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Councillors Debate Thoday Street Cycle Parking
Councillors at Cambridge’s East Area Committee on the 28th of November 2013 were not keen on giving just one car parking space on Thoday Street, Romsey, over to parking for 8+ bikes. The meeting was told that a council survey of Thoday Street residents found about half of those responding in favour of the proposals […]
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Police and Crime Commissioner Bright on Spying on Student Unions
At the session of the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday the 26th of November 2013 Cambridge MP Julian Huppert asked Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright about the police spying on students unions. This follows a Guardian article: Police tried to spy on Cambridge students, secret footage shows based on footage taken by […]
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Suggesting Questions to Julian Huppert for Police and Crime Commissioner Bright at the Home Affairs Select Committee
Julian Huppert MP, I have noticed our Police and Crime Commissioner, Graham Bright, is due to appear in front of you and other MPs at the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday the 26th of November 2013. I would like to share some ideas for questions, which I think are both firmly […]
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Video – Cambridge North Area Committee – 21 November 2013
I did not point the camera at two members of the public who I was aware had expressed a wish not to be filmed when invited to “opt out” by the chair at the start of the meeting. These were: Michael Bond, the planning representative of the Old Chesterton Residents Association; a representative of the […]
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Silly Rule 31(2)(b)
Image: Houses of Parliament, London, Monet c.1904 When looking at how Cambridge MP Julian Huppert has voted on housing benefit reform I came across a rather odd House of Commons rule which made it difficult to interpret some of his votes (or abstentions). The weird rule is found in Standing Order 31(2)(b); its effect is […]
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Julian Huppert on Housing Benefit Reform
MP @JulianHuppert voted to allow housing benefit be cut for ppl with "spare" bedrooms but opposes way it’s being done http://t.co/Mp8IDeTCPD — Richard Taylor (@RTaylorUK) November 18, 2013 Cambridge MP Julian Huppert voted to allow housing benefit to be cut for those deemed to have spare bedrooms but opposes the way it’s being done. On the […]
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Labour’s Candidate to be Cambridge’s MP Seeks Advice from Alastair Campbell on How to Be Popular
The Labour Party’s Prospective candidate to become Cambridge’s MP at the 2015 general election, Daniel Zeichner, has sought advice on how to be popular from ex Labour spinner Alastair Campbell. Mr Campbell’s advice to Zeichner was: Don’t calculate too much. Go with your gut. This appeared to me to be a direct challenge to the […]
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Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel – 6th November 2013
No panel members had any questions on those decisions the commissioner put to them for scrutiny. The panel debated the route by which complaints against the commissioner ought be raised. They decided the panel’s chair (or vice-chair in his absence) would sift complaints alongside the commissioner’s Chief of Staff. I have provided separate updates on: […]
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Cambridge Community Safety Partnership October 2013
Cambridge Community Safety Partnership met on the 29th of October 2013. The most notable thing in my view was the complete absence of any elected representatives. Cambridge has 56 councillors (42 City and 14 County) but none attended this key meeting at which the police, and other bodies, report their performance agains the city wide […]
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New Law on Filming Meetings of Local Government Bodies
On the 25th of October 2013 the Minister for Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, announced a “new press freedom law to open up town halls”. Very rapidly after that announcement, on Monday the 28th of October MPs in the House of Commons agreed to instruct the Local Audit and Accountability Bill Committee to add a […]