This week’s top stories Oxfordshire's council leaders issued a rare joint statement following the terrorist attack in Manchester. In it they expressed shock and horror, sending thoughts and prayers to the victims, their loved ones, and members of the local community. The districts of South Oxfordshire and Vale of| Oxford Clarion
Welcome to all our new subscribers this week! We round up the best of Oxfordshire's news, events and local media, gift-wrap it with our own brand of commentary and any longer articles we've published, and deliver it to your inbox each Friday lunchtime. If you like it, do tell your| Oxford Clarion
With the far right hogging the headlines, Oxford trade union activist Toby James says the city can buck the trend – but only if we work together, from allotment associations to school governors to community music… There's a Kurt Vonnegut quote: “What should [...] people do with| Oxford Clarion
The latest Kidical Mass family bike ride attracted a record turnout, according to organisers Cyclox. More than 200 cyclists of all ages converged in Oxford ringing bells as they circled the city centre. Four feeder rides from Florence Park, Cutteslowe, Headington and West Oxford met in Gloucester Green for a| Oxford Clarion
This week’s top stories Banbury’s Labour MP Sean Woodcock has called out roundabouts being painted with red and white flags as “vandalism”, saying “it doesn’t honour our nation, it disrespects it… we must reject racism and bigotry outright”. Read| Oxford Clarion
Banbury MP Sean Woodcock weighs in to the debate on flags, and outlines his thoughts on national pride and Labour's progress in their change agenda. --- Pride in our country I am immensely proud to call England my home. Our nation, with its rich history, is something to cherish.| Oxford Clarion
This week’s top stories Oxford’s £5 congestion charge is set to come into force by 10 November. The County Council cabinet unanimously approved the scheme at a special meeting on Wednesday. We covered the meeting live on Bluesky. Proposing the motion, Cllr Andrew Gant said| Oxford Clarion
Kids are back at school, traffic is back… and the news never went away. We bring you a smorgasbord of exclusives, events and some dodgy monastic puns. Trigger warning: there is a picture of a spider in the MP section! This week’s long reads Oxford’s| Oxford Clarion
At the end of a hot, dry summer where the impact of climate change has been visible from day to day, how do Oxford residents and their families come to terms with the changing world? Karen Dauncey, a volunteer for Oxford's Network of Climate Cafés, writes| Oxford Clarion
Oxford’s new railway line to Milton Keynes has been complete for almost a year – but there’s no sign of passenger services beginning. On 20 October 2024, railway track company Network Rail officially declared the line open. Chiltern Railways and GWR were quick out of the| Oxford Clarion
In a city where the smallest change to how we get around creates headlines, it might come as a surprise that the widest street in the city centre is closed for two days each year... for a funfair. But Oxford is also a city which enjoys tradition. St Giles’| Oxford Clarion
Oxford is never shy about making its views known, and this week more than ever with the city rallying in support of Ukraine, asylum seekers, and Palestine. With Nigel Farage choosing Kidlington as the venue to launch his repatriation policy this week, Oxfordshire took the opportunity to reply – and| Oxford Clarion
On 26 January 1776, at just after ten past eleven in the evening, Dr Thomas Hornsby, Professor of Astronomy, walked back from his thermometers on the lawn of what is now Green Templeton College into his study. He recorded the temperature carefully in his book - ‘16 2/3&| Oxford Clarion
Is Bicester the future of UK tourism? Is GWR’s new battery train the fastest milk float in the west? What is a canal ‘pisser’? And how do you run a ‘Luxury Aparthotel’ in Oxford? All these unusual questions answered and many more in this| Oxford Clarion
In any other week, the visit of US vice-president J.D. Vance to West Oxfordshire would be the biggest story. Until Thursday night, it was – then Oxford United got the official thumbs-up for their new stadium, as Cherwell District Council voted to give it planning permission. All this below,| Oxford Clarion
Is your garden suffering in this uncommonly hot summer? Oxford horticulturist Amandine Lepers-Thornton explains how to future-proof your planting in the age of climate change. Imagine a typical British garden. Lush green grass, shrubs and trees looking full and beds bursting at the seams with green leaves and spires of| Oxford Clarion
Oxford's number one newsletter for news, events and long reads.| Oxford Clarion
West Oxfordshire District Council and local Liberal Democrat councillors are celebrating victory over the Government in the High Court this week. The dispute concerns Salt Cross, the new ‘garden village’ development near Eynsham, which WODC had specified needed to be built to net zero standards. WODC had planned a fossil| Oxford Clarion
With a government determined to “sprint towards clean, homegrown energy”, it’s a good time to be an investor in solar farms. Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy, has made no secret of his support for onshore solar – a stark contrast to his Conservative predecessors. He approved three| Oxford Clarion
Welcome back! This week's edition has history, greenways, new buses and reports from the first meeting of the new County Council, including a sizeable spat over the official opposition... This week’s top stories Continuing our occasional series on the incredible county we live in, we looked at the legacy| Oxford Clarion
“Sir Keir Starmer has made overhauling planning the foundation of his push for growth, attacking the current rules as ‘ruinous’ and promising to take on ‘nimbys’ who have held Britain ‘to ransom’ and ‘choked’ the economy.” So ran a splash in the Times this weekend. Local councillors have been fingered| Oxford Clarion
Happy Valentine’s Day to all our readers. We love that you’re here. Let us bring a romantic flavour to your Friday lunchtime with some… in-depth budget coverage? This week’s top stories There was a point on Thursday evening, with Oxford City Council deep in debate about garden| Oxford Clarion
Once a year Oxford City Council sets its budget. It doesn't often make for good headlines (Giant pothole on A34! Emma Watson! Jeremy Clarkson’s dog!) but it should. For the 165,000 people living in Oxford City, this is how the council will spend around £100m and materially impact| Oxford Clarion
This week’s top stories The Oxford–Cambridge Arc is back – but this time it’s a ‘growth corridor’. Oxford is to get a Government-led Growth Commission to “review how best to tackle the barriers that are constraining development of new housing and infrastructure”. Bringing together councils, universities and local| Oxford Clarion
Rail industry documents passed to the Oxford Clarion show that the Government will need to overrule Network Rail if the Botley Road work is to finish before June 2026. The road was originally closed in April 2023, and was set to reopen in October 2024. But the discovery of a| Oxford Clarion
It is tree planting season. Oxford City Council has made much of planting 150 trees across the city. Oxfordshire County Council is adding another 109 street trees within the city limits. One enterprising city councillor, in conjunction with an East Oxford school, has planted nearly 1000. (You are reading that| Oxford Clarion
Oxfordshire’s on-going Special Educational Needs (SEND) crisis continues. The Government has pledged additional funding – but will it be enough? Following the recent Budget, the Labour Government announced on December 4 a “£740m capital investment to create more specialist places in mainstream schools”. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson promised “tangible change| Oxford Clarion
In a city where every scrap of land is sought for much-needed housing, it scarcely seems believable that a 2,000m² site just outside the centre has been sitting derelict for 18 years. Even more so when that site has a history stretching back 180 years and is located in| Oxford Clarion
Will Dawes, Director of Chapel Music at Somerville College, curates a selection of choral delights for the festive season – from the Messiah to Midnight Mass. Whilst the big day is still about a month away, the season of shopping, festivity, and celebration in these darker evenings is very much already| Oxford Clarion
