A move to scrap Britain's ancient laws of religious blasphemy was led in the Commons yesterday by Oxford West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris. Dr Harris submitted an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill calling for the abolition of the
A prominent councillor was dragged away, handcuffed and arrested after the latest Oxford tree-felling protest today. Deborah Glass Woodin had gathered in Norfolk Street with a handful of campaigners after it emerged Oxford City Council had started to
Hundreds of mourners will turn out tomorrow for the funeral of Cowley car factory union steward Martin "Nod" Morley. The lifelong Arsenal fan was returning from his side's game against West Ham at the Emirates Stadium in London on New Year's Day when
Darren Patterson described the injury to his new striker Craig McAllister as "a massive blow". McAllister, so impressive on his debut when the U's beat Altrincham 4-0 last Saturday, hobbled off with a hamstring injury after just 28 minutes against Weymouth
Children will tomorrow pay tribute to 11-year-old Benjamin Trichler who died after a skiing accident on a family holiday in America. Uffington Primary School will be hosting a special service in memory of the former pupil, whose body arrived back in
Marcham's children of the future look set to rescue the village's disbanded youth club which was forced to shut because it was not attracting enough members. Thanks to the village's new nursery, Abingdon's Little Angels, there are plenty of local children
An East Oxford man made a spooky discovery when his energy saving efforts caused a 'ghostly' telly mystery. When a conventional 60-watt lightbulb blew, eco-conscious Justin Walden replaced it with a new energy-saving model from Tesco. The Curry's
THE cream of Oxford's music scene is gearing up for one of the best-loved events of the year. Up to 14 bands, most from the city, are warming up for an 11 hour indoor festival that aims to bring a summer feel to winter. The event, called Equitruck
A REVISED train timetable has served up a "massive disappointment", according to a commuter pressure group. First Great Western revised its timetable in December last year following pressure from commuters about overcrowded trains. The company said
PEOPLE have welcomed plans for a 20mph zone as part of a long-awaited package of road safety improvements in North Oxford. Transport chiefs approved plans to lower the speed limit in six residential roads in Summertown last week - Oakthorpe Road, South
PLANS for a £6.3m revamp of the Pegasus Theatre, Oxford, are being put on hold for a year so organisers can meet their fundraising target. It had been planned to close the Magdalen Road home of Oxford Youth Theatre in April to start major refurbishment
Champions Oxford will open the defence of their Sommers Home Counties Premier League crown against Slough - the club they pipped last season in the closest title race in the competiton's history. Jason Harrison's side finished level with the Berkshire
Kidlington will face Thame Town in an Oxfordshire derby in the ECB Cockspur Cup first round at Stratfield Brake on Sunday, May 4. The prize for the winners is a trip to Reading in round two on Sunday, May 18. Oxford have a bye into the second round
Corner House A pulled off a terrific 4-1 win at Democrats in the Team Knockout Cup Group A first leg. Richard Garrett took the first game for Democrats with a 5,970-1,790 win over Mike Jones. But then Corner House took the next four games through
One of Witney's old characters, Jack Room, has died at the age of 102. He was a distinctive figure around the town, riding a moped and nearly always wearing a green beret. He was also well-known to cricket players across the county as one of the organisers
Phil Adams starred with 17 dolls as Cricketers stormed to a 6-0 win over Garsington in the Gladiators Beer Seller Friday League. Adams (6, 5, 6) missed out with the fourth stick of his middle leg. Pip Goulding and John Townsend both scored 15 dolls
A revised train timetable has served up a "massive disappointment", according to a commuter pressure group. First Great Western revised its timetable in December last year following pressure from commuters about overcrowded trains. The company said
AEA Technology 91.5 BMW 3161 Electrocomponents 183.25 Oxford Catalysts 147.5 Nationwide Acc Rep 123.5 Oxford Biomedica 23.25 Oxford Instruments 183 Reed Elsevier 653 RM 204.25 RPS 279.75 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
A recruitment firm has notched up £1m of sales in just seven months of trading. Aligra Personnel, based in Bridge Street, Abingdon, has expanded rapidly and opened a second office in Swindon. Managing director Mark Neilson said: "The growth we've
An ambitious multi-million pound science centre looks set to transform facilities at a Didcot school. Work has begun on the £4.8m three-storey science block which will soon be home to 13 new laboratories at St Birinus School in Mereland Road. The
Oxfordshire suffered one of their worst results for some time in the English Short Mat Association Inter-County Competition as they crashed to a 28-8 defeat to West Sussex at Westergate. The 213-151 defeat on shots saw Oxon lose their 15-point lead
Staff at the Midcounties Co-op are celebrating after beating their target for community work with weeks to spare. The society, based in Botley Road, set workers the challenge of completing 11,000 hours of community work over 12 months to the end of
Oxford City Stars had a mixed 24 hours in South Division A with a defeat and a win last weekend. Saturday's 8-5 reverse at Cardiff was followed 24 hours later by an ill-tempered 4-3 home victory against Coventry, which ended in a mass brawl. Stars
LEONARD DENNY MEMORIAL TROPHY Oxford & District 49, Lodden Vale 34 (Oxford skips first): H Watts 27, P Spreadbury 20; C Earl 22, T Morgan 14. CLUB MATCHES Oxford & District 141, Christie Miller 90 (Oxford skips first): J Fletcher 19, D Dimmick 17;
Margaret MacKenzie, who has died aged 84, was a stalwart of the Labour Party in Oxfordshire and a former county councillor. She lived at Abbey Cottages, The Green, in Sutton Courtenay, and died at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, on Sunday.
