the energy produced by fusion.

The largest H-bomb ever detonated recorded an exceptional yield of 50 megatons, an aggressive brag during the days of the cold war. However, modern nuclear weapons tend to lie within the 100-500 kt region with any more energy deemed inefficient and mostly unnecessary in times of war due to their lack of manoeuvrability.

Large nuclear weapons may still have a place in the modern day – from reinventing space flight to saving our earth from potential asteroid threats, the real challenge lies in whether we can trust ourselves to develop the technology for good. The development of the nuclear energy must involve rigour and thorough safety considerations – essential to heal decades of public distrust.

Robert Oppenheimer, leader of the Manhattan project, famously proclaimed that “physicists have known sin” – it’s time we start utilising the incredible potential of the technology for the good of humanity over the destruction of it.

Oxford ‘must do more’ to recognise potential in poorer applicants

Emily Lawford
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Oxford ‘must do more’ to recognise potential in poorer applicants

Oxford and Cambridge are not doing enough to make themselves accessible to more disadvantaged students, according to the government’s universities access tsar.

Speaking at the University of Buckingham’s Festival of Higher Education, Professor Les Ebdon, the Director of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), said that Oxbridge still have a “mountain to climb” to improve their diversity.

Ebdon criticised the requirement from top universities for applicants to achieve A* grades at A-level, an expectation he said was unrealistic for most pupils from state schools, of whom only “very few” can attain those grades.

He recognised that Oxford does use “contextual data” on applicants’ backgrounds to judge candidates – but that it must do more.

“If you ask me, ‘Should they be doing more?’, the answer is yes, obviously, because they have… so few students on free school meals, so few students from different ethnic minorities”, Ebdon said.

“So yes, they certainly should be doing more, and that’s my job, to make sure that they do do more.”

When asked about Oxford and Cambridge’s attempts to encourage diversity, Ebdon responded: “Do I think there’s fair access at Oxbridge? Well obviously not.” However, he acknowledged that both universities had improved in their outreach, as “we’re seeing the highest level of state school students at Oxbridge for over 30 years”.

But, he said, he required Oxbridge to “do more work than anyone else” to tackle inequality in their admissions processes.

“Oxbridge need to make a decision, and it is a decision for them as to what the balance of subjects is. They have a series of decisions to make and I actually am legally not allowed to interfere with the admissions process. But I wish they would recognise potential more than they currently do.”

Admissions data released by Ucas displayed that only 45 places were awarded at Oxford to black applicants in 2016, out of the 2,555 overall offers – a drop from the 50 offers made to black students in 2015.

Application rates were also unequal in terms of wealth, as over 5,000 students from the wealthiest 20% applied, contrasted with only 420 from the poorest 20%.

Oxford University has hit back at the claims, citing its provisions to increase access amongst disadvantaged pupils.

“The University already makes extensive, systematic use of contextual data to identify high potential in students from disadvantaged backgrounds,” an Oxford spokesperson said.

“Our academic tariffs are also set to take account of these students’ performance in specific subjects. For example, the tariff is AAA for the majority of our humanities courses. We back this up with one of the UK’s biggest outreach programmes, worth more than £4 million annually.”

The spokesperson added that their “fair and effective system” is delivering significant progress.  “In 2016, 35.2% of our accepted undergraduates came from a disadvantaged category, compared to 31.5% in 2010,” they said. “For 2017 entry, disadvantaged candidates have, for the first time ever, been more successful in winning offers to Oxford than the UK average.”

Some Oxford students and campaign were also quick to question Ebdon’s remarks, highlighting University measures to aid more disadvantaged students.

Ebdon’s remarks came as his annual report on widening access to UK universities was published. It found that the number of poorer students dropping out of university had reached the highest level in five years.

In March, Oxford announced a new summer school with the intention of targeting “white British” working class areas for admissions. Date shows that “less well off” white boys are the demographic group least likely to go to University in the UK.

Misleading media coverage of Oxford must stop

Maxim Parr-Reid
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Misleading media coverage of Oxford must stop

As I arrived home from the Trinity Commemoration Ball on Saturday, I was greeted by the spectacle of weary stragglers snapped by the tabloid press. It was as if the paparazzi had been ready to pounce as soon as they caught wind of another frivolous Oxford ball. Hardly a surprise, I thought to myself, this is yet another episode in the long-running saga of the media’s obsession with Oxbridge. The fixation is hardly surprising, they are two of the best universities in the country, populated by those who may one day run the country. This obsession, however, appears to be skewed towards viewing Oxbridge exclusively as a paragon of privilege. This is emblematic of a narrative that Oxford is a toy-town world, seemingly off limits to everyone bar the lucky few.

