ONE of the most common complaints about immigration is that people come to this country and “take our jobs”.

Well these things cut both ways, as one Oxfordshire MP is finding out.

Oxford Mail:

Ed Vaizey

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, who also doubles as culture minister, has held talks with Britain’s black actors who are disaffected at having to leave this country for Hollywood in search of opportunities.

Who knew that the common fate of British actors in films – either playing the villain or dying early on – would prove so attractive. But then two of this country’s black actors, Idris Elba and Chiwetel Ejiofor, are doing quite well in this year’s awards season, so going to Hollywood isn’t always a hardship.

Mr Vaizey will now know how his Polish counterparts feel when confronted with disaffected plumbers.

PLANNING minister Nick Boles certainly made a splash when he came to Oxford to have a look at the Castle Mill student flats.
Unlike his colleague Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for the Environment, who came to Oxford during the floods and saw how marvellous everything was, Mr Boles seems
thoroughly displeased with what he saw.
Someone else who was displeased was Bob Price, the leader of Oxford City Council, who seemed unaware that Mr Boles was paying this city a visit when one of The Insider’s colleagues contacted him for a comment.
Could it be the Conservative Mr Boles was attempting to score some sort of political advantage? Surely not.
Ah, the election season really is upon us.

SPEAKING of party politics, the appearance of a former city councillor in our paper caused some mirth in sections of Oxford City Council.
Some Labour councillors on the licensing and gambling acts
committee seemed tickled pink that former Independent Working Class Association city councillor Stuart Craft  made an appearance in our “down my street” section of our community news.

Oxford Mail:

Stuart Craft

It only seemed to compound matters that he appeared on the same page as his former colleague in representing Northfield Brook, Labour’s Scott Seamons.
But maybe Mr Craft’s appearance in our paper will help his former political rivals see this one-time radical in a more sympathetic light.

POLITICS is a fine and subtle art, where fox-like cunning is balanced with a desire to tackle the big problems facing the world.
So it’s good to know the politicians of the future here at Oxford University are wasting no time in getting in some practice – or not.
Anya Metzer, the president of Wadham College’s students’ union, resorted to describing the college’s undergraduate body as “little s**ts”.
She was venting her fury about the Junior Common Room’s plan to buy a PlayStation 4.
Machiavelli can rest easy.