Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
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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Image description: A computer showing a Facebook profile with an open mobile phone held beside it. No amount of telling yourself that Oxford is not the real world can prepare you for the culture shock when you come home. Here, my preferred way to begin the day is to argue with the radio. Whilst the […]
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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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Image description: Magdalen tower For the first time, 69% of Oxford’s offers have gone to people from state schools. This may sound good, but that means that nearly a third of places have gone to an elite group. Said group representing 7% of the population. To some people this is not an issue. People have […]
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Image description: Magdalen College Improving access to students from more disadvantaged backgrounds has rightly become the priority for Oxbridge admissions. After all, no young person should be discriminated against “on the basis of the class they were born into”. The upper echelons of higher education should be open to all inspiring, budding young intellectuals and […]
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The United Kingdom must lead mediation Qasem Soleimani is no martyr. To lament his death would be to turn a blind eye on the fact that, as highlighted by PM Boris Johnson, he had ‘British blood on his hands’. Mr. Johnson, however, fails at accurately displaying the sheer barbarity of Mr. Soleimani’s actions while serving […]
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Image description: Out-going leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. With Jeremy Corbyn having announced his resignation as leader following the December 2019 election, the contest for his replacement is heating up. Of those who formerly expressed an interested, five have made it through to the next round: Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long Bailey, Lisa Nandy, […]
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Image description: Qasem Soleimani International co-operation is the only solution Boris Johnson’s government is right to offer cautious support to the U.S. over the Iran issue, but moving forward we must seek an international solution to promote peace across the wider region of the Middle East. It is, of course, important to recognise that the […]
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For many on the left, private education is indisputably negative. Without question, the existence of private schools contradicts social justice. They afford some children access to better education by virtue of their parent’s income, bastions of privilege that work to perpetuate social inequality. As someone who is broadly leftwing, I do not wish to dispute […]
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Education, education, education (but only for the rich): Private schools creates a two-tier education system and must be abolished. It’s no secret that our education system is wholly unfair, and if nationalisation of private schools will cost us money in the long term, it’s a price worth paying. In September this year, the Labour Party […]
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Proposition by Isabella Lill When mass commercialism and art mix, we get worse art. I concede that artists need to eat, and for that they need enough money to live on. But, no matter how ‘groundbreaking’ Jeff Koons considers himself to be, I don’t think art should be about trying to make as much money […]
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Imagine the scene. The Oxford Union, 17th January, around 9pm. The motion to be debated: “This House believes that the Arab world has failed the Palestinian people”. A speaker for the opposition rises, argues we should reject it because it wrongly presupposes a moral obligation. The “problem” of the Palestinians was forced upon the Arab […]
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Image Credit: Twitter Last week, a news story caused shockwaves on Twitter, titled ‘Cambridge students reject Remembrance Day’. That’s just one article, but if you Google it, you’ll see about seven with near-identical wording, all from moderate to far-right-wing papers. Here’s the thing, though. This phrasing is extremely misleading. So what actually happened? A group of […]
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Image Credit: OUCA/OULC/OULD Facebook The Oxford University Labour Club has refused involvement in the Three Parties Debate, a termly debate between the Oxford University Conservative Association, the Oxford University Liberal Democrats and the Oxford University Labour Club, the three main political societies in Oxford University. The event took place this Monday, and promised to attract […]
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Image Credit: John Jabez Edwin Mayal (Public Domain)-Description-Karl Marx For-Katie Heslop When I tell people I’m a communist, they usually respond as if I’ve declared that Theresa May is a reptilian humanoid hell-bent on taking over the world. Well-meaning strangers take it upon themselves to recount the bloody horrors of the Soviet Union, or simply […]
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It is that time of year again. November brings a cluster of days marked out for remembrance, with All Souls Day and Bonfire night, but none have become so charged as Remembrance Sunday and in particular the parade of poppies it brings forth. The red poppy has drawn substantial criticism in recent times, with concerns […]
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Protesters were thrown out of a discussion panel hosted by an anti-abortion student society that included prominent Irish pro-lifers on Wednesday night. WomCam, Oxford SU’s women’s campaign, organised the demonstration. According to reports, around fifteen protesters entered the event and then started heckling the speakers when the talk began. Eye-witness reports, and statements from both […]
Continue ReadingMaria Sharapova. Lance Armstrong. Ben Johnson. Justin Gatlin. Asafa Powell. Five world-class athletes who have been banned from their sports for using illegal strategies to enhance their performance. We do not hesitate to condemn them for cheating, and rightly so – they have broken the rules. But are these rules valid? Should certain performance-enhancing strategies […]
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Needless to say, the US presidential election dominated most headlines in November of last year – but the media furore swept another significant decision almost entirely under the rug. At the same time as voting for their next president, the citizens of California, Nevada and Massachusetts also voted to legalise recreational marijuana in their states. […]
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