Archive

  • High Court strips taxi driver of licence

    A TAXI driver with a criminal record has had his licence taken off him by the High Court. Naveed Anwar was convicted of common assault in March 2009, after he attacked his wife, but failed to declare it when he renewed his taxi licence. But the conviction

  • Going Up

    Chris Cox is tipped for the top, but the one-time ‘geek’ tells KATHERINE MacALISTER about his love of magic. After interviewing Chris Cox I must admit to developing a small crush. The magician/mind-reader/comedian is so laid back he’s almost

  • Tumour Humour

    50/50 (15). Comedy/Drama/Romance. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Dallas Bryce Howard, Anjelica Huston, Philip Baker Hall, Matt Frewer, Serge Houde. Director: Jonathan Levine. Laughter is the best medicine

  • Radcliffe Camaraderie

    TIM HUGHES talks to musician, comic and raconteur Mark Radcliffe about taking his show out of the studio and on to the stage. IF there’s one thing that Mark Radcliffe can’t stand, it is a closed mind. And that goes as much for music

  • Beatle Mania

    ‘There’s something in the way he moves…’ Hard-rocking Lee Christian is celebrating the legacy of ‘the quiet Beatle’ – our very own George Harrison. He tells Tim Hughes all about it. TEN years ago we lost one of the greatest and most

  • Barton Bash was a hit

    I would like to personally thank everyone who was involved in the Bash on Saturday, November 19, as well as our sponsors and donors who made all this possible. We had so much local talent on display and it made us proud to be connected to Barton

  • No toilets for the crowd

    I was one person in a large crowd that was in St Giles on Sunday morning to support the remembrance service, which I thought went off very well. As the weather was good it encouraged more people to attend and honour and respect our fallen soldiers.

  • Finish roadworks now

    THIS is the email I have sent to the county council about the road changes we did not ask for or want and were told were going to happen last month. I have not yet had a reply: ‘Please could you tell me when the road surfaces of Dene Road/Slade/Cinnaminta

  • Gaddafi had a good side

    Chris Robins raised some interesting points in his letter (Oxford Mail, November 11) regarding whether Gaddafi should have been put on trial. When wars end, it is always the victors who mete out “justice”. If World War Two had been won by the Axis

  • Bus response

    In reply to Steve Lewis’s letter, I would like to suggest that he gets his information correct before making accusations. He accuses the Oxford Bus Company of not training its drivers in customer care. However, he goes on to say that he and his girlfriend

  • Bus trouble

    Steve Lewis, in your lead letter on Friday, appears to have got his bus companies muddled up. Any drivers or members of staff of Oxford Bus Company that I have encountered have been role models of civility, courtesy and conduct towards their customers

  • Unexpected update for I Cowley project

    A PROJECT celebrating the history of Cowley had an unexpected late addition at a tea party exhibition to mark the scheme’s end. The I Cowley project, launched in May 2010, aimed to create a living archive of the area and involved hundreds of people

  • New bus driver has a real lack of courtesy

    On September 3, our bus service for north east Oxon and south Northamptonshire, which we were all pleased with in the Bicester to Brackley area, ceased and Stagecoach No 8 service took over, changing times and altering routes. We were faced with a driver

  • Our remembrance service deserved a mention

    I am a little puzzled as to why you covered so many of the special services and yet omitted to report on the service at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery at Botley. There are two services in Oxford city! As an ex-serviceman, I laid my usual wreath

  • Child's Play

    Children’s author reveals the secret code behind her success to KATHERINE MacALISTER. Lauren Child is the face and brains behind Charlie and Lola, and Clarice Bean, some of the UK’s best loved children’s books. But now there’s a new girl

  • Siren's Call

    MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (15). Drama/Comedy/Romance. Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Dame Judi Dench, Zoe Wanamaker, Emma Watson, Dougray Scott, Dominic Cooper. Director: Simon Curtis. In the summer of 1956, Marilyn

  • Piece of Cake

    All cooking dilemmas were solved when I found COOK, says KATHERINE MacALISTER. Impromptu dinner party for eight, a house full of kids, exhaustion, a hangover and a sense of humour failure. Cue COOK, the new Summertown ready-made food

