On their marks...
With the death of Lord Jenkins on the 5th January, the coveted position of Chancellor of Oxford University has become vacant for only the fourth time in 70 years. As the search for a new figurehead begins, the time has never been better to investigate the mystical role of the Chancellor, and what it exists for, when it seems to be the Vice-Chancellor who does all the work. ...
Features: Facing the Music
"Our freedom of speech is freedom or death." So said revolutionary black rapper Chuck D on the seminal Public Enemy album Fear of a Black Planet (1990). Yet this freedom has recently come under attack by both Government and media figures following the death of two innocent teenage girls in a Birmingham shootout and the massive increase in firearms offences in recent figures. The So Solid Crew et al were denounced as "macho idiots" and suggested a causal link between their confrontational lyrics and the spate of shootings. Whilst not going as far as to suggest censorship, ministers are apparently in favour of the record industry drawing up some sort of voluntary code of conduct, in essence to censor itself. ...
