Cambridge 5 – 2 Oxford

The Women’s Blues Lacrosse team continued their Varsity winning streak in Oxford on Saturday, winning 5-2 in a tightly-contested encounter.

The team started brightly, making light of a water-logged, muddy and cut-up pitch. Captain Ellie Walshe led by example, opening the scoring with a neat goal mid-way through the first quarter.

This provided the Oxford girls with a much-needed wake-up call. However, as the Dark Blues surged forward, the treacherous conditions saw Anna Harrison lose balance, slamming into Oxford’s Lauren Kickham, leaving her unable to walk off the pitch and causing one seasoned spectator to comment “Like Teflon, the Oxford pitch is slippery. The game’s half lacrosse, half soxy-boxy.”

The next quarter saw the second goal from Cambridge’s Laura Plant, who made full use of Vice-Captain Angharad West’s gazelle-like running to score a well-worked goal.

As Cambridge continued to assert their dominance over proceedings, Georgie Hurt made space to pass to Alana Livesey, who laid the ball off nicely to Plant. Plant then used her massive guns to tremendous effect, discharging a powerful shot which elicited a smart save from Oxford’s speedy goalie.

However, only moments later, Oxford clawed their way back into the game – against the run of play – with a stunning shot from Emily Sever. The teams went into half-time with the score at 2-1 in the Light Blues’ favour.

The home side came out re-energised from the break and equalised almost immediately. Picking up the ball in Oxford’s fan, Char Houston carried it to just past the half-way line, sending it to captain Claire Sutcliffe on the right wing, who neatly picked out behind-goal attack Leah Templeman. Cambridge all-star Georgie Hurt managed to obstruct Templeman’s drive goalwards, but this failed to deter Houston, who persisted in her attack and managed to find Lister on the other side of the fan. As Lister sprinted towards the goal she was checked to the head by Cambridge skipper Walshe; Lister made no mistake from the resulting penalty, slotting the ball home into the bottom left-hand corner.

Spectator Kate Morland, herself a former Cambridge Lacrosse Blue, chose this moment to make the insightful comment that “Oxford’s defence is quite good today”.

Cambridge surge forward again.

As the third quarter came around, Cambridge’s Hurt stepped up to the mark. Dubbed the ‘Hurt-locker’ by the travelling faithful, she certainly brought Oxford a world of pain.

A well-executed penalty saw the first of her three goals, which nudged Cambridge into a 3-2 lead. Moments after the next draw, Cambridge’s Livesey ran the ball from the half-way line, skilfully cradling the shaft one-handed, before passing it to Hurt who rifled it clinically into the back of the net to give Cambridge the all-important two-goal cushion, doubling her personal tally.

Some three minutes before the end of the quarter, Oxford’s Templeman made use of her cheetah-like speed to carry the ball all the way to the Cambridge goal. However, the ball was intercepted before Oxford could make anything of the attack, Livesey niftily breaking out of the Cambridge half to find Jackie Vullinghs behind the goal. Vullinghs sent the ball onto Hurt, who quick-sticked her way to a hat-trick and sealed the game for Cambridge.

The final quarter saw a series of well-saved shots from both sides, neither team being able to register a further goal and Cambridge having no problems in comfortably closing off a 5-2 victory. The highlight of the quarter was probably an ill-executed Oxford pass, which hit the referee square in the balls. Leggy Kingfisher Ellie Pithers commented “it was definitely my favourite part of the game”.

Elsewhere, the Kingfishers, the Women’s second team, took a 6-4 victory, while the Men’s Blues avenged last year’s crushing defeat with a satisfying 7-5 win. However, the Men’s Seconds and the Mixed team both lost, Oxford winning the encounters 22-1 and 13-5 respectively.

For The Tab’s photos from Saturday’s action, click here.

Speaking exclusively to The Tab, one climber said “we have been planning this for two years” adding “it’s a sport with the potential to ruin your life”

The seasonal head-pieces can be seen on all four pinnacles of the King's chapel, on the Pembroke Porters Lodge spire and throughout the Downing site.

