Culture

‘Comedy is very deceptive’: Seán Carey on ‘Operation Mincemeat’

As a history student, you occasionally come across stories so strange they feel almost fictional. Operation Mincemeat is one of them.

Culture Hattie Simpson -

How 2025’s biggest films made their mark through music

The recent Oscar nominations have allowed us to reflect on how fundamental musical scores are to film, and the highlights of last year’s film soundtracks.

Culture Ruaridh McEwen -

Translating Oxford into Urdu

It’s a different emotion whenever I read the Urdu language. I’m not a native speaker, nor have I actively pursued learning the language, but as someone who finds solace in reading shayari (Urdu poetry), I wanted to follow it even in Oxford.

Books Manya Singh -

Stitching the world together: GFC’s London Fashion Week show

A few weeks ago we, the Cherwell fashion editors, were lucky enough to be extended an invite by the Global Fashion Collective to their London Fashion Week show.

Culture Cherwell Fashion -

Latest

Review: Lucian Freud: the Self-Portraits

The Royal Academy’s current exhibition, Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits, is a bold and singular response to this century’s fascination with self-image. Lucian Freud’s artistic career predates the selfie-saturated 2010s, yet his work captures the obsession and volume with which we display ourselves today.

Review: Knives Out

British audiences know the whodunit genre well. The Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, wrote 66 murder mystery novels over the course of her prolific...

How the Grinch Stole the Christmas Number One

Many years ago, all the good girls and boys of the United Kingdom would get a special present from Santa every Christmas – a...

Punch and BoJo

What happens to satire when politics is already a joke?

Vintage Actually

Holiday dressing with a new old approach We love the holiday season because dazzling decorations adorn our neighborhoods as we revel in the joy of...

In Defense of Escapist Art

In our current political climate escapism is a dirty word. Moreover, it is a risky form of mental engagement in a culture that calls...

Review: Fine Line – Harry Styles

Two years since his solo debut, Harry Styles is back with his second album, Fine Line. Styles’ self-titled album in 2017 had to fight...

The Fantasy of Film

Food - whether symbolising power, desire, loss, despair, love, murder or moral, social and political disorder - provides an extensive menu for films. Imogen Harter-Jones explores its symbolic capabilities.

Review: Macbeth

Leone Van den Schrieck reviews Collarbone Productions' 'Macbeth' at the BT.

Review: American Buffalo

Frazer Martin reviews 'American Buffalo' at the Pilch.

Review: Malcolm The Miserable

Ottilie Mitchell reviews new play Malcolm The Miserable at the BT studio.

Review: Oxford Contemporary Opera Festival

Clementine Scott is impressed by the Oxford Contemporary Opera Festival at Saint Hilda's.

And Others’ Stories

A massive portrait of Ashley Walters looms over Kingsland High Road. Plastered across the second storey of a retail block, it gazes serenely over chicken shops, artisanal coffee houses, strip-lit barbershops, sourdough pizza restaurants.