Campaigning with Oxford

Instinctively the Englishman is no missionary, no conqueror. He carries his English weather in his heart wherever he goes and it becomes a cool spot in the desert, and a steady and sane oracle amongst all the deliriums of mankind. Never since the heroic days of Greece has the world had such a sweet, just, boyish master. It will be a black day for the human race when scientific blackguards, conspirators, churls and fanatics manage to supplant him.

George Santayana, Soliloquies in England, 1916


........The generalized influence of the [Oxford] university in the country at large may be seen in the training and broadcasting of thought in society, the inculcating of a consensus of moral and intellectual standards, a common background of discourse necessary to hold society together in spite of disagreements and disputed points. The new conception of the role of the university in the state was emphasized by the state visits of the queen, attended by privy councillors, court and ambassadors, when she took part in the disputations and academic exercises, hard the sermons, saw the plays, attended the services and enjoined learning and keeping to their studies upon the scholars. As she mounted Shotover Hill, along the old road to London, on a Sept afternoon in 1566 she turned to look back on the city, beautiful then with the country up to its walls:’ farewell, Oxford; farewell, my good subjects! Farewell, my dear scholars: pray God prosper your studies! Farewell, farewell!

Rowse, A L, Oxford in the history of the Nation

I have made a fair way to go into the Library privately when I please, and there to sit from 6 o’clock in the morning to 5 at night….i have made the second Keeper (Verneuil) my friend and servant, who promised me his key at all times to go in privately; when as otherwise it is not opened above four hours a day. He hath pleasured me so far a to let me write in his counting-house, or his little private study, in the great public Library, where I may very privately write, and lock up all safely when I depart thence.

Sir Richard Napier








Giving to the Annual Fund

The Annual Fund provides the opportunity for alumni and friends to give to any part of the Collegiate University. As its name suggests, the Annual Fund seeks support each and every year, from both existing and new donors. Our main objective is to ensure there are funds available to allow the flexibility to respond quickly and appropriately to the areas of greatest need within Oxford. Your donations, combined with those of others, make a significant and immediate impact upon the quality of the Oxford experience for our students.

www.ox.ac.uk

Campaiging in Henley with John Howell

I've been back on the campaign trail in Henley and South Oxfordshire with our candidate John Howell. He'll make a great MP, with his knowledge of all the local issues. So please, come and campaign in Henley and if you live in the area, get out and vote Conservative: David Cameron
www.conservatives.com

David Cameron said he would not shirk from discussing public morality and claimed that social problems were often the consequence of individuals’ choices. “We talk about people being ‘at risk of obesity’ instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise,” he said. “We talk about people being at risk of poverty, or social exclusion: it’s as if these things — obesity, alcohol abuse, drug addiction — are purely external events like a plague or bad weather.
www.adamsmith.org/blog and timesonline 9 July



....We either unleash a full-hearted attack on the nannying, mollycoddling, Harriet Harperson hopelessness of our times, or else too many of our children will grow up fat, unhappy, or violent; we will never win Wimbledon.....www.boris-johnson.com

.......I had never been to Wimbledon before, and I discovered that it is just about the sublimest thing this country has to offer. Oh it wasn’t just the flummery of the Royal Box, though I must say that the quality of the entertainment was stratospheric. It was the game that was the thing. It was the theatre. It was a pageant that told you all you needed to know about the human condition.

Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph, 8 July