Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
It’s been just over a month since Prime Minister David Cameron announced the date of the European Union referendum and already, nearly three whole months in advance, it is dominating political discourse. Everything else is peripheral as the right-wing press runs wild with Europhobia. Despite this there remain spare glimpses of sober political discourse on the […]
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☆☆☆☆☆ Now I was never going to give Madonna anything less than a 5-star review. Even if she hadn’t turned up. But last night she proved that she was not only 5-stars, but the greatest living performer on earth. The over two-hour long extravaganza was a spectacle of such magnitude, evoking every possible emotion, that […]
Continue ReadingBeing from the United States myself, I’ve spent every free moment I’ve had over the last two weeks planning adventures around Europe. It’s been incredibly exciting knowing I’m going to see so many of the places I’ve read about in my history books for the first time, and if I’m not careful I find myself […]
Continue ReadingFor my Year Abroad, there was an element of being thrown in at the deep end. I wondered if I would sink or swim under the pressures of living in a new country. If that was not enough, the thought of speaking a foreign language in a different country left me feeling slightly anxious. Any […]
Continue ReadingHaving passed the colourful, retro sci-fi themed façade of Atomic Burger on many a G&Ds or 02 Academy trip, Atomic Burger has long been a source of meaty temptation, beckoning me in with its promise of big burgers, bigger milkshakes and an endless, and amazing, 80s-90s soundtrack. Mired in the pre-5th week blues last week, I […]
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I don’t want you to think of me as some cosmopolitan, Starbucks-chugging, Eurostar-hopping, pan-European socialite. It would be true, but equally the label isn’t flattering. However, the basis of such a label in factual reality stems from mine and my friend from home, Harriet’s, weekend city break in the capital of Europe – Brussels. I […]
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It all started at the 2014 Oxford Freshers’ Fair. Me, being innocent ignorant me, spent a long time looking at the IVSC stall – IVSC for those who don’t know is International Volunteering and Summer Camps. I was intrigued. At this point, I’d left the UK each time to go to another western country. I […]
Continue ReadingCovering last January’s Greek elections for The Guardian, Maria Margaronis quoted a Syriza community project organiser saying: “It’s not that the people have hope, it’s that they hope to have hope.” Now, 6 months later, over 4,000,000 people, 49% of the population, don’t even have the stomach for a trip to the polling station. After […]
Continue ReadingLike any other visitor to Marseille in 2015, upon stepping off the train at the city’s main station, Gare Saint-Charles, I was greeted by posters celebrating the 20th year of an initiative known as Euroméditerrannée. This is the 7 billion euro urban renewal project that, since 1995, has sought to transform the city centre and […]
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The mood at the Labour party conference this year was noticeably more sullen than last year. No guesses why. Despite the wall to wall sunshine, the sea-side location, and the doubling in party membership, the fact remained: Labour lost the election. Last year was very different. With an election in eight months, and a seemingly […]
Continue ReadingNow, as researchers, the really controversial debates get thrown up when you find *THE FIRST* example of a certain *special* trait. Even though, really, all new sites should be as valuable as each other for studying human evolution, we do really get excited about finding the first of something. Whether it’s pushing back the first […]
Continue ReadingI appear to have been adopted by two Italian ladies. One of them is Rosina, my landlady. She has children and I have the mental age of a child, so we get on famously. In preparation for my arrival, she has provided spare linen and stocked the cupboards generously, neither of which I succeeded in […]
Continue ReadingFor the vast majority of us our time in Oxford is limited. For some it may be only a term or a year, for others three or more. But most of us will eventually have to leave the University and city behind as we explore our careers and the journey that life has in store. […]
Continue ReadingWe all have that one annoying friend that’s taken over our Facebook newsfeed with tedious updates about their uneventful life. Ever wish you could publicly demonstrate your disdain? You might actually get the opportunity to very soon as Facebook is introducing a Dislike button. A few weeks ago in a Q&A session at Facebook’s headquarters […]
Continue ReadingPerhaps it was naive of me, but I didn’t come to Germany expecting a culture shock. Schnitzel and S-Bahns aside, I’ve never felt that Germany was particularly foreign. We have much in common: a national penchant for beer and football; languages from the same roots; weather that fluctuates between miserable rain and sunshine that makes even […]
Continue ReadingCanada’s francophone province has much more to offer than we may first expect. Quebec and its vibrant city Montreal are well known for their bilingual nature and the divide between Francophones and Anglophones. We are all aware of the separatist question and the strong independence movement, which gained momentum in the 1960s. Whilst this movement […]
Continue ReadingA year abroad is, by its very nature, riddled with potential pitfalls and sometimes unexpected difficulties. For the vast majority of students, it is the first time that they have lived in a different country, and setting up a new life amidst an unknown culture’s quirks and customs is far from easy. Finding somewhere to […]
Continue ReadingWith his quizzical look and flyaway hair, Ben Goldacre’s departmental photo makes him look every bit the mad scientist, but this scientific polymath (currently an author, broadcaster, doctor and academic) is at the forefront of one of the biggest medical movements in the last 50 years. With the enthusiasm of a Teach First chemistry teacher, he describes himself […]
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