Blog Page 995

Scientists aim to be the first to reach the Earth’s mantle

Jonathan Stark
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Scientists aim to be the first to reach the Earth’s mantle

The Japanese Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) plans to drill down through the Earth’s crust and reach the mantle, the second of four layers which make up the Earth. While researchers have been attempting this elusive feat since the 1960s, if JAMSTEC and its partners succeed they will be the first to ever to do so.

The project will begin with a preliminary expedition undertaken by seafloor survey vessel Kairei, which, equipped with submarine vehicles and dredges, will use sonar to test the structure from the seafloor to a dozen kilometres underground. These tests will take place in September this year in waters northeast of Hawaii, with the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica also to be considered for drilling.

Once a drill site has been chosen, the project will be handed over to JAMSTEC’s flagship vessel, Chikyu, equipped with drilling technology normally seen only on commercial oil drilling platforms. Chikyu will have to lower its drill through 4 kilometres of ocean before attempting to reach through the 6 kilometres of rock which make up the crust, the outermost layer of the earth. This may seem a long distance, but it is relatively thin—if the team were attempting the same feat on land, they would have to drill through dozens of kilometres of rock to reach their goal.

JAMSTEC hope to begin excavating as soon as the early 2020s, but there are financial concerns. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Platform (IODP) made plans to use Chikyu for a mantle expedition back in 2013, but the project was hit by severe budget troubles, and this new project has an estimated cost of ¥60 billion (roughly equivalent to £400 million).

The researchers hope that by sampling the mantle and the crust-mantle divide, it will be possible to better determine how the crust initially formed, giving us insights into the geological history of our planet.

Speaking to CNN, some of the JAMSTEC team expressed excitement about the prospect of finding microbial life deep under the Earth’s surface. In 2006, a group of Princeton-led researchers working in a South African mine some 2.8 kilometres below the surface discovered bacteria alive and well leading scientists to ask just how deep into the crust organisms can survive. The study of organisms who live in seemingly inhospitable conditions, so-called ‘extremophiles’, is exciting to many scientists as they give an insight to the adaptations developed in extreme conditions, possibly hinting at the characteristics of life on other planets.

The Japanese government also support the project with a more practical reason in mind: by developing better drill technology, drilling further than ever before, and discovering more about the mantle, many advancements can be made in predicting earthquakes—a major and common problem in Japan due to its location on the edge of the Eurasian continental plate. This will also help deal with devastating tsunamis and tidal waves which are often caused by undersea earthquakes.

The research vessel Chikyu has a history of earthquake prediction. It has been used in the past to investigate the join between the Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates, which cause many of Japan’s earthquakes as they slowly scrape past each other. It may now be possible that the same vessel, drilling in pursuit of a geological holy grail that has been sought for over 50 years, can uncover crucial information about the first two layers of the Earth, with consequences not only for Japan, but across the world.

Peter Capaldi’s Doctor—interstellar success or time to regenerate?

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Peter Capaldi’s Doctor—interstellar success or time to regenerate?

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR CAPALDI’S TENURE FOLLOW

Doctor Who is about to undergo major change, change that it hasn’t seen since the departure of Russell T. Davies in 2010. Not only is Steven Moffat—the head writer and a long-time contributor to the show—hanging up his hat after this year’s Christmas Special, but lead actor Peter Capaldi is preparing to regenerate. As we head into their final run, it feels right to take a look back on their tenure together and examine quite what they’ve achieved so far.

Coming off the back of Series seven—certainly the weakest of the Matt Smith era, and possibly the worst of the revived show—the arrival of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor signalled a welcome change from what had come before. While Matt Smith’s cheerfully childish interpretation of the character was a charming presence onscreen, it had become inextricably linked with the convoluted narrative arcs that dominated his time in the TARDIS. His character could not be separated from Trenzalore and the Silence and the Question, and as that storyline began to crumble under its own weight, it was impossible to avoid feeling a certain degree of animosity towards his incarnation as well.

The emergence of Capaldi’s Doctor was the beginning of a new era, free from the baggage which had weighed down the later parts of Smith’s run. His Doctor was dark and unpredictable, and the show was willing to exploit this rougher side of him for some shocking moments in his first couple of episodes. Did he kill the Clockwork Man at the end of ‘Deep Breath’? How he could allow the soldiers to be killed in ‘Into the Dalek’? This was a ruthless incarnation of our favourite Time Lord, willing to make tough decisions without a moment’s hesitation.

