A Yank at Oxford

Josh Chafetz, writing in The New Republic, talks about the dispiriting anti-Americanism at Oxford. No change there, then. I remember hundreds turning out to Oxford Union debates to express their displeasure at American foreign policy during the '80s, in the process supporting some very unsavory regimes. The funniest memory is of a debate where half the Sandinista cabinet turned up. The vice-president, "novelist" Sergio Ramirez, refused to listen to the American speaker, so spoke first and then left the chamber with his gang of cut-throats in tow. He got a standing ovation for this act of stunning arrogance and discourtesy, of course. After the students had had their throw, a young American congressman spoke. He got a standing ovation because his speech deserved it. His name was Newton Leroy Gingrich...

Which just goes to show that Oxonians are not immune to reason, but you have to break down walls of prejudice to get through. Not for nothing is Oxford so often called the Home of Lost Causes.