Wednesday 5th November 2025

Culture

Well-managed complexity: ‘In Praise of Love’ 

In Praise of Love by Terence Rattigan was a play well-chosen in today’s political context – it uses the unhappy relationships between Estonian immigrant Lydia (Nicole Palka), English former...

Fashion around Oxford – Iggy Clarke

Iggy Clarke, the president of the 2025 Oxford Fashion Gala, shares her style secrets and where she’s shopping right now.

Look up! Statues and gargoyles in Oxford

Walking around Oxford you often feel like you’re part of the city’s tourist attraction....

Plaques and Peripheries: The Search for Oxford’s Women Writers

Every morning on my way to college, I pass through the cobblestoned, crowded St...

Forget Her Not: Rediscovering Women in Music- Week 1

At fifteen, I was fully and completely obsessed with the Californian soul/alternative R&B/jazz/funk band The Internet. It is for this reason that I can...

Grammys 2024: Reflection of Profitability or Recognition of Artistry?

The 2024 Grammys were everything they should be: glamorous, monumental, and of course, controversial. Taylor Swift has made history by becoming the first artist to...

Portrait Spotlight: Sir Claus Adolf Moser (1984-5)

"Moser, like all other newly appointed Wardens, had full choice and control of patronage over his college portrait"

“Riotously Funny and Highly Enjoyable”: Blackadder Review

"It came as a pleasant surprise, therefore, that I found the production riotously funny and highly enjoyable."

The Autobiogra-phony

"A master of saying everything and nothing all at once! I sure would make a great celeb."

The Oscar Best Picture Winner You’ve Never Heard Of

"With the Oscar nominations for 2024 having been released in anticipation of March’s ceremony, it is worth looking back on a former Best Picture winner that has never got its due."

Cherwell Introducing: Zahra

In our Introducing series, Cherwell will be bringing you the best up and coming artists in Oxford. This week, Joseph interviewed Zahra.

Immersive, seductive, orgasmic: review of The Bacchae

Inhale, exhale. The beating drum sounds louder as I walk further into the Keble O’Reilly. Turning left into the auditorium, I find the source...

Saltburn: a Mid-Noughties Fashion Revival

"It seems necessary to dissect Fennell’s portrayal of noughties trends to see what deserves to return, and what ought to be left in the past."

Cherwell Introducing: Zahra

In our Introducing series, Cherwell will be bringing you the best up and coming artists in Oxford. This week, Joseph interviewed Zahra.

Remembering Oxford: Memorialising “The City of Dreaming Spires”

"As I exit the library, it strikes me that in its memorials of people long deceased and its unchanging historical landscape, Oxford seems often at a standstill."

Wattpad: the new online course in creative writing?

The only issue that sites like Wattpad face is their association with ‘low value’ feminine writing and smut.

Unbodied identity? – A Review of Bodies

"Bodies captivates in its exploration of 'bodied' and 'unbodied' existence. The play challenges traditional notions of life, meaning, and identity"

Literary Red Flags: Cause for Alarm?

"The internet loves to tell us what to do, especially when there's a healthy smattering of pseudo-psychology involved."

Making reading for pleasure pleasurable

"After being a bit too optimistic with my 2023 Goodreads Challenge, 2024 is going to be the year where I repair my relationship with books."

Review of Tennant as Macbeth: An Auditory Experience

"Last week I took a trip to London to see the new production of Macbeth starring David Tennant at Donmar Warehouse."

Forget her not: Rediscovering women in music: Week 0

"Stumbling upon Fiona Apple’s 1999 album When The Pawn… actually inspired the concept of this column."

Rebel Moon – Review

"Call me cynical, but I always find reviewing bad movies far more enjoyable than good ones."

Bands to Watch Out For in 2024

"As the new year unfolds there is no better time to expand your music taste and explore genres and artists that you may not otherwise have chosen to listen to"

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before- Week 0

Rufus' first column of the term reviews All-Purpose Poem for State Occasions by Wendy Cope. He will be introducing a different poem to readers alongside each edition of Cherwell.

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