The Clarion, 10 November 2026

Fire breathers at the Sea Scouts’ fireworks display. (Photo by Roger Close.)

We’re on fire this week! Festival news, fly tipping, faster cancer treatment, functional skills qualifications. All this, and because we’re never too proud to own up to a mistake, a very important correction regarding kebabs.

This week's photo stories

Oxford and Oxfordshire stood still on Sunday to remember those that have fallen in conflict. We look at how the county marked Remembrance Sunday.

Our city’s heritage doesn’t come for free. Behind every historic building is a tale of craftsmanship, careful study and elbow grease – all celebrated in the annual Oxford Preservation Trust awards. Madeline Odent looks at 2026’s winners.

This week’s top stories

Labour have become the sole official opposition on Oxfordshire County Council, after former Conservative councillor Paul-Austin Sargent (Banbury Grimsbury & Castle) left the Conservative/Independent group. Cllr Sargent said that “bullying” of Toyah Overton, LibDem councillor for Brize Norton & Carterton East, had led him to make the leap.

The two groups were previously tied on 12 seats each, behind the Liberal Democrats with 35. The move means that Labour councillors will get the full opposition allowances, which were previously shared 50/50 with the Conservative-led group. The council is now Liberal Democrat 35, Labour 12, Conservative/Independent 11, Green 7, Independent (non-grouped) 2, Henley Residents 1, Reform UK 1.

OCC deputy leader Neil Fawcett (LibDem) said: “Paul Sargent is a hard-working and effective representative of his community. He is also a person of principle, and it is not surprising that he became unhappy with the Conservative group and their focus on attacking individuals rather than constructive opposition. The LibDem administration has supported Paul on a number of local issues he has raised and look forward to continuing to do so.”

Oxfordshire thinktank POETS has warned that the decision to split the county into three could mean widespread council tax rises. Services currently run on a county-wide basis, such as social care and special educational needs support, may now be duplicated across three authorities.

POETS has lodged a Freedom of Information Act request with Government asking it to share its financial calculations. Oxfordshire County Council, which opposes the three-way split, has also been lobbying for the rationale to be published. For POETS, Professor John Glasson said:

“The three authority proposal is likely to lead to more fragmentation and duplication of the provision of vital local services such as adult social care and SEND. There will be major financial challenges and potentially substantial deficits, which could leave local residents to pick up the bill with considerable hikes in Council Tax. In the middle of existing cost of living pressures, this would be an extra and unnecessary economic burden for local people. Our view is that, of the options on the table, only a single Oxfordshire-wide unitary council makes sense.”

Around the city

Oxford is getting a second romance bookshop. Lara’s is set to open on North Parade next summer, selling “hardbacks, limited editions and first printings only… the books you’d take with you if you had to leave everything else behind”. Proprietor Kelly Curtis originally hails from Indianapolis. She is currently renovating the shop at 3 North Parade.
It follows the success of Bad Girl Books on Walton Street, first reported by the Clarion and subsequently followed up by national papers. You can sign up for a newsletter on the bookshop’s website.

Staff at Oxford Spires Academy mounted a picket line outside the school gates on Monday. National Education Union organisers say that a “worrying lack of urgency” by Anthem Schools Trust, the academy chain that runs Oxford Spires, has exacerbated problems since a restructure and redundancies earlier this year. The NEU writes: “Staff are at breaking point and are frustrated by the lack of concrete actions from the trust.”

Do you have a desire for a doughnut? Are you seeking a sausage roll? All of this and more is now available at the newly opened Greggs on the Cowley Road, next door to German Doner Kebab which we reported on last week. We thought you might want to know. Thanks, too, to James and Tony who both wrote in with a correction after we described GDK as opening its first Oxford branch; apparently they opened a branch in 2017 at 252 Cowley Road, in the row opposite Manzil Way, but it closed a year later. (Always happy to issue a correction!)

