Wine retailer Oddbins on High Street will be closing down, as landlords Oriel College have chosen not to renew their lease. The drinks chain which went into administration in April last year was subsequently bought up by a new owner. Many stores were kept open.

A spokesperson from the shop told Cherwell that they had been in negotiations with the college since the takeover six months previously, but that there was “under a month’s notice for staff” who will lose their jobs. She went on to express her “anger at Oriel” noting that “differences have not been resolved.”

Wilf Stephenson, Treasurer at Oriel explained that “the College has been seeking to ensure that the best possible new tenant takes a lease of the shop in Oxford High Street whether this is the company that acquired the Oddbins name or another retailer.” He added, “Agreement has now been reached with the administrators for surrender of the lease and negotiations continue with the College’s preferred new tenant.” It is thought Oriel is likely to lease the premises to another drinks chain.

Nevertheless those at Oddbins said “it would have been nice if Oriel had let us stay.” The shop is popular with students, with one 2nd year at Oriel noting, “people go there last minute to buy some cheap booze before they go out.” The current management at least believe that they will not be easily replaced, adding “we will be sorely missed, there are few other independent wine shops in Oxford and we are integral to the community.”

Aspire Style is also situated on High Street and has Brasenose College as its landlord. The manager told Cherwell, “It can be a mixed blessing being looked after by a college. Last summer the landlord decided to re-do the outside of some of the buildings on High Street. This was done outside of term time so students weren’t inconvenienced, but the fact it was peak tourist season, and the busiest time for businesses was not taken into account.”

Despite this, others were positive about their relations with college landlords. Past Times on Turl Street occupies a unit owned by Lincoln College. They remarked that they “had not had any problems” and that “the landlords are always attentive and polite.” It was a similar story at nearby Celebrations, also owned by Lincoln, whose manager registered no complaints “except for high rent”, but he added “that’s just part of being in central Oxford.”

One retailer, whose premises were leased by University College, however, had sympathy for Oddbins, noting “any landlord would be stupid to be getting rid of tenants in this climate.” The wine retailer will be shutting up shop on High Street by the end of next week, according to its management, but the branch on Little Clarendon Street is understood to be remaining open.

A former employee of Varsity Events has set up a rival company called Shuffle Nights.

Toby Baker left Varsity Events over the vac and has taken with him many of the college reps who worked for varsity last term, as well as taking over the official student nights at Lava Ignite and Wahoo.

In a statement to Cherwell, Baker commented, ‘I have stopped working with Varsity because I wasn’t happy with the way the company was going.’

He claimed that ‘the Varsity monopoly has become unhealthy’ and said that he hoped that Shuffle will give students ‘the choice of great nights that they deserve.’

When asked about the two former Varsity nights that he has taken over, Baker stated, ‘I won’t be changing anything about what made the nights so popular, so the average student shouldn’t be affected.’

The management of Lava Ignite declined to comment on their business decisions but insisted that ‘we are going to continue to deliver fantastic parties.’

A spokesperson for Wahoo confirmed that they would now be working with Shuffle Nights and commented that they felt ‘confident and happy with the new team’, adding, ‘If anything the night will improve.’

Shuffle will run new nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays leaving Camera and Bridge in the hands of Varsity Events. The Camera management confirmed that their Tuesday night event, Blues, is still run by varsity but declined to comment on the reasons behind the split. They added that they will continue with ‘business as usual.’

Baker told Cherwell that he did not approach the management of any of the clubs and added that if he was asked to help run a night at Camera, ‘I’ll definitely consider it.’

A spokesperson for Bridge confirmed that it is sticking with Varsity Events and commented, ‘All future Thursday nights will continue to run as the official Oxford University night.’

Shuffle’s new nights include a drum and bass night called Carbon at Thirst Lodge, and a night at The Junction featuring cheap drinks deals. 

Thomas Cole, who was a Varsity Rep last term and will now be promoting for Baker’s new company commented, ‘Shuffle Nights is an intense partying machine and will spare no man in its wrath.’

