The New Daily Journal

As someday it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got an ordered list, I've got an ordered list
Of mathematical offenders, numbers that ain't round,
Which never would be missed, which never would be missed.

There's the pestilential nuisances of functions we must graph,
All lecturers of V&M who offer us no laughs,
Those crucifying problems of Numbers and Sets
On things like countability, and other things we've met,
And all third order ODEs when forcing terms exist,
I've got them on the list, I've got them on the list!

(Chorus) He's got them on the list, he's got them on the list
And they'd none of them be missed, they'd none of them be missed!

J. M. F. Tsang

Yesterday, Dr. Robin Walker, Junior Bursar of Queens' College, circulated an email to students and staff:

Moving the Porters' Lodge to its temporary location behind the hedge at W staircase has reduced the public profile of the Porters' Lodge, made it more difficult for the Porters to have oversight of the security of the college, and made it more difficult for the Porters to respond in a timely fashion to incidents in college.

We are therefore introducing CCTV monitoring of various areas of college, in addition to the existing CCTV monitoring of the Library and of the vehicular entry to college.

The areas being monitored include (subject to technical feasibility):
- Dokett Gate;
- cycle sheds behind Friars;
- Old Court gate entrance;
- the Round building site;
- the perimeter gates outside Fisher Drive;
- the Cripps cycle sheds;
- the ground floor of Essex Building;
- the 4th floor corridor of Cripps Court;
- the underground car park.

These areas fall into one or more of the following categories:
- perimeter security (gates);
- safety issues (the Round building site);
- out of sight areas with objects of value (others).

This immediately sounded suspicious to me for two reasons.

Firstly, I could not reconcile myself with the idea that moving the Porters' Lodge would make it "more difficult for the Porters to have oversight of the security of the college" and make it "more difficult for the Porters to respond in a timely fashion to incidents in college". The new position is in fact closer to Fisher and the back of Cripps, and it takes less than half a minute to walk between the old and the new positions of the Porters' Lodge.

Secondly, why on the 4th floor corridor of Cripps? I can understand why installing CCTV around gates, Essex Building, the car park and cycle sheds would be defensible: in fact, I was surprised to hear that no such features were in place already. But what is there of interest on the 4th floor of Cripps? The offices of Fellows are locked, and so are the conference rooms.

I did not pursue this matter as I do not live on that floor and rarely go there, but other students did. The JCR Committee has therefore "met specifically to discuss the issue". According to the Committee, the following:

-At the time Dr Walker sent his email, the only cameras that had been installed were the ones in this residential area.

-It has subsequently emerged that the decision to install CCTV cameras in this residential area was made without consultation or approval from the Tutors or the Dean of College, who only became aware of the cameras after their installation.

-The decision was made entirely by the Bursary - therefore at no point were the implications for student privacy and welfare discussed by the members of college tasked with such concerns.

-The JCR was not consulted at any point during the decision making process.

If this is the case, then it angers me greatly. The only cameras that had been installed were the ones in Cripps. What purpose do they have? If it really is necessary to install cameras at all (bearing in mind that the Porters have been without cameras for so long, and Queens' is still standing), then why in Cripps first, and why not by the gates or the cycle sheds?

Why was the Dean of College, the man in charge of college security, not consulted about this matter of college security? Or the Tutors? Or the JCR?

The JCR Committee, having met, "decided that the issue is significant enough to call a college referendum". JCR members were invited to :

1. The JCR should support the installation of CCTV around the perimeter of college.
2. The JCR should oppose the use of CCTV in corridors and staircases leading to residential rooms.
3. The JCR should support the active consultation of the tutors and the JCR Committee in matters that affect the privacy of students.

I voted No, Yes and Yes respectively. Actually, for the first proposition, I might say that the JCR should neither support nor oppose the installation of CCTV around the perimeter of college: it is a lesser violation of privacy and conveys more benefits, but I am in no hurry to endorse unnecessary projects: I do not believe the recent changes around the site will make security any worse.

I hope you can see why I voted this way, and that I have persuaded you to do similarly. Please feel free to comment below.

Aspiration. Examinations. Insurrections. Classical investigations. Graduation. Depression. Examinations. School production. Cultural education. Relaxation. Confirmation! Celebrations. Preparations. Tuition. Translation. Matriculation. Audition. Meditation. Actions and bijections. Preoccupation. Rejection. Incantations. Christmas delectations. Reconciliation.

Since it has recently been Christmas, there have been a lot of musical events and church services going on, in a few of which I have participated. (A few weeks ago, I advertised our carolling in town, which in spite of the tempest, storm and wind and the efforts of some annoying Scrooge-like bureaucrat raised some sixty pounds for Link Community Development.)

I noticed the following: How is it that singers, unaccompanied and largely unconducted, may stay in time and tune even though an individual would tend to go out? A congregation saying a prayer would have people speaking roughly in time of each other, even if the priest leading the prayers is quiet and without a microphone. When applauding, we tend to get a haphazard and incoherent sound, but members of an audience sitting near each other tend to clap in time with each other. How can such behaviour be modelled?
Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, Prime Minister David Cameron said to an audience in Oxford that the UK is a Christian country, and that "we should not be afraid to say so". His speech was welcomed by Muslim leaders across the country, saying that Islam and Christianity share many ideas.

I might be tempted to agree with Mr. Cameron's statement that the UK is a Christian country, on a factual level. Certainly, the laws of this country were mostly based on Christian ethics, and the majority of Britons for the majority of the history of Britain have been Christian. But the present is harder to judge. Read the rest of this entry »

This coming Sunday, 18 December, there will be a Carol Service at St. Mary's Wivenhoe. It will start at 6pm. Among the things on the menu are "And the Glory of the Lord" from Handel's Messiah.

Then, on Tuesday, there will be the Carols on the Quay, at 8pm.

There are also the Midnight Mass and the Eucharist.

From experience, singing is fun, and Christmas is fun. Therefore, singing near Christmas would be fun. Therefore, we should do it. Specifically, on 23 December, from 1 onwards, in Culver Square. Any money that we raise shall go to Amy's money-raising for Link Community Development.

Naturally, people should join in. Here's the Event on Facebook: Carolling.