Cambridge: the penultimate University challenge

Shocking findings from the National Student Survey (NSS) have revealed that a Cambridge degree is actually quite challenging... who’d have thought? As part of its nationwide survey of student experiences, the NSS asked respondents how often their course “challenges you to achieve your best work,” with 92% of Cantabs responding ‘often,’ or ‘very often’. This number wasn’t enough to top the toxic productivity charts however, with the University of Oxford pipping Cambridge to the number one spot by 0.3%. In response to this humiliating defeat, the University is allegedly planning on the teaching review’s provisions to tackle a ‘culture of overwork’ at Cambridge, and double all supervision hours to ensure their supremacy in the arena of academic rigour.

I want to ride my one-person battery electric recumbent tricycle, I want to ride my one-person battery electric recumbent trike

Enthusiasts of an iconic symbol of British innovation, a ‘one-person battery electric recumbent tricycle’ known as the Sinclair C5, gathered to celebrate its 40th birthday in style. The C5 was developed by Cambridge-based entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair, and has developed a cult fanbase in spite of its original commercial failure. To commemorate 40 years since its launch, enthusiasts took to the streets in an all out rally, travelling from Histon to Cambridge on Sunday (13/07), finishing at Anglia Ruskin University’s Sinclair Building on Willis Road, which was the former headquarters of the business. After seeing the rally, executives at Voi allegedly purchased 50 C5s to add to their Cambridge fleet, citing their impeccable style and road safety.

Wade’s wolves solve Chaucerian conundrum

Two Cambridge academics have solved a centuries-old mystery in Chaucer’s Song of Wade, after unearthing a translation error that misrepresented the piece as a monster epic, rather than a steamy chivalric romance. Dr James Wade and Dr Seb Falk, colleagues at Girton College, Cambridge, argue that the piece has been “radically misunderstood” for the last 130 years, with the presence of wolves in the tale, rather than elves, shifting the meaning “away from monsters and giants into the human battles of chivalric rivals”. Following this discovery, there are rumours that many second-year Englings may have their medieval exam marks docked, due to widespread under-appreciation of the erotic symbolism of wolves in their essays.

A Florey of flat whites comes to Harvey Court

A new café has opened on Harvey Court, replacing the recently closed Harvey’s Coffee House. Florey, named after Howard Florey, penicillin pioneer and former Master of Gonville & Caius, will serve coffee and light food six days a week, offering a caffeine lifeline to Sidge-based students. This comes after the closure of Harveys, which shut in June amid financial difficulties, despite an Instagram campaign to “Save Harvey’s Coffee House”. The branding may have changed, but, by some accounts, the iced matcha has not.