Latest news with #BlavatnikSchoolofGovernment
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rock-dropping seagull closes university building
A University of Oxford building has been closed for almost a week after a seagull broke a glass roof by repeatedly dropping a stone on it. A spokesperson for the Blavatnik School of Government has confirmed the bird caused damage to a glass panel on the roof on Wednesday. In a video posted online by The Telegraph, the bird can be seen bouncing a large stone off the glass roof of the building. A spokesperson for the school said it remained closed while work was undertaken to repair the glass panel. They added: "We hope the building will be open as normal again soon." The school of government is home to visiting professors like human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and former prime minister Rishi Sunak. The building reportedly cost £55m to build and is currently being run by chancellor Rachel Reeves's husband, Nicholas Joicey. Russian-born businessman Leonard Blavatnik donated £75m towards the school. Seagulls are known to drop shellfish on the ground to try to break them and experts believe the rock being dropped could be an extension of this behaviour. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Former PM Sunak takes up Oxford and Stanford roles Amal Clooney appointed to Oxford university role Riba Stirling Prize 2016: Blavatnik School of Government Blavatnik School of Government
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The £55m Oxford University building on the front line of a war between seagulls and mankind
Source: The Oxford Clarion Daphne du Maurier would surely crack a smile from beyond the grave at news that the Blavatnik School of Government – the University of Oxford institution where the leaders of tomorrow are nurtured by a network that includes Rishi Sunak, Amal Clooney and Jacinda Ardern – has been brought to its knees by rogue seagulls. Du Maurier's short story The Birds – which inspired the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name – features thousands of feathered assassins and plays on British anxieties about the government's failure to protect citizens from intruders after the calamity of the Second World War. In a spectacular case of life imitating art, on Wednesday last week the Blavatnik School – which is housed in a shimmering glass building that reportedly cost £55 million to build and which is currently being run by Rachel Reeves's husband, Nicholas Joicey – was ambushed from above. While the rest of Oxford enjoyed the relative peace of the university holidays, Blavatnik – which opened its doors in 2016 – was busy as usual. The building tends to be occupied year-round, offering a refuge for students writing and researching dissertations and keen to enjoy the free coffee its cafeteria offers. But then there came a tap, tap, tapping on the central pane of glass high above their heads. This was followed by a pause, and then more tapping, and finally a loud crack. Was it an intruder hell-bent on learning how to win a mayoral election in a mid-sized city? Or protesters getting a head start on calling out our future leaders? Or irate business owners finding any possible route to talk some sense into Reeves? No, the tapping came from a far more ominous source: hungry seagulls. One of the birds was filmed bouncing a large stone off the glass roof like a basketball in footage thought to have been captured just moments before the pane was shattered. 'From what we can gather, the gulls thought stones they were using to hit the glass were actually eggs and that by cracking them they might get to some yolk,' says a manager on the Oxford University building maintenance team. 'Unfortunately they weren't eggs and even more unfortunately these gulls chose the very worst pane of glass to tamper with.' Julia Gould, a seagull expert who works at Bird Aid (a rescue and rehabilitation centre specialising in gulls), agrees with this hypothesis. 'I would say it's natural for gulls to drop shellfish to try to break them, so this may be an extension of that behaviour,' she says. 'Gulls are also very curious and learn through play, so they could have been trying to see if the stones were food or just practising their technique. Either way, they would not be doing it to annoy people.' Maybe not – but their egg/prawn-hunting antics surely added to what must have already been a stressful week in the Reeves-Joicey household. Joicey is currently the interim chef operating officer of Blavatnik, on secondment from the Civil Service, although perhaps the chaos provided a moment of bonding for the married couple. Because what really is the difference between Donald Trump hurling tariffs at a fragile global economy and a few freewheeling gulls hurling stones at a £55 million glass roof? At least the gulls thought they'd be getting some eggs at the end of it. About 30 minutes after the tapping began, the Blavatnik School made the decision to evacuate. Lectures were cut short, computers were turned off and dissertations were paused mid-sentence as the future leaders of the world shuffled outside to watch their tormentors swoop and scream above them in triumph. 'The building was now open in the centre, so we had no choice but to ask everyone to leave,' says the Oxford University manager, who confirms that the pane of glass did not survive the assault. 'It was pretty urgent because it just wasn't safe.' This was, he says, the first time they have had to deal with a problem like this. Mohammed Ahmed, who runs a newsagent's opposite the School of Government, agrees that the gulls unleashed chaos. 'On Wednesday, everyone rushed out of the building and by Saturday, there were cranes there with people working on the roof for hours,' he says. 