  • Hardware chain to take over town unit

    HARDWARE chain Wilkinsons looks set to take up a prime spot in Bicester’s town centre. The firm has submitted plans to refurbish the former Co-Op supermarket site in Market Square, which closed last Saturday with the loss of more than 40 jobs. Meanwhile

  • OBITUARY: Peter Tyrer touched many lives

    PETER Tyrer, founder and chief executive of the African Children’s Fund, has died after a car crash in Kenya last week. The 64-year-old, of Cow Lane in Longworth, set up the charity five years ago with his wife Dee. He died in Nairobi on Friday

  • Just desserts for student’s best Indian pud

    A CONTEST has been launched to find the best Indian dessert created by Oxfordshire catering students. And the winner of the competition will see their pudding taking pride of place in the menu of new Indian restaurant The Spice Guru set to

  • Firms say: 'you're hired'

    Politicians love apprenticeships and are becoming loud in trumpeting the undeniably laudable fact that more and more young people are finding a route into work this way — even though the impressive looking figures have been achieved against a depressing

  • Ancient Egyptians get a new home

    VISITORS to an Oxford museum can embark on fantastic journey covering more than 5,000 years of human occupation of the Nile Valley. The new £5m galleries showcasing the Ashmolean Museum’s world famous collections from ancient Egypt will open to the

  • Local share prices (PM)

    AEA Technology 0.18 BMW 4293 Electrocomponents 196 Nationwide Accident Repair 62 Oxford Biomedica 4.8 Oxford Catalysts 51 Oxford Instruments 920.5 Reed Elsevier 498.1 RM 70.75 RPS Group 178.5 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Brewery eyes up another city pub

    A BOOMING brewery set to reopen a closed pub is aiming to take over another defunct Oxford hostelry as well. The White Horse Brewery is reopening The Buck & Bell in North Bar Street as The White Horse At Banbury Cross in January. And the brewery, which

  • Boutique goes net-only

    A young fashion retailer is closing her independent Oxford store and taking her business exclusively online. Louise Trueman has called time on Booty in St Aldate’s after seeing her online business from outside the area take off. Ms Trueman, 26, said

  • Future's bright for scientist

    Top scientist Kylie Vincent is celebrating after winning a prestigious award for groundbreaking research into green fuel and her work in schools. The 35-year-old lecturer and senior research fellow at Oxford University was named Woman of the Future in

  • Gene therapy trials to start

    Gene therapy company Oxford Biomedica expects five clinical trials to be under way by the end of this year. The firm, an Oxford University spin-out based at Oxford Science Park, said work on its new £2.2m laboratory at Cowley, is on track to open

  • The Bear and Ragged Staff, Cumnor

    It is sound advice for anyone at a wine-tasting never to eat cheese laid on by the organisers. Any old plonk tastes wonderful with cheese, you see. Consider, then, the taste sensations that await anyone lucky enough to be enjoying cheeses and wines

  • A definitive guide to the subject of beer

    Over the years Oxford University Press has brought out The Oxford Companion to Food, The Oxford Companion to Drink, The Oxford Companion to Wine, The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink and The Oxford Companion to Italian Food. Now they

  • Home of Banbury's scrummy cakes

    They say nostalgia is not what it used to be, but a heavy whiff of the genuine article wafted through my house the other day when I brought back a few local history books. A couple of pictures in Banbury Then and Now, by Malcolm Graham and Laurence

  • Moneyball and 50/50

    In the sporting arena, money doesn't just talk, it chatters incessantly. Success is measured by financial worth, creating an uneven playing field. The best teams get richer by continually feeding off their smaller rivals until it becomes almost

  • Cinderella on Ice: New Theatre, Oxford

    This new production of Cinderella from the Russian Ice Stars is work with real verve. There is a short prologue in which we meet the lonely Cinders (Valeria Vorobyeva). Then things start to happen as the glittering fairy godmother (Katya Muragova

  • Carmen, Oxford Operatic Society: Oxford Playhouse

    Bright, colourful and lively, Oxford Operatic Society’s Carmen, at the Oxford Playhouse this week, is a triumph, and possibly one of their best shows to date. For a company more accustomed to musical theatre and Gilbert and Sullivan, stepping out of their

