Once more for the weekend long read crowd (or those who use Outlook).

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 2d ago

All the Oxford news you need in our weekend email. Featuring… 🌦 Botley West Solar Farm refused 🤡 Nathan Cofnas talk 🥐 Important Greggs news 🧑‍🎄 Christmas shows! 🐈‍⬛ Ozymandias, Botticelli, and some pigs Get it in your inbox, or if you use Outlook, read on the web: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

The banana republic of Piddington, which voted to secede from Oxfordshire in September, hosted a “shouting match” between Conservative and Reform politicians at the invitation of parish council chair Tim McNally. Government approved plans for asylum accommodation at nearby MOD Bicester this week.

Senior Tory and Reform politicians clash in Piddington

Chris Philp and Zia Yusuf descended into a shouting match after they shared a platform to support the residents of Piddington in opposition to plans for an asylum accommodation site locally.

news.sky.com

Oxfordshire’s next quiet lanes will be in the village of Blackthorn, near Bicester. The County Council programme sees minor roads closed to through traffic to improve safety, where an alternative route is available. Blackthorn Parish Council has agreed to the trial on Lower Road and Station Road.

Military planes are making a return to the skies of West Oxfordshire after completion of the rebuild of RAF Brize Norton’s main runway. VIP transport aircraft Vespina was the first to touch down, the plane used by the Royal Family and the Prime Minister.

Today is the 165th anniversary of the opening of the Oxford–Witney railway. The line opened in 1861 and closed to passengers 101 years later. Oxfordshire County Council has funded a reopening study, although funding challenges mean a ‘rapid transit’ system is more likely in the medium term.

Electrical appliance brand SMEG, who have their HQ in Abingdon, have announced an in-person Black Friday event on November 28th. It's ticketed, costs £5 to go and you get a free Christmas bauble. We've seen the Le Creuset one on on TikTok, so expect local traffic. www.smeguk.com/courses/oxfo...

SMEG's Black Friday Christmas Shopping Event | OXFORDSHIRE - 28/11/2026 - Smeguk.com

SMEG's Black Friday Christmas Shopping Event | OXFORDSHIRE - 28/11/2026: Smeg designed in Italy, has functional characteristics of quality with a design that combines style and high technology.

smeguk.com

OUFC have launched a range of Christmas jumpers. The first design is a classic yellow and blue Christmas Jumper, and the second design is more retro, taking inspiration from the popular 1993/94 alternate strip. We suspect these will go fast.. www.oufc.co.uk/news/get-fes...

Get into the festive spirit with Oxford United’s new Christmas Jumpers! | Oxford United Football Club

Oxford United supporters can get into the festive spirit with the release of two brand-new Christmas Jumpers, just in time for the countdown to Christmas!

oufc.co.uk

West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) have announced changes to its Council Tax Support scheme and Hardship Fund for for low-income households, increaing income bands to reflect increases in inflation, wages and benefits.

Council agrees changes to strengthen financial support for low-income households | West Oxfordshire District Council News

West Oxfordshire District Council's Executive have approved changes to its Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme and Hardship Fund for 2027/28 to protect support for low-income households and make addition...

news.westoxon.gov.uk

Once more for the weekend long read crowd (or those who use Outlook).

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 2d ago

All the Oxford news you need in our weekend email. Featuring… 🌦 Botley West Solar Farm refused 🤡 Nathan Cofnas talk 🥐 Important Greggs news 🧑‍🎄 Christmas shows! 🐈‍⬛ Ozymandias, Botticelli, and some pigs Get it in your inbox, or if you use Outlook, read on the web: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

Tiny particles to tidy profits? Oxford University is joining SuperConnector, a five university collaboration to turn quantum physics research into commercial opportunities, with £12 million funding from UKRI. Both the Physics department and Saïd Business School are involved.

Oxford University joins UK Quantum SuperConnector to accelerate quantum innovation | Saïd Business School

The SuperConnector, a partnership led by Imperial College London with the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow and Oxford, will establish a national Quantum Commercialisation Skills Centre, whi...

sbs.ox.ac.uk

All the Oxford news you need in our weekend email. Featuring… 🌦 Botley West Solar Farm refused 🤡 Nathan Cofnas talk 🥐 Important Greggs news 🧑‍🎄 Christmas shows! 🐈‍⬛ Ozymandias, Botticelli, and some pigs Get it in your inbox, or if you use Outlook, read on the web: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

Clarion Weekend, 13 November 2026

Happy Friday 13th! Sometimes we have weeks where almost everything is a top story: Botley West, MOD Bicester, and Nathan Cofnas. But we also have Greggs news, restoring a former Boatman's Chapel, and ...

oxfordclarion.uk

Do you have time on your hands because outlook is down? In some shameless pimping- here is a thread of our best articles you may have missed.... First off: why is Oxford's traffic so bad? oxfordclarion.uk/oxford-traff...

Oxford traffic: the big picture

No issue in Oxfordshire is more fiercely contested than Oxford’s traffic. Most people agree it’s a problem – but not how to fix it. Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for roads across c...

oxfordclarion.uk

Moberly Close, a large student accommodation block next to the new Greggs on Cowley Road, has been sold to Corpus Christi College. It was built for St Stephen’s House, a theological training college which disaffiliated from Oxford University three years ago.

Has the war in Ukraine has come a step closer to Oxford? Reports are circulating that the Mini plant's recent shift cancellations are due to a parts shortage from German supplier Kromberg & Schubert, which has factories in Ukraine that were attacked by Russia in October.