Chinnor director of rugby Lynn Evans admits the pressure is on as they target their second South West 1 title in three years. And with themselves and Bracknell set to battle it out, Evans stresses it is a good position to be in. Second-placed Chinnor's
More than £1m is needed over the next five years if Abingdon's 32 almshouses - some built in the 15th century - are to be preserved. The historic buildings, which provide homes for 30 elderly residents, are beginning to show signs of deterioration.
Saturday proved a day to remember for Oxford Harlequins lock Dave Payne. Not content with helping his side to a 20-8 victory at St Ives, the New Zealander decided to chance his arm on a fruit machine when Quins' coach stopped in Somerset. A few minutes
Oxfordshire duo Jordan Wood (left) and Alex Stevenson failed to make either of the England Under 18 squads despite starting in the trial matches. Flanker Wood (Aylesbury Grammar and Chinnor) and fly half Stevenson (Bloxham School and Banbury) helped
Andrew Glyn, who has died from a brain tumour, aged 64, was a fellow of Oxford University's Corpus Christi College from 1969 and an economist with an international reputation. He was one of the most prolific and influential of a generation of left-wing
Plans for a £6.3m revamp of Oxford's Pegasus Theatre are being put on hold for a year so organisers can meet their fundraising target. It had been planned to close the Magdalen Road home of Oxford Youth Theatre in April to start major refurbishment.
Harry Tout was the toast of Hadden Hill as he celebrated his 90th birthday with a special day at the club. Tout, who now plays off a handicap of 28, has lived in the area for over 40 years after moving down from Yorkshire where he was captain of Woodhall
Emily Ellis, who lived in the Orders of St John care home Westgate House, in Wallingford, has died aged 103. The funeral will take place tomorrow (Thursday, January 10) at 2.45pm at St Mary's, Cholsey, followed by interment in the churchyard. Mrs
County cup competitions begin in earnest this weekend and there should be some interesting clashes. Last year's Oxfordshire Cup was devalued by winners Oxford Harlequins reaching the final without having played a match - and a repeat would be farcical
Banbury Bulls coach Grant Holmes hopes a fully fit squad may aid their desperate battle to avoid relegation from Midlands 2 East. Bulls' 18-14 defeat to Ampthill on Saturday left them eight points adrift of safety with nine games to play. Holmes said
Despite the long-awaited Christmas break I, like many others, found myself hitting the New Year in rather poor form. My skin was pasty, I'd put on more than a couple of extra seasonal pounds and, quite frankly, I was exhausted. After weeks of festive
Police are warning Didcot shoppers about a substantial rise in pickpocketing after new statistics revealed an increase of more than 75 per cent in the number of incidents. At the same time, burglary from homes has nearly halved in eight months in the
Residents have welcomed plans for a 20mph zone as part of a long-awaited package of road safety improvements in North Oxford. Transport chiefs approved plans to lower the speed limit in six residential roads in Summertown last week - Oakthorpe Road,
A rallying call has gone out to townsfolk to have their say on where 1,300 homes should go in Wallingford. Five greenfield sites have been earmarked for development in a bid to help the county hit a Government target of 10,000 homes in the next two
An Oxfordshire radio station has taken to the skies and breezed across the continent to find a new pair of listeners. Italian Manuela Erbi, and her dog, Rudy, became Fox FM's furthest-flung pair of fans when they stumbled across one of the station's
A mass performance of Handel's Messiah from scratch proved so popular it could become an annual event in Wantage. Fifty singers joined the performance at the town's Methodist Church accompanied by Rosemary Evans and conducted by Jane Robinson. A retiring
The cream of Oxford's music scene is gearing up for one of the best-loved events of the year. Up to 14 bands, most from the city, are warming up for an 11 hour indoor festival that aims to bring a summer feel to winter. The event, called Equitruck
Three bus drivers are 99 not out after clocking up almost a century of accident-free motoring. Oxford Bus Company drivers Pete Kilduff, Mohammed Faradoon and Gul Mohammad were honoured after reaching the combined total of 99 years without an insurance
Happy New Year one and all. I hope you had a pleasant festive break? It sounds like Keith Mitchell did. The Oxfordshire County Council leader, who works 100 hours a week, found time during Christmas at his country pad for fine food and wine... and a
Steve Kimber claimed his first senior men's title in the Oxfordshire Cross Country Championships at Banbury. Kimber, running for Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow, led from start to finish over the challenging 10.3km course, to cross the line in 37.26
