On October 19, Cherwell published a 16-page careers guide, with advice on how to find jobs after graduation, testimonials from Oxford graduates, and other useful tips for anyone concerned about life after Oxford. Click here to take a look.
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Statement Pieces: Oli Williams’ tattoos
I had never considered getting a small or simple tattoo, and despite the validity of personal reasons for tattoos, it was never a factor in my choice to get one. Mine had to be big, bold, colourful and showy. The fact that I got my first one the day after I finished school and two weeks before my first A-level exam was not so much my way of marking the moment as simply the most convenient time to not wear socks and shoes for fourteen days.
I had spent the last six months of school fantasising about tattoos and poring through online images of dragons, birds and phoenixes, as well as imagining just how cool I would feel with a tattoo. It would be a surprise, a party trick. Most of all it would be an expression of individuality and guts. What made the prospect of getting one even more exciting was the knowledge that none of my friends or family would have ever dreamed that I would do it.
For my very first tattoo I got a feather, taken from an image of a phoenix. I got it tattooed across my right foot, and having it certainly made me feel powerful in the way I hoped it would: I had become unpredictable and divergent, and I finally had the ability to make people second-guess who I was.
One year
into university, I realised one tattoo was just not enough. Although my foot tattoo was beautiful and impressive, I needed something that would blow everything else out of the water. So, I decided that afterI had finished my dreaded Classics Mods exams, I would go full-phoenix on my leg. And no, the design was not a lame, cliché way of me saying I was rising from some sort of exam-ashes; it was simply the design I had been in love with since school.
Both of my tattoos are based off exactly the same pictures from Google Images, and I chose the designs for no more complicated, supposedly deep a reason than that I simply found it aesthetically extremely pleasing. This big project was a test of my patience, as I had to get the black outline done during the Easter vacation and then let it heal over the entire summer term before going back and having the colour put in. This also meant I had to spend nearly three months with an enormous, incomplete tattoo around my right thigh.
After easily my most narcissistic move to date, I am now going into my third year at Oxford with having spent up to £770 on permanent changes to my body for the sake of being aesthetically admired. Ultimately, my tattoos “mean” nothing at all. Unlike some people who have a more sentimental outlook on such choices, I got my tattoos so that others would look at the parts of my body that I am pleased with and want attention to be drawn to. You may well decide to call me boastful, two-dimensional and vain. You’re right of course—but then again, my tattoos are better than yours.
Student mental health-care shows how the national crisis ought to be approached
Earlier this year The Guardian announced that 78 per cent of students who completed their survey reported having experienced a mental health problem, diagnosed or undiagnosed, within the past year. YouGov conducted a similar survey, finding that one in four students has a mental illness, with this rising to one in three for females and up to 45 per cent for LGBT students.
In Oxford, where neglecting mental health in favour of high achievement is normalised, many of us do not need statistics to tell us this. There is the expectation of a mid-term crash represented by ‘fifth week blues’, the all-nighter as a standard occurrence necessitated by workload, the pressure to work 6–8 hour days. I was shocked to hear of a friend who was warned by a tutor that they should expect “to drown” under their workload.
Whilst there is more to be done to offer adequate levels of support to students experiencing mental illnesses, a wide range of valuable student-led initiatives exist as part of a collaborative effort to combat the crisis. From the volunteers at Nightline to the JCR and MCR Welfare Reps and networks of peer supporters, we all know someone involved in student mental health.
Unfortunately, the stereotype of the professional social worker that many people seem to have is of someone who turns up, has a cup of tea and a reassuring chat with their service user, and promptly leaves. The reality is very different; mental health social workers offer vital support to people experiencing mental illnesses. They do this by building meaningful relationships and representing the needs of their service users by working with medical professionals for the most suitable outcome.
This is exactly the kind of holistic approach that is valued as a way of addressing student mental health. Why is it so overlooked as a meaningful and worthwhile career outside of the university bubble? Eating disorders, depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar, schizophrenia, and a whole range of other mental health illnesses do not cease to exist once we are no longer students.
Think Ahead is a new two-year graduate scheme aiming to get top graduates involved in mental health social work. Their tagline is, “Most people know someone who’s had mental health problems. But not everyone knows someone who can make a difference. Could you?” Many have the potential to make a positive difference to the national mental health crisis that the UK is experiencing, but many ignore the opportunity to pursue this as a career, confining our efforts to our years in Oxford but not beyond. Top graduates need to apply the remarkable work they’re doing for the student mental health crisis to the national mental health crisis too.
