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18:48 – Apologies to loyal Cherwell readers, phone service was a persistent issue throughout the day (all updates relied on my awkward set-up of hot spotting my laptop from my phone). As such, I’ll summarise some of the key moments in what was an absolutely insane final day of racing.
To begin with the supposedly INFALLIBLE Oriel crew with not one but two Olympic medallists were toppled by Wolfson yesterday! After they got the better jump yesterday, there were signs that the Oriel crew weren’t necessarily guaranteed headship, but I don’t think anyone would have predicted that Wolfson would take it off them today.
The Women’s Division I headship also changed hands in slightly less unthinkable fashion, as it was heartbreak for Wadham who had rowed beautifully all week, but were no match for a Pembroke crew hungry for headship after summiting those heights at Torpids. In the end, both crews who achieved headship followed up on doing so at Torpids.
On top of the blades and spoons already mentioned in the period of time before my phone’s little heart gave out, blades were achieved by: Somerville W1 (making it a remarkably impressive 3/3 women’s crews achieving blades for Somerville), Linacre W1, Univ M2, Hilda’s M1, Keble W2, Reuben M1 and W1, Somerville W2, Merton W2 and Exeter W2.
In order to move up, some crews have to move down… so commiserations to Christ Church W1, Teddy W1, Anne’s W1, Catz W1, Trinity W1, and Corpus M1 and W1.
14:29 – Suggested that Wadham have bumped Oriel!
14:27 – Worcester gaining ground on Green Templeton early.
14:26 – 1 minute gun fired.
14:20 – Worcester awarded a technical row over for their Men’s Division V race, and Women’s Division IV should hopefully be starting on time.
14:07 – Delays in that race mean that Women’s Division IV will be starting 10 minutes later at 14:25.
14:02 – Wolfson are steaming towards Lincoln, but the latter seem to gotten away. Green Templeton went down to seven rowers, but with a gap carved out behind them by Teddy bumping New, they’re safe from New. Those gaps do mean that Univ have bumped Jesus to inflict spoons upon them, and at the front of the race, Exeter bumped Magdalen to become the sandwich boat for Division IV.
13:59 – New concede to Teddy! So not only do they get their blades, but they also match the +11 record for most positions gained in one Summer Eights! Catz also concede, leaving them as a spoonful crew.
13:58 – Men’s Division V is finally off to a start, and Teddy are already gaining on New.
13:50 – 1 minute gun.
13:40 – 5 minute gun for Men’s Division V. For blades watch, we have Green Templeton and the Teddy Hall boat that’s eyeing up the position gain record. To get it outright, they’ll have to hope that New can bump the strong GTC crew, but if in doubt, they’ll want to bump the former to tie it. On spoons watch, Magdalen, Catz and Jesus are all at risk. Catz will be hoping they don’t get what might be the first of three spoons for the college today if they can’t consolidate in their M1 and W1.
13:28 – From the other gaps, we can also only assume that Somerville bump Hugh’s for their blades, Merton bumped Regent’s to do the same, and Exeter bump Jesus to also get blades, leaving Jesus with spoons.
13:26 – Balliol are the last crew through, which means that they avoid spoons, and Peter’s must have been bumped by Queen’s behind them.
13:25 – Wolfson ending strong. There’s no pressure behind them, but still looking comfortable ahead of their effort at Division IV later.
13:23 – New are first through the gut.
13:22 – Finally underway, and Hertford make a beeline for the trees! Teddy Hall get them as a result.
13:18 – River is now clear, and as a result the 1 minute gun fires.
13:16 – No word on the start yet, still some traffic present near the end of boathouse island though.
13:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division V. Somerville, Exeter and Merton are all eyeing up blades, while Jesus and Balliol are the ones at risk of spoons.
12:52 – Correction: Balliol banked early, which means that even though they have bumped, New think they’re still racing and Anthony’s are chasing them like they still are!
12:49 – They’re followed by Anthony’s which would imply New have bumped Balliol back after losing that position yesterday. Big gap to the sandwich boat Exeter behind, so that may be it for this race.
12:49 – Next out of the gap is John’s, which implies that Hilda’s have bumped Linacre. Univ follow them, which means Pembroke bump Oriel M4 for their blades and Oriel’s spoons.
12:47 – Mansfield get Oriel M3! Hugh’s the first crew out of the gut.
12:46 – We’re off!
12:45 – 1 minute gun.
12:40 – 5 minute gun for Men’s Division VI fires on time.
12:38 – Now some boats called over for penalty bump consideration from Men’s Division VII: it looks like Brasenose might not be off the hook after all.
12:32 – Mixed in the announcement of the results included a Catz bump on Mansfield, as well as a penalty bump consideration – representatives from multiple colleges have been called so sit tight on that one to be resolved later…
12:23 – Tight between Univ and LMH at the end, but both look fairly evenly matched and eventually row over.
12:20 – Anne’s footing the division now that Wadham have bumped, they’ve lost their lead on Peter’s, but will get a boost from their boathouse right by the end.
12:19 – Anthony’s concede to Wolfson! Unfortunately for them, that means they take home the first set of non-footship spoons of the day.
12:18 – Queen’s look clear out the gap, implying Hilda’s have bumped for their blades!
12:17 – Anne’s are closing on Peter’s early. Contact between Wadham and Oriel means that not only do they bump up, but secure blades!
12:16 – Underway, only a minute late.
12:15 – 1 minute gun fired now.
12:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division VI, and there are two crews on for blades. Hilda’s will need to catch a reasonably strong Queen’s W2 to secure it, while Wadham W3 will be looking to catch Oriel W3 as sandwich boat to get theirs. Trinity, Anthony’s and Univ W3 are all hoping to escape spoons though so there’s still plenty at stake…
11:54 – That all but seals it. No more movement in the bottom three, and Exeter M4 are consigned to footship.
11:52 – Exeter M3 and Worcester M3 cruise through to the end. After John’s bump Queen’s, it’s just Hilda’s, Brasenose and Exeter M4 battling it out at the back of the division now.
11:49 – Wadham M3 get their bump, securing the first blades of the day for the college! W3 will be up again in the next race to make it 2/2.
11:48 – Wadham M3, on for blades, are closing in on Pembroke.
11:47 – Balliol bump Hertford for their blades, Lincoln concede to Anne’s!
11:47 – Anne’s closing on Lincoln early, Balliol M4 pressuring Hertford.
11:46 – Start gun has been fired for Men’s Division VII!
11:45 – 1 minute gun after marshalls have to get busy clearing the way.
11:40 – 5 minute gun for Men’s Division VII.