  • Boris's sedulous pursuit of celebrity status

    I suppose you could call Boris Johnson either a political celebrity — as Sonia Purnell does in her splendid new biography of the London Mayor — or a celebrity politician. Are they the same thing? Some expert on semantics please advise. Anyway

  • Allotment fence 'will endanger badgers'

    ENVIRONMENTAL campaigner Mike Hamblett fears badgers are being driven out of their natural habitat by an allotment expansion in North Oxford. Mr Hamblett, 58, who lives near Cripley Meadow allotments in Jericho, says he is concerned for the future of

  • Villages to lose regular bus service

    CROPREDY and Little Bourton are to lose a regular bus service to Banbury. Stagecoach is to withdraw the villages from the 200 route from December 10. The villages were included in the Banbury to Daventry route when the A361 was closed for flood defence

  • New MRI toy joy - mini-scanner helps to calm nerves

    EVEN for grown-ups, hospitals can be scary places. But staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital hope a pioneering toy MRI scanner will make the process easier for some of its sickest children. Until now, children have had to be placed under

  • Spitfire rededicated to pilot

    AFTER Flight Lieutenant Duncan McCuaig was shot down and killed in his Spitfire over Bremen in the Second World War, his whereabouts remained a mystery for almost 50 years. It was not until the early 1990s that the wreckage of the RAF Benson-based

  • Pool protester's assault claim rejected

    A CAMPAIGNER who claimed she was assaulted by a councillor has failed to get the Local Government Ombudsman to intervene. Jane Alexander, a member of the Save Temple Cowley Pools group, alleged Oxford City Council ’s Bryan Keen assaulted her after

  • A thatched cottage with fine features

    A thatched cottage that was once the village pound for stray animals has been refurbished and extended. Up until the 1960s, Pound Cottage, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, pictured, was where loose cattle or other animals were held until their owners stumped up

  • How going under the hammer can nail that sale

    Auctions are more popular than ever, with 26,000 homes going under the hammer in the past year. And 73 per cent of the homes offered at auction were sold, up from 69 per cent the year before, according to research company Essential Information Group.

  • Cottages have a head start

    A Victorian house near Faringdon was built for the headmaster of the village school and its garden was originally the children’s playground. The land for the Old School House and school next door was gifted by the Earl of Radnor in 1864 but the school

  • Discounts could be icing on the cake with these

    Christmas could come early for househunters as developers lay on a raft of special offers to tempt them to part with their cash. Taylor Wimpey is offering a discount on the five-bedroom show house at Orwell Grange, Sutton Courtenay. Reserve by

  • Uncertainty is pushing moves to last minute

    Lack of confidence in the job market and economic outlook is causing tenants to leave house hunting until the last minute, according to one agent. Maria Lucas, of Banbury-based Lets Lucas, said: “People are leaving it later and later to start looking

  • ATHLETICS: Mara pleased to make A grade

    OXFORD’S Mara Yamauchi declared herself pleased after running the Olympic qualifying time in the Yokohama Marathon, Japan. The 38-year-old former Headington Roadrunner clocked 2hrs 27mins 24secs to finish third, putting her inside the A Standard

  • AUNT SALLY: Deddington are dynamite

    DEDDINGTON recorded what is believed to be a record score for the Banbury Indoor League with 76 dolls in their 6-0 whitewash of Castle Quay. Steve Walton (5, 5, 6) led the way with 16 dolls closely followed by Steve Arthurs (4, 6, 5) with 15 and Darren

  • BAR BILLIARDS: Democrats go top

    DEMOCRATS Club are the new leaders of Johnsons Buildbase Oxford League Section 1 after inflicting Premier side Kennington Club’s first defeat of the season with a 3-2 home win, writes PETE EWINS. Democrats took the first three games with Eddie Tebby

  • RUGBY UNION: Junior scorers

    Colts friendly: Bicester 29 (tries J Horwood 4, S Barton; cons D Aslett 2), Bracknell 21. Under 14: Stow-on-the-Wold 22, Banbury 31 (tries L Catania 2, J Hughes, R Lines, T Donaldson; cons Catania 3). Under 12: Banbury 10 (tries J Manley, J Price),

