Saturday 5th July 2025

Culture

‘Pour summer in a glass’: retracing Dandelion Wine

“You did not hear them coming. You hardly heard them go. The grass bent down, sprang up again. They passed like cloud shadows downhill ... the boys of summer,...

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...

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 –...

Biting the hand that so rarely feeds us?: an honest review of Happiest Season

*Spoiler alert* At some point during the festive period, without fail, I curl up on the sofa and binge watch Christmas films. The usual contenders...

Becoming Hir

The play’s cathartic nature hinges on New York playwright Taylor Mac’s darkly playful approach to gender issues.

Review: Playboi Carti’s ‘Whole Lotta Red’

The most interesting thing about Playboi Carti is that despite the immense attention and hype he draws, he remains a relative mystery. Past projects...

Bodleian Bangers: Alan Rusbridger

"If you want 45 minutes of music to die to, surely it's last bit of Act I of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro - as good as any 45 minutes of music." Alan Rusbridger, LMH Principal and former Guardian Editor-In-Chief, is the first to feature in Music's new series, Bodleian Bangers.

Time Alone

"The echo in the chapel chimes as I take my unlikely seat."

The Potter

"Did you ever meet the man, Who lived once in this place?"

The Crown’s Unspoken Words

'I think, when it comes to any biopic, "real history" has to be deprioritised. If an accurate and chronological rendering of history is what you're looking for, watch a documentary!' Maebh Howell writes on the dichotomies of the biopic, asking which is to be prioritised; accurate truth-telling or entertaining story-telling.

The Beginning of the End

Maybe we like the idea of being the protagonist of a gritty Doomsday story?

Atonement

'I rue the lost hours and days: a finite life, this one'

A Love Letter to Living With Scientists/An Apology to My Housemates

'I am not sure what broke me. I think it's a close tie between the discussion around NaCl when I asked for the salt to be passed down the table or when someone genuinely asked the group what their favourite way to measure the centre of mass was.'

Drawing Attention

'I'm making mistakes I'm crossing them out I'm making it ugly I'm making it shout'

Review: Mischief Movie Night

"Mischief Movie Night is a funny and engaging show that is sure to brighten up even the darkest lockdown night."

Reinvention: rethinking gender and race on stage

"Marginalised actors should not just be shoehorned into pre-existing plays without any respect or provision for the stories they have to tell. To do so is to package diversity into commercially successful morsels that are digestible for largely white, middle-class audiences."

Little Giveaways

"Jazz was being played over the stereo like theme music, as if they were acting in a television drama where each character had some essential trait, some crucial role."

Mother

"I waltzed in her arms down the high street"

Specks

"From a space we might call "above", an Entity watches - gargantuan, unfathomable, other."

A Quick Trip Far Away

"One summer, a summer which now seems to have passed by long ago, I slept and dreamt for the first time on the mainland."

Rules to Live By in Your New Home

"No 1. Label your collar to avoid feeling ornamental."

21st Century Midas

"‘Look, you have drunk £3.15. You fool, that’s £3.15 you’ve eaten.’ Clink, the cup on the saucer, the coins sliding down my throat."

Uneven Sideburns

"Empty time lent shape by the weekly rites Of chiselling the stubble away"

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