Series eight benefited from this regeneration massively: from the outset, Twelve’s next move was impossible to call. The Doctor-Clara dynamic—which had been mired in overdone romance and wearying mysteries—was reanimated, given new life and set off in a direction as-of-yet unexplored in New Who. This central relationship was complemented by a number of stand-out episodes: ‘Into the Dalek’, ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’ and ‘Listen’ are all excellent demonstrations of quite what the show is capable of, scary and challenging and featuring fresh takes on some of the show’s fundamental elements.

Nevertheless, Series eight was hampered by its inability to let these exciting new dynamics play out: instead of simply presenting the Doctor’s unusual approach to a number of moral dilemmas, he had to navel-gaze endlessly, questioning whether or not he was a good man; his resentment towards soldiers couldn’t just simmer beneath the surface, but had to be made glaringly obvious in his every interaction with Danny Pink. This thematic obviousness, this tell-don’t-show approach, this ten-ton heavy-handedness, reached its nadir in the disappointing series finale. While far from the worst episode of the show, it bumbles around for fifty minutes before reaching a conclusion that most of us knew all along: that the Doctor isn’t good or bad, but simply a traveller trying to do his best. What should have been a stirring reaffirmation of the show’s core principles was instead a redundant response to a question that had been asked so loudly and so incessantly that I had long since stopped caring about the answer.

Series nine was a significant improvement upon its immediate predecessor: the writing was subtler and more effective, episode quality was far more consistent and the use of the two-part format allowed the creation of more complex, engaging narratives. To name a stand-out story would be to do a disservice to the rest of the series. However, one notable failure does hold over from Series 8: a distressingly mediocre finale. The episode somehow squanders the mother of all premises, ignores nine series’ worth of build-up and delivers something that is almost offensive in its unwillingness to engage deeply with the Doctor’s relationship with Gallifrey.

Despite these fluctuations in quality, one thing is abundantly clear: whatever writing he has been given, Capaldi is one of the finest actors to have ever taken up the role of the Doctor. Capable of extraordinary range, gifted with breath-taking comedic timing and delivering gravitas whenever needed, he has elevated the show around him.

His monumental anti-war speech in Series nine’s ‘The Zygon Inversion’ is a perfect demonstration of this: flipping between a hammy American accent and heart-wrenching desperation, he single-handedly holds up a scene which could have been ludicrous if performed by a less talented actor. It is a moment in which he is the Doctor completely—hurt and filled with rage, humorous and silly, desperate to avoid violence and determined to fight the good fight. For all the moral ambiguity of the earlier parts of his run, this is the moment he truly embodies the Doctor. It is a stellar turn and perhaps his single finest moment in the role.

To discuss Capaldi’s Doctor without mentioning ‘Heaven Sent’ would be to discuss him incompletely. ‘Heaven Sent’ remains the towering achievement of his two seasons in the role, and is an episode which stands up there with ‘Blink’, ‘The Waters of Mars’ and ‘The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances’ as one of the best stories since the show’s revival in 2005. Featuring only brief appearances by Clara and an unnamed Gallifreyan child, the episode is essentially a one-hander, its success entirely contingent upon Capaldi’s performance.

And boy does the episode succeed.

A labyrinthine existential nightmare, ‘Heaven Sent’ ultimately succeeds because Capaldi sells it. He sells the Doctor’s grief at losing Clara, he sells the Doctor’s terror in the castle, he sells the Doctor’s horror at discovering the true nature of his prison, and he sells the Doctor’s resilience in the face of immense suffering. His performance is a masterclass, navigating both technobabble and heartfelt monologues with ease, ensuring that the episode lives up to its vast potential. Despite my love for the other New Who Doctors, I simply cannot imagine any of them pulling off the episode in the way that Capaldi does.

Capaldi’s tenure—like all those of the Doctors which preceded him – has had inconsistent writing and direction, reaching dizzying heights in some episodes and abysmal lows in others (I’m looking at you, ‘Sleep No More’). Despite this rollercoaster ride of quality, Capaldi has been nothing but exceptional, expertly portraying a developing Doctor, convincingly moving from the dangerous, darker Time Lord of Series 8 to the warmer, more sensitive one of ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’. While it may be time for a fresh start for the show, it will undoubtedly be a little poorer for having lost this magnificent performer.  

John Cleese to speak at Oxford Union

Tony Diver
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John Cleese to speak at Oxford Union

Renowned British actor John Cleese is to feature in the Oxford Union’s 0th week lineup, Cherwell can reveal.