Much loved Oxford group The HorMones celebrated 50 Years of Punk on Saturday with a film premiere and a live gig at the UPP. The film – The HorMones: The Women Are Here – documents the band’s journey over two years, from quiet beginnings to supporting Supergrass and the Happy Mondays. Fittingly, this film about an over-50s women's band arrives during punk's 50th anniversary, and 50 years since the Ultimate Picture Palace's predecessor opened as the Penultimate Picture Palace in 1976.
“It’s a historic year for punk, and for the UPP, we’re delighted to mark it with this film showing and live gig,” says lead singer Lisa. “Women over 50 often feel invisible in our society, but we want to change that. We say: ‘Take up space, make some noise!’ ” The film includes the band’s very first music video, for single ‘Dirty’: future screenings of the film will be announced on the band's social media pages. Our photographer Roger Close was there to capture the atmosphere.
The new Oxbrew tap room on Osney Mead has announced Saturday 5 December as its opening date. It promises “great beer, good times and seriously good BBQ”. Oxbrew previously operated as a West Oxfordshire microbrewery before merging with Little Ox: CAMRA’s Oxford Drinker previewed the new operation in August.
Faster cancer treatment: A fast-track pathway at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford has more than halved the average time from diagnosis to surgery for some patients with pancreatic and bile duct cancers, from 40-60 days to 14-16 days.

Around the county

Primary school applications have opened for children born between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023, to attend primary school commencing September 2027. The deadline for submitting applications is 15 January 2027. For OCC, Cllr Sean Gaul said: “Please do name four schools, which reduces the risk of all preferences being unsuccessful. Please apply on time, as late applications will be processed later and are far less likely to secure preferred schools.”
A disqualified driver from Banbury, driving over the limit for alcohol, has pleaded guilty to causing the death of 18 year old Esme Heaton Biggs by dangerous driving in Bloxham Road in Banbury. Brian Mclaren was driving a white Mercedes AMG when it collided with a white VW Polo being driven by Esme. Detective Sergeant Lyndsey Blackaby said: “Brian Mclaren made the reckless decision to get behind the wheel despite being disqualified from driving and over the prescribed alcohol limit. His actions that evening had tragic consequences and resulted in the death of a young woman.” Meanwhile, a 36-year old from Witney has been arrested following a fatal road collision on the Oxford ring road in which a man in his 80s died.
Crazy Bear claws its way back: The Brakspear pub company, a descendant of the famous Henley brewery, has bought the Crazy Bear pub/hotel at Stadhampton after the previous business entered administration last month. The Morning Advertiser reports the firm is undecided how to run it.
Is there a doctor in the housing estate? Nearly! Construction of a GP surgery at Great Western Park, Didcot, could finally start in March – over 15 years since the first residents moved in. Land for the surgery has been transferred from Taylor Wimpey to the district council, a planning application submitted, and a building contractor selected. The local NHS board reports: “The project remains on track for construction to begin before the end of March 2027. The focus over the coming months will be on completing the remaining agreements and pre-construction requirements so that work can get underway on site as planned.” The wait for a surgery has become a cause célèbre in the town, featuring in election materials and being raised in Parliament by local MP Olly Glover (LibDem).

The first artists have been announced for next May’s Wood Festival, Oxfordshire's homegrown festival of music, creativity and nature. Closing the main stage on Saturday, the Bros Landreth are Juno Award winners from Winnipeg, Canada, known for their blend of guitar-driven, soulful, blood harmony roots music. They are joined by alt-indie rock Supalung ("heartfelt, soulful, and irresistibly danceable"), singer songwriter Ruth Lyon ("evocative narratives and powerful meditations"), and family favourite and Wood regular Nick Cope with his lizard outfit. Tickets are available here.
Fly tipper caught: A rubbish collector who who dumped waste near Abingdon Lock has been given 120 hours' unpaid work and fined £1600. Khalil Jalalzai, who traded as KJ Construction, accepted £170 from an Abingdon resident to clear waste from their home, via an advert on the MyBuilder website. After loading the waste into his vehicle, he drove less than two miles before dumping it on the access road to Abingdon Lock and in Rye Farm car park. South Oxfordshire District Council found details of the Abingdon address among the dumped waste, and traced Jalalzai. Cllr Sue Cooper, for SODC, said: “This resident did the right thing by keeping a record of who took their rubbish away, which helped us bring this case to court. Registered carriers are legally required to dispose of waste properly; keeping a licence number means we can trace anyone who doesn't.”
The kids are all right: An all-star cast from across local politics, academia and the public sector gathered for Oxfordshire County Council's latest 'Pizza and Politics' event at the Blavatnik. It focused on the theme 'Votes at 16', with the Representation of the People Bill (which will lower the voting age) now going through the House of Lords on its way to becoming law. 58 young people from across the county spoke to experts from Oxford University and the Electoral Commission, plus local and national politicians.

