-
Peter Murry-Rust on Liberating Facts from the Scientific Literature
Peter Murry-Rust spoke at mySociety‘s meet-up in Cambridge on the 4th of November 2014 about the project he leads, The Content Mine, which aspires to liberate facts from scientific literature. I have produced a video and transcript of the speech: mySociety is one of the most wonderful things to have come out of the bottom-up […]
-
Labour Taking Control of Cambridge City Council
Following the election result on the morning of the 23rd of May 2014 I went on Paul Stainton’s Bigger Breakfast show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to discuss Labour taking control of Cambridge City Council. I have transcribed the elements of the show relating to Cambridge, which include exchanges with the outgoing council leader Liberal Democrat […]
-
Cambridge Univeristy VC Says Elsevier Are Rich Enough Already
Speaking on the 28th of April 2014 the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, Leszek Borysiewicz, commented on the amount the university is paying to publisher Elsevier. He said: Yes we spend money with Elsevier. Do I regret spending money with Elsevier? By and large yes I do because I think they’re rich enough already. and: […]
-
Three Day Week for Cambs Police and Crime Commissioner Bright
Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright is only working a three day week. Graham Bright’s Diary was released following a Freedom of Information request by Paul Lythgoe. The released material appears to show Graham Bright is asking his staff not to schedule events during two weekdays each week. In the week commencing the 9th […]
-
GPs Withhold Ambulance Service Funding Due to Lack of Plan to Improve Response Times
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group is currently withholding 2% of the money it usually pays each month to the East of England Ambulance Service. The Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is a group of local GPs and others which is responsible for buying the region’s ambulance service from the ambulance service. Withholding 2% of the […]
-
Cambs Police and Crime Commissioner Costing More Than Police Authority
Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright has released details of how much he has spent running his office in his first year. The commissioner spent the astronomical sum of: £885,312.99 on his office between November 2012 and November 2013. This figure was not pro-actively released by the commissioner, but obtained via a Freedom of […]
-
Taxpayer Should Fund Science Based on Excellence of Proposals
On the 20th of August 2012 Cambridge MP Julian Huppert announced the publication of a science policy paper he has produced. Huppert is expected to ask Liberal Democrats to adopt his paper as their party policy during the upcoming party conference in September 2012. One phrase in the paper stands out for me: Decisions about […]
-
Snowy Farr Statue Unveiled
On the 7th of August 2012 I watched the unveiling of a statue of charity fundraiser Snowy Farr outside the Guildhall in Cambridge. It has been reported the statue cost £50,000. In my view spending this sum of public money to commemorate a fund-raiser doesn’t make sense, it amounts to somewhere around half of what […]
-
Cambridgeshire County Council Independent Remuneration Panel Public Meeting
On the 27th of February 2012 I attended a public meeting called by Cambridgeshire County Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel and held in Cambridge. The panel is charged with recommending the level of expenses and allowances which councillors ought receive from the council. Councillors will ultimately decide their own expenses and allowances scheme at a full […]
-
Standards Committee Deems Allowance Rise Process Flawed
Photo from the Standards Committee Meeting. Left: M Sanders Independent member. Middle: Head of Legal Quentin Baker. Right: Chair Mr D Boreham. On the 1st of November 2011 I observed a Cambridgeshire County Council standards committee meeting at which the committee refused to retrospectively approve the appointment of an independent renumeration panel which had been […]