Archive
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RACING: Markab is ruled out
Markab may have run his last race for Wantage trainer Henry Candy after having been ruled out of Sunday’s Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye following a veterinary examination. The seven-year-old had been as short as 5-1 for the Longchamp Group 1 contest following
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Actor creates a special Bond with school
A NEW minibus is set to get disabled Wantage youngsters out and about. James Bond film actor Colin Salmon, pictured, joined The Lady Taverners to present the £48,000 16-seater adapted bus to Fitzwaryn School on Tuesday. The school in Denchworth Road
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BMW wants city wind turbine moved
BMW bosses want the massive wind turbine planned between the Cowley car works and Horspath moved in case they want to expand the Mini factory. The scheme to build a £3m turbine with a combined blade and tower height of 130 metres is at an advanced
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GPs to help you fight the flab with a water workout referral
DOCTORS will send obese patients on a new calorie-burning water workout from next month to help them get into shape. Oxford City Council is launching new swimming classes next week at Blackbird Leys Swimming Pool to help severely overweight
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Spa Gazing
ANGELA SWANN is converted... it’s hotel spas all the way from now on. Is it possible to poach yourself alive, I wondered as yet again I dipped beneath the bubbling waters of the hotel’s outdoor hot tub. If it is, then my goose is definitely
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Supermarket Stud
Wesley Smith was always going to be a newsreader – as a child he did a paper round to buy a TV camera and make his own news reports from his bedroom. But having been axed from Central TV he is now forging his own way. Katherine MacAlister reports on
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Schizophrenic Pop
Tim Hughes talks to a band so good they named it twice – Everything Everything. CREATING more buzz than a swarm of wasps in a treacle factory, Everything Everything are udoubtedly the band of the moment. Not only have they spent the summer
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Top Rank
KATHERINE MACALISTER’S evening at Branca goes on and on... Have you ever been in that awkward situation when you bump into your waitress later that night, while letting your hair down? It could have been worse – I wasn’t exiting the STD
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Plot Twists
ANDREW FRENCH discovers another John Irving gem set in the wilds of New Hampshire as he takes a look at our latest Book of the Month. THE BOOK: WHEN you pick up a John Irving novel you have to be prepared to experience
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Box of Tricks
BURIED (15). Thriller. Ryan Reynolds and the voices of Robert Paterson, Jose Luis Garcia-Perez, Stephen Tobolowsky, Samantha Mathis Director: Rodrigo Cortes. Filmmaking is a collaborative process, pooling the creativity and imagination
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Girl Power
MADE IN DAGENHAM (15). Drama. Sally Hawkins, Daniel Mays, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Graves, Rosamund Pike, Geraldine James, Andrea Riseborough, Jaime Winstone, Richard Schiff. Director: Nigel Cole. THE 1960s were
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Dirty Talk
KATHERINE MACALISTER gets in the mood for a chat with sex expert Dr Petra Boynton. You know the expression ‘not now dear, I’ve got a headache”? Well, appropriately enough, Dr Petra Boynton, one of the UK’s leading sex experts, had a migraine
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Get Fresh
RICHARD BELL is impressed the the 02 Academy’s Propaganda. Oxford is by its own nature a student city and has been for centuries. The majority of the population, or at least the majority of the city’s clubbers, come in when they start their
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Guitar Gal
ALL musicians have a special relationship with their instrument – but few have the kind of bond Kacey Cubero shares with her guitar. As an only child, living in Washington DC, Kacey grew up with her first six-string – treating it as both best friend
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Camera Fusion Bar and Restaurant
Christmas Special Offers 3 course Christmas meal £25 per person Includes 1/2 a bottle of house wine or 3 beers per person Canapes and champagne reception £15 per person www.cameraoxford.co.uk 01865 245551 St Ebbes
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Throwing a corporate Christmas function
You are the boss — and ultimately responsible for the office Christmas party. Follow this advice to keep your employees motivated, happy and safe this festive season. As a manager you know that the most valued resource at any company is its
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Roland Wilcock OBE: Central role in creating college
THE first principal of West Oxfordshire College – which later became part of Abingdon & Witney College – has died at the age of 94. Roland Wilcock helped to establish the college, in Holloway Road, Witney, in 1960 and was its principal until his retirement
