Laurence Cooke

Coventry

Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Cherwell

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Articles

Student Union co-CEO to leave in June

1 week ago | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

Emilie Tapping, co-CEO of Oxford SU, announced her resignation last week, with a plan to leave in June after a year in post. Formerly CEO of Oxford Brookes Students’ Union, Tapping joined Oxford SU in June 2024 and oversaw a transformation period which produced a “flat structure” of four officer roles and a “conference of commons rooms” model.
Number of Oxford students declines for first time in a decade

1 month ago | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

Fewer undergraduates enrolled at Oxford University in 2023-24 than in the previous reporting year, new data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) reveals. A decline of 500 enrolled undergraduate students compared to 2022-2023 was partially offset by a modest increase of 320 in the postgraduate student total. Nonetheless, the overall number of matriculated students across the University fell for the first time since 2015/16.
BMW freezes investment at Cowley electric vehicle plant

2 months ago | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

German carmaker BMW Group has paused a £600 million investment in its Cowley factory. The project was expected to create 4,000 new jobs and expand the plant’s production capacity for electric MINIs. The factory still remains the largest industrial employer in Oxfordshire. BMW said that a reason for this is the “multiple uncertainties facing the automotive industry” as the UK is seeing weaker demand for electric vehicles at a time of rising consumer costs.
Should ‘Orbital’ have won The Booker Prize? - Cherwell

2 months ago | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

I have some reservations, but first, some reassurances: this review is not going to claim that Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, the 2024 Booker Prize Winner, is a work without merit. She really does manage to capture a remarkable synthesis of the galactic and the mundane. She excels in beautiful descriptions of our humble and yet majestic Blue Marble, rotating under the orbit of six ISS astronauts whose lives form the novel’s bedrock.
Dating across the Oxbridge divide

Feb 6, 2025 | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

A sunny day at the Boat Race, and the air is thick with shouts of “God damn bloody Oxford” — Cambridge’s rather lame equivalent of “shoe the tabs”. I’m with my girlfriend’s friends from ‘The Other Place’, and Oxford’s dismal performance on the Thames has caused much mirth, most of it at my expense. A long-distance relationship, which started after UCAS but before uni, set me and my girlfriend on firmly different sides of the Oxbridge divide.
If private schools were abolished, everyone would win

Jan 20, 2025 | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

It could be in everyone at Oxford’s interests if private schools were abolished. This includes the interests of the privately-educated themselves, and therefore of people reading this. That’s provided Cherwell’s readership precisely mirrors Oxford’s demographics, but that’s an investigation for another day. We certainly know one case for abolition: the notion that private schools exacerbate social inequality.
Merton drink least, Christ Church most

Nov 29, 2024 | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke |Victoria McKinley-Smith

The results of Cherwell’s unprecedented investigation into students’ drinking habits are finally in. We have received over 1,250 responses – nearly 10% of the University’s undergraduate body – across every year, college, and course. Data can now tell us conclusively which colleges and courses drink the most and the least, and reveal the scope and nuances of Oxford’s relationship to alcohol.
Lessons from the Cambridge Union - Cherwell

Nov 28, 2024 | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

I went to Cambridge a few weeks ago, and attended a Cambridge Union debate on whether feminism and religion were compatible. I should warn you at this stage that this is most certainly not an article about our esteemed Oxford Union. Any similarities (or perhaps unfavourable contrasts) between the two institutions are purely incidental and drawn at the reader’s own discretion. Their Union is a relaxed space. The debating chamber is warm, quite small, and intimate.
Interdisciplinary is the future

Oct 29, 2024 | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

The University is waking up to the environmental, social, and geopolitical crises of our times – in one sense at least. The British higher education system pigeonholes us into one or two subjects of study for three or four years, an exception being the liberal arts format of some ancient Scottish universities. Oxford is rightly beginning to understand that the graduates of today and tomorrow need so much more.
The ‘cult’ that recruited Oxbridge students... including me

Oct 14, 2024 | cherwell.org | Laurence Cooke

“So, do you think it’s really a cult?” This question was met with nods of assent among the group I was sitting with, as we sipped our coffees on the 2nd floor of a Berlin conference centre. It had been barely a month since I was introduced to the movement known as Effective Altruism (EA).