The Fault, Dear Brutus, is Not in Our Students
First, a confession: I’m a second year English student, but aged sixteen, I couldn’t stand Shakespeare. I know, I know. It’s the kind of blasphemy which ignites witch-hunts and kicks academia into uproar. I’ll hasten to point out that I do like Shakespeare now. And my transformation in opini
“I call myself an artist that writes with poetry”: An Interview with Robert Montgomery
I pick up the phone to Robert Montgomery and start speaking in the same manner as I would to someone I have known for years. ‘Hey, how are you? Have you had a really busy week?’ I ask him, rather abruptly. He humours me, and decides to talk me through his schedule that week. ‘I’ve […]
The Dangerous Digitalisation of Pokémon Go
For internet hermits sitting on benches in parks and squares over the past month people-watching must have taken on a repetitive spin: swathes of young men and women popping up to meander through public space, glued to their iPhone 6, and only lifting their heads to exchange brief but excited chatte
From East to West: Yu-Gi-Oh and its Censorship Laws
I was first called into student politics when I was 8 years old, protesting with great bitterness the blanket ban of Yu-Gi-Oh cards by my junior school. Considering the regular break-time arguments and high-profile thefts, the ban was hardly unexpected. Yet I took it particularly hard because Yu-Gi-
Victoria Viatorum
I first met Maria on Friday. She stood in the street and talked at me in hurried Greek, and then when I didn’t reply, accused me of ignoring her. ‘You speak Greek! I heard you at the kiosk.’ Being ignored was a problem that she seemed to face a lot, dressed in a cast-off T-shirt, […]
Grave Talk
“Can you imagine how hard it is to get a dead body into skinny jeans?” I’m talking to Liz Roberts, an unapologetic murder mystery enthusiast and a funeral director at my local family-run parlour. “Bury me in my finest pyjamas, that’s my only wish. And don’t let the
“WEEK OF THE LONG KNIVES”: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
After the political shitstorm labelled by The Sunday Times as the “Week of the Long Knives”, Oxford colleges and societies alike sought to publicly support and endorse the manoeuvres of their treasured alumni this week. Of outgoing PM David Cameron, who allegedly had a zealous fondness of fellow
BREXIT: WE CAN’T TURN BACK TIME
In the weeks before the EU referendum, I was more engaged with politics than I’ve ever been. I watched Question Time, Prime Minister’s Questions, I scrolled through the Guardian’s website reading opinion pieces, and I even read a few pro-Brexit pieces in the Daily Mail and the Sun. Yet despite
Off-Foot
It’s the eighty-seventh minute and Newcastle United are down 3-4 in front of their fans. A defensive clearance puts Coloccini out of reach, and spins the ball up in the air. It falls outside the box to the unlikely Cheick Tiotè, “who beans it low and curves it into the bottom corner,” almost