Reverend Dr Christina Beardsley, a transgender priest, was invited by Hertford College to preach at Evensong on Sunday.

Representing Changing Attitude, an organisation that works for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Church of England and in the Anglican Communion, Beardsley preached in front of a wide range of students, tutors and fellows. This included members of the Christian Union, as well as college and University diversity a LGBTQ officers.

In her sermon, Dr Beardsley said, “Some Christians seem to treat the Bible exactly like a rule book, especially when it comes to matters of sexuality and gender. Texts and verses are ripped from their context and misused as sticks with which to beat lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as well as women.

“Though he does not address homosexuality specifically in his teaching, the values of Jesus towards those who are sexually compromised…is one of compassion and forgiveness…the values of Jesus in the gospels seem very different from those who appear to demonise the sexually or gender variant person.”

The Revd Dr Andrew Teal, Chaplain at Pembroke College, who recently delivered a sermon in which he encouraged the acceptance and affirmation of the LGBTQ community from the Church added, “I’m delighted that she was invited and have no doubt that her humanity will help others.”

Dr Beardsley was warmly received by members of the college. Mei Cooper, an LGBT rep at Hertford, stated, “From an LGBTQ perspective, I’d say that it was pretty good… she did give a sense of the progress being made in parish churches, and also gave a message of hope to those who might feel marginalised by the Church.”

She added, “In terms of the choice of preacher, I think it was quite a bold move on the Chaplain’s part, but reflects Hertford College’s progressive stance.”

Another member of the college explained, “I was pleasantly surprised to have some of my stereotypes about Hertford Chapel broken – I’d always thought it would take a conservative stance on most issues…absolutely no-one should ever be rejected from a church regardless of identity, belief or opinion.”

However, she added, “In terms of her main point about the church accepting transgender people, I absolutely agree. But I think her overarching message that everything and anything to do with LGBTQ was totally fine by the Bible was too huge a message to put across in ten minutes, knowing she wouldn’t have the time to Biblically justify it.”

Following the sermon, Beardsley blogged about her experience, writing, “At one point I was strongly challenged, not, as might have been expected, by the CU members, but by two bisexual people, a young man and woman, who felt bruised by identity politics; caught between ‘both sides’: gay and straight. It’s not a view anyone’s expressed to me before.

‘I was glad that they felt free to discuss idenity and that we had an opportunity to talk it through; and to talk about other things, for there’s far more to life than gender, sexuality and the Church of England, important as these matters are.’

Somerville College has threatened to put CCTV cameras in college kitchens after a spate of food thefts from communal fridges. Posters containing the warnings went up yesterday morning following discussions between members of the JCR committee and the Domestic Bursar, Carol Reynolds.

The thefts, which have been occurring throughout Somerville over the last few terms, have been of a number of foodstuffs. Salmon, cheese, bread, chorizo, mushrooms, jam, hot chocolate, garlic, Alpen, Diet Coke, courgettes, and ham are among those foodstuffs that have allegedly stolen.

JCR President Tom Allsup sent an email to JCR members on Wednesday, updating them on recent progress. He said, “The college has recognised the severity of the current problem and is working towards identifying the culprit(s).

“In the mean time we would like to re-emphasise the importance of labelling all your food and having total respect for the property of others. Carol [Reynolds] would also like to stress that if the motivations behind these thefts are financial, the individuals really should just get in contact with her who will provide all the help she can in total confidence.”

The posters, signed by the Housekeeping and Lodge Manager, are entitled “Possible kitchen CCTV monitoring”, and read, “It has been reported that items of food are being removed from this area without the permission of the owner(s). This notice is to inform you that should this continue the College will have no alternative but to place CCTV cameras within this area to monitor this matter. Taking items that do not belong to you without the permission of the owner is theft.”

Students took to Facebook to express their outrage at the food thefts, with some novel solutions proposed by undergraduates to combat the incidents. Florence Avery commented, “I feel a Poirot-esque confrontation with every possible culprit in a room at the same time needs to happen at some point”.

Nick Cooper agreed, saying that the students should “smoke this person out”. Eleanor Keindeg Jaskowska addressed a comment to the “Thief of Penrose”, saying, “If you are in financial difficulty college will help you out. If you are stealing for kicks please seek psychological help.” David Railton called the thefts “beyond tedious”.

Responses to the possibility of CCTV being installed in the kitchens have been mixed. One second year Somerville student said, “Personally, I think installing CCTV is rather excessive, but at the same time the issue of food theft has really got out of hand lately. I’m not sure how effective CCTV will be anyway, since it’s quite hard to tell what food people are taking.”

However, another second year condemned the proposal, arguing, “That’s absolutely ridiculous. Somerville relies on a community, and to have that kind of suspicion is just a bit odd, and to have cameras around college would be weird. It’s a very bad decision. Very bad decision.”

Rose Newman, a third year English student, referred to the financial implications of the thefts for students, commenting, “It’s just really inconsiderate and annoying; most of us don’t have that much money to spare, and if I wanted to feed someone else I’d go and help a Big Issue Seller not a closet kleptomaniac.

