Tuesday 26th May 2026

Culture

Subs, dubs, and AI flubs: Lost in film translation

How hard could it be to watch an entire film in German when I could not even introduce myself in the language? Quite hard, it turns out.

Barker & Co. Booksellers: Oxford’s newest independent bookshop

A new secondhand bookstore opened in Oxford city centre last week. Located in the Golden Cross shopping centre, just off Cornmarket Street, the bookstore stocks hundreds of secondhand books, ranging from accessibly priced paperbacks to rare and expensive antiquarian first-editions.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ in review

The Harris Manchester Players immersed Oxford’s inhabitants in the delightful world of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest this May.

Inarticulacy in part and in whole: ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ in review

When I heard that Jim Jarmusch had released a new anthology film, I fondly remembered watching Night on Earth (1991) some years ago.

Lost in Translation

In an age of globalised literature and artificial intelligence translation tools, to examine the function of literary translators is to question the substance of...

A Love Letter to Eurovision

I first discovered Eurovision in 2015. Idly flicking through the TV channels one fateful night, I stumbled onto the largest, glitteriest, and most confusing music competition on...

Laurence and Olivia

Her feelings were in constant melancholy. When that Thursday had accumulated into a sunset, she was unmoved. The dwindling clouds did not produce in...

Ennis and Marie

Ennis reduced me from the thing I was,Rounded and massive friend of crazed Marie,And lifted me and placed me in his palmAs I were...

THE IDEA OF LAND

Of the firm landscapeMen see muchBut hold little for sure What they learn is grownBefore workGathers them into a field Each one admiresA settlingIn place,...

THE IDEA OF HEAVEN

Heaven must beThat old dreamOf my garden, but lasting When I wake, the leavesSeem to shred In the wind like manuscripts The pollinated JunglelandBecomes a sodden...

Review: Laura Marling’s ‘Song For Our Daughter’

Laura Marling’s seventh album, Song For Our Daughter, was scheduled for release later this year. But, like many other artists and entertainers, the likes of Dua Lipa...

On the relation between Autumn and Spring

The days of Spring are Autumn’s accoladeFor that it can enjoy them, unadornedWith the cloak of sparrows or with the skirt of maize,Preserving each...

A Phenomenology of Lost Cinemas

Every time I frantically peruse my notes, I find the keystone unlocking the bliss of unbridled writing flow by way of recalling. I remind...

Friday Favourite: Crush

When I was a kid, I would re-read the books I found exciting, and which had characters I 'got on with' – a lot...

SIMONE, WHOSE HAIR IS THE WORLD

Her golden plumage shivered to a mane That grew the stalks and limbs of flowers and trees

What follows is an apology

it was different back then; we didn’t know, didn’t understand…

wintercaerig

made its blades stand sentinel and straight, made the lock stick on the kissing gate

More profit-interest than philanthropy in new Twilight prequel ‘Midnight Sun’

Confession time: I was a Twilight fan. It’s not as damning as the image that probably comes to mind – I honestly don’t remember...

Bare derrieres for bums on seats? Shock value on stage

By the time Iqbal Khan’s Anthony and Cleopatra reached its dénouement at the RSC, we were almost three hours in and, despite the production...

Stage Adaptions: Midnight’s Children

Iconic, encyclopaedic, and kaleidoscopic, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children has garnered a healthy sense of both wariness and respect from critics and readers alike over...

A ‘Clean Break’ from crime?

After mastering the downward facing dog-chaturanga-upward facing dog transition, my isolation development peaked and it was time to do some work. I watched the Donmar Trilogy’s...

The best podcasts to banish boredom

So, you’ve baked the perfect banana bread, binged Tiger King, considered giving yourself a fringe à la Normal People’s Marianne, or buying a chain...

Do LGBT+ creatives have a responsibility to produce queer art?

Being "protected" from anything that resembled queerness did not manage to make me straight

The scope for creativity in quarantine

One thing I am glad of, in returning home, is that there is no need to feel trapped. My father’s house looks from one hill to...

Follow us