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Independent since 1920

Headlines

Plush to host new student night, ‘Quackers Wednesdays’

Cherwell can exclusively report that Plush will begin a new Wednesday student night, Quackers. This comes after ATIK Oxford closed at the end of Trinity Term and coincides with the move of Park End, previously held at ATIK on Wednesdays, to Bridge. The club aims to “refresh the scene”, with lower entry and drink prices compared to its competitors, in response to the rising cost of Oxford nightlife. This is set to include £1 shots and £5.50 doubles, alongside other drink...

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Features

Has Oxford made us hate reading?

"Ever felt like you were suffocating under a pile of books, making the idea of picking up yet another feel utterly daunting?"

The Tradwife phenomenon: homesick for subservience

If you’ve been on TikTok at all recently (or Instagram Reels, if you’re that way inclined), you will have noticed a vast array of videos featuring picture-perfect American wives competing in beauty pageants weeks...

General Election 2024: Cherwell’s Politics Hot Takes

Oxford is a notoriously strange place with a notoriously strange populace, one which includes Union hacks who desire nothing more than to rule the world, and scholarly types who get off on reading Schopenhauer...

Things can only get… worse? Why 2024 is no 1997 for the Labour Party

One of the characteristic features of the 1997 Labour Party general election campaign was their use of D:Ream’s song "Things Can Only Get Better" in their campaign video. This song was selected to conjure optimism following what many saw as eighteen years of Conservative failure which had left the...

The Art of Being Bored

Today, every corner of our lives seems to be filled with never-ending streams of information and vibrant entertainment. The concept of being bored has become almost extinct. Thanks to constant access to the internet and social media, fleeting moments of boredom are swiftly replaced with scrolling endlessly through feeds,...

The 2024 BNOC List

"Here it is! After three weeks of voting, the results are in. With slight adjustments made according to which BNOCs gave consent to be on the list and the addition of some whose fame strictly speaking surpasses that of BNOC-hood, the list is true to those initial nominations."

Profiles

In conversation with Moe Sbihi, the British rower ‘Stockholm Syndrome-d’ into Olympic gold 

Three-time Olympic medallist, World Champion rower, MBE, the first British Muslim Olympic flag bearer: the highly decorated Moe Sbihi seems to have done it all when it comes to having a successful rowing career. I spoke to him to find out more about where it all started, and how...

In conversation with Oli Dugmore, the mind behind PoliticsJOE

Oli Dugmore, known best as the mind behind PoliticsJOE, echoes many of the views young, disillusioned voters hold.

Culture

Veranilda by George Gissing review – The best historical novel never written

George Gissing remains the most underrated novelist in the English language. He wrote twenty-three novels, although the average bookshop today only contains four of them. Two of these – New Grub Street, a harrowing story of London literary life, and The Odd Women, the most powerful feminist novel of...

Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart review – “The prime minister we never had”

This is a marvellous book, a memoir of Rory Stewart’s nine years in Parliament, and its greatest flaw is that it is not long enough. The original draft was 220,000 words long, and included chapters on Yemen, Libya, Covid policy, populism, and ethics in politics, all of which have...

Life

Underconsumption-core: Are students the perfect subculture to reclaim underconsumption?

Living at university – with lives bundled completely and entirely into 4-by-4-metre rooms – requires prioritising the necessary.

What I wish I’d known before my year abroad 

For many students the year abroad had either been one huge disappointment or a life-changing rite of passage.

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