'Normally even in the holidays there are conferences and people coming in and out at all hours, but it's been completely deserted for days now.' If this is a battle of man versus bird, then the birds are clearly winning. Five days after the incident, the entire institute is boarded up – the doors are locked and the lights are off. One post-graduate student called Oliver, who has both studied and lectured at Blavatnik, says it is the only time he has ever known it to be closed. 'It is the sort of place that shuts on Christmas Day and that's it,' he says. Still, perhaps this will provide a useful lesson for the politicians who have studied in the building – of which there are many. The school only opened in 2016 and already its alumni have their fingers on the levers of power: they include Marian Schreier, the youngest mayor ever elected in Germany; Labour MP Keir Mather; and ministers and MPs in Yemen and the UAE. Tellingly, this is not the only building-related trouble Blavatnik has experienced in the past few weeks. According to Ahmed, earlier this month protesters shattered a pane of glass next to the front door. Who they were remains unclear – Ahmed heard they were pro-Palestinians, but another student suggests the protest might be to do with founder Len Blavatnik, who gave tens of millions to start the school and who was born in Odesa, Ukraine. Palestine and Ukraine are likely to be the focus of much study by the usual occupants of the building. Yet the human protestors only managed to break a single insignificant pane of glass – allowing Blavatnik to stay open as usual. In contrast, the birds succeeded in forcing the cancellation of a long-awaited heat pump summit, hinting that they could be anti-net-zero gulls. The lesson that every good politician must learn is that real problems often arise from the most unexpected sources – as demonstrated by the chaos caused when three gulls, determined to have eggs for breakfast, wreaked havoc on the school. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The £55m Oxford University building on the front line of a war between seagulls and mankind
Daphne du Maurier would surely crack a smile from beyond the grave at news that the Blavatnik School of Government – the University of Oxford institution where the leaders of tomorrow are nurtured by a network that includes Rishi Sunak, Amal Clooney and Jacinda Ardern – has been brought to its knees by rogue seagulls. Du Maurier's short story The Birds – which inspired the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name – features thousands of feathered assassins and plays on British anxieties about the government's failure to protect citizens from intruders after the calamity of the Second World War. In a spectacular case of life imitating art, on Wednesday last week the Blavatnik School – which is housed in a shimmering glass building that reportedly cost £55 million to build and which is currently being run by Rachel Reeves 's husband, Nicholas Joicey – was ambushed from above. While the rest of Oxford enjoyed the relative peace of the university holidays, Blavatnik – which opened its doors in 2016 – was busy as usual. The building tends to be occupied year-round, offering a refuge for students writing and researching dissertations and keen to enjoy the free coffee its cafeteria offers. But then there came a tap, tap, tapping on the central pane of glass high above their heads. This was followed by a pause, and then more tapping, and finally a loud crack. Was it an intruder hell-bent on learning how to win a mayoral election in a mid-sized city? Or protesters getting a head start on calling out our future leaders? Or irate business owners finding any possible route to talk some sense into Reeves? No, the tapping came from a far more ominous source: hungry seagulls. One of the birds was filmed bouncing a large stone off the glass roof like a basketball in footage thought to have been captured just moments before the pane was shattered. 'From what we can gather, the gulls thought stones they were using to hit the glass were actually eggs and that by cracking them they might get to some yolk,' says a manager on the Oxford University building maintenance team. 'Unfortunately they weren't eggs and even more unfortunately these gulls chose the very worst pane of glass to tamper with.' Julia Gould, a seagull expert who works at Bird Aid (a rescue and rehabilitation centre specialising in gulls), agrees with this hypothesis. 'I would say it's natural for gulls to drop shellfish to try to break them, so this may be an extension of that behaviour,' she says. 'Gulls are also very curious and learn through play, so they could have been trying to see if the stones were food or just practising their technique. Either way, they would not be doing it to annoy people.' Maybe not – but their egg/prawn-hunting antics surely added to what must have already been a stressful week in the Reeves-Joicey household. Joicey is currently the interim chef operating officer of Blavatnik, on secondment from the Civil Service, although perhaps the chaos provided a moment of bonding for the married couple. Because what really is the difference between Donald Trump hurling tariffs at a fragile global economy and a few freewheeling gulls hurling stones at a £55 million glass roof? At least the gulls thought they'd be getting some eggs at the end of it. About 30 minutes after the tapping began, the Blavatnik School made the decision to evacuate. Lectures were cut short, computers were turned off and dissertations were paused mid-sentence as the future leaders of the world shuffled outside to watch their tormentors swoop and scream above them in triumph. 'The building was now open in the centre, so we had no choice but to ask everyone to leave,' says the Oxford University manager, who confirms that the pane of glass did not survive the assault. 'It was pretty urgent because it just wasn't safe.' This was, he says, the first time they have had to deal with a problem like this. Mohammed Ahmed, who runs a newsagent's opposite the School of Government, agrees that the gulls unleashed chaos. 