Such an idea is, of course, palpably untrue. The hyperbolic media coverage of Oxford plays to the knowledge that potential candidates form part of the ‘social media generation’. They are therefore the most likely to absorb the impressions portrayed in the media. If I hadn’t conducted my own research and visited the University myself, my idea of what Oxford was would rest on The Riot Club and a smattering of statistics from The Guardian indicating that the colleges I was considering were public school strongholds. The media’s obsession with Oxbridge might be justifiable, given the aura and the pull of our oldest universities, however the narrative that Oxbridge remains a bastion of elitism and exclusivity is highly damaging.

One only has to trawl through the headlines of leading newspapers to see daunting admissions figures circulated and sensationalised; just last year The Guardian published articles entitled ‘Oxbridge fails to persuade state teachers to send pupils for interview’ and ‘David Cameron’s Oxford college admits fewest state school applicants.’

Indeed, there are entire sections of websites solely dedicated to “Oxbridge and elitism”. Clearly, it’s important for the universities to take note of these figures, but surely barraging and bombarding potential applicants with such statistics merely served to deepen doubts and reinforce reservations about applying. One can’t help feeling that the reported successes of the institution are being vastly swamped by its arguable failures. A quick search of the internet will likely yield far more stories about problems of exclusivity than advances in inclusivity.

It’s likely that fewer than half of Oxford students will attend a ball, let alone one of the few which are white tie. Despite this, barely one day after Trinity’s Commemoration Ball, a lengthy article sprung up, written almost in the style of David Attenborough, documenting the activities of the lesser-spotted Oxford student. Who knew that stumbling home after the ball would be fraught with the danger of being ambushed by the paparazzi, foaming at the bit for a sighting of dishevelled students. Far more coverage was given to this one event than all of Trinity College’s access work conducted in the past year. This is presumably because documenting outreach work is somehow counter to the compelling narrative that Oxford is exclusive.

In light of this, it’s unsurprising that the most many know about Oxford is the Bullingdon Club, which despite having fewer than 10 members, hasn’t stopped Hollywood capitalising on the mythology and mysticism of this and other student societies. In the context of this spotlight on what are very uncommon occurrences at Oxford and Cambridge, the narrative that the universities are somehow the plaything of a privileged elite is relentlessly perpetuated. In doing so, the media reinforces the sense of ‘imposter syndrome’ that one can feel when considering applying, a sentiment which my own experience reflects.

I worry that the current coverage of Oxbridge imbues many with the feeling that Oxford and Cambridge are somehow not for them. The media should be wary of how an indictment of Oxford elitism can serve to sustain the stereotypes they so clearly disapprove of.

OxView: Top Horrors

Sandy Elliot
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OxView: Top Horrors

Pan’s Labyrinth

This dark fairy tale interweaves two plots, and it is often difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. The horrifying depiction of ‘paleface’ – one of the most frightening scenes in all of cinema – is perhaps itself less horrifying than the cold, calculating malice of the fascist colonel, and the resulting stomach-churning violence.

 

Requiem for a Dream

Darren Aronofsky’s films are known for their jarring aesthetic. In this film, it seems to be the small things—the unnerving sudden disappearance of a half-grapefruit and black coffee with ‘gulp’ sound effects, for instance. But, by the end of the film, the entire thing feels like a nightmare, complete with a raging fridge-monster trying to devour a hapless dieting grandmother.

 

The Elephant Man

Though sometimes called ‘body horror’, the true horror of this film is its study of the dark underbelly of the human psyche. It is our penchant towards ‘othering’, our insatiable desire for a freak show (even when we are ourselves the freaks), which is dissected in this devastating film.

Yes, the tabloids report fairly on Oxford

Jordan Bernstein
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Yes, the tabloids report fairly on Oxford

My family, a year after I started studying here, are still incredibly excited about the whole Oxford thing. They’ll boast about it to friends, support Oxford in the Boat Race and, of course, save clippings from newspapers that mention the latest news from in and around the University.

It was in this spirit that I was greeted by a family member in an airport last week by being handed Friday’s copy of The Sun. Whether she was expressing hope that I’d be equally startled by the Oxford story on the front page, or she was seeking reassurance that I wasn’t in Piers Gav, I sadly don’t know. But there, sprawled across the paper, was a bunch of students from my University scantily clad in a picture that few of them could ever have hoped would end up in the national press.

Cue a renewed campaign to ban The Sun from campuses.

In any case, I wasn’t particularly surprised. Just like Bullingdon drinking parties, just like cloak-and-dagger Union politics, and just like quidditch club, we all know this sort of stuff goes on, even if we’ve never been to a meeting (sigh).

Does the media have a right to report on Piers Gav? Of course. Is such a story fair to the University, its staff and its students? You bet.

