Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

A decade after I first blogged about loneliness, it is now a local as well as a national public policy issue – see the House of Commons Library earlier in 2021. My previous blogposts include: The curses of loneliness and isolation – Sept 2011 Overcoming society’s problem with loneliness – Dec 2013 Loneliness – andContinue reading “Cambridgeshire vs loneliness – what do we need to deal with this challenge?”

The closure was announced in March 2021 and was missed by many – myself included. What does the decision by Reach PLC mean for a growing city like Cambridge to have its only daily newspaper being entirely virtual? Ever since Reach PLC took over the Cambridge News, I’ve been concerned at the direction that itContinue reading “The impact of the Cambridge News no longer having a Cambridge-based office”

The ones from Victorian times only dealt with things like street paving and lamp posts. But at least people knew what they were there to do. I mentioned the old Improvement Commissioners in my previous blogpost – who were initially empowered by Acts of Parliament to improve the streets in a given town. A 21st CenturyContinue reading “The Greater Cambridge Improvement Commissioners – revamping local government”

When shown some of the proposals, none of them were impressed. The roots of the problem however, lie just as much in Whitehall as they do in the Guildhall, Shire Hall (old and new), and the South Cambridgeshire Administrative Facility on the edge of Cambourne. This follows on from my post about the staff ofContinue reading “Nearly all of the healthcare staff I met while in hospital had not heard of Greater Cambridge busway plans”

This time it was most definitely a heart attack – the angiogram spotting a huge blockage in one of my arteries that wasn’t there in the 2017 scan and that none of the other tests were able to pick up. My last blogpost was published on Tues 07 December 2021 – a day where IContinue reading “Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth save my life. Again.”

For example where people are waiting for something…like their vaccinations for CV19. (Or bus stops. Or GP waiting rooms. Probably not very busy places like Accident & Emergency Units – I found myself in Addenbrooke’s again after a severe allergic reaction the like of which I’d never had before. …with paramedics taking me to A&EContinue reading “If you want to get more people responding to your consultations, go to where your audience is.”

You can watch their exchanges on Politics East from 22mins in here, which includes comments from the minister responsible, Neil O’Brien MP for the Conservatives. Part of me wanted to pretend that both had been reading this blog regularly in the run up to appearing on BBC Politics East on Sunday 05 Dec 2021 (seeContinue reading “Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner, & County Council Leader Cllr Lucy Nethsingha criticise Tory devolution model live on telly”

…and Cambridgeshire institutions & campaign groups need to have a look to improve upon proposals that have too many gaps at this stage. See https://www.transporteast.org.uk/public-consultation/ “If I was Haverhill, I’d complain!” Or words to that effect. Above – detail of Transport East’s strategic corridors. Now let’s compare it to the recommendations of the 1969 RoyalContinue reading “Transport East need to talk to their Cambridgeshire counterparts on their long term transport strategy”

Cambridge Connect Light Rail in partnership with a number of supporting organisations and parish councils has published an extensive and in-depth prospectus demonstrating how light rail can help solve Cambridge’s century-long problem with the motor car. William Plowden’s epic covers the national historical picture – available here for a fiver One of the earliest reportsContinue reading “Now *this* is what a real transport plan for the future looks like”

…but some new risks have arisen on his bus expansion proposals – ones which will need the assistance of local councils to help resolve. Once again it’s housing-related. It was a jam-packed agenda for the Combined Authority Board Meeting yesterday (24 Nov 2021) – one where the Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cllr BridgetContinue reading “Mayor Nik Johnson takes on long-time further education cold spots”