Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
It has been a month of vigils and prayers. Among the countless countries struck by disaster, France, Russia and Mali have suffered terrorist attacks, drawing sympathy from across the globe. In an ever more connected world, social media means that it has never been easier to show solidarity with those affected. The sea of French […]
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As the JCR Access Rep for Pembroke College, I was invited to attend our college’s OUSU hustings the weekend before last. Although unfortunately the turnout was low and the candidates only moderately interesting, there was one point that resonated with me from the night, made by one of the candidates for Vice President for Welfare […]
Continue ReadingDavid Cameron has asserted that his main aim in the renegotiation of Britain’s membership of the EU is about reassessing our position in a way that makes continued membership desirable. Based on his recent letter to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, however, his true aim seems to be to convince the British […]
Continue ReadingThe 22 November this year will mark the beginning of the UK Disability History Month. Although already five years in the running, Disability History Month is yet to make it onto regular school curricula, or even the latest university reading lists which the initiative affects. And its effects are far reaching indeed – whether you […]
Continue ReadingYes – Rachel Dunne High profile disasters such as Fukushima and Chernobyl have led to the vilification of nuclear energy as a highly dangerous method of energy production undertaken at a country’s own peril. This reputation is undeserved. It seems increasingly likely that nuclear energy will be a crucial part of the international effort to […]
Continue ReadingYes: James Sewry Imagine a situation in which a policeman could enter your home without notice, rummaging through all your letters, photos and phone records without justification. Imagine that his only defence, once you had no doubt complained, was that his activities had been for your own safety and protection. That’s right: going through your […]
Continue ReadingCultural values and practices have an immediate impact on our daily lives. These elements of our culture constitute certain norms that influence what we wear, how we eat, what attitudes we have, etc. Because of this, wherever there are norms there is likely to be disagreement about them. What is not clear is how this disagreement […]
Continue ReadingDespite attempts to define Chinese President Xi JinPing’s recent visit to Britain by his eating fish and chips, drinking beer at the pub and taking selfies, several controversies underlying our relationship with China remain unresolved. There are concerns over Chinese ownership of Britain’s essential infrastructure, some worry about they could use it against us in […]
Continue ReadingAnyone who has donated blood will know that the minutes spent in the (oddly comfortable) chair, watching a small bag fill up with blood constitutes a tiny fraction of the entire process. Before you are sat down, you are tested for anaemia and must fill in a lengthy health questionnaire. The first section on the […]
Continue ReadingIn 1605, Englishman William Camden wrote, “All the proof of a pudding, is in the eating.” Later – perhaps because ten words was too long – this truism’s American cousin has devolved into the logically unconstrained, “The proof is in the pudding.” US media, covering both this week’s debate between Democratic Party candidates and the […]
Continue ReadingYES – James Sewry The BBC’s services are rightfully admired across the world for their quality, scope, and impartiality. At home, its reputation is just as assured, with an average weekly reach of 97 percent of the population. Most recently, 13.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the final of The Great British Bake Off, […]
Continue ReadingIn recent weeks, Russia has fulfilled its promise to make use of its military hardware in order to suppress the influence of ISIL in the region. This was a measure that was undertaken on the condition that the Western powers recognised Bashar Al-Assad’s right to lead the Syrian people, and to cease arming and desist […]
Continue ReadingThe Video Music Awards – an exercise in red carpet politics where victory over your “frenemy” is sweeter than receiving an award. Stars fight tooth and nail to get their soundbites in the headlines, and if you can drape your dig in professed moralism, that’s even better. Did Miley Cyrus think about the historical and […]
Continue ReadingYES – Ben Oldfield The refugee crisis – and I refer to it so, for when talking of the current “influx of migrants”, it must be stressed that many those in question are not just economic migrants but refugees – has been going on long enough for it to be clear that it is simply not […]
Continue ReadingDoctors don’t get involved in politics. Since Thatcher, the NHS has been pulled apart on all sides, put back together again and, largely, there have been no complaints. But with his proposed junior doctor contract, Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Health, has made a crucial error. He has threatened NHS patients. The […]
Continue ReadingJacob Williams believes he is fighting against an overwhelming contempt for free expression at Britain’s universities. Fearing that a ‘fundamental principle of liberal democracy’ is under threat, he attempts to position his No Offence publication as an attempt to save ‘Britain’s future as a free country’, and in doing so convince all to support the […]
Continue Reading“Part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich.” As the contents of this week’s Comment section should go some way towards proving, the world is rapidly transforming into an episode of Black Mirror. The example under consideration in this article is, of course, Donald Trump, who provides this article’s epigraph, a quote […]
Continue ReadingIt doesn’t take long for Oxford students’ debauchery to catch the interest of the national media. But something else, not unrelated, gripped the imagination of the press last week: The Piers Gaveston society, at whose meeting David Cameron’s now infamous indiscretion with a pig allegedly took place. From The Guardian to The Daily Mail, newspapers […]
Continue ReadingWhen I returned to Oxford, a friend of mine confessed to me that he had done something unspeakable. We talked at length about the state of the Labour party, and I asked him who he had voted for; never before have had I heard the words “Andy Burnham” uttered with such little confidence, or with such […]
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