Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Having converted to a meat-free lifestyle in my first year at Oxford, I felt I could live with a level of environmental smugness – I didn’t need to feel bad about my personal contributions to climate change because I hadn’t eaten beef in a year and a half. However, deep in the depths of long […]
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“I believe law should be accessible to applicants from all backgrounds”. With this awkward statement I began my unsuccessful application to the LawSoc General Committee in Michaelmas 2018. I remember toying with what to put next, how best to project my identity in the 50 words I had to impress the faceless arbiters of my […]
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Vegetarian, vegan, flexitarian, reducitarian, veggan, ‘cheegan’ (a vegan who eats cheese so I’m told). There seem to be new words cropping up to describe people’s diets every week. No longer do people hold themselves to one diet or another, but rather try to eat more ‘consciously’, considering the impacts on the environment and animal welfare […]
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As a queer person in 2019, it’s important to know your privilege. We live in a country with hugely progressive laws on same-sex relationships, and the demonstrations that were once riots for our ancestors are now parades for us. In the July 2017 National LGBT Survey, more than 50% of respondents reported feel comfortable with […]
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Image description: Monument at Chernobyl I am afraid- desperately afraid- of global warming. For a period in February, after those few days when it was hot, so hot you could walk home from the club in a t-shirt because the air was climate-change balmy, and after reading David Wallace Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth, I became […]
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Image description: Helsinki Cathedral at sunset, 2016 This week, I came across a report by The Guardian into Helsinki’s approach to solving homelessness. The report praised the radical approach, named Housing First, taken by Helsinki’s authorities with the intent of solving the homelessness crisis that the city faced. Inevitably, I thought of our city of Oxford […]
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Image description: CAAT campaigners protest against Farnborough International arms fair, 2016 On the 2nd of October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi got assassinated by Saudi Arabian agents in Istanbul. This assassination has led to a rampant increase in scrutiny of the UK’s continued sale of armaments and military equipment to Saudi Arabia. With the pressure upon the […]
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Image Description: Former US Secretary of State Kerry delivers an address to the Oxford Union Shhh! Can you hear it? The air is abuzz with a sound, a feeling, a vibe. Phones ding with messenger message requests, coffee shops hum with various forms of hackery, imperative verbs start clogging your Facebook feed – the Union […]
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Image Description: Edinburgh students protest against university fees in London Education, education, education. The rallying cry of New Labour still echoes through political discourse today, perhaps more than ever, as students remain unsatisfied with the provision of university education. Oxford is in many ways exceptional, but in the debate around education it finds itself mired […]
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Image description: Rory Stewart, Secretary of State for International Development. You and I probably have something in common. Something a bit embarrassing, something we’ve only realised about ourselves recently. Do you want to say it or- yes, OK, I’ll go first. Against my better judgement I…. I quite like Rory Stewart, Minister for International Development, […]
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Image description: The bridge of sighs at Hertford College, Oxford. Oxford University has recently announced two new access schemes which aim to encourage academically talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for, and thrive at, Oxford. These follow other recent developments in Oxford’s access work, such as an expansion of the successful UNIQ programme, and also […]
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Image description: The Bodleain Library, Oxford University. It is well documented that Oxford University is privy to a myriad of discomforting phenomenon. Indeed, highlighting the issues and problems associated with Oxford University has, in recent years, become a particularly popular pursuit of the British media. The University has been on the receiving end of criticism for […]
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Image description: Examination Schools in the High street, Oxford In 2018 Faiz Siddiqui finally got closure on his claim that Oxford University provided him with inadequate teaching, causing him to get a 2.1 degree rather than a first. He argued that this caused significant damage to him as it made his dream to obtain admission […]
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Image description: Students at Keble College ball in 2008. An Oxford ball epitomises the stereotypical ‘Oxford’ experience- lavish and luxurious, these ‘unforgettable’ nights are a somewhat of a rite of passage and are a central part of many student’s social calendars. With names that sound like Apprentice teams, balls come in all different shapes and […]
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Image description: Pepe the Frog. Like quite a lot of people, I’m not really about Facebook. I’m on it, sure, and I am worryingly reliant on Messenger, and find it useful for events. I don’t intend to bestow upon myself the kind of fashionably late aloof social credo that comes with deleting the whole thing […]
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Image description: Former Foreign Secretary and MP Boris Johnson with his brother Leo Johnson On the 24th May 2019, Theresa May, after much speculation, tearfully announced her resignation as the leader of the Conservative Party, firing the starting pistol in a race that looks to have a crowded field. Boris Johnson is the clear bookies’ […]
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Image description: Alyssa Milano, leader of the so-called “sex strike” Alyssa Milano, a feminist activist and actor, recently prompted a heated online debate after proposing a “sex strike” to combat new abortion laws. The so-called ‘heartbeat bill’ passed in Georgia plans to prohibit abortion once a foetal heartbeat can be detected. This can be as […]
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Image description: Steve Bannon, former White House Chief Strategist and executive chairman of Breitbart News In the wake of the recent anti-fascism protests outside the Oxford Union in response to the invitation extended to Katie Hopkins to speak, the topic on the validity of the use of ‘no-platforming’ has come to the forefront of political […]
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Image Description: Nigel Farage, Leader of Brexit Party The evening of 29th March was one of the greatest anti-climaxes in our history. The champagne remained unopened as the realisation dawned that after two and a half years of incompetent negotiation on the part of the government, Britain would not be leaving the European Union. As […]
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