11:25 – The last few crews for Men’s Division VII are pushing off now. Just two sets of blades up for grabs in this division: Balliol M4 and Wadham M3. Still just the one set of spoons though, currently in the hands of Exeter at the footship.
11:23 – Big gap between John’s W3 and Hilda’s, which must mean Somerville W3 have bumped New W3 to secure the second set of blades today.
11:22 – Wadham cruise comfortably past joyous cheers from their own boathouse, while Pembroke’s form begins to break down in pursuit. Worcester behind are looking much stronger.
11:20 – Look’s like Queen’s have been bumped out of the gut, trading places back with Univ after bumping them yesterday. Hilda’s are also the last racing crew, which means Keble have escaped footship by bumping Reuben!
11:18 – Exeter concede to Jesus, and the latter secure the first blades of the day!
11:18 – John’s closing on Worcester for blades, Jesus close to Exeter for the same!
11:17 – Underway with the first race of the final day!
11:16 – 1 minute gun fired.
11:13 – Slight delay due to traffic, but the hope is that it won’t affect the start time.
11:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division VII has been fired! In this race we have four crews on for blades: Somerville W3, John’s W3, Jesus W3 and Wadham W3 – although the latter will need to row over and bump up into Division VI to secure it. Just Keble are on for spoons if they can’t avoid footship.
9:50 – Plenty of narratives left to play out on the last day of Summer Eights 2025. After the conclusion of racing yesterday, a successful appeal from Christ Church M2 about their disqualification yesterday means that they were awarded a technical row over, and Wolfson M2’s penalty bump was rescinded. Unfortunately for Wolfson M2, that means that blades are off the cards for them this year, a shame after rowing so well for the first two days. They may well catch Christ Church today, but it won’t be enough. Otherwise, there are 28 crews on for blades across the divisions, and the same number staring down a spoon-shaped barrel. Finally, one of the biggest questions today will be Teddy Hall M3. A bump would see them tie the record for the most positions gained across one set of Summer Eights at +11, having gone +7 on day one, up to +8 on day two, and getting two scalps yesterday while moving up to Division V, putting them on +10 so far. Will they hope for an overbump to take the record for themselves? With a somewhat lacklustre New M3 in front of them, it may be a faint hope that they catch a Green Templeton crew in front that’s currently on for blades… At the top of both divisions, it’s going to be an incredibly interesting final day of racing, as Wadham W1 look to defend against a very strong Pembroke crew, and Oriel M1 finally felt a little bit of heat behind them from Wolfson yesterday.
A heavenly goddess. A temperamental star. And now, anyone you like. The term “diva”, derived from the Latin for goddess, became, towards the end of the 19th century, the label given to acclaimed female opera singers, recognising and celebrating their God-given talents and powerful voices. It was a term of admiration and respect, reserved for a tiny number of adored stars.
However, in the 20th century there was a shift in the word’s connotations. The rise of cinema saw an increasing number of women starring in major screen roles while the development of marketing meant that models became household names. With more and more high-powered women in the public eye, their personalities began to be scrutinised more intensely than those of their male counterparts. Those deemed too assertive, capricious, or hard to please were dismissed as “divas”, a warning to anyone considering working with them or aspiring to meet them.
Popular music too produced superstars of a whole new kind, many of whom have also been labelled divas. At points, the narcissistic behaviour of some stars is undeniable: Mariah Carey’s husband Nick Cannon revealed that Carey played a recording of her hit song “Fantasy” as she gave birth to twins, so that they would come out “not just to a Mariah Carey song” but “to a round of applause”. Yet what frustrates many women is that there is no equivalent term for men in showbiz who are demanding, self-obsessed, and difficult to work with.
It is for this reason that female celebrities, especially in music, set out to reclaim the term. Carey herself embraces the label, saying on Meghan Markle’s podcast that if someone calls her a diva, “[f]or me, they mean you’re a successful woman […] but also, […] a bitch.” Beyoncé, on her 2008 album I am… Sasha Fierce, proclaims in the song “Diva” that a “diva is a female version of a hustla”. By the 2010s, the term was generally received positively by those it referred to. Yet its previous negative connotations remained. Dolly Parton once told a reporter that, “I’m a working girl. I don’t make people bend over backwards, and I don’t like that in people. I’m definitely no diva.” Reclaiming such a term comes with difficulties: does transforming the word into a compliment excuse the rude, out-of-touch behaviour which can come with stardom? Or does it simply level the playing field with male stars, whose antisocial and entitled attitudes are not labelled in this way?
Regardless of the complexities of the term’s usage, its definition has shifted once more. No longer restricted to a few superstars, it has entered the common parlance of Gen Z. The word is often used in undergraduate social spaces to refer affectionately to a friend, or even a total stranger. The phrase ‘Who is this diva?’, originating from a tweet by @abjortia in May 2023, has spread across internet communities since, and users online often caption photos of people or even objects with “this diva”. According to a survey by YouGov, over 62% of women identify positively with the term “diva”, and “#diva” has racked up 1.9 million videos on TikTok. It’s primarily used by women and the LGBTQ+ community, and, like terms such as “queen” and “slay”, it gained immense popularity within the drag community.
“Diva”, then, has progressed from the sublime to the everyday; from accolade, to insult, to term of endearment. And while it may not have been the reason for the word’s resurgence in modern parlance, it’s nonetheless nice to think that saying “Hey, diva!” to your friend when they walk into a room carries the significance not just of pop icons like Beyoncé and Whitney Houston, but also the goddess-like power of a star soprano.
Amidst the high-pressure environment of Oxford, college tortoises have retained an enduring appeal as oases of calm, their quiet dignity a reassuring counterbalance to the duress of a deadline. My first-year Trinity was largely spent languishing in Wadham gardens, my laptop open in an empty gesture towards the work I was ignoring, while I watched the movements of Archibald (Archie) Manshella across the lawn.
The college tortoise holds such a valued position within the community that the Wadham JCR constitution has endowed Archie with deciding power in the case of a tie (she always votes in favour of the motion because of her “radical desire for change”). Yet over the course of my tenure as Tortoise Officer, it became increasingly clear to me that Oxford is no place for the care of such a creature. Each individual college does not have the space, time, or concern to foster the right environment for a tortoise’s highly specific needs, nor – in the delegation of the entire role to a single first-year student on a temporary basis – can instruction be sufficiently imparted. Years of successive Tortoise Officers did not even realise that Archie was, in fact, a girl, until a revolutionary visit to the vets (although a transgender tortoise is, perhaps, rather on brand for Wadham).
