Do they know it’s Christmas time at all? It might be a question that Sir Bob Geldof is asking of folk in Africa, but it’s one we could ask Oxfordshire County Council. On November 27 they tweeted to their faithful followers that it was just “one month” to go, geeing up the Twitterati with an enthusiastic “Who’s feeling ready?”

By giving us an extra 48 hours to prepare, how could we not be?

That same day the county council’s leader Ian Hudspeth was also tweeting away.
He treated us to a lovely picture of him on holiday alongside Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear and Iron Man, among others.
We all know what a fan of big travel infrastructure Mr Hudspeth is.
But it is still unconfirmed he’s looking at sorting Oxfordshire out with any airborne transport, be it flying or rather “falling, with style.”

Oxford Mail:

Fellow county councillor Arash Fatemian, above, has been staying in touch with his leader while he is on the other side of the pond and has been keeping a close eye on his sartorial elegance, remarking on Mr Hudspeth’s formal attire.
Mr Fatemian informed his numerous followers on Twitter: “Given he has been wearing a suit in almost every picture, starting to wonder if @ianhudspeth took any luggage with him to New York...”

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid had the foresight to bring his coat to a photocall outside Pear Tree services to announce a £50m funding package for the A34 but for some reason Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood decided to go without.
It wasn’t too long before she was shivering in front of the cameras in the cold winter weather and decided to conduct her interview with the Oxford Mail inside the service station instead.

Shoppers packed Abingdon on Saturday for the town’s annual Christmas extravaganza and for some the festivities went off with a real bang.
After the Christmas lights were switched on, fireworks were set off in Abbey Meadows to conclude the celebrations.
But the detonations were so loud that they almost made shoppers at the tills drop their boxes of mince pies.
“I thought a bomb had gone off,” said one lady before heading through the check-out, clearly relieved that calm had been restored.