Wednesday 21st January 2026

Culture

‘Songs, skits, and a third thing beginning with S’: Jack McMinn in conversation

If there’s one thing I believe Oxford’s theatre scene is missing, it’s a button-down-shirt-wearing ex-zoology student with a penchant for writing songs about Pret A Manger.

The Oxford art calendar: Hilary 2026

Oxford’s frosty Hilary term is best spent looking at new exhibitions. This art calendar will guide you through some of the upcoming highlights.

‘Beautifully we may rot’: ‘Madame La Mort’ in review

In a small, black-painted room on the top floor of a pub in Islington, known as The Hope Theatre, Madame La Mort was staged for the public for the first time.

Damaging detachment: Reflections on the Booker Prize 

This Christmas vac, I made up my mind to get out of my reading slump using the Booker Prize shortlist, revealing toxic masculinity as a key theme.

Review: Lubaina Himid’s ‘Invisible Strategies’

Ewan Davis explores Lubaina Himid’s Invisible Strategies at Modern Art Oxford

Review: STOP

Amaris Proctor admires this play's refreshingly frank attitude towards mental illness

Readers’ Photo Competition

Have some great Instagram shots of your college pals? Or portraits of people you met while travelling abroad? Send [email protected] your best portrait photos by Wed 15 and see your work in print!

A product of pointless nostalgia

Natalia Bus argues against the unfulfilling nature of musical reunions

Mrs Dalloway: A novel in cinemascope

Alice Robinson explores how Virginia Woolf embraces the techniques and temporality of the cinema in her writing

Reviewing Moffat: The Doctor Who Christmas Special

“Doctor Who does superheroes” is a premise which seems obvious. The show’s greatest asset is its ability to jump from one genre to the...

Which film best represents your college?

Oxford colleges are known for their quirks, and inspired by these traits, here’s part two of the Cherwell guide to movies that reflect our...

Reviewing Moffat: Sherlock Series Four

This series of Sherlock is particularly varied, playing around with genre far more than usual. The first episode, ‘The Six Thatchers,’ feels at many...

Spotlight: Sal Para

Natalia Bus is captivated by this Oxford artist's authentic debut effort

Review: The Leopard

Altair Brandon-Salmon revisits the classic Italian 20th century novel

Nick D’Aloisio: Oxford’s new media hero

Theo Davies-Lewis investigates the undergraduate tech prodigy who chose Oxford over MIT or Stanford

Single of the week: Arcade Fire’s ‘I Give You Power’

Will Cowie remains unmoved by Arcade Fire's impassive anti-Trump release

Walking the pilgrim’s way

Looking back at his exhibition 'We will meet', Alvin Ong tells Sophie Jordan of his walks along the thin line between memory and fiction

Which film best represents your Oxford college?

Oxford colleges are known for their quirks, and inspired by these traits, here’s part two of the Cherwell guide to movies that reflect our...

Instagram: the art of on screen reinvention

William Hosie reminds us to view others’ Instagram personae with some crucial critical distance

A fusion of movement, light, and sound

Christopher James Goring finds much to admire in the complexity of Illuminated

Margo Price live at the Bullingdon

Emily Beswick is delighted by the raw energy of Price's live show

Review: John Hodge’s ‘Collaborators’

Bessie Yuill finds herself simultaneously amused and disturbed by this dark tragedy about a fictional meeting between Stalin and Bulgakov

Four Gorillaz of the Ape-ocalypse

Natalia Bus on the anti-Trump rhetoric of the chilling Gorillaz release

Review: ‘Edward II’

Susannah Goldsbrough is captivated by Oxford's finest acting talents and their leather leggings

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