Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Read Matteo’s column from last week: https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2020/10/14/recalibrating-liberalism/ Image description: Old drawing of British House of Commons engulfed by flames in the fire of 1834 In a 1993 lecture on the differences between political and economic decision making, the libertarian American economist Thomas Sowell famously quipped: “Scarcity is the first lesson of economics. The first lesson […]
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Image description: two students looking at some papers. Oxford’s yearly admissions statistics have recently been released, and on examination there are certainly things to celebrate: 68.4% of new undergraduates are from state schools. The ratio between students from the parts of the UK most likely to advance to higher education and those least likely has […]
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Image description: A grey circle on a yellow background, with the words ‘Never acceptable’ in white in the middle of the circle. The word ‘Never’ is scribbled out in red. Trigger Warning: rape, sexual assault, coercive control. Amid the headlines about Miss Rona’s reign of terror, another compelling tale of poor political decision-making took centre […]
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Image description: An aerial view of the Radcliffe Camera. October 2020 marks the centenary of female students being allowed to matriculate and graduate from the University of Oxford for the first time. The occasion calls for commemoration of all that has changed in that time, as well as reflection on what still needs to be […]
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Image Description: the British Parliament, lit, at night Athena Kam: a blow to the rule of law ‘Participation in criminal conduct is an essential and inescapable feature’, states the British Government about their Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Bill, introduced on Thursday 24 September. The Bill permits otherwise illegal activities by MI5 and other public […]
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Image description: a fishing boat on choppy seas October 15th was Boris Johnson’s self-imposed deadline for talks with the EU. In September, the Prime Minister said that it would be time for both sides to “accept it and move on” if this date passed without meaningful agreement. Yet, trade agreements are fiddly things, and politicians […]
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Image description: a school classroom is pictured, with one student holding their hand up. The latest guidance from the Department for Education (DPE) banning British schools from using materials produced by organisations ‘that take extreme political stances’ has sparked much debate. Criticism towards these guidelines comes mainly from its categorisation of anti-capitalism as an extreme […]
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Image description: Left: me outside my natural habitat holding a tin of alcohol as I watch the boat race, with my thumb held up. Right: a blurry photo of me, in my natural habitat, dancing in a nightclub, hands waving. You really don’t need to drink at uni. I know, it’s contrary to popular opinion […]
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Image description: Boris Johnson standing at a podium Boris Johnson has had a pretty rough ride of it lately. Even The Telegraph had abandoned him, as his government struggled to pull together a cohesive strategy for COVID, as ministers refused to face Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain and as he recovered himself from what […]
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Image description: Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio (on the left) and the leader of the Lega Matteo Salvini (on the right) The democratic process has been under severe attack in numerous countries, especially with Donald Trump recently refusing to commit to a peaceful handover of power if Biden were to win in November. However, […]
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Image description: a close shot of the side of a police car Morality patrols. That’s what my Dad remembers about his Bristol University Halls. Marching up and down the corridors past the watershed to catch any lanky geek who was lucky enough to have pulled. This would have seemed completely and utterly ridiculous only a […]
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Image description: a photograph of Christ Church, taken from the meadows I realised how alone I was in my application to Oxford when I was mistakenly taken away from a lesson one morning to sit the TSA. For admissions to Geography in 2018, no admissions test was required. Through no fault of their own – […]
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Image description: an aerial view of London, and the river Thames flowing down the centre of the photo. “To attract and admit students from all backgrounds with outstanding academic potential and the ability to benefit from an Oxford education.” This is the first commitment of the university’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan. While Oxford is far from […]
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Image description: a student holding an open book against her face. Error upon error has marked this year’s exam season. Prioritising avoiding grade inflation rather than fairness led to A Level chaos, and then a sudden change to BTec results caused widespread confusion: it seems that every consideration was made other than for the welfare […]
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Image description: blurred picture from inside the London tube with young male waiting at the stop in focus. Cuts, debts, loans and fees – the economic impact of coronavirus on the nation’s stability has meant this financial jargon is at the forefront of government discussions and news debates. One area inextricable from such discourses? Transport. […]
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Image description: woman receives face massage with a towel around her head as her skin is moisturised In amongst the controversies of the past few weeks, there has been growing fury over the re-opening of beauty salons and clinics. The guidance for the beauty industry in the pandemic has not been received well by those […]
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Image Description: Dramatic depiction of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine in an overcast day. In 2017, France defied the populist wave by choosing centrist banker Emmanuel Macron instead of the far-Right’s Marine Le Pen by a significant margin. Pundits in the English-speaking world lauded the French for their prudence. After Brexit and Trump, the […]
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Image description: an older man looking sadly into the distance When Number 10 first floated the idea of an over-50s lockdown, the reaction from those who would be asked to isolate was best described as indignant. Rarely has the phrase “ok boomer” seemed quite so apt. Many were furious, calling the policy ageist and unfair. […]
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Image description: K.K. Shailaja, Kerala’s health minister, smiling Kerala is a small state on India’s Malabar Coast – home to 35 million people and renowned for its peaceful backwaters and the tea-covered mountains of the Western Ghats. Despite being over 5,000 miles away from the UK, Kerala’s careful yet unrelenting response to the COVID-19 pandemic […]
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