Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
On 9th April, I spent my morning in Notre Dame cathedral. I had previously studied it in multiple art history classes, and thought, ‘Why not go?’ When I arrived, I was blown away. I stared in amazement at the portal sculpture of Saint Denis, a Christian martyr who was purportedly beheaded for his faith, before […]
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“…une grande flamme désordonnée et furieuse dont le vent emportait par moments un lambeau dans la fumée.” “…a great flame, messy and furious, from which the wind by moments took away a shred in a whirl of smoke.” – Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) Au feu! – Fire! – I can imagine Parisians bustling […]
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Bright, loud, but delicate, Bonnard’s paintings adorn the walls of the Tate Modern. His joyous paintings celebrate art and the process of making it, without seeming superficial and shallow. It is an exhibition well worth going to if you want to see some gorgeous modern art. Bonnard was part of the post-impressionist movement but has […]
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This provocative, controversial book, follows the life and academic career of Francois in a dystopian France crackling with political change. As a tragically immoral and lonely university lecturer living in Paris, his life is altered when the fictional Muslim Brotherhood Party wins the national election. His girlfriend, Jewish, flees the country in fear and he […]
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The widespread Gilets Jaunes, or “Yellow Vests” protests in France have entered their fifth week with no sign of ending. And with Macron’s approval rating having fallen to 18%, their success seems only to be accelerating. What started as a spontaneous appearance of protests by ordinary people across the country, furious about a regressive fuel […]
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My experience of seasonal work was a roller coaster. I spent four and a half months over the winter holidays, until May, working as a costumer for a holiday club, starting in Opio, in the south of France, for training, and quickly moving on to Val Thorens, in the Alps. Initially, I found it hard […]
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Squeezed into a suit just one size too small for his thick frame, we first encounter Antoine in a court hearing as he is read a statement from his eleven-year-old son Julien. We hear of Julien’s fear of his father and his worry that he will hurt his mother. Sat next to Antoine; his estranged […]
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In the 2012 World Cities Culture Report – an international survey examining the cultural offerings of twelve cities – it was revealed that Paris had the highest number of cinemas in the world at 302; almost three times that of London. This hardly comes as a surprise – France is widely considered the birthplace of […]
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Earlier this summer, Bertrand Tavernier produced an incredibly niche documentary, My Journey Through French Cinema, a three-hour memoir echoing the first-person style inspired by Martin Scorsese. MJTFC is a proper inside-look at French films and their directors. Naturally, summer presents the most opportune time to binge your favourite shows and movies. And Netflix reigns supreme […]
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The run-off in the French election pits a candidate who has not hidden her deep distrust of the European Union and her willingness to deconstruct it against another who would whole-heartedly throw France into the reinvigoration of the European project. It would appear therefore that danger for the European institutions lies solely in a Marine […]
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The University of Oxford has denied that it intends to set up a satellite campus in France. The denial came after the Telegraph reported that Oxford, along with at least one other Russell Group university, had been in talks with French officials about possible ways of retaining their European links post-Brexit. Jean-Michel Blanquer, a former […]
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Oft repeated is that standing on the beach at Calais on a clear day you can see the English coastline. Therefore it is puzzling that it has taken months for 387 children to travel across 20.6 miles of water to safety who, under the Dubs amendment or Dublin III agreement, have a legal right to […]
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Which destination played host to Victor Hugo during his exile from France, claims the donkey and the cow as its national animals, and is home to the world’s second oldest tennis club? The answer is Guernsey, a jurisdiction within the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency. Together, the Bailiwick and Jersey form the Channel Islands. […]
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Head out east from Bordeaux deep into the Dordogne and you’ll find a truly extraordinary place. The Vézère Valley is quite pretty, banded by pale cliffs there are any number of charming French villages and playmobil-looking chateaux to enjoy. But this is just the surface, the real beauty is not visible at first sight. This […]
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The Paris November terrorist attacks have left the French political class in a state of turmoil. Since the suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafés, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris, the French have been divided as to how the government should react to protect its people without trampling on their fundamental […]
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It has become a somewhat worn-out stereotype that the French, and especially the Parisians, dress well. However questionable this cliché is, it is interesting to see what it tells us about French culture and social behaviour. I was born and went to school in Paris, and I remember that in our English class we were […]
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If we learnt anything about social media in 2015, it’s to be a bit more selfie-sceptic. From hipster Barbie on Instagram to nomads posting exotic vistas, it’s time we admitted that our virtual lives are rose-tinted. So when you see the digital published life of your friends abroad, seemingly idyllic and cosmopolitan, there may be […]
Continue ReadingFor my Year Abroad, there was an element of being thrown in at the deep end. I wondered if I would sink or swim under the pressures of living in a new country. If that was not enough, the thought of speaking a foreign language in a different country left me feeling slightly anxious. Any […]
Continue ReadingLike any other visitor to Marseille in 2015, upon stepping off the train at the city’s main station, Gare Saint-Charles, I was greeted by posters celebrating the 20th year of an initiative known as Euroméditerrannée. This is the 7 billion euro urban renewal project that, since 1995, has sought to transform the city centre and […]
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