Saturday 16th May 2026

Culture

Life on Earth: Art as armour in Mandel’s ‘Station Eleven’

The novel demonstrates how speculative fiction is a genre ultimately concerned with the relationship between the environment and the individual, between Earth and humanity.

Who gets to speak? The rise of the male podcast epidemic

I couldn’t help but notice, however, that one of the reasons for my disillusionment with the genre was likely the glaring gender imbalance, often when it came to the most successful, well-known podcasts.

The Devil is Sponsored by Dior: ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ in review

In the world of The Devil Wears Prada 2, there is one thing that could have never existed: The Devil Wears Prada.

Hidden Gems: ‘The Storytellers’ at Worcester College

From the first moments, The Storytellers feels unusually thoughtful, generous, and alive.

Review: The Safe Keep by Yael Van der Wouden

In not necessarily liking Isabel, we are free to understand her, even if this understanding does boil down to something rather simple.

Ticketmaster hurts student concert culture

Competitive, difficult, and opaque. All words associated with the Oxbridge admissions process. More recently, however, they have been used by disappointed Oasis and Coldplay fans in relation to Ticketmaster.

Celebrating two centuries of the National Gallery

Flo Wolter reflects on the impact and legacy of the iconic institution, now in its 200th year.

‘warþ gasric grorn, þær he on greut giswom’ [Fish sad when washed to shore] – The Franks Casket

hronæsbansorrowful, weeping tears of salttaken, hunted, harpoonedfrom my blue lagooncrafted by you into this box. hronæsbancarve me, recalcitrant though I ammay my banhus tell both...

Review: Joker: Folie à Deux

Joker: Folie a Deux is ultimately too disjointed and unnecessary to win Oscars or make headlines.

The Graduate took on generational divides

From its start, The Graduate shows its audience that Ben is alienated from the older generations. At the party his parents throw to celebrate...

Dame Maggie Smith’s Oxford beginnings, from Mansfield to McGonagall

Now nearly a month since the news of the actress’ death, aged 89, we can reflect on Smith’s extraordinary career and her connections to the city that started it all. 

Books you can’t sink your teeth into: A brief look into unsolvable manuscripts

If there’s one thing that most people appreciate, it’s a good mystery with a clever solution. It is no accident that Agatha Christie is...

Review: Will Heaven Fall on Us? A Béla Tarr Retrospective

Will Heaven Fall on Us? A Béla Tarr Retrospective, which aired in cinemas this summer, confirms the status of the Hungarian director as an...

Has the romantic comedy lost its charm?

The romantic comedy genre is often criticised for its overreliance on tropes. The romcom is, after all by, designed to be light and fun....

Palimpsest

This is a secular city, built on holy bones. We’re on the edge of another fissure. Nothing so grand as a revolution. But the grey...

2024 was for the girls: The rapid success of female artists

The last nine months of pop can perhaps be summed up in one word: ‘Femininomenon’. The title of Chappell Roan’s 2023 hit, a portmanteau...

Oxford’s Alternotives take the Fringe

This August, the Oxford Alternotives joined the ranks of Oxford performers heading to the Edinburgh Fringe. For our twelfth Fringe performance, we brought a...

The art of rowing: In conversation with Emily Craig

After a formidable finish in the Lightweight Women’s double sculls at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August, Team GB’s Emily Craig and Imogen Grant...

On Leadership by Tony Blair, Precipice by Robert Harris, and Oxford crime – Books of the Month

On Leadership by Tony Blair; Precipice by Robert Harris; Lessons in Crime: Academic Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order review – “An excellent account”

Dr Edward Howell, whose columns in the Spectator and the Telegraph are among the few intelligent and readable things left in those outlets, has...

A Revolution Betrayed by Peter Hitchens review – In Defence of Grammar Schools

Review – A Revolution Betrayed: How Egalitarians Wrecked the British Education System by Peter Hitchens. ISBN: 9781399400077  Most people accept that the British education system...

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...

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...

The Conservative Effect, 2010-2024 review: “Comprehensive and damning”

If you only read one book on British politics this year, make it this one. 

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