Clarion Weekly, 20 June 2025

As the mercury rises across Oxfordshire, so the temperature rises in politics across the county. Full reports and commentary on the Botley Road saga, congestion charge proposals, Oxfordshire and the climate emergency, and the Government's plan for the Oxford Cambridge corridor in this week's issue. Plus the best events and media, an excellent picture of a spaniel… and we look at the issue of bias in reporting. Read on!

This week’s top stories

A congestion charge for Oxford is moving forward after a decision by Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet.

The proposed charge is described as a “temporary measure” until the Botley Road works are complete and the traffic filters can be introduced. The plans will be put out to a six-week public consultation later this month, with the intention of introducing a charge in the autumn. The final decision could be made at September’s Cabinet meeting.

The meeting on Monday saw public speakers line up to put the case for and against. We live-tweeted the meeting on our Bluesky feed. A few highlights:

• Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company: “OBC and Thames Travel strongly support the proposals. Our service to Blackbird Leys is 33% slower than it was. Congestion is reaching emergency levels. The congestion charge will result in faster journeys and more attractive services.”
• Jeremy Mogford, hotel chain owner: “Elected councillors mainly live outside the city and are voted in by county residents, many of whom may not understand Oxford’s dynamic. Mr Gant is a music academic with no business experience. This is a panic measure, a congestion charge on the wrong streets.” [Clarion note: Mr Mogford is the owner of a manor house in a village nine miles from Oxford city centre.]
• Ian Loader, chair of Cyclox: “This scheme is a vital step in the right direction. We urge the council to go further. Make the charging system weight-based: SUV ownership is a good proxy for income. Ensure all funds raised by this scheme are used for public transport and better walking and cycling infrastructure.”
• Emily Scaysbrook, proprietor of Hoyles on the High St: “You could introduce shuttle buses for shift workers, fully subsidise Park & Ride, remove or modify the LTNs and make East Oxford roads one-way instead. It is a failure of empathy and you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
• Danny Yee, Oxfordshire Liveable Streets: “The City Council is doing that frustrating things showers do: running alternately hot and cold. We need traffic reduction not only to decongest buses, but to make our junctions safer. The proposals before you should be just the first step. Please support them.”

(One day we’ll write some friendly tips for speakers at council meetings. Be human. Remember you’re talking to humans too. Shorten your speech to the absolute core so it fits in the time available. Sit back from the microphone. Breathe. And pat yourself on the back for turning up at all.)

A legal challenge to Oxford’s Low Traffic Neighbourhoods was withdrawn after advice concluded it would “likely fail”. Full report here in which we ask who’s funding opposition to the Oxford traffic measures.

Oxfordshire County Council has been ranked the best in England for actions taken towards reaching net zero. Climate Emergency UK assessed every council against up to 93 questions, giving them a right to reply. Oxfordshire’s total score was 64%, above 2nd place Cambridgeshire with 55%.

Former OCC deputy leader Dr Pete Sudbury welcomed the news: “Climate Change is the most serious threat our civilisation has ever faced, and with powerful cross-party support from Greens, LibDems and Labour, OCC stepped up to the challenge. This ranking is a superb reflection of the extraordinary results achieved by our amazing officers, not just in the climate team, but across multiple departments across the council. I was proud to be part of that effort, demonstrating the value of ‘a Green at the table’.”

Among district councils, Oxford City (3rd), West Oxon (4th), South Oxon (5th) and Vale of White Horse (7th) also scored well. The full scorecards can be seen here.