In the absence of adequate provisions for reptile care, Oxford’s tortoises appear to exist primarily as a gimmick, exploited by colleges as a draw point to broadcast their quirky appeal (an example of green-washing in a quite literal sense). The role of Tortoise Officer is almost invariably mentioned with a wry smile, the whimsical absurdity of the idea obfuscating the real-life ramifications of animal neglect. For most students, the tortoise is a non-entity, hibernating for the majority of the year, and only providing interest as an emblem of college pride at the Corpus Tortoise Fair, or as a cute cameo in a Trinity term photo dump.
Archie’s poor health, the result of changeable weather and insufficient facilities available at Oxford, induced me to reconsider the ethical considerations for animal welfare involved in such a tradition. When Lincoln college made the decision to rehome their tortoise, Tortilla, in a reptile sanctuary, I persuaded Wadham to follow their example. Now thriving in her new home at the National Centre for Reptile Welfare, Archie’s health is better than ever. Although there’s no longer any chance of her winning any trophies in the name of Wadham, this seems a small price to pay for the overall enhanced quality of life that she now enjoys.
With the annual Corpus Tortoise Fair approaching, it would be great to see more colleges considering the benefits of rehoming their tortoises. It may be a lengthy process, but perhaps there is some wisdom in the old adage that slow and steady wins the race.
18:51 – Merton cross the line safely, so Wadham will have one more opportunity to return to Division I tomorrow. Just the three bumps then in that race, but plenty of pressure applied that the crews will look to follow up tomorrow.
18:50 – Oriel row over to sustain the headship for another day, Wolfson follow them over. Perhaps we’ve seen the first sign of vulnerability from Oriel as Wolfson certainly had them for pace off the start. Keble also row over, avoiding Univ.
18:49 – Wolfson can’t sustain their pressure, and Oriel now have about three lengths on them.
18:48 – Just half a length between Wadham and Merton now.
18:47 – Wadham still closing on Merton, Trinity have bumped Teddy Hall.
18:47 – Magdalen concede to New!
18:47 – Christ Church concede! Pembroke see them off!
18:46 – Pembroke almost bump Christ Church, Wolfson are closing on Oriel!
18:45 – Start gun fired! Pembroke closing on Christ Church, and Teddy Hall are closing on Balliol.
18:44 – Black on track, 1 minute gun sounds.
18:43 – Slight delay to the start of Men’s Division I announced.
18:19 – Wadham take a victory lap in front of their boathouse after Pembroke cleared any pressure behind, and they retain the headship through day three.
18:18 – Oriel were gaining on Magdalen, but the pressure from Lincoln behind was too much and they concede. New also bump John’s, marking a return to Division I!
18:17 – Pembroke bump Univ! They move into second, with a chance at the headship tomorrow.
18:16 – Christ Church concede to Wolfson very early on! Keble also bump on Teddy Hall.
18:15 – Underway! New are closing on Johns’s, Keble closing on Teddy!
18:14 – 1 minute gun for Women’s Division I is fired!
17:52 – Peter’s fail to capitalise on their opportunity to enter into Division II ahead of the final day. If they want to do so tomorrow, they’ll need to row over and have another go at Queen’s, who kept the gap pretty healthy through to the end. Jesus eventually catch LMH with just moments to spare!
17:50 – No boats between Jesus and Queen’s, so plenty of bumps have happened between! Worcester bump Catz, Oriel M2 bump Lincoln, resolving the OxRow beef, and Exeter convert their early pressure into a bump on John’s.
17:48 – Wadham look like they’re easing through to the end, but Jesus are still keenly chasing LMH behind!
17:47 – After getting a reprise, Jesus are beginning to gain on LMH.
17:47 – Hertford get the bump on Hugh’s after a tight three-boat-sandwich led by Jesus.
17:46 – Wadham are first out of the gut after dropping down a division yesterday.
17:45 – They’re off! Exeter are gaining on John’s early.
17:44 – 1 minute gun for Men’s Division II fired.
17:19 – Linacre bump GTC! After a long spell of pressure on Jesus, GTC slow down enough to allow Linacre to reel them in.
17:18 – Hertford the last boat out of the gap, which implies that Merton bump LMH, Somerville bump Mansfield, and Peter’s get their bump on Catz.
17:17 – Hertford follow Linacre out of the gut (a long way back) which means Exeter have bumped St Anne’s.
17:16 – Incredibly tight three boat sandwich led by New, as Jesus follow and GTC are right behind!
17:16 – Peter’s rapidly gaining on Catz, as the latter drifts off of the racing line.
17:15 – Underway!
17:14 – 1 minute gun on time.
17:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division II sounds.
16:54 – Based on the order through the finish, Univ bump GTC, Wolfson got a technical bump on Christ Church, and crucially Peter’s bump Brasenose to have a shot at Division II!
16:52 – Hilda’s with an absolutely momentous overbump on New right at the death!
16:50 – GTC have dropped off Pembroke, but the latter are chasing Mansfield very hard.
16:48 – Pembroke just a quarter length from Mansfield, but GTC right on their heels!
16:48 – First crews out the gap, and Peter’s are chasing hard on Brasenose.
16:47 – And they convert soon after!
16:46 – Underway! St Anne’s gaining on Corpus early.
16:45 – 1 minute gun for Men’s Division III.
16:24 – Anthony’s slowly gaining on Worcester, but not fast enough to get the bump before the latter can row over. Further down the river, Univ bump Wolfson.
16:23 – Christ Church exit the gut, implying that Pembroke have bumped Corpus.
16:22 – Hilda’s concede to Hugh’s!
16:20 – Peter’s the first out of the gap, Trinity concede soon after to Queen’s.
16:18 – 1 minute gun now.
16:17 – Seemingly a slight delay to the start, still no gun.
16:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division III.
15:51 – Merton come through as the last boat, following Wadham and Keble. This must mean that Peter’s bumped Magdalen to move up into the fixed divisions, Reuben bump Teddy, and Hertford bump Brasenose. New’s earlier appeal from Women’s Division V is announced as unsuccessful, ending their blades campaign in heartbreaking fashion.
15:50 – Wadham take Keble! The latter continues their slide down the division.
15:48 – Balliol concede to Anthony’s.
15:46 – Somerville concede to Hilda’s. Somerville took a good line, but wasn’t quite enough.
15:45 – Start gun for Men’s Division IV.
15:40 – Penalty bump consideration for Keble from the Women’s Division IV.
15:22 – Both Worcester and Linacre get close to their targets in GTC and Magdalen, but are unable to turn it into a bump.
15:19 – Brasenose easing off, plenty of room behind them (and eventually followed by Wolfson) which would mean that Reuben have bumped John’s. They improve to +8 on the year so far.
