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Mansfield College unveils plans for major redevelopment

News Amaan Yasser Effendi -
Mansfield College has submitted plans for an extensive redevelopment of the College that would create 174 additional student bedrooms, as well as new teaching facilities. Mansfield described its estate transformation project as its “most significant investment” in decades.  The project aims to replace the buildings in the College’s South Range with a single, unified building. This new building would complete the College’s Main Quad , in addition to forming two new quads, theSouth and West Quads.  As well as facilitating additional...

Comment

Features

Is the future of student protest set in stone? 

Lilly Law -
Niamh Lynch did not expect to attract international attention during Trinity term of her second year. That changed after her arrest at Stonehenge for spraying orange cornflour onto the ancient monument. From there, it...

Intoxtigation 2025: The good, the bad, and the Balliol bar  

Cherwell Features Section Editors -
Pour out a glass for the second annual Intoxtigation. 562 respondents told Cherwell all about where, when, why, and how much Oxford students are drinking. Now it’s time to reveal the results. The best...

An offer is only half the story: The challenges facing college outreach

Leo Jones and Fin Dinnen -
Microsoft Forms and student satisfaction polls mark our email inboxes each year as the University-wide drive for tour guides, alumni testimonials, and the best college-branded pens and tote bags begins. From TikTok trends to...

Study influencers and Oxford: Rose-tinted computer screens

Angelina Wu -
Searching ‘Oxford’ on YouTube brings up what you might expect. One thumbnail invites the viewer to “Study With Me”, the title superimposed over the Radcliffe Camera. Another recounts “a week in my life at Oxford”, complete with “dorm tour, high table dinner, studying”. The status of Oxford online...

What’s in a name? The donors written on Oxford’s streets

Lilly Law -
Walking down Broad Street can sometimes resemble a school register. It would, admittedly, be a strange class that comprised Thomas Bodley, the Weston family, the first Earl of Clarendon, and Gilbert Sheldon. But Oxford’s avenues are littered with the names of its donors, on libraries, museums, and faculties. Such...

(A call to) Action: Oxford’s clash of real and reel

Leo Jones -
Hogwarts students run up the Christ Church stairs. Saltburn’s stars roll cigarettes on a Brasenose College quad. And My Oxford Year’s Anna and Jamie wander up to Duke Humphrey’s Library.  Walking through Oxford, you’d be forgiven for thinking there are two levels of reality. First, the actual, which involves hungover...

Profiles

Azeem Zakria: The face behind Scriptum

Bess Tolley -
For anyone who has ever wandered down Turl Street, it would be impossible to miss the elaborate window displays of Scriptum, the fine stationary shop which has become a staple of Oxford since its creation in 2003. Whether it be the miniature hot-air balloons which hang from the shop’s...

Gina Miller: “Vigilance is a civic duty for all of us”

Hattie Simpson -
Gina Miller is not a conventional political figure. She did not rise through party ranks, but she has altered the British constitution twice – first by forcing Parliament to vote before triggering Article 50, as part of the Brexit process, and then by blocking the unlawful prorogation of Parliament...

Réhahn: “Photography, at its best, is an exchange of respect”

Lauren Lendrevie -
Réhahn is an award-winning French photographer, based in Vietnam and known for his portrait, lifestyle and impressionist photography. His most famous photo, The Hidden Smile, was gifted by Nguyen Phu Trong, former Secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, to President Emmanuel Macron in celebration of 45 years of diplomatic relations...

Dominic Sandbrook: “I want to understand the past through the past’s own eyes”

Sophie Price -
Few historians can claim household-name status. Fewer still can boast of podcast audiences rivalling chart-topping musicians. However, typing “The rest is…” into Spotify now summons a miniature empire of spin-offs, politics, money, and film, all descendants of the original The Rest Is History, which Dominic Sandbrook co-presents with Tom...

Culture

Graceful and self-assured: Circle Mirror Transformation reviewed

Lara Machado -
Boulevard Productions’ Circle Mirror Transformation is a faithful and competent take on Annie Baker’s 2009 tragicomedy.  The play follows a group of people of different ages taking a beginners’ drama class at their local community centre. The class is taught by Marty (Hope Healy) who over six weeks leads the...

‘We’re all mad here’: Alice in Won-DRE-Land at Tingewick 2025

Peter Chen -
When I wandered into Tingewick Hall on a cold, dark evening in seventh week, I was utterly unprepared for the madness that awaited me over the next three and a half hours. By the time I walked out of the John Radcliffe I had – both literally and figuratively...

A comical approach to a classic text: ‘Hedda Gabler’ reviewed

Charlie Bailey -
Tiptoe Productions’ Hedda Gabler, co-directed by Ollie Gillam and Gilon Fox, delivered a strong version of the classic text, impressive in its ability to make the differences between characters so comic. Laughs were consistently drawn from the audience, balancing out the fact that some moments lacked polish.  Hedda Gabler follows...

‘Lux’ by Rosalía review: A breath of fresh air

Imogen Forrest -
'The Latin title ‘Lux’ perfectly embodies the concept and overall aesthetic of divine femininity, as well as the multilingual aspects that run throughout the work. With complex and meaningful lyrics written in 13 languages, and split into four movements, the record is a breath of fresh air for the pop scene'.

Life

The Gee’s knees: Brunch in North Oxford

Beatrix Arnold -
Good things often come in threes. Having reviewed both Parsonage Grill and Quod, it was only right that we complete the trilogy with their North Oxford sister restaurant, Gee’s.  On a crisp November morning, after a short walk up Banbury Road, we were welcomed into the warmth of the restaurant’s...

The luxury of political ignorance

Morien Robertson -
PPE at Oxford is often seen as a one-way track to ending up in the House of Commons (usually on the wrong side of the house). Introduce yourself to anyone as a PPE-ist and you’ll inevitably receive the displeased sighs or disgusted face befitting the discovery of a bit...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Oxmas

Elizabeth Bourn -
I begin listening to Christmas soundtracks in September. I theorise decorations in October and, by November, I have made my way through a few chocolate Advent calendars. I have been this way for as long as I can remember. Being born in late November means either embracing Christmas early...

‘Designed to be deleted’: The unHinged world of online dating

Beatrix Arnold -
I’d been warned about the dating scene at Oxford. There’s something about self-entitlement that sharpens the sting of hook-up culture. One too many walks of shame through the city centre as students flocked to their 9ams taught me all too clearly that academic and emotional intelligence do not always...

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