Radley's Rhys Glastonbury posted a comfortable victory in the under 17 men's race to help his team to the title at the Oxfordshire Cross Country Championships. Glastonbury clocked 21.45, with Banbury's Jacob Simmons second in 22.10 and Sam Miller (Radley
Senior/masters men (top 50, senior men unless stated): 1 S Kimber (WSEH) 37.26, 2 D Merckell (Oxford C) 38.11, 3 M Bishop (Hallamshire) 38.21, 4 M Coffey (Oxford C) 39.02, 5 A Chetwynd (Oxford Uni) 39.09, 6 P Hails (Witney RR) 39.23, 7 T Bradford (Hook
Your item on halal meat being served to children at Rose Hill Primary School in Oxford needs to be "fleshed out" somewhat (Oxford Mail, January 5). You describe halal slaughter as merely "different". In fact, this method involves not stunning the animal
I refer to Dr Allan Chapman's letter (Oxford Mail, December 13) about the application by the Central Mosque in Manzil Way, East Oxford, to allow the Islamic call to prayer being broadcast by loudspeakers from the top of the minaret. If I visited an
I am writing in response to your article on private rented housing, Hundreds rent private 'slums' (Oxford Mail, January 4). As your article highlights, this is a huge area of concern. There are a lot of people living in very poor conditions in the
When I was younger, I performed The Sword Dance and Highland Fling. When I used to go into Oxford, I felt proud and wanted to dance to the pipes. It always brought back happy memories of Scotland. If Dr William Waggott, who is organising a petition
The hostile attacks on buskers, particularly bagpipe players (Oxford Mail, January 3), is mean-spirited and discordant. Why on earth do the business people in Cornmarket Street, Oxford, find great music so unpleasant? It is nonsense to assert that
Lawyer Nikki Poole was just days from dying from a mystery illness, when a sharp-eyed doctor spotted she was not suffering from cancer, but a parasitic disease. Now, she is fully recovered and ready to climb her way through jungle, desert and glaciers
Motorists caught drink driving has increased over the festive period. In December, police caught 65 drivers over the drink-drive limit in Oxfordshire, which is about 15 per cent of all those tested, while in 2006 there were 46 drivers caught drink driving
MORE than 2,100 drivers were breath tested by Thames Valley Police as part of the annual Christmas crackdown on drink and drug driving. The campaign was run nationally over the festive period - beginning on December 1, 2007, and running until Tuesday
A 10-strong group of protesters has gathered in Norfolk Street to fight against more tree felling in Oxford. City council park rangers used chain saws to cut down an 80-year-old London Plane tree this morning, as work starts to clear the area around
A TEN-strong group of protesters has gathered in Norfolk Street to fight against more tree felling in Oxford. City council park rangers used chainsaws to cut down an 80-year-old London Plane tree this morning, as work starts to clear the area around
Police caught a speeding driver once every two minutes in an Oxfordshire village this morning. Speed checks were carried out in the 30mph zone through Crowmarsh Gifford near Wallingford after complaints from residents - with one motorist nabbed at almost
POLICE caught a speeding driver once every two minutes in an Oxfordshire village this morning. Speed checks were carried out in the 30mph zone through Crowmarsh Gifford, near Wallingford, after complaints from residents - with one motorist nabbed at
JAMES Bond came home to Oxfordshire as family of his creator, Ian Fleming, helped launch new postage stamps featuring 007. Great nephews Robert and Diggory Laycock and great niece Rose Grimond, who have bought the village shop and post office in Nettlebed
The Cowley-built Mini has passed another sales milestone with its best year since its launch in 2001. A total of 222,875 cars were sold worldwide in 2007, an increase of 18.5 per cent on the previous year, with 47,661 of those sold in the UK, up 25
A recruitment firm has notched up £1m worth of sales in just seven months of trading. Aligra Personnel, which is based in Bridge Street, Abingdon, has expanded rapidly and opened a second office in Swindon in November. Managing director Mark Neilson
David Jennings scored twice in the last two minutes as Oxford Yellows booked their place in the semi-finals of the OFA Sam Waters Cup with a thrilling 3-2 win over Barton United. Barton dominated the first half and should have been more than 2-0 ahead
Northway won their rearranged Marston's Oxford Sunday League Cup first-round clash with Yellow Eagles 2-0, thanks to a brace of second-half strikes. A mis-kick from the Eagles goalkeeper presented James Gray with the opener. And after Northway keeper
Cholsey United lost their 100 per cent record with a 1-0 defeat at Whitley Tavern in the Reading League's Tilehurst Cup quarter-final. A goal in the first five minutes settled the tie, and Cholsey were left to rue missing a late penalty.