  • GOLF:Cotton shines in USA

    Ben Cotton, from Charlbury, has made a great start to his college career in the USA. Cotton, a member at The Oxfordshire, is studying at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas where he is top of the regional rankings. Having picked up a victory and

  • ATHLETICS: Oxford’s vet pair in top 100

    OXFORD City veterans John Exley and Steve Male have been named in a list of ‘top 100 great club servants’. Exley (right) was ranked 38th and Male 74th in a survey of Athletics Weekly readers.

  • GOLF: Results round-up

    OXFORD CITY Harold Gray Masters: 1 J Cooper 79-13=66, 2 D Hamilton 71-4=67, 3 B Chivers 73-5=68. Bogey: 1 T Howie +5, 2 J Drysdale +4 (cb), 3 D Wiggins +4. OXFORD LADIES Stableford – Div 1: 1 T Rawlings 34pts, 2 B Mitchell 32. Div 2: 1 P Dudding 27

  • Cameron buys land from Tory

    W OXON: David Cameron paid a top lobbyist £137,500 for land neighbouring his home in Dean. It has been disclosed that the Prime Minister and Witney MP, pictured, bought the land from Lord Chadlington, chief executive of one of the county’s top public

  • Shape of things to come is pot luck

    EAST Oxford residents have been going potty about pottery. A series of Oxpots classes at the East Oxford Community Centre aim to get locals down and dirty learning about working with clay. Pottery leader Ros Collett, right, said: “The sessions are great

  • Hundreds buried under ex-hospital

    REMAINS of hundreds of people buried at Oxford’s Radcliffe Infirmary are to be exhumed as part of the £500m redevelopment of the former hospital site. Up to 700 bodies are believed to lie in trenches, having been buried on the site after dying at the

  • Local share prices (AM)

    AEA Technology 0.16 BMW 4372 Electrocomponents 195.7 Nationwide Accident Repair 62 Oxford Biomedica 4.8 Oxford Catalysts 51 Oxford Instruments 918.75 Reed Elsevier 500.5 RM 70.75 RPS Group 177.4 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • FOOTBALL: City savour spell in limelight with FA Cup run

    Oxford City’s managing director Colin Taylor says the club’s magnificent FA Cup run has helped boost the coffers and lift the profile of the Court Place Farm outfit. A crowd of 1,175 – City’s biggest for 15 years – saw Mike Ford’s men lose 2-1 to Ryman

  • Grope charge

    A 22-year-old man has been charged with sexual assault and common assault after a 19-year-old woman was groped. Hortencio Carvalho, of Morris Crescent, Oxford, was released on bail to appear at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, December 14. The

  • Strike marches will close roads

    Three marches by striking public sector workers will close roads as they converge on a rally in Broad Street on Wednesday. Organisers predict up to 3,000 may take part. NHS workers will march from Headington, local government employees from Manzil Way

  • War on flytippers is getting results

    Flytipping around Oxford has dropped by three-quarters thanks to harsher measures and more CCTV, experts say. Incidents in the city dropped from 3,566 in 2007/08 to just 820 in 2010/11. There were 284 cases from April to September this year. There

  • ATHLETICS: Naylor's set to return

    STEVE Naylor is hoping for a positive return after his back injury at Saturday’s McCain Liverpool Cross Challenge. The Woodstock Harrier has not competed since the Great Yorkshire Run on October 9, but has managed three weeks’ training ahead of the Liverpool

  • Thieves chased

    A woman was driving home when she saw thieves stealing two of her family’s five cars. The woman chased the men who had stolen a BMW and a Mazda TS2 from her drive on Monday morning before they managed to escape, police said yesterday. The gang had raided

  • ICE HOCKEY: Forshee: 'We're in a funk'

    Head coach Ken Forshee admitted his Oxford City Stars side were down in the dumps after their 8-1 double defeat in English National League South Division 1. Stars were hammered 8-1 at bottom club Bracknell Hornets, before losing 5-2 at home