A St Peter’s professor was found dead at a property in Southmoor, Abingdon on Wednesday night. Police are investigating the incident as murder.

A 49-year-old man has been arrested and is currently being held in custody.

Professor Steven Gregory Rawlings, a Tutorial Fellow in Physics and Professor in Astrophysics, was reported injured after “an incident” at a house on Laurel Drive at 11.22pm, according to Thames Valley Police. The 50-year-old was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene.

The property is believed to belong to Dr Devinder Sivia, a Stipendiary Lecturer in Mathematics for the Sciences at St John’s, who co-wrote a book with Professor Rawlings.

Students at St Peter’s and St John’s were sent emails by their Heads of College yesterday, both of which referred to an ongoing police investigation.

Mark Damazer, Master of St Peter’s, stated, “We are all greatly saddened and shocked. Our deepest condolences go to his wife Linda and all his family, friends, colleagues and students.”

Sir Michael Scholar, President of St John’s, warned students about potential media interest over the coming days “following an incident which took place near Oxford yesterday evening”.

Detective Superintendent Rob Mason, of the Major Crime Unit, said, “The investigation is still in the early stages and we are endeavouring to establish what has happened in the house and we are keeping an open mind until all our enquires are concluded.

“On attendance at the address CPR was administered by a member of the public, police officers and paramedics, but unfortunately the man had passed away.

“Officers have located family members and I would like to extend our condolences to the man’s family and friends at this very difficult time.”

The initial post-mortem was “unable to establish a cause of death at this time.”

Professor Rawlings joined St Peter’s in 1992, holding positions first as a Lecturer in Mathematics, before becoming a professor in 1994. He was Head of the sub-Department of Astrophysics and took leading roles in the international Square Kilometre Array project and the redevelopment of the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station as a radio astronomy facility.

University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton, said, “The entire University community has been profoundly saddened and shocked by the tragic and untimely death of Professor Steve Rawlings. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

Sam Lecacheur, a second year Physicist at St Peter’s, commented, “He really was a good tutor and a great person. He achieved so much in his field, and he was very inspirational as a teacher. What’s happened is a real shock.”

Statistics released on the 10th January by the ‘Campaign to End Poverty’, providing a child poverty map of the whole of the UK, have shown that 22% of children in Oxford are living below the poverty line.

This presents a stark comparison to the 7% child poverty rate found in Witney, the Prime Minister’s own constituency. In Blackbird Leys 36% of children are living in poverty, whilst only 4% of children in St Margaret’s, and 5% of children in Headington are deemed to be below the poverty line.

With cuts and changes to benefits in place, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has previously warned the Coalition Government that unless they alter their approach to tackling national debt, child poverty in the UK could rise by 400,000 by 2015. Peter Skinner, Labour MEP for the South East stated that ‘leaving children on the poverty scrapheap costs us billions picking up the pieces of damaged lives and unrealised potential. It’s a false economy if we don’t prioritise looking after children today.’ Continuing his attack on government policy, he alleged, ‘In the last year the UK economy has flatlined and unemployment has hit a 17 year high as brutal cuts hit places like Oxford. Families will be £1,000 a year worse off and this will push them into poverty.’

He suggested that a better approach to the current economic situation would be Labour’s five point plan, which would fund up to 5,000 jobs for young people in the South East. However, Benjamin Maconick, Keble student and co-chair of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats claimed that ‘yes the average family will be worse off, but there isn’t any way of eliminating a deficit (i.e. cutting spending and raising taxes) that doesn’t make the average family worse off.’ Changing the focus of the debate, he stated that question that should be being asked is why ‘so little was done to address child poverty in the good years? It was virtually stagnant under the Labour government despite the longest sustained period of growth in post war history.’ And the raising income tax threshold, increases in capital gains tax, the continuation of the bank levy and the 50% income tax band were measures that Maconick highlighted to illustrate that the coalition is not ‘targeting’ poor families.’

