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A large part of my decision to study Arabic is owed to my father’s passing. Having now experienced life in the Middle East, including its wars, I now understand him far more than I ever could have anticipated.

Who Owns Net Zero? Climate Action in a Collegiate University

Anish Vedantham -

Oxford University’s sustainability ambitions are increasingly visible. At the central level, strategic commitments articulate ambitious targets, governance mechanisms, and investment frameworks. In built form, newly completed University buildings such as the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities and the Life and Mind Building are presented as low-carbon exemplars of Passivhaus design and biodiversity integration.

Bridging the gap? Oxford’s fight against wealth inequality

Leo Jones -

The life of a student is rarely one of luxury. Pot Noodles for dinner, Vinted bids in place of new clothes, and the widely-prized Tesco Clubcard have become small but vital saving graces as the cost of living in the UK continues to soar.

‘Making Politics Political Again’: Student left turns away from Labour

George Heeley -

In the miserable rain of last November, I found myself queuing at the Cowley Workers Social Club for a Your Party meeting at which Jeremy Corbyn was set to speak.

Between halls and helplines: Oxford’s eating disorder culture

Leo Jones -

In a university where excellence is expected and discipline is praised, disordered eating can hide in plain sight. As concerns grow, how effectively is Oxford confronting the culture and systems that allow it to persist?

15-minutes of fame: the legacy of Oxford’s traffic policy protests

Eden Smith -

Oxford City Council approved their Local Plan to make Oxford a 15-minute city on 14th September 2022. In response, conspiracy theorists organised a mass protest. With some of the new traffic regulations now in place, it’s time for a deep dive into the conspiracist movement and its sunset legacy in Oxford.

Profiles

Haleh Blake: A vessel for the voices of Iranians

Gavriella Epstein-Lightman -

Haleh Blake was always told she was worth half a man. “As you grow up as a girl, from very early on, you realise that you're treated as a second-class citizen”, she tells me.

Larry Sanders on Trump, climate change, and moral conviction

Isaac Gavaghan -

Sitting in his kitchen in East Oxford, Larry Sanders, local Oxford politician and brother of Bernie Sanders, speaks with honesty and conviction.

Anna Olliff-Cooper on being a 76-year-old student, her three-month prognosis, and defying time

Selina Chen -

When Anna Olliff-Cooper applied to Oxford, she had just been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer.

Ruth Chang: ‘If we keep going down this road, we are definitely going to get AI misalignment’

Peter Chen -

How do we make hard choices? Not the choices which are hard for us to make – because the right choice is psychologically difficult – not choices between options which we have incomplete information about, or choices that are incomparable. No. Hard choices are decisions between options neither of which is better, nor are they equally good.

Culture

Let’s go to the movies: Fennec Fox Productions’ ‘The Flick’

Beatrix Arnold -

After their staging of Company at the Oxford Playhouse earlier this term, Fennec Fox Productions are set to return next week with a run of The Flick (2013) at the Burton Taylor Studio.

A deeply Singaporean play: In conversation with ‘Late Company’

Jessica Phillips -

OUMSSA Theatre makes their debut with Jordan Tannahill’s Late Company. While the text originated in Canada, OUMSSA Theatre’s take on it is nonetheless entrenched in Singaporean culture.

Why I only run to classical music, and you should too

Evelyn Lambert -

I decided on a whim to put on Gershwin instead of my usual playlist. It was life changing.

Questioning the nation’s obsession with ‘Love Island’

Charlie Bailey -

Love Island’s formulations have begun to seem increasingly sinister. Last summer’s season (series twelve) saw a particularly high number of complaints.

Life

Oxford meets Hackney meets Mexico City: Bigfoot reviewed

Nancy Robson -

I kept noticing this decidedly cool bar a little way down the Cowley Road. With fairy-lights strung across its wooden terrace and ‘Bigfoot’ scrawled in playful letters across the glass, it seemed slightly out of place on Cowley Road.

Gen Z and Oxford: Nihilism inside the bubble

Natalie Conboy -

We all know that Oxford can feel like a bubble. Every day brings new challenges and new deadlines, to the extent that a week can pass in an instant and there is just no time to peek outside of the blinkered existence of tutorials and the occasional pub trip. But this tunnel vision can become restrictive, and even self-perpetuating.

The (family) stories hiding in plain sight

Amy Lawson -

Like many people, I used to zone out when my parents started talking about family history.

A body of one’s own: Medical mystery in the modern age

Beatrix Arnold -

Recently, I found myself marooned in that most demoralising of places, the NHS waiting list. I was soon falling down the rabbit hole of catastrophisation, after succumbing to the inevitable temptation of googling my symptoms (it wasn’t looking good).

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