Around the city

• Businesses on Botley Road are to be given goodwill payments by Network Rail as a recognition of the disruption caused by the overrunning rail bridge works. Businesses may apply to Network Rail for a share of up to £850,000 after local MP Layla Moran presented a petition to the Government asking for support. She said: “Today I breathe a massive sigh of relief, with support finally available for businesses struggling with the impact of the never-ending road closure. The whole community has got behind this campaign, and should be congratulated for making this happen.” Network Rail say they are on track to deliver the new cycle and walkway in August 2025, and will fully reopen Botley Road in August 2026.
• Air pollution levels in Oxford continue to fall according to the 2024 Air Quality report issued by the City Council. NO2 pollution fell 10% from 2023 levels, and 24% on the High Street – thanks substantially to electric buses. Levels both within the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and on ‘boundary roads’ also decreased, while those in the Zero Emissions Zone pilot area remained level or fell by up to 6μg/m3. The pollution report includes data from 119 sensors across the city: Oxford met legal limits at all but one site, Headington Hill, where there is low public exposure. Three other sites breached Oxford’s own target of 30μg/m3. Councillor Anna Railton, Cabinet Member for a Zero Carbon Oxford, said: “It is great news that air pollution levels are continuing to fall across all areas of the city and that we are close to reaching our localised target. However, there is no safe level of air pollution – it always causes us harm.”
• New ‘food park’ The Yard opens on Saturday next to the Ultimate Picture Palace on Cowley Road. Formerly a car workshop, the outdoor space on Jeune Street will offer seven types of street food, similar to Westgate Social. There will be free ice cream from midday.
• Cowley Road Carnival will not take place in 2025. The organisers say they are focusing on “getting the foundations right: governance, staffing, and securing sustainable funding… a step towards a bigger, better and more secure 2026”. The event had returned in 2024 but funding remained a struggle. In future years, organisers say they will seek more funding from Oxford City Council (up from £7,000 to £35,000) and apply to the Lottery and Arts Council for support. They are seeking more volunteers to guide the festival, and have apologised to supporters for an “abrupt” cancellation announcement.
• Beauty retailer Sephora is set to open in Oxford's Westgate Centre this autumn on the site of the former Victoria's Secret store. Sephora is known for high end trend-led beauty and fragrance, as well as launching new, innovative brands.
• Oxford City Council is to dispose of several city centre buildings on a long leasehold. The houses at 9, 10 and 16 Ship Street, plus 10 St Michael's Street, would be disposed on a 125-year leasehold. A Cabinet report says selling the freehold would have “negligible additional value”.
• A newsagent on George Street has been fined for selling illegal nicotine pouches. A Trading Standards inspection in 2024 saw inspectors seize 326 unit packs, plus 800 cigarettes and 168 vapes, from Bashar Mizori, proprietor of Oxford Shop. Jody Kerman, Oxfordshire County Council’s Head of Trading Standards, said: “This is our first completed case involving illegal pouches and one of the first in the UK. Nicotine is highly addictive, and some of the seized products claimed to have very high levels of nicotine content.”
• Oxford City Council says recent outages in its computer systems were the result of a “cyber security incident”. After an intruder was detected on the weekend of 7/8 June, each system was taken down for full security checks. Significant parts of its website have been unavailable since then. The council says “We have identified that people who worked on Oxford City Council-administered elections between 2001 and 2022, including poll station workers and ballot counters, may have had some personal details accessed. The majority of these people will be current or former Council officers. There is no evidence of a mass download or extraction of data.” The incident has been reported to security authorities and the police.

Around the county

• The Blenheim Estate has lodged a long-expected planning application for 500 houses on the edge of Woodstock, opposite a new Park & Ride. Two-thirds of the site will remain as open space, with only 30% for housing, to retain “an identifiable and high-quality landscape setting to Blenheim Palace”. The development will be anchored around a primary street with a shared-use cycleway/footpath on one side and a footpath on the other. Foot and cycle links will connect to Woodstock town centre and to the cycle route towards Yarnton and Oxford (NCN 5). It is expected to include 99 four-bed houses, 207 three-bed, 133 two-bed and 81 one-bed. 35% will be “affordable housing”. Blenheim say the plans “have been directly informed by an extensive period of discussions with key local stakeholders and council officers”. Cherwell District Council does not currently have an assured five-year housing supply, which broadly means planning decisions will be tilted in favour of development. Blenheim claim the site, eight miles from Carfax, is “the first non-Green Belt developable area to the north west of Oxford”. Locals already report stretched infrastructure: in November we reported on the surgery in Woodstock with a roof so leaky that nurses were seeing patients in a broom closet.
• Two men have been jailed for the theft of the £4.8m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace in 2019. James Sheen, the “driving force behind the burglary”, was jailed for four years – which will run concurrently with a previous sentence of 19 years for a series of ATM thefts and other serious offences. Michael Jones was sentenced to 2 years 3 months: Thames Valley Police say he “carried out two recces at Blenheim Palace in the days leading up to the burglary”. They believe others were involved and, seeking something to go on, have renewed their call for information.
• A 72-home extension to the Kingsmere estate in Bicester has been lodged as a planning application. The development would round off Phase 1 of the estate, near the A41 entrance to the town and Bicester Village shopping centre. A 75-bed care home is also proposed. In 2008, the site had been earmarked for a “health village” but the planning permission lapsed without construction starting. Later plans for the location envisaged 100 then 57 homes. The new plans are now with Cherwell District Council for consideration.
• West Oxfordshire District Council are to offer independent businesses support to upgrade their business premises through a Shop Front Improvement Grant. Funded through the Rural England Prosperity Fund, the scheme will offer grants for projects that boost visual appeal and support footfall. Cllr Duncan Enright for WODC said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to invest in their premises. By improving shopfronts, we’re not only helping businesses attract more customers but also strengthening the fabric of our local economy." Applications open in September. Details here.
• JDE Peets have announced they plan to close the former coffee factory in Banbury, historically among the town’s biggest employers. The one-time manufacturing home of Birds Custard, Kenco and Mellow Birds Coffee has been a packaging facility since 2023. The manufacturer believes that the investment to maintain the infrastructure of the factory was not financially viable. In a statement, JDE Peets said: “This was not an easy decision to take, and our priority now is with our associates and supporting them throughout the consultation process. We are proud to have manufactured and packed coffee in Banbury for almost 60 years and would like to thank the local community for their valued support. Most importantly, we want to acknowledge and thank everyone who has worked at the factory over the past six decades.” You can hear MP Sean Woodcock's commentary on it on Radio Oxford (his grandmother worked at the factory); he urged workers in need of assistance to contact his constituency office.

