Did Bob Price know something we didn't? Our 'patriotic' former Lord Mayor confidently predicted England would lose their World Cup quarter-final with Portugal a full four days before they promptly obliged.

But the national team's limp exit from the competition wasn't bad news for all.

Blackbird Leys Parish Council chairman Brian Lester said: "My wife and I went on a shopping spree because the streets and shops were empty."

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith had to put in an Olympian performance of his own to make a meeting last week on how Oxford could squeeze the most out of the 2012 London Games.

Mr Smith, one of the first speakers at the event, was left tapping his feet at the Town Hall in St Aldate's before someone politely told him the conference was being held in the Oxford Centre, Banbury Road, at the other end of the city.

Cue a mad dash.

Newly elected Labour city councillor and proud lesbian, Antonia Bance has something to say to those who raise eyebrows about the fact she co-habits with a woman.

Ms Bance, who represents Rose Hill & Iffley and, according to The Guardian, is among the top female political bloggers in the country, said: "Quite why the people of Rose Hill are supposed to care about who I sleep with, I don't know.

"Lots of them know Jo, who comes out leafletting and canvassing and is my personal driver and photographer.

"No-one has ever had a problem with us not the working-class Labour activist couple in their 80s, nor the community centre bar regulars."

Fair enough.

But we don't think much of their social life the couple recently celebrated their fourth anniversary with a night in front of the TV after a steak and pepper sauce meal.

"Thank goodness for small mercies", one councillor was heard to cry after Oxfordshire County Council's all-Tory decision-making cabinet recently decided to meet once a month rather than fortnightly.

We second that.

Churchwardens across Oxfordshire can breathe a collective sigh of relief today after receiving confirmation from the European Commission that neither existing or new church organs are to be affected by European environment legislation, which it was feared would ban the use of lead in organ pipes.

Scores of organists and organ builders wrote to Oxfordshire MEP Nirj Deva to protest at the rumoured ban, maintaining lead was an essential component in giving church organ pipes their distinctive sound.

Wantage & Didcot MP Ed Vaizey and his pregnant wife Alex are off to Turkey on holiday before the birth of their first child in September.

Diplomatic thirtysomething Mr Vaizey calls the break a "babymoon" an American concept to get expectant parents in the mood for their new arrival.