  • Dog seized as prostitute's home is raided

    A PROSTITUTE who breeds dogs at her Didcot home was raided by police officers executing a warrant under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Police officers arrived at Dawn Dunbar’s house in Wessex Road at about 9.30am yesterday after complaints about some of the

  • Three elderly targeted by distraction burglars

    Three distraction burglaries targeting pensioners in their 70s on the same night may have been carried out by the same criminals. In Bernwood Road, Bicester, a man called at the home of a 74-year-old woman at 6.30pm on Tuesday. He said there had been

  • Playhouse passion

    Carmen, the famous tale of passion, jealousy and murder, is currently showing at the Oxford Playhouse. It tells the story of naive soldier Don Jose who falls hopelessly in love with Carmen, a free-spirited and fiery gypsy. The show which features Guy

  • ICE HOCKEY: Stars rocked by double disaster

    Oxford City Stars suffered a double disaster in English National League South Division 1 with an 8-1 hammering at bottom club Bracknell Hornets followed by a 5-2 home defeat by lowly Slough Jets. The weekend woe sees Stars drop to ninth and

  • RUGBY UNION: Just the job says Carter

    OXFORD University captain John Carter says their 68-0 defeat to Northampton was the ideal pre-Varsity Match test. Carter stressed the ten-try mauling would not affect confidence ahead of their showdown with Cambridge at Twickenham on December 8. “Monday

  • RUGBY UNION: Former skipper Roff’s Twickenham double

    FORMER Oxford University captain Joe Roff is set for a busy few days at Twickenham next month. The ex-Australian international, who skippered the Dark Blues in 2007, will play for the Southern Hemisphere XV in the Heroes Rugby Challenge charity match

  • I'd be a less shoddy builder, says OAP

    A disabled woman in her 70s who was allegedly conned by a rogue trader told jurors yesterday: “I could have done a better job myself.” Crystal Hewlett needed to repair a water-damaged kitchen after she agreed to have her bathroom renovated by Trevor

  • ATHLETICS: Bellinger gold is City highlight

    OXFORD City’s Darrell Bellinger stormed to victory in the BB&O Cross Country Championships at Swinley Forest, Bracknell. Bellinger, 26, clocked 32mins 54secs to finish seven seconds clear of Reading’s Carl Bradbury in foggy conditions.

  • RACING: Hazy Tom stars for Longsdon

    Hazy Tom retained his unbeaten record for Chipping Norton trainer Charlie Longsdon by making it four wins from as many starts under National Hunt Rules with a stylish success at Wetherby yesterday. Making most of the running under Richard Johnson in

  • LARGER THAN LIFE: I walked rather than suffer

    I smell. I know I do. I can’t help it. I have spent the last week head to toe smothered in Vicks vapour rub. Other vapour rubs are available, I presume, I’m no expert in the ‘vapour rub’ industry. It is of course pungent stuff. It normally evokes

  • Crying foul over composter smells

    Residents living near a green waste composting scheme in Sutton Courtenay have complained about a stench wafting over their homes. Residents believe the smell in the village has got worse in the past couple of months because of an increase in the amount

  • COMMENT: Sad indictment

    Poor old Piddington Parish Council is also feeling the pinch and may have to close down the local park because it cannot pay for its upkeep. Cherwell District Council dumped running the park when it was seemingly only costing it about £2,000

  • COMMENT: Get tough on those blighters

    The reduction in flytipping incidents demonstrates a truth: get tough on any sort of offending and it is likely to decline. All the councils are to be praised for the reductions we have seen recently in incidents because flytipping is a blight

  • Motorist injured in M40 crash

    A woman was airlifted to hospital after her black Volkswagen Polo and a red Ford Focus collided on the M40 yesterday. Police were called to the crash between Junctions 8a and 9 on the northbound carriageway at 11.15am. The woman was taken to the John

  • Residents bid to secure vital land

    A battle over a strip of land along the Northern Bypass has broken out between Oxford City Council and Northway residents that could hit the twin developments of Barton West and Ruskin Fields. Campaigners on the estate want to protect the 4.5-acre stretch

