THE Insider noticed that county councillor Pete Handley has submitted a motion to next week’s county council meeting regarding the use of tablet computers by his colleagues.

In his motion Mr Handley said: “Would the council agree that at all meetings of the council and sub-committees where members and staff are taking part, all tablets and computers are turned off as this can interfere with the microphones etcetera within the council building.

“They also give problems to those with hearing aids due to the clicking noises these devices make, which in turn make it hard for them to take part in those meetings.”

But The Insider has learnt that Mr Handley has now withdrawn his motion – perhaps he has been leaned on by some of his fellow councillors such as Ian Hudspeth and Arash Fatemian who are well known for tweeting their way through council meetings?

The Insider demands to be told.

ON a related note, one prominent Oxfordshire politician who has been having trouble with technology is Witney MP David Cameron, below.

Mr Cameron, who is also the Prime Minister, is looking into plans to make phone companies share coverage in rural areas after struggling to get a signal in his West Oxfordshire constituency.

The battle to have a conversation with someone will be well-known to Mr Cameron’s constituents, but it’s interesting to note that it isn’t until the Prime Minister’s conversations with Barack Obama or Angela Merkel are affected that action is taken.

The people of West Oxfordshire might well be about to benefit from having the Prime Minister as their MP.

TIMES must be tough at Thames Valley Police as one of The Insider’s colleagues noticed a copper getting on a bus in Oxford this week.

Let’s hope that the rozzer in question wasn’t responding to an emergency call.

Maybe this is all part of an attempt to connect with members of the public.

THE Insider was interested to note that city councillor Oscar Van Nooijen, below, has been re-elected as chairman of the West area planning committee.

In recent months this committee has specialised in controversial planning issues including – but not limited to – Oxford University’s hated student accommodation blocks near Port Meadow.

It’s somewhat surprising that Mr Van Nooijen actually wanted to take on the role again – and he even went on to describe his election as an “honour”.

Each to his own – all The Insider can do is wish him a quieter year.