Cleese is expected to cover political ground in a talk entitled ‘Why is there no hope?’. He was a vocal supporter of the Obama administration, a detractor of Trump’s presidential campaign and a proponent of Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Despite his sympathies with Brexit, Cleese is also a member of the Liberal Democrats, having previously supported both the Labour Party and the SPD.

Cleese also recently returned to the public eye for his dramatic work, after it was announced that he would work with Alison Steadman on a new BBC show, Edith. His character will be prone to angry outbursts and have a spouse that takes little interest in him – a role that some have compared to his famous character of Basil Fawlty in the BBC’s Fawlty Towers.

Cleese’s other work has included a number of roles in the Monty Python film and television franchise, vocal acting in the Shrek films and as gadget-man Q’s assistant in the 1999 James Bond film The World is Not Enough.

In recent years, his outspoken and occasionally potty-mouthed presence on Twitter has brought him online infamy, along with his responses to journalists and political figures that draw his ire.

The talk will take place at 8pm on Thursday of 0th Week (20 April).

 

My town and my gown: from the Dreaming Spires to semi-rural obscurity

Maxim Parr-Reid
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My town and my gown: from the Dreaming Spires to semi-rural obscurity

The term ‘rustication’ historically meant ‘to be sent (back) to the country’ — the term dating back to the days when Oxford students would all be the sons (this was before women were admitted) of the landed (no new money thanks) gentry (i.e. before they let in slack-jawed yokels like me). Despite the small town of Olney being only 40 miles — “just down the road”, as my parents often remark — from Oxford, my vacation certainly has the air of rustication about it.

Released in 1995, the song ‘Country House’ by Blur includes the phrase “lots of rural charm in the country”. Sure, we have “rural charm”, but there exists bugger all else to do, except walk your dog and act all innocent when it leaves its business on the grass in the park. If this constitutes “rural charm” you can keep it. Though both firmly in the Home Counties of England, the small market town of Olney — population circa 40 at the last count — and Oxford — “too much like London” according to a former work colleague — couldn’t be more different.

I am greeted with the juxtaposition that is beaming suspicion — the locals appear hostile to the new ideas I have acquired while being “at Uni”. I am sure to leave my “airs and graces” — as my former shop colleagues refer to my recounting of experiences at Oxford — at the door. It is quite obvious that my former, now quite distanced colleagues, are interested in how “I’m keepin’” and that’s about as far as it goes. Whether I’m on University Challenge or going to a Commemoration Ball is simply not of concern.

Nobody here is remotely interested in Bridge Thursdays or how much vodka I drank on Saturday night of 7th week, rumours instead zoom through the town about the inconveniences caused by the One Stop van “inconsiderately” parking on the High Street (how they had the cheek to name a street in this town after one of Oxford’s most happening thoroughfares, I’ll never know!). There were once whisperings afoot that a Sainsbury’s (cheap booze) would put the town on the map, but alas these proved to be a bit of a red herring. There isn’t even a Waitrose in the town, such are the depths of deprivation in this otherwise ‘pleasant enough’ patch of Buckinghamshire.

Whilst some Oxonians hail from happening places like Brighton, London or Manchester, I have no such good fortune. As you drive (roads being the most recent injection of infrastructure, being laid in 2009) you are welcomed by a rather bullish sign saying ‘WELCOME TO OLNEY, HOME OF AMAZING GRACE’. The Banksy in me wants to correct it – ‘WELCOME TO OLNEY, HOME OF SAINSBURY’S (NOT!) AND MOANING’. The Olney ‘Noticeboard’ (Moanboard) is the glue that binds this thriving community of happy, happy people — lest Sainsbury’s attempt another invasion and lest anyone park more than 1mm outside their allotted space in the Market Place. Why did I ever leave?

There are joys to living in places like this of course, Olney, and the sheep which encircle this glorified village of do-gooders and nosy Parkers, gives perspective to the Dreaming Spires. It’s truly humbling — the town literally hasn’t changed since the year 1600 — to have a point of reference while at Oxford. Something to remind me where I’ve escaped from, and blot out while getting “bevved” at Parkend.

Interest on student loans set to rise by a third

Nicola Dwornik
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Interest on student loans set to rise by a third

The interest rate charged on student loans is set to rise by a third as the pound’s post-Brexit plunge has caused an increase in inflation.

Whilst current students and new starters are currently charged a rate of 4.6 per cent on their loans, new students this year can expect rates to jump as high as 6.1 per cent from September.

