Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
A few years ago, an online survey found that approximately a fifth of the participants believed that Sherlock Holmes was a real historical figure. Naturally, certain sections of the press decided to have a field day with this, gabbering on about the nation’s poor grasp of history and how this represented the decline in societal standards […]
Continue ReadingFranklin is 14 . He is 4’6” and malnourished. He lives in a shack the size of my shed… with his family of six. He has no toilet. He isn’t guaranteed three meals a day. Chris is 19. He is 6’1” and well-built. He lives in a four-bedroom house in South-West London, owns an XBox, […]
Continue ReadingEvery few months for the last four years, the Governor of the Bank of England has had to write an open letter to the Chancellor, detailing why the Bank of England has, yet again, failed to keep tabs on inflation. However, that all changed in December. For the first time since late 2009, the rate […]
Continue ReadingOne in every five secondary schools pupils in the UK self-harms. This figure comes from a Prince’s Trust survey released last week, which interviewed 2161 people aged between 16 and 25. It’s worrying that despite the headlines it generated, as a number it doesn’t really feel all that shocking. We all know people who’ve self-harmed, […]
Continue ReadingOn the streets and in people’s minds, a ghost is rising: one we haven’t seen stirring with such menace for almost eighty years. The ghost of Oswald Mosley is walking amongst us and, like any good ghost story, it should send a chill down our collective spine. Our beloved right wing press, UKIP and the […]
Continue ReadingThe Conversation is a new Comment project aimed at engaging our readers to contribute their thoughts on relevant issues. This week we are discussing equality and employment- email [email protected] if you would like to pitch a response to anything you read. This is a response to George Gillett’s excellent article on inequality that you can […]
Continue ReadingThe liberal- loving Swedes have ascended to another level of groovy social parity, with a cinema chain instating an ‘A’ rating for films which promote gender equality. The only condition: that they pass the ‘Bechdel test’. This requires, rather simply, that a film includes two named female characters that talk to each other about something […]
Continue ReadingAn intake of breath. A guffaw. And the inevitable word is uttered: “lad.” In any JCR bar, on any crew date, even dawdling to the Rad Cam, I’ll overhear the inverted. If I call them out on their unoriginal cheap laugh they’ll plead innocent, insisting on ironic intention. It seems that the inverted commas, which […]
Continue ReadingIn recent months, dressing the female body has caused colossal controversy: a Colombian nightclub owner remarked that a woman in a miniskirt may have invited her rape through her outfit. Women SlutWalked through Toronto, beginning a transnational movement to redefine female sexuality. In light of interpreting clothing as consent, AR Wear have launched their Anti-Rape […]
Continue ReadingI think that university is a period of your life during which you figure out who you are. And I think that’s good. That’s what it’s supposed to be for (also it is for getting a degree but potato potato). What are your goals and ambitions? Where do you stand on IMPORTANT WORLD ISSUES? And how […]
Continue ReadingWhen it comes to publicising your own narrow-mindedness, look no further than the gay hookup app Grindr, where there is a bizarre trend of referring to people of colour by the kinds of food that are stereotypically associated with them, e.g. ‘no spice or rice’. Welcome to the world of sexual racism. Many people will […]
Continue ReadingThe majority of students at a place like Oxford who have been filtered through a competitive school system, achieved all their As and attended all those extra revision sessions would argue that academic success is the key to prosperous careers. And on the whole, they would be right. Sara Geater however, CEO of the illustrious […]
Continue ReadingAmman is well renowned for being a city of contrasts, where the hijab and the belly dancer walk side by side with little friction. Thus, on arrival, as a gay man from England with very little experience of discrimination or difficulty based on my sexual orientation, Amman did not seem like a particularly threatening city […]
Continue ReadingThis time last year, as I was making my way through my philosophy reading list for the term, I noticed that there was only one woman on it. After mentioning this to my tutor, I discovered that I was mistaken: it turned out that Shelly Kagan is a man, and there was actually no writing […]
Continue ReadingYou never know what you’ve got until it’s gone. There’s one of those sentimental platitudes that has been beaten, battered and mangled into more than its fair share of love songs, memoirs and all other media of trite nostalgia, and any world-weary hark back to glory days of yore will before long be assaulted by […]
Continue ReadingWith fifth week blues imminent, a Spartan room can only serve to amplify the crushing emptiness of your own soul. Faulty feng shui is always dispiriting, but in order to prevent going postal, it’s crucial to pass the next seven days in a harmonious environment. There is a fine balance between making your room so […]
Continue ReadingAh, Cosmopolitan. The world may know it as Cosmo, but I prefer to keep things formal with this distinguished publication. It’s got gravitas, after all. This month, it’s been busy promoting female autonomy where it really matters (“Sexy hair: Up-dos, down-dos, long or short. You choose.”), and correcting misconceptions about contemporary public figures (“Miley: The […]
Continue ReadingA queue of cocktail dresses and three piece suits snake their way around Camera, shivering in the early Hilary term cold. Huddling together for warmth, girls in French Connection miniskirts narrow their eyes at my wrists. If you have a strip of neon pink clutched in your hand; you’re in. But this isn’t the VIP […]
Continue ReadingProverbial wisdom is a funny thing – for all its hackneyed unoriginality, it has that je ne sais quoi to incentivise behaviour from even the most headstrong teenager. Rather than screeching “wakey wakey” at a non-human decibel, you sometimes wonder if a pointed, albeit nonchalantly-delivered, “the early bird catches the worm” wouldn’t help mom do […]
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