The Insider

Or should that be John Who?

Sadly for us media types, Mr Howell is hardly in the same calibre as Boris Johnson, which probably explains the media's indifference to his selection.

But please allow The Insider to better acquaint you with him.

Married with three teenage children, Mr Howell was formerly a partner in Ernst & Young and once a presenter for BBC World Service.

He was made an OBE in 2000, is a parish councillor in Warborough and an organist at his local church.

So, compared to Boris, quite dull. But then, compared to Boris, who isn't?

IT IS perhaps unsurprising that Antonia Bance was plastered all over The Guardian newspaper at the weekend.

Yes, the Labour city councillor was waxing lyrical in that Leftie Bible about an unlucky comeback for her party.

As we all know, Labour bucked the trend in Oxford by winning more councillors than they lost in last month's local elections.

So The Guardian ventured to the city to hook up with Antonia and chums - and she had a defiant message to deliver to the party's top brass.

She said: "We're going to end child poverty by 2020, so let's go out here and tell the country why we're going to do it, how we're going to do it, how it's going to make a difference... Let's end some pensioner poverty as well... That's what it's all about.

"That's why the Labour Party was founded. So let's stop being so bloody timid."

Calm down, dear. The next election is already lost. Probably.

IT'S not often one hears of a Conservative with a heart - especially where suspected terror suspects are concerned.

But there is no doubt where Wantage MP Ed Vaizey stands on the controversial issue of detention without charge.

Mr Vaizey said: "Brown is wrong on 42 days, any way you look at it.

"Let's start with the basics. It is an exceptional act for the state to deprive someone of their liberty.

"That is why there has always been a limit on how long the state can hold someone before telling them what they are charged with.

"In the US it is just a day. We are now on 28 days, the country nearest to us - Australia - is 12 days.

"In this context 42 days looks well out of step."

THE fact we have a Labour Government and a Conservative-controlled Oxfordshire County Council inevitably means a lot of moaning and whining.

Enter county council leader Keith Mitchell, who this week took his umpteenth snipe at Whitehall, accusing it of diverting money from Britain's rural counties in favour of urban areas.

He said: "In terms of the Government's English regions, Oxfordshire comes under the South East even though many in the northern areas around Banbury may consider themselves more to be Midlanders.

"I will never tire of using one very important fact in relation to the South East - namely it is one of only three regions to contribute more to the British economy than it gets back.

"Given Oxfordshire is the South's most rural county, you can see we have struggled with this situation more than most."