Archive

  • Drop in number of expulsions from county schools

    The number of pupils being expelled from Oxfordshire schools has fallen dramatically this year, bucking the national trend. Headteacher David Jones of Gosford Hill school, where only one pupil has been expelled in three years By the end of the summer

  • Live 8 tickets go up for grabs

    Thousands of tickets for the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park will be up for grabs in Oxford tomorrow. The city has been chosen as one of six places outside London to distribute some of the extra 55,000 passes for the star-studded event. The tickets will be

  • Saturday, June 25: The rector must go

    The Rev Christopher Walker can count himself lucky to have escaped with a community service order for lying in court. Lord Archer was given a four-year jail term for perjury. Although Walker's crime was at the lesser end of the scale, it was still a serious

  • Monday, June 27: No reason to rush

    A solution to traffic problems in the London Road, Headington Hill and St Clement's corridor will be one of Oxford's biggest challenges. The rapid expansion of hospitals and Oxford Brookes University at Headington, coupled with the closure of High Street

  • Poor result

    So, £5m later, we have a 'Conmarket' with brownish asphalt instead of black, new traffic lights at one end (but no pedestrian crossing), complete confusion if it is one-way or not, an even more chaotic Carfax (again without pedestrian crossings), in-built

  • Why don't they pay their tax?

    It may come as a surprise to many city and county council taxpayers that there are a large percentage of properties in the city that pay no council tax. These are the houses that are fully occupied by Brookes and Oxford University students. The landlords

  • Christmas post arrives in June

    A travel agent thought Christmas had come early - but it was six months late. Andrew Freeman is putting up the Christmas cards at home in Blewbury Andrew Freeman, 34, was amazed when four Christmas cards, posted last December, landed on his doormat in

  • Council recovers £50k debt

    A lengthy battle to recover outstanding rent debts has been won by Oxford City Council. Oxford County Court has ordered Mohammed Zafar who leased the former Costcutter supermarket in Pegasus Road, Blackbird Leys, to pay nearly £50,000, plus £10,000 legal

  • Red tape lands speeding oap in court

    An 85-year-old man with Parkinson's Disease decided to give up driving after being caught speeding -- and landed himself in court. Gordon Stables: tried to do the right thing Gordon Stables admitted driving at 38mph in a 30mph zone in Banbury Road, Kidlington

  • 'Campsfield hunger strike is escalating', claim campaigners

    More detainees at Kidlington's Campsfield House are joining a hunger strike in support of Zimbabweans facing deportation, according to campaigners. Critics of Campsfield House say detainees are feeling depressed The claim has been denied by the Home Office

  • Forgive the rector

    It saddens us to read your views on the Rev Christopher Walker, of South Moreton, near Didcot (Oxford Mail, June 25). Surely, if you can trust anyone, it has to be someone who has no chance of being found out for committing a misdeamenour, then stands

  • Barrier must be installed

    I think Barry Lovell (Oxford Mail, June 18) may not be aware that Oxford's Eastern Bypass, from the Old Road flyover to Horspath Road, is the only stretch of ring road which doesn't have a crash barrier. Why does he think that should be? We have been

  • Tuesday, June 28: Nonsense

    If proof were needed that the law is an ass, you have only to consider the case of Gordon Stables. At the age of 85, he very sensibly decided to give up driving after he was caught at 38mph in a 30mph zone at Kidlington. He paid his £60 fixed penalty

  • Book details town's war sacrifice

    Builder Andy Russell has just completed a five-year labour of love by publishing a book detailing how all the 118 men recorded on Wallingford's war memorial met their deaths. Andy Russell with his book at Wallingford's war memorial He said: "These men

  • Praised is poured on primary school

    A junior school in Abingdon has won two accolades - one from the FA for its football and another from a member of the public for pupils' good behaviour. Headteacher Darren Kenyon, left, with Terry Frazer, of the Vale of White Horse District Council, the

  • In the good old days

    Before the First World War, a man joining the police had his own bike. My husband was the sergeant at Wallingford from 1958 to 1964 and the officers rode everywhere on their bikes -- he was out with the early shift and the night shift. People knew there