Wednesday Weltanschauung: Burkean Conservatism
It is a great irony that Burke, a reforming politician and perennial challenger of the abuse of power, ended his life as the most famed reactionary in Europe. In many ways, the apparent dichotomy between Burke, the defender of the American Revolution, and Burke, the most well-known opponent of the French Revolution, exemplifies the startling and paradoxical conclusions of his thought. For the greatest irony of all is that the French revolutionary philosophy, which emphasised liberty to the exclusion of all else, was least able to maintain those freedoms. Thus Burke’s attempts to curtail royal prerogative and his critique of revolutionary ideology were part of the same struggle for liberty against tyranny.
For fatally misunderstanding the nature of man and human institutions, the revolutionaries would destroy the very frameworks which best-preserved freedom. Burkean conservatism, therefore, turns the philosophical assumptions of the Enlightenment (and modernity) on their head. It presents a vision of humanity as fundamentally and ineradicably flawed, and only liberated by the institutions and norms which the revolutionaries believed were at the heart of man’s oppression. Human reason is not perfect, but fallible and inadequate to the task of creating a new and better world from scratch. Comprehending the Humean dictum that reason should be the slave of the passions, Burke sought to articulate a more holistic conception of human motivation, encompassing the value-systems and diverse desires that really drive action. For, man was not, as the revolutionaries had him, an atomised and selfish individual actor, but a communal being surrounded by the rich texture of social life, embedded within the local loyalties and interpersonal relations.
From this new conception of human nature, arose a new vision of social institutions as the sources of practical knowledge and the foundation of moral order. Understanding that calculation alone could not create a unified polity, he emphasised the importance of emotion, ‘the moral imagination’; that, ‘to make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.’ According to Burke, a decentralised civil society, the local, devolved loyalties of the ‘little platoon’ and an interlocking system of communities, are a stronger foundation for liberty than the tyranny of an all-encompassing state. Since the state represents aims and hopes that cannot be realised in a single generation, the transitory social contract of Locke is re-imagined as a transcendent institution, a trust between the living, the unborn and the dead.
Religion, for Burke, was not an irrational and backwards force, but the creator of values and the consecrator of state institutions. Just as importantly, Burke discerned that proven institutions which had stood the test of time are more likely to be effective than the abstract constructions of fevered imaginations. Traditions, similarly, are what countless generations have found useful and are, therefore, a valuable means through which knowledge and norms are transmitted. As Popper was to later point out, these traditions create regularities in social life, and are a better guide to the complexities of reality than unaided human reason.
Therefore, the prioritisation of the practical over the impracticable and the particular over the general are central to Burke’s philosophy. As Oakeshott writes, conservatism ‘is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried…the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss.’ Politics, therefore, should not be the pursuit of abstract and unrealistic principles, but a gradual process of reconciliation and reform that is close to the real and immediate concerns of the people. It should be made congruent to a pre-existent institutional and social framework, improving systems of government whilst preserving the stability necessary for evolutionary growth. Utopian objectives, constructed by fallible human reasoning, usually result in destructive and unintended effects. Civilisation, fragile, contingent and constantly threatened by the darker undercurrents of human nature, is risked when practical political reform is disregarded to build ‘castles in the air’.
As a new generation of iconoclasts and ideologues seeks to tear down established institutions and norms, attacking everything from religion to the nation-state, and leaving only a vacuum in their place, Burkean conservatism has never been more relevant. In the face of the anomie, atomization and instability brought about by these reckless assaults, this philosophy offers a political alternative through which the excesses of capitalism can be humanised; a means through which compassionate communities and new visions of higher ideals can be re-forged. As the Western world now seeks to reform its political and economic course, it is this vision of human possibility and renewed social value that should be the future of conservatism.
St Anne’s name new principal
St Anne’s College alumna Ms Helen King is to be its next principal, after her lifelong career in the police service.
Ms King was selected by the college’s Governing Body, after applications and interviews that included senior members of the college and the JCR President, Pranay Shah.
Shah told Cherwell, “Having interviewed the shortlisted candidates, I can truly say I am very glad Helen King is the new Principal of St Anne’s.
Having attended, and stayed in touch with, the College she truly understands its ethos and principles, and it is personified in her down to earth and genuine character.
I believe she will be a fantastic leader for us and take St Anne’s forward in a great direction over the upcoming years.”