15:17 – Slight overlap between Christ Church and Oriel, and Christ Church convert it into a bump!
15:16 – Lincoln concede to Keble, and both boats continue their respective trajectories down/up.
15:15 – Start gun fired! Worcester closing rapidly on GTC.
15:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division IV.
14:58 – Update to the appeal: New seem to believe that there was light, but definite, contact between them and Teddy. A successful appeal would keep the blades campaign alive, with Hertford in front of them tomorrow.
14:53 – Peter’s, Queen’s and Univ consecutively row over, which all but confirms all previous bumps.
14:51 – Green Templeton seem to have bumped out. Since Teddy caught Hugh’s, that must mean that they bumped New in front.
14:51 – Teddy Hall bump Hugh’s! That takes them up to a crazy +10 in three days. The record for the most positions gained in one Summer Eights is +11, which they’ll hope to match tomorrow with a New crew in front of them that’s been bumped twice in three days.
14:50 – Exeter bump Catz.
14:49 – Slow start to the race, Lincoln eventually concede to Worcester though, and Teddy are gaining on Hugh’s.
14:47 – Dog in the water by donny bridge, but race starts anyway.
14:46 – 1 minute gun.
14:45 – Minor delay to the start of Men’s Division V, likely due to traffic. 5 minute gun went at 14:42.
14:38 – Appeal made between New and Teddy Hall after the long slog proved fruitless for New.
14:24 – Somerville also bump Regent’s to round out the race’s results.
14:21 – Unfortunately for New, their blades campaign comes to an end after getting tantalisingly close to Teddy, but failing to convert their pressure into a bump. Further down the river though, Exeter get the bump on Balliol to make it 3/3 bumps for the former, and 3/3 bumped for the latter.
14:20 – New just inches away from Teddy at the very end!!
14:18 – Wolfson get their target! Hertford concede.
14:17 – Hertford are the first crew out of the gap, but Wolfson are closing in keenly behind.
14:16 – Jesus eventually concede to Merton! They make it three bumps in a row as well, as Jesus continue to slip down the ranking.
14:15 – Merton gaining on Jesus off the jump!
14:14 – No 5 minute gun, but the 1 minute gun goes off on time.
14:12 – Still no 5 minute gun yet for Women’s Division V.
14:03 – Correction: it turns out instead of a Pembroke overbump, Oriel were bumped by the strong crew from John’s that has bumped twice already this week, and Pembroke instead caught the Univ crew just in front of them.
13:51 – As Hilda’s row past, the next boat to follow is Anthony’s, with Exeter further down the river. This must mean that Pembroke pulled off the overbump on Oriel M4, and Balliol bumped New (as the latter continues its descent towards spoons…).
13:48 – Hilda’s the first crew out of the gut, with plenty of breathing room behind them.
13:47 – John’s concede to Univ, and Linacre concede to Mansfield!
13:46 – We’re underway! Oriel M3 concede early to Teddy, making it +9 for Teddy in three days, with two races to go!
13:45 – 1 minute gun for Men’s Division VI.
13:24 – Wadham take Peter’s right to the very end in a nail-biter! In the end though, the toll of racing twice kicked in, and Peter’s just about row over.
13:21 – Wolfson the first crew through to the end, which must mean Hilda’s bump Trinity!
13:20 – Wadham chasing the overbump on Peter’s, which must mean that Anne’s caught Oriel!
13:18 – The inevitable happens, and Queen’s bump Mansfield.
13:17 – Mansfield crab, and Queen’s are closing in rapidly now. Meanwhile, Anthony’s bumped by Catz!
13:16 – Queen’s rowing hard on Mansfield.
13:16 – They’ve started! Wolfson make an early break for the centre of the river. Univ pulling away from LMH. Oriel go straight into a bank…
13:15 – Delay to the start.
13:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division VI.
13:05 – So just a few bumps in Men’s Division VII after they finally get going, but Wadham and Balliol both keep their blades dreams alive.
12:51 – Anne’s with a comfortable gap in front and behind. Looks like they made some distance on Pembroke, but the two bumps between them made it too tall an order to convert the overbump. That must mean John’s bumped Lincoln.
12:50 – Hertford are pushing to catch Exeter, but it’s too little too late, as the latter ease over the line.
12:47 – Pembroke follow Hertford out the gap, which means Balliol must have bumped Worcester!
12:46 – Brasenose send Exeter M3 tumbling back down to footship.
12:45 – Lightning bump for Wadham on Queen’s! Brasenose closing in on Exeter to escape footship…
12:45 – We’re off!
12:44 – 1 minute gun on schedule.
12:40 – 5 minute gun for Men’s Division VII. Let’s hope it’s not a third klaxon in a row…
12:23 – As a result of the Keble banking incident, Reuben get the easy bump, and Somerville run off into the distance where they get their third bump of the week on Hilda’s. It’ll be New in front of them tomorrow after the Jesus overbump, as they also continue in their quest for blades.
12:21 – John’s bump Exeter to make it 3/3! They’ll be eyeing up Worcester for blades tomorrow…
12:20 – Jesus get the overbump on New!
12:19 – Queen’s bump Univ! Making up for the bump yesterday, they swap back.
12:17 – Pembroke have been bumped by Wadham! There’ll be some in-boathouse competition when they chase Anne’s as the sandwich boat later…
12:16 – What looked like a Keble bump ends up to be them in the bank, after Reuben go past and Somerville keep racing…
12:15 – They’re off! First bit of racing today. Jesus have gone very wide early on… Meanwhile Queen’s are gaining on Univ.
12:14 – 1 minute gun fired, everyone on schedule (no surprise considering the emails and fines being dished out…)
12:10 – 5 minute gun for Women’s Division VII, almost underway here at day three!
11:14 – Return to normality [somewhat] yesterday, after a pretty hectic day one. Wadham managed to reclaim headship, after a penalty bump from Christ Church stripped them of it after the conclusion of day one. Oriel comfortably rowed over again to maintain their position in the lead, and Merton’s M1 returned to Division I for the first time in 45 years. Let’s see what day three has to offer.
Murray House is a new NHS health hub for community physical health teams that has recently opened in North Oxford. The hub, located on the Jordan Hill Business Park, will provide a range of medical services such as podiatry, children and adult specialist therapy, and specialist dental services. The district nursing teams will also be located in Murray house.
Many of the health services working from the hub, including district nurses, will have visiting teams that will be able to travel to people’s homes to provide care. Services for specific health needs like dental and podiatry care will run clinics onsite.
The location will have improved public transportation links to facilitate higher accessibility of the clinics. This will include a close proximity to the Oxford Parkway Park & Ride and a range of bus stops.
