Letters to the Editor
Cam ‘paining’ news?
Dear Sir,
I began reading last week’s front-page article “Oxford Boy for Hire on Internet” with interest, however I finished it in dismay. Had I picked up a copy of The Daily Mail by mistake? Apparently not. For anyone that missed it, perhaps I could summarize: adult alleged by friend to have engaged legally in world’s oldest profession; no action taken.
Did I miss something • where was the story in this article? What exactly was it about this piece that made you think it constituted front-page news? Perhaps we are supposed to be outraged or surprised that a student at Oxford should do such a thing; as if matriculation should confer on us a “superior” moral code. Yawn. Personally, I couldn’t help thinking that “Julian” deserves more credit than condemnation.
After all, isn’t registering a limited company to sell oneself for sex on the Internet a little more imaginative than waiting until the end of one’s degree and then selling out to Procter & Gamble?
Regards, Chris Hinds
Wadham
Don cha know
Dear Sir,
How substantiated was your claim last week that ‘prostitution is rife among Oxford’s academic community’ and that ‘dons are escorts’ biggest customers’? Although it makes sense demographically - dons tending to be middle aged, single, and male (predominantly), this comment is potentially very damaging to the university. Without any hard facts or verifiable evidence to support this ‘anecdotal quip’ from an ‘unnamed’ previous escort worker, the claim seems somewhat gratuitous and highly irresponsible to have been printed by the student press.
I advise that The Oxford Student should take greater care in discerning between reliable and unreliable sources, and refrain from recklessly and needlessly destroying the university’s reputation to the detriment of all its members.
Name and address witheld
Anim-osity
Dear Sir,
The media coverage of the on going confrontation between pro-animal testing, and extremist animal rights factions has been inescapable of late, and perhaps rightly so.
But presenting the debate as an evenly matched discussion between two legitimate sides seems entirely ridiculous when considering the violent and unconstitutional intimidation tactics used by certain animal rights cells. The rights of interest groups to protest in a liberal democracy is a wonderful thing. But freedom always comes with limitations.
In a climate where fundamentalist religious groups have their speech restricted, it does seem bizarre that certain terrorristic strains of animal rights movements still have their arguments countenanced. Why is it that hostile, dangerous and extremist factions get to define the rules of the game? Why?
Name witheld
Pembroke College
A bit of a giggle-o
Dear Sir,
Thanks for the inspiration that your article on male escorts gave me.
When I read the piece there was one word that came to mind: ‘genius’. I think that more Oxford students should take advantage of their socially elite intellectual and social status to rake in the cash! I, for one, will be starting immediately.
‘Randy’ Mansfield College.
25th May 2006