Friday 22nd 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 campaign for curriculum decolonisation in SOAS

Leaders of the movement cite the underrepresentation of non-European thinkers and the contributions of Oriental and African philosophies within European intellectual history as the primary justification for systemic reforms.

Grad student: Oxford fails to accommodate perspectives it invites

If colleges and departments are to foster meaningful growth and relationships, they need to accommodate all different backgrounds—ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic included. What I’ve so far seen as a graduate student suggests there remains much to be done.

Ethics of crowd control under assault

To be clear, there is no sanction for violence that aims directly at undermining the legitimacy of the state, and protesters who eagerly vandalise the storefronts that are the livelihoods of normal people should not be free from justice. But failing to engage directly with the arguments of authoritarian alt-right about how to handle riots permits the ascendancy of genuine extremists

Emmanuel Macron assures parents that he is “definitely not having a party”

Tony Campbell reflects on Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to host a “gathering” in his bid for the French presidency

Debate: Was the Obama administration successful?

Theo Davies-Lewis and Felix Pope debate whether the Obama administration was ultimately successful

One thing I’d change about Oxford… the weather

Verity Bligh wishes that Oxford’s weather was a little less dreary

Join Oxford Summer Courses

Sorting your summer plans? Come and join our team!

Do colleges have an imperative to help the homeless?

Michael Shao and Matt Roller debate the role of colleges in helping to solve Oxford's homelessness crisis

Preventing PREVENT in Oxford is an imperative

PREVENT endangers students’ rights and welfare, according to Alex Stoffel, Aliya Yule, and Martyn Rush

Quantum physics is invading biology

The time has come to apply the ideas of quantum mechanics to biological mysteries

The profound need for an Australian republic

John Mainland makes an impassioned case for the need to end the British monarchy in Australia

Matt Ridley on ice ages, bird watching and cultural evolution

Calum Stephenson talks to the Conservative hereditary peer, journalist, economist, and businessman whose science books have been translated into 30 languages and sold over a million copies

Profile: Michael Gove

Fred Dimbleby talks to Michael Gove about Twitter 'snowflakes', Brexit and why Trump should be given a chance

Do not limit the aims of the Women’s March

Susannah Goldsbrough says the women’s marchers weren’t attacking democracy, but standing up for it

The strange death of globalisation

Trump’s presidency is about to usher in a movement away from worldwide integration, says Alfie Steer

Reintroducing grammar schools will solve nothing

Charlotte Tosti warns Theresa May that grammar schools are damaging for young people and that education policy should be focused elsewhere

Profile: Fiona Bruce

Fiona Bruce on women in journalism, the BBC on Brexit and modern languages

The metabolic key to novel therapies

Hijacking immune cells’ metabolism has potential in MS and cancer therapy

Dr Nick Lane on the origin of life

Cherwell talks to the UCL researcher and popular science writer to investigate the media hype surrounding his ideas on life’s beginning

Yayha Jammeh refuses to leave the pool table

Tony Campbell with a Cherwell exclusive on the Gambia’s democratic crisis: a president who refuses to give up the table when he loses

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