Oxford No 1

Ha! We might not beat them in the Boat Race every year or very often at all in fact(though we did this year) but we're now No 1 in the Guardian's annual education guide! The newspaper's university league table, which assesses teaching quality, staff-student ratios and graduate job prospects, has placed Oxford at the top, ahead of Cambridge, Imperial College, SOAS and LSE (full list).

More good news for me, having read European studies, is that Oxford ranked No 1 also in politics!

So maybe that dream job is just around the corner?! Employers should be flocking to hire me!

New Feature

I've added a new permanent section in the right column - where I try to enlighten my readers by suggesting reading materials, both fact and fiction! I welcome comments, reviews, reading tips, etc.!

A Voice from Victorian Past

The latest edition of Oxford Today, the University of Oxford tri-annual alumni magazine had a little notice about a time capsule that was found while doing renovation work on the Sheldonian Theatre. For those of you who don't know the University, or the city of Oxford for that matter, the Sheldonian is the venue for matriculation (Oxford lingo for being officially and ceremonially registered as a student) and graduation as well as various concerts and lectures. The article tells us:

Builders "discovered a metal time capsule left by a worker in 1901 when the [painted] ceiling was last dismantled for repairs. Inside the capsule was a hand-written note from builder Frank Morrill, together with a pair of Victorian workman's trousers and some tools, including a bradawl. Mr Morrill gives instructions to whoever finds the 'valuable treasure' to hand them over to a museum, before signing off, 'Yours in ashes?'. Mr Jeffrey Hackney, Chairman of the Curators of the Sheldonian, said the trousers will be offered to a local museum in line with Mr Morrill's wishes."

I wonder what the 21st century builder would leave behind?

Vote Oui

"If we say no to the Constitution to say no to the Europe we don't like, then we end up with the Europe we don't like."

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, MEP (and leader for the 1968 revolt in Paris)

What Has Europe Ever Done for Us?

"It's not an uncommon question and one that is not unreasonable. Europe's contribution to your daily life is not always obvious, but decisions taken on a European level have fundamentally improved thousands of small and big things ranging from cheaper phone calls to European wide health coverage."

Tell a friend!

The EU Welcomes Bulgaria and Romania

Well, not yet, but the European Parliament gives green light to these two remaining candidates from the Central and Eastern European (original) batch. The Parliament doesn't have the formal right to grant membership but is able to push for postponement by a year if a country fails to implement all measures deemed necessary to allow accession, through the so-called safeguard clause. Both countries still have a few outstanding reforms to take care of but seem to be on schedule to join the EU in 2007 as planned.

Meanwhile, several other countries may become EU members in the future...

"Who wants a sweet with the wrapper still on?"

The above refers to a saying in Africa, which contributes to African socities' distrust of condoms. A recent article in the New York Times tells the sad story of many people, especially women, in this part of the world. Titled "When marriage kills" it deals with the fact that marriage is probably the No 1 "carrier" of HIV and Aids.

"Sex kills all the time, particularly here in Africa. But prudishness can be just as lethal. President Bush is focusing his program against AIDS in Africa on sexual abstinence and marital fidelity, relegating condoms to a distant third. It's the kind of well-meaning policy that bubbles up out of a White House prayer meeting but that will mean a lot of unnecessary deaths on the ground in Africa. The stark reality is that what kills young women here is often not promiscuity, but marriage. Indeed, just about the deadliest thing a woman in southern Africa can do is get married."

If you're located in or visiting Sweden, do pay a visit to the excellent exhibition on HIV/Aids at the Museum of World Culture in Göteborg.

April Fool's Day

I discovered this great site for April Fool's Day hoaxes where the No 3 is a Swedish classic: Instant Colour TV.

"In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, all viewers could now quickly and easily convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen, and they would begin to see their favorite shows in color. Stensson then proceeded to demonstrate the process. Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of people, out of the population of seven million, were taken in. Actual color tv transmission only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970."

Don't forget the comments! For example,

"It's all true. I should know. It was the very first time my dad got the nylons off my mother. Nine months later, I was born."

or

"the Norwegians had a similar one in the sixties: It was told in the news on the only TV channel that if you turned of all powerconsuming devices in the house, except for the television set you would get color. The funny part was that if you were staning in your window you could see the "darkness" spreading while people turned of all lightsources to verify the claim."