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Hugh Hunt MBE: Champion of conservation
A MAN made an MBE for his services to conservation in south Oxfordshire has died, aged 87. Hugh Hunt, who worked at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, died at his home in Goring on September 10 after a short illness. Along with his
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Local shares (PM)
AEA Technology 17 BMW 4490 Electrocomps 243.8 Nationwide Accident Repair 102 Oxford Biomedica 9.4 Oxford Catalysts 67.5 Oxford Instruments 501 Reed Elsevier 540.75 RM 142.25 RPS Group 186.8 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley,
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CCTV clue in Rose Hill race abuse hunt
Police are trying to trace a woman in connection with a racially aggravated public order incident in Oxford. At 4.09pm on Tuesday, August 31, the woman pictured in the CCTV image entered the Old Mans Premier shop in Courtland Road, Rose Hill, and
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Event highlights challenging future for major energy users
Increasing gas and electricity prices for industrial and commercial customers to pay for the move to a low carbon future could undermine Britain’s competitive position and threaten job losses. The Major Energy Users Council, which represents large and
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Drivers braced for fuel duty rise
Drivers face more pain at the pumps on Friday when a planned Government fuel duty rise puts another 1p on the cost of a litre of petrol and diesel. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has warned that this "smash-and-grab approach" by Whitehall
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Black History Month focuses on rich history
OXFORDSHIRE’s cultural history is set to come alive as the city’s Black History Month gets under way tomorrow. The annual event brings people together to remember the region’s African and African-Caribbean roots. Junie James, from the
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Small rise in road injuries ‘against trend’
Casualties on Oxfordshire’s roads rose slightly last year – with two incidents more than in 2008. The Department for Transport published additions to its annual report into road deaths last week. Figures show there were 345 people killed or seriously
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Hospital plan takes giant step forward
PLANS for a new community hospital in Bicester took a major step forward after health bosses gave outline approval to an £8m development. NHS Oxfordshire agreed to provide a new 12-bed hospital for the town with a minor injury unit, physio, X-ray and
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Tracks mark work on line
A specially-commissioned work combining singing, music and poetry to celebrate the redoubling of the Cotswold Line railway route through Charlbury will be premiered tonight. The piece, called Soundtracks, features the town’s community choir
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Robbers snatch CCTV in filling station raid
Police are appealing for information after a robbery at petrol station in Henley. The incident happened at about 9pm on Sunday, September 26, at the Jet petrol station in Reading Road. The cashier at the station went out to check the pumps on
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Cycle fans in gear for Blenheim Palace festival
CYCLISTS from across Oxfordshire will be heading to Blenheim Palace on Sunday for a cycling festival that last year attracted more than 7,000 people. This weekend’s Bike Blenheim Palace event will raise money for Breast Cancer Care, with the event drawing
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Siemens Magnet technology attracts double award
EYNSHAM: Siemens Magnet Technology has scooped a double award at the 2010 Best Factory Awards. The company, which employs 600 staff, took the honours for Innovation and Most Improved Plant. The business, which designs and manufactures superconducting
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Fixtures October 1
SATURDAY. FOOTBALL. NPOWER LEAGUE TWO. Oxford Utd v Port Vale. FOOTBALL LEAGUE YOUTH ALLIANCE. South West Conference: Oxford Utd Youth v AFC Bournemouth. FA TROPHY. Prelim round: North Leigh v Sholing. ZAMARETTO SOUTHERN LEAGUE. Premier Div:
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Paris debut for Mini WRC
The new Mini WRC, which will contest the FIA World Rally Championship from 2011, will receive its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show. In addition, Kris Meeke (GB) has been confirmed as one of the drivers who will contest the championship
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TV star puts £1.75m village home up for sale
COMEDIAN Mel Smith is the second celebrity in the space of a month to put his home in a south Oxfordshire village up for sale. Best known for his work on a series of hit TV shows including Not The Nine O’Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones, Mr Smith
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Blue Peter star opens new school building
Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton opened a new building at Oxfordshire’s largest primary school. Miss Skelton cut the ribbon at the new two-storey building at Barley Hill Primary School in Thame, before pupils interviewed her. Patrick Greene, vice-chairman
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GOLF: Results round-up
SHAW GIBBS OXFORDSHIRE FOURSOMES LEAGUE Section 1 Frilford Heath 2 (3pts), Chipping Norton 1 (1) (Frilford Heath first): A Walton & B Mann bt S Kench & A Johnson 6&5, D Newbold & J Summers lost to S Allen & C Heslip 6&5, N Davies & J Richardson
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Hotel owner threatens legal action over 'racist' review on Tripadvisor
THE owner of a hotel complained to the police and is threatening legal action after being branded racist in a review on an Internet site. Sarah-Jane Ashman, 51, who runs the Brook Barn Country House in Letcombe Regis near Wantage, said she
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Christmas jobs at Debenhams
DEPARTMENT store Debenhams is to create about 50 temporary jobs for the festive season as it gears up for the busiest time of year for retailers. Debenhams, which employs 23,000 permanent staff nationwide, will take on 9,000 extra workers this year,
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Airport boss takes off for new job in Abu Dhabi
THE managing director of Oxford Airport is taking off for a new job in the Middle East. Steve Jones will take up a new position as general manager of Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi in November. Mr Jones, who has 36 years’ experience in aviation
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RAF buildings on market
DEVELOPERS of a former RAF site have put 22 buildings on the market for rent or sale to business users. Developers City and Country Group bought the 'domestic site' of RAF Bicester in April for £20m, including 17 grade II listed buildings. The offices
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Eurocopter fears Government axe
Dark clouds are gathering over a significant chunk of Oxford Airport and unlike the weather, the near future is impossible to predict for the company at the centre of the impending storm. Eurocopter employs 200 people at the Kidlington site and half
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Airport chief quits
THE top boss of Oxford Airport is taking off for a new job in the Middle East. Steve Jones, who has been managing director at the Kidlington site for the past ten years, will take up a new position as general manager of Al Bateen Executive Airport in
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Local share prices (AM)
AEA Technology 17 BMW 4263 Electrocomps 241.8 Nationwide Accident Repair 101.5 Oxford Biomedica 9.45 Oxford Catalyst 68.5 Oxford Instruments 503 Reed Elsevier 537.5 RM 140.5 RPS Group 186 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
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GOLF: Pepperell's Egypt bid
Eddie Pepperell today represents the English Golf Union (EGU) in the Egyptian Amateur Championship at Katameya Heights. The Drayton Park member teams up with Jack Senior (Heysham, Lancashire) in the 54-hole strokeplay event, which finishes on Saturday
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RUGBY UNION: Bowers pleased at Chinnor progress
Head coach Jason Bowers believes Chinnor can look back with satisfaction on their first four matches. Bowers’s side lie second in National 3 South West after three wins and a draw. That includes facing last year’s runners-up, Old Patesians, Oxford Harlequins
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Support Jeans for Genes Day to help children like William
FOR a year William Hickman’s parents Kevin and Charlotte fought to find out why he was continually ill or in pain. They visited 13 GPs and had what they described as a nightmare 12 months before a private consultation diagnosed him as having a rare genetic
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RUGBY UNION: Guests pitch in for new facility
Abingdon RFC have unveiled a new floodlit pitch at Lambrick Way. The £61,632 facility replaces an old training pitch that had become a potential health and safety hazard. Abingdon RFC president and RFU junior vice-president Paul Murphy said: “Abingdon
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Man killed in Nuneham Courtenay crash
Police today appealed for witnesses to a fatal crash near Nuneham Courtenay. Shortly after 7.30pm last night, a blue MGF travelling southbound on the A4074 near Nuneham Courtenay was involved in a collision with a blue Vauxhall Corsa travelling
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Man killed in car crash
A 34-year-old man died following a car crash on the A4074 near Nuneham Courtenay last night. The man, from Toot Baldon, near Oxford, was pronounced dead at the scene after his blue Rover MGF collided with a Vauxhall Corsa heading in the opposite direction
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Protesters rally against NHS cuts
HEALTH workers and their supporters took their protest against proposed county job cuts to the streets last night. About 60 workers gathered outside Carfax in Cornmarket, pictured, to take a stand against £45m of NHS cuts in the county. On Saturday,
