When I took the job of Newt Editor I promised myself that I was not going to make a habit of writing editorials simply to fill up space. Unfortunately, this issue, circumstances have conspired against me with multiple articles falling through at the last minute. I will do my best to avoid this kind of unmitigated rubbish making it into the Newt again, but for now try to enjoy my thoughts on New College’s recent technological problems.

They say that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and this was certainly proved to be the case when New College experienced a succession of technology related failures in the past couple of weeks.

The way the college is organised, with almost all communication with tutors being via email and with each other via Facebook, the lack of power caused major problems, especially for those who had embraced technology and stored their revision notes and essays on their computers rather than the more traditional box file.

The first reaction of many college members on discovering that the power had gone off throughout the college, and not just in their room, was to head straight for the KA. Particularly due to the exceptionally annoying noise in all the staircases as the fire alarms helpfully told us that they weren’t working by making a loud noise so as to use up whatever power they had left as quickly as possible.

The situation was scarcely improved, for those of us with windows overlooking Holywell Street, with the arrival of an excessively large and loud generator keeping us from concentrating during the day and sleeping at night. Even then the generator didn’t exactly provide a completely reliable source of electricity, failing late one bop night.

As if these problems weren’t enough, the college has experienced intermittent internet problems since then due to something to do with power failures in the computer office.

I hope you enjoy the rest of The Newt and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the editorial team and contributors.