Issue Seven Winter 2007
Editorial
This term's issue is something of a watershed for The Oxford Forum...
Predictions
Globalised Tongues
DAVID NETTLE considers the fate of linguistic diversity around the world
“Linguists have estimated the proportion of languages that are under threat is as high as 50% or even 90%”
common resources
VANESSA BAIRD offers two contrasting visions of the future
“Fortress Europe/America/rich world becomes a physical reality: armed barriers are erected at borders to protect the haves from the have-nots”
never talk to terrorists
MOZZAM BEGG argues that the solution to domestic terrorism lies in engagement
“if these trends contine more and more people will turn into their communities”
spiritual evolution
REVD CANON DR JANE SHAW considers the challenges ahead for the Church of England
“Is faith propositional as many athiests assume? Or is it personal? Can we think about faith in the same way that we think about science?”
climate politics
MARK MARDELL reflects on the future of the EU's environmental agenda
“it wasn't really a crisis because of the lack of new rules, but a crisis of confidence, of self doubt”
feminist future
FINN MACKAY sees a dark present but a bright future for women's rights
“Much of this violence against women is now being sold as entertainment; as pornography becomes ever more mainstream and the fine line between sex and violence is erased yet further”
accountable schools
DAVID FIGLIO considers the way forward for school testing and league tables
“school accountabilitiy encourages schools to both genuinely improve and artificially inflate measured performance”
auntie shall speak
NICK FRASER considers the future of the BBC in an age of internet, Digital TV and editorial controversy
“probably sooner rather than later, the BBC will have to start charging for some of what it does”
our riotous living
DR LINDSAY MOLYNEUX discusses the future of alternative energy
“wind power is simply a current fashion and like all modern fashions it will fade: it is not the future”
from hype to hope
PROF PETER ANDREWS discusses the range of possibilities that will be opened up by stem cells
“To those of us in the field, it seems more ethically acceptable to use these for advancing biomedical science, then to destroy them for no useful purpose”
best possible world
OLIVER KING considers the prospects for discovering intelligent life on another planet
“while intelligent life might be rare, unintelligent life might be common”
Personality Politics
the case of clinton
PROF STEPHEN WALKER analyses the complex psychology of Bill Clinton
“Clinton's use of the pronoun I is the highest and his use of the pronoun we is the lowest of post-WWII presidents”
the blair-brown project
DR BILL JONES casts fresh light on Blair and Brown's turbulent relationship
“Brown behaved badly in meetings, ignoring cabinet proceedings by reading his own papers and scribbling on them”
cast adrift
DAAN EVERS looks at why voters in the Netherlands are abandoning the centre ground
“the Party for Freedom's main theme is the protection of 'western values' against Islamic influences”
leading the way?
WILLIAM GUMEDE looks at the presidential race in South Africa
“The inadequacies of Zuma mean that the current president is seen by many as the only alternative, even though his re-election would be unconstitutional”
celebrity politics
CLARE FISHER examines the impact of the cult of the celebrity on British politics
“the inheritance tax issue is juxtaposed by a feature on Terry Wogan's slightly too tight trousers”
breaking the code
HELEN CAUNCE takes a look at GYLES BRANDRETH's irreverent journal
“ PM John Major was quite white, his mouth was dry, his hands shook as he held his folder ”
Higher Education
universities challenged
PROF PETER SCOTT argues that New Labour's higher education reforms were tentative and incomplete
“At the heart of New Labour there is a stand-off between 'market' and 'steering' tendencies, which successive secretaries of state have had to manage”
the idea of a university
PROF ANTHONY O'HEAR laments the demise of John Henry Newman's idea of a university
“ A university is first and foremost a place of teaching”
aiming higher
SIR PETER LAMPL explains the work of the Sutton Trust and the motivations behind his philanthropy
“I felt I wanted to do something practical to address this shocking waste of talent ”
education and instability
ZUKI KARPINSKA looks at the challenges posed to education during natural and man-made disasters
“ The funding and risk levels involved in implementing education projects in unstable circumstances are colossal. But what is the alternative? Do nothing?”
baha'is in iran
GEOFFREY CAMERON explains how Baha'is are systematically denied access to higher education in Iran
“The consequences of denying Baha'is access to higher education will resonate for generations”
Crime
creating a scandal
Former governor PROF DAVID WILSON argues that prison is a useless, outdated, bloated institution
“when we start to think of what happens in prisons as scandalous then I know we will ahve begun to travel on the road towards decarceration and abolition”
prisoner of mind
ADRIENNE RIVLIN speaks out for mentally ill inmates let down by the penal system
“as many as nine out of every ten prisoners have at least one mental health disorder”
Mental Health
social psychosis
DR TIM KENDALL attacks psychiatry's tendency to stigmatise mental health patients
“Psychiatry takes some humanity away from the mentally ill, and leaves in its place a fearful stigma”
mad with reason
MIKE JAY investigates the extraordinary Air Loom machine designed by an inmate of Bedlam
“we are in a looking-glass version of a true story - not simply deranged but somehow artful, pointed, inspired, at times even deliberately witty”
Edinburgh Fringe
experimental fringe
JAMES BALL argues the Edinburgh fringe festival is as vibrant as ever
“the production appeals to every sense: unseen hands touch your face, incense is lit somewhere close by, marzipan is teased gently through your lips”
beyond the backstage
EMMA BALLANTINE DYKES gives a fascinating insight into the nuts and bolts of a fringe show
“theatres are created by hijacking the less inspiring buildings of central Edinburgh and disguising them beneath a layer of black cloth, scaffolding and chicken wire”
The future of the fringe
MATTHEW KENNEDY doubts whether the Edinburgh festival can continue to out-perform its rivals
“organisers of the Edingburgh festivals are right to be pleased, but they must pay heed to the old adage that pride comes before a fall”
culture
poetry without borders
TODD SWIFT discusses the ambivalent attitude of Britain's publishing industry to poetry on the internet
“Britain's poetry elite does not want to reach a wider audience. If it does, it has a funny way of showing it”
music and the word
LEO GOUGH internet interviews comic novelist and musician PAUL MICOU
“If I had spent every hour God sent studying say, heart surgery, I would have written about doctors”