'On Wednesday, everyone rushed out of the building and by Saturday, there were cranes there with people working on the roof for hours,' he says. 'Normally even in the holidays there are conferences and people coming in and out at all hours, but it's been completely deserted for days now.' If this is a battle of man versus bird, then the birds are clearly winning. Five days after the incident, the entire institute is boarded up – the doors are locked and the lights are off. One post-graduate student called Oliver, who has both studied and lectured at Blavatnik, says it is the only time he has ever known it to be closed. 'It is the sort of place that shuts on Christmas Day and that's it,' he says. Still, perhaps this will provide a useful lesson for the politicians who have studied in the building – of which there are many. The school only opened in 2016 and already its alumni have their fingers on the levers of power: they include Marian Schreier, the youngest mayor ever elected in Germany; Labour MP Keir Mather; and ministers and MPs in Yemen and the UAE. Tellingly, this is not the only building-related trouble Blavatnik has experienced in the past few weeks. According to Ahmed, earlier this month protesters shattered a pane of glass next to the front door. Who they were remains unclear – Ahmed heard they were pro-Palestinians, but another student suggests the protest might be to do with founder Len Blavatnik, who gave tens of millions to start the school and who was born in Odesa, Ukraine. Palestine and Ukraine are likely to be the focus of much study by the usual occupants of the building. Yet the human protestors only managed to break a single insignificant pane of glass – allowing Blavatnik to stay open as usual. In contrast, the birds succeeded in forcing the cancellation of a long-awaited heat pump summit, hinting that they could be anti-net-zero gulls. The lesson that every good politician must learn is that real problems often arise from the most unexpected sources – as demonstrated by the chaos caused when three gulls, determined to have eggs for breakfast, wreaked havoc on the school.
Arab News
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Amal Clooney takes up Oxford University professorship
LONDON: Leading British-Lebanese human rights barrister Amal Clooney has become a professor at Oxford University. She will be a visiting professor of practice in international law at the Blavatnik School of Government, The Times reported. The 47-year-old is an Oxford graduate, having studied law at St. Hugh's College. She said she was honored to return to her alma mater as a professor. The Blavatnik School of Government said it was 'delighted' to appoint Clooney, adding that her expertise will enhance research and teaching at the school. Clooney has won landmark legal cases representing victims of genocide, sexual assault and persecution at some of the world's top courts, including the International Criminal Court. She co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice with her husband in 2016. It provides legal aid for free speech and women's right cases in more than 40 countries. Clooney has published two textbooks on international law, and was a visiting professor at New York City's Columbia Law School. 'It is a privilege to have this opportunity to engage with the next generation of global leaders and to contribute to the vibrant academic community at Oxford,' she said. 'I look forward to collaborating with both faculty and students to advance access to justice around the world.'
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amal Clooney appointed to Oxford University role
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney is to take up a role at the University of Oxford. The barrister will serve as a visiting professor of practice in international law at the Blavatnik School of Government. Ms Clooney, who read law at St Hugh's College, said: "I am honoured to be back at Oxford, this time not as a student but as a professor." The school says its aims are to train future world leaders and support better government and public policy around the world. Ms Clooney added: "It is a privilege to have this opportunity to engage with the next generation of global leaders and to contribute to the vibrant academic community at Oxford. "I look forward to collaborating with both faculty and students to advance access to justice around the world." Ngaire Woods, dean of the Blavatnik School, said she was "delighted" to welcome Ms Clooney as a visiting professor. "As a pre-eminent practitioner and scholar, Amal's expertise and insights will greatly enhance the school's research and teaching," she said. British-Lebanese barrister Amal Clooney is known for taking on high-profile human rights cases. She was part of the legal team working towards the release of Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt, and represented Nadia Murad, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was captured and tortured by the group calling itself Islamic State. She founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice with husband George Clooney, which provides free legal aid in defence of free speech and women's rights around the world. Ms Clooney was formerly a visiting professor at Columbia Law School, and published textbooks on international law. Oxford University said her award-winning book The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law had been cited in judicial proceedings, including by the UK Supreme Court. In January it was announced that former prime minister Rishi Sunak would be joining the school as a member of its World Leaders Circle. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Former PM Sunak takes up Oxford and Stanford roles William Hague elected Oxford University chancellor Amal Clooney quits UK envoy role over Brexit plan Oxford's government school opens Blavatnik School of Government
