Headlines
Bodleian Libraries acquire rare Johann Sebastian Bach Manuscript through Acceptance in Lieu Scheme
The Bodleian Libraries have gained ownership of the autographed manuscript of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantata for Ascension Day – ‘Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein’ – through the Acceptance in lieu scheme. This scheme allows people to pay their Inheritance Tax by gifting important cultural objects to the state. The handwritten score is on display until 5 January 2025 in the Weston Library’s Treasury as part of the free exhibition ‘Write, Cut, Rewrite’. There are only three other Bach autographs in the UK: two are at...
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Features
2024: The year of elections
In his classic 19th-century work Democracy in America, the politician-cum-philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville looked to the democratic system in America with deep envy. In this system, he perceived a largely egalitarian society in which...
“Diesmal schweigen wir nicht!” (“We won’t be silent this time”)
Germany’s right-wing factions push forward
In another spectacular repeat of European history, a group of right-wing politicians met with an Austrian neo-Nazi last November in a small German town called Potsdam, known for being the...
Oliver Twist, a Sceptical 9th Grader, and an Orthodox Monastery: The Making of a New Generation in Northern Kosovo
Eager hands reach toward the ceiling as children at the Ismail Qemali school in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, desperately try to attract the attention of an author who has come to talk to the pupils...
Taiwan’s 2024 Elections: What Taiwan can teach the UK about democracy
It’s 8am in Taipei, on the 24th November 2022. This morning as I walk to class, negotiating my way around the noodle carts and motorbikes parked half-way out into the pavement, I am stopped at the crossroads by a local election candidate, brandishing a loudspeaker in one hand and...
Why are men still getting more firsts than women?
Why are men still getting more firsts than women?
Oxford University’s Strategic Plan for 2018 to 2024 claims to prioritise the need to reduce the gender awarding gap. It aims to “set ambitious targets by April 2019 to reduce by 2024 gaps in attainment by gender, ethnic origin and socio-economic...
The 2024 Sextigation
Cherwell’s "Sextigation" is back and better than ever. After 450 responses and some pretty groundbreaking analysis that followed, the results are in.
This year, 55% of respondents were female, 38.5% were male, and 5.6% were non-binary. In a slight dip from last year’s survey, the (mean) average number of sexual...
Profiles
“If you want to understand the mess we’re in today, you need to know some history.”
Eugene Rogan, a historian of the Middle East and fellow of St. Anthony’s College is a tutor I feel slightly in awe of: charismatic and cheerful, fluent in several languages, always on the move to his next appointment, and for one of our classes, 3500 miles away in Cairo...
Seeking asylum from Myanmar: an interview with Jack Sanga
He was a student when Myanmar's military launched a coup against its sitting government in 2021 and has since had to flee after protesting against military rule. He currently volunteers with the charity Asylum Welcome and is seeking to raise awareness of the ongoing violence and human rights abuses perpetrated...
Culture
The rise of genre fluidity: Is this the death of genre as we know it?
My favourite genre of music: a question I’ve found becoming increasingly difficult to answer over the years, and it’s only now that I’m discovering why. Whilst we may not be listening to more, or less music than before, today’s era of genre-blurring, experimental DJ remixes and mood-based Spotify playlists...
Memory and Narrative in Miguel Gomes’ Tabu
"Now approaching the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, I return to Miguel Gomes’ 2012 feature Tabu."
Life
To all the pubs we’ve loved before – Three Goats Heads
Week 7 – for the normal student, we are approaching the end of term, for the less normal; it is hack week on St Michael’s Street! For our last review therefore, we headed to the Three Goats Heads (conveniently right beside the Union). We visited here for Sunday lunch...
To all the pubs we’ve loved before: pitch(er) perfect
The fifth week blues are hitting so we are combatting them with blue lagoons! Spoonspitchers are a student staple for a reason, and week we decided to try out some new flavours.This is our ranking of some of the Spoons pitchers, assisted by our expert friends.
Bumbu Colada – this...
