Monday 6 November is set to be a great night at the Union, with Warwick’s top bands performing at a free event in the Graduate Club in support of Oxfam. This is all part of Oxjam, a national music festival taking place throughout the UK. Freshers can come along and get a feel of the local music scene, and everyone else can check out all their favourites from BandSoc’s battle of the bands.

Bands playing from 8.30 include indie rockers The Carter Manoeuvre, the heavy metal ninjas that are Replica X, Fock; the masters of funky rock, Professor Plum who are sure to give us an epic display of metal, and Jason Morgan, who’s been described as “a one man acoustic thunderstorm“.

The event is free but please donate your spare change to the lovely volunteers who will be collecting in aid of Oxfam’s new Health and Education campaign.

One of the main focuses of this campaign is shifting the political agenda in both poor and rich countries. This is the key to not only increasing spending on essential services, but also improving the way in which money is spent. More funding needs to be allocated to tackling the workforce crisis, providing more teachers and health workers by matching better pay with better working conditions.

Richer countries must be pressured into finally meeting their commitment of giving 0.7% of their income to foreign aid, and the full cancellation of debts for all the poorer countries that need it. Debt release however must not come with the conditionality which is today regularly imposed by the richer countries. Often the World Bank and IMF insist that governments introduce more privatisation in their countries in exchange for debt cancellation. Private companies are notoriously hard to regulate, and lead to high costs and big inequalities in service. Therefore Oxfam is urging governments to employ public not private services.

Oxfam is also working to make these services work for women in particular, in order to improve their status and autonomy in poorer countries. A mother dies every minute of every day in childbirth due to a lack of health care. The majority of the 100 million children who are out of school are girls. This clearly shows how often they can be overlooked within weak education and health care systems.

Oxjam is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of these issues, and improve the lives of millions of people worldwide. Show your support for global change by coming along to the Grad Club on the 6 November.