  • Large turnout expected for repatriations today

    A large turnout is expected for the four servicemen whose bodies will be repatriated to RAF Brize Norton today. The bodies of L Cpl Peter Eustace, Lt David Boyce, L Cpl Richard Scanlon and Private Thomas Lake will be taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital

  • Parish council set to close village park

    A parish council is set to shut down a public park because it can no longer afford its upkeep after hitting the financial buffer over a £75 bill to clean up a torched car. In another example of the tough financial times councils are facing, Piddington

  • Report in call for building on Green Belt land

    A leading city councillor has welcomed a new report saying that developers should be given greater freedom to build on Green Belt land. Policy Exchange said the Government’s current housing policy failed to do enough to provide homes where people wanted

  • Guy back for second spell with Oxford United

    Lewis Guy is joining Oxford United on loan for the second time this season. The MK Dons striker spent a month at the Kassam Stadium earlier this season, scoring once in six appearances. But with Danny Philliskirk’s loan spell coming

  • Cypriot harvest threatens birds

    Every year millions of birds are trapped on the shores of Cyprus for the banned ‘delicacy’ ambelopoulia. LIAM CREEDON explores how this hidden disaster is threatening some of our best-loved garden species Less well known than shark-fin soup or foie gras

  • Beautiful but deadly bird

    Without doubt the most sinister of bird families to be encountered in the British Isles are the shrikes with seven different branches of the family accepted as being visitors to our shores. Face masks, hooked beaks, nickname of ‘butcher bird’ and a family

  • Interview with Lauren Child

    Lauren Child is the face and brains behind some of Britain’s best-loved children's books, Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean. But now there’s a new girl in town — Ruby Redfort, a super smart agent and code-cracker, who looks set for similar global

  • Local author Gerald Wixey

    Gerald Wixey lives in Wantage and is studying creative writing at Oxford University’s department of continuing education. His first novel, Salt of Their Blood, is set in a small town where Stuart, who is having an illicit affair, discovers that his lover

  • Explorers of the Nile

    Explorers of the Nile by Tim Jeal (Faber, £25)After the 1850s, there were two holy grails to chase and challenge for the world’s greatest explorers — the discovery of the source of the Nile and the continuing search for the Northwest Passage, celebrated

  • Emily's cracking award

    Enterprising schoolgirl Emily Duffy is celebrating after her fledgling business won a special award. The 12-year-old was presented with a special prize at the first Banbury Women in Business Awards after impressing judges with her cracking

  • Booty shuts up shop to go virtual

    A young fashion retailer is closing her Oxford store and taking her business online. Louise Trueman has called time on Booty in St Aldates after seeing her online business from outside the area take off. Ms Trueman, 26, explained: “I

  • Eternal life enshrined

    New galleries showcasing the Ashmolean Museum’s world-famous collections from ancient Egypt will open to the public on Saturday. The £5m redevelopment promises visitors a chronological journey covering more than 5,000 years of human occupation of the

  • Robbing the poor

    Sir – On reading Karl Wallendszus’s letter followed by John Tanner’s, (November 17) I would like to make the following observation. I was very touched by Mr Wallendszus’s concern for those in fuel poverty and hence low incomes, being a pensioner. Those

  • Why not consult?

    Sir – Why did Witney town councillors as a matter of routine not consult West Oxfordshire’s legal department before taking legal action against the Madley Park Hall contractors instead of asking the district council to bail them out with £143,000 after

  • Celebrating diversity

    Sir – Top marks to the brilliant Wadham College for flying the rainbow flag throughout their Queerweek this year. It was great that townsfolk, like me, could share the college’s commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality.

