Opinion

Why the US midterms matter

How could the outcome of the US midterm elections ever affect an Oxford student? Well, the elections might affect the cost of your next Tesco or Sainsbury’s visit. This...

Opinion Troy Ware -

Debate chamber: Are Oxford’s political party societies fit for purpose?

Oxford’s political party societies have a dual reputation. On one side of the coin, many boast long-standing histories and influential alumni, from Clement Attlee to David Cameron. Flip to the tail end, and you find a termly reality of boisterous drinking socials and inconclusive debates that are, in the words of Cherwell’s Stanley Smith, “more fixated with personality than party”. But does this reputation really disrupt the confines of what these political party societies are made for?

Opinion Ti-Jean Martin and Elizabeth Millett -

Unity is the antidote

At a recent march in Oxford against the far right, one speaker’s words really...

Opinion Freya Robson -

In defence of consent training

CW: sexual violence It is often well-intentioned, stereotypically ‘progressive’ people who argue against the need...

Opinion Madeline Gillett -

The sound of belonging: Exclusion through language

Calls for migrants to learn English, supposedly for the purpose of ‘integration’, have formed a large part of immigration discourse in recent years. In...

Oxford’s exams need an update

In a matter of days, I will face 15 hours of handwritten exams. I will wear a gown that has never truly fitted, because...

Oxford is not an aesthetic

My social media algorithm has successfully tracked my profile closely enough to have figured out where I study. To my regret. For every now...

What are children really learning from their screens?

Today, when compared to my own childhood, screens dominate children's lives more than ever, and it seems to me that the screens they are...

The gap between funding and belonging at Oxford

Oxford is keen to tell a particular story about itself: that it is open, that it is trying, that it is changing. Without a...

I became more at home when I left home

I never felt more at home than when I was living thousands of miles away from home. It is indeed a paradox that many...

Oxford’s CareerConnect is failing northern students

The north-south divide is alive and well at Oxford’s railway station at the end of term. While students heading south crowd the opposite platform,...

The Oxford Union has a far-right problem

The Oxford Union has regularly been the subject of public outrage. From the 1933 ‘King and Country’ debate, upon which the Union, now, regularly...

Oxford needs a women’s college

Naturally, I loathe to say that Cambridge does anything better than Oxford, but I can’t deny that there is one thing I will always...

Both rags and riches: Social media is heightening Oxford’s class disparities

According to the University of Oxford’s admissions data, in 2024, 14.5% of students admitted were from the most socio-economically deprived areas in the UK....

We need to talk about Oxford’s gossip problem

Gossiping is an innately human pastime, existing long before our generation, and a beloved form of social interaction that teeters on the boundary between...

When I met Peter Mandelson

In October 2024, during the Oxford Chancellor election, one of my responsibilities as Deputy Editor of Profiles at Cherwell was to interview Peter (then Lord) Mandelson, who was among the five frontrunners contesting the election.

There really is no smoke without fire

Preoccupation with one’s appearance is to be expected when starting at University. New wardrobes and even newer anxieties combine as the daunting concept of...

I was wrong. Oxford needs a ‘reading’ week.

In passing, friends often bemoan how their partners at other universities get a week off, mid-term, to, in essence, prat around. The deified ‘reading...

The Schwarzman Centre is a commercial venture, not a place of learning

Schwarzman's donation was meant to revitalise study of the humanities. But with cramped libraries and cramped faculties, it's closer to a death knell.

CalSoc misses the ‘Reel’ point

During my first week in Oxford, I stumbled upon a Scottish third year in the college bar. This was startling; I’d only come across...

‘Studentification’ is hollowing out Oxford

When redevelopment becomes synonymous with displacement, we must ask what kind of city is being constructed alongside the University.

We need summer re-sits

Desmond Weisenberg discusses the impact of Oxford's lack of summer re-sits

Course culling is a threat to us all

Education is valuable for its own sake, Rampant course culls are the result of wrongly boiling it down to economic value.

Oxford’s poverty porn addiction

It exists in the overly sympathetic sighs of ‘solidarity’, the overexaggeration of comparatively minor and mundane inconveniences

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