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Profiles

Tom Egerton: “There’s no point judging a prime minister or a government fairly if you’re not going to look at what wicket they’re playing...

Tom Egerton has worked with Sir Anthony Seldon on The Conservative Effect 2010-24: 14 Wasted Years?, The Impossible Office? The History of the British Prime Minister and Johnson at...

Shashi Tharoor, UN diplomat, novelist, politician, and historian, speaks to Cherwell about his work and career

Dr Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician, writer, and former diplomat. He has written...

Rory Stewart on populism, podcasting, and why he left the Bullingdon Club

Rory Stewart has been an academic, podcaster, writer, diplomat and politician. He read PPE...

Alan Johnson on his time as Home Secretary, raising tuition fees, and why he loves Harold Wilson

"This idea that higher education should be completely free is ludicrous."

Spotlight: Martian Moves

If you’re at all in tune with Oxford’s nightlife scene, I’m sure you’ve heard of “intergalactic boogie service” Martian Moves – but who are...

Broadway, besties and Brian Cox: A conversation with J. Smith-Cameron

J. Smith-Cameron would like you to know that she is not Succession’s Gerri Kellman. She gently corrects me when I slip up by describing...

‘Women don’t look like that in Algeria’: An interview with Houria Niati

"Yes, I love flowers and I love landscapes, but I am far away from that. When we talk about political art, I didn’t even...

‘Theatre is, at its best, one of the most democratic of the arts’

I had the chance to sit down with Gregory Doran, Oxford University’s Cameron Mackintosh visiting professor and the former artistic director of the Royal...

An interview with Federico Enciso, Paraguay’s First Openly Gay Politician 

I am not going to lie. I myself was pretty much oblivious to Paraguay’s existence before being introduced to the documentary, 108: Cuchillo de...

“They’re side notes in history”: In conversation with Bluestocking Oxford

Perhaps you’ve heard the term ‘bluestocking’ before. Though it came to be used as a misogynistic pejorative, its origins lie in 18th-century Britain, when...

“Everywhere we go, we ask: ‘What are the dominant narratives about the city? And what are they hiding?”

I’ve walked past the Clarendon Building on Broad Street many times – but I’d never thought to ask what it had been used for...

“If you want to understand the mess we’re in today, you need to know some history.”

Eugene Rogan, a historian of the Middle East and fellow of St. Anthony’s College is a tutor I feel slightly in awe of: charismatic...

Seeking asylum from Myanmar: an interview with Jack Sanga

He was a student when Myanmar's military launched a coup against its sitting government in 2021 and has since had to flee after protesting against...

“Poetry is political because it’s so immediate.”

In search of localised wisdom, Cherwell spoke to one of Oxford’s own. Poetry sensation, Birmingham Young Poet Laureate (2018-20), Foyle Young Poet of the...

You see that Cherwell interview? That’s your mum, that is.

David Baddiel gets asked a lot of questions. And, often, they’re all versions of each other: what was it like being the first comic...

“What you’re seeing is a distillation of millions of person hours into a two hour movie.” 

Have you ever wondered how James Bond jumps out of an aeroplane? How Interstellar’s astronaut Cooper enters a black hole? How Rocky rides the...

Wizardry, canal boats, and the Vicky Arms

“It’ll be a fucking feast,” Mother Catweazle declares. Strapping in for the second Catweazle Club of February, Common Ground is abuzz with anticipation.  Streams of...

“To know how somebody really feels about you, ignore everything they say. Look at how they touch you.”

Robin Dunbar is Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, famous for his research on social networks and friendships. He is...

Spotlight: The Gatehouse’s Community Café

The Gatehouse must be one of the only social enterprises in Oxford where an upsurge in usage is not necessarily a good thing. Since...

In conversation with Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Laura Marks CBE

Today marks 79 years since the liberation of the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Since 2001, on this day, there has been an international commemoration of...

On scouring for words, snollygosters and soaked trousers with Mark Forsyth

If you could hear my bursts of laughter through the hallways of the Glink in the summer of ‘23, I apologise. But all credits...

Adidas, Auden, and the author: on Zoom with Mark Ford

The emails I exchanged with Mark Ford had the paw prints of a poet: frequent ellipses and the sparing sign-off ‘M’, like our interview,...

“Don’t be in such a hurry. Enjoy the world.”

Kate Ewart-Biggs’ mission with the British Council is to build lasting connections between the UK and other countries through arts and language. Coming from...

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