Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Image Description: An aerial view of Radcliffe Square The SU Council has voted in favour of a motion in supporting demands from students that the University should waive its residency requirements for the foreseeable future. However, the University stands by its stance that it will not lift residency requirements in Hilary term, citing “the educational […]
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Image description: Christmas market in Oxford at night – market stalls on Broad Street surrounded by crowds of people and Christmas lights. For me, Michaelmas term has always been a bit of a difficult term to get into. While it marks the start of an exciting new academic year with new and returning students joining […]
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It’s been more than half a year of getting used to life during a global pandemic – or rather, half a year of collective anxiety, socially distant loneliness, and spoiled plans. The hope offered by a summer of relaxed rules and good-mood weather seems to have been snatched away again by rising cases and the […]
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Image Description: A number of pots sculpted by Grayson Perry are exhibited in a gallery, with one in the foreground reading ‘This Artwork Will Regenerate the Local Economy’ It hardly needs to be said that the arts industry has been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Whilst many sectors, such as the hospitality industry, have been […]
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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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The city of Oxford will move into Tier 2 lockdown restrictions this Saturday, the Council has announced. Different households will no longer be able to meet indoors in any setting, public or private. Overnight stays will only be allowed from those in your own household or support bubble, but both Universities – like schools, colleges […]
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Image Description: Sign saying “Open” One of my favourite parts of Freshers’ week last year was arriving at the Freshers’ Fair. I wandered over to the Examination Schools, stepped through the archway and walked into a new world. Every room was full of bustling people stopping at different stalls to sign up for societies and […]
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The University released data from its Early Alert Service on Monday, revealing that 197 students tested positive for Covid-19 in the week beginning October 10th. This was an increase of 61 cases on the previous week, and some colleges – and their annexes – have been impacted more heavily than others. While University College imposed […]
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Image description: a beautiful sunset scene viewed from behind a window It’s day 9 of my first bout of self-isolation this term. Being an international student, I’m no stranger to quarantine. Flying back to my home country in March and returning to the UK during summer, the 14 days of isolation were done at both […]
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Image description: People sit on benches looking at paintings in one of the galleries at Tate Britain. As the pandemic continues, arts organisations have begun exploring new ways of generating income. Many galleries and museums are now running paid events online. The Royal Opera House is selling a David Hockney portrait, estimated to be worth […]
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When Trump’s 2016 MAGA campaign promised to make America a global leader, we didn’t quite expect it to include its number of Covid-19 cases. Yet, here we are. The hot garbage that constitutes the White House’s pandemic management has so far resulted in 7.8 million confirmed cases and 217 thousand deaths, representing approximately 20 percent […]
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Image description: St’ Giles street. Recent articles in The Oxford Student, particularly ‘Morality Patrols’, as well as a petition currently circulating online, assert the University’s overreach in dealing with the Covid pandemic. They argue that by setting university guidelines that go beyond the current laws, and by retaining the right to change these guidelines in […]
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Image description: Cardboard mortar board made from a box for Corona beer on a desk in a bedroom TL;DR: Sitting Finals at home wasn’t great, but that’s mainly because it felt like an empty, uneventful anti-climax, rather than it being unusually stressful or difficult academically. There are reasons to be grateful for finishing in 2020, […]
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In today’s Virtual Town Hall, representatives from both the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University made it clear that they would not prevent students from visiting home, as long as they have not been told to isolate. The question was posed by a concerned resident, worried that the lack of social experience at University […]
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Image description: a cartoon character getting a coronavirus test. Matt Hancock said last Wednesday that around 25% of those seeking COVID-19 tests were ‘not eligible’, complaining of a ‘rise in the number of people who are not eligible’. Those who don’t have symptoms, he warned, should not be tested. The government website has also added […]
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Image description: A pile of blue masks. Lockdown is a social responsibility – Rita Kimijima-Dennemeyer It’s true that the number of severe cases and fatalities have dropped significantly since April. We also have a better idea now of who will be most severely affected by coronavirus, and the good news for the majority of university-age […]
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Clinical trials of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine will resume after they were paused on September 6th due to unexplained neurological symptoms in a participant. At the time, AstraZeneca described it as a “routine” pause in the case of “an unexplained illness”. In a press release, AstraZeneca announced that “Clinical trials for the AstraZeneca Oxford coronavirus […]
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Following news that Cambridge University would be conducting weekly, in-college testing of asymptomatic students, many students at Oxford have expressed concerns as to why their university had not announced a similar policy. The University has now offered an official response exclusively to The Oxford Student, explaining their testing system, and why they do not have […]
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The government’s ‘Moonshot’ testing scheme, announced this week, is aiming high: 10 million tests a day, 15 minutes for a test to be returned, £100 billion price tag. But the UK is currently so far from the Moonshot ideal the plan sounds nonsensical. And there’s no point to it – or to any kind of […]
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