Author: Catherine Edwards

As 2012 comes to an end, and the world seems to have remained intact despite whatever the Mayans said, what have been the highlights? From sporting success to scientific discovery, we bring you a selection of the year’s memorable moments in video form. Jubilee Year It’s been a jolly good old year for the royals, […]

Our last restaurant mission of term saw us head beyond St Aldate’s to the Folly Bridge Brasserie. Sat on the banks of the Thames, it’s almost as if the restaurant has loosed its French moorings and is briefly stopping by to give les rosbifs of Oxford an idea of haute cuisine. The Brasserie is certainly a world away […]

After eight weeks amidst the fabled spires, the return home can seem more like a return to Earth – particularly for the Freshers among you. The first week of the holiday is utter, blissful freedom – breakfast, lunch and dinner at a time of your choosing? Yes please! Shove all subject-related books out of sight […]

Tick-tick, tick-tock, tick-tick. The clockwork inside the fat brass disk clicks as our guide turns the tiny brass handle of the Orrery.  It looks too small for his large gnarled hands, but he gently turns the handle and the delicate brass wires suspending the planets in their place begin to turn under the rhythm of […]

If you’ve taken a stroll down to the corner of Cornmarket and Queen Streets, then you’ve noticed that the city of Oxford is bustling with buskers, teeming with troubadours, and mottled with musicians. These home-grown entertainers range from magicians to contortionists to jugglers, but the most common street performer is the musician, guided to Oxford’s […]

The sky is a borderland: that colour somewhere between silver and gold, that in-between space in the grey where heaven meets earth.  It’s a border time too – that moment between sunset and twilight when the last touches of pink fade and the leaves on the silvery brown birch trees turn red, the color of […]

Right then. Which loon has OxStu arm-wrestled into answering our questions this week?  Afternoon all. I’m Brian, one of the college porters. I’ll be replying to your queries over a cuppa as I watch the college CCTV – what’s all this then? Keepie-uppies outside the Fresher block? Hold my key set! – Sorry, where was […]

“You boy, what day is this?” cries a finestral voice. If the urge to retort: “Why it’s Christmas Day, sir!” is insuppressible and instantaneous, you may just be the sort who takes the festive season seriously enough to warrant the creation of a Christmas feast without equal. Luckily for you, the Gourmand is just as […]

You’ve squandered the majority of your student loan on those staples of the Oxford diet: caffeine tablets, comfort food and Everyday Value Vodka. You’re lagging so far behind on work that life outside the library is but a distant memory. Maybe you’re not yet be feeling the festive cheer? With that in mind, here are […]

Cocka-what? Where? I was certainly surprised to learn of the existence of Cockadoo, an oriental eatery that seems to have slipped under many people’s radars. But, sure enough, materialising out of the fog of a dark November night, the place stood before us, with our taxi parked outside. There’s the first problem. The taxi. I’m […]

Sometimes the life of an Oxford student is just not challenging enough. Yes, perhaps you think that the 3000-worder you just spent four days cracking out is impressive and yes, maybe it is, but it’s ephemeral. Your tutor will nod sagely, he’ll scribble “Yes, interesting.” in the margin and by the end of your hour-long […]

Has your college made our list of cursed quads? It’s 4.30am. In a stupor of post-essay-writing delirium you plod through college to hand in your work at the lodge. It’s quiet. Too quiet. The darkness preys on the frail state of your overworked mind and tired eyes, and your thoughts begin to race. Is there […]

This week, James McKean and Tom Ough head to Le Kesh on Cowley Road only a year since the opening of Lebanese and Moroccan restaurant and bar Le Kesh, but it’s easy to see why it already commands such popularity. Located on vibrant Cowley Road, Kesh offers a taste of the exotic in relaxing surroundings. […]

Nick Mutch, a native of Christchurch, New Zealand, offers a personal perspective on the 2011 earthquake.  Disasters like this are timeless. The infamous lines penned by the French philosophe Voltaire of the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 have a sharp familiarity… “Deluded philosophers who cry, “All is well,”  Hasten, contemplate these frightful ruins,  This wreck, these shreds, these […]