The mastery of Love Island
It was Monday 3rd June, half past ten. The girls were all in their pyjamas with cups of tea in hand. Biscuits and stale popcorn were sprawled across a makeshift table. Layla’s single bed had been pushed up against the wall. An individual spinny chair had been ripped away from her desk and t
In conversation with: Saba Sams
Throughout the years I have been reassured by many of the real adults in my life that ‘I shouldn’t be anxious for the future; most people don’t reach the top of their game until their 40s!’ I also find this sentiment is often echoed all over social media, with posts reminding us that
Icon of the Week: The ‘Offisis’
In the spirit of the Offisis (The Isis Office), we tried to write this collaboratively. Joseph: “The fridge stinks, there’s a hole in the floor, and Harry has decided, as we write this, that the couch also stinks.” Harry: “The fridge reeks, the floor’s broken, the ca
Old life in Oxford
Many times, I have been told by people older than me the following advice: “To be a good writer, you need to go out into the real world and experience life.” I was sitting in an auditorium during my first semester at university, listening to a well-known, old and whiskered writer,
BEST BEFORE: O Clacton! My Clacton!
If the Tories lived roughly nine lives while they were in power, it makes sense that this election they’ll die about nine deaths. It should have been over after Vote Leave, after Strong and Stable, after Partygate, after the Lettuce. But, like a supervillain kept alive solely for the money-
How to hold: Pina Bausch’s ‘Nelken’
Poster for Nelken, 1982 They bloomed before you, these 8000 carnations. You are outnumbered by flowers. You do not know whether they celebrate or eulogize. How could you know, with only one line in the programme to guide you? “For love is as strong as death, and its ardour terrible like hel
In conversation with: Barbara Brownskirt
Coming out via the front page of The Independent, shouting “who put the word ‘men’ in menopause?” outside Penge Conservative Club, and writing poetry at bus stops, Karen McLeod tells me about her reverse-drag act: Barbara Brownskirt. Barbara is cagouled, pop-socked, Judi Dench-
Queer love letters
Letter from Wilfred Owen to Siegfried Sassoon. (University of Aberdeen) In the enduring shadows of war, prejudice, and cultural turmoil, the resilience of queer love shines through. From the poignant letters of poets like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, to the clandestine journey undertak
Icon of the Week: In defence of ‘Catz’
Yes, I know. Hear me out. I’m being defensive, but my time at Catz has made it almost instinctual; it is such a point of such contention in the wider Oxford community – it sticks out like a sore thumb among the warm sandstone-yellow buildings and towering spires of Oxford. A quick