Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Image Description: A crowd in a concert venue, a silhouette of a hand is in focus on a background of yellow lighting. In better times, concerts were easily my favourite night out. There’s something about the ebb and flow of a crowd that makes music that much more thrilling. I have very vivid memories of […]
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Image description: newspaper clippings with the words ‘agony aunt’ written in block letters. Previous column themes have been tenuous, but this is probably the most tenuous yet. Look, it’s seventh week. We’re pretty tired, both of life and of answering all of your tedious — pardon, extremely important problems. So, we humbly beg our loyal […]
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Image Description: a headshot of Amelia Fletcher against the backdrop of a drawing of Oxford’s skyline and the text ‘Amelia Fletcher: Alumni Series’ This week’s alumni has had a double career of sorts. In one world, she is a respected economist: former chief economist at the Office of Fair Trading and now Deputy Director at […]
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Image Description: a close-up photo of a condenser microphone against a purple background Picture this: it’s 2008. Britney Spears has just shaved her head! It’s in all the magazines and game show Family Fortunes US runs a round on it. “What has Britney Spears lost this year?” “Her husband! Her hair! Her sanity!” cry the […]
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Image Description: Nupur Patel’s DPhil Diaries The last time I noted down my thoughts here, I was in a bit of a miserable place with my DPhil. In all honesty, I was bored, fed up and anxious about the thought of getting stuck into corrections and preparing for a second draft. Being so close to […]
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Image Description: Musicians Alexander 23 (left) and Jeremy Zucker (right) standing in front of a doorway. I remember the day I first listened to Jeremy Zucker’s music. Predictably, the Spotify algorithm threw up his most popular track ‘comethru‘ and I found it an easy enough listen while I packed away my things on the last […]
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Image Description: Maddie Ziegler wearing headphones while playing the autistic character ‘Music’ in Sia’s new film. Autistic people are not well served when it comes to seeing ourselves reflected in the media. According to Hollywood, we are either socially unaware geniuses or child-like Rain Men with special abilities from whom the neurotypical (non-autistic) protagonist learns […]
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Image description: Taylor Swift performing, wearing red and singing into a red microphone. Taylor Swift has long been someone unafraid of speaking up against the music industry. In 2014, she withdrew her music from Spotify to protest against the small amount of royalty payments that the actual singers receive for each play of a song. […]
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Image Description: Album art for The Christmas Present: Williams in top hat and tails in front of a Christmassy shop window. Robbie Williams’ new Christmas album, The Christmas Present is, frankly, nothing less than awful. In case you’re reading this and thinking that it can’t be that bad, one example is enough. In the song, […]
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Image description: An open book and cup of tea resting on some wood in front of a lake As we enter further into second lockdown, and the evenings are getting darker and longer, no doubt many of us are finding things rather tedious. If living through these ‘unique times’ isn’t quite entertaining enough for you, […]
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Image description: Close up of artist Jorja Smith on stage The coronavirus pandemic has imposed restrictions on almost every part of our lives, music videos have been no different. Artists’ responses to the problems caused by coronavirus have been as diverse as the genres they occupy. The results have also varied massively, some are gorgeous, […]
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Image description: Ariana Grande in mid-performance. Ariana Grande is probably the only artist of the moment who can truly be identified as a ‘pop star’. There are other pop artists, to be sure – Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello, Doja Cat – but none of them come with the glittery sparkle and cult of personality that […]
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Image Description: Laura Marling singing into a microphone with a guitar, on a black stage. In August, I wrote a review of Haim’s bubbly, frenetic, exploratory album, Women in Music Pt. III. I thought that it was a lockdown vibe, it buoyed me up, and I listened to it over, and over, and over again. […]
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Tintin and Alph-Art is the 24th and final volume of my favourite comic series growing up. Its creator, Hergé, died before its completion. Just three pages are in pencil, another 42 comprise rough sketches, and scattered throughout the volume are various notes (translated from the Belgian) alongside a number of rediscovered pages. In the last […]
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Image description: A picture of Jenny on a blue background. CN: Transition and transphobia. I first met Jenny Scoones on a cold Tuesday night in November. She borrowed a cigarette so that she could sing me a more accurate rendition of Lana del Ray’s Video Games as we stood in a crowd of Skittles attendees, […]
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Image Description: Haim performing at a concert, singing and playing guitar. Haim’s 3rd studio album, Women in Music Part III is a triumph. Affectionately known as WIMPIII, and released in June, the album has found a primary place on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and was the no.1 album in the UK for a week. Its […]
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Image description: open book with fluttering pages on black background Oxford students from a variety of disciplines have called for departments to diversify curricula and reading lists over the past couple of weeks. Students studying Politics, History, English, Philosophy, Linguistics, and Music, amongst others, are pushing for better Black and minority ethnic representation on reading […]
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Image description: Stormzy at Glastonbury festival 2019, wearing a stab-proof vest designed by Banksy While re-watching the momentous Brit awards performance by South London Grime artist Stormzy, I was asked by a friend “I get what he’s saying, but why does he have to sound so angry?” Because he is, and because he has every […]
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Image Description: A sign saying ‘Smash the Patriarchy’ with cutouts of Janelle Monae, Dolly Parton and Doja Cat overlayed on top. As lockdown eases, and we begin to emerge into the big bad world (if only for a rendezvous with our ‘support bubble’), we will once again be met by the harsh realities of wearing […]
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