Opinion

The Oxford Union was never about free speech

A private members’ club audacious enough to promote itself as the “last bastion of free speech”, the Oxford Union is the embodiment of Oxford exclusivity and elitism. Founded by...

Opinion Olivia-Mae Butterfield -

Oxford’s prestigious reputation deserves scrutiny

I was very close to rejecting Oxford for Exeter. While this is not why...

Opinion Saba Ahmadzadeh Noughani -

Who gets to build the future: On tech bros

While scrolling through social media, a video appeared on my feed titled “Remember who...

Opinion Nancy Locke -

Gender is what you make of it

If you ever dare to become an audacious transsexual like me, you may have...

Opinion Morwenna Stinchcombe -

Latest

I will not be misquoted into silence

Arwa Elrayess responds to recent national media coverage.

The sound of belonging: Exclusion through language

Calls for migrants to learn English, supposedly for the purpose of ‘integration’, have formed a large part of immigration discourse in recent years. In...

Oxford’s exams need an update

In a matter of days, I will face 15 hours of handwritten exams. I will wear a gown that has never truly fitted, because...

Oxford is not an aesthetic

My social media algorithm has successfully tracked my profile closely enough to have figured out where I study. To my regret. For every now...

What are children really learning from their screens?

Today, when compared to my own childhood, screens dominate children's lives more than ever, and it seems to me that the screens they are...

The gap between funding and belonging at Oxford

Oxford is keen to tell a particular story about itself: that it is open, that it is trying, that it is changing. Without a...

I became more at home when I left home

I never felt more at home than when I was living thousands of miles away from home. It is indeed a paradox that many...

Oxford’s CareerConnect is failing northern students

The north-south divide is alive and well at Oxford’s railway station at the end of term. While students heading south crowd the opposite platform,...

The Oxford Union has a far-right problem

The Oxford Union has regularly been the subject of public outrage. From the 1933 ‘King and Country’ debate, upon which the Union, now, regularly...

Oxford needs a women’s college

Naturally, I loathe to say that Cambridge does anything better than Oxford, but I can’t deny that there is one thing I will always...

Both rags and riches: Social media is heightening Oxford’s class disparities

According to the University of Oxford’s admissions data, in 2024, 14.5% of students admitted were from the most socio-economically deprived areas in the UK....

We need to talk about Oxford’s gossip problem

Gossiping is an innately human pastime, existing long before our generation, and a beloved form of social interaction that teeters on the boundary between...

In October 2024, during the Oxford Chancellor election, one of my responsibilities as Deputy Editor of Profiles at Cherwell was to interview Peter (then Lord) Mandelson, who was among the five frontrunners contesting the election.

There really is no smoke without fire

Preoccupation with one’s appearance is to be expected when starting at University. New wardrobes and even newer anxieties combine as the daunting concept of...

I was wrong. Oxford needs a ‘reading’ week.

In passing, friends often bemoan how their partners at other universities get a week off, mid-term, to, in essence, prat around. The deified ‘reading...

The Schwarzman Centre is a commercial venture, not a place of learning

Schwarzman's donation was meant to revitalise study of the humanities. But with cramped libraries and cramped faculties, it's closer to a death knell.