The hats appear on the pinnacles of all four King's chapel spires. Photo: George Marangos-Gilks.

Speaking to The Tab, King's porters expressed confusion about how the tricksters had reached the highest point in the College. They, however, did not believe the culprits to be King's students and were in good humour about the whole affair.

The offending festive wear is also seen on the spire above Pembroke Porters Lodge. Photo: George Marangos-Gilks.

The Night Climbers are Cambridge's secretive building-scaling society. As many as 30 people dabble but the central core has about 10 consistent participants.

Our informant, who obviously wished to remain anonymous, added a warning; "it’s not the same as it used to be – security is everywhere".

This particular climber has never been caught despite a number of close calls. "once I got spotted on the roof of Trinity and a number of porters came and scanned it but i lay low till they left"

When asked about motivation, the climber responded "it gives a real sense of freedom and a perspective of Cambridge that no one else can get".

Currently, 19 out of the original 25 hats are still in place, including on Clare College, Sidney Sussex College, the Pitt building, Corpus Chapel, the New Museum Site and the Old Library. 

The paper, set up in 1931, has been contributed to by five of the winners and one runner-up.

Editor emeritus Patrick Kingsley walked off with the prestigious Student Journalist of the year award whilst Lent 2009’s co-editor, Michael Stothard, was labelled Reporter of the Year.

Ben Riley Smith, Sport’s editor in Michaelmas 2008, won best sports writer.

Zing Tsjeng, current features editor, was named Features writer of the year, beating candidates from York, Sheffield, South East Essex College and co-Cantab, Decca Mulowney.

Charlotte Runcie and current editor Robert Peal came first and second place respectively in the Columnist of the Year award.

Andrew Spyrou, frequent contributor of music reviews, narrowly missed out on the Critic of the Year award in association with NME.

 

Student journalist of the year Patrick Kingsley, of the University of Cambridge, with MediaGuardian editor Jane Martinson and Colin Murray. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/Teri Pengilley

No winners from the 2008 awards were Cantabrigians, making the results even more impressive.

The award for student newspaper of the year went to The Leeds Student.

Hugo Gye, co-editor of Varsity in Lent 2009 told The Tab, “It was the happiest day of my life.

“I’m incredibly proud of Varsity and think it shows that despite the changing world of media, there’s still a place for high quality journalism and I’m please the professionals have regognised that.

The awards were held in London at Camden’s popular Proud Galleries and were hosted by BBC DJ Colin Murray.

This year’s judging panel included Murray; Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow; Today presenter Evan Davis; Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media; Kwame Kwei-Armah, actor, writer and broadcaster; Jay Rayner, Observer restaurant critic; Jane Bruton, editor-in-chief of Grazia; and BBC Radio 5 Live’s Eleanor Oldroyd.

The Varsity team celebrate Kingsley’s victory.

The sportsman, also an ambassador for Greene King, went to The Eagle pub on Benet Street to meet fans and launch the pub group’s support of his 2,800 km ‘Dallaglio Cycle Slam’.

Dallaglio is cycling from Rome to Edinburgh to raise money for Sports Relief and the Dallaglio Foundation.

The trip, beginning on February 14, will take 24 days.

The trip is split into legs of around 700km. Teams of cyclists will join Dallaglio and the other 6 core cyclists for a leg, one of which will be completed with the Greene King team pictured with Dallaglio below.

The rugby player, who played for the Wasps for 20 years, was apprehensive about the 140 km-a-day struggle in the bitter cold.

He told The Tab, “I’m definitely not built for cycling. The lighter you are the better you are at going up hills.”

Dallaglio is definitely not a light chap.

The promotional life-sized cut-out in the pub was, however, as revealed when a couple of male fans made off with it successfully.

Dallaglio was reserved about his predictions for this year’s Varsity rugby match.

“It’s too close to call,” he said.

He did add, though, that the team with a point to prove are usually strongest, and saw Dan Vickerman’s captaincy as crucial: “it’s good to have the experience there,” he said.