  • Enough of this

    Sir – How nice to see that at least one person read my letter in your November 10 edition ie Mr Roger Moreton of Oxford. Mr Moreton takes issue with my use of the word ‘droppings’ which he suggests refers to ‘pigeon produce and such, valuable only when

  • Identifying problems

    Sir – Reading councillor Tilley’s plan to second staff from “good” schools to “lagging” schools makes me wonder whether she ever taught in a “good” school. She should know that, apart from individual teacher’s agreement to such an arrangement, heads,

  • Scheme was lifeline

    Sir – The Government’s decision to cut discounted coach fares for pensioners and disabled people shows how little they care about the most vulnerable in our society. The concessionary coach scheme was a lifeline for many people and a vital link leaving

  • Bigger vehicles

    Sir – I view Mr Reynolds’s comments that “Parking spaces have survived the test of time” (Report, November 17) with some disbelief. Whilst they may have up to the last few years, it is very noticeable that many vehicles, buses, lorries, white vans as

  • Nervous moments over carbon neutrality

    It seems to be the season for wine tastings — not (for me anyway) the imbibing sort, but the leading and showing of wines to all sorts of groups. The other night I returned to a society I first spoke to some 12 years ago. I enjoy leading their tastings

  • Amazing investment

    Sir – Last week you featured an article highlighting the wonderful news that the Shrill Production guys had penned the official song for anti-bullying week, following their amazingly successful run of Stand Tall in London. I and I know many others

  • Inspired verse

    Sir – My granddaughter Edie wrote the attached poem which was placed with our poppy at the St Giles war memorial to honour her great-uncle who was killed in the Second World War. It was partially inspired by a visit to Ypres and the Somme by

  • Amazed by generosity

    Sir – It was good that BBC Radio Oxford publicised this year’s national Winter Fuel Campaign, spearheaded in the county by Oxfordshire Community Foundation, on Phil Gayle’s Breakfast Show on Monday. We were disappointed, however, with the choice of words

  • A harmonious 90th birthday

    Watching and listening to the massed ranks of the Oxford Harmonic Society singing in the Town Hall, it’s difficult to imagine that the Society began life with just seven members. Now more than 120 singers strong, the OHS this year celebrates

  • Raise a smile at Style Acre this Christmas

    At a time of year when loneliness and isolation can be at a peak, Style Acre’s Christmas Party brings all the adults with learning disabilities that we support together, along with their families and carers to enjoy good food, fun and presents.

  • Undeserving rich

    Sir – I quite agree with Rory Greenstreet’s mother that 25 is the age at which he should receive his £750,000 inheritance (Report, November 17). Indeed it is an age at which all UK-born UK citizens ought to receive a basic minimum universalinheritance

  • Moving experience

    Sir – I am a little puzzled as to why you covered so many of the special services and yet omitted to report on the service at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery at Botley. There are two services in Oxford city. As an ex-serviceman, I laid my usual wreath

  • Active frontage

    Sir – Your report of the Luther Court revamp (November 3), had A2 Dominion Housing Association’s Lizzie Yates saying the mixed housing would “improve the long-term sustainability” of the site. Then, on (November 10), A. Watson writes of disgust at demolishing

  • Moral compass

    Sir – Ruskin College claims (Report, November 10) that its plan to build 150 new houses in a conservation area in Headington would ‘make a significant contribution to Oxford’s housing needs’. It can do nothing of the sort unless the houses are sold

  • End park-and-ride nightmare

    Sir – There are hundreds of people who live 20 or more miles outside Oxford who have enjoyed using Thornhill park-and-ride in order to get to London for business appointments and for pleasure. Now, it is utterly impossible to do this, unless

  • Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 24/11/2011)

    Forty-five years ago, Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo imagined a Britain that had been defeated by Nazism in It Happened Here (1966) and the debuting Amit Gupta ventures into similar territory in his adaptation of Owen Sheers's acclaimed novel, Resistance

  • Parky at the Pictures (DVD 24/11/2011)

    The recent controversy sparked by Roland Emmerich's Anonymous and the forthcoming release of Ralph Fiennes's adaptation of Coriolanus have put William Shakespeare back in the screen spotlight. But, while the fuss rages about whether the Bard of Avon or

  • Police target women in Christmas drink-driving campaign

    WOMEN are being warned about drink-driving as the Christmas party season approaches. Roads policing inspector Colin Clark said those in their 30s, particularly women, would be the focus of this year’s Christmas crackdown. Insp Clark said: “We have been

  • Second award for church restoration

    THE redevelopment of a 12th century church into a college archive has won a second architectural award. St Cross Church, in St Cross Street, Oxford, was converted into an archive for Balliol College in a £2.5m scheme, after the church was made