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Power station marks 40 years
THE cooling towers of Didcot power station have divided popular opinion for years. Some find their presence comforting while others believe they are a blot on the landscape – and can’t wait for their demolition. Today the landmark plant
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GOLF: Laker crowned Faldo champ
Burford's Abi Laker booked herself a trip to China by winning the girls’ under 16 title in the Faldo Series Europe grand final. The 16-year-old took the honours at the Lough Erne Resort, Northern Ireland after pushing the under 21 champion, Yi-Chen Liu
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Why close old pool if there's no cash?
YESTERDAY you reported that Oxford City Council confirmed its intention to close Temple Cowley Pools. In the same breath the councillors on the executive board say there is now a question mark about the funding for the new replacement pool at Blackbird
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Fines won't work
SEVERAL of my friends have agreed with me that as children mature at an earlier age, they should be more responsible for their actions. It is the parents’ duty to bring up their children, to educate and teach them right from wrong, how to behave and
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Burning bibles
IN YOUR issue of September 14, Dr Taj Hargey is quoted as complaining that the heads of other religions have held a “deafening silence” about the American pastor who wanted to burn the Koran. Dr Hargey’s Muslim brethren in Saudi Arabia have been burning
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New bins are such a waste
I HAVE just received my three plastic bins, with which I presume all of the White Horse district will be issued. I would like to know just how much this is costing. We have holes in the roads which have never been repaired, and weeds growing in the
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Our hero drivers
HOW nice it was of your paper to do such a wonderful front page write up about the hero coach driver Trevor License who battled with a frenzied passenger who had grabbed his steering wheel on the M40 (Oxford Mail, September 4) The only time you seem
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Culling badgers is of little use
THE badger is an iconic part of our British wildlife. A cull of the badgers, either by gassing, snaring or shooting would have little impact on TB in cattle, as some badgers would evade the cull. Culling is certainly not badger-friendly. In the
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The Insider: A weekly update from the corridors of power
YOU usually have a vision that Crown Court judges are fairly stern, humourless characters but it seems that, like so many other professions, there is a bit of jestful rivalry between the dispensers of the law. Controversial beak Judge Julian Hall hung
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COMMENT: Landmark date
LIKE many blots of the landscape, a certain affection has grown up around the six cooling towers at Didcot Power Station. They are 40 years old this month and you can’t deny they are iconic, looming across the south Oxfordshire skyline.
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Bridging way to new look station
CITY councillors last night gave the go-ahead to plans paving the way for a multi-million pound revamp of Oxford Railway Station. A joint scheme between Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council will see a new platform created on part of the station
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RUGBY UNION: Haydon positive despite defeats
Oxford University captain Nick Haydon said there is no need to panic after losing both matches on their Russian tour. The Dark Blues lost 29-19 to RC Slava and 32-20 to Kazan State Agrarian University. But scrum half Haydon stressed the quality of their
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Give us free hospital parking
RE HOSPITAL car parking charges in England. The coalition Government’s excuse for not introducing free parking at English hospital is “we leave these decisions up to individual hospitals”. This will not wash. If Scotland and Wales have free hospital
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Pope's visit was a great four days
I support the views of Pamela Treadwell on the Pope’s visit to Scotland and England. He had already been branded as the Church’s Rottweiler, yet people who met him or watched him on television discovered that he was humble and gentle, reaching out
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Praise for city homes
IN THESE gloomy days of cut-backs and recessions, it is heart-warming to be able to see something which brings a smile to one’s face and a warm feeling of well-being. I am referring to the refurbishment and new build at Cardinal House and Lambourne Road
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Roads or meadows
I was very interested in the story about the failed bid to get Town Green status for Witney Meadows (Oxford Mail, September 7) and the fact that the battle to build the Cogges Link road was not over. How long have we all been told to do all we can for
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What have they got to hide?