First of all we shouldn’t pretend that it’s only a practiced sensationalism from the country’s top educational establishments that makes it into the papers. The Mail last week ran a story on a move to ban scholars’ gowns (rightly ridiculing the initiative). Large swathes of newspapers’ spreads are annually devoted to reporting on league tables. And yet some among the student body have the audacity to claim that the fairest coverage of the University is shown only when the general public are fed an idyllic view of the University? When people who have spent £200 on a party aren’t presented as people who have spent £200 on a party? When attention isn’t drawn to the fact that members of an orgy club were out in public in broad daylight and dominatrix gear? What ever happened to balanced and unbiased reporting by a free press being the cornerstone of democracy?

It might not be the University all of us like, and it might not be the University all of us know. But it’s the University all of us attend. And to argue the contrary is to solemnly wish that we could have our cake and eat it too. After all, where else in life could we present a view of our experience that focused only on the good? I suspect that despite current media coverage, Oxbridge CVs will still find their way to the top of recruitment pile. If you want something to moan about, why not that? People make assumptions the whole time when meeting someone who was at Oxford. The reputation is still alive, if slightly elevated by anecdotes from the middle of a field somewhere.

The use of the picture, specifically, is more controversial. But to expect anything more of The Sun is either to launch a tirade against tabloid journalism more generally, or else demand that because of the pomp, circumstance and privilege on which most of the students at this University spend their time capitalising we should be given special treatment, no matter what we wear or where we choose to wear it. In any case, regardless of whether the printing was fair to individuals, it was not unfair to the University.

Something I believe lies behind this reaction to recent media coverage is a protest at the type of salacious stories on which the tabloids are choosing to report. We were all happy to ridicule David Cameron when seedy allegations of his time at the Piers Gaveston society were published. Students enjoy distancing themselves from the ‘Oxford’ type of posh, straight, white men all the while publicising the fact that institutions such as the Bullingdon still exist. What I think is unique to the coverage of Piers Gav, trashings and post-ball pictures is that suddenly it’s not just the posh student that’s fair game, but everyone at Oxford, whether coming from a position of supposed ‘privilege’ or not, is now being gawked at for their exploits here. The Sun has managed what many of its Oxford critics have rightly railed against for years. It has shattered any illusion of an Oxford archetype.

Long-term, what do we even mean to say that press coverage of Oxford is unfair? Imagine the wonders that this will do for the diversity of applications next year.

Oxford English Dictionary adds ‘woke’ to its list of new words

Fred Dimbleby
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Oxford English Dictionary adds ‘woke’ to its list of new words

The Oxford English Dictionary has added a new meaning to the word ‘woke’ in its June update of the dictionary.

The word was originally in the dictionary as a past participle of ‘awake’, but the new definition includes a modern political use of the term.

“By the mid-20th century, woke had been extended figuratively to refer to being ‘aware’ or ‘well informed’ in a political or cultural sense,” Katherine Connor Martin, OED’s Head of US dictionaries said.

“In the past decade, that meaning has been catapulted into mainstream use with a particular nuance of ‘alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice’, popularized through the lyrics of the 2008 song Master Teacher by Erykah Badu, in which the words ‘I stay woke’ serve as a refrain, and more recently through its association with the Black Lives Matter movement, especially on social media.”

Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

The update added over 1,200 terms to the dictionary, which is published by Oxford University Press. ‘Post-truth’, which was the 2016 word of the year, was also added – referencing the modern political phenomenon of a style of politics that gives less attention to facts.

The update was good news for Aaron Sorkin fans, as the West Wing was referenced as the first use of a new term. The definition of the noun ‘thing’ was updated to include the sense of “a genuine or established phenomenon or practice”.

The dictionary referenced the term’s first recorded use in a 2000 West Wing walk and talk when the characters ask ‘‘did you know that ‘leaf peeping’ was a thing?”

The update was less good news for enthusiasts of the ancient Egyptian beer ‘zythum’. The beverage was replaced as the last word of the dictionary by ‘Zyzzyva’, which refers to a species of South American weevils.

A number of other traditional and modern words were added:

Boston marriage: U.S. used euphemistically to refer to the cohabitation of two women, esp. in a romantic relationship or intimate friendship; now chiefly historical

Son of a bachelor: used as a term of abuse or contempt

Baltic: Chiefly of weather conditions: bitterly cold, freezing

Woke: Originally: well-informed, up-to-date. Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice; frequently in stay woke (often used as an exhortation).

Thing: colloq. (orig. U.S.). A genuine or established phenomenon or practice. Typically somewhat depreciative, often in questions conveying surprise or incredulity, as is that (even) a thing?, how can that be a thing?, etc.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – a neglected Sorkin revisited

Becky Cook
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Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – a neglected Sorkin revisited

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip premiered on American television screens over a decade ago, as Aaron Sorkin’s new and distinctive offering of brisk dialogue and erudite allusions. It was instantly hailed by critics as another triumph of Sorkin’s, fresh off the finale of The West Wing. However, it was then axed after a sole series, subsequently raising questions over whether it was really that good.