“That said, I don’t agree with the decision to install CCTV. We are an Oxford College not a Young Offenders’ Institute, and the rest of us shouldn’t be treated like criminals just because a certain someone(s) can’t keep their thieving little paws to themselves.”

When contacted by Cherwell, Somerville’s Domestic Bursar, Carol Reynolds, declined to comment.

Over 1,000 people braved the chilly weather last Sunday to appear for this year’s Holi celebration at Merton Mansfield sports grounds. Organisers described the event as a “huge success with a vast amount being raised for charity.”

The Holi ‘festival of colours’ stems from an age-old Indian agricultural tradition, celebrating the arrival of spring. Participants throw coloured powder on one another and spray water to rejoice in the colour and liveliness of spring.

Cups of powder were distributed for £1 each and attendees were encouraged to bring water bottles with which to douse fellow revellers. Water guns were also sold, and were in such high demand that supplies ran out within 20 minutes.

Organiser Shyam Thakerar said, “Everyone had a brilliant afternoon from as far as I could tell, which I feel is really important in the stress-filled Trinity Term. With the grey skies we’ve had recently, Oxford could do with a bit of colour!”

Second year English student Jess Campbell said the event was “fab, colourful and very wet”, while Sachin de Stone, a Maths and Philosophy student, commented, “It was euphoric. It was so vivid, I saw it, tasted it, smelt it, and loved every minute of it.”

Despite the event’s success, there were some concerns about the use of water while Britain suffers drought. One first-year musician, who preferred to remain anonymous, did not attend the festival but commented, “How can people be running around laughing and wasting precious water while this drought threatens us all?”

The celebration managed to raise over £1,550 for the two sponsored charities, Ashiana Charitable Trust and the Smile Foundation.

Students throughout Oxford have resolved to live off just £1 per day to raise money for charity.

Live Below the Line, which describes itself as “an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign”, is an initiative of the Global Poverty Project, an education and campaigning organisation whose mission is “to increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action against extreme poverty”.

The project invites individuals and communities to live off £1 per day for food for five days, in order to “glimpse into the lives” of the 1.4 billion people currently living under the poverty line.

Jonny Dower, a first-year PPE-ist from Lincoln, said, “So why am I doing it? There are 1.4 billion reasons – that’s how many people live on £1 or less a day. Our challenge only involves spending £1 on food and drink for five days – the reality for these 1.4 billion people is that this (or even less) has to be enough for everything. What if a member of your family falls ill? How can you afford to treat them? This is a reality we really can barely begin to understand living in a developed country, and something that we shouldn’t ignore.

“Live Below the Line offers an opportunity to raise awareness of an ever-present global problem and, through raising money for effective charities, the chance to make a real difference to some of those living below the line.”

Tomas Christmas, also from Lincoln, commented, “I heard about it at an international development conference I went to back in Michaelmas – it sounded like a great way to raise money and awareness so I wanted to get a decent group of friends and CU members doing it too! As well as the obvious fundraising benefit it gives a huge personal perspective on spending habits. I often spend more on a single meal than a lot of people can spend in a week – this is really making me think about where my money goes day to day.”

He added, “Half way through the first day I think I’m still holding up pretty well. Although I’m worried that I’ll get a bit sick of Tesco Value beans by the end of the week.”

However, some have criticised the scheme. One anonymous student said, “While I think that raising money for charity is always commendable, I’m not sure the scheme provides any real insight into a life in poverty. People taking part already have all the home comforts they need: a warm bed, a hot shower, a microwave, a kettle, a toaster. Really what they’re experiencing is a bit of inconvenience and food that’s not great for a few days, it’s patronising to suggest that this even comes close to the destitution that’s out there. I’d rather just donate money to these charities in the knowledge that I’ll fortunately never experience the reality of extreme poverty.”

Phil Bull, a DPhil astrophysicist, makes up one half of fundraising team ‘The Cunning Astrolinguisists’ alongside fellow Wadhamite Asia Lindsay, a linguist. He told Cherwell, “We’re doing it to highlight the issue of food poverty internationally, and also to challenge ourselves. Food poverty is estimated to affect around 4 million people in the UK alone. Live Below the Line raises awareness of food poverty around the world, while simultaneously raising money for a number of charities who are combating this problem.

“We also wanted to see how being deprived of the foods we love would affect us psychologically – what will we do without a yummy chocolatey pick-me-up of an afternoon? What are we going to do without caffeine? Rumours that we’re just being cheap are greatly exaggerated. The realisation soon set in that many of the foods are very bland and boring – we doubt that Aldi noodles and fish fingers are anyone’s idea of fine dining.” ­

The international Extreme Poverty Line was defined by the World Bank in 2005 as $1.25 US dollars per day, which after adjusting for inflation, is estimated by the Global Poverty Project to equal £1 in GBP. This figure is calculated using purchasing power parity to accommodate the difference in foreign exchange rates.

Live Below the Line is occurring from the 7th – 11th May and has raised over £200,000 so far this year.