DURING the course of the year many, many hundreds of tourist coaches visit Oxford, but although the firms name, telephone and email are written on the backs of them, rarely is the town or city given. Is there any reason for that? What’s to hide? BERNARD
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Fantastic treatment in hospitals
MAY I through the Oxford Mail say after three years of going to the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals, I have been treated fantastically, put at ease with different treatments and looked after by all – from doctors, nurses to the reception. JOSEPHINE
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Any other views?
CAN someone please advise me why it is that with such a large majority of Conservative county councillors, Keith Mitchell appears to be the only one capable of writing to the Oxford Mail? Do they not have views of their own or is it that their leader
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Serving a purpose?
I SEE Suffolk County Council is to outsource all its services. I believe West Oxfordshire Council has dodged its electoral responsibilities by privatising our refuse collections and by handing over local housing stock to a housing association so
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BAR BILLIARDS: Stratford stormer
Vikings’ Sean Stratford put up a brilliant performance to knock out Comrades in-form Simon Ellam 2-0 in the Johnsons Buildbase Oxford Association’s Men’s Individual competition at the Marlborough Club. Stratford reeled off a break of 11,080 to take
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RACING: Longsdon's team are set for battle
CHARLIE Longsdon has high hopes he’s assembled a team at his Hull Farm Stables, near Chipping Norton, which will make a real impact in the new jumps season. Staging his first public open day, the 34-year-old trainer welcomed around 200 racing enthusiasts
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Scrabble team enjoys a spell of success
EVER heard of a bartsia, been totally snafued or seen some oroides? Well, three men from Oxford have, and they were crowned national Scrabble champions at the weekend. The players from the Oxford Scrabble Club snatched the National Club
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Landlords battle rules on bedsits
A SCHEME aimed at protecting thousands of Oxford tenants from rogue landlords may be unlawful, the High Court is set to be told. Oxford City Council will be the first in the country to introduce the stringent new rules for about 5,000 rented homes.
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Oxford School reveals new academy name
OXFORD School has unveiled its new name — Oxford Spires Academy. The school in Glanville Road, East Oxford, will reopen in January as an academy, and must be re-named as part of the procedure. Academy status will free the school’s finances
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ATHLETICS: City veterans in medals bonanza
OXFORD City’s veterans bagged a triple medal haul in the Southern Area Road Relays at Aldershot. Leading the way, City’s vet 60 team won gold, while their vet 40s and 50s scooped silvers in the four-stage races. The vet 60s were never
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Super-fast Internet for Witney
WITNEY and Thame are to get super-fast Internet access, BT has announced. This would allow download speeds of up to 40Mbps, potentially rising to 60Mbps in the future. Lesley Semaine, chairman of Witney Chamber of Trade and Commerce,
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ATHLETICS: England finishes fourth in Commonwealth warm-up
OXFORD City’s Hannah England completed her warm-up for the Commonwealth Games with a fourth-place finish in the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in New York. England, who will be competing in the 800m and 1500m in Delhi, got off to a
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Gilbert and Sullivan Choruses
A book that gathers together some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s best-loved choruses, which people can use as the basis for a G&S concert, sounds such a great idea that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before. Now, thanks to the combined skills of broadcaster
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The Dying Light by Henry Porter
The Dying Light Henry Porter (Orion, £7.99) We’re on familiar ground here, with a Big Brother state squashing opposition with spooky surveillance technology. But this is only a short way into the future. A new Prime Minister has just replaced two
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Winnie In Space
A new book from the Oxford illustrator Korky Paul is always a treat, and Winnie in Space (Oxford University Press, £10.99) is no exception. The story, by Valerie Thomas, seems deceptively simple. Wilbur the cat is content to stay at home but adventurous
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BOWLS: Oxon off to a flier
OXFORDSHIRE’S Premier side made a flying start to their English Short Mat Association Inter County Competition programme with a 30-10 victory over Herefordshire at Wallingford. Trevor Brown and AJ Brown won both their singles as Oxon raced to a 219-144
