Hot air Muldoon
The stone walls may as well have housed an Aga with an ancient dog lazing down in front. But this is Corpus Christi's New Music Room, full to bursting point with poetry die-hards, not an isolated county Armagh farmhouse.
Features: Reclaiming the Cock
Richard Herring would like to make it clear that he is not obsessed with cocks. His argument, cogently presented in the introduction to his new book Talking Cock, is intended to remove any seeds of doubt: "I know that I have written a book called Talking Cock, which takes cocks as its principal subject, and within which I clearly display my vast and detailed knowledge of cocks, cock history, cock anatomy and other cock-related issues... but I am not obsessed with cocks." For the few cynics who remain unconvinced, he eloquently reiterates that "the idea of me having some kind of manhood mania, fuckstick fixation or penile preoccupation is palpable poppycock." ...
Features: Ghost of Ghosts
I am rather nervous about my remarkable rendezvous: Henrik Ibsen's reception in the press was far from friendly. His work has been labelled "revoltingly suggestive and blasphemous", and in 1881 Ghosts was called a "novel and perilous nuisance", a "lugubrious diagnosis of sordid impropriety". I am eager to see what the fuss has been about, and to meet the man who provoked such Victorian outrage. He may of course have been dead for ninety-three years, but it's just past Halloween, and the possibilities are endless. Sure enough, he appears suddenly and out of nowhere......
Features: Life as we know it?
Seeing the gruesome images of abortion circulated by pro-Life groups is not an experience you are likely to forget. The third attempt, at Friday's Council of the Oxford Pro-life society to repeal the ban on their advertising was certain to command attention even if the result was a foregone conclusion. As a firm believer in every woman's right choose, it was reassuring to see a continuing check on the public exposure of a group that has shown itself to be directive and liable to mislead. But the issues surrounding the Life charity are complex, and wider than the Oxford debate.
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Features: The Bottom Line
With the philistines of Britain voting the Sheldonian Theatre the most uncomfortable arts venue in Britain, it falls to one intrepid (or quite possibly merely bored) man, namely me, to traipse round Oxford's theatres, concert halls, cinemas etc. and see if their description was an accurate one. With the trusty (and patented) Arse-O-Meter (a reading of 1 meaning luxurious pampering and a reading of 10 meaning hideous torture) in tow, let us go then, you and I......