Columns
A crash course in British politics: An introduction (Week 0)
If you are reading this you most likely live in the United Kingdom. You might also, like me, be new here. As a first-year international student, I suddenly find...
Sound And Vision: Better Call Saul’s Perfect Montage
"The perfect song choice is instrumental in creating the perfect montage".
Work/Life Balance at Brookes
It is vital to recognise when to ask for help, and to know where to ask for it. Sharing a problem can often lighten the load of the problem. That’s part of the learning experience.
Striking the balance at university
"I wish I could be in two places at once, but as fun as this term has been, I am also aware that it has been packed that little bit too full."
Forget the Blues – It’s time for Oranges!
"I realised essays can be hard, but they can also be fun, and they can also be difficult, but then I can have a dance afterwards."
Political Corruption Gone Mad: Owen Paterson and Tory Sleaze
‘Selflessness. Integrity. Objectivity. Accountability. Openness. Honesty. Leadership.’ These are the Seven Principles devised by Lord Nolan’s 1994 Committee on Standards in Public Life to...
Off the Rails: Drama in Ljubljana
I write in genuine fear. I have discovered that C has read my diary and the results were not pretty – and now I’m...
Callous, Cowardly, Criminal: The Home Office’s failures to protect immigrants and refugees
Dehydrated, dazed, and confused, but thankful to have survived the deadly journey. Thankful to have reached the country of opportunity in which they just...
On PTSD and Trauma: An Interview with Dr Hannah Murray
I recently went to The Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma to chat with Dr Hannah Murray, a PTSD clinician. Dr Murray is...
Auntythetical: Is beauty in the eye of the coloniser?
I regularly feel overlooked in favour of my white peers. I know that this isn’t just a ‘me problem’, having discussed this with my other Asian friends, but it feels incredibly personal.
Behind the Screens: Analysing film soundtracks with zero music knowledge
To not think about a film’s sound is to not think about cinema as a whole experience. However, I’m not going to lie, I...
Hysterical Histories: Great Escapes
"Frank Morris, and Clarence and John Anglin, successfully escaped Alcatraz Island after tucking papier-mâché heads into their beds: these were models of themselves made to sneak out at night, literally like mere sixteen year old teenagers."
Auntythetical: Grieving from afar
My grandfather, Dada Ji, died in October 2019, but I only learned his name this summer.
As much as I’d like to claim that it...
Day 2 – Swiss Dreams are Made of This
I feel too awkward pulling out my journal and turning the light on to write so I guess this one’s gonna be written on...
Haute Kosher: On being half and feeling whole
In Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red, a novel in verse based on fragments by Stesichorus about the myth of Geryon, shame is being a...
Pens, Paper, and Panic: On adjusting to university life with OCD
Since my diagnosis, I’ve learned a lot about myself and about OCD. It’s not been a matter of learning to live with it, but rather understanding how it is a part of myself and how I can harness it for good.
Arrogant, Offensive, Truth Twisters: The Catastrophic Failings of British Policing
Yet I urge you to pause and reflect on the events just described: at what point, if at all, did the police ‘serve and protect?.’
Brain Freeze: On learning how to live again
CW - Cancer, surgery
Over the next few weeks, I want to write about the singular experience of being diagnosed with and getting rid of...
Auntythetical: On dreams and realities of ‘return’
20 minutes and 57 seconds. That’s the duration of the most recent voice recording I’ve made of my father trashing my choice of degree...