• The ongoing development at Hanwell Fields, on the northern edge of Banbury, could expand even further with a planning application for 150 new homes. Two previous applications by Manor Oak Homes, for 192 homes between them, have already been approved. This latest phase (outlined in red) would occupy the western third of the site, joining the previously approved plots to the east. It is currently open fields of rough grassland. Most houses would be detached or semi-detached 2-storey, with 3-storey apartments at the southern edge of the site. County Councillor for Banbury Hardwick, Andrew Crichton, said "This proposal, like the two next to it, includes no community facilities of any kind like shops or community centres. There is no public transport in this immediate area at all, meaning residents on this estate will be completely reliant on cars to get by. I have serious concerns about this proposal as it stands.”
• Oxfordshire pub company Oak Taverns has added another pub to its 17-strong portfolio. The Rose & Crown in Charlbury, a drinks-only free house which has been in the same family for 37 years, joins their pubs in towns including Bicester, Abingdon, Thame and Wallingford. The Rose & Crown has been voted local CAMRA pub of the year several times over, winning the Oxfordshire title in 2018. Oxford Drinker took a tour of Oak Taverns’ pubs in 2023 in an article headed ‘No Food, No Problem’.
• Oxfordshire County Council is demanding Government action on children with special educational needs and disabilities as it provided evidence to Parliament’s Education Select Committee. OCC said the current SEND system is in need of reform for the growing number of children and young people requiring support. Councillor Sean Gaul, OCC’s Cabinet Member for Children & Young People, said: “The situation is unsustainable. The SEND high needs block deficit is expected to hit £100m in Oxfordshire by March 2026, with many other councils across the country in similar situations.” Oxfordshire County Council’s budget for the 2025/26 financial year includes £1.14m of extra funding for SEND services and education, health and care plans. We wrote about SEND in Oxfordshire in a long read last December.
• The proposed Watlington Relief Road is expected to be considered by Oxfordshire County Council’s planning committee in late July, according to a letter from council leader Liz Leffman to Watlington Parish Council. Ecological concerns about the Chalgrove Brook delayed the planning process this spring. The Oxfordshire Roads Action Alliance has raised concerns about the traffic impact and the setting in the Chilterns National Landscape.
• The national Government infrastructure plan published on Thursday majors on the potential of the Oxford–Cambridge Corridor. The plan notes that the Government's recent spending review included £2.5 billion to deliver East West Rail through to Cambridge. Focusing on the area around the new/reopened line, it says: “We are considering opportunities for new or expanded developments that design for jobs close to home, place, heritage and culture.” The plan cites new reservoirs at Abingdon and near Cambridge, promising that “growth will be infrastructure-led” and to “leverage existing clusters so we can support business investment and innovation”.