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ICE HOCKEY: Battling Stars shot down by champs
OXFORD City Stars could count themselves unlucky as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat at reigning champions Invicta Dynamos in South Division 1. The tone of the game was set in the first few seconds when Daniel Calitri crashed into the boards following a
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Pile-up causes A34 delays
A pile-up involving seven cars today caused long delays on the A34 in Oxfordshire. The collision happened at about 8.45am on the northbound carriageway, near East Ilsley. Very slow traffic is reported in the area with one lane blocked
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Bypass jams 'among worst in country'
Oxford's Eastern Bypass is the fourth most congested road in Britain, according to technology firm TomTom. Cars are reduced to a crawl for an average 86 hours a week on the 50mph road between Headington and Heyford Hill roundabouts. The firm used
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Name of new city academy unveiled
Oxford School has unveiled its new name — Oxford Spires Academy. The school in Glanville Road, East Oxford, will reopen in January as an academy. Academy status will free the school’s finances and curriculum from county council control. The academy is
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Students 'make our lives hell'
EAST Oxford residents have criticised university officials for employing police community support officers to deal with rowdy students – but who clock off at midnight. The residents say rowdy students are blighting their lives by urinating
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ATHLETICS: Lauren leads juniors to impressive eighth
LAUREN Hawtin (pictured) led Oxford City’s Under 17 women’s team to eighth out of 31 teamin the Southern Area Road Relays. Hawtin clocked 10mins 50secs on the first leg of the relay to finished seventh in her leg and 12th in her age category
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BOWLS: Sykes wins back Champions title
BANBURY Borough’s Mark Sykes regained his Oxfordshire Bowling Association’s Champion of Champions crown with a 21-10 win over Banbury Central’s Geor-ge Schwab at Oxford City & County. Sykes, the winner in 2008 and runner-up to Shiplake Village’s Barry
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It Could Only Happen in Oxford
IT COULD ONLY HAPPEN IN OXFORD (Turl Street Storytellers, £7.99)Perhaps a copy of this should be placed in Oxford hotel rooms beside the Gideon’s Bible. Written by graduates of novelist Sara Banerji’s creative writing classes, the stories are all set
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COMMENT: Give us policing when we need it
WHEN the deployment of two Police Community Support Officers for Oxford Brookes University was announced, it was labelled “an investment in the community”. Well, sections of the community are decidely underwhelmed by an investment that sees
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The Invisible Gorilla
THE INVISIBLE GORILLA Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons (HarperCollins, £16.99) This popular psychology book is written by two professors of psychology with good academic reputations and a healthy respect for scientific method. Their title refers
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LOCAL CHOIRBOY FINALIST IN BBC YOUNG CHORISTERS OF THE YEAR
Jacob Thorn, who sings in the choir of St Helen's Church Abingdon, has been selected as a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Choristers of the Year 2010 competition. He is one of four boys and four girls competing for the coveted awards. The finals will
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Bypass james among worst in country according to Satnav firm
OXFORD’S Eastern Bypass is the fourth most congested road in Britain, according to technology firm TomTom. Cars are reduced to a crawl for an average 86 hours a week on the 50mph road between Headington and Heyford Hill roundabouts. The firm used data
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Code of conduct
Where there are large numbers of students, there will always be a certain amount of noise and disruption. Many of us will remember our own student days — and perhaps cringe at the thought of some of the things that we did. It is clear, however, that
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Oxford United loan star Payne extends his stay
OXFORD United midfielder Josh Payne has handed boss Chris Wilder a big boost after Doncaster agreed to extend his loan spell until January. With his deal from the Championship side due to expire after Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Cheltenham, Wil-der was keen
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Uninspired
We are not impressed by the choice of name for the proposed new academy at Oxford School. For one thing, Oxford Spires Academy shows a lack of imagination. Someone living a thousand miles away with only a cursory knowledge of Oxford could have come up