Helen King studied PPE at St Anne’s, graduated in 1986 and joined the Police Graduate Entry Scheme, before a hugely successful career in the police service that included a Deputy Chief Constable role and Queen’s Police Medal in 2011.
Helen joined the Metropolitan Police Service as Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing in June 2014 with oversight of policing in London’s 32 Boroughs, and was responsible for Roads Policing and Criminal Justice. Since April 2016, she has held the position of Assistant Commissioner for Professionalism which includes responsibility for Training and Professional Standards.
She said, “I feel immensely honoured and a little overwhelmed to have been selected by the Governing Body of St Anne’s College to be their Principal and to be the first police officer ever appointed to head an Oxbridge College.
“St Anne’s is rightly proud of its history of having been established by a remarkable group of determined people in order to enable women of any financial background, with talent, appetite and determination, to gain a university education at Oxford.
“It resolutely continues to seek to identify and nurture students with potential, regardless of privilege.”
Robert Chard, Acting Principal, said, “speaking on behalf of the Fellowship, I would like to stress how delighted we are at the outcome of this election. St Anne’s selects its Principals for their values and personal qualities, and Helen King combines genuine human warmth with impressive competence and a commitment to inclusiveness, diversity and opportunity.
“We feel she will work well with all segments of the St Anne’s community – students, staff, Fellows, and alumnae – in steering the College through what looks to be a time of many changes ahead, and keeping us in an optimal position to continue our tradition of transforming the lives of people who traditionally would not have had access to an Oxford education.”
Not Wong: A Second Referendum
Disclaimer: Having a second EU referendum is an awful idea. It would empower extremist Euro-sceptics and populists, revitalise UKIP and encourage more aggressive campaigning from both “Remain” and “Leave” camps. This article therefore does not call for another referendum – it merely presents a principled case for it on the basis of the concept of autonomy that underpins representative democracy. The crucial idea here is that the people’s choice is only legitimate when it:
- Reflects their true preferences, and:
- Does not imposing an unreasonable constraint upon non-consenting individuals.
I believe that the results of the Brexit referendum in June 2016 violated both, for three reasons. First, the binding direct-democratic principle requires that individual voters be reasonably informed about the consequences that would follow their decision-making. There are three reasons why voters need to be informed for democratic decision making:
- For people to collectively self-determine they must be in command of relevant and important facts (cf. Rousseau)
- It is unfair for preferences based on erroneous evidence to crowd out those underpinned by stronger reasons (cf. Rawls)
- A choice made under imperfect circumstances is not valid (e.g. buying a rotten apple that appears to be perfectly edible).
Given the role of referenda in accurately capturing the will of the public it should be clear that, given the procedural injustice of the first referendum, a second is morally obligatory. It should be noted that not all Brexit voters were misinformed. I have friends who voted Brexit for values and beliefs with which I disagree – but fundamentally respect. But we need also acknowledge that the “Leave” campaign actively deceived its supporters. Take the lie that £350m would be diverted to the NHS after Brexit, scaremongering about Turkish accession to the union and refugees, or the assertion that we could continue to access the single market without freedom of movement, despite this being repeatedly denied by the EU. Equally, the referendum vote never established which version of Brexit would occur.
Secondly, individuals may be fully informed of the relevant facts, but have formulated the wrong second-order desires to satisfy their fundamental, first-order desires. Suppose I am a Brexit voter, and hold the first-order preference for economic security. Since 23 June 2016, the collapse of the pound, the withdrawal of future potential trade deals, the massive relocation of banks etc. – all reveal that the consequences of my vote have run contrary to my most fundamental desires. Thus, from a purely preference-based point of view, a second referendum is needed.
Thirdly there is the issue of inter generational justice. The decision to trigger Article 50 – unlike most democratic decisions – is hardly reversible. Hannan and Johnson’s claims that we could “rejoin anytime we like” is comparable to a dinner guest smashing all the dishes and wine glasses as he leaves his host’s house, and then insisting he will be welcomed back with open arms: total nonsense. Democracy requires that we are accountable to future generations – both people who were too young to vote in the referendum, and those who will be born into a poorer, more xenophobic Britain. Given the under-representation of these individuals during the campaigning period, a second referendum is demanded by the obligations we owe them.