Oxfordshire politics

• Candidates have been confirmed for the Botley & Sunningwell by-election on Vale of White Horse District Council after incumbent Debby Hallett stepped down. They are Charlotte Adlung (Conservative), Thomas Gaston (Green) and Ben Potter (Liberal Democrat). The election will take place on 10 July.
• The Conservative/Independent group on Oxfordshire County Council has reshuffled its shadow cabinet. Independent Saj Malik, who was originally responsible for ‘Community Wellbeing & Safety’, is now shadowing Resources, swapping places with Thomas Ashby.
• County council ‘champions’ have been appointed for this term – councillors who advocate and advise on particular areas though they have no formal responsibility. They are:
  • Active Travel & Cycling: Emily Kerr (Green, Bartlemas)
  • Public Transport: Chris Brant (LibDem, Cropredy & Hook Norton)
  • Future Generations: Gareth Epps (LibDem, Deddington)
  • Water Resources: Andy Graham (LibDem, Woodstock) and Peter Stevens (LibDem, Drayton & Steventon)
  • Mental Health & Loneliness: vacant
  • Marmot Champion (health inequality): Bethia Thomas (LibDem, Faringdon)
  • Military: Liz Leffman as council leader (and each military base has its own champion as a point of contact)
• Cherwell District Council shared a video on “why equality, diversity, and recognising Pride Month matter”.

In news from our national representatives:

• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds met with Lord Hendy, Rail Minister, over the “appallingly delayed” Botley Road closure. Ms Dodds said: "Since the Rail Minister was appointed last year, there has been a step change in communication, and now, finally, the project is running to time with its new timetable – albeit one that, of course, is heavily delayed compared with the initial plans.” She also celebrated the announcement of goodwill payments to businesses on the Botley Road. She was out on the doors with Susanna Pressel (Lab, Jericho & Osney), and celebrated Emma Pallant, a teacher at Wood Farm School, being nominated for Outstanding New Teacher Of the Year.
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber reacted to the news of an enquiry into grooming gangs, commenting: “We’ve seen the awful reality of grooming gangs in Thames Valley and I talked about the call for a national inquiry back in January. It was dismissed as political by many. Thankfully now that Baroness Casey has called for a national review it looks like we are finally going to have a statutory national inquiry. We often jump to inquiries too quickly in this country, but if any subject is worthy of scrutiny, surely it is the safety of children in our society.” On a completely different note, he met a dog in Didcot, which we are not entirely sure is relevant to this story about holiday camps for kids, but it is an excellent excuse for a picture of a spaniel. We respect a good photo op. (Also the holiday camps look great.)
• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock shared this roundup of his past week. On Thank a Teacher Day, he thanked teachers in his constituency in this video. In Parliament he backed the amendment to decriminalise abortion. He had his first outing on BBC Politics South, where he spoke about Labour's spending review and putting more police on the streets.
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover in Parliament raised the issue of National Grid capacity and its effect on employment sites in his constituency. (Do we need to do more infrastructure articles? Let us know.) He attended Amnesty International's Pride reception in Parliament. The APPG for Walking & Cycling, of which he is a member, issued a report recommending action on the sale of illegal e-bikes. He went to Dover to understand about shipping connections to Europe. In this short clip, he gave his views on Labour's spending review and its impact on his constituency. Finally, he appeared on the Freewheeling podcast, hosted by former Chiltern Railways manager Thomas Ableman, to talk about transport and Parliament.
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard welcomed MPs from the Business & Trade Select Committee to Witney for a “whistle-stop tour of the High Street before a roundtable with local business leaders”. Thames Water is once again in the news and in the courts, and Maynard is preparing a case at the Supreme Court to argue that “Customers must have a voice when these companies are being restructured, rather than just being stuck with the bill.”
• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo, as chair of the APPG on Fatherhood, wished everyone a happy Fathers's Day, speaking about the work the APPG do in Parliament on mental health and modern fatherhood. He called on the government to recognise the state of Palestine; advocated in Parliament for funding of a treatment for Duchenne, a severe form of muscular dystrophy; and highlighted the issue of sex offenders changing their names. Here's his summary of his week.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller pressed the Government to ensure more community benefit from the Botley West solar farm. He called on the government to recognise the state of Palestine as part of a two-state solution. Back in Oxfordshire he visited a school in Bicester to answer questions about politics and public service. Possibly most significantly this week, he wrote an open letter to his constituents setting out in great detail his thought process ahead of the third reading of the vote on assisted dying in Parliament today (Friday). You can read his letter here.
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran is on parental leave but is still issuing statements, including one calling for water companies to become public benefit companies, and another celebrating the news of Oxfordshire County Council being named as the top council for tackling climate change.

