William Atkinson

What’s wrong with Tory MPs supporting Trump?

6 February 2024 4:15 am

Asking Liz Truss for advice on how to make conservatism popular seems as wise as consulting Paula Vennells on how…

Will expat voters really help the Tories at the next election?

31 January 2024 7:49 pm

With opinion polls predicting an oncoming electoral shellacking for the Conservatives, it is unsurprising that Rishi Sunak is hoping to…

Is it time to scrap the Covid inquiry?

1 June 2023 1:51 am

Why do we have inquiries? The late Geoffrey Howe suggested six principal reasons: to establish the facts, to learn from…

Is it time to ban George Osborne?

4 May 2023 4:00 pm

George Osborne has taken a break from his myriad jobs to give his thoughts on health policy. Orange juice should…

We should support Oxford’s crackdown on motorists

28 March 2023 10:56 pm

Now that Morse has cracked his final case, Oxford’s streets will be freed from the annual disruption caused by successive Jaguars…

Oxford students should resist these medieval trigger warnings

18 February 2023 8:46 pm

In 1408, the Archbishop of Canterbury convened a synod in Oxford to prohibit the reading of John Wycliffe’s English translation of the…

The Oxford-Cambridge arc shows why the Tories don’t get it

26 January 2023 5:52 am

Rishi Sunak has long sought to give Britain its very own Silicon Valley. Partially because pseudo-Californian beaches would provide respite…

Scrapping university personal statements is a mistake

14 January 2023 4:22 am

The decision to scrap personal statements shows up our university system for what it really is: the priority is no…

Oxford's Oriental name change is a mistake

21 September 2022 11:08 pm

Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies has had a name change: it will now be known as the Faculty of Asian and…

Boris Johnson should quit now to save his career

8 June 2022 3:30 pm

The greased piglet will soon be sausages. That, at least, seems the obvious outcome of this week’s Tory party confidence…

Studying history isn't what it used to be

12 May 2021 5:30 pm

Is history in danger of becoming a thing of the past on campus? In recent weeks, Aston in Birmingham announced a consultation on…

Zoomers like me don't realise how lucky we are

28 March 2021 5:30 pm

For millennials like me, talkin’ ’bout our generation usually involves complaining. We Generation Zs – or zoomers – can’t seem…

Rhodes shouldn't fall but Clive had to go

24 January 2021 5:45 pm

Tearing down statues and renaming places is all the rage. But acting in this way isn’t always a mistake. Take…