Oxfordshire politics

Banbury MP Sean Woodcock (Lab) met Ros Daniels, regional director of the Canal & River Trust. They spoke about challenges facing the trust, including the upkeep of Neithrop Bridge, and the ongoing drought that closed the Oxford Canal through the summer. (CRT’s operations manager for the Oxford Canal, winningly, is none less than Lee King.) Speaking in Westminster Hall, he said LibDem-controlled Oxfordshire County Council have not “effectively distributed” Government grants to help households with the cost of heating oil: “11% of my constituents rely on oil to heat their homes, and the emails in my inbox suggest that many are not aware of the help available”. Here's his weekly video update (elevator music slightly quieter this time).

Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller (LibDem) delved into the Budget and found funding of £150m to convert large sites, including MOD Bicester, into asylum centres. In Parliament he warned the Treasury that Home Office spending on the asylum programme was “out of control”, saying Bicester could reach £1bn over 10 years. (Miller worked in the Civil Service for 13 years, including roles at the Treasury, which might explain both his ability to find things hidden in the budget and his approach here…)
Witney MP Charlie Maynard (LibDem) is advocating for Functional Skills qualifications. He says that too many young people who narrowly miss a grade 4 in Maths and English get stuck in a cycle of resits, becoming locked out of jobs and apprenticeships. In Parliament he slammed the recent Budget for not addressing long-term structural issues, making two suggestions to move the dial: rejoining the EU, and reforming fiscal rules to get national debt under control. Don't let the phrase 'fiscal debt' put you off, it's a barnstormer of a speech comprising two minutes of financial horror. Worth a watch, possibly from behind a sofa.

Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds (Lab) has been in Iraq this week. She commented: "Britain and Iraq share many interests, from the need for global peace and stability, to safeguarding trade to the many Iraqi Brits contributing so much to our country. The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has hit Iraq hard, while of course raising prices here in the UK too. So it was an honour to visit Iraq this week with the Labour Middle East Council, to seek to strengthen our historic ties.”
Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran (LibDem) is talking about the small matter of the planet being on fire. She wants people who don't agree that we should be acting on the climate emergency to sign up to go and see the People's Emergency Briefing. On an entirely different sort of burning, she appeared on BBC South to advocate reducing the maximum decibel level of fireworks.

Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover (LibDem), pictured in this photo looking longingly into the scrubland that should contain Great Western Park's GP surgery, welcomed tentative progress on building said surgery (see above). He explained: "The difficulty people in Didcot and the surrounding villages have in getting doctors' appointments is unacceptable. Today's announcement, confirming that the final planning requirements have been submitted and a contractor appointed, highlights the work that is happening behind the scenes." Here is his, very comprehensive, weekly roundup (small mention of Thames Water, because of course there is).
Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo (LibDem) is looking at potential routing options for the Haddenham–Thame Greenway. It wouldn't be the weekly politics section without a mention of Thames Water: he's written to the Government to ask that they be put into special administration. In Parliament, he's been looking at the future of minibus drivers for community transport services (peak constituency MP bringing local challenges to Parliament, no notes). Finally, he paid tribute to the departing editor of the Henley Standard.

Matthew Barber's Labrador by the memorial to Lord Wantage, VC, Conservative MP for Berkshire and founder of what became the Red Cross.

Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber (Con) was at the Police & Crime Panel meeting in Aylesbury, with an agenda taking in rape investigations, officer retention, e-bikes, the MOD Bicester asylum proposal, and the plan for police mega-forces (he's not a fan). He held a meeting with local landowners on hare coursing. Finally, would you like to see some police dog handling set to country music? Of course you would.

University and research

Not that there was ever any doubt as to the influence of this venerable institution but...

