Author: Madi Maxwell-Libby

For an English student, it’s a familiar taunt. ‘All you do is sit around making stuff up about stuff that’s made-up. I bet I could do your degree’. So we decided to test it, with one over-confident Engineering student and one bashful English enthusiast attempting each other’s work. The results were unexpected, as the arts […]

  A lot of people thought the iPhone 4S was an anticlimax. The first release since the death of Apple’s guiding light Steve Jobs left many expectant fans underwhelmed. Wasn’t it just another iPhone 4? Sure, it boasted the same processing power as the iPad 2 using a Dual Core A-5 chip over the iPhone […]

Whilst the emergence of the Internet has shaped the way information is shared, it has also become a new front for sabotage and war. A computer could be comprised and information stolen over the Internet, and the user may not even be aware it has happened. Whilst this might sound very futuristic, such attacks are […]

Internet shopping: a procrastination technique favoured by students far and wide. By 7th week however, most people will be drawing in the purse strings as any remaining funds start to dwindle and the prospect of two weeks spent living on only Supernoodles and Tesco Value tinned tuna looms ever larger. What better solution to this […]

They’re the backbone of the university, an ever-present feature ensuring each day runs smoothly for visitors and students alike. Without them, we’d be screwed. But what do the porters themselves have to say? “The hours are the same, but each day is different”, the head porter at one college told me. Due to the precarious […]

Hackodontus debateans is one of the most charismatic but sneakily dangerous species in the Oxford Jungle.  Throughout its life its ultimate aim is to get to the top.  This strange compulsion may have as its object the top of a tree, a building, or a pile of laddius brashius dung, but hackodontus is ruthless in […]

Hangover cures are, regardless of their prolific use throughout the university, a bastion of student folklore and legend. Fifth week seemed a remarkably apt time to test such cures and it fell upon me to brave the drudging tedium of Park End in the search for the ultimate veisalgia treatment. Raw Egg After the first […]

“Have you swiped your nectar card?” NO, and I don’t intend to! If I had, I would have swiped it. Indeed, I would definitely have swiped it after your second reminder or, god forbid, third or fourth. We’ve all been there: in a rush we decide to use the automated checkout only to find ourselves […]

These predatory river creatures are early risers.  In the early hours, they can be seen huddled by the banks of the river for warmth preparing for their morning hunt.  Their appearance is quite extraordinary with their large, muscular bodies covered with an extremely thin and often brightly coloured coat.  This coat is particularly thin around […]

Few would dispute that the newspaper industry is in a state of flux. As circulation continues to fall and consumption of media rapidly changes, those who wish to survive must adapt and react. Andrew Miller has been CEO of Guardian Media Group since July 2010 and is at the head of the Guardian newspaper’s transition […]

In various brightly lit locations around the Oxford Jungle, the vibrant faux mating performance of thespianus thespianus can be seen and heard.  thespianus makes itself appear baffled about its sexuality, often imitating the mating calls and dances of other species which can draw quite a crowd of confused creatures.  However, this befuddling behaviour seems to […]

‘Extreme couponing’ is the new phenomenon that’s taken the US by storm.  Ordinary housewives scour the internet for coupons, printing off hundreds to hand over in the supermarket, saving tens of dollars on a single shop.  This super-saving tactic is now spreading across the UK.  Judith Wenban, from Gravesend (as seen on Channel 4’s ‘The […]

The future of viral advertising seems assured, as companies look increasingly to exploit social media in order to launch and promote their products. The advantages for companies, particularly smaller businesses looking to create a distinctive image and reputation, are numerous, not least the economic benefits of guerrilla advertising campaigns that cost little but take on […]

“Tax is such a shame”, Francis Boulle comments mournfully. “It’s a damn shame that it exists”.  Tax probably does get in the way a fair old bit if you’re a 23 year-old diamond heir.  Boulle – who will be familiar to many as a ‘star’ of the TV phenomenon ‘Made in Chelsea’ – describes himself […]

9:00am: lecture. 10am: meditation. An Oxford term might not strike everyone as a natural environment for the pursuit of inner peace; but in Michaelmas twenty students went through a course designed to help us find just that. With a little help, obviously, from dried fruit. During the first class of the eight week course at […]

It is only now, almost a year on from our ordeal, that I feel able to recount it. The wounds had not healed, the horror was too fresh. Even now, as I cast my mind back to that fateful night on Cowley, I feel the burn. Four foolhardy young Queen’ s Men set off to […]

These fearful creatures, often short of sight, with spindly limbs and long, grey hairs are some of the most intimidating to be found in the great Librarias Mountains from which their name derives.  The Mountains are known for their eerie silence, which is not due to a lack of life, but to fearful attack by […]