Studio 60 followed the employees of a late night sketch show, similar to its real-life counterpart Saturday Night Live, that is at risk of compromising comedic integrity for the commercialist agenda of their network. The droll heroes, played by Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry, are reemployed four years after departing the show with hopes of revitalising it, with the help of a new network executive. Sorkin’s argument is clear: the art form of television has the capacity to do good.

From the outset the brooding cinematography matches the effervescent dialogue, replete with witticisms that beg to be written down and memorised by viewers. The rich dialogue is complemented by the characters. Even the villainous network chairman refuses to remain peripheral and insensitive, boasting a modest sense of humour that even begins to steal scenes. Studio 60 seems to posit an optimistic world where even the crooked have a hidden heroism.

Eyebrows are raised over why this quick, rich and bold piece of television was cancelled. While, in Sorkin fashion, it resorts to moralising at points, it is compelling viewing from the outset. It seems to have sadly been affected by the success of its predecessor, The West Wing. Comparison is inevitable, and sadly Studio 60 falls short.

The irony of the show lies in its status as a polemic on the cultural wasteland of television; this was becoming and has since become groundless.  Television is now a fertile ground, with fresh shows constantly emerging to quash the mediocre and false. Sadly it seems that Studio 60, despite its distinct potential, fell prey to this persistent substitution.

Bullingdon Club kicked out of Christ Church by college porters – video

Jack Hunter
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Bullingdon Club kicked out of Christ Church by college porters – video

Members of Oxford’s notorious drinking society the Bullingdon Club were marched out of Christ Church last weekend because they did not have permission to take their annual group photograph on college grounds.

Each year, the Bullingdon Club assembles to pose for their group photo on the steps of Christ Church’s Canterbury Quad – in the hope of replicating David Cameron and Boris Johnson’s infamous shot.

But when members gathered in Christ Church on Sunday 18 June with a professional photographer to take this year’s photo, they were removed by college porters after students protested.

Footage of the incident, obtained by Cherwell, shows the Bullingdon’s members in their blue bow ties being escorted out the college by staff members, while mocked by Christ Church students.

The video shows a delighted group of Christ Church students watch the Bullingdon members leave to the tune of the Benny Hill theme. One of those present, second year Prismo Marchant, told Cherwell: “They do not represent the values of our student body and we have made very clear that they are not welcome in our college.

“They left with their tails between their legs and Christ Church doesn’t want them back.”

Members of the group are confronted by Christ Church staff

Following the ejection, the Bullingdon Club have now reportedly been “banned” from Christ Church.

The Christ Church Dean, Prof Martyn Percy, told Cherwell: “In common with other colleges, we don’t allow groups to use college buildings for self-promoting photography unless permission has been requested in advance, and then agreed.

“Such permission was not sought, and the group therefore requested to leave.”

It is the latest setback for the secretive drinking society, which has reportedly faced torrid times in recent years. Reports last year suggested the club may be on the verge of extinction with only two members left, after a spell of bad publicity deterred many from joining.

The Bullingdon Club had been hoping to take their picture on the steps.

The incident is the second time in recent weeks that past or present Bullingdon Club members have faced embarrassment on Oxford college premises. In May, ex-Bullingdon Club member Boris Johnson was heckled by students upon returning to his old college Balliol.

One student shouted at Boris: “Do you want to smash a restaurant? Do you want to burn £50 in front of a homeless person,” in reference to the reported debauched behaviour of the club’s members.

Fire crews called to acid leak at Engineering Department

Matthew Roller
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Fire crews called to acid leak at Engineering Department

Four staff at the University’s Department of Engineering Science were treated by firefighters and paramedics on Friday morning, following exposure to sulphuric acid fumes.

46 batteries in the basement of the department had overheated and swelled to cause the leak, and Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue services were called to the scene within minutes.

Those who had been exposed to the fumes were treated on the scene, with one man taken to hospital for further precautionary checks.

The fire crews consulted with on-site management and the battery manufacturer to create a plan to deal with the incident, and firefighters were sent into the basement wearing breathing apparatus with a gas monitor and thermal image camera.

It was apparent that water could not be used to cool the batteries down, as despite the fact they were unconnected form their power supply, they were still holding electric charge.

Therefore, a cooling fan had to be used, extending the time before the building could be safely handed back to the University.

The crews left the scene at around 5:15pm, almost five hours after they had been summoned.

Incident Commander, Station Manager Paul Webster said: “This was an unusual incident as most people expect that if you apply water to something hot it will cool it down – this is not always the case, especially when electricity or chemicals are involved.

“I would like to thank the staff and students for their co-operation during this lengthy incident”.

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