Headlines

Preoccupation with one’s appearance is to be expected when starting at University. New wardrobes and even newer anxieties combine as the daunting concept of...

Leo Jones -

I was wrong. Oxford needs a ‘reading’ week.

In passing, friends often bemoan how their partners at other universities get a week off, mid-term, to, in essence, prat around. The deified ‘reading...

Morwenna Stinchcombe -

The Schwarzman Centre is a commercial venture, not a place of learning

Schwarzman's donation was meant to revitalise study of the humanities. But with cramped libraries and cramped faculties, it's closer to a death knell.

Morien Robertson -

Both rags and riches: Social media is heightening Oxford’s class disparities

Amalia Larsson Negi - 1st May 2026

According to the University of Oxford’s admissions data, in 2024, 14.5% of students admitted were from the most socio-economically deprived areas in the UK....

We need to talk about Oxford’s gossip problem

Freya Robson -

When I met Peter Mandelson

Hassan Akram -

Features

The Oxford donors in the Epstein files

Beatrix Arnold and Stanley Smith -

The appearance in the 'Epstein files' of the names of a number of Oxford University's most prominent donors raises questions about the University's sources of funding.

‘The only woman in Hall’: Gender and college governance

Ruby Barenberg and Hattie Simpson -

When Baroness Alexandra Freeman became Principal of Hertford College last month, she did not initially realise she was the first woman to hold the role.

The independent cinema battling Oriel College to stay open

Beatrix Arnold and Stanley Smith -

With the threat of an unrenewed lease from Oriel College, the Ultimate Picture Palace is appealing to the community at large for support.

‘It happens here and it’s our responsibility to stop it’: Oxford’s anti-sexual violence campaign

Beatrix Arnold - 4th May 2026

For the co-presidents of It Happens Here, Aparna and Maddie, literacy about consent and sexual violence is needed now more than ever.

War within earshot: A year abroad in Jordan

The essay and its long history in Oxford

Who Owns Net Zero? Climate Action in a Collegiate University

Profiles

‘What we need is action’: Dr Lakasing on maternity care, misinformation, and the NHS crisis

Hattie Simpson - 4th May 2026

‘I’m not campaigning for any particular point of view’: Sam Freedman on government, the Conservatives, and writing with his father

Melissa Eddon -

‘We’re hurtling into a new era’: James Marriott on books, broadsheets, and a changing Britain

Gavriella Epstein-Lightman -

Culture

‘Oleanna’: An imperfect but gripping watch

Ian Coates - 11th May 2026

Boulevard Productions’ Oleanna leaves something to be desired, but what it lacks in production value it more than compensates for in audacity; so much so that David Mamet would be proud

Music

Internet Babies: Students of Subculture

There’s a certain kind of artist that I keep coming back to lately: artists who seem to know exactly what I want to hear before I do. Not algorithmically,...

Sharon Wilson -

Culture

May Morning

Smudged mascara and the curling of coffee steam. Small yawns and the shuffling of boots. Tangled hair plaited by the same girl from first-year, a crumbly pastry shared with...

Elizabeth Bourn -

The Source

UrbanObserver

Oxford's oldest independent student newspaper, est. 1920

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