Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Image Description: A girl using the Whatsapp messenger service to connect with friends. Five minutes ago, I left a four-hour Skype call with some of my Oxford friends. Yesterday, I spoke to another friend for four hours via Facebook. I have never socialised more than I am now. That’s despite being on vacation, so its […]
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To put it simply: the disturbance caused by the coronavirus pandemic should merit cancelling all exams in Trinity term. The UK government has already cancelled all GCSEs and A levels and shut all schools. Further, a majority of people in the UK are either working from home or not at all. This disruption to society […]
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Image Description: A sign on the entrance of a local school signalling closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the UK Government has taken unprecedented steps to combat the spread of the virus. The imposition of a temporary ‘lockdown’ since midnight on 24 March has been the most dramatic of […]
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The novel coronavirus will go down in history, not for causing tens of thousands of deaths, not for shutting down entire societies, nor even for sparking a fundamental reassessment of what society means, but for stopping me from personally taking my exams in a gown and mortar board. Yes, the real crisis is not in […]
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The National Union of Students has just elected its new President, Larissa Kennedy, by a margin of just one vote. The vote breakdown of the election was made public in a leaked Twitter post. Kennedy, currently a Sabbatical Officer working at Warwick’s Student Union, narrowly beat out Erica Ramos by 246 votes to 245, after […]
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On Friday, the University of Oxford released a paper which suggests that over half of the UK population could have already contracted – and now be immune to – coronavirus. However, many experts have queried the validity of the findings, and the researchers themselves find them far from conclusive. So, is the media frenzy around […]
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“At this stage, I can confirm that we anticipate that most or all teaching and assessment next term will take place remotely.” (Oxford Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education via email, 16th March 2020) It should be welcomed by all that the University is in active discussions over the impact of coronavirus on Trinity term. Equally, we […]
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Image description: former chancellor Sajid Javid at a Creative Britain event By far the biggest casualty of Boris Johnston’s recent re-shuffle was the former Chancellor, Sajid Javid. The Bromsgrove M.P. officially announced his resignation from cabinet on 13th February. He told his 180,000 Twitter followers that the Prime Minister would continue to enjoy his full […]
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Image description: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Doha, Qatar, cite of US-Taliban peace talks In an historic moment, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban. The move ends a conflict that had raged bitterly for the better part of two decades. Nearly five thousand troops are set to exit […]
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Image Description: Senator Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally. The race for the Democratic Presidential primaries is still wide open, yet until last week there seemed to be a frontrunner for the nomination, certainly in terms of delegate count. Firstly Iowa, then New Hampshire, and then Nevada had fallen under this wave of support for […]
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Image description: Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio A senior cabinet member of a government calls on citizens to protest against his own government. It seems fictional, yet it is unfortunately the most recent episode of the Sitcom of Italian politics, with Luigi Di Maio, the resigning leader of the Five Star Movement, and Minister […]
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The Oxford Student has been notified about a proposal by the Classics faculty to remove the study of Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid from the Mods syllabus, a decision which has surprised many across the faculty. This proposal forms part of a series of reforms aimed to modernise the first stage of the Classics degree, […]
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Ah, 5thweek. The perennial embodiment of stress, sleep deprivation and essay crises. The pinnacle of the madness that, although it’s sometimes hard to believe, we did, in fact, sign up for. About now, those fresh faces, ready for the new term, are as stale and lifeless as the depths of the Lower Gladstone Link, and […]
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On Sunday, 63.1% of Swiss voters voted in favour of extending anti-discrimination laws to the LGBTQ+ community, despite the efforts of the right-wing parties and press. This is a momentous decision on the part of Switzerland, not just because it will help protect thousands of people, but also because of what it represents. This law […]
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30 years ago, the BBC were so concerned that Gerry Adams’ sexy Irish lilt would lure unsuspecting viewers to his message that they decided to dub his voice as a precaution. Today his successor, Mary-Lou McDonald, undubbed and not-quite-so-sexy, has managed to do just what the BBC sought to avoid – recruit en masse to […]
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Image description: Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Fein A Prime Minister calls a snap election, taking a tough line on Britain’s exit from the European Union, thinking voters will coalesce around him, yet majestically fails. This time it is not the dismal decline of Theresa May in 2017, but that of the Irish Taoiseach, […]
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Image description: French President Macron The recent killing of Iran’s Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani by US airstrikes sent shockwaves throughout the world. By the time European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued her delayed appeal for calm, most European leaders had already reacted to the crisis. The UK’s condemnation of the “aggressive threat” […]
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Image description: Mother and child smiling at each other With Veganuary only barely over and Donald Trump’s attack on Greta ‘prophet-of-doom’ Thunberg in Davos still ringing in our ears, it is impossible to forget our duty to treat the environment with respect. This is all the truer for those who have passed St. John’s […]
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Image description: Pete Buttigieg, candidate for the Democratic nominee for President. The state of Iowa is home to little over 3 million (of America’s 330 million) citizens. It is over 90% white (compared to around 60% nationally), significantly older and about 15% more rural than the country as a whole. Despite this, Obama described winning […]
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