Congratulations to the two Oxford alumni who won Senate races in the USA midterms last week. Abdul El-Sayed (D) (Oriel) will serve for Michigan; Cory Booker (D) (Queen’s) will serve again for New Jersey. No alumni from Oxford Brookes were elected this year, unfortunately. Both were Rhodes scholars, as of course was former US president Bill Clinton (D) (Univ). Thanks to The Guardian, we know that Senator El-Sayed patronised Ricardo's sandwich bar in the Covered Market. The new Governor of Michigan, meanwhile, is Jocelyn Benson (D) (Magdalen).
North American reciprocal scholar exchange, part 2: Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau has joined Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government as a Distinguished Fellow and member of the World Leaders Circle (not the same as the Magic Circle). He served as Canadian Prime Minister for a decade, from 2015 to 2025, and led the Liberal Party of Canada from 2013 to 2025. Mr Trudeau was succeeded as Prime Minister by Mark Carney who graduated from both St Peter's and Nuffield Colleges and was captain of the University's ice hockey team, who train on Oxpens Road.
Happy birthday to the Bodleian Library, which opened on 8 November 1602. Sir Thomas Bodley was a Fellow of Merton College who had married a rich widow (her husband had made his fortune trading in pilchards) and rescued a library built in 1488 in the Divinity School. In 1610, he entered into an agreement with the Stationers’ Company of London under which a copy of every book published in England and registered at Stationers’ Hall would be deposited in the new library – pointing to its future as a legal deposit library. The Bodleian is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. Together, the Bodleian Libraries hold over 13m printed items. You can tour it, get married in it, and even, occasionally, snooze in it.
Farmer and writer James Rebanks, the 'Herdwick Shepherd', opened the Bodleian Library's latest exhibition ‘Plain Things Wonders’ on Wednesday. The exhibition concludes the Bodleian's Season of the Natural World by demonstrating the importance of observing nature. The image used to promote Plain Things Wonders is a microscopic view of white mould growing on the sheepskin cover of a book, observed by Oxford's Robert Hooke in 1665. The exhibition is open free of charge every day until the end of August 2027.
Investigations into academic misconduct involving AI have risen 46% in one year, according to figures obtained by Cherwell. Oxford University told the student newspaper that “such offences are relatively rare at Oxford compared to UK universities more widely”. Over half of the cases since 2023 have involved Social Sciences, while only one case was recorded in Medical Sciences. Three students were permanently expelled as a result.
Nursery closure: St Anne’s College have announced that their day nursery, which in 1968 became one of the first in town dedicated to providing childcare for Oxford staff and students, will close. The announcement comes with less than two months’ notice. Other collegiate and university nurseries, which theoretically enable junior academics to move for jobs and have families, have waiting lists ranging from months to years. One has 58 children waiting for one of 30 spots. Government data suggests a lack of childcare disproportionately affects women.
St Anne’s state that funding issues have necessitated the closure, though they do not clarify if they explored other options. A brief Clarion survey suggests that only three other nurseries in town have immediate openings; Oxford’s childcare sector is one of the most expensive in the country. Campaigners have launched a petition asking the college to reverse the decision, pointing to concerns both for nursery staff and children, but also to the feminist laurels of the college itself.

Business and tech

Harwell Campus has published a ‘Vision 2050’ to take the science and innovation campus past its 100th birthday in 2046. It plans to more than double the current lab, office and support space of the current 148-acre site, with a network of nodes to ensure meeting points and coffee are never far away, and green corridors to connect areas of the campus. Campus facilities including a museum, Space Dome cinema, and sports facilities would become more open to the public. MD Jim Stretton said: “Vision 2050 is about building on Harwell’s unique scientific heritage and ensuring the campus continues to make a significant contribution to the UK’s science and innovation ambitions for decades to come.” Events on 10 and 12 December will provide more detail.
US pharma giant Abbvie has announced the expansion of its UK R&D facility. A new, £120m 12,000-square-foot site at Arc Oxford will expand research capabilities across immunology, neuroscience and oncology.

