SWEET-TOOTHED customers at Lloyds Bank in Cornmarket were given a special treat the other day.

Former Green city councillor Sushila Dhall greeted them with cakes – and a leaflet reminding them how the public have helped to prop up the banking system in recent years.

Ms Dhall, who also flagged up the prospect of cuts in public services, staged the peaceful protest on her birthday, and the one-woman demo was met with benevolent bemusement by banking staff.

Lots of people will probably agree with Sushila’s sentiments, but The Insider believes that her initiative was perhaps a little half-baked.

LAST week, the Insider revealed how Oxfordshire County Council press officer Marcus Mabberley escaped unharmed after a near miss with a cyclist on a pedestrian crossing outside County Hall.

It was the same level crossing the county press office had defended as safe following a string of concerns from road users that it was sited on a sharp bend.

Now council leader Keith Mitchell has stepped in to alert us of the real, and near silent, danger lurking among us – the cyclist.

Mr Mitchell said: “I have been here long enough to know that nowhere is safe for a pedestrian and you need to exercise extreme caution anywhere in the centre of the city.”

He added: “There is only one rule for pedestrians – beware of cyclists. Keep your eyes and ears open everywhere.”

You have been warned. Keep you eyes and ears open.

THE master plan that will govern the size and shape of Oxford over the next two decades went under the microscope this week.

Oxford City Council’s core strategy will determine the number of homes and job sites created in the city until 2026.

But Government planning inspector Stephen Pratt, who is hearing objections to the plan at an examination in public this week, had his hands full governing the meeting itself.

Mr Pratt struggled admirably as speakers strayed from his agenda before finally losing patience just two hours into the four-day hearing at the Town Hall.

Admonishing all involved he said: “If there is anyone deliberately trying to obstruct proceedings I will hold them in contempt.”

He also took a dim view of mobile phone indiscretions – demanding a charity donation for a second offence.

And his stern line appeared to have worked, looking at the line of nervous faces when the beep, beep of one device rang out.