Oxford University
My bid to be chancellor of Oxford
I have spent the past couple of weeks in Oxford rediscovering the art of conversation while campaigning for election as…
Inside the race for the Chancellor of Oxford
What do we mean these days when we talk about the British ‘establishment’? When Henry Fairlie coined the term in…
Familiar scenarios: Our Evenings, by Alan Hollinghurst, reviewed
There’s a certain pattern to an Alan Hollinghurst novel. A young gay man goes to Oxford. He’s middle class and…
Things can always get worse for the Tories
Before migrating to Wiltshire where I will be for August, I had a friendly dinner with a clutch of Conservative…
What will we do when all our jobs are done for us?
The philosopher Nick Bostrom speculates imaginatively about the travails of extreme leisure, but we don’t get any guru-like nuggets
Disgusted of academia: a university lecturer bewails his lot
The anonymous professor rails against politicians, administrators, colleagues and students who consistently fall short of his ethical and intellectual standards
Could J.K. Rowling be Oxford’s next chancellor?
Among my generation of Oxford graduates – late fifties, early sixties – there is currently a great deal of talk…
Work, walk, meditate: Practice, by Rosalind Brown, reviewed
An Oxford undergraduate makes a detailed plan for getting the most out of a quiet Sunday in January, but soon starts musing on what it feels like to be distracted
Do Oxford students really need trigger warnings?
It is freshers’ week on campus. Brand new students get to make friends, get drunk and find their way around…
The visionary genius of Harold Wilson
‘Our generation owes an apology to the shades of Harold Wilson,’ the polling guru Peter Kellner once told me. Had…
Can Oxford’s new Vice-Chancellor fix the university?
There’s a new Vice-Chancellor taking over at Oxford later this year. She’s Irene Tracey, warden of Merton College, and an…
Does the Bodleian really need a race adviser?
It’s a difficult time for libraries. Budget cutbacks, online competitors and rival forms of media all point to a grim…
The elementary misuse of ‘alumni’
My husband is forever being sent magazines from his Oxford college inviting him to give it money. I suggest he…
Scholars and spectres: The Runes Have Been Cast, by Robert Irwin, reviewed
It could be said that the power of a horror story depends on the possibility, however minute, of it being…
Revealed: Huawei's Oxbridge millions
British universities have received twice as much funding from Huawei as previous estimates suggest, according to new figures obtained by The Spectator.…
Oxford has more to be ashamed of than Gove
Being the most prestigious university in the English-speaking world comes with its drawbacks. While the rolls of alumni are littered…
Floods you with fascinating facts: Trees A Crowd reviewed
Listening to Trees A Crowd, a podcast exploring the ‘56(ish) native trees of the British Isles’, solved one of childhood’s…
Rhodes to redemption: why Oxford needs a monument to Benjamin Jowett
Not since September 1642, when a mob of Parliamentary soldiers opened fire on the sculpture of the Virgin Mary carved…
What would ‘sensitivity readers’ have made of my student scoops?
‘Whatever you do, don’t call them snowflakes,’ Caroline said the last time I spoke to Oxford students. ‘That’s not a…
Oxford, 'sensitivity readers' and the trouble with safe spaces
The list of things that students must apparently be protected from grows longer every day. Controversial speakers, rude comedians, sombreros…
What happens now that Rhodes didn't fall?
Oriel College, Oxford’s decision to retain the statue of Cecil Rhodes has generated the usual voluminous fury. It has also shown it…
In defence of Eton’s headmaster
My inbox is crowded with messages from Old Etonians attacking Simon Henderson, the headmaster of Eton. They are furious that…
What we know so far about the Oxford vaccine
It’s three for three as far as positive outcomes from Covid vaccine trials are concerned. But the announcement from AstraZeneca…
What I learnt as an Oxford vaccine guinea pig
Was the Oxford vaccine trial paused? Mine wasn’t. I signed up for it last week, in the 55 to 69-year-old…
The inappropriate history of ‘ventriloquising’
‘What! No one told me,’ my husband shouted when I explained that the Hebdomadal Council at Oxford no longer existed…
