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Jodie Marsh hits Oxford University
Topless glamour model Jodie Marsh is set to address the Oxford Union together with strip club owner Peter Stringfellow and David Beckham's former "assistant" Rebecca Loos.
The unlikely trio will join the ranks of world statesmen and leading literary and religious figures who have been invited into the university debating chamber. Former speakers at the debates include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama, but this term Loos, famous for allegedly having an affair with David Beckham, will chat about celebrity life while the debating society will hear Marsh's opinion that she 'would rather be good-looking than good'.
The news seems to support Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's assertion that the Union was "the last bastion of free speech in the western world". Topless glamour model Jodie Marsh is set to address the Oxford Union together with strip club owner Peter Stringfellow and David Beckh... more -
Oxbridge lectures set for iTunes
Oxford and Cambridge University are to make lectures by leading academics available through iTunes.
Cambridge says it will bring the work of its Nobel prize-winning academics in reach of a much wider public.
Oxford University says it will publish 150 hours of video and audio material of lectures and ideas from "world-leading thinkers".
These are the latest UK universities to provide free education content through the online downloading software.
A spokeswoman for Cambridge University says the idea is to "lift the veil" on the university, using iTunes to put lectures and talks from its experts into the public domain. Oxford and Cambridge University are to make lectures by leading academics available through iTunes. ... more -
Shroud of Turin stirs new controversy
Is the Shroud of Turin -- which allegedly bears the image of a crucifixion victim -- the burial cloth of Jesus?
In 1988, science seemed to put that question to rest.
Radiocarbon dating by three separate laboratories showed that the shroud originated in the Middle Ages, leaving the "shroud crowd" reeling. Shroud skeptics responded, "We told you so." The Catholic Church admitted that it could not be authentic. Many scientists backed away.
But John Jackson, one of the shroud's most prominent researchers, was among those who insisted that the results made no sense. Too much else about the shroud, they said, including characteristics of the cloth and details in the image, suggested that it was much older.
Twenty years later, Jackson, 62, is getting his chance to challenge the radiocarbon dating. Oxford University, which participated in the original radiocarbon testing, has agreed to work with him in reconsidering the age of the shroud.
If the challenge is successful, Jackson hopes to be allowed to reexamine the shroud, which is owned by the Vatican and stored in a protective chamber in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. Is the Shroud of Turin -- which allegedly bears the image of a crucifixion victim -- the burial cloth of Jesus? ... more -
Human malaria jab tests nearing
A type of malaria vaccine for humans is to be tested, following the success of trials undertaken with animals.
There is currently no vaccine for the illness, which kills between two and three million people every year. Oxford University scientists, part of an international team, reported, in the journal Nature Medicine, that its virus-based jab worked well in mice. Initial small-scale human safety trials of the vaccine are now expected to start next year.
Other researchers have been working towards an effective malaria vaccine, and some candidates are already in trials in humans in malaria-affected countries. However, the Oxford scientists say theirs may be more effective against the "blood stage" of the illness, in which parasite numbers rise sharply in the bloodstream after bursting out of cells, causing severe illness, or death.
The scientists behind this vaccine believe that it can trigger a massive immune response against the parasite at this point. The method involves two viruses, a common cold virus (adenovirus) and a pox virus, both of which have been engineered to be harmless in themselves, but to produce a protein on their surfaces which matches one found on the outside of the malaria parasite.
Read more... A type of malaria vaccine for humans is to be tested, following the success of trials undertaken with animals. ... more -
Indian students among the best in the world say Oxford University
The Oxford University considers Indian students among the best in the world and would like more of them joining its campus, Chancellor Chris Patten has said.
The university, which produced the likes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has presently 257 Indian students on roll. But one-third of its students are from China.
"We want more Indian students because we want the best in the world to come to Oxford," Mr. Patten said. Most of the Indian students are in the Said Business School.
"About a quarter of the students are doing MBAs...but I would like to see more in social sciences and humanities, doing both under-graduate and post-graduate work," he said.
Though Indians are less in number, they have won more scholarships than the Chinese.
Last year, they won 54 different scholarships, including the prestigious Rhodes scholarship, according to an Oxford journal. "They (Indians) probably got more than China," the Chancellor said.
He said the number of scholarships may go up as the university improves its financial position.
"I hope as we develop our endowments we will be able to offer many more (scholarships) to post-graduate students in the next few years," Patten said. The university has developed a Master’s programme in South Asian studies.
For a one-year MBA programme, it could cost as much as Rs. 40 lakh, including the cost of tuition fee, boarding and lodging and the out-of-pocket expenses.
"It is a different world out here...We are gaining immensely," said Karandeep Singh Vohra, pursuing MBA at the Said Business School.
http://www.worldamazingrecords.com The Oxford University considers Indian students among the best in the world and would like more of them joining its campus, Chancellor... more -
How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?
