Tuesday 14th October 2025

Opinion

Outreach shouldn’t stop at Hadrian’s wall

In a Britain that claims to be a “United” Kingdom, having only two-dozen Scottish state schoolers at its best university does much to foster division.

The ‘S’ in ‘STEM’ stands for superiority complex

It’s high time we stopped arguing over which is more difficult, and instead started asking what STEM and the humanities can learn from each other.

Stop sneering at the staycation

If so much is available within the UK, what justification is there for an Oxford student to travel across the world?

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.

The Oxford-Cambridge Arc is too good an opportunity to ignore

Now is not a good time to be a nimby. With the return of compulsory housebuilding targets, it is the new government’s ambition to...

The Vice-Chancellor in review

This article is an updated version of a piece in the W0 print. Irene Tracey is used to doing uncontroversial good. She has dedicated...

We need boldness on Brexit

Each time I hear that Labour has dismissed yet another offer from EU states to establish reciprocal freedom of movement deals for young people,...

The relativity of joy in the US election

If there’s one word that Tim Walz emphasised on his first day as Kamala Harris’ running mate, it was “joy”. Since his selection, support...

Shifting gears on affirmative action

Affirmative action in America is gone, but the change in data so far doesn’t show clear racial balancing. Unlike Oxford, the American admissions system...

A glass-half-full perspective on alcohol

The sun rises in the east, all men are mortal, and students drink. Such is life, and Oxford is no exception. University life is...

The BBC: historic failures and future irrelevance

The BBC is no stranger to scandal. From its MI5-assisted vetting of political ‘subversives’ to its contentious relationship with the Thatcher government, the broadcaster’s...

How Oxford defeated fascists the first time

Monday 5th August saw antifascists rally at Oxford’s Carfax Tower in a show of solidarity with communities of colour and a rejection of the...

Riots and resentment: How racist elites exploit working class rage

We are living through history. As we saw in the 1980s and 2011, race riots have once again ambushed our high streets and our towns. Vulgar chants about...

Tories trounced, but are young people really represented?

There is much to be concerned about for those who see themselves as progressives.The Greens will want to build on their results, having come second in 39 seats, but as of now seem consigned to the fringes of parliament.

Macron is right to take on the far-right, even if he loses

"The popularity of the far-right represents a failure of moderate governance, and politicians need to take responsibility for that by charting a new path forward"

Trump’s sentence may do more harm than good

If we truly want to have the best chance at avoiding a second Trump term and maintaining a functional rule of law, it would be prudent to stop focusing on the New York case and instead focus on actual political issues, or even the other cases against the former president.

Local elections: Britain’s greatest fortune-tellers

if the Tories perform better than expected at the general election, it will be because of events that occur between now and then, and not because of the distortive nature of local elections.

Has the term democracy lost its meaning?

“Democracy” covers all that is deemed good, so any regime that wants to increase its legitimacy will bend logical definitions to prove itself.

‘Killing’ the story: Lucy Letby, the media, and the courts

"... there is no excuse, in a system that prides itself on open justice and free access to the courts, for blocking the publication of articles critical of the courts and their decisions."

How much do we really value free speech?

That is to say, you can vehemently disagree with someone, but in dealing with academic research, the basis for these critiques should be ‘this is why you are wrong’, rather than ‘I don’t like what you are saying’.

Oxford ball-goers first in line for media’s guillotine

A couple days after attending Brasenose Ball with my friends, I received a surprise notification from a group chat that I had suspected would...

International events and the phantasm of unity

So it is up to us, as viewers, not to be lulled into complacency by the glamour and spectacle they present.

How to fund a university

"The world’s number one ranked university in thrall to one man."

Sunak sets the date

"...the Labour leader is polling nowhere near to his 1997 comparison. The reality, though, is that Starmer doesn’t need to beat Tony Blair: he needs to beat Rishi Sunak."

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