Culture

How books are burned today

It is a worrying thought that what sits on your bookshelf today could be out of reach tomorrow. You might believe book banning to be a thing of the...

The burden of the face: Why are so many singers wearing masks?

We can all name at least one musician who has performed behind a balaclava, helmet, or hood. Whether to preserve anonymity, cultivate mystery, or construct an entirely new artistic identity, masking the face is common among those under the limelight.

New Oxford Windrush generation exhibit opens for Black History Month 

Amidst recent political tension provoked by the government’s refusal of slavery reparations to the...

“There’s a play in that”: interview with ‘The Gang of Three’ playwright Robert Khan

It’s Budget Day as I sit in the foyer of the Oxford Playhouse. Down...

‘Love Actually’ ten years on: irrelevant ephemera or pertinent modern fairy-tale?

Manish Binukrishnan explores the relevance of this festive classic for our generation

Nativity in art: El Greco, La Tour and Spitzweg

Ewan Davis explores the depiction of the Nativity in 16th, 17th and 19th century art

Review: D@tes

James Lamming enjoys a witty take on 21st century dating at the BT Studio

The return of the epic

Emily Beswick praises epic scope in a culture of brevity

Review: Dreamgirls

Sam Purnell is blown away by this revival of the classic musical at the Savoy Theatre

‘Last Christmas’: a lingering recollection

Emma Leech gets lost in a musical memory

Vacation blues: what to read when you’re missing Oxford

Laura Hackett offers a fictional fix of Oxford nostalgia to see you through the vac

The ultimate soundtrack to your revision

Dom Saad recommends albums to sweat and slave to this Christmas vac

Review: The Grand Tour

After three false starts, Top Gear is back – just under its new name, The Grand Tour. As every episode starts in the studio...

Review: Black Mirror Series 3

Chris Goring gives qualified endorsement to the third outing of Charlie Brooker's dystopian thriller series

Nativity in art: Gaddi and Botticelli

Ewan Davis explores the depiction of the Nativity in 14th and 15th century art

Nineteen Eighty-Four in 2016

James Lamming explores the relevance of George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' in the era of Trump

Live review: Biffy Clyro at London’s O2 arena

Romilly Mavin is impressed by Biffy Clyro’s mingling of energy and intimacy at the close of their UK tour

Live review: Fickle Friends at the Bullingdon

Akshay Bilolikar escapes rainy Oxford for sunny Los Angeles with Fickle Friends

Five literary festive favourites

Izzy Smith picks out five of the best books to enjoy this Christmas

One man in his time plays many parts

Susannah Goldsbrough looks back over the career of Ian McKellen, one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of our time

OxFolk reviews: ‘Here We Go 1, 2, 3’

“Here we go, 1, 2, 3, hold your hands out to me…” so opens this beautifully formed album ‘Here We Go 1, 2, 3’...

Were the Nazis on drugs?

The Nazi regime was permeated with drugs, from morphine to heroin, taken by almost everyone in the Reich, from soldiers to housewives. This shocking...

OxFolk reviews: ‘Cold Old Fire’

There aren’t many folk groups that can claim to have originated in an ‘experimental psychedelic folk punk duo’, but then again Lynched, the self-styled...

Review: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

Tilly Nevin laments on how the comeback of this warm and comedic TV stalwart fails to live up to the original series

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