It is unclear whether Dallaglio will be making the 2009 Nomura Varsity Match on December 10.

The guys at BBC Switch (err, come again?) have come up with a stroke of genius with ‘The Season’: Switching the Sun, Sea and Sex on a tropical island in shipwrecked to Sun Snow and Sex in Val-d'Isère makes for entertainment gold.

The characters are even the same. The only difference will be the state of their tans at the end: only one gang will resemble pandas (obviously pandas with peroxide tussled hair or a beanie duh).

Like Trinity, the show is so bad it is addictive from the word go.

Never before have I encountered a more cringe-worthy opening scene.

Picture this: Emily and Tommy used to go out. Tommy was Emily’s first love. Now they’re in Val-d'Isère (population: 1,753 and 2,000 metres up a mountain)…together. And it just so happens that they ‘need to have a chat’ about why they are not friends yet.

To top it off, we can be the fly on the wall.

The ten characters are gapers, ‘seasonnaires’ in fact, and are out to have a good time in the French Alps.

Hari knows herself already: She does not like playing games with boys. It’s just not who she is.

She’s seeing Tom, who in every scene seems to need to re-establish with the ‘lads’ that he is not ‘officially’ going out with Hari, and so it’s not a problem that his ex-girlfriend Polly is coming out to see him. And he’s probably still “going to proper cheese on her”.

When, in episode 2, Hari confronts Tom about not telling her Polly was jetting out, he says he didn’t think it was a big deal. ‘Well it is a big deal’, Hari retorts. Yes Tom, it IS a big deal.

Sam is a classic. He’s edgy – complete with red wayfairers and matching tennis head-band. His closet is evidently roomy since his fluorescent beanie is also twinned with a rather fetching t-shirt. nice.

In episode 2 we find that Sam’s broken his hand/wrist/forearm (I don’t know I wasn’t really concentrating), he decides he doesn’t want to not ski for the next three weeks. Solution: go visit your mate, who lives in a caravan surrounded by snow, and casually ask whether he’ll hacksaw the cast off so you can get straight back on the snowboard tomorrow. Mummy really would be proud Sam.

Oscar is another special case. Tom says he flirts with girls. ‘Nah, that’s just me. It’s how I talk to girls’. Yeah but you’ve tried to steal all our girlfriends. ‘Ah, but with you its banter, you know.’

That’s that cleared up then.

And how could I have forgotten Abi? Abi has EVERYTHING told to her by EVERYONE. She knows ALL the gossip.

This is true, and she’s also a massive shit-stirrer. She was the one that went to tell Hari, that Tom’s Polly was coming, that Tom had no basic respect for Hari and she seemed to enjoy every second of it.

There are a bunch of others too, most have been tango’d and have similar difficulty talking to each other. ‘Rah rah rah rah.’

If you have nothing to do, watch it, and if you do have something to do, scrap it and watch it. You will not be unimpressed – or perhaps you will with me for destroying your week seven work ethic. ‘Soz!’

The first three episodes are on iPlayer. Remember, the characters, storylines and relationships are all real, but some scenes have been created for entertainment purposes.

It was revealed in October last year that Cambridge might have to write-off £11m following the gaping fissures that sank the island’s financial industry.

A Uni spokesman at the time revealed that they had £8.5m in the Heritable bank, a UK subsidiary of Landsbanki, and £2.5m in the bank Glitnir.

Churchill bursar, Jennifer Rigby, expressing concern about the financial outlook last autumn, branded it “very, very grim”.

The University confirmed that the forecast was now less frosty: “Overall we are anticipating a substantial recovery in time.”

What is in the balance only represents the tip of the University’s investment iceberg –three per cent of Cambridge’s investments.

A representative added: "There are no knock-on impacts on the university's spending plans.”

The financial crisis hit Iceland especially hard due to the collapse of the three biggest banks, Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing in October last year.

Cambridge City Council investments with Heritable have already begun to be returned. Landsbanki are expected to begin repaying the money it owes in 2010.