University and research

• A bottle of the Poet Laureate's sherry has been donated to the Bodleian. Simon Armitage was given the traditional 720 bottles of sherry on his appointment in 2019. Dr Rebecca Marks has now donated a bottle of Laureate's Choice printed with Armitage's poem ‘The Phoenix’. Another poem by Simon Armitage, ‘Hinge’, can be read on a cast-iron gate designed by Antony Gormley installed in March on the Parks Road side of Trinity College. Armitage was elected honorary fellow of Trinity in 2019 after serving as Oxford Professor of Poetry.
• New levels of quantum computing accuracy have been reached by Oxford University researchers – one error in 6.7 million operations by using a calcium ion qubit. The research was conducted at the Clarendon Laboratory on Parks Road. The results are published as open access in Physical Review Letters. (Behind a paywall, the Telegraph reports on Oxfordshire leading the world in quantum computing, and even manages to make the subject accessible.)
• A machine made in Oxford for preserving organs before transplantation has been short-listed for the UK's top engineering prize by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The device is made by OrganOx, spun out of Oxford University in 2008, and is the world's first transportable normothermic (body temperature) preservation technology. It is on the short-list for the MacRobert Award, the UK's most prestigious engineering prize, along with products from Microsoft and Synthesia. It has already enabled over 6000 transplants in 12 countries, with a 50% reduction in waiting list mortality. (Do we need to do a long read on Oxford being leading edge in medical science? Or is that self-evident? Even better, if you are an Oxford expert in leading edge medical science, please slip into our inbox…)

Trains and buses

• Rail union RMT is balloting its members who staff gatelines at GWR stations over strike action. They claim GWR is “trying to impose single staffing which will put our members at greater chance of being harmed at work”. RMT industrial action is already underway on CrossCountry.
• Freight trains have begun running over the East–West line from Oxford to Milton Keynes. A container train operated on behalf of Maritime Transport ran from Didcot to Northampton on Tuesday, with further trains running through the week.

Walking, cycling and boating

• Cycling improvements have been pared back on a road scheme in Banbury, itself partly funded by cancelling Oxford’s Woodstock Road cycleway. Tramway Road was intended to have a shared-use path throughout, but cyclists will now be required to negotiate a roundabout after Oxfordshire County Council says it encountered “various challenges on site”. Much of the proposed shared-use path has been replaced with a narrow (1.5m) footway; drivers and cyclists will need to pass “a priority narrowing system” with those travelling south required to give way. The road opened for pedestrians and cyclists this week: construction is now starting on an improved station approach road and car park, with work expected to finish in December.
• A ‘bike bus’ of children riding to Europa School in Culham from Abingdon took place on Friday, with plans to repeat each Friday. Parents and staff at Culham Science Centre previously called for a safe cycle route along the A415.
• Industrial action by River Thames lock-keepers has been called off after the Environment Agency pledged to have at least 80 staff working on the river this summer. GMB union members had called the strike after fears that staffing would be reduced to just 52 permanent trained staff. The GMB’s Kevin Brandstatter said “Our weir and lock-keepers were worried about the safety of the public and themselves. It’s good the EA has pledged more staff and appears to welcome these hard-working professionals. We will now examine the finer points of the offer with members.” Anna Burns, area director for the Environment Agency, said “Following negotiations over recent weeks and a meeting on Friday 13 June we were able to agree a mutually satisfactory level of staff during the peak summer boating period. We are committed to listening to keepers to modernise our service.”

Dates for your diary

• Didcot/Vauxhall Barracks Play & Activity Day. Saturday 21 June, Edmonds Park. Bringing the armed forces and local community together through play.
• Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival. 3–6 July, near Chipping Norton. A classical music festival in the Cotswolds. Highlights include opera at Bruern Farm Café (a favourite Clarion cycling destination) and Jack Straw’s Desert Island Discs.
• Huh, That's Funny is back at Lynrace Spirit, Jericho, on 3 July at 7pm. Chris Lintott (Professor of Astronomy and presenter of BBC Sky at Night) with Liz Johnson (animal scientist and comedian) alongside a collection of smart comedians, funny scientists and the just plain curious.
• ‘Prog for Peart’ Progressive Rock Festival. 18–19 July in Abingdon. Named after Rush drummer Neil Peart, the raises money to tackle Glioblastoma Multiforme, which Peart (aka ‘The Professor’) died of in 2020. Prog for Peart is in its fifth year. The Clarion obviously supports anything progressive.

