Wednesday 3rd December 2025

Culture

‘We’re all mad here’: Alice in Won-DRE-Land at Tingewick 2025

When I wandered into Tingewick Hall on a cold, dark evening in seventh week, I was utterly unprepared for the madness that awaited me over the next three and...

A comical approach to a classic text: ‘Hedda Gabler’ reviewed

Tiptoe Productions’ Hedda Gabler, co-directed by Ollie Gillam and Gilon Fox, delivered a strong...

‘Lux’ by Rosalía review: A breath of fresh air

'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

The ornate, Latinate vocabulary. The debates peppered with witticisms. The patrician air, the untraceable...

The best books I read this summer

In a desperate attempt to extend the holiday, here are the best books I read this summer...

‘Glitz, glamour, pizzazz’: In conversation with The Great Gatsby

This weekend, I sat down with Mina Moniri and Peter Todd, the co-writing/co-directing duo of a brand-spanking new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

Review: The Safe Keep by Yael Van der Wouden

In not necessarily liking Isabel, we are free to understand her, even if this understanding does boil down to something rather simple.

Ticketmaster hurts student concert culture

Competitive, difficult, and opaque. All words associated with the Oxbridge admissions process. More recently, however, they have been used by disappointed Oasis and Coldplay fans in relation to Ticketmaster.

Celebrating two centuries of the National Gallery

Flo Wolter reflects on the impact and legacy of the iconic institution, now in its 200th year.

‘warþ gasric grorn, þær he on greut giswom’ [Fish sad when washed to shore] – The Franks Casket

hronæsbansorrowful, weeping tears of salttaken, hunted, harpoonedfrom my blue lagooncrafted by you into this box. hronæsbancarve me, recalcitrant though I ammay my banhus tell both...

Review: Joker: Folie à Deux

Joker: Folie a Deux is ultimately too disjointed and unnecessary to win Oscars or make headlines.

The Graduate took on generational divides

From its start, The Graduate shows its audience that Ben is alienated from the older generations. At the party his parents throw to celebrate...

Dame Maggie Smith’s Oxford beginnings, from Mansfield to McGonagall

Now nearly a month since the news of the actress’ death, aged 89, we can reflect on Smith’s extraordinary career and her connections to the city that started it all. 

Books you can’t sink your teeth into: A brief look into unsolvable manuscripts

If there’s one thing that most people appreciate, it’s a good mystery with a clever solution. It is no accident that Agatha Christie is...

Review: Will Heaven Fall on Us? A Béla Tarr Retrospective

Will Heaven Fall on Us? A Béla Tarr Retrospective, which aired in cinemas this summer, confirms the status of the Hungarian director as an...

Has the romantic comedy lost its charm?

The romantic comedy genre is often criticised for its overreliance on tropes. The romcom is, after all by, designed to be light and fun....

Palimpsest

This is a secular city, built on holy bones. We’re on the edge of another fissure. Nothing so grand as a revolution. But the grey...

2024 was for the girls: The rapid success of female artists

The last nine months of pop can perhaps be summed up in one word: ‘Femininomenon’. The title of Chappell Roan’s 2023 hit, a portmanteau...

Oxford’s Alternotives take the Fringe

This August, the Oxford Alternotives joined the ranks of Oxford performers heading to the Edinburgh Fringe. For our twelfth Fringe performance, we brought a...

The art of rowing: In conversation with Emily Craig

After a formidable finish in the Lightweight Women’s double sculls at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August, Team GB’s Emily Craig and Imogen Grant...

On Leadership by Tony Blair, Precipice by Robert Harris, and Oxford crime – Books of the Month

On Leadership by Tony Blair; Precipice by Robert Harris; Lessons in Crime: Academic Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order review – “An excellent account”

Dr Edward Howell, whose columns in the Spectator and the Telegraph are among the few intelligent and readable things left in those outlets, has...

A Revolution Betrayed by Peter Hitchens review – In Defence of Grammar Schools

Review – A Revolution Betrayed: How Egalitarians Wrecked the British Education System by Peter Hitchens. ISBN: 9781399400077  Most people accept that the British education system...

Veranilda by George Gissing review – The best historical novel never written

George Gissing remains the most underrated novelist in the English language. He wrote twenty-three novels, although the average bookshop today only contains four of...

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