Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Image Description: students sitting exams in an exam hall News of the cancellation of GCSEs and A-Levels in England came unexpectedly to students this year who, up until this point, had been emphatically assured that these would go ahead as planned. This decision came almost one month after Wales and Scotland also called off examinations. […]
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In a letter from the Department of Education, Michelle Donelan, Minister of State for Universities has announced that the return of students not on practical courses should be paused until the week beginning the 25th January. This comes after further Tier 4 announcements this morning, triggered by quickly rising case rates. The letter states that: […]
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When I was in my early teens I read Starter for Ten, a novel about a working-class lad who manages to get on his university’s University Challenge team, one bored summer. Since then, it has been a quiet dream of mine to get to university, against the odds assigned to me on account of my […]
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Image description: A row of shops, with a Christmas tree in the middle. Will I shed a tear for Debenhams, the department store that has withstood total collapse for so long? The store opened first in 1778, withstanding wars, depressions, the invention of modern life, and even my working there as a Christmas Temp, despite […]
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Image description: A blue wall with baskets of flowers. Living is such a funny concept in today’s world. “If you haven’t done this you aren’t living” they say. Well, I’ve not done many things many people have, yet I sit here and still feel my pulse. So, what is “living” really? I spent summer and […]
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Image description: A window with writing made of post-it notes On Wednesday, Matt Hancock said that he would agree to receive a coronavirus vaccine on live TV, in response to a challenge from presenter Piers Morgan. Other politicians are in queues to do the same – including Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon, and several past US […]
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Image description: The Whitehall sign, which reads: ‘Whitehall, SW1, City of Westminster’. Dominic Cummings left 10 Downing Street as he entered it — through the front door, with the nation’s cameras watching. A special advisor, he enjoyed unusual influence in a PM’s team, and a higher public profile than many senior frontbenchers. We should all be […]
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Image description: A view from the back of Jeremy Corbyn giving an address. A few weeks ago, Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party. Then, he was reinstated. The disappointment was crushing. And then this morning I woke up to the joyous news that he would not receive the Labour whip. That makes him […]
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Image description: London skyline on an overcast day On coming to power in 2019, Boris Johnson promised both the Conservative party and the country as a whole that his vision would ensure a ‘global Britain’. It drew on the rhetoric that has kept Johnson relevant over the course of his complex political career. Some would […]
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Image description: an old car with “Tories Out” painted on the bonnet. Whenever I see someone wearing a “Never kissed a Tory” badge/T-shirt, or carrying a bag with that slogan emblazoned on one side, I think: “meh, join the queue”. There are a lot (some might even say the vast majority) of people who wouldn’t […]
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Image Description: Queen Victoria holds court at Belfast City Hall with Athena Nike (goddess of truth, justice, wisdom, and victory) looking over her shoulder A few months ago, Barbados became the latest country to officially announce plans to remove Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. In doing so, it will join Trinidad and […]
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Image description: a dark hospital room. Morality has played a key role in the coronavirus crisis. Doctors were forced to choose who to save, public health officials were forced to weigh freedom against safety, whole societies were put on halt. All in the name of morality. After all, it would be criminal to stand aside […]
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Image description: the storefront of Boots. Boots, the high street pharmacy, has announced that it will launch a private test providing results within twelve minutes by November to 50 stores across the UK. This is by far the fastest test result currently available and significantly overshadows the NHS test result wait time. Twelve minutes is […]
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Image description: two men wearing masks, walking along a street Read Maddy’s column from last week: https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2020/10/16/what-about-the-fish/ At the beginning of the first lockdown (do you remember that? How wonderfully naïve we all were), I was added to a Facebook group for Lockdown Sceptics. Their posts were a little wacky, often linking COVID-19 to 5G […]
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Image description: Student on New Inn Hall Street with sticky notes reading: “send beer; corona is here”, “it’s his fault” (with an arrow pointing to the window above), and “patient zero” Recent news that students may face a two-week lockdown before being allowed to return home is typical of this government. It demonstrates a failure […]
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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: 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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