THE ineptitude of First Great Western is nothing new, in fact it's about as frequent as rain.

So their recently-announced plans to lay on extra trains on busy routes (well, near Portsmouth to be precise) is not exactly rocket science, is it?

It would be far better for the company - which made profits of £250m last year - to award compensation to beleaguered commuters who frequently put up with delayed trains. And that's on a good day.

Sometimes they never come at all - just ask those left stranded at Oxford railway station.

If FGW chief executive Andrew Haines really wanted to recompense commuters he should refund the price of full fare if a train is, say, more than 15 minutes late.

That way, passengers could let the Haines take the strain.

A FORTNIGHT after we learned Oxfordshire County Council was no longer an excellent, four-star authority on account of poor performances by its schools, banners proclaiming the news have yet to appear at County Hall.

Soon after the Audit Commission gave the council full marks last year, someone hauled a grubby piece of tarpaulin with the word excellent' plastered all over it as a piece of cheap PR. Now the same organisation has stripped it of a star, the banner has been quickly packed away. We wonder why?

ALTERNATIVE accommodation is being frantically sought after it emerged Oxfordshire's under-17 cricketers had been pencilled in to stay at the Haut de la Garenne youth hostel in Jersey this summer while on tour.

However, there is a slight snag with that plan.

Human remains have been discovered at the former children's home and, consequently, the accommodation is unusable for the foreseeable future.

SPOTTED glistening in the early spring sunshine this week was a beautifully sleek, highly-buffed black object that glided through the city's streets with an air of regal authority... yes, county councillor David Robertson's Jaguar was seen battling through the morning traffic on its way to County Hall.

But just how does he get his motor looking so clean? We deserve to be told.

JUMPING for joy at the weekend was the usually reserved Patrick Murray, right, the Lib Dem councillor for Barton and Sandhills.

And the reason? Spurs won their first piece of silverware for nine years, thanks to a League Cup victory over Chelsea.

We wonder whether he will be as delighted come May, when he is up for re-election.

THE earth moved for councillors Craig Simmonds and Elise Benjamin at their place in Magdalen Road in the early hours of this morning.

Why, it was the tremor of an earthquake, of course.

"It was eerie and very unnerving for a few seconds - it's still very vivid," said Ms Benjamin, who was talking of the earthquake, not living with her partner.