Author of The God Delusion in person is a lot more open-minded than his critics would have you believe. Peter McKnihgt decided to ask him about the first, and in particular about the many criticisms levelled at him and his most recent book, the bestselling The God Delusion. Author of The God Delusion in person is a lot more open-minded than his critics would have you believe. Peter McKnihgt decided to ask ... more
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Child maths prodigy 'working as a prostitute'
A child prodigy who was one of the youngest students to be admitted to Oxford University is now working as a prostitute in Manchester, it has been claimed. A child prodigy who was one of the youngest students to be admitted to Oxford University is now working as a prostitute in Manchester,... more
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Why do we believe in God? £2m study prays for answer
Oxford University announces a study to find out why almost every society on earth has some form of religion. Was a belief in a god or gods essential to our evolution, or merely a by-product of it? The researchers say they study does not intend to "prove or disprove any aspect of religion", but even studying religion and faith within the framework of human evolution and behavior is bound to cause controversy. Oxford University announces a study to find out why almost every society on earth has some form of religion. Was a belief in a god or ... more
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The Oxford Union - Fascism with a friendly face?
First off, sorry I wasn?t at the protest. I was otherwise engaged, and when what I was doing had finished, I didn?t see much point of travelling down. To those who were there and acted with decorum, good work.
So, should this event have taken place? I don?t think so. Here are my reasons:
1) This had nothing to do with free speech. It was held in a private members club for starters; only 400 odd paying members could go and see the debate in the first place. The aim was apparently for those great minds at Orxford to generally demolish any arguments of the fascist and the holocaust denier until they were left hanging on to their pretty shabby beliefs. Well, from what I heard from some of the people who were in there, when Irving and Griffin were talking a number of ?educated? people were nodding along hmmming in at least partial agreement of understanding. So, that aim went out of the window then.
2) It seems to me that the debate about whether or not the Union debate should go ahead was purely academic. People were humming and harring about it, some arguing that it?s a restriction on free speech not to let them speak etc. Well, the way I see it people were blurring the lines between controversiality and danger. To be controversial, get TV time and publicity etc is one thing, but to actively endanger people by inviting the BNP, Combat 18 and whatnot in to Oxford at the same time as legitimising a fascist platform is another. Oxford University was actually advising black students not to leave their residences the night of the protest.
Let?s face it guys - the term ?freedom of expression? is vague however you look at it. And when you start to apply it as a literal blanket statement, people can get hurt. You can easily legitimise the protest on a utilitarian basis; the people protesting were firstly larger in number than those actively supporting the debate, and those protesting were also there in the name of the greater good. I can bet you now that not one of those protesters were feeling great that some people might label them as destroyers of free speech, but when the two people inside that building would not have breathed the same air, let alone listened to someone?s point of view simply because they are homosexual, non-white, Jewish etc is simply unacceptable. Why are we even having this debate in the first place?
And as for the Oxford Union, the less said the better. Luke Tyrl is not the accomplished politician he thinks he is. When your own university and even the Comission on Equality and Human Rights is telling you this debate shouln?t go ahead, what spurs you on to be so arrogant as to ignore any call of concern? Plenty of security was put on for the two fascists inside the building, from Union security to the lovely Combat 18, but what about the people outside in the streets, lost in the meleé of bodies and voices?
What would people have thought if Nick Griffin had stood up and said:
?The electors of Millwall did not back a post-modernist rightist party, but what they percieved to be a strong, disciplined organsation with the ability to back up it?s slogan ?defend rights for whites? with well directed boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and not rational debate.?
But of course Griffin is a very intelligent man. He caters for his audience very well. He can act as the oppressed minority in his own country when he wants to. And of course, the bastion of free speech, the Oxford Union, beat down its detractors, ignoring the protesters who broke in and those shouting outside and carried on because they were right. That?s the problem with blind belief - you don?t listen to any other point of view because you are right. End of story. First off, sorry I wasn?t at the protest. I was otherwise engaged, and when what I was doing had finished, I didn?t see much point of ... more -
Oxford students rise up against fascism
Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Oxford Union to voice disapproval of the two controversial speakers invited there to speak: the BNP leader Nick Griffin who heads an organisation that wants to see millions of people deported from the UK because they do not regard them as truly British, and historian David Irving, who is a convicted Holocaust denier.
"Scuffles broke out as anti-fascist groups yelled "Shame on you" at members filing into the union building, and the police shut the gates with the chamber only half full. While a handful of students crushed against the main gate to create a diversion, 30 others scaled the wall and barged past the tight security, occupying the area around the debating table until they were persuaded to leave."
This brings to question freedom of speech. Who is entitled? Who should be allowed to voice their opinions? Is the Oxford Union wrong in inviting these controversial viewpoints? What do you think? Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Oxford Union to voice disapproval of the two controversial speakers invited there to speak: the... more -
Irving to lecture at Oxford?
The head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has asked Oxford University's debating society to review its decision to invite holocaust denier David Irving to speak at a free speech forum. The head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has asked Oxford University's debating society to review its decision to in... more
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Jesse Jackson calls for Oxford University to increase ethnic quota
Outspoken Civil Rights figurehead Rev. Jesse Jackson has deemed Oxford University's 1% ratio of black students currently enrolled as "unnatural". Outspoken Civil Rights figurehead Rev. Jesse Jackson has deemed Oxford University's 1% ratio of black students currently enrolled... more
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