Sunday 13th July 2025

Opinion

Trashing rules save face, not students

Trashing is banned. But what does the banning achieve except pushing students further from the centre to more perilous waters? Recently, Brasenose students were threatened with £150 fines from the...

The Language Faculty is promoting intelligence, not artifice

Isaac Asimov’s fantastic short story ‘The Last Question’ has always struck me as vaguely...

Racism tarnished my European year abroad experience

For linguists and lawyers heading across the Channel in third year, an idyllic continental adventure is not the whole picture

It’s okay to hate tourism in Oxford

Tourists are as much a feature of life as a student at this University...

Elitism and colonialism’s residue: Pakistan’s education system is in crisis

"With 35.1% of the population between the ages of 0 and 14, education standards must be improved or else the youth bulge threatens to hamper economic growth for several decades to come."

A recovery toolkit to anorexia

"Recovery is confusing - it is not black and white and there is no one who can do it for you. This is where specialist eating disorder services can guide and support you. Recovery is abstract - it is not the same for anyone but that is the beauty of it. ‘Abstract’ is not synonymous with ‘bad’; ‘hope’ is abstract, ‘peace’ is abstract, so too is ‘contentment’."

Student safety is not a joke: Clubs need to do better

"In the current climate, where discussions around women’s safety are finally getting the awareness they deserve, you would think the bouncers would have prioritised my wellbeing over their need for a power trip."

The political power of gender expression: Lessons from female dictators

"Current female MPs are expected to act as female politicians, not just as politicians. This pressure is incredibly unfair."

How meritocracy fuels Oxford’s burnout cycle

"The desire to simply breathe, to spend a day without a to-do list etched into your brain, is a completely natural response to our unnatural environment."

The question of protest in a post-pandemic world

"After months, years now of isolation, our pent-up anger has found a way to spill over."

Covid and the crisis of compassion

"Our government may represent a morally bankrupt failure of leadership; but that means we must lead ourselves."

Collective security and individual freedom in the Covid era: how clear-cut of a conflict is there?

"Genuine political savviness should complicate our outlook on the inveterate clash between universalism and particularism that the Covid era has brought into fresh attention."

The world ain’t so bad after all

"It was the social interaction that we craved, the personal connections formed that couldn’t be fostered behind a screen."

In a tale of Eastern European democracy, all unhappy families are alike

"The strength and vulnerability of democracy, in short, is about trust."

Pope Francis’ comments on parenthood are nothing new for childfree women

"Yet this rhetoric is nothing new for childfree people – childfree women in particular."

A first date with anarchy?

It seems as if the doomsday clock is close to striking twelve for the Conservative Party.

Back to the future: Putin’s return to classical geopolitics

"The insatiable Russian bear has always looked westwards for its next meal."

Vaccine inequality: Disparity in the distribution of the Oxford-AZ vaccine around the world

The United Kingdom is now giving its citizens their third dose of the vaccine despite almost 40% of the global population remaining unvaccinated

Fringe or frontrunner? Eric Zemmour’s French Presidential candidacy explained

"Zemmour’s political ideologies is one of division, intolerance and discrimination, and his mere candidacy is a testimony of France’s fragile political landscape and its descent into populist demagogy."

Emotional Contagion: an insight into Oxford University’s terrifying epidemic of burnout and hyper-productivity

"Amongst these dreaming spires, emotional contagion hangs thick in the air like an intoxicating fog. It is a destructive concoction of morbid perfectionism, righteous self-obsession, and a sense of perpetual tiredness."

How conservatives are weaponising feminism to bring down Roe v Wade

Fitch’s argument is that because of feminism, women are now fully able to pursue both motherhood and a career, eliminating the need for abortion. To support her argument, she draws on her own experience as a (white, upper middle class) single mother. 

Time to take responsibility: All Souls’ dirty legacies

"Out-of-date relics of elitism like All Souls hold a responsibility to do more than the bare minimum. But since pandemic rules paved the way for justifiable closing down, one cannot help but feel it is convenient for the College to keep these legacies hidden behind locked doors."

For art’s sake: How NFTs are changing the way we appreciate art

NFTs are not inconsistent with artistic creativity, rather, they are a vehicle for its democratization.

Comment highlights MT21

'Impossible to choose' Leah Mitchell We’ve had so many great articles this term that I found it impossible to choose just one! My particular highlights were...

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