The Higher Education Funding Council, working closely with the Government, are attempting to recover all other universities’ investments in the region.

The news comes days after the Icelandic government lifted restrictions on new krona investments earlier this month, moving toward a broader easing of emergency capital controls, after satisfying donors it had made progress on addressing creditor claims stemming from the island’s financial collapse.

Perhaps if Kerry Katona had been advertising the Island, recovery might have come quicker.

After all it is alleged she likes the 'ice'.

Dr Denis MacShane, MP for Rotherham, ordered an Egyptian student to "apologise for all Jews killed by Hamas."

MacShane was participating in a debate on the Middle East last Thursday (October 29th) when he came out with the SCANDALOUS SLUR.

The student, Ossama el Batran, a post-grad at Darwin College, made a point of information from the floor requesting the sympathy on behalf of the Palestinian humanitarian plight, which prompted the comments.

Pro-Israeli MacShane was putting to the floor whether a "Jew's life is worth anything", when el Batran spoke.

El Batran said, "What about an Arab's life?" At this point MacShane walked towards el Batran, pointing aggressively at him, saying "your Arab life is worth as much as a Jew's life and until you denounce the killing of Jews…This is the Cambridge Union. You are not a Hamas representative."

Hannah Perry, a student of Downing College, commented that the student was "a person ostensibly of no link to Hamas."

Perry described his behaviour as "unconscionable. He opened with a xenophobic tone which could be excused as light-hearted Franco-bashing with references to Union President Julien Domercq.

"His tone then became more alarming when he replied to a student making a point of information from the floor."

MacShane's shocking remarks were not well received from the floor. "It's fair to say that everyone was relieved when the former Minister of State for Europe, bowing to cries from the floor, took his seat," Perry said.

She added: "I admired said student, who despite this ridiculous, racist attack from an MP, remained calm."

A few minutes later, El Batran demanded that MacShane take back his earlier comments. He said "I request an apology from the second speaker of the opposition for calling me a Hamas representative just because I said a life was a life," to which he received applause from the audience.

Standing up again, MacShane said he wouldn't apologise until el Batran "stand[s] up and apologise[s] to every Jew killed by Hamas in Palestine."

In his speech minutes later, QC Michel Massih said to el Batran, "I tell you, seek a lawyer my friend."

MacShane told The Tab: "One young man kept shouting at me and interrupted my speech to demand that I apologise for the killing of Palestinians.

"I made the point that Hamas should apologise for killing Jews in israel. I did not accuse him – how could I – of anything.

"I had to leave early otherwise I would have been happy to meet the student for a chat afterwards which I remain happy to do on any future Cambridge visit.

He added: "In the heat of the debate the speaker on his feet has to slap down persistent interruptions."

The incident comes just days after the BBC was embroiled in controversy when BNP leader, Nick Griffin, appeared on Question Time.

On that subject, MacShane is alleged to have called for BBC head, Mark Thompson to resign if there was a rise in racist attacks following Griffin's broadcasted appearance.

Thursday's debate was titled, "This House Believes that Israel Demands too Much and Gives too Little in the Peace Process."

MacShane was not the only Labour MP to participate in the debate: Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, spoke in proposition of the motion.

Other speakers on the proposition were Donald Sassoon a professor at Queen Mary University, Michel Massih member of the Queen's council, Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT National Union of workers, and Lord Hannay of Chiswick, a crossbench life peer and Chair of the United Nations Association UK.

Opposing the motion with MacShane was Ran GIdor, Counsellor of Political Affairs at the Embassy of Israel in London, Stephen Crabb, Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, and Robin Shepherd, Director of International Affairs of the Henry Jackson Society.

MacShane, 61,  was sworn into the Privy Council, the highest advisors to the Queen, in June 2005 and was Minister for Europe between 2002 and 2005.

Born in Glasgow, MacShane was educated at Merton College, Oxford (MA) and London University (Ph D).

Get thinking about your halloween costumes, here’s something to help.