Student loan rates are updated annually and are calculated by using the March retail price inflation figure (RPI) plus 3 per cent. Since March 2016 the UK’s RPI figure has risen dramatically from 1.6 to 3.1 per cent.

The advantages of today’s record low interest rates are being reaped by many consumers, but not by students. Many graduates and students alike will see their student loan’s interest rate surge upwards by more than 24 times the Bank of England’s base rate of 0.5 per cent.

The magnitude of this increase, and the extent to which it will impact each individual, very much depends on when a student entered higher education.The only group not to experience any increase are those who began their university careers between 1998 and 2011. Everyone else will be affected.

Nevertheless, the scale of the jump is disconcerting. It’s true that some students who started university after September 2012 may seek comfort from knowing that they will only have to begin repaying their loan after earning more than £21,000 a year.

Jake Butler, an expert at money advice website Save the Student, said: “I was expecting an increase to student loan interest this year, but this is worse than expected. It really demonstrates that the interest on loans under the new system is far too high and should be reassessed.

“But students need to remember that it’s highly unlikely they’ll pay off their full loan debt before it’s wiped 30 years after their graduation.

“So in reality, this increase is just adding to the massive amounts of accumulative student loan debt that the government will never see.”

‘Clique’: the dark side of your summer internship

Alice Robinson
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‘Clique’: the dark side of your summer internship

In recent weeks, you may have noticed the provocative social media marketing campaign for BBC3’s Clique. Under the banner of ‘Solasta Finance’, a series of impossibly attractive women told girls, “For equal opportunities, act like a man”. However, the show itself ends up far less gender-focused that these ads suggested.

Continuing the BBC’s series of female-led psychological dramas (such as Apple Tree Yard and The Replacement), Clique shows us best friends, Holly and Georgia, as they enter the dark and mysterious world of internships at Solasta. Like the interns themselves, everything at first appears glossy and glamorous; but naturally there’s a murky underworld to it all which suspicious Holly is determined to discover.

It’s great to see something named Clique which doesn’t focus entirely on women turning on each other à la Mean Girls, and also to see young women at home in a Wolf of Wall Street kind of world. This is an enjoyable and gripping drama, but one that all too often relies on big show-downs and aesthetics to bulk out its six episodes.

Holly is a curious protagonist, played by Synnove Karlsen as either blankly devoid of passion, or a ball of rage with no control at all over her own emotions. Every single episode, she drunkenly flies off the handle at a big company party; she vomits, she faints, she shouts, she cries—and yet they continue to invite her back. Her reactions seem even more extreme because of the apparent lack of depth to her relationship with Georgia. Although apparently best friends throughout childhood, we are given little insight into this relationship before Georgia is off, deserting Holly for the Solasta clique. Although more backstory is appearing week by week, it’s initially hard to care about these ‘best friends’ since they seem so willing to desert, snub, and fight each other.

That being said, despite these flaws, Clique is strangely compelling. The aesthetics, all a kind of dirty, dim, glitz, are attractive, and the story has just enough plot twists to keep one interested. It’s no Line of Duty, but it’s still an absorbing watch—and great for anyone feeling bad about not having a finance internship lined up this summer.

Balliol’s University Challenge victors boycott Daily Mail

Akshay Bilolikar
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Balliol’s University Challenge victors boycott Daily Mail

Balliol’s University Challenge team, which defeated Wolfson College, Cambridge in the final of University Challenge last night, has decided to “ethically boycott” the Daily Mail in opposition to its “long record of hateful comments about women, minorities and marginalised groups”.

Two team members were contacted on Twitter by a Daily Mail reporter between the semi-final and the final, seeking their contact details in order to conduct an interview for the tabloid newspaper and its website.

Freddy Potts, a second year historian and member of the winning team, told the reporter: “I have nothing against you personally, but equally I have nothing to say to the fascist rag which employs you.”

Another member of the team, the Australian astrophysicist Benjamin Pope, replied on Twitter to the reporter and described the newspaper as a “hateful publication” subject to an “ethical boycott” by the team.

The Mail reporter also contacted Wolfson captain Eric Monkman and members of his team for interview, but received no reply.

The boycott comes amidst a growing campaign against the Daily Mail, led primarily by the campaign group Stop Funding Hate. The group, which began in the aftermath of the EU referendum, seeks to lobby companies to withdraw advertisements from the Mail.

