As you can see from Caroline Lucas's post etc such a policy would hand votes to the Greens. But that's not the main harm - 🌎🌡️🔥

Cllr Ruth Smith@labourruth.bsky.social · 3w ago

He is still at the stage of everyone projecting their policy hopes on to him. I hope to heaven the briefing about new drilling is just testing the water over the weekend (...an end to "briefing" was his 1st pledge). He can't be that carbon illiterate?

not to come back to this again but i read the statement in full and once again, respectfully, DANG “We are not called to the legal minimum of hospitality. We are called to the radical welcome of the one who sought out the excluded and the overlooked.”

Anupama Ranawana@msamrc.bsky.social · 3w ago

Incredible statement from the Church in Wales on the ignominious Code of Practice: "The Church in Wales will not use equality law exemptions to exclude trans people from our worship, our sacraments, our pastoral care, or our common life." www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/news-and-...

I watched Andy Burnham's speech in full this morning. He swiftly summarised Starmer's achievements redressing the harm of the previous 14 years in a way Starmer never did - the message could never get through. He does bring hope. He will look for solutions not excuses. labour.org.uk/updates/memb...

I cycled to the opening of the Shores Green slip roads. Vegetation needs cutting at the corner with Jubilee Way, the cycle path needs sweeping all along in general and after the resurfacing of Oxford Hill and there was a tarmac missing from the cycle crossing (bizarre, as the rest was done).

That's my quote, given to OCC. One day I will find out who the excellent Clarion writers are. Is it common knowledge? I haven't heard.

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 3w ago

Cllr Ruth Smith, leader of Witney Town Council, added: “Thank you to all the councillors and officers who kept the project alive. I look forward to the impact it makes on traffic flow and air quality. I hope we all find it less frustrating to visit the other side of town and to venture west.”

The project stalled after the Cogges Link Road controversy, and then Cllr Duncan Enright got it over the line as Strategic Transport portfolio holder at OCC, ensuring it was not dependent on the East Witney housing development. Thank you to the current administration for finishing the job.

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 3w ago

For Oxfordshire County Council, Cllr Liz Leffman said: “This project has been a long time coming, and residents have advocated for it for years. We are delighted to have been able to deliver this scheme on time and in budget and seeing it in use this morning has been a joy.”

Two new sliproads opened today at Shores Green, Witney, at a cost of £26.8m. They enable Witney traffic to use the A40 from one end of town to the other, bypassing the congested Bridge Street. They had been proposed since 2012 as an alternative to the rejected scheme for a Cogges Link Road.

@robintucker1.bsky.social Thank you for your submission from CoHSAT about Witney High Street today. I love the angle on reclaiming the Market Square from cars. I have seen the pictures from before.

We have endured the Botley Road closure for so long. Add that to the list of things like the lock downs that we never anticipated! Here's the technical account of what has been going on, in New Civil Engineer. www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/deliv...

Delivering the delayed Oxford station bridge replacement before and during the 8-day blockade | New Civil Engineer

Replacement of the bridge over Botley Road in the centre of the city is a key part of the Oxford Station upgrade being delivered by Kier and Network Rail.

newcivilengineer.com

Article on T-graph front page where a Bank of England official blames youth unemployment on the national living wage. Prejudicial language from the paper includes "inflation busting" and "excessive" wages, yet the NLW is not even the Real Living Wage. It is still poverty pay. So let's reframe.

The Christmas tree is going in at the Buttercross, on a cold and frosty morning. Lights switch-on is Fri 28 Nov.

I am at the #TransDayofRemembrance vigil at the Corn Exchange, about to start at 6:30. Remembering lives tragically and avoidably lost. Holding everyone close and trying to keep people whole, seen and upheld. ,🏳️‍⚧️

But I cannot get behind any redefinition of seeking asylum in the UK. We need swift and good processes, decent residential welcome centres and onwards housing (build it!) and a system built on dignity not trauma. *Immigration must be discussed and solved separately from asylum.*

Sometimes the good news just doesn't get past the dispiriting headlines. 🎭 Opportunities in the arts. 🍿👨‍🎤🎸Good thing!

Daily Herald #FBPE #NAFO 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇱@dailyherald.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Keir Starmer: "I want to build a Britain where every young person has the chance to succeed by doing what they love. That’s why we're expanding the Creative Futures programme, supporting young people into careers in the arts. Opening doors to jobs in music, theatre, broadcasting and more."