According to Oxford NHS Foundation Trust, Murray House has recently “undergone a full refurbishment to meet the needs of modern health services”. The ground floor includes a “well-organised” waiting area, toilets, and vending machines, which will be coming soon.
Murray House will be one of three health hubs in Oxford; the other two will cover the centre (East Oxford Health Centre on Manzil Way) and the south of the city, for which the location is yet to be determined. The buildings in Jericho and Summertown that previously housed the provided services will be sold.
Peter Gibson from Oxford NHS Foundation Trust said the new hub will improve recruitment and retention of the staff: “Our teams, sitting together, can actually start to talk to each in a way they just didn’t before because they were located in different parts of the city.”
Gibson also described Murray House as “a much, much better facility [and] easier for people to get to, with much better public transport links.”
The hub began to provide care for patients from 5th May, as most of the staff had moved in by the end of April. An official opening ceremony for Murray House is also set to take place later this year.
The UK government has approved a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme (OFAS), a planned system of flood defences along the River Thames intended to shield over 160,000 Oxford residents.
Recent floods in 2013, 2014 and 2024 damaged homes and businesses across Oxford and caused the closure of railways and roads into cities. More extreme flooding is expected in the future as a result of climate change, and thus the OFAS has been designed to be effective against overflows on the scale of the 1947 Thames flood.
The plan is to create a new stream through the floodplain to the west of Oxford that will prevent water from overflowing into the built-up area. This 5km stream will begin north of Botley Road and end south of the A423.
Improved footpaths and a new cycling path between Osney Mead and Devil’s Backbone in South Hinksey will be constructed alongside the stream and, where necessary, bridges will be built across it. The scheme will result in the creation of over 20 hectares of wetland habitat and around 16 hectares of floodplain meadow.
The Environment Secretary Steve Reed granted approval for the CPO, allowing the Environment Agency (EA) to buy the necessary land, earlier this month. Construction will begin in late 2026 and is expected to take five years to complete. The government plans to spend £2.65 billion on flood defences over the next two years.
The EA has estimated that the OFAS will cost £167 million in total. However, the Hinksey and Osney Environmental Group, who are opposing the form taken by the scheme, claim that this is a significant underestimate. They told Cherwell: “This budget was set 7 years ago. Since then inflation will have increased it to £217 million.”
Some ecologists fear that the project will damage acres of irreplaceable grassland in the Hinksey Meadow and will destroy around 4,000 mature trees in the West Oxford habitat corridor and green belt.
The Floods Minister Emma Hardy said: “The role of Government is to protect its citizens, but flood defences were inherited in their worst condition on record. The Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme is a vital new piece of infrastructure that will deliver economic growth in Oxfordshire, better protect homes and businesses and deliver new jobs.”
The OFAS told Cherwell: “The financial benefit of the scheme will far outweigh the cost of building the scheme – it will save over £1.6 billion by reducing flood damage and disruption.
“The scheme will significantly reduce the chance of road closures and disruption due to flooding. Flooding causes diversions and longer journey times which could impact the tens of thousands of people who commute into or travel through Oxford by bus or car every day.”
HOEG acknowledge the importance of building up new flood defences. They told Cherwell: “a flood scheme at Oxford offers huge benefits both national and local in keeping the railway safe and in maintaining Oxford as a centre of excellence. The issue we are finding is, while we share our proposals in the public interest, we get nothing back.”
In response to concerns raised by HOEG and other groups, OFAS told Cherwell: “We have done everything possible to minimise the impact of the scheme through Hinksey Meadow. We were able to reduce the impacted area to only 15% of the total MG4 grassland in the meadow.
“We will be creating 3 new areas of species rich floodplain meadow – more than doubling the existing area of MG4 (around 16 hectares, almost 40 football pitches). We have designed the scheme to work with the natural floodplain, blend into the existing landscape, and deliver additional environmental benefits to the area beyond reduced flood risk.”
A University College building was evacuated last night (28th May), with a fire engine and an Oxford University Student Security Services van posted on the High Street following the incident.
Cherwell understands that the reason for the evacuation was that a student had lit a candle and then thrown the match into a bin in their room. This led to the Goodheart building, one of the college’s accommodation blocks, being evacuated after the bin was set on fire.
According to a student from the college, the situation was then swiftly dealt with by the head porter and a handful of firefighters. The fire was put out quickly, but students were not allowed back into the building for several hours because of the smoke.
In a statement, Univ told Cherwell: “On Wednesday evening, the Fire Service attended University College in response to a fire in a student room. The building in which the fire occurred was briefly evacuated whilst the fire was contained.
“No student or member of staff was harmed in any way. The College is grateful to staff and students for managing the situation quickly and responsibly, and to the Fire Service for its prompt attendance and professionalism.”
It comes weeks after parts of Brasenose College had to be evacuated for multiple hours following a chemical leak. Students then faced extended periods outside of their rooms as the fire service dealt with the incident, which also caused disruption to tutorials and the hall dinner later that evening.
A major expansion of the University of Oxford’s storage facility in Swindon is currently underway. The project will increase the capacity of storage facilities for both Bodleian Libraries and Oxford University Museums.
The development is designed to expand storage for the Bodleian Libraries, as well as the University’s four museums: the Ashmolean Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Pitt Rivers Museum and the History of Science Museum.
The expansion will extend the existing Collections Storage Facility (CSF) at South Marston by constructing a new climate-controlled chamber. Other planned constructions include a storage area for zoological specimens, a conservation laboratory, a secure loading bay, and a photography and digitisation studio. The project will also develop the visitor amenities available at the site.
The main contractor of the project, Glencar, announced the commission on the 20th May. Construction on the project started in April and is set to take place over a 69-week programme, with practical completion scheduled for August 2026.
The CSF, known as the Book Storage Facility until 2023, consists of over 150 miles of shelves, which currently house more than 10 million books alongside maps, manuscripts, and other objects of importance. Two days a week, new material arrives from the Bodleian’s Special Collections and Legal Deposit teams, necessitating increased storage over time. The warehouse is currently home to four temperature and humidity controlled rooms, though the ongoing development is set to create a fifth.
Head of the University’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums group (GLAM), Richard Ovenden, told Cherwell: “The Collections Storage Facility expansion is a critical development for the Gardens, Libraries and Museums of the University of Oxford, ensuring that the University’s collections are preserved under optimal conditions for future generations.”
Alex O’Connor has been doing all he can to help the philosophical fly out of the fly bottle. Now a philosophy social media star at 26, he’s been an out-and-proud atheist, vegan, free speech advocate, and more.
