The historic annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge can be a tedious affair.

So The Insider will be giving Sunday’s race on the River Thames in London something of a wide berth.

Instead, I will heading away from the crowds and into the East End for the first annual Oxford v Cambridge Goat Race at Spitalfields City Farm, near Brick Lane.

Two dashing billy goats, one representing Oxford and one representing Cambridge, will race through a tough, meandering course to raise money for the project.

There will even be an official bookie.

We are unsure whether this momentous event will be televised.

It's spring, the sun is out and the city looks in good nick — only if you give Headington’s manic roadworks a wide steer, that is.

Gridlock on our roads is nothing new of course but is this the sign of things to come?

Oxfordshire County Council is still persevering with its grand plans to Transform Oxford which, if they ever come to fruition, will take at least four years to complete.

We had better get used to a lot more cones, then.

Word reaches us this week about a wild goose chase over a dead swan in Oxford.

The bird was found lying on a low wall next to Folly Bridge this week.

It didn’t look bloodied or run over, so a woman called Oxford City Council on the off chance that it might be a case of bird flu.

But someone at the Town Hall said: "It’s not us, it’s Defra".

So she called someone at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who said they couldn’t do anything about it unless there were at least 10 dead birds.

So she called Oxford East MP Andrew Smith’s office.

Someone rang back, having phoned British Waterways, Oxford City Council, Defra and Hertford College (who own the adjacent properties).

According to the woman who found the beast, a researcher in Mr Smith’s office was told by Defra “tell your constituent to put the swan in a plastic bag — and put it in a bin”.

Charming. She should have taken it home and curried it.

Energetic Mark Lygo, the Labour city councillor for the Churchill ward, is gearing up to attempt the Reading Half-Marathon this weekend — and the London Marathon next month, we understand.

Good on him.

But where has he got his inspiration from?

Could it be that a little of Uncle Bob has rubbed off on him and the Labour group?

Sprightly city council leader and former Lord Mayor Bob Price is a veteran of scores of marathons.

However, naming no names, there are some members of the Labour group that we really can’t see donning their trainers any time soon.