Oxford and Cambridge current students

[sandybayley]

Nearly filled up the old one...

There are nearly 2.5 million university students in the U.K. Together they could make their voices heard. Look at the result when 2020 A level students protested in the streets following the award of unjust results.

DS2 (O) had his end of term report - which went well - but it all feels very anticlimactic. He's simply gone straight on - seamlessly - to reading/ note-taking for next term's option and revision for collections and it doesn't feel at all as if he's completed his second term at Oxford - no social life, no final drinks/ formal hall, no Oxford, no peer contact at all. It's increasingly difficult to sit back at watch, as a parent and be unable to do anything. If I get the chance I'll also do my bit communicating with BJ's office via email and let's hope it makes some difference.

DS1 (C) is now in his final week of term and is more relaxed about things but also feels like life is passing by and all he does is study and spend time with family. I really don't know how either of them will be able to find people to share a household with in the second year nor how colleges will do room balloting if virtually no freshers are in residence.

I too am amazed how little there's been in the media about students stuck at home or isolated in uni halls. Perhaps the general public believes most students are now back and enjoying student life with their peers again, when in fact, there must be thousands still left behind, back at home.

King's Cambridge have announced that the tours start up on 12 April so surely that must mean they will be taking students back after Easter too?

Ooh, that's good to hear, @SeasonFinale. DS had a summer job in 2019 as a visitor guide at King's and was wondering if there might be work going this summer. (Visitor guide basically meant checking people's tickets on the door, but he was always happy if he could display a bit of his history knowledge about the king who build the chapel etc ).

@DadDadDad

Ooh, that's good to hear, *@SeasonFinale*. DS had a summer job in 2019 as a visitor guide at King's and was wondering if there might be work going this summer. (Visitor guide basically meant checking people's tickets on the door, but he was always happy if he could display a bit of his history knowledge about the king who build the chapel etc ).

Has he never fancied punting? The tales the punters tell are always good for either info or a laugh

@SeasonFinale

King's Cambridge have announced that the tours start up on 12 April so surely that must mean they will be taking students back after Easter too?

Can you imagine running tours when students can't return?!

I believe I read that in Scotland students can return from 5th April. Hopefully this will put pressure on our government.

Has he never fancied punting? The tales the punters tell are always good for either info or a laugh

I think punting is not one of his strengths. Yes, I've gleaned many snippets from listening to passing punt chauffeurs over the years. I was a bit confused when I heard one passing Darwin college telling his passengers that the original house there was where Charles Darwin grew up. It was only when I checked later I realised it was nonsense (Darwin grew up in Shrewsbury, I believe).

I think I had a different take on what the PM 'said' on that Twitter post at the weekend to everyone else on this thread. I took little notice of it TBH as it just felt like sloppy wording from the PM (for which he has previous form) rather than anything to worry too much about at this stage.

This may be because I am an optimist by nature or it may be because there isn't anything of substance. Either way there hasn't been any pick up of it in the mainstream media (I don't count The Tab as mainstream) so I think our lot will be back for Trinity with the way the data is going at the moment.

But as I said I'm an optimist about such things.

I've listened again and am not quite sure what can be taken from that Twitter other than the fact that a return as late as September is being mooted.

I also reckon they'll be back for Trinity but it's incredibly irresponsible to dangle the possibility of September in front of current students. He has no shame.

Glad to read upbeat posts from @sandybayley and @goodbyestranger. I am also choosing to be optimistic. Cases are dropping, Wembley Stadium is getting ready for massed gatherings, Trinity term should happen as planned. Fingers are crossed.

Well he said that @goodbyestranger but there is absolutely nothing else said or written anywhere else. Nothing in the roadmap, no other comments anywhere from any official source.

I've worked in Government Comms and be assured (or worried) that things are said by Ministers and the PM from time to time that either don't make sense or have no substance. Civil Servants spend a lot of time trying to smooth it over believe me.

It may be expectation management of course, offer up the possibility of a delay to September so you can deliver a return early. That is cruel but I stand by my view that Trinity return is almost certainly happening.

Well the reason I asked Boris by email to stop mugging off this generation is because he has a responsibility not to say something loose without justification. I'm sure we're all perfectly well aware of miscommunication by those in high places but what he said was clear and to say it was wrong, on every score.

You know, as in give these kids a bleeding break.

I agree @goodbyestranger - the PM is very ill disciplined in his use of language and he should be more careful because these things are poured over by some people (like us).

But I do think it just doesn't make sense, hence why no one has picked it up or reported on it outside of MN and Facebook. I hate it that it's caused what I strongly believe is unnecessary anxiety for people.

Well he fancies himself as the most tremendous wordsmith so I don't think it wrong to call him out on not actually being able to communicate effectively.

Indeed. I hear from people who've worked for him that it's a constant nightmare and they spend a lot of time putting right stuff he's said.

But the same is true for most Ministers. You write the briefing for the event and they say something completely different on the day. There was one Minister I worked for that stuck a 0 on a target he announced and the policy team had to completely change their implementation plans. Needless to say the target was never reached and quietly dropped.

This conversation has taken an extra interesting turn.

Oh I could share some shocking stuff about Government Comms @OhYouBadBadKitten - but I really shouldn't. Needless to say I know enough to make me highly sceptical about the veracity of most things that come out of Minister's mouths. More cock up tgan conspiracy.

Boris is a product of the Oxford tutorial system. Not a particularly shining one, but still.

But the people I'm concerned about are the young ones sandybayley, who on the whole have to take what is said at face value.

Boris may be a product of the tutorial system at Oxford but there are many more factors that make him who he is. Not a great advert but I don't think you can blame Oxford entirely.

I don’t think anyone would blame Oxford at all. He is who he is.

...I did a degree not entirely unrelated to his, Oxford mid-nineties. I recognise the ‘keep speaking and hope to dig yourself out’ trope beloved of humanities students in tutorials, but Boris is no one’s responsibility but his own...