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Arrests made at Defend Our Juries protest

At least eleven activists were arrested on suspicion of Section 13 of the Terrorism Act at a protest in Oxford this afternoon, which criticised the UK government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group. The protest, which took place outside of the Clarendon Building on Broad Street, is part of a national campaign by the activist group Defend Our Juries who oppose “the corrupting of UK law by corporate interests”. The protest appeared peaceful, with protesters sitting down,...

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Features

Across the Atlantic: American academics are finding a new home at Oxford

As political and financial pressures mount across American higher education , a quiet migration is underway. A growing number of US academics are relocating elsewhere, and Oxford, with its collegiate community, institutional stability, and...

How to build a ball

Students have started reaching out to Oxfess to solve the annual dilemma: which colleges are hosting balls, and which are the best to go to?  Within weeks of unpacking in Michaelmas, inboxes fill with calls...

Study influencers and Oxford: Rose-tinted computer screens

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...

Half the world away: How regional transport issues impact far-flung friendships

Travelling cross-country has never been easy, but UK transport is, predictably, delayed in its arrival to the 21st century. Long journey times and sky-high train fares make travelling difficult, frustrating, and expensive. With friends spread across the country, students feel this acutely, but not always equally, as regional differences in...

‘A dangerous moment of repression’: How is the US higher education crisis affecting the UK?

Over the last year, universities have become flashpoints of protest and backlash. Student protest is nothing new, but the heavy-handed government response is notable. In the US, President Donald Trump’s administration has utilised the federal government’s power against higher education institutions, particularly those in the Ivy League. Spending cuts,...

The Oxford offer holders trapped in Gaza

Samah and Loay have scholarships to study at Oxford. After succeeding against the odds, they are unable to travel to begin their courses.

Profiles

Interview with Mishal Husain ahead of the Romanes Lecture

Mishal Husain is an award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster. She was a household name at the BBC for over two decades, working as the broadcaster’s Washington Correspondent and as a presenter on Radio 4’s Today Programme for eleven years. Husain is now Editor at Large at Bloomberg Weekend, and...

In Conversation with Cherry Vann, Archbishop of Wales

“I have a strongly-rooted faith that my gender and my sexuality is part of who I am and part of what God created, and that therefore is part of what I bring to my ministry.” The recent election of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullaly, was front-page news,...

In Conversation with Sathnam Sanghera

Sathnam Sanghera doesn’t believe in tidy or easy stories. Whether writing about empire in his award-winning books Empireland and Empireworld, or his own family in his 2009 memoir, The Boy With The Topknot, he seems most at home in the uncomfortable space where opposite things can be true at...

M N Rosen on AI, impact businesses, and the importance of mindfulness

In August, I had the pleasure of interviewing M.N. Rosen, author of The Consciousness Company, a recent debut novel which explores the impact of AI on identity and autonomy. Rosen works in the finance sector in North London and has worked with early-stage technology and impact businesses.  I asked Rosen...

Culture

GCSE drama nostalgia: ‘The Detention’ Review

The Detention provided its fair share of giggles, but whether that was a result of humour or awkwardness is up for debate. There were undoubtedly many merits to this production: if looks could kill, then Liz Freeman’s mean girl character, Sasha, certainly slayed. Stanley Toyne’s portrayal of stern teacher Mr...

The power of the playlist

"These ten precious songs ... will become a time capsule"

Ceilings, wives, and love letters to the city: The Pre Raphaelites in Oxford

It was in 1857, not long after the construction of the Oxford Union, that its architect, Benjamin Woodward, was visited by his close friend Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It was this very visit that sparked the creation of the second Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood. Upon deciding to take on the painting...

The lying life of authors: John le Carré and authorial double-lives

“I’m not a spy who writes novels, I am a writer who briefly worked in the secret world.” This was said by the famous author John le Carré, who is finally getting recognised here in the University of Oxford, with the Bodleian Libraries  hosting the first ever major exhibition...

Life

Quod review

A landmark of the High Street, Quod boasts an opulent facade, its name reminding me of my doom on the way to my Latin lectures. And so, when they extended an invitation to review the restaurant, I welcomed the chance to dispel its previous negative associations. On a gloomy...

Never safe again: Consent and the college campus

CW: Sexual assault; mention of suicide. When you walk into college on the first day, you experience community, a sense of stepping into belonging. Consent talks are delivered between icebreakers; there’s a seemingly endless cycle of club nights and coffee trips for people to get to know each other. Everyone...

Girlhood will not save you

I spent a good deal of time last summer trying to work out why bows made me so irrationally angry. Twice, walking while on the phone to my mum, I burst into a rant after just seeing one. To have one bow-induced word vomit on Cornmarket Street is a...

Grieving in Oxford: Tips from a bereaved student

Grief touches all of us, and yet none of us in quite the same way. My grief is different to yours, to his, to hers, and to theirs. This can make it feel isolating at times. At Oxford, the relentless pace of academic output, the churning mill of essays...