It often happens, somewhere between the 47th repetition of a two-bar phrase and the conductor insisting that we’re somehow playing too loud and too quiet, that an orchestral rehearsal begins to unravel. Tempos crawl, backs begin to ache, and even the most devoted musicians quietly reconsider their choices in life. Remarkably, ‘Play for a Day,’ organised as part of the University Music Society’s 150th anniversary celebrations, managed to avoid this fate entirely. The event promised a “day” of...

In a town where fashion shows tend to blur into one another it is easy to assume that all you really need is an elevated platform and some well-dressed students to pace it for 90 minutes. It was with this opinion that I arrived at the Ubuntu Charity Fashion Show 2026. It proved, however, to be sorely misplaced. From the outset, Ubuntu distinguished itself from the rest with a clear sense of purpose. With over 150 attendees and a line-up of international designers — Afro Muru, Char Designz,...

“Surprise! You have found yourself in love with a kinky hobbit.” Yes — you read that correctly. And no, this is not some stray scrap of Lord of the Rings paraphernalia found pinned to a Tolkien enthusiast’s bedroom wall. This, astonishingly enough, is the opening line of a poem by Spencer Mason: confessional in tone, brazen in spirit, and delivered with the sort of candour that makes a room full of strangers sit up a little straighter. Mason, a poet from Dundee, took over Aikman’s Bar with...