Balliol team member Benjamin Pope sent a supportive tweet to the campaign:

The Balliol team told Cherwell: “While only Ben and Freddy were contacted by the Mail directly, the decision to boycott was arrived at by the whole team in line with our collective ethical values. We are all opposed to the Mail’s long record of hateful comments about women, minorities and marginalised groups”.

The Daily Mail initially claimed in an article about the lack of women representation in the final that the Balliol team had “refused to answer questions on female under-representation”, but this was removed after the Balliol team captain, Joey Goldman, complained on Twitter.

Whilst noting the team’s concern for the lack of women participation in the final, Goldman went on to complain about the Daily Mail’s “reason” for the boycott, describing the tabloid’s actions as “shameless”.

Nikhil Venkatesh, the captain of the Corpus Christi team which was knocked out by Balliol in the quarter finals, told Cherwell: “I fully endorse the boycott. The Daily Mail has an awful record regarding journalistic ethics.”

“The Daily Mail is itself part of the problem regarding sexism directed at women in University Challenge, and in the media and society more generally.”

The Daily Mail have been contacted for comment.

‘Ghost in the Shell’: A mind-numbing bore

Jonnie Barrow
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‘Ghost in the Shell’: A mind-numbing bore

The original 1995 anime Ghost in the Shell is a strange and beautiful film. It’s been a source of narrative and visual inspiration for everything from The Matrix to Ex Machina. It is an incredibly prescient film about technology, identity and cyber-terrorism. It is contemplative, poetic, action-packed and, above all, philosophically intriguing. I bring all of this up to highlight how the remake of Ghost in the Shell not only manages to be absolutely none of these things, but is, even on its own terms, unutterably dull.

Set in a nameless city at some point in the future (yes, it really is that vague), anyone who’s anyone has cyber-enhancements like Wi-Fi chips in their brains and funky Geisha robot servants. But Scarlett Johansson’s Major is the first of her kind: her human brain has been transplanted into an entirely synthetic body. As a kick-ass cyber detective, she has all the benefits of both a human and a robot, as her brain has been wiped of all knowledge of her former life. Yet her efficiency appears to be hampered by visions she can’t explain, visions that her superiors claim are just “glitches.”

The philosophic introspection of the original anime has been completely excised, presumably to make the film ‘easy to follow’ (read: dumbed-down) for American audiences. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing—indeed, it makes the new film more streamlined and plot-focused – but what’s left is a couple of borrowed visual moments yoked to a run-of-the-mill amnesiac revenge thriller that’s as predictable as it is uninspired.

You’d at least expect the film to be well-directed to compensate but, despite a promising opening sequence visualising the creation of Major, director Rupert Sanders mostly fails to deliver. His last film, Snow White and the Huntsman, was visually stunning as well as surprisingly good fun, especially during the action sequences. Yet here all the action sequences are either uninspired or incomprehensible. You’re never given a reason to care about the characters: their motivations are never explained, and there’s never any peril because bits of people are easily replaced by synthetic parts.

The city feels like a backdrop rather than a lived-in place, the production design is distractingly complex, and the CGI is pretty ropey during key sequences. Elsewhere, thematic ideas are made eye-rollingly obvious with on-the-nose dialogue about “ghosts” and “shells,” until they’re dropped because even the film gets bored of them, and characters either mumble clichéd platitudes or look sad for most of the running time.

And this is where we get onto the casting, which is the film’s most serious failing. When the remake of Ghost in the Shell was first announced, it was mired in controversy over the alleged “whitewashing” of casting Johansson as the lead role in an essentially Japanese story. There were even reports that a visual effects company had been hired to digitally manipulate actors’ faces to make them appear “more Asian.” After all this trouble, you’d expect Johansson’s performance to be nothing short of outstanding—yet it’s surprisingly mediocre. There are any number of Asian actresses who could’ve played the role just as well, if not better (Karen Fukuhara, from Suicide Squad, would’ve been my personal choice). Johansson looks more than a little incongruous as a lone white face surrounded by Asian extras, and the film chooses to deal with this in a third-act twist which is both obnoxiously nonsensical and astoundingly racially insensitive.

To be honest, this level of unthinking idiocy is perhaps to be expected in a film that’s so poorly executed that the title literally appears twice in the opening credits. The film isn’t entertainingly bad, nor is there anything about it which warrants recommendation—it is simply mind-numbingly boring, and far too forgettable to get cross about.

Balliol triumph in University Challenge final against Wolfson College Cambridge

Jack Hunter
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Balliol triumph in University Challenge final against Wolfson College Cambridge

Balliol triumphed in a thrilling final to snatch the crown as series’ champions of University Challenge 2017-18.