Goalkeeper George Espoir saved two penalties as OARFDC squeezed past ten-man Brightwell Rebels 4-3 in the Autotype UTV League's Devenney Cup third round. Starting with only seven men, OARFDC went a goal down before battling back through doubles from
A TEENAGER lost part of his ear in a brutal attack by a gang in Greater Leys. Tom Tomlin, from Reedmace Close on the estate, was set upon by up to seven men and beaten with a brick and a bottle. A chunk of his ear was found on the ground, but doctors
ONE of Oxford's 16 speed cameras failed to snap a single speeding driver for ten months - but drivers are not allowed to know which one. After a request under the Freedom of Information Act, the Thames Valley Camera Safety Partnership would not reveal
THREE organisations in Cowley and East Oxford look set to receive a boost from community grants. Barracks Lane Garden Project, Open Door and Oxfordshire Bangladeshi Association were among 84 applications made to Oxford City Council. The council's
BUILDING may still be under way but the animals have moved in and the barn doors are open at the new Farmer Gow's Activity Centre. The popular family attraction has moved from rented premises in Appleton, where it has been operating since 2002, to Henleaze
A TATTOOIST stands in the way of an ambitious plan to demolish a block of buildings in Cowley Road, Oxford, and build student flats. The owner of the Tattoo Museum, who has been based there for 25 years, insists he has no intention of leaving or selling
THE countdown for the third National Motorsport Week (NMW) will begin in earnest at the Autosport International Show, NEC, Birmingham, from January 10-13. The show is Europe's largest annual motorsport exhibition and brings together the related industry
AN OXFORD couple face an agonising wait to see if they can reclaim more than £2,000 they lost after a travel company they booked flights with folded. Linda Booker and her disabled husband Iain were due to fly to Las Vegas with US-ased flight operator
One of Oxford's 16 speed cameras failed to snap a single speeding driver for 10 months - but drivers are not allowed to know which one. After a request from the Oxford Mail under the Freedom of Information Act, the Thames Valley Camera Safety Partnership
A CHARITY which has spent 25 years helping disabled people to live independently is fighting for survival. Dialability demonstrates disability equipment to about 6,000 disabled people each year, helping them to access wheelchairs, mobility scooters
OXFORD United fans have been told their long wait for a new statue is almost over. United fans have been looking forward to a new £25,000 work of art, to be placed outside the Kassam Stadium, since March last year. The exact nature of the statue is
People power has forced Oxford City Council to insist it would fill four vacant street warden posts "as soon as possible". There should be 17 wardens patrolling the city's estates. At the moment, there are just 13. A dire financial situation coupled
There are some vicious brutes about. Teenager Tom Tomlin lost part of his ear and suffered other injuries when he was the victim of an early morning attack by a gang of youths at Greater Leys, Oxford. He was set upon after he received a phone call
Doorstep conmen are at work again, this time getting away with what is thought to be one of the largest sums of money in Oxford. They barged into a house in the city, then stole £2,600. We have lost count of the number of times we have warned elderly
A teenager lost part of his ear in a brutal attack by a gang in Greater Leys. Tom Tomlin, from Reedmace Close on the estate, was set upon by up to seven men and beaten with a brick and a bottle. A chunk of his ear was found on the ground, but doctors
Oxford United boss Darren Patterson voiced his frustration last night as many of his players reverted to type. After the exhilarating 4-0 win over Altrincham last Saturday, it was back to the U's of so much of this season as they struggled to find a
7.35: 1 JUMPIN JACK JUDD 5-2, 2 Blue Murdoc 7-4 fav. (2x5x6). Trainer: Wills. Time: 27.80. 7.50: 1 OH GOOD LORD 6-4 fav, 2 Wallydidntwantme 5-1. (4x1x3). Trainer: Curtin. Time: 27.55. 8.05: 1 EYERIES WINNER 6-4 fav, 2 Pennys Trend 5-1. (5x1x6). Trainer
Burnham 0, Oxford City 0 Oxford City were left wondering how they failed to take all three points from their BGB Southern League Division 1 South & West clash at Burnham. City started well and threatened through Mark Bell's tricky cross. Bell
