Icon of the Week: The JCR candidates
Oxford seemed to be a surprisingly democratic place when I first got here. The important figures in every student sports club, society, and organisation are peer-elected, and these elections are made meaningful by the large sums of money and responsibility they manage. Right now, hordes of fr
Critical Notices: Exhibition 004
I think the biggest problem was probably getting things to stick.’ This, according to Jacob Byfield, was the greatest challenge in setting up Exhibition 004, Worcester’s student-run, student-led art exhibition. Byfield, the event’s Press Officer, is not speaking metaphorically; the display,
GUILLOTINE: KNEECAP’s hate speech is Fine Art
KNEECAP are the best thing to happen to mainstream music in this country since Thatcher, and they don’t even want to be part of it. The iconoclastic Belfast trio blend heavy rave beats with punk-rap verses in a mix of English and Gaeilge teeming with republican rhetoric, violent outbursts,
Ebbs and flows: the Oxford underground music scene
The story of electronic music in the UK is like a long river, with a hundred junctures of genre, and a thousand tributaries of subculture and style. There’s little to prove that the water running through 1988 Acid House is anything like the water running through 1993 Jungle, or 1995 Garage.
Berlin, open city
In military terms, an open city is a city that has abandoned all fortifying efforts. Once a city has declared itself open, the opposing military will be obliged to peacefully occupy the city, rather than destroy it, under international law. As it happens Berlin is an open city,
when Rumi came to the Oxford Union
a report in ten Onegin stanzas In Konya’s streets, with great fanfare, A letter came to pomp and show Its waxy seal a bold affair, Dispatched to the Rumi château. But oh, its trip—a tragic jest— Attar’s proud bird, who failed the test, Dropped cargo o’er a random dune, Then off it
Icon of the week: Becks Morgan
Many prolific artists are more multifaceted than we might first think. Joni Mitchell thinks of herself as a painter first; Andy Warhol thought he’d be remembered for his cinema. All the most interesting people split their time between many different pursuits. I was reminded of this erstwhil
Prodigies for sale
Sports fans are obsessed with child prodigies. It’s not enough for us to witness feats of athletic greatness; we want our heroes baby-faced. Unsurprisingly, fans see a talented young player and imagine that it portends future success for their team. They think of titles won, records
Fellas, is it gay to read a book?
The Saturday before last was a particularly sunny one. Although I didn’t have much time in my day to spend outside, I decided to take a break and spend half an hour or so reading an actual, physical book. I grabbed my book (On The Road by Jack Kerouac) and opened my window. My […]