He started his YouTube channel at the age of 17 under the name “Cosmicskeptic” and it’s since racked up 1.4 million subs. His podcast Within Reason has seen everything from scholars dissecting Biblical hermeneutics to Penn Badgley telling him about what it was like to star on the Netflix show You. These combined efforts have landed him in the same circles as Richard Dawkins, Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris and the like. He’s also a Philosophy & Theology alumnus of St John’s College Oxford.
Cherwell sat down with him in Covent Garden to discuss a range of topics over (soya) lattes, from his Oxford experience to his thoughts on Christianity.
Cherwell: Were you well-behaved as a student?
O’Connor: No, not at all. Once I realised that lectures are technically non-compulsory for a humanities course, I stopped going. I think I went to maybe a handful of lectures near the beginning, and then I stopped. And then near the actual exam time, I started watching some of the online lectures. But no, I didn’t do any of the reading for the tutorials.
Cherwell: Then how did you get through them?
O’Connor: Well, most of the time I didn’t. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. Like, it’s not like I was always totally bad. But I definitely did the minimum amount of reading. Which wasn’t great. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Cherwell: So what did you spend your time doing?
O’Connor: Going to the pub. Sleeping. Hanging out with friends. Trying to live the Oxford life. But also, yeah, making YouTube videos.
And when I had an important deadline, when I really knew I needed to learn something, I would do it. But I was always acutely aware of the fact that the only thing that mattered was the exams. Anything I didn’t think would be needed for the exams, I didn’t prioritise. My worst module was General Philosophy in first year. Amir Srinivasan was teaching us, who later became this feminist superstar—she wrote The Right to Sex—and we just happened to have her in first year. And I completely wasted the opportunity. For that particular paper, I just had a lot on. I remember being in her tutorial having not done the reading, and I regret that.
I enjoy learning about things, but I’ve never gotten on with, like, academic environments very well. Certainly, back in like secondary school, no way. I wanted to be a skateboarder or guitarist. The first time I did my A-levels I failed them and had to retake them, because I just wasn’t going to class. And there were meetings about it, with parents coming to it. I overslept one of my exams. It was at 1pm and I overslept it. It’s the level of disrespect that I had.
The thing is, if I’d have done well the first time, I would have done Maths and Further Maths. I would have gone onto do something science-y, and it would have been a different career path. I think I was just in the wrong line, you know?
At Oxford, I would occasionally just not do collections. I’m pretty sure that once I sent an email being like, “Look, I’m just not going to do this. I don’t want to do it, I know you don’t want to mark it, I wouldn’t answer this question if it came up on the exam, so I just don’t think it’s worth my time right now.” And I think as long as you can demonstrate to your tutors that you genuinely think that, and you’re not just taking the piss, depending on who the tutor is, they might be okay with it.
I came out with a 2:1, which is great, but I definitely could have got a first if I’d studied. Especially in the degree that I did, Philosophy and Theology, given the line of work that I was already in, I felt like I could get away with a lot. But that was wrong. I mean, you’ll be doing a philosophy of religion paper, and you do a week on the problem of evil, and it’s like, “Okay, I reckon I’ll be alright here”. But you’re still not going to know the papers that they specifically want you to read, and you’re still not going to know the angle that they want you to take.
And so I never had the feeling of being like, “I don’t need to do this.” But I guess I just didn’t feel the excitement of it. I don’t mean to say that I was sat there thinking, “Oh, I already know about all of this.” It was like, “I kind of don’t care to learn about this because I’ve talked about the problem of evil over and over again.”
Cherwell: Favourite places in Oxford and why?
O’Connor: One of the places I’m most often found is the Queen’s Lane Coffee House. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why. I think it’s probably because of the exterior and that they have seating outdoors, which is kind of a rarity at Oxford, or at least it was when I was there. I can’t really think of anywhere else that does European-style outdoor roadside seating. It’s a shame that all the buses run up and down because it’s a beautiful street, and I think it’s ruined, as most cities are, by the presence of the automobile. But it’s a beautiful spot.
You go there enough, and you do start to get a little bit sick of the music. They play the same classical renditions of pop songs over and over again, which is fine. It’s nice. It’s actually quite suitable for the environment, but when you start realising that they’re playing it on repeat, it can drive you a bit insane. But I’m there all the time. Outside of that, I’m a pub-goer, of course, and I tend to either be at the Lamb and Flag, I used to love the Eagle and Child, or The King’s Arms for a time was one of my favorites. But my fondest memories are of the Half Moon, just because it’s open late, and so it’s usually the place where we would end up at the end of the night. Some of my most tipsy and jovial memories just happened to be in that pub. I don’t know if it’s the pub itself, but I quite liked the vibe. I’ve got a bit of Irish in me.
Cherwell: I’ve always wondered if you were Irish since your surname is O’Connor.
O’Connor: Yeah, I’m Irish on my dad’s side. It’s not a massively interesting fact about me just because I don’t have any real connection to Ireland. I’ve been a couple of times. I don’t really identify with it in any respect, but that’s where I get the surname from, so maybe it’s that that draws me to the Half Moon. But being in Oxford in general is really nice. Punting as well. Honestly, one of my favourite places is Magdalen College. Being in and around Magdalen College, either on a punt or walking around Addison’s Walk. It’s just a beautiful environment. So it’s probably my favourite place to be.
Cherwell: Opinions on the Oxford clubbing scene? Favourite night out?
O’Connor: In a way, ATIK shutting down is a travesty, but I think it will be quite quickly forgotten. It was quite iconic, but Oxford already had a reputation for not having a very good night scene at all. But I think because of that, people felt very at home with it. It wasn’t very intimidating. You would just sort of show up and have a good time. I don’t miss it. I much prefer to spend the time in the pub, but the thing is, if I spent enough time in the pub, then I would usually be drunk enough to be up for the idea of going to the club. And okay—real throwback, Purple Turtle. Purple Turtle was a club next door to the Oxford Union, now occupied, I believe, by Plush. It was my favourite club in Oxford.
There also used to be a lot of music venues that shut down. There was a place called The Cellar, which, again, was next door to Purple Turtle. I used to play there when I was like 16 or 17, and friends of mine couldn’t come to see the show because it was also a club. And there was just not much in the way of checking our age, because we were performing. So it was a really weird little environment. I do kind of miss that. Purple Turtle and The Cellar were big venues, but these days, they’re both gone. ATIK was big. Bridge, I always think is kind of the same thing. All just good times. I think there was something charming about it – the fact that it was a bit shit.
