This is one of the armchairs in my office.
Dozens of students, PhDs, post-docs come to sit here every week for hours of meetings.
Just now, that armchair had the privilege to host an Iranian student with whom I exchanged many emails in the past months. This person finally made it here, to study in our Master’s, despite everything, despite airport and internet closures, despite the violence of the regime governing their country, despite our own Embassy refusing to book appointments for students we have already selected through laborious procedures and online colloquia.
It is true that an armchair is just an armchair, this one a cheap trick bought for £15 in a charity shop in Cardiff a decade ago. But today I’m really glad it got to offer a seat to my new Iranian friend. I hope it will be able to host many more in the coming weeks and years.