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Student noise 'brings misery'
ROWDY students inflicted ten days of misery on families in East Oxford, keeping residents awake until 4am night after night. With Oxford’s noise abatement team now being swamped with complaints, residents say the council, police and universites
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Call for heart surgery to resume
UNUSUALLY high death rates at three children’s heart surgery centres could affect the outcome of an inquiry that will settle the fate of paediatric cardiac operations in Oxford. Parents and staff in Oxford will have to wait until at least the
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Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 30/9/2010)
Eastern European cinema has defied the odds in the two decade since the collapse of Communism. Many predicted that industries used to state subsidies would struggle to survive in a free market world and it took a while for Russian, Czech, Polish
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Macmillan's story
Many still view Harold Macmillan as a great actor, with the ability to hide behind a variety of masks. When Supermac’s rival and colleague Rab Butler learnt that historian Richard Thorpe had been to see the elderly former Prime Minister, Butler waspishly
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Rafts, masts and bikes
Ellen Bassani has led a life of adventure that would terrify most people. But what makes the mother-of-two even more remarkable is that she has done it all without her sight. Cycling across Costa Rica, white water rafting, even climbing unaided up the
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Parky at the Pictures (DVD 30/9/2010)
As usual around this time, the best of the year's foreign-language films start finding their way onto DVD. A number of intriguing titles have already made it to disc, including Florian Gallenberger's City of War: John Rabe, which views the infamous
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Landlords challenge city housing rules
A COMPULSORY licensing scheme being introduced by Oxford City Council, affecting thousands of landlords and tenants, could be illegal. A legal challenge is to be made against new licensing powers adopted by the city council to control houses of multiple
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Naval search
Sir – Did you ever serve on board any of the light fleet carriers, HMS Bulwark, HMS Albion, or HMS Centaur? Our association — the HMS Bulwark Albion Centaur Association — is open to anyone who served at any time on these ships. We send a magazine
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Reunion appeal harks back to 1960s
A MAN who used to live in Witney is trying to get back in contact with some of his old school chums from the 1960s. Michael Mobey, 64, used to live in Well Lane, Curbridge, and attended the village primary school, before moving to Witney and attending
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Adverse consequences
Sir – The current debate on taxing graduates (Report, September 9) is reaching a dangerous level. It is hard to see why those that have followed a university course of given cost should repay different sums for the benefit. All those that took the
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Farmoor needs track
Sir – Oxford may have some of the most extensive cycle lanes in the country (Letters, September 23), but none reach Farmoor. Would-be cyclists in Farmoor are deterred by the hazardous B4044 from Botley to Eynsham, which is the main route in and out
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Time to volunteer
Sir – In last week’s edition, Mr Penn’s letter echoed those from Sylvia Vetta and myself in past weeks, alerting those of us, of many ages, to the likelihood of a severly curtailed library service and the possibility of some closures. I made the point
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Change for the worse
Sir – Visiting the central Oxford underground car park, I was dismayed to find that I needed to pay £8.70 for four hours. The price is high, but my chief concern was that the machine neither gave change nor took notes. How many of us carry nearly £9
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High pay is symptom
Sir – Thank you for informing us about the highly paid public servants working for Oxfordshire county and Oxford city councils. I think these pay rates for the senior manager roles are far too high and that the city and county council need to rethink
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City dumps in landfill
Sir – While councillor Tanner admonishes residents for sending far too much to landfill, the city itself sends thousands of recyclable bottles and cans to landfill from the city parks. The cost of installing differentiated litter bins and arranging
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Misplaced objections
Sir – Bravo to those South Oxfordshire district councillors who voted in favour of Rowan and Sunetra Atkinson’s plans for their Richard Meier-designed home, to be built near Ipsden, and this against the advice of planning officers (Report, September
