Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

You don’t have to stand for election to help strengthen democracy – there is a great deal that the public can do. And it does not involve getting a high profile either. In case you missed it, The King has accepted the Prime Minister’s recommendation to dissolve Parliament and commence arrangements for a general election.Continue reading “How can people interested in politics but who do not like party politics take an active part in the general election?”

Independent Councillor in St Neots, Cllr Stephen Ferguson is considering standing in the new St Neots and Mid Cambs constituency. Are any of you tempted? (Should I try and do similar in Cambridge to what I did in Queen Edith’s ward at last year’s city council elections?) It’s decision time following the shambolic setting ofContinue reading “Thinking of standing as an independent candidate for the general election in/around Cambridge?”

Expect general election candidates to be pressed hard over the extractive model of our planning system – including the long-feared application to demolish Hobson Street Cinema Image – Hideous Cambridge (2013) by Jones and Hall. If this application goes through they will need to produce a second volume! This post stems from three recent planning-relatedContinue reading “Developers rinsing Cambridge again”

She also re-stated proposals for controversial ‘grey belt’ proposals at the monster property gathering UKREiiF Image: How to be a Minister (2014) By former Labour Cabinet Minister John Hutton, and Leigh Lewis I picked up some things from the transcript of Ms Rayner’s speech (see link below) to the UKREiiF Conference. This is the LeedsContinue reading “Angela Rayner announces Labour’s criteria for new towns”

There were two former Conservative Cabinet Ministers in Cambridge today – both of whom held Cabinet posts in the current Parliament. (Also reminder of the Debate Not Hate campaign by the Local Government Association – especially with the general election looming) They were: And yet the contrast between the two visits could not have beenContinue reading “Two former Conservative Cabinet Ministers in Cambridge today – and the contrast was huge”

The selection of Lambeth Councillor Marianna Masters (Labour – Streatham Wells) as Labour’s MP-candidate for St Neots and Mid-Cambridgeshire has caused more than a little comment in a contest that might otherwise have seen a rematch between the three candidates that stood in South Cambridgeshire in 2019 The first anyone heard about it was aContinue reading “Labour selects Cllr Marianna Masters as their candidate for the new St Neots & Mid Cambs seat”

I’m old enough to remember civil service lectures on the importance of evidence-based policy-making. But what can we do if ministerial and executive-level decision-makers repeatedly ignore the evidence, resulting in our collective loss? Image: From the book How to be a global citizen Climate campaigner Lauren MacDonald from Glasgow gave this speech a year agoContinue reading “Lauren MacDonald’s masterclass on how our political and economic systems are failing in the climate emergency”

Will we get a splendid new civic quarter or will we end up with Brookgate-style blandness? See https://cambridgecivicquarter.co.uk/ for the details My own vision is a little different – have a look here. Above – inspiration from Graz City Hall in Austria (which I visited back in the mid-2000s) that provide for a nice template ofContinue reading “Cambridge Civic Quarter launches”

The Civil Society Consulting Community Interest Company published their guide in 2022 – but following the steps is easier said than done You can read their guide here. I’m not picking on this guide over the many others other than I stumbled across it/it was there. Furthermore, the criticisms and comments are more for theContinue reading “The structural barriers to following the 32 Steps to Togetherness guide”

It can seem overwhelming with all that is happening in and around our city, but we’ve faced similar challenges in decades gone by – eras that saw huge social, political, cultural, and technological changes that were not easy to predict ICYMI you can: My previous two blogposts refer to both of these. If your firstContinue reading “Creating collective responses to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus Housing Report”