Culture

New Oxford Windrush generation exhibit opens for Black History Month 

Amidst recent political tension provoked by the government’s refusal of slavery reparations to the Caribbean, this year Black History Month is celebrated uniquely in Oxford. The inaugural exhibition at...

“There’s a play in that”: interview with ‘The Gang of Three’ playwright Robert Khan

It’s Budget Day as I sit in the foyer of the Oxford Playhouse. Down...

‘Celebrity Traitors’ season two: Complex and compelling

Reality TV series The Traitors has returned with its celebrity version and has topped viewing charts for a second time. People are hooked on the show where logical reasoning and random chance are simultaneously at play, in a game full of drama, tension, and cliffhangers.

Oxford’s art scene: A picture still being painted

Who gets to make art, who gets to see it, and whose art history...

Review: The Silent Patient

"If you’re looking for a good book, I’d give this one a miss, but I will it give it one thing- The Silent Patient is accidentally hilarious."

Taking the old over the new: The importance of re-watching

It’s like the difference between working on a puzzle with or without knowing what it should look like when complete

Surrealism on film: Fellini and ‘Juliet of the Spirits’

Everyone’s going a bit crazy these days. I, for one, am happy to admit that the last few months have been quite bizarre, and...

‘Measure in Love’ – Preview

In the last few months, many aspects of our lives have had to change and adapt to fit into what we call ‘the new...

Literature festivals of the future

"As idyllic as it sounds to vanish for a few days to the literary haven of Hay-on-Wye, for many, financial and geographic constraints curtail the prospect of reaching the so-called ‘Woodstock of the mind’."

A No Spoiler Review of Mrs America

To be honest, I didn’t originally want to watch Mrs America. I have studied the history of 1970s American feminism so hearing that Phyllis...

‘Dynamite’ and BTS’ explosive fame

K-pop group BTS’ perpetual rise in popularity has been staggering, and the success of their latest release, English-language single ‘Dynamite’, comes as no surprise. Perfectly timed...

The Eurovision Song Contest: more important than ever?

On 18th March 2020, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) took the unprecedented decision to postpone the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest – an annual celebration...

Avonlea Revisited: what children’s classics offer for adult readers

"Revisiting these childhood classics gives us an important reminder for these definitely non-normative times: seek happiness in the unlikeliest places. Love is patient, love is kind, but it is also a little shy and very, very funny."

Music in a foreign language: short-lived novelty or here to stay?

When it comes to most music, you realise quite quickly that the language it’s written in isn’t really that important. Maybe you wouldn’t get...

Hooks and Hardbacks: a summer music reading list

For the music obsessives among us, the pieces of literature that stick longest in our minds are overwhelming those which take music itself as a subject....

Setting the Scene: When location becomes character

I can remember the first time I watched The Revenant in an empty screening at my local cinema. It was during the height of...

Review: The Places I’ve Cried in Public

"The book tackles abusive relationships in a way that allows younger (and older) readers to realise the many forms abuse can take."

Theroux thick and thin

Louis doesn't just question those he is filming but seems to become part of their journey

A Fresher’s Guide to Oxford Drama

Everyone feels on the outside, until they don’t anymore

Friday Favourite: The Cairo Trilogy

“A historical allegory that mirrors political events through the livelihood of the Al-Jawad family, it is a seminal work of modern Arabic literature and is crucial to understanding Egypt’s modern history, society and culture.”

Arcade Fire’s ‘Funeral’: an underappreciated album built for times like these

It is a fact of the universe that, in difficult times, people turn to music. It often seems somewhat counterintuitive that in states of...

When Will We Be “Satisfied”? – Hamilton And Its Discontents

Four years after the now familiar opening thumps of Hamilton were first heard, the White House has met the Mouse-House; Disney+ allows subscribers to...

The language of Pride: five books I read in the closet

"As well as the direct dialogue from writer to reader, I realised that I was just one of a larger readership: an intoxicating mix of individual and collective experience that was validating above all else."

In defence of self-help

"It took my own experience of trauma to recognise that maligning self-help can contribute to disempowerment, and to think non-judgementally about the traumas which might have led other people to seek self-help and self-care."

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