Attacks in Ukraine spark fresh wiring harness shortages - electrive.com

Missing wire harnesses from Ukraine are once again disrupting European car production. BMW had to cancel shifts at several locations, while Skoda's affected

electrive.com

New lab space! Construction has begun on a new life sciences development in Oxford; the former Beaver House site and neighbouring properties on Hythe Bridge Street, to create specialist laboratory and office space to support scientific research and innovation. bdaily.co.uk/articles/202...

Work begins on Oxford life sciences development

Construction has begun on a new life sciences development in Oxford, creating specialist laboratory and office space to support scientific… | Workspace | Construction | Research | Healthcare and life ...

bdaily.co.uk

We were hoping for a nice quiet evening to sort out the punctuation in tomorrow's newsletter...

Man's Exasperated Facepalm

ALT: Man's Exasperated Facepalm

static.klipy.com

Lab space news: Biotech company T-Cypher Bio has relocated to a new facility at Abingdon Science Park, expanding its footprint to support the development of its pipeline of novel immune engager therapeutics targeting solid tumours and autoimmune disease. manufacturingchemist.com/t-cypher-bio...

T-Cypher Bio relocates to new Oxford facility to advance immune engager pipeline

The biotech firm has moved to a new facility at Abingdon Science Park, expanding its laboratory and tissue culture capabilities to support IND-enabling studies and the development of next-generation T...

manufacturingchemist.com

Oxford City Council has activated SWEP until Monday morning. Local homelessness agencies will provide extra beds to people experiencing rough sleeping during this weekend's severe winter weather. Details: www.oxford.gov.uk/homelessness...

The Government has approved planning permission for an asylum centre at MOD Bicester. Calum Miller, MP for Bicester and Woodstock commented: "I am deeply disappointed that the Government has approved this proposal despite the serious concerns raised by residents and local councils"

Oxford University Hospitals has launched a new NHS Blood and Transplant pilot that could increase the number of donated kidneys available for transplantation, by undertaking further evaluation while the kidneys are connected to a machine which circulates oxygenated blood through them.

Hello to all our new followers, we presume you found us thanks to a certain statue... If you wish to travel down the rabbit hole... We are the Oxford Clarion, volunteer-run news for Oxfordshire. For background to the furore surrounding the statue, see here oxfordclarion.uk/oxford-says-...

Oxford says no to Nathan Cofnas

One late-30s academic addressing a small gathering in a college wouldn’t usually provoke acres of coverage. But Nathan Cofnas – controversialist, researcher and advocate of ‘scientific racism’ – is so...

oxfordclarion.uk

West Oxfordshire District Council is to expand its focus on cleaner air to the entire district. Previous efforts had focused on reducing high levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant mainly caused by vehicle exhaust fumes, in Witney and Chipping Norton. news.westoxon.gov.uk/news/cleaner...

Cleaner air for West Oxfordshire as council plans new district-wide strategy | West Oxfordshire District Council News

Air quality in Witney and Chipping Norton has improved significantly, with pollution levels now meeting national targets for three years in a row. West Oxfordshire District Council is now taking steps...

news.westoxon.gov.uk

Emergency repairs on an Oxford towpath have been successfully completed, on the Thames Path towpath, just south of Donnington Bridge. The repairs had originally been planned for 2027. However, inspections showed the river wall was deteriorating more rapidly than anticipated.

Holy Trinity at Headington Quarry, the former church of author CS Lewis, is hosting a weekend of events celebrating the life and work of the late author, on 21 and 22 November. Events include crafts, workshops, and concerts.

Five new LLMs have been licensed at Christ Church in Oxford. The Licensed Lay Ministers (yes- we had the same thought) will serve in parishes across the Diocese of Oxford.

Celebrating the ministry of our LLMs - Diocese of Oxford

On Saturday we celebrated the admission and licensing of five new licensed lay ministers (LLMs) and the ministry of all LLMs across the diocese at Christ Church in Oxford.

oxford.anglican.org

An Oxford spin out company has raised £67 million to start clinical trials for a group of chronic blood cancers. The current treatment can also affect healthy cells, but the Alethio Therapeutics plans to start testing treatments that specifically target the cells that sustain the disease.

In the week before Oxford university is due to host controversial speaker Nathan Cofnas, entirely coincidentally, academics at Oxford University have been organising events of their own that appear to oppose Cofnas’ premise, on or close to the date of the event. events.ox.ac.uk/oxford_event...

Oxfordshire County Council’s Director of Environment and Highways, Paul Fermer appeared before MPs on the Transport Select Committee as part of their inquiry into the government’s Road Safety Strategy on 11 November. news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshire-...

Oxfordshire County Council calls for government action to build on road safety progress

Oxfordshire County Council has called for stronger national support to prevent road casualties after deaths and serious injuries fell on the county’s roads despite an increase across the wider Thames ...

news.oxfordshire.gov.uk

Speeding vehicles and bad parking are the two top problems identified by Oxford residents, in a survey carried out by the City Council. 61% of respondents said speeding was an issue in their local area, and 57% cited cars parked inconveniently, dangerously or illegally.

The statue of Cecil Rhodes on Oriel College has been decorated with a Ku Klux Klan hood and the sign ‘Racists Welcome Here’, in protest against the upcoming visit of self-styled “race realist” Nathan Cofnas to address the university’s Reform UK society.