Saturday 9th August 2025

Opinion

The Encaenia is PR without the public (or anyone else)

Wholesale reform is the last thing Encaenia needs. If only people knew what it is, it would be a well-suited PR exercise for a modern Oxford.

This is how we combat the crusade against universities

It’s easy to think of an arts degree as a fruitless pleasure. But education and academic study are intrinsically valuable.

From pensioners to students, all should fear the Palestine Action ban

If you think this is a win for one side over the other in relation to Israel’s war on Gaza, be careful what you wish for.

Trashing rules save face, not students

Trashing is banned. But what does the banning achieve except pushing students further from...

The drugs don’t work

Simon Singh is on trial for criticising alternative medicine and explains why he will not back down

Drowning in money

The Supreme Court has opened the floodgates in the name of free speech. Bad Decision.

The Weekly Short Cut

Jolyon O'Connell explains why The Week is a must-have for any cocktail party

Can a pill replace alcohol?

Two students consider the merits of a new drug that mimics the effects of alcohol, with an antidote that offers a speedy sobering up.

Editorial: Do we need drugs to switch on?

Mediocrity has never been tolerated, but avoiding it has reached new depths

5 Minute Tute: Google vs. China

Professor Rana Mitter explains Google's decision to pull out of China

The errors of a decade

Clement Knox considers what went wrong in the noughties

Guest Columnist: Entrepreneurship is the way forward

Why students should look beyond corporate institutions

Editorial: Higher Education funding

We should be raising the bar for education, not dropping it.

Next term in the Union

Stuart Cullen looks at the upcoming term at the Oxford Union Society.

Right time to topple Brown?

Two students consider whether the coup to overthrow Gordon Brown was the right thing to do

5 Minute Tute: Can CAN go on?

Holly Graham explains the controversy surrounding the African Nations Cup

The Modern Man

Alain de Botton reconciles Clement Knox to the perils of modern living

The Oxford myth is true

Alex Connock, Chief Executive of Media Company Ten Alps, explains why studying at Oxford is a ticket to a career fast-lane

How the Left was won

Why the Coup-That-Never-Was might not have been such a bad thing for the Labour party.

Poetry and public prudishness

With new reforms for the Professor of Poetry elections, Cherwell delves further into Britain's poetic and prudish past

The thinking man’s politician?

Marc Kidson meets James Purnell, the former Cabinet minister whose resignation failed to topple Gordon Brown

Democracy: the best policy?

Hector Keate contemplates Simon Cowell's proposed "Political X factor"

Education, Education? – Labour now proposes two instead of three

Why forcing students to complete degrees in two years rather than three will create more problems than it will solve

Why we experience a quarter-life crisis

Marta Szczerba explores why fear is so prevalent among students

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