Out of the Ordinary
Some things in Oxford are temporary. Like sunshine. Other things - like the signs that warn against walking on the grass - are very permanent. But the fact that something is permanent shouldn't mean that it is ignored. For one thing, college will fine you, and for another, the fact that it's stuck around for as long as it has may mean it has some inherent worth. ...
Features: Getting religious about death and devastation
So where would we be without religion? There can be little doubt that God's image has taken a bit of a battering of late - a belief in various forms of "Hi" being blamed for all things from the Israeli-Palestine situation to the invasion of Iraq (not to mention, of course, the events of September 11th). Religious differences supposedly threaten to drive a wedge between different sectors of the world's people, with a 'clash of civilisations' to rival that of the Cold War much mooted. A lot of this is, of course, an exaggeration - but can it be denied that religion is causing conflict?
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Features: On the Trail of Discovery
Fifteen years ago, the prospect of visiting far-flung corners of the world seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime dream, with our thoughts focussed on destinations where only the rich and famous or scruffy backpackers went.
Features: 'The first person who'll put it and the last person who'll explain it to you'
The most recent book from Oxford's new Professor of Poetry, Christopher Ricks, is something of a departure for the ex-professor of English at Bristol and Cambridge.
Features: The Sun-set and Moon-rise my Paphos
Cyprus is one of the most popular holiday destinations for we Brits, undeterred by its division between Greece and Turkey. Although the political situation is a cause of much antagonism in the country, it does not seem to have ruined Paphos's relaxed atmosphere.
Features: Fallen from Heaven
It's hard to believe that the Katie Melua sitting opposite me is the same Katie Melua we've all heard on the radio. The loungey blues on début album Call off the Search sounds like the product of maturity and experience. It's an album that sounds as though it should be accompanied by the mellow crackle of old vinyl, or perhaps played in a smokey jazz club somewhere in Soho. ...
Features: A Legacy of Death and Desolation
The Spanish Conquistadors' plundering of Inca Gold is well-documented, but it was the discovery in 1544 of the mines of Cerro Rico, in the Bolivian city of Potosi, that really gave them the money and power to become the dominant European nation during the latter half of the 16th century. It is said in the city today that enough silver has been mined from Cerro Rico "To pave a road from Potosi to Madrid."...
Features: Sex and the Cité
There are over 10,000 students at the University of Oxford, of whom the vast majority are under 25 and at their mental and physical peak. However, no statistics are currently available to show us how many of them are having sex at this very moment. Nor can we guarantee how many of them will have had sex by the time you will have finished reading this article. Yet it certainly can't be very many. Why? Because they're at Oxford. ...
Features: Happy Clappy Government
Watching Prime Minister's Question Time the other day it hit me, like a bolt of purple lightning, that there was a Minister missing. The key ministers filled the front benches but somehow they seemed incomplete. There was no minister for the area that concerns us most; there was no Minister of Happiness.
It
Features: The Terror Continues
You are a train driver. The train's brakes are defunct, and you can't stop. You can continue down the track and take your train into a bus-load of school children. Or you can redirect the train, and run over some of your colleagues repairing the track. What do you do?
Features: Barbed Wire Britain
Ten minutes outside of central Oxford, 184 people are currently being held in Campsfield House Detention Centre. Do not let the term 'house' deceive you - this is a prison; the security fences allude to that, not to mention the interrogation that I was subject to when simply looking around the edge of the site....
Features: Why I'm glad we're staying out of OUSU
In the light of our success in remaining unaffiliated to OUSU, it should be made clear why Oriel JCR has chosen to keep to this path, to defend us against some criticism from others.
Features: A Testing Time for All
We all have times when, faced with a difficult essay topic on which nobody seems to have written a word and a short deadline in which to do it, we wish we'd chosen to carve out a career at Topshop rather than embarking upon the path of higher education. But for many undergraduates, the problem of academic stress is more serious than this, affecting their daily life in diverse and challenging ways. ...
Features: No Love Lost
According to an ancient Greek myth, the love goddess Aphrodite was born from the foam that is hurled into the sky when the sea clashes with the rocky coast of Paphos. That is why Cyprus was known as « the island of love ». Despite its beautiful beaches and reputation as the most desirable island of the Mediterranean, however, a green line runs through the capital city, Nicosia, which has been the cause of much tension in the past 30 years. On April 24th, both Greek and Turkish Cypriots were given a chance to resolve the differences that have been opposing them since 1974, yet an overwhelming majority of Greek Cypriots voted in favor of rejecting Kofi Annan?s plan for a comprehensive settlement of the island?s problems. On May 1st, only the Greek part of Cyprus was allowed to join the European Union, thus distancing hopes of reunification in the near future. ...
