Thursday 6th November 2025

Features

How to build a ball

Students have started reaching out to Oxfess to solve the annual dilemma: which colleges are hosting balls, and which are the best to go to?  Within weeks of unpacking in...

Study influencers and Oxford: Rose-tinted computer screens

Searching ‘Oxford’ on YouTube brings up what you might expect. One thumbnail invites the...

What’s in a name? The donors written on Oxford’s streets

Walking down Broad Street can sometimes resemble a school register. It would, admittedly, be...

(A call to) Action: Oxford’s clash of real and reel

Hogwarts students run up the Christ Church stairs. Saltburn’s stars roll cigarettes on a...

Wages Against Housework: “More smiles? More money.”

“More smiles? More money.” This was the rallying cry of women around the world in the 1970s. They were adamant that women everywhere should be paid...

“Cofiwch Dryweryn”: A Welsh History of Oppression

I am proud of how so many people in my town in rural West Wales have rallied around the Black Lives Matter protests. Fighting...

Defiance in the face of Danger: Human Rights Activism in Colombia

The inconvenience caused by having to navigate through the hanging faces as you walk from class to class, serves as a reminder of the mass disruption in the lives of the protesters themselves. Activism should not be easy and in Colombia this is a given.

Family, Football and Palestine: A Story of Solidarity

In the 1870s, Brother Walfrid, an Irish priest from County Sligo, emigrated to Scotland. It was there that in 1887, at a meeting at St Mary’s...

Classics for the 21st Century: The Importance of Reception Studies

For those who study Classics, the question that begins many conversations in your first year of an undergraduate degree, “What do you study?”, can...

Imperfect Nostalgia, Imagined Perfection

As a small child, it didn’t occur to me that the porcelain Mao Zedong bust in my grandparents’ living room was, to put it...

BP or not BP? Art Washing and the British Museum

“Like smoke blown to heaven on the wings of the wind, our country, our conquered country, perishes. Its palaces are overrun by the fierce flames and...

Cults: Blind Faith?

In popular media, cults are often the object of morbid curiosity, in the same category as serial killers, celebrity breakdowns, and the scandalous exploits of polygamous...

Permanent Private Halls: the good, the bad and the ugly

Marnie Ashbridge demystifies the rumours about life in a PPH and highlights the financial challenges that they are facing without the status of an Oxford college.

My Father, a Zine and the KGB

“It’s the KGB! Open up." It was a crisp March morning in Leningrad, 1988. The KGB had unlocked the door to Tim Gadaski’s communal flat and silently...

Andrà Tutto Bene: Coronavirus and the Italian Spirit

When I think of Italy, I think of the rolling green hills of Tuscany where my family once lived; of vibrant locals, distinctive gelaterias, and of...

Progressive or Repressive? The Legalisation of Marijuana in Lebanon

On 21st April, Lebanon became the first Arab country to legalise cannabis farming for medical use. The bill was first introduced in July 2018...

A continent divided: How COVID-19 will change the face of South America

A quickly mounting death toll, hospitals on the verge of collapse, industrial-scale burials in cardboard coffins, relatives unable to bid farewell to their loved...

Old Faith, New Tricks: Catholicism in the time of Lockdown

Catholic Masses with congregations are suspended, Holy Water has been removed from church entrances, the flock has fallen sick and been scattered. But the...

Medellín, Colombia: Overcoming Escobar’s Legacy

At midday on Friday, February 22nd, 2019, a loud explosion is heard in one of Medellín’s most affluent neighbourhoods. The explosion is so large...

This House believes the Union has a long way to go

“It is with great pleasure that I call upon Mr. Malcolm X to speak fifth, in favour of the motion.” With these words, Malcolm...

Restrict, Regulate or Educate? Young People and Online Porn

Mia Sorenti explores the complexities regarding young people and exposure to online pornography. It is likely the majority of us have come into contact with...

Beyond the Bullingdon: A closer look into Oxford’s Secret Societies

Cherwell dives deep into Oxford's clandestine world: Tutors, Tories, bankrolling alumni, and dinosaurs are only the beginning of the world behind doors.

THRIVE OR SURVIVE? Experiences from Year Abroad

BERLIN - Marte van der Graaf I didn’t want to go on a year abroad at all. I remember telling my mum at the end of...

The Problem with Plush: Oxford’s Disappearing Queer Scene

TW: contains discussion of hate crimes, especially anti-trans violence Navigating the world as a queer person is exhausting. In every new situation, when meeting...

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