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Spotting Waste in the Conservative’s Right to Know Forms
I read through the Conservative’s new Right to Know parliamentary expenses forms last week, and spotted that Tony Baldry, Conservative MP for Banbury, has an entry for: “Website hire” – at £1882.94 for the three months covered by the form so he’s paying £7531.76/year for http://www.tonybaldry.org.uk and he’s only renting it. This makes his website […]
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Stonehenge Management and Environmental Improvements
In March 2006 I responded to a Department for Transport Consultation on the options for altering the roads around Stonehenge. The decision made following that consultation was that any alteration to the A303 – either burying it or moving it – was unaffordable. As of July 2008 there is now another consultation on the subject […]
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Police Consulatative Meeting – Arbury Ward
I have just returned from a police consultative meeting at the Meadows Community Centre, the meeting was publicised as being to discuss Anti-Social Behaviour in the ward of Arbury. No council officers attended, apparently due to them being on strike, although the national council worker’s strike doesn’t start until tomorrow. About 14 members of the […]
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Stop and Account – Compliance with PACE codes in Cambridge
David Howarth (MP for Cambridge), In April 2008 the police in Cambridge decided to abolish the stop and account / encounter form. I am writing to you now as I have today received confirmation from Detective Superintendent Jeff Hill of Cambridgeshire police that in abolishing the stop and account form in Cambridge the police have […]
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Stop and Account – Cambridge Police Confirm They Ignore PACE Code A
I have today received the below response to some of my questions relating to the operation of stop and account / encounter procedures in Cambridge. The officer in charge of stop and account in Cambridgeshire has confirmed in the email reproduced below that Cambridgeshire Police are ignoring PACE Code A with respect to the procedure […]
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Majid Ahmed: When is a Referral Order Spent? Should the Innocent Ever Plead Guilty?
I have just commented on the article on the Imperial College student run news website Live! on a prospective medical student who had his medical school place taken away from him due to a referral order he had received following a burglary at the age of 15. In a Guardian article the prospective student has […]
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Conservative Party Patronage
Does Boris Johnston have a subscription to the Private Eye? Perhaps given his connections with the Spectator he might avoid the faux-pas of being seen on the Eye’s subscriber list, but then if he had been reading it he might have avoided the more serious disaster which befell him today when his Deputy Mayor, Ray […]
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City Wide Police Priorities in Cambridge
At the April 2008 North Area Committee meeting councillors removed burglary as a police priority, a decision which baffled me given the fact the Police reported to that meeting that burglary in the North Area: “remains high when compared to other areas of the City”. Councillors Nimmo-Smith and Pitt justified the committee’s decision when when […]
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Improving the Mechanism for Setting Police Priorities in Cambridge
I met with John Fuller, Community Engagement Officer, Cambridgeshire Police and Paul Griffin Strategy Officer (Community Safety) of Cambridge City Council at the Council offices on Regent Street in Cambridge this afternoon. This meeting was idea of the chair of North Area Committee meeting, who decided to ask me to attend it as a response […]
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Police Uniforms
Andy Harper’s morning show on BBC Radio Cambridge was discussing police uniforms this morning, with some listeners getting in touch complaining about scruffy police. I joined in the discussion: “One of our local policemen already gets himself dressed up like robocop with his tac-vest, armor, CS gas, baton, water bottle, three mobiles all flashing away […]