Me In The Media

I first ran for election in 2024, losing to the long-time incumbent Liberal Democrat in the ward of Quarry & Risinghurst (in North-East Oxford) by just 7 votes! The only mention of this in the papers was in this list of results in the Oxford Mail (the main local paper, who will be appearing a lot in this page). It's also on wikipedia too.

After this, I signed up to be a "paper candidate" for the Labour party in the 2025 county elections, in the area of Brize Norton & Carterton East. Carterton is a military town in the far west of Oxfordshire (very far from the bit of Oxford I live in) and Labour never stood a chance here. Here is an article noting my candidacy, and here is an article noting my wopping loss, I still beat the homophobic "Heritage Party" though so that's something.

At the same time I was running in these county elections, I was also a candidate in the Oxford City council elections, as Labour-turned-left-wing independent Barbara Coyne had resigned, causing a by-election the ward of Headington Hill & Northway. (Don't know the difference between tiers of local government? Click here) Here is the by-election being reported in the Oxford Mail, and here is my narrow victory over the IOA (a populist pro-car party local to Oxford) being reported in the Oxford Mail, and here is it being reported in the Oxford Clarion (an online-only, left-leaning, pro-cycling news space), including the fact that I was the youngest Oxford City Councillor ever elected.

In June 2025, shortly after the county elections, the Liberal Democrat-controlled county council announced plans to introduce "congestion charges" on certain main roads, mostly in inner-city areas, but with two major exceptions. Unlike London's congestion charge, this doesn't create a "congestion charge zone", but instead essentially changes these roads into toll roads, with the "tolls" being avoidable if you took different routes through the city. I was a leading opponent of this scheme, and used my position on the city to vocalise this. Here is a photo of me on the front page of the Oxford Times (weekly edition of the Oxford Mail), here is an Oxford Mail article that quotes me at length about this, here is an Oxford Mail article that covers part of the debate in council, and here is after one of the local private schools got dragged into the debate.

In October 2025 I was appointed as "Champion for Events, Live Music and the Nighttime Economy" on Oxford City Council, a vocational role but notable as a big step for both the council (in terms of attitude towards the cities nightlife) and myself (in terms of taking on more responsibility).

Here is the BBC News article about my appointment, here is a snippet of the TV interview I did for That's TV Oxfordshire, here is the Oxford Mail article, here is the Oxford Clarion post, and here in Oxford student paper "Cherwell".

Additionally, I am also quoted here as part of a separate BBC news article on Oxford's success producing rock bands.