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Headlines

‘Our Feminism Knows No Borders’ protest on International Women’s Day 

News Cherwell News -
Around a hundred protesters gathered at the Clarendon building this afternoon in an International Women’s Day protest entitled “Our Feminism Knows No Borders”. The protest was organised by Oxford Student Action for Refugees (STAR) and the Coalition to Close Campsfield (CCC), a local activist group. Protesters held banners with the slogans: “Our feminism knows no borders” and “close Campsfield and every IRC ”. Placards and posters in different languages were placed on the steps of the building.  Two students sat on...

Comment

Features

War within earshot: A year abroad in Jordan

Sofia O'Casey -
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.

The essay and its long history in Oxford

Naima Aden -
In 1811, a student at University College published a pamphlet including an essay titled ‘The Necessity of Atheism’ that he later distributed to the Heads of Oxford Colleges. The student, after disputes with the Master of University College at the time, was “sent down” on the grounds of “contumacy” (disobeying authority). This student was Percy Shelley. 

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.

‘Having sex with University Challenge on in the background’: The Sextigation 2026

Cherwell Features Section Editors -
Welcome all to the fifth annual Sextigation. Just like the boyfriend you need to get rid of, it’s a little late for Valentine's Day.

‘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?

Profiles

Sir Ed Davey: ‘Inevitably you make mistakes’

Melissa Eddon -
Multiple times throughout the interview Sir Ed Davey accidentally turned his Zoom camera off. He’d hastily apologise and search to turn it back on.

On Afghanistan, Ukraine, and honorary degrees: Christina Lamb is a story-teller like no other

Conor Walsh -
Christina Lamb started her career as the Cold War was ending. She saw the fall of dictatorships in eastern Europe and Latin America, and the end of apartheid in South Africa.

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.

Culture

How 2025’s biggest films made their mark through music

Ruaridh McEwen -
The recent Oscar nominations have allowed us to reflect on how fundamental musical scores are to film, and the highlights of last year’s film soundtracks.

Translating Oxford into Urdu

Manya Singh -
It’s a different emotion whenever I read the Urdu language. I’m not a native speaker, nor have I actively pursued learning the language, but as someone who finds solace in reading shayari (Urdu poetry), I wanted to follow it even in Oxford.

Stitching the world together: GFC’s London Fashion Week show

Cherwell Fashion -
A few weeks ago we, the Cherwell fashion editors, were lucky enough to be extended an invite by the Global Fashion Collective to their London Fashion Week show.

Seeped in nostalgia: ‘Things I Know To Be True’ reviewed

Charlie Bailey -
Lighthouse Productions' 'Things I Know to Be True' had high expectations to meet. Put frankly, they nailed it.

Life

All roads lead to bagels: Green Routes review

Nancy Robson -
Don’t get me wrong, I love my college. I’d proudly defend it against most criticisms. But it does have one major flaw: the absence of Sunday Brunch. So, to overcome this tragedy, and in the hope of appeasing my hangover with some much needed sugar, I headed out last week to the Green Routes Café in Cowley.

All (college) creatures great and small

Abigail Christie -
Growing up, the loving companionship of animals had been a constant for me – a living, breathing reminder that life is worth treasuring and slowing down for. Yet, now separated by hundreds of miles, at university the happiness I had felt amongst my animals began to dissipate. That is, until I saw the cat tree in my college lodge and heard the tip-tapping of four paws across the wooden floor.

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.

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