Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Image description: an empty Oxford college dining hall. To all those unlucky souls on inflexible, expensive or unappetising college meal plans, my heart goes out to you. I won’t dwell too much on my own circumstances, like the closure of all students kitchens during Michaelmas, but, as a daily navigator of hall food, I’ll share […]
Continue Reading
Image description: A messy kitchen countertop with a loaf cake, orange juice and a spoon of flour. This banana almond cake is moreish and best eaten on a long, relaxing break from work. I made this cake on a whim while procrastinating one day. Baking is always worth the effort, even if you’re pushed for […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Paper shopping bags against mint background with the title ‘Checking out’ above. Checking Out produced by Orange Script Production and written by William Heath is styled as a ‘comedy-drama which follows the beginnings of the unlikely relationship between larger-than-life, mid-forties shop assistant Julie and recently-widowed octogenarian Elsie’. It is, however something much more […]
Continue Reading
Image description: a silhouette with a raised fist over a light orange background The year is 1991. You pick up a copy of the Bikini Kill zine and find the Riot Grrl manifesto. Towards the top of the page there is the statement: BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to our girlfriends-politics-real lives is […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Eurovision crowds in purple and turquoise lighting turned to a stage with a spotlight Following Saturday’s Grand Final, another Eurovision has come and gone. In what felt like the quickest grand final in recent memory, 26 countries competed for the glass microphone trophy, with Italy pulling up ahead of the jury-favourites Switzerland and […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Daði & Gagnamagnið performing on stage with a purple and blue background and sparkling lights Picture it now, and wipe a tear from your eye. Last year, Gay Christmas was cancelled. Due to go ahead in May 2020, the pandemic forced the 65th Eurovision Song Contest off our screens, and a microwave meal […]
Continue Reading
Image description: a large crowd and colourful flags in front of Glastonbury Festival’s Pyramid Stage The world-renowned Glastonbury Festival attracts 200,000 seasoned festival-goers and newcomers alike to its home in Pilton, Somerset, every year. While well-accustomed to the odd ‘fallow year’ to allow the site’s land to regrow, the festival first opened its gates to […]
Continue Reading
Image description: the promotional artwork for The Arnolfini Portrait (an illustration of two figures set against a pale blue background, with the play’s title in dark blue lettering) With the absence of staging, lighting and costume among the many other elements which make up an understanding of theatre in the traditional sense, it could be […]
Continue Reading
Image description: black silhouettes in front of a purple lit club room The pulsating music sweeps in and crashes like a sonic wave breaking on the beach of Oxford night life. The multicoloured lights shimmer and swirl, fading from greens and blues to red and pink hues. In a disjointing contrast the disco floor throbs […]
Continue Reading
Image description: yellow mannequins covered in splashes of red paint and political messages such as #MeToo CW: Sexual assault and rape If sex is what underpins ‘The Oldest Profession’, then it is sex which also underpins much of our most ancient art, as academics (and, subsequently, sensationalist newspapers) pose that World’s Oldest Art is Female […]
Continue Reading
Image description: A blurry photo of the inside of a night club If there’s one thing this year has taught us, it’s that there’s truth to the cliché that ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone’. Whether that be adventures abroad, celebrating with family, or pub quizzes that actively discourage the use of […]
Continue Reading
Image Description: Monochrome photo of hands holding a copy of Marquez’s book “Over the weekend the vultures got into the Presidential Palace by pecking through the screens on the balcony windows, and the flapping of their wings stirred up the stagnant time inside, and at dawn on Monday the city awoke out of its lethargy […]
Continue Reading
Image description: supermarket shelves with groceries. There were three stages of my reaction to the news that the Cowley Road Tesco would be closing until the autumn: denial, panic, and somewhat successful attempts to adjust. First came the denial. One quiet morning a newsletter came through my letterbox announcing the closure of said Tesco for […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Hand writing a list in a notebook The etymological emergence of the term “bucket list” has a surprisingly short and uneventful history, peeking in a failed blockbuster and ending in an unintended yet enduring idiomatic legacy. Released in the notorious year of 2007, Rob Reiner and Justin Zacham’s The Bucket List follows the […]
Continue Reading
Image Description: An array of vintage cassette tapes One of my favorite things about music is that there truly is never a shortage– new music is constantly being created, and in the streaming age we have access to recordings from the early 20th century onwards. Still, somehow I frequently find myself in phases where I […]
Continue Reading
Image Description: A lighthouse visible in the evening light The light near my tiny bedroom is always on. Darkness surrounds me, except for the presence of that light. Accompanying me to sleep every night. That is my lighthouse here in Oxford. I feel as if I am no longer lonely. A subtle desire […]
Continue Reading
Image Description – promotional image for the album; Arlo Parks’ sits on an orange chair with album title written next to her Arlo Parks’ breakout album is a 40-minute long exploration of adolescence, anguish and acceptance. Diaristic lyrics and a kaleidoscope of influences seep through Parks’ honeyed voice and mellow tunes in “Collapsed in Sunbeams”. […]
Continue Reading
Image description: Two actors playing Romeo and Juliet kissing on stage in period costume The National Theatre’s new film, Romeo and Juliet, was intended to be a full run theatre production last year. But of course, like most things, it was derailed by the pandemic. With a full (and impressive) cast, a theatre, some set […]
Continue Reading
Image Description: poster used to advertise the production, a tree made out of abstract images of people on a black background Exploring grief through music, Oxford Contemporary Opera Society has commissioned 5 pieces that move through the stages of grief. Throughout the performances, dissonant chords and large ranges in the melody present challenges for the […]
Continue Reading