LABOUR councillor Mike Cherry wins this year’s award for wishful thinking. During a debate at a county council planning and regulation committee meeting on Monday, Mr Cherry announced to the room that “Didcot is going to be demolished in a year or so”.

The outburst prompted laughter, and a comment from John Tanner, ever the court jester, along the lines of: “I was about to second that”.

Of course, Mr Cherry was referring to Didcot A Power Station, which will have its iconic cooling towers torn down after it was decommissioned.

Maybe we can expect new divisions between Mr Cherry’s home town of Banbury and Didcot following this proposal?

A FORAY into the unknown could cost Oxfordshire County Council £1,500 – just to keep Kieron Mallon happy.

Oxford Mail:

  • Mr Kieron Mallon

Following Mr Mallon’s suggestion that the council arrange an away day at Bodicote House in Banbury (his back yard) in April to test Cherwell District Council’s webcasting equipment, officers have conducted a feasibility study.

It turns out the council, which usually meets in Oxford, in the middle of the county, could end up shelling out more than £300 to hire the council chamber, £400 for a coach, £75 for extra parking and more in allowances for members travelling to the north of Oxfordshire.

With a price tag like that, maybe it would be cheaper to bring the webcasting service to County Hall?

WE all know being a criminal is desperate business – but purveyors of the old dead relative email scam must be scraping at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to likely victims.

In fact, one set of scammers decided to target Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld.

But Mr Stansfeld was not fooled by the attempt to get his bank details in return for a £16m windfall. Then again, I think we would be worried if he had.

He told members of the public about the not-so-close shave at a have-your-say meeting in Barton on Monday, perhaps hoping his experience will help someone with less crime knowledge.

Now dear readers I must go back to my emails. I have to respond to a nice gentleman in Nigeria who says someone I’ve never heard of with a similar surname wants to give me £5m for tax purposes...

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