On Friday the 14th of August I attended a “meet Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright” event on the Market Square in Cambridge. The event was held the morning after Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright announced Alec Wood as his preferred candidate for appointment as Cambridgeshire’s Chief Constable. I asked Police and Crime Commissioner […]

At 16:55 on Thursday the 13th of August 2015 Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright announced Alec Wood as his preferred candidate for appointment as Cambridgeshire’s Chief Constable. The press release didn’t describe a very active role for the Police and Crime Commissioner in the appointments process, describing it as “overseen by the College […]

I have just experienced around twenty four hours of bizarre, unsubstantiated, attacks and slurs on Twitter led by the deputy leader of Cambridge City Council, Labour’s Cllr Carina O’Reilly. Cllr O’Reilly described me as “a hypocrite and a coward, and unethical in how he works – and a mysogynist” and “a tosser” and said “your […]

I have responded to Cambridge City Council’s consultation on proposed works at the Green Dragon Bridge between Chesterton and Abbey. I made the following points: I oppose the proposals to spend in the region of a hundred thousand pounds to remodel the approach ramp to the bridge. I don’t think this would achieve anything and […]

I have responded to Cambridge City Council’s consultation on its policies relating to trees in the city. Tree management in Cambridge is currently in disarray. The city is littered with tree stumps, empty tree pits, sites where trees have been removed and not replaced and saplings which have failed to become established and are broken, […]

Public access to part of Ditton Meadows near Fen Ditton appears to be at risk. Landowners Gonville & Caius college have recently installed new gates and have re-routed one of the most popular footpaths away from the riverside into the adjacent field. In my view Gonville & Caius’ actions have amounted to the obstruction of […]

A bizarre and relentless battle which been simmering in King’s Hedges over the past few years has recently stepped up in intensity. Residents of Alice Bell Close, Gladeside and George Nuttall Close have been breaking into and out of the estate where they live ever since it was built. Now one of the most popular, […]

According to signs which have just been put up on Fraser Road in North Cambridge cyclists are now permitted to use the pavement there. I suspect bungling council officers, or their contractors, have made a mistake and have put a new set of signs up in the wrong place. I plan to try and draw […]

I recently noticed advertising for summer holiday activities for children at Cambridge City Council’s sports facilities: Girls are offered dance sessions, netball, hula hooping, “boxercise”, “bootcamp” and indoor cycling – most at £2.50 a session. Boys are just offered £1.30 off the price of a swim between 2-4pm on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays (applies to […]

Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel is responsible for scrutinising the actions and decisions of Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner. On the basis of its scrutiny the panel can then make public recommendations to the Police and Crime Commissioner. At the February 2014 meeting of Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel I sought to use the public […]