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Encaenia in photos: Oxford’s honorary degree award ceremony

The University of Oxford awarded eight honorary degrees at its annual Encaenia awards ceremony today. Among the recipients were British athlete and Olympian Sir Mo Farah; Irish author and academic Professor Colm Tóibín; broadcaster and parliamentarian Lord Melvyn Bragg; and BBC journalist Clive Myrie. Dame Jacina Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, had also been due to receive an honorary degree but was unable to attend the Encaenia ceremony. The ceremony took place in the Sheldonian Theatre with...

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Features

‘A constant negative spiral’: Students on Britain’s economic future

Four Oxford students sat down to share how they feel about the state of the UK. From pensions to the NHS and Brexit, their answers were frank, frustrated, and sometimes surprisingly hopeful about how Britain could change direction.

Drinking the political compass

Oxford’s political societies cultivated generations of MPs and PMs. In an era of rising populism, a tour of their drinking events finds a drifting elite with few ideas.

The BNOC list 2025

It's finally here... the most famous names from this Oxford year

Some of the most talented people here are solving problems that don’t matter

As AI rewires the job market, what’s the point of being smart if you’re not doing anything meaningful?

Too young for bops, old enough for a first

There are 237 Oxford students aged 17 and below. In the past, some have dramatically crashed out in the public eye, but many others thrive.

Oxford’s influencers: Student life, filtered through the screen

Oxford has often seemed a mysterious place. An online generation is getting a new but still curated glimpse of life under the dreaming spires

Profiles

Bridget Kendall on interviewing Putin, the Russia-Ukraine war, and her path into journalism

Bridget Kendall was the BBC's correspondent for Moscow in the pivotal period covering the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Song Is Over: The Who on their farewell tour

The Who were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 - now, they prepare to take their final bow on American soil.

Alex O’Connor on God, debating, and his time at Oxford

O'Connor hosts the podcast Within Reason, with guests such as Richard Dawkins, Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris.

St John’s President Sue Black on skinning rabbits, AI, and working in a war zone

“I was up to my elbows in blood and guts and gore and I loved it."

Culture

Reviving the symposium at the Ashmolean Krasis programme

Dara Mohd, herself a Krasis Scholar, converses with Dr Jim Harris about his object-centred symposium program, Krasis, at the Ashmolean Museum.

‘This Room Their Lives’ in Magdalen College’s Waynflete building

Every Magdalen member remembers their first encounter with the Waynflete Building. Sticking out a little obtrusively amidst the serenity of Addison’s Walk and the college’s two grandiose deer parks, the purpose-built, ‘60s-era block is hardly the accommodation most undergraduates had in mind when they received their offer. Especially not...

In More, Pulp aren’t just trading on nostalgia – they’re fresh

In a year where many are talking about one Britpop band in particular – cough, cough, Oasis – the often-forgotten band of the same era, Pulp, have stolen the limelight with their new album More. Last summer may have been ‘Brat Summer’, but for all you Geek-Chic Radio 4...

Perhaps, Oxford

We met at a Latin meeting hosted by the Oxford Ancient Languages Society at University College. I signed up for Latin partly out of curiosity, partly out of guilt. I’d always wanted to study it, but growing up in Vietnam, Latin wasn’t something schools offered. Two years into my undergraduate...

Life

Intellectual manspreading? Male students of feminism

If I had to choose one, I’d say my favourite part of studying a paper in feminist theory was reading The SCUM Manifesto, written in 1967 by the New York radical feminist Valerie Solanas. By ‘SCUM’, Solanas meant ‘The Society for Cutting Up Men’ – and indeed she is...

When a small sweet treat becomes a big problem

I can’t walk past the Covered Market without feeling inexplicably drawn to Moo-Moo’s. The array of servers at Knoops have my order memorised. Even the staff at Fuwa Fuwa have begun to greet me with “lovely to see you again”. I would definitely consider myself at least partly addicted to...

The sibling dilemma

Beatrix Arnold reflects on being one of five, how university changes family dynamics, and surprise gatherings at Bridge.