Trains and buses

“We are talking about less than 40 staff and a salary difference of about five grand,” RMT union leader Eddie Dempsey told a Parliamentary hearing into the lack of trains between Oxford and Milton Keynes. “It is probably 0.3% of the payroll bill to resolve this.”
MPs on the Transport Committee, including a remarkably forensic Olly Glover (LibDem, Didcot & Wantage, and a former rail manager), cross-examined union leaders and railway bosses last week to find out what had gone wrong. Dempsey restated the RMT’s position that the dispute was “around maintaining the second safety-critical person on trains… about 70% of incidents related to the platform-train interface happen on driver-only services: traps and drags, people falling down between the train and the platform, and so on”.
Dave Calfe, from drivers’ union ASLEF, said their members were ready to go. “We are waiting for the RMT to conclude its discussions with the employer and then we will get involved. From ASLEF’s point of view, this has been bordering on dysfunctional.”
Glover asked rail managers “what risk assessment was made of the potential of an industrial relations conflagration on this”. Jodie Lofthouse, from East West Rail, admitted “it has always been at the top of the list of things that could happen”. Chiltern Railways’ Tony Baxter added: “Everyone that you see today is really keen to get services up and running. We recognise the impact this is having on communities. When there is a date we can all align to, I am sure the Minister will announce it.”

The railway carriage, Routemaster bus, and C.S. Lewis-themed short let.

An Oxford rail enthusiast has applied to site a Victorian railway carriage in his garden “for the private display of selected historic books, documents and railway material”. Owner Yaz Romahi, who lives off Old Road to Shotover Hill, is described as having “a longstanding interest in British transport”. His collection also includes 19th century railway bonds and railway ephemera; first-edition books including E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children; a 1927 Triumph motorcycle and a preserved 1962 Routemaster bus. An 1886 edition of the Sporting Life was found tucked away in the 1865 carriage.
Yaz Romahi is an AI researcher, philanthropist, JP Morgan executive, and member of the Magic Circle. His home at the Oaks also includes three short lets as a “fan-inspired tribute to C.S. Lewis”, raising funds for the Congenital Anaemia Network that he founded.

Charity begins at home

Pre-order your tree: South Oxfordshire Adventure Playground will once again be running a Christmas tree shop. Proceeds help keep the playground open and free for everyone. Deliveries across Oxford will be on 5 December, or collections are on 6 December (11am–3pm).
Pumpkin puree for the masses: Oxplenty, an initiative run between Oxford Food Hub, Good Food Oxfordshire and Cherwell Collective rescues surplus crops directly from local farmers and producers and turns them into long-lasting products. This November, Oxplenty is focusing on pumpkins as thousands go unsold in the fields, grown for demand that has ended. Oxplenty want to turn them into nutritious purée, frozen so it can help feed Oxfordshire communities well into winter. They're looking for local farmers with surplus crops and not enough help to shift them. Visit oxfordfoodhub.org if you think you can help.
The Banbury Town Mayor’s Toy Appeal is returning for 2026. Banbury Town Council is collecting toys for the Horton Children's Ward, Banbury Family Help and other charities. New or very good condition toys for babies to teenagers can be dropped off at the Town Hall before 1 December.

Notes from Clarion HQ

In central Government’s latest “throw money at local journalism” wheeze, Get Radio Oxfordshire has been awarded £125,000 through the £6m Local News Fund to build “a new independent Oxfordshire local news service”. Hmmm. We swear we saw one of those around here somewhere…

The Clarion is hardly a redoubt of free-market Thatcherism, yet we worry that this is effectively creating a subsidy culture where local news publishers survive on one handout after another, rather than actually creating sustainable models for journalism. The list of winners is full of tech toys like “innovation labs”, “reader engagement platforms”, “membership management systems”, “AI tools which monitor public sources”, and so on for 50 grants. Are all these being released as open-source software to create a commons where civically minded citizens can bootstrap new community newspapers? Er, no.

But this stuff matters. A reader pointed us to a new report by the Government commission tackling “the significant challenges faced in England’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods”. It suggests (page 25):

“Had a ‘trusted, neutral, calm, but fast-moving news source’ been established in Southport at the time of the riots in summer 2024, it might have undercut the effectiveness of the online disinformation and misinformation which sparked the violence. Pride in Place revenue funds, he suggests, could be used to employ young people as journalists on such projects.”

Food for thought. Have a great week and we’ll see you on Friday.