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Strong leader for city
Sir – I wonder how many Oxford citizens realise that a public consulation is supposed to be taking place on the very important matter of how the city council is run. We are told that the present arrangement is that of a “weak leader”. From my experience
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Buses are safer option
Sir – I sympathise with Christopher Gray in his experience of thieves on the Athenian metro (Gray Matter, September 23). But I doubt if dedicated tourist trains are a realistic possibility in the present Greek economic climate. Instead I would personally
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Competitive salaries
Sir – You have not told us which politicians have suggested to you that the benchmark salary for a reasonable salary at the present should be that of the present Prime Minister. I very much hope that neither of them was the Chancellor of the Exchequer
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Good news for women
Sir – From the front page (September 23), of the four photographs highlighting individuals being paid more than the PM, three of them are women. Reading the article and looking through your website, I could not find a list of the names, their organisations
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Inflated salaries
Sir – I am happy to find that I am among the majority of your readers who think that it is wrong for more than 100 public servants in Oxfordshire to earn more than the Prime Minister. In a time of swingeing public service cuts which will cause many
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Students cause mayhem
Sir – Residents of North Oxford got off lightly with one night of noise from that rave in Cassington. For the past ten days, the anti-social behaviour of some Oxford Brookes students around Cowley Road between 11pm and 4am has kept residents awake
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Airport will evolve
Sir – It is with some frustration that we feel compelled to respond to Doctor Edwards’s letter (September 23) with respect to the new hangar at Oxford Airport. After two years of recession there is no mention of the economic benefits that come with
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Old boy hopes memories will ring a bell
A WAR hero who has not seen old school friends for 79 years has started a search to find fellow pupils of Oxford’s Central Boys’ School. Wilfred Cross, who turned 94 this week, wants to know if anybody remembers attending the school in Gloucester
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Fears voiced over NHS job losses
UP TO one in three NHS jobs in Oxfordshire could go if proposals to reduce workforce costs by £100m go ahead, union leaders have warned. Unison says a document drawn up by the county’s primary trust reveals the extent of job cuts being planned over the
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Good wine also needs good PR
Being a bit late, I found myself running two miles, through the streets of London in the pouring rain to get to a tasting this week, leaving me sodden and weary. Cursing silently my irrational resistance to umbrellas, I was not in the best frame of mind
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Recycled news
Sir – I think Ken Lovesy (Letters, September 23) has it all wrong about waste. Oxfordshire County Council is encouraging us all to recycle more but with shops giving out less packaging nowadays, one way to keep our recycling quotas up is for the local
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New College Choir
It tickles the imagination: the thought of composer Claudio Monteverdi arriving in Venice, perhaps in the pouring rain. He would have been desperate to ensure that the musical sketches he carried with him didn’t get wet, or meet an equally watery end
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Oxford Contemporary Music season
“We’ve always been about trying to encourage people to try contemporary music for the first time,” says Jo Ross. Certainly there are plenty of people who think contemporary music is not for them, but glancing through the brochure for OCM’s new season,
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Hedgehog land
Almost a third of Oxfordshire gardens regularly have visiting hedgehogs according to participants in the RSPB’s summer wildlife survey. The Make Your Nature Count survey also showed that hedgehogs were seen in almost a third of urban gardens. Experts
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Naked ladies of the garden
I love September, a mellow month, and one group of plants I always look forward to seeing are the colchicums. One fat bulb can push up more than 20 flowers and each one appears through the bare earth so the old-fashioned (rather cheeky) name has always
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Australian Shiraz, £87
When it comes to easy to drink, smooth, rich ripe wines there is no better choice than Australian shiraz. Here you will find none of the comparatively rough edges of a Rhone style from France — Aussie wines have much more ripeness and depth which makes