Three objections immediately come to mind. The first is the “No Perfect Vote” objection, that every election inherently involves imperfect information, but this does not (and should not) prevent us from accepting electoral results in general. The main response to this objection is that deception and misinformation come in degrees. There is a significant (and legally recognised) difference between contracts formed based on imperfect information (i.e. all contracts) and deliberately deceptive contracts that jeopardise one of the party’s core interests.
Secondly, there is the Irrelevance objection. It is unclear that the lies propagated by the Leave campaign actually swayed that many voters. Similarly, it is unclear that having a second referendum would change the result. The key response to this argument is that the moral legitimacy of a democratic conclusion depends not only on its ability to reflect the popular will, but also the procedures that generated that will. The reason why we protest elections in authoritarian regimes even when they have, in practice, overwhelming majoritarian support – is that their elections violate underlying principles of democratic fairness.
Thirdly, it seems patronising and demeaning to posit that all Brexit voters were uninformed – surely it is all the more important to recognise the voice of the people, especially given how populist sentiments have only been encouraged by paternalistic Westminster government? The first response to this is to note is that, for the case for a second referendum to stand, there is no onus upon this article to prove that everyone is uninformed, but rather that there exists a significant number of individuals who were misinformed. It is not patronising to call out misinformed voters; it is only patronising when the claim becomes generalised. Indeed it is all the more patronising to insist that people could not change their minds after coming around to realising their past flaws. Binding individuals to outcomes they now no longer consent to is not only demeaning, but undemocratic.
Therefore, although I neither believe that a second referendum will be held, nor pragmatically desire one, a principled case can be made for Britain to return to the European ballot box once more.
Preview: Guys and Dolls
There isn’t much that’s worth getting up early for on a Sunday, but I’d say that Guys and Dolls is one of those things that qualifies. In the beautiful surroundings of Keble College, a faint cry of musical tunes could be heard in the quad. As I waited in the porter’s lodge and was met by an energetic and smiley face. It was Issy Fiderman, the director. She told me how, during an essay crisis in Fresher’s week, she and a friend had bonded over their mutual love of musical theatre and pondered how they’d perform Guys and Dolls. This snowballed into them creating their own production company and, now in their final year, putting on Guys and Dolls. As we processed down into the depths of the Keble O’Reilly Theatre, as if by magic, a brass quartet welcomed us in to what promised to be an exciting preview.
Now I don’t know much about Guys and Dolls, even though I consider myself a lover of all things musical theatre and generally camp. Issy and her producer, Edward Armstrong explained what was behind each scene with enthusiasm without ruining any surprises (there are lots!) With the entire back wall covered in massive queen of hearts and seven of spades which can be flipped into a huge cross for the Missionary scenes and tables amongst the audience being used as sets, the whole thing feels clever and intimate. Talking to Edward and Issy, this seemed to be an important element of the show: intimacy. From the choice of space to set design to casting, the whole project has been thoroughly planned, making the natural and spontaneous feel of the show even more impressive.
We all know numbers like ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat’ and ‘I’ve Never Been in Love Before’ but this cast and Musical Director have worked to create excitement that makes it feel new and unheard of. To say there is something in this show for everyone sounds, well, clichéd but really, there is. The young and shy sweetness between Gemma Lowcock and Eoghan McNeils contrasted with the buzzing energy in big musical numbers that truly fill the space of the O’Reilly is what you look for in Musical Theatre.
When asked about the casting process it sounds frankly exhausting. Two dance auditions. Two singing rounds. And acting too. It’s no surprise when looking at the cast both individually and as a chorus in tune with one another. The dancing is great, it made me want to join in. The singing was equally as fabulous with performances like Emilie Finch’s, Eoghan McNeils’ and Laurence Jeffcoate’s. The background of the cast was important to this production. They wanted diversity and essentially strong voices and musicality, which is reflected in the performers.
The producers of this show have been a bit cheeky with this one, because they’ve got spare capacity on some of the nights, thanks to the flexibility of the O’Reilly’s seating pattern. This means that even nights which currently read as ‘sold out’ might actually have a few tickets left to sell – if you haven’t bought a ticket, why not go and get one?
Oxford placed top in UK by US ranking
Oxford University has been ranked the top institution of its kind in Europe and sixth in the world by American media company US News & World Report.
US News & World Report is a Washington-based media outlet founded as a magazine that publishes news, analysis, opinion and yearly rankings for universities and hospitals. Their higher education rankings assess 1,000 universities across 65 countries.
This comes following a release last month from Times Higher Education which ranked Oxford as the best university in the world, the winner for the previous five consecutive years, the California Institute of Technology moving into second place.
