NEGLECTFUL landlords are one of the biggest causes of social blight in East Oxford. 'Resign!' That was the understated opinion of Tony Brett after the Oxford Mail revealed Oxford city councillor Mohammed Abbasi had been in court for failing to remove rubbish dumped outside a house he owns.

Mr Brett added: "I am appalled to be represented by this man if he is allowing his properties to be left in such an awful state and then pay so little regard to the warnings from officers of the same authority he is a member of.

"Shame on him."

Could this vocal protestation have anything to do with the fact Labour's Mr Abbasi beat Liberal Democrat candidate Mr Brett in the Cowley Marsh election of May, 2006?

FOR a man obsessed with the correct use of grammar, spelling and punctuation it pains us to highlight a schoolboy error committed by Oxfordshire County Council leader Keith Mitchell this week. In a dispatch about how County Hall had agreed to set up a £100,000 fund for soldiers returning to Oxfordshire from war zones, Mr Mitchell appears unclear on how to spell Afghanistan, where a large number of British troops are currently serving.

Mr Mitchell said: "The troops are our residents here in Oxfordshire as much as anyone else.

"I know how hard troops work in Iraq and Afgahistan (sic) and we all owe them an enormous debt of gratitude."

A dictionary is on its way.

BLEARY-EYED Patrick Murray, the Oxford city councillor, must find it very hard to stay awake some days, being as he is a huge fan of basketball.

The pint-sized devoted NBA fan stayed up into the early hours of this morning to watch his beloved New York Knicks beat Denver in an enthralling encounter at Madison Square Garden. At least when he dozes off in less gripping council meetings he has an excuse, unlike the rest of us.

JANE Lacey's recent freebie visit to New York just gets more and more intriguing.

You may remember last week we told how the Independent Working Class Association councillor landed a free flight to the Big Apple after moaning about the warmth of soup while seated on executive airline Silverjet.

In addition to meeting Lennox Lewis - the former heavyweight boxing world champion - it appears she also came face-to-face with Piers Morgan and Snoop Dogg, the rapper.

Now, there's a dinner party guest list.

RED hot Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard is a true blue, judging by his assessment of a recent encounter with Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

On the BBC Sport website Lampard said: "I had a good chat with him and I really like him."

But we are not sure what Dave made of the meeting - after all, he's tried to convince us he is an Aston Villa fan. Yeah, right.