Saturday 5th July 2025

Culture

‘Pour summer in a glass’: retracing Dandelion Wine

“You did not hear them coming. You hardly heard them go. The grass bent down, sprang up again. They passed like cloud shadows downhill ... the boys of summer,...

Reviving the symposium at the Ashmolean Krasis programme

Dara Mohd, herself a Krasis Scholar, converses with Dr Jim Harris about his object-centred symposium program, Krasis, at the Ashmolean Museum.

‘This Room Their Lives’ in Magdalen College’s Waynflete building

Every Magdalen member remembers their first encounter with the Waynflete Building. Sticking out a...

In More, Pulp aren’t just trading on nostalgia – they’re fresh

In a year where many are talking about one Britpop band in particular –...

Music for the end of the world: a Plastic Beach retrospective

"Plastic Beach serves as a poetic, wonderfully produced and musically brilliant reminder that the world is slowly ending, everything is artificial and no one seems to be doing very much about it at all."

Bad language: the value of non-standard English

In many classrooms, slang is something forbidden, a recent example being  a London secondary school’s decision to ban words such as ‘bare’, and fillers...

P.S. I still love writing letters

"In searching for an activity to keep away the boredom, it was during lockdown that my love for letter writing was reignited."

“Sorrow and birthday cake” – Review: Mojo

"Emotions collide and coalesce to heart-stopping effect, reflecting the disturbing inevitability of the chaos caused when drugs and fear mingle."

A green scream machine at Queen’s – Review: Little Shop of Horrors

Queen’s College needed a sassy, singing carnivorous plant. In drag.

“Hide the babies” – Review: Girls and Dolls

There’s been a recent uptick in global awareness of the history of Northern Ireland. We can trace it back, roughly, to 2018. That’s when Lisa McGee’s hit TV series Derry Girls, which chronicles the tribulations of growing up in Derry during the Troubles, arrived on screens worldwide; and just like that, Northern Ireland became the object of cultural fascination.

Disappointing and passionless: The Met Gala 2022 review

"More than half of the outfits could have been worn for any other red carpet or film premiere that year."

Oxford Fashion Gala Review

Anna Roberts shares her experience of participating in Oxford's first FADSOC x Industry fashion gala.

Dresse me my harpe

The speaker in Anna Cowan’s poem herself undertakes a myth-making activity in playing her harp. “It is time”, she declares, as she unshackles the...

Oxford Student Film Review: The Pacifist

The Pacifist was put together by a team of recently graduated University College students. Matthew Hardy (2018, English) wrote the screenplay and collaborated on direction with Jack Rennie (2017, PPL).

“Strikingly modern” – Review: Twelfth Night at Waterperry Gardens

May McEvoy reviews Somerville College Drama Society and Sunday Productions' Twelfth Night.

“Inclusive and psychologically profound” – Review: Dracula

Sophie Magalhaes reviews Leah O'Grady's 'queer Dracula' at Michael Pilch Studio.

“Outside, in drag, covered in glitter”: Little Shop of Horrors comes to Oxford

Everybody better beware: Little Shop of Horrors has arrived in Oxford.  The wacky musical tells the story of a meek florist, Seymour Krelborn, who finds...

“Student drama done right” – Review: Much Ado About Nothing

"The production harnesses its idyllic, summery setting to explore the [...] ideals of love and courtship in a world dominated by gendered notions of how honour is achieved, and the use of deception as a means to an end."

Girls and Dolls: In conversation with A² Productions

"The popularity of Derry Girls [demonstrates] that shows like this, with a good balance of witty humour and colourful characters, family dynamics and psychological insights, are the perfect blend to watch."

“Why am I the one on trial?” – Review: Prima Facie

"The woman who once vociferously defended the judicial system comes to the realisation that the concept of justice is merely an ideal, which in reality is often unattainable, especially for women."

Ismat Chughtai on Indian female experiences

The Quilt and Other Stories is a 1994 compilation of short stories by Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991), a prolific writer of 20th-century India. She occupied...

Local Hero: a modest masterpiece

What is the first thing that springs to mind when I ask you about the connection between a red phone box in the Scottish highlands, a crackpot oil multimillionaire from Houston, and a jaded and cynical negotiator who ends up trapped between the two colliding worlds?

Following the money: the meaning of “selling out”

‘I love selling out’ declared Charli XCX when speaking to NPR about Crash, released in March, a project which sees her lean into mainstream pop, ironically playing the part of an industry ‘sell-out’.

How (not) to look at buildings

When was the last time something was so beautiful it shocked you?

Follow us