Plush used to be somewhere else, where the jam factory is by the train station, before it moved to where Purple Turtle was. But the thing is, Plush was a good club and Purple Turtle was a good club, but Plush in Purple Turtle just didn’t really feel quite right. It grew on me over time. I think I was just being sentimental about it. I wouldn’t go back these days; I’m not against the idea of going to a club, but in a student city it’s strange. The older you get, the more people begin to resemble 12-year-olds. It’s kind of uncanny. Because being in somewhere like London, if you go out for, like, most of the people that are out are slightly older and they’re in their 20s maybe 30s as well, yeah, and you kind of forget that you can go out to places like this when you’re 18. But if I could go back in time and be 18 myself again and go back to those clubs, I would do it for nostalgia’s sake.
Cherwell: Aside from co-founding Socratic Society, what and extracurriculars were you involved in at Oxford?
O’Connor: Yeah, there was the Socratic society. Outside of that, I dipped in and out. I sometimes went to the chess club. I went to Poker Society quite a lot. When I was there, there was a real poker scene at Oxford. The guys who were running it were real no-bullshit type people who could settle disputes and had it all under control. And that’s where I first met Malala. It was one of those moments where you’re like, “Man, I’m really doing this Oxford thing.” I went to introduce myself to the person who sat down next to me. I said, “Hi, I’m Alex.” And I saw that it was Malala, so I like knocked my chips over. And I’m pretty sure she never said her name back. I think I took a lot of money off her in the game, enough money off her to pay me back for her memoir which I bought.
As far as I know, she’s still a Muslim. The thing is, I was never sure if I could tell people that I played poker with Malala, since I didn’t want to “out” her or anything. But then one time I saw an interview where she mentioned playing poker at uni. And I thought now I can tell this story. Everybody at Oxford at that time had a Malala story. Emma Watson’s the one now.
Cherwell: Give us an Oxford hot take.
O’Connor: Oh, maybe a hot take is I think Christ Church is a bit shit. Not the people, I just mean I don’t like it as an environment.
Cherwell: In a recent Q&A video you were asked what makes a good interviewer. To flip that around, what makes a good interviewee?
O’Connor: I think enthusiasm is something people really appreciate, and demonstrating a willingness to indulge in rabbit holes. And also , being friendly. The best interviews I’ve ever done have been with my friends, not because they’re the most famous or well-established guests, but just because there’s a good rapport. Also, just say when you don’t know something. It’s just not worth the embarrassment.
The number one comment that I see on interviews is something like, “I can really see that this person’s passionate”. There’s something really nice about just giving someone space to talk about something they care about. Sometimes I feel like people write books for the sake of writing books. It feels they don’t really want to be doing this interview or being on that press tour. Don’t be that person.
Cherwell: When you’re in the middle of a debate it can be hard to realise you’re wrong. How do you get better at acknowledging good rebuttals to your position, especially in the moment they’re made?
O’Connor: It depends on the nature of the point, because if the point would undermine your entire worldview, that’s not something you should just say there and then, because there might be things you haven’t considered. I think you just have to say, “That’s a good point. I’ll think about that.”
The best thing you can do is, prior to that occurring, have an attitude and orientation to conversations and debate where people are aware that you are not arrogantly entrenched—so that if someone comes along and makes a good point, you can just say so.
I just did a debate a couple of weeks ago and there was one section where I was talking about whether Christians should think that Jesus is the angel of Yahweh in the book of Exodus. And I was talking about something in the book of Hebrews, which indicated to me that they shouldn’t think that. And someone in the Q&A got up and said, “Well, what about in Hebrews 11, where it implies that Moses met Jesus?” And I was like, “Well, I think Hebrews has a high Christology. I’m still not sure if that makes him the angel of Yahweh, but that’s a good point.” And that was it.
It’s frustrating because a lot of Christians have been clipping it, and making these videos about how I’ve been skewered by this question—and I get it, because he asks a question and I admit it’s a good point. But a lot of people, even on those videos, are saying, “Well, it’s really nice of you to say that.”
You can also have a sense of irony about it. Whenever I’m debating with friends, there’s almost a bit of silliness, like we’re playing, such that I can die on a hill and if somebody then says something that undermines it all, I just sort of go like, “Yeah, okay, fair point”, because we haven’t placed too much stock in it. In public debates, it’s a bit different, obviously. But I’m kind of over doing debates. Like, they just suck. They’re theatre, and they’re entertaining, but I just don’t think it’s worth the confusion that this represents the extent of somebody’s views and ability to communicate themselves. It’s more about recall and wit. That’s not an original point to make, but I’m really beginning to feel it. Especially as my audience gets bigger, there’s way more in the way of back and forth in the comments about how this person’s an idiot or whatever. When I do a podcast, that just doesn’t happen. We have a conversation.
You can go into a debate thinking, “I’m right about this, and I’ve got something to prove here,” and that’s fine, but then if somebody makes a good point, prepare to be embarrassed. If you come in with a bit more humility, you might still be embarrassed. But it doesn’t have the same feeling as “that guy really needs a smack in the face.” It’s like the difference between a boxer giving up all the talk and then getting knocked out versus a boxer who says, “Hey, this will be fun. Let’s find out who’s the better fighter. Good luck,” and then gets knocked out. It’s still a bit embarrassing, but not in the same way.
Recognise that if you’re going to have a career in public speaking or you’re going to have debates with your friends, if you have one debate every month for the rest of your life, it is guaranteed that at least one time you will be wrong. So, you just have to be prepared every time you have a debate for that to be today.
Cherwell: Can you give us some book recs?
O’Connor: I always recommend people The Screwtape Letters, because I think Lewis just nails the vibe of being an atheist, having been an atheist himself. Oh, and Essays in Love by Alain de Botton. It’s phenomenal.
Cherwell: It must be pretty cool knowing that you have the power of enabling people to make purchases just by recommending a book.
O’Connor: Yeah, especially when I have an affiliate link (joking). I do have affiliate links, but I don’t push them. I’m a bit stupid, really, because people are always asking for book recommendations, and I reckon I could make money off that.
I’m pretty selective, not just about which companies but also exactly how I promote them. I think I do it with a sense of irony. I’m aware that I’m doing an ad-read. With some podcasters, you see the sincerity with which they deliver the ad-read and you don’t believe them, and then you watch them interviewing the person and suddenly you don’t believe them there either, because it’s the same energy.
Cherwell: You’ve said your opinions on religion have changed since studying Philosophy and Theology as a degree. It seems like you’ve become more moderate. What are a few examples of considerations that have prompted you to change your stance?