This weekend

• Morris side Armaleggan, described as 'Apocalyptic Border Morris' are celebrating their 25th anniversary with a Day of Dance on Saturday, which means Morris Dancers all over Oxford. More details here. [Facebook] and thank you to the correspondent who sent it in post publication. As one commenter pointed out, “It's going to be very hot on Saturday, so remember to leave out little bowls of mead for them.”
• Oxford Windrush Weekend celebrates the legacy of the Windrush Generation. Music, theatre and exhibitions, all weekend.
• Pilgrim Cello at Christ Church Cathedral, Sunday, 7pm. Cellist Kenneth Wilson is cycling between all 42 English cathedrals… with a cello. Entry free, following evensong at 6.05pm.
• Ruskin Degree Show 2025. Saturday 21–Wednesday 25 June, 128 Bullingdon Road (off Cowley Road). Annual showcase for fine art students at Oxford University: painting, photography, video, sculpture, installation, and performance. Free and open to all.
• Thomas Tallis’s 40-part Spem in Alium is one of those “things to hear before you die” and Oxford Bach Choir are singing it at the Sheldonian on Saturday.
• Bike Oxford, the county’s biggest sportive (an organised ride that is Not A Race Honest), is on Sunday. You can still buy an entry ticket or just listen out for the swoosh of wheels on tarmac.
• Florence Park’s annual FloFest/GloFest, East Oxford’s annual ‘must attend’, is this Saturday. Live music, market stalls, community area. Dog show cancelled due to the weather.
• Come and Sing Evensong at the University Church on Sunday. If you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like to be on the other side of the choir stalls – or you just fancy a good sing – this is your chance. Rehearsal starts at 2pm.
• Hymns and Pimms at the little church of St Nicholas, Elsfield. Sunday 6pm. A short walk or bike ride from Oxford (it’s beyond the JR junction on the ring road) and a lovely way to round off the weekend.

Oxfordshire independent media

• The Oxford Blue asks “Why does tragedy make us laugh?”
• Bitten Oxford reviews Pro Smoke BBQ supplies in Banbury. File this under 'places you never knew you needed to know about'.
• The Oxford Sausage meets tree artist Emma Coleman-Jones.
• Oxford Brookes' Hybrid Magazine looks at the job market for this year's graduates.
• Daily Info recounts the best dad jokes for Fathers’ Day.
• Isis ruminates on the Pitt Rivers Museum.
• Ox in a Box says the Oxford Brunch Bar on George Street serves “some of the best tapas in Oxford”. Good food on George Street? This we have to see.
• The Oxford Student is leaving the clutches of the Student Union and becoming an independent publication. Here’s their announcement and Cherwell’s take.
• The Mini Clarions – ok, ok, and the grown-ups too – have been enjoying Donut Squad Take Over the World, the book of the comic strip from Oxford’s very own Phoenix. Fancy a bit of world domination and gamma mind rays with your sugary treat? This is the book for you! (Secretly we’re hoping for Dadnut to explain the Oxford congestion charge to Lil’ Timmy.)

Notes from Clarion HQ

It’s always good to see our reporting shared elsewhere – whether in our native habitats of Bluesky and Twitter, or further afield on Facebook, Reddit and Nextdoor – and the vicissitudes of Oxford traffic have meant a lot of that recently. (Thank you to everyone that shares it!)

Sometimes we read the comments which can be… interesting; and a few of them made us think it might be worth re-stating our editorial line. Like the original Clarion, we are progressive but non-partisan; in favour of more walking and cycling; and (not something the 1890s Clarion had to consider) concerned about climate change. We’re open about that: other Oxfordshire news sites exist. Our coverage is sourced from people who send it in, and that which we can find ourselves. Our (volunteer, unfunded) writing team comprises people with ties to four political parties and none.

Balance in journalism is a fairly mythical construct. We’ve all heard the type of radio interview where the presenter interviews a traveller about their round-the-world trip, and then to provide balance, someone who believes the world is flat. Reporting can appear factual and balanced, but over the long term, present a partial or tilted view simply by repeatedly reporting on one issue at the expense of others. And there are many more ways for the supposedly impartial journalist to surreptitiously push a view, from selective quoting to picture choice. (We swear the Guardian picture desk c. 2010-20 had an internal competition to find the least flattering photo of Michael Gove.)

We hope our readers, whether regular or just picking up a social media discussion, treat us with the detachment and scepticism any news site merits, rather than expecting an unattainable ideal of balance. Some of this comes with the territory: the LibDems have five MPs in Oxfordshire and are in power on five councils, which means we write about their doings more than the Conservatives, who currently have zero and zero respectively. (You’ll note we’ve recently added Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber, a Conservative, to our politics round-up.)

But we do think about this stuff, regularly, and we hope you do too. As Banbury’s Labour MP Sean Woodcock pointed out, Monday was the ninth anniversary of the murder of Jo Cox, an Oxfam worker before she was a brilliant and inspirational MP. In her words “we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”.

Have a good weekend.