No escape from idiocy... even in Oxford.

I've become immune to the shock which accompanies the realisation that seemingly clever people can be very dumb. Those of you who ahve watched Shadowlands will be familiar with the Oxford custom of a choir atop a tower in Magdalen (Maudlin!) College greeting the dawn. This is followed by general tomfoolery and water-sports. The Telegraph describes what happened yesterday:

As 8,500 students gathered on the bridge to listen to the traditional dawn choir, more than 100 people, some still wearing formal ball gowns and dinner jackets from the previous evening's May Ball, clambered over the fencing [erected to prevent people jumping],
But most were unaware that the Cherwell, after an unusually dry spring, was just 3ft deep.
While paramedics treated some students at the scene for minor injuries, 10 were taken to hospital with spinal injuries, broken legs, ankles and ribs.
One man had a serious back injury after another jumped on top of him and a Russian woman was impaled on the 6ft fence. Thames Valley police said the fences had been put up on Saturday and said officers were unable to prevent revellers from making the jump.