O’Connor: It’s kind of a vibe shift, as opposed to an argument. Firstly, the idea that the New Testament in particular goes way deeper than I thought. It’s just so fascinating. The first thing that happened was I got interested. I really became more overwhelmed with the feeling of confusion as to why this text exists. Because you can say somebody made this up and wrote it down, but when you actually look at a manuscript, you have to wonder why did somebody sit down and write out this whole narrative? And then, why did three other people do the same thing? And why did many other people do the same thing, albeit in ways that seem less authentic? Paul existed, and he was writing letters to churches. He had some experience. Something happened. Why? You can’t just say, “they’re all just a bunch of illiterate Iron Age peasants.” People say that all the time, but that only makes it more of a miracle if they were illiterate and they managed to put the book together.
I think it’s got something to do with the fact that there are four Gospels. There’s a lot of cross-examination that you can do, and it’s so fascinating. And through that interest, I realized that it’s deeper than I thought. In my very earliest days, it was like real Reddit-tier stuff like, “How many women discover the tomb? One Gospel says it’s one woman, another says two.” And it’s just ridiculous to think that that means anything. So there’s that. And then also realizing the God that the New Atheists imagine is not real to anybody.
Cherwell: Isn’t the point that the God that they imagine is the logical extension of what’s written in the Bible?
O’Connor: That’s what they think. And I still agree with them about the God who’s present in the Old Testament scriptures. Which is why I’m in an odd spot of being really besotted with Jesus of Nazareth as a person, and being absolutely fascinated by who he historically was and why he had such an effect on the world. But it’s connected to this religious tradition which I think presents a very different kind of God to the God that is believed in by creedal Christians. I don’t believe that Jesus claimed to be God. I’m not even sure about the status of God in the Old Testament. I just did a podcast about monotheism in the Old Testament and whether it’s really present there. There are lots of indications that older pictures of divine pantheons found their way into the Old Testament, most famously in the use of plurals. God in Genesis says, “Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness.” Obviously Christians would say it’s because it’s the Trinity. I’m looking at this historically, wondering what the authors thought. I don’t think that’s what they had in mind, because the Trinity doesn’t develop as a doctrine until even hundreds of years later. So, it’s a little bit weird. And I understand the New Atheists looking at the Old Testament and going, “this is an evil God”, but they say the same thing about Jesus. And I think it’s a bit shallow. Richard Dawkins still says that the New Testament is evil because of the idea that we all need to be saved. I’m not sure that he’s reflected on the extent to which there is some truth in that.
What I’ve realized is that a lot of the problems that I’ve had with Christianity, the evils of the Old Testament, the contradictions in the New Testament texts, can be resolved not by saying Christianity is false, but rather by saying Christians today have the wrong set of texts, or have the wrong interpretation of the texts. Maybe the Old Testament evil God is best explained by a Gnostic cosmology that says that Jesus is God, but Yahweh is not. Maybe the contradictions in the Gospels are best explained by the fact that certain troublesome passages were added in later. Maybe some of the weird things Jesus said or did were explained by the fact that he never actually said or did them. And so, if I meet a Christian who believes all of those things, I can still say I think they’re wrong. But if you ask me whether I personally read these texts and go, “Is it all bullshit?” I have no idea. I don’t know.
Cherwell: Have your views changed on the arguments for God’s existence?
O’Connor: I find it really difficult to talk about God’s existence as I reflected more on what God would be if he did exist. I think there are some really powerful considerations to suggest that something must sustain being. But I’m also aware of the fact that I don’t think we’d be capable of comprehending the nature of that thing. If it existed, we’d all essentially be participating in it.
I don’t think that there’s conclusive proof of God’s existence, at least not to the extent that I’ve been convinced by it. But I don’t, from that, rule out the idea that there could be such an argument, and certainly not that there is a God. People often look for escape hatches with these arguments. They say, “You’ve proven the first cause, but that cause doesn’t have to be God.” Okay, yeah, that’s true. “Oh, you’ve proven God, but it might not be a good God.” Okay, fine. But if you put all of those considerations together—if, say, you get a Matt Dillahunty type who will take each individual argument and poke a hole in it—at some point you can say, “Okay, we’ve only proved a first cause. Can we just agree that this argument is reasonable?” Maybe, maybe he’s still got an issue with it. But if you’ve got that argument and this argument and that argument, and they’ve all got little holes in them, but if you put them together, they plug up each other’s holes and they present this unified picture, I think it’s very powerful. As an atheist, I think you have to deal with that bigger picture.
Cherwell: Would you describe yourself as an introvert or an extrovert?
O’Connor: Well, what is it they say, that it depends on where you get your energy from? I feel like I do better on my own in that respect. I need to regenerate on my own. I’m not energized by social environments. They drain me, but I enjoy them. So on that definition, I suppose I’d be an introvert. And also, if I go to a party and I don’t know anyone there, I’m not the kind of person that can easily go around and talk to people. However, if I bump into somebody and they say they’re a Christian, sometimes you ask a follow-up question, and then get into a conversation, and I could talk to them all night and I suddenly become extroverted. Sometimes I can talk for hours and hours and hours. That’s because we’ve got something to talk about.
Cherwell: I think you’re quite an interesting case because there’s this weird idea some people have that really intelligent people must be introverts. But you talk for so long on these podcasts and you have all this confidence, and people associate that with extraversion. So you fit these two stereotypes that counter each other.
O’Connor: I genuinely just don’t think that I’m extremely intelligent. I think I’m good at explaining things, and I’m intelligent when it comes to putting words together. I don’t downplay what I think I’m good at. I’m really good at understanding why somebody isn’t understanding something and picking up on exactly where somethings going wrong. But the kind of intelligence required to really make academic contributions–your Wittgensteins, your Russells—I’ve never really been in a situation where I’ve been able to see if I could do something like that, but I highly doubt it. I think I’m good at a relatively limited set of things, and I try to stick to those things.
If it weren’t for being a YouTuber, I’d probably be an introvert. I’d have my friends, I would talk to them, and that would be that. I just feel like a bit of an extrovert because I spend so much time talking confidently to people who I don’t know.
Cherwell: I think you must have very interesting inner monologue, mostly because you have an interesting outer monologue.
O’Connor: A lot of my sort of inner monologue is putting ideas together. I think that’s quite fun. I think I must be an introvert. I’m kind of suspicious of the dichotomy anyway, but it makes sense. There’s obviously a spectrum of people, and I probably basically sit in the middle of it. But definitely my energy comes from being alone. But I don’t like being alone. If it’s 7pm and I’m at home alone, I kind of just feel like something’s wrong. I feel like I need to be out somewhere. So maybe that’s slightly extroverted—I don’t know, it’s not up to me to decide. You’d have to ask my friends.
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