The team were presented with the winners’ trophy by the world renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking, after beating Wolfson College Cambridge by 190 points to 140.

Presenting the trophy to the Balliol team, Hawking said: “Congratulations to both teams and especially to Balliol College Oxford for becoming champions of University Challenge, a programme I have long enjoyed.”

The final had been highly anticipated, after the Wolfson captain, Eric Monkman, gained a cult following online as a result of his distinctive style of answering. The series’ finale had billed as the “heavyweight final” between Monkman and the impressive Balliol captain, Joey Goldman.

But on the night, Monkman answered several questions incorrectly, and Balliol went on to triumph in a tense match.

Wolfson took the early lead, taking points from questions on Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’, Medieval Earls of Orkney and European Peace Accords.

Balliol fought back, snatching starter-for-tens on the Greek letter Sigma and the mathematician Pointcarré. After a comeback from Wolfson, the Oxford team were able to clinch victory with answers on the philosophy of Plato and the Chinese Ming dynasty.

Following the victory, both teams travelled to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where Stephen Hawking — who is a Professorial Fellow at the college — addressed the teams and awarded Balliol with the winners’ trophy.

Hawking told the two teams: “I have said in the past that it is not clear whether intelligence has any long-term survival value. Bacteria multiply and flourish without it.

“But it is one of the most admirable qualities, especially when displayed by such young minds.”

The Balliol team — which also encompasses second-year Historian Freddy Potts, DPhil English student Jacob Lloyd, and Australian Benjamin Pope, who is reading for a DPhil in Astrophysics – won the series for the first time and ended three years of Cambridge domination.

Following their victory, Benjamin Pope told Cherwell: “We’re absolutely delighted. It’s the first ever Balliol victory and the first for Oxford in a few years after some tough finals.

“Wolfson were an incredibly good team, beating us in the quarters, and we were extremely anxious going in but trained to try and beat their fast buzzing style.

“What is a very nice coda is that they are all also lovely people, and we have met up with them in Cambridge for drinks at the Eagle. University Challenge has been a great experience and one of the best things, for me at least, has been getting to know people so full of joy in knowledge.”

Students filled the Balliol MCR to watch the match on TV…

…including the Balliol team themselves.

Monkman added some hand actions to his typically entertaining facial expression routine.

Although, some viewers’ ‘Monkmania’ obsessions may have gone a little too far.

Thankfully, Goldman had some unique facial expressions of his own.

https://twitter.com/UniversityChal/status/851517503352303617

Potts’ shirt choice proved another major point of controversy.

https://twitter.com/HPYoungVoices/status/851511204870836228

https://twitter.com/JoLiptrott/status/851512114124640257

Congratulations have poured in for the champions.

BBC Question Time to be held in Oxford Union

Theo Davies-Lewis
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BBC Question Time to be held in Oxford Union

The Oxford Union will be the venue for the BBC’s Question Time later this month, it was announced today.

The debating society – whose former Presidents include Boris Johnson, Ted Heath and Michael Gove – will host the topical debate programme chaired by David Dimbleby on Thursday, April 27.

Speaking exclusively to Cherwell, President of the Oxford Union, Michael Li, commented:

“The Union is looking forward to hosting this prestigious and engaging event. We hope that many of our members and other students apply to be in the audience. The collaboration is yet another example of the Union’s commitment to hosting the conversations that matter.”

The announcement was also welcomed by many Oxford students.

Alex Yeandle, a first-year PPE student at St. Hugh’s College, said: “The Oxford Union has a rich history of free speech and debate, so is a fitting location for one of the most popular and long running political programmes in Britain.

“Seeing Question Time in the Union’s historic debating chamber will be quite something. I hope I’m lucky enough to be in the audience!”

Arjun Sharma, who is reading Ancient and Modern History, added: “I’m really excited about seeing Question Time coming to Oxford. I watch it every week, as I try to keep up with political issues, and have already applied to be in the audience.”

“This will be an invaluable opportunity for Oxford students to investigate political issues that matter to us.”

This is not the first time that the Oxford Union, which was founded in 1823, has hosted a major BBC event.

In November 2015, a debate in the Oxford Union on Britain and the EU was broadcast on BBC Parliament, with former president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, Conservative MP Bill Cash, former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and UKIP leader Nigel Farage participating as speakers.

Students can apply to be in the audience here:

 

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