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@TheOxStu

Trinity Term, Week 1 | Friday 02 May 2025

OXFORD STUDENT The

The University of Oxford’s Student Newspaper, est. 1991

Reviewed: Adolescence, incels and the manosphere

Jennifer Walshe: “Operas did not make sense to me”

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Protests at Mamata Banerjee Talk Ekam Hothi and Yashas Ramakrishnan

M Jacinda Arden (Government of New Zealand), Mo Farah (Citizen 59), Cliver Myrie (Roger Green)

amata Banerjee, the first female Chief Minister of West Bengal, was hosted for a discussion on Social Development – Girl, Child and Women Empowerment at Kellogg College on Thursday 27th March. The founder and leader of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), Banerjee was hosted alongside Professor Jonathan Michie, the President of Kellogg College, and Lord Karan Bilimoria, Bynum Tudor Fellow, the former President of

the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), and founder of Cobra Beer. Banerjee was initially a member of the Congress Party (INC), one of India’s largest political parties; she left and founded the TMC in 1997, which became the main opposition party to the established Communist Party in West Bengal. She has continuously occupied the office of Chief Minister for more than a decade since 2011, having previously been Railway Minister (twice) and Minister of Coal and Mines. Continued on page 4

Jacinda Arden amongst 2025 Honor- May Morning: a ary Degree Recipients history of Oxford Features

Caitlin Clarke

xford University has released its list of honorary degree recipients for the 2025 academic year. The list of nine names includes individuals from a variety of fields including politics, journalism, and science. Notable names on this year’s list are Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, Olympian runner Sir Mo Farah and BBC News presenter Clive Myrie. The University announced in March that the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, would receive an honorary Degree of Civil Law. Ardern is also currently a distinguished fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government. Ardern was Prime Minister

of New Zealand from 2017 to 2023 and oversaw the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Christchurch mass shootings in 2019. While Ardern’s government made some progress on issues such as affordable housing, child poverty, and climate change, analysts point more favourably to her legacy as a leader during “crisis”.

“Beyond the race

track, Sir Mo has received praise for his humanitarian work. Sir Mo Farah is most famous for his success as a long-dis-

tance runner. He has won gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m races at both the London and Rio Olympics. Moreover, he broke records in 2010 when he became the first British athlete to complete the 5,000m race in under 13 minutes. Beyond the race track, Sir Mo has received praise for his humanitarian work, serving as an ambassador for organisations such as Save the Children. Clive Myrie has worked for the BBC since the late 1980s. He is currently a leading presenter on the BBC News at 6pm and 10pm, having worked as a news presenter on the channel since 2009. Myrie also hosts the quiz show Mastermind and its celebrity special. Alongside the aforementioned individuals... Continued on page 4

Sofia Mollona

n the early hours of Thursday, thousands of people will gather on Magdalen Bridge for Oxford’s historic May Morning celebrations. Last year, an estimated 14,000 people stood below Magdalen College’s Great Tower to mark the event. As someone coming from London where the occasion is never observed, celebrating May Morning in Oxford was one of my fondest

memories of my first year here. May Morning for many students – though not all – can seem very much like an endurance test in clubbing and drinking. The throngs of rowdy young merrymakers set against a Latin hymn sung from Magdalen tower at six in the morning might seem like a strange juxtaposition. However, a look back into the origins of Oxford’s May Morning reveals that things weren’t too different back then.

Magdalen Tower, May Morning. Credit: Wikimedia Commons