OUCA’s first speaker event of Michaelmas term was with Felicity Buchan, the new Conservative MP for Kensington. Educated in Scotland, she came to Christ Church a year early, studying law, before going into banking and then politics. As MP for Kensington, a seat that was won by only 150 votes last year, she was keen to highlight the difficult but ultimately rewarding nature of being MP for a marginal seat.

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley has a character state that “Everything must have a beginning…and that beginning must be linked to something that went before.” A piece of obvious reasoning, this has dogged philosophers and astrophysicists for as long as there have been people doing philosophy and astrophysics, rather than proper jobs.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, and China’s emergence into world markets it seems like capitalism has little place to go on earth, unless we start selling water to the fish, what now? If we want continued growth, continuing to find efficiencies and new technologies can keep us going for only a while: instead we must boldly go…

“If it were done when ’tis done”, schemed Macbeth, “then ’twere well it were done quickly.” Clearly the Scottish Tories know their Shakespeare, as last week’s defenestration of Jackson Carlaw and his replacement by Douglas Ross was an infinite improvement on the Thame of Glamis’ bloody coup.

Juan Dávila (Social Secretary) is a first year reading Engineering Science at St. John’s College

The lazy civil servant has often served as a boogeyman for the right, after all every election we claim that we will lower taxes and restrain spending by reducing waste i.e. improving efficiency. We almost require that there be a bloated civil service so that we can get elected. When we do, we inevitably hack and slash, in what I am sure is a genuine attempt at fiscal responsibility. I will however argue for the opposite approach, that we should increase the pay of many of the top public officials and reform the payment structure.

William Atkinson is a second year reading History at Christ Church

Both here in Britain and across the Atlantic, we are blessed to be led by Renaissance Men. They may not strut about in tights and ruffs, have predilections for beheading heretics or enjoy marrying their cousins, but both Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are polymaths of many talents. They are far from just politicians. They are business magnates, magazine editors and reality TV stars. Not for them the stolid world of PPE, the Spado-cracy and the long, hard climb up the greasy pole so beloved of some of our friends in the Union. The Prime Minister and President have instead made their names in the public spheres. They have won their fame and fortune first and foremost among the ordinary man and woman, not the droids of SW1. We know them as characters: entertainers, lovers and possessors of interesting hair.

Aurora Guerrini (Communications Director) is a DPhil student reading Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at Worcester College

Bespectacled and dressed in the traditional Tory blue, Edwina Currie burst onto our screens with a brilliant smile and a cheerful laugh as she joined OUCA for a virtual Speaker Event in the second week of this term. Over the course of ninety-five brilliant minutes, Currie explored topics ranging from feminism to her now very active, and quite amusing, Twitter account.

Edward McLaren is a first year reading English at Keble College

One can remember his life by imagining it painted, and, depending on the content of each frame, render himself either the proudest or the most ashamed of its public witnesses.

Adam James (Secretary, Ex-Political Officer, Ex-Whip) is a second year reading Jurisprudence at Hertford College

Anyone else remember the meme at the beginning of lockdown? Panicking consumers bought toilet paper as if it were gold dust. Now, of course, as the public slowly realised that the supply chain had not been interrupted to the extent that they initially feared, there is once more toilet paper in my local supermarket, and in most others across the country. But what did this initial panic tell us about the trust that the public has in the capitalist system?

Toby Morrison (Ex-President) is a final year PPEist at Magdalen College

Lockdown has had a funny effect on all of us. I for one seem to be struggling to find my sense of humour. This could be something to do with sitting next to a dog all evening who does nothing but sigh. We’ve all been stuck at home for almost two months and I’m beginning to wander what has happened to us.