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‘Rage bait’ named Oxford Word of the Year

News Noah Robson -
Oxford University Press (OUP) has revealed that “rage bait” is their official Word of the Year for 2025. Over 30,000 votes were cast from a shortlist of three, which also included “aura farming” and “biohack”. “Rage bait” is defined by OUP as: “Online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.” According to OUP, the word...

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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

‘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'.

Illuminating American conservatism: William F Buckley’s biography, reviewed

Gavriella Epstein-Lightman -
The ornate, Latinate vocabulary. The debates peppered with witticisms. The patrician air, the untraceable accent, the playful glint in his eyes.  William F. Buckley was arguably the most influential American journalist of the 20th century. He was famous and influential not simply for his ideas but for the theatrical manner...

The Magdalene Songs: Giving a singing voice to victims

Natalie Conboy -
★★★★★ Trigger warning: abuse Modern slavery, abuse, and human rights violations are not something you would usually expect to be tackled in an evening of classical music. Yet Deidre Brenner, pianist and instigator of The Magdalene Songs, felt it was the perfect way to honour the women of the Magdalene laundries,...

‘Everything is constantly emotion’: An interview with the cast and crew of ‘Doctor Faustus’ 

Lara Machado -
Seabass Theatre has carved out a niche for itself producing original takes on canonical texts, most memorably last year’s plant-inspired Hamlet staged at the former Music Faculty. When discussing their interests as a production company, Director Seb Carrington says: “Part of our ethos is presenting works that centre around...

Life

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...

Demystifying PMDD: The missing conversation

Amy Lawson -
Women’s health is a curious thing. It’s not unusual to come home from a GP appointment with an unshakeable sense of disappointment, and often more questions and frustrations than you had in the first place. Symptoms are often diminished or disregarded altogether; women are consistently treated as inadequate authorities...

The best Quod in Oxford: Dining on the High Street

Beatrix Arnold -
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...

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