TWITTER was ablaze recently after Witney MP David Cameron, right, – who also holds another, apparently important, position – posted a picture of himself looking extremely serious while on the phone.
David Cameron tweeted a picture of himself speaking with President Barack Obama
Rather than hearing a diagnosis from his GP, Mr Cameron was discussing the situation in Ukraine with US President Barack Obama.
But instead of reassuring people that Mr Cameron was taking much needed action, the picture sparked a series of spoof versions – perhaps most notably from actor Patrick Stewart holding a package of Wet Ones.
As it happens Mr Stewart lives in Little Tew, in West Oxfordshire, meaning Mr Cameron is in fact his MP. Was this tweet a cry for help from a constituent who has been trying to contact his MP about potholes and immigration? The Insider is sure that Mr Stewart probably doesn’t spend much time complaining to his MP but should the urge take him we hope this isn’t the only way he can make contact with Mr Cameron.
THIS week Oxford City Council’s west area planning committee voted to approve the £400m Westgate redevelopment.
The Insider hopes, if nothing else for the sanity of the committee’s chairman Oscar Van Nooijen that this planning application doesn’t go the way of other recent ones which he and his colleagues have approved – such as Oxford University’s Castle Mill development or the Blavatnik School of Government.
Oscar Van Nooijen
But even when discussing a scheme as uncontroversial – at least in theory – as the Westgate redevelopment the spectre of Castle Mill appeared at the feast.
Planning officer Nick Worlledge – who The Insider’s canny readers will remember warned the east area planning committee of the impact the blocks might have on the view of the dreaming spires from Port Meadow – was present to take the councillors through some of the issues which the Westgate scheme presented.
When a view of Port Meadow from Wolvercote appeared on the projector, Mr Worlledge simply said that the Westgate wouldn’t be visible because it is “hidden by the existing topography” – sparking a ripple of giggles from the public gallery.
County council leader Ian Hudspeth has recently spent a week on holiday practising his skiing.
Followers of the Conservative councillor on Twitter will have been able to keep a close eye on what he was getting up to – along with pictures of some of the spectacular Alpine scenery Mr Hudspeth stumbled across.
Ian Hudspeth
Things took a turn for the more banale the day after he got back, however, when Mr Hudspeth found himself attending a meeting of Tackley parish council and discussing potholes and flooding.
The life of a council leader isn’t as glamorous as it seems, it turns out.
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