Reacting to the news, Ameer Kotecha, Vice-President of RAG (Raise and Give), Oxford Student Union’s Fundraising Organisation, explained that RAG’s chosen charities for this year are Refuge, Oxford Development Abroad, Oxford Homeless Pathways and Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre (OSAARC). He clarified that whilst none specifically deal with child poverty, Refuge assists children suffering from domestic violence, and OSAARC those who have suffered rape. In the past, child poverty charities have been aided and RAG can do so in the future, as any individual is free to nominate a charity for them to support, and the entire student body votes on all nominations.

Oxford City Council is considering implementing a night time patrol to combat excessive noise in the early hours.

The scheme, proposed by Councillor John Tanner, aims to introduce ‘an Environmental Health Officer and a police officer going out in the small hours, looking for noise at key times,’ specifically at the beginning and end of term, and on streets where there have often been complaints.

The intention of the scheme is to ensure that ‘people who have to be up in the morning, including many students, can get a good night’s sleep’. The Council can point to 4, 289 complaints received over the last three years about loud noise and parties.

Despite Tanner’s claim that the patrols are ‘not specifically anti-student’, some students have complained about the scheme. Rhiannon Garth-Jones, a fourth year Classicist who has lived both in Cowley and around Oxford on a barge, noted that ‘noise in Cowley can be quite bad, but that’s from pubs, bars and clubs as much as house parties and it’s part of living in the centre of a city, especially a student city’, going on to point out that ‘both Oxford and Oxford Brookes contribute a lot to the city, and student nightlife is an element of thriving universities’.

She said, ‘a ‘party patrol’ seems a bit like the parents coming round to tell you to turn the lights off and go to sleep. The council could probably find a more adult and effective way to deal with noise issues.’

Henry Blauth, a third year at Balliol, added that rather than a patrol, ‘a little community spirit and co-operation are all that is needed.’

However OUSU’s Communities and Charities Officer, Dan Stone, praised the scheme and explained that ‘students need not be alarmed’ as it was an attempt to ‘to make the existing provisions more efficient.’

Other Councils throughout the UK employ noise patrols at key times, but these tend to be London Boroughs such as Camden, which has a population density three times that of Oxford. Cambridge City Council, for example, do not have a ‘patrol’ as such, but instead an officer on standby who can respond to noise complaints as they are made throughout the night. At present Oxford pays officers to be on call, who may be in Bicester or Abingdon, leading to slow response times.

The scheme is set to cost £12,000, but Tanner explained, ‘we propose to save money by only having people on-call at the peak problem times, between say midnight and four in the morning.’ He stressed that in terms of the patrol in general, they would ‘experiment and see what works’.

A spokesperson for Oxford University stated,’Anyone can be a noisy neighbour, whether or not they are a student. We would of course encourage all students to be considerate about their neighbours.’

On the 8th January, scientists gathered at a symposium in Cambridge to celebrate Stephen Hawking’s 70th birthday, an occasion few had imagined they would ever see.

Hawking was given just a few years to live after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease in 1964, at the age of 20. His condition has progressed over the years and has left him almost completely paralysed and unable to speak.

Brian Dickie, research director at the Motor Neurone Disease Association, stated: “Only five percent live longer than 10 years and in those cases it’s 15 or maybe 20 years. Stephen Hawking is at one extreme end of that spectrum and the quality of his care cannot explain why the disease has progressed so slowly in him.”

Hawking was propelled to fame by his 1980 book A Brief History of Time, in which he outlined the concept of a universe with no boundaries in space or time. It has sold over 25 million copies worldwide. He held the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics for thirty years at Cambridge, although he completed his undergraduate degree (in Physics) at University College, Oxford.

In a recent interview Hawking admitted that he regularly completed only an hour of work a day in his early life as a student, commenting, “You were supposed to be brilliant without effort, or to accept your limitations and get a fourth class degree.”

The professor himself was unable to attend the birthday celebrations because he was too unwell. However, the guests enjoyed a pre-recorded version of the lecture in which Hawking spoke of the happiness he felt knowing that he had made a small contribution to our understanding of the universe. He concluded with the following message to his wellwishers, “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”