Footballers are not always known for being the brightest of buttons.

So it was perhaps with a touch of irony they turned up at the Oxford Children's Hospital recently to cheer up sick kids with gifts, which included posters with 'United 'til I die' printed on them.

Whoops!

This year's Green Christmas fair takes place at the Town Hall in Oxford on Saturday where the watchwords will be recyclable and ethical.

And there is a special guest, too.

Santa, perhaps? No. What about one of his little helpers, an elf maybe? No.

Instead, Peter Tatchell, right, will be there. Presumably to make everyone's Christmas?

Ho Ho Ho.

On Friday the author of the celebrated (and self explanatory) book Crap Towns is due to meet representatives from the good town of Didcot.

Why? Well, the South Oxfordshire town was once declared as among the 50 "crappiest" places to live in the UK.

Not so according to Ed Vaizey, the Tory MP for Wantage and Didcot, who, conveniently perhaps, splits his time between a country pile in leafy Letcombe Bassett, at the foot of the ancient Ridgeway, and London.

Shades of hypocrisy from our friends at County Hall?

Waxing lyrical on the merits of Nick Griffin and David Irving's recent appearance at the Oxford Union, Keith Mitchell spoke of the rich virtues of free speech and protest.

He said: "The reaction and the protest spoke eloquently of a healthy democracy in which people are allowed to put forward their views and others are allowed to take a very dim view or take to the streets and register their disapproval.

"In some countries such a chain of events is not possible."

Indeed. Rather like a democracy in which people register their displeasure towards paid-for parking permits, only for policy makers to ride roughshod over their opinions.

Propaganda leaflets being distributed by the Liberal Democrats across Oxford ahead of their election battle with Labour quote a Conservative city councillor.

Confused? You will be. In the literature Paul Sargent, pictured, who quit the Lib Dems and is now a Tory, says: "Elections in Oxford are always a close fight between the Lib Dem team and the Labour Party."

Talk about doing your old mates a favour.

How many councillors does it take to solve a leadership crisis?

Two, it would appear.

We are glad to report the two members of the Tory group on Oxford City Council have finally settled the issue.

Paul Sargent has been elected leader with Tia MacGregor his deputy.