Its list of best universities for 2017 were predominantly comprised of US universities, but both Oxford and Cambridge feature in the top 10.
Oxford University was the top university in the UK and Europe, according to the US News & World Report rankings. The top five in the UK were: University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London and Edinburgh University.
Their global rankings put all American universities in the top five; Harvard, MIT, Stanford, California Berkeley and California Institute of Technology with Oxford coming at sixth.
Within Europe Oxford was ranked first followed by Cambridge, Imperial College London, UCL and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.
Merton votes to leave Sheffield SU
Following the claim that its affiliation to Sheffield Student Union (SSU) was only a “joke motion” in a general meeting last year, Merton JCR has voted not to renew its allegiance to the union with the highest student satisfaction in the UK.
The motion, which was proposed by the Merton JCR Executive Committee, resolved only to renew Merton’s affiliation to OUSU, removing the college’s dual loyalty.
A JCR member explained that since OUSU had the lowest student satisfaction rating at the time, and SSU had the highest, being a member of both would “balance out” student satisfaction.
One student, who spoke in favour of the motion, said that although “joke motions are great”, “good things have to come from them”, such as the charity sports match between the warring colleges on Merton Street that follows First Week’s war declaration.
“The difficulty of this motion is that it undermines the credibility of our affiliations and we should not support it as we want to say some things are important. It may not be a huge thing, but it sets a precedent for how we view our affiliations”, he said.
Some were less convinced. One student who spoke against the motion gave reasons that SSU was worthy of Merton’s affiliation, including the higher rate of satisfaction (according to the Times Higher Student Survey 2015), an annual turnover of £11m, and a variety of famous alumni, inducing Sebastian Coe and Jessica Ennis-Hill.
JCR President Natalie Nyugen commented to Cherwell, “Merton JCR voted not to renew its affiliation to Sheffield Students’ Union. This is part of the annual cycle of reviewing external affiliations.”
The vote not to renew affiliation with SSU passed with 14 votes for to 5 against, with 5 abstentions.
Sheffield Student Union has been contacted for comment.
Dialectical difficulty on a Vienna year abroad
It’s safe to say that my year abroad is absolutely nothing like I thought it would be. Like many other German students who came before me, I dreamt of Berlin, the promised land of Deutschland… but instead, I ended up in Vienna. Austria definitely wasn’t my first choice, Vienna is one of the best things that has happened to me. Voted the most liveable city in the world for seven years running, this beautiful little capital has the perfect combination of culture, classical architecture and coffee—the holy trinity of ‘c’s.
I live in the seventh district, just a stone’s throw (or U-bahn) away from the city centre, where there are art galleries and museums aplenty. My humble abode is a traditional Viennese apartment complete with high ceilings, a surplus of stairs and a spare room with weekly lodges. This often makes life feel like a blind date as you never know just who will come through the door next.
Given the intense nature of Oxford, I opted out of another year of university. Instead, a job in a German translation firm seemed like a step in the right direction towards some kind of fluency. To say I’m finding this easy would be a lie, but to say I’m not finding it rewarding would be another. Before, I would be speaking four hours in my language (at most) at Oxford, and now I am completely surrounded by German at home and at work. It has been an overwhelming and completely daunting change, to say the least. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve had to ask “langsamer bitte”, had to sit quietly in the middle of a joke not understanding the punchline or been accidentally very rude to someone.
But the feeling you get when you realise you have, in fact, got a little bit better at German makes all those minor blunders slightly more bearable. I’m now learning not only bizarre piec- es of vocabulary you never thought you’d need, like “down arrow on a computer keyboard”…
“Pfeilunter”, but also learning to deal with the interesting yet challenging dialect of Wienerisch, where “eins, zwei, drei” becomes “eins, sway, dray”.
Amongst other things, I’ve learnt to be confident. Living in a foreign city where you know
approximately two people has posed a unique challenge. I have found myself going up to random people in coffee shops and even going out with complete strangers from Erasmus Facebook groups all in a (rather tragic) attempt at making pals. These have, however, ended up as some of the best conversations and nights so far.
Whilst another year at Oxford might have been preferable and I still don’t feel completely at ease in Austria, this is a life lesson that you can’t get from books, lectures or tutorials. There is still occasional homesickness or disappointment to miss a Thursday Night Bridge, but I am lucky enough to be having a once in a lifetime experience and wouldn’t change that for the world.