LAST week we talked about unfair advantages in ping-pong games, and we’ve discovered another injustice on a grand scale this week Insider. The two tables installed at Oxford station as part of the “Ping! Oxford” festival have been placed at a slight gradient - claimed to be two degrees by one of the Insider’s colleagues whipping out his iPhone and using a Level app. Maybe this will be the site of the “clash of the titans” today when Labour councillor Mark Lygo and county leader Ian Hudspeth go head-to-head. Or maybe the installation of the tables was slightly rushed. The Insider suspects it was the latter.

OXFORDSHIRE County Council has recently surpassed itself on the customer services front. When one Kidlington resident got in touch with the authority about grass cutting woes by post on June 29, he wasn’t expecting a quick response. But Cherwell area steward Maurice Sheehan, who has clearly mastered the paradox-prone act of time travel, replied with a letter dated May 12, ruling out collecting grass cuttings because it is county council policy. But here’s one for all the Doctor Who fans in the house – surely the idea of writing a letter in response to another which has not yet been written creates a troublesome paradox?

FORMER Tory overlord Keith Mitchell, pictured, is using social media to keep people in the loop about his business on behalf of the Freemasons. Mr Mitchell appears to be on a mission to single-handedly modernise the organisation, which still reportedly leads new recruits to the lodge in blindfolds, along with other activities. Yesterday Mr Mitchell tweeted “In London today on Masonic business”, but left it at that. Whatever next? Using Instagram to report his exploits on behalf of the Illuminati, perhaps... Of course, The Insider is only kidding, Keith. We’ve read Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons line by line and you weren’t mentioned once.