Friday 1 May 2009

Only in Oxford...


...would you spend a Thursday evening eating overpriced pub grub (£10 for a slab of crumbed chicken in a dry bun) with students from Poland, The States, The Netherlands and Italy and then ride down in your Converse to join a bunch of English undegrads hear Jack Straw, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, present a case for why Labour should win the next election (on the basis that it is more committed to substantial equality than the Conservatives) and explain why the British Goverment did not lie to the public about the presence WMDs in Iraq; how there was no dishonesty just wrong information and that it was a matter of public confidence being lower than it should be. Only in Oxford would you find yourself unlocking your bike right next to the MP himself as he jumped into the back of a shiny cobalt van surrounded by a bunch of geezers in black suits. Only I would be so desperate for attention as to ask them for a lift back to my College, "plenty of room fellas". I got a couple of chuckles for my troubles (Mmm...tasty doggie biscuit treats).

Am off to Ben's Big Gig tonight with a load of friends. You can watch it live at this site from 8pm-10:30pm GMT. It's geek pop that Demi Moore thinks is "hilarious" and to which posh celeb chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has given the thumbs up (or the pointy finger).

6 comments:

John Flood said...

Poor guy...sounds desparate if he's begging for votes around the colleges...probably looking for a sinecure when he's booted out....

Academic, Hopeful said...

Yeah, Jack was probably more desperate than me. He was gushing with paternalism amongst the Labour kiddies. He was definitely a very humourous, knowlegeable guy and shut down a couple of students pretty quickly for poorly constructed criticisms. On one occasion he felt bad though for, as he said, "satirising" a young woman who had asked about the connection between widening of education and it 'dumbing down'.

Academic, Hopeful said...

it = its

Anonymous said...

Did you really ask for a lift? That's fabulous.

Academic, Hopeful said...

Yes.

Good Enough Woman said...

Wow! You are funny AND ballsy!