Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Cambridge Room opposite Boots in the Grafton Centre will be open from 10am-5pm on 10 May 2025. I start off things with a workshop on democracy. Have a watch of this short reel here The timetable is as follows: Above – I can’t pose to save my life. At a previous Trials of DemocracyContinue reading “The Trials of Democracy at The Cambridge Room”

In the meantime, the Cambridge Growth Company has a new website – and has appointed new consultants You can read the CPCA announcement here. Of the six points, the one that stands out for me is: “Pushing an alternative route for East-West rail: The Mayor has written to the East-West Rail Company to propose how aContinue reading “New Mayor of the CPCA promises to get things moving – starting with East West Rail”

As the incoming Mayor for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough said, if he doesn’t work with politicians from other parties, he will fail – and so will they So here in Cambridge we have: Can they play nicely together? And that’s before considering the Cambridge Growth Company and its new powers, plus the University of Cambridge whichContinue reading “The confused Cambridge governance set up – how will it function?”

Former Peterborough MP Paul Bristow wins the Combined Authority for the Conservatives, but his party collapses at the county council elections ***Well wasn’t that a dull and boring election contest?!?*** This is how the county looks. Above – all change at New Shire Hall Cllr Dupre held onto her county seat even though she wasContinue reading “Five-party politics arrives in Cambridgeshire”

…but will it be enough to keep hold of the mayoralty? I shouldn’t count my chickens and all that but the results won’t be known until 3pm tomorrow. So for those of you wanting reading material before then… …Well, I’m still of the view that it’s too close to call and that the state ofContinue reading “The Deputy PM, Foreign Secretary, and Chancellor all turned out to support Anna Smith on polling day…”

Read the report by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge This follows on from recent work by the RSA on social capital. “In his RSA CEO Lecture 2025, Andy Haldane highlights how weakened social bonds harm communities in our connected world. He calls for a rebuilding of trust and unity,Continue reading “On measuring social and cultural infrastructure”

For those of you who have not decided who to vote for, have a watch of the Resilience Web Hustings If you can help cover the outstanding costs of the event… …please donate via the link here. There is a wider conversation that Cambridge needs to have about organising, hosting, and funding the public debatesContinue reading “NEW VIDEO: Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Mayoral Hustings in Cambridge”

I asked them directly and they got back to me. Which is splendid! Few people are aware that they can contact any government department directly to ask a question about government policy. Responses to members of the public are normally responded to by junior civil servants, countersigned by a middle manager. If the correspondence isContinue reading “Department for Transport’s policy on light rail”

Furthermore, the collapse of social media platforms as mediums of political exchange and debate bodes ill for our democracy TL/DