WE all know we're lucky to have some of the world finest scientific minds and institutions in Oxford.

However it can sometimes feel a little bit 'us and them'; a little bit 'town and gown': even if it is in our city and our county, the cutting-edge science does tend to go on behind closed doors.

Today's front page story reminds us that it is never a simple us-and-them division between the average folk of Oxfordshire and the boffins in the labs.

For every scientist working on the Oxford coronavirus vaccine there was a human guinea pig who volunteered to be injected with a trial version of the serum.

But as well as guinea pigs for research there are the cleaners who make sure all the hundreds of labs around the county are clean; there are the people who work in admin and HR and payroll for all those companies; the bus drivers who take them to work and the baristas who make their coffee every morning.

It might sound twee or cliche, but it really is one big machine, and we all need each other to operate.

Dare we say it, there is even a role played by the local newspaper. It's a system we are extremely proud to be a part of.