ICYMI yesterday, our hacks to beat the congestion charge. You'll never believe number 12! (Are we doing it right?) oxfordclarion.uk/twelve-easy-...

Twelve easy hacks to beat Oxford’s congestion charge

Don't want to pay? We got you. Here's the tea on how you can avoid the congestion charge entirely, and still visit all your favourite places in the city centre. Here's the official website, but our ha...

oxfordclarion.uk

I am in Derby today, under my own steam, for the @publicissues.bsky.social Joint public Issues Team conference, For Goodness Sake #ForGood25 about social justice and action. I am keen to learn more about the Constituency Action Network jpit.uk/can

It's West Oxfordshire District Council today. We are just finishing our preparatory meetings. You can watch the public meeting here westoxon.public-i.tv/core/portal/... I have a motion asking for Work Experience to be promoted better within West Oxfordshire,

Home - West Oxfordshire District Council streaming

Home - West Oxfordshire District Council streaming

westoxon.public-i.tv

It's the last day of Witney Feast 2025. Nice write up in the Oxford Mail. www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2546790...

Oxfordshire's biggest funfair draws large crowds despite 'atrocious' weather

The funfair - which dates back 800 years and is Oxfordshire's biggest - opened to large crowds who braved the 'atrocious' weather.

oxfordmail.co.uk

Fair's open 🎠🎡

The Gallopers Service to bless the Feast is earlier this year - today it's at around 12:45pm at the carousel. There will be a procession from the church you can join in or meet on the field. And the fair opens today!

This is an excellent analysis of the "flag" situation. It's a blog post designed for school leaders but explains what is going on in terms we can all understand. And gives some helpful talking points for all of us, whatever our current standpoint. www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/flags-when-p...

Flags: When Patriotism Becomes Politics | Belonging Effect

We have all seen them. Driving up the motorway, crossing a roundabout in town, suddenly there it is: the Union Jack, or the red-and-white St George’s Cross.

thebelongingeffect.co.uk

Yes! That's my mayor! So lucky to be working with a mayor with such heart and professional experience. Andy Bailey piece at @labourlist.bsky.social labourlist.org/2025/09/refu...

'Supporting refugees doesn't come at the expense of tackling poverty' - LabourList

Welcoming refugees and tackling poverty at home are not competing goals. They go hand in hand.

labourlist.org

The safest place for fossil fuels is in the seabed/ground. They have caused enough harm already. Anyone who wants to extract more of them and burn them has no interest in solving the planet's problem, just in lazy and irresponsible short-termism. 🌍🌎🌏🌡️🙏

Date for your Sept diary - Wed 3rd, 6-8pm, Corn Ex, Witney Bus Users Meeting. This was a huge success last year. Come and feed into the continued improvement of bus services.

"Pro-immigration counter-protesters approached by the BBC declined to speak." 1) Not necessarily pro-immigration, rather, pro-treating people well. 2) SPEAK! Change the narrative. 🤦‍♂️ Hundreds of protesters gather at asylum hotel in Norwich area. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Hundreds of protesters gather at asylum hotel in Norwich area

A BBC reporter at the scene says the demonstration was largely peaceful, but noisy.

bbc.co.uk

I am at WODC Council discussing decarbonisation of the Windrush Leisure centre - committing the funds required. It's a £2m project funded 75% from government. It's soo worth it! Even for our love-hate 50 year old building. It will bring centre emissions down 60%!

Tuesday 22 July: Witney Corn Exchange, 2-8pm Consultation event on the *policy* sections of the 2041 Local Plan, the plan that controls planning applications and other development of our area for the coming years. See more online - yourvoice.westoxon.gov.uk/en-GB/folder...

These are the MPs who think organisations proscribed by the terrorism act should actually be terrorist organisations. votes.parliament.uk/votes/common...

First female chancellor. We cry. No Biggie. It's a healthy response to pressure, frustration, disappointment and nastiness. Thatcher and May cried. Why the surprise today? www.independent.co.uk/voices/there...

Opinion: Theresa May finally did something for women in her resignation speech

This isn’t about forgiveness. And it isn’t about a woman ‘finally cracking up’, either

independent.co.uk

This is HUGE Biggest game in town for decarbonising the historic city centre & beyond

Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · last yr.

A low-carbon heat network for Oxford could provide alternative energy for the city’s historic buildings which, according to the City Council, are “incredibly hard to decarbonise without considerable cost or heritage impact”. Developer 1Energy has won £21m of Government funding for the project.