Oxford is a fantastic place! I've been here fourteen years now with one short gap, by far the longest I have settled in a place in my life. It long ago became home, physically and spiritually, and for a while I more or less gave my life to it when I was previously a city councillor from 1999 till 2002 (it seemed longer than that, I can tell you!).

We have one of the most beautiful city centres in the world. Our two universities are world leading centres of learning and research. The streets have seen poets, artists and kings, statesmen and women, warriors and world beating sportsmen and women, visionary scientists and engineers pass through. Surely more than any place on earth for its size so many people retain their links to the city with pride and heartfelt warmth through their schools, colleges and universities.

One can walk down the High Street and see a cavalcade of a foreign president come to speak, or even to be lectured to, yet rarely can you venture into town without bumping into someone you know. The buildings of centuries gone by have witnessed all this and more in their time yet stand as beacons of consistency and stability for us and future generations.

We can find the best bands in the country in the Zodiac, enjoy a pleasant concert or recital in our chapels and music rooms, hang out with troubadours, minstrels and wordsmiths at Catweazle, take in some of the best museum and gallery collections in the world, wander round and in a dreamworld of discovery in Art Weeks. We can follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter or peer into Mr Lewis's wardrobe; drink in the pubs that gave birth to Mr Tolkien's hobbits and wraiths. In one short stretch of road we can eat food from China, Japan, Thailand, India, Lebanon, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Britain, Spain, Portugal, the West Indies and more.

Nor should we ignore the city's hinterland. Next to the history of Woodstock, Wantage or Islip with their royal courts, palaces and manors, alongside the rolling green hills approaching the Cotswolds and the Chilterns, we have the world's leaders in those most modern of technologies, motorsport and biotechnology.

In two words - Oxford rocks! This city punches so far above its weight, in so many areas it is literally the centre of the world!

Yet that's not the whole story. Outside the city centre, but inside the rural idyll preserved by our green belt there are some remarkably deprived areas. Industry has grown up, employing hundreds of thousands of people in its time, and waned again. And whilst we don't have any real unemployment to speak of, we do have estates that are run down, with people unable to reach their full potential and play a full part in the life of this fantastic city.

And whatever Oxford's pride of place on the planet, one thing is certain - she cannot reach her full potential as a city, as a society, unless every last citizen, temporary or permanent, young or old, wealthy or not, from whatever corner of the planet they originate or have their roots, reaches their potential. And there is considerable work to do.

Coming next, the challenges ahead...