Editorial
A party gathers in the cellar of a quite country pub; suited and booted; charm and alcohol flow freely. The "millionaire boys" seem to make good customers; cash to spare and an insatiable thirst.
So what prompts this outwardly charming and apparently harmless group of individuals to cause hundreds of pounds worth of damage in unprovoked attacks on others' property?
To think that the ritualistic destruction of another's belongings is acceptable so long as it is paid for in vast sums? A desire to belong and get on as Harry Mount suggests on this page? Perhaps.
But the driving force behind the Bullingdon Club is money; the belief that having it should entitle you to act as you please, and that its immediate production should instantly solve your problems.
One might prefer to believe these people were solely driven by a deep rooted psychological inferiority complex, but it would be rather generous to attribute anything so logical to the members of The Bullingdon Club who acted so disgracefully.
Years of work have been put into battling this stereotype of Oxford as elitist, arrogant and snobbish institution. In just one evening, the members of The Bullingdon Club in question proved this stereotype is alive and well, though thankfully less frequently to be found than in previous years.
Juvenile, pathetic behaviour like that of some members of The Bullingdon Club undermines the progress of this institution and represents everything that is still wrong within the University.
It would be easy to level criticism at Lincoln College's installation of an O2 mobile telephone mast on the College's Bartlemas Sports Ground even if the college had informed and consulted the JCR.
However the that fact the mast appeared over the Christmas holiday disguised as a tree in what can only be described as amateur fashion shows the college's underhand and deceitful tactics.
The JCR would be well within its rights to ask what the college intends to do with the estimated £6,000 per year income a mobile phone mast generates (the college already has one mast on the sports ground) but above all, they should ask why the college has so summarily disregarded concerns surrounding the health risks posed by these masts.
It is only members of the JCR and MCR who use the 'Barties' sports ground and, disturbingly, new research suggests people are more susceptible to radiation when their body heat levels are high. Obviously this is likely to be the case on a sports ground.
Furthermore, the Lincoln authorities have failed to inform Jesus College students who live less than 100 metres from Lincoln's ground that the mast has been erected.
LMH JCR chose to forego £4,000 it would have received had a mast been installed on college property, Lincoln JCR was not given that option.
In view of the health risks associated with these masts, the college should have put welfare ahead of finance and been open and honest with its junior members.
13th Jan 2005