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My Dead Mum’s AI Boyfriend at the Burton Taylor Studio: Reviewed
“The world of My Dead Mum’s AI Boyfriend is populated with bodiless voices.” Jas Inayat Singh Mauj reviews My Dead Mum’s AI Boyfriend at the Burton Taylor Studio, by Interrobang Productions. Image taken by Zunara Kaisar, used with permission.
WHAT’S NEW
Ranking Every Açaí Bowl in Oxford
Fancy an açaí bowl? Saranda Rolett helps you decide where to get one, ranking venues on price, taste, customisability and more. All images by Saranda Rolett, used with permission.
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Getting back on the (train) track: How keeping a travel journal got me writing again
“I found myself starting my travel journal as a last-ditch attempt at restarting my creative career. Little could I know how much my own life and relationships would end up…
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Borders and Belonging: Skin Tone and Social Status
“We are in a white-dominated environment but this is no reason to deem others around us as “better” and hence attempt to cosplay someone else, whether through changing our names,…
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Who Will Support the Support Workers?
Support staff and social workers have been pushed into an impossible position: tasked with safeguarding vulnerable individuals while simultaneously managing shrinking budgets. “The story,” Josh says, “is really about the…
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Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie at the Keble O’Reilly: Reviewed
Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, staged by Crazy Child Productions, is a small, quiet kind of tragedy. References to Guernica, to war, leave us with a tentative hint towards the…
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John Logan’s Red at The Michael Pilch Studio: Reviewed
“The first thing I remember from my experience of watching Red was the smell.” Rohit Ghosh reviews Riptide Studio’s production of John Logan’s play Red. Image by Sasha Ranawake, used…
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Oxford
Magdalen College School to Become Co-educational
Magdalen College School, which was ranked the 20th best independent school by The Times this year, has announced that it will be transitioning to become fully co-educational. At present, it is a boys-only school, except for its sixth form which became co-educational in 2010. On 2 February, the school revealed that it would be offering…
Candidates Face Questions at Hustings for Oxford SU Elections
On Tuesday 3 February, the Oxford University Students’ Union held their hustings for the upcoming elections. Elections will be held between 9 and 12 February for a number of offices. These include 4 full-time sabbatical roles: Presidents for Undergraduates; Postgraduates; Communities and Common Rooms; and Welfare, Equity, and Inclusion. In addition, elections are being held…
National Flags on St Aldate’s Put Up by Local Group with Far-right Ties
A number of St George’s Cross and Union Jack flags have been put up around Oxford city centre over the last week, with a great number along St Aldate’s. These flags were erected by members of the organisation ‘Raise the Colours Oxfordshire’, an arm of the ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ movement. A number of flags…
opinion
Why pubs must be protected
Roughly 1,000 pubs have banned Labour MPs from their premises, revealing something about the state of British politics. When landlords resort to gestures as dramatic as this, it suggests a frightening breakdown in the normal channels of democratic dialogue. After mounting pressure, Rachel Reeves’s climbdown on business rates for pubs has prompted legitimate questions about…
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Not Choosing London
For generations, a certain golden path was etched into the national consciousness, particularly for those clutching prestigious degrees. The trajectory was simple: graduate from Oxford, Cambridge, or another elite university, and proceed directly to London. The capital was not just considered a city; it was the destination, the sole arena for ambition, culture, fame, wealth…
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Zero shades of grey: the death of nuance
When was the last time you viewed the content on someone else’s social media feed? Last week, I was sitting behind a man on the bus. I was on one of those raised seats, providing the perfect vantage point for a good snoop at his digital activity (I won’t make a habit of this). For…
Keep readingGlobal Affairs
2025: The Year of US-Dictated Shifts in Global Health
2025 saw the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency, and with it, a seismic shift in global affairs. As is often the case with politics, changes to domestic health policies inside the US have had a global ripple effect. Whilst governments of countries such as Argentina and Hungary look to follow…
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The ‘Singapore Model’: Chasing a Red Herring
Singapore gaining independence was not part of the plan. Anyone given a civics education in Singapore will tell you that the original vision, realised in 1963 in what was known as Merger, was for a united Malaysia, consisting of what was then Malaya, Singapore and Borneo. Singapore, it was said, needed Malaysia’s hinterlands…
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Outside OX1 Week 2: Winter Olympics, India/EU and South Korea
Welcome back to another issue of Outside OX1! After the winds Storm Chandra brought, resulting in obscurely alternating days of bright sunshine and grey clouds, we have somehow arrived to Sunday and the utter shock of discovering that it is now February. If, like me, you’ve gotten so lost in the busyness of…
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COLUMNS
Risk Appetite: On Asian Food and Matcha Lattes
“In this day and age, sharing food doesn’t just mean physically breaking apart food for others. It means influencers posting about food online – “sharing” food in the Internet sense with a global audience” Valerie Wu discusses how food from her culture has evolved through social media, what it means to be “trendy” and “exclusive”,…
Second Draft: It’s my Lucky Day
“I’d like to remind everyone (but mainly myself) that you do not have to spend your morning highlighting to-do lists for it to be worthwhile. You do not have to pomodoro. And you absolutely do not have to drink matcha” In the latest installment of Second Draft, Eleanor Davies discusses productivity and how she handling…
InterMEDIAte: The Liminality of us all
“Whenever I feel unsure about my identity I play DtMF, while Lux accompanies me when I want to explore the female experience. They both take up space not only in music, but within my identity.” Eliza Kaminska-Benadat discusses the ties between Music and identity, particularly the new releases by Rosalia and Bad Bunny, in her…
CULTURES
Should “Optionally Chopped” be Dropped? A Trend Interrogation
As many of us chronically online scroll-addicts may have realised, the word “chopped” has gained a lot of traction lately in internet discourse. The most notable use, in recent weeks,…
Stephen Sondheim’s Company at The Oxford Playhouse: Reviewed
“the most fun you will have while thinking about the loneliness that seems intrinsic to human relationships” Jas Mauj reviews Fennec Fox Production’s take on Sondheim’s Company.
Rebecca Harper’s GREYJOY at the Michael Pilch Studio: Reviewed
[This review contains spoilers about GREYJOY. You have been warned!] White. Anyone at all familiar with a hospital waiting room knows all too well the cold and uninviting atmosphere that…
LIfestyle
Telltaylor: By a Lancashire Farm Shop, I Sat Down and Wept
“I was always a muse, a magician’s trick, bending my own image to enhance his own. He seemed to compliment me only if the words fit his rhyme scheme.” Alicia Taylor…
Telltaylor: Everything I Learnt From A Mackerel Fillet
“I suddenly became afraid of forgetting the year which may turn out to be the most important of my life.” In the debut article of her column, Alicia Taylor gives…
Proust’s Madeleine: The Hidden Power of Food.
“We have always known that food is a lot more than its taste, texture, and nutritional value. Every meal is an intense social and sensory experience that serves to nourish…
Identity
From the Inside Out: My Disability
Avani Rao reflects on how chronic back pain has affected her time at Oxford, and the stigma that is attached to people with disabilities, particularly those that are “invisible”. Image…
Oxford’s Visiting Students: Here, There, and Nowhere
Elias Mewe, a former visiting student at St. Anne’s College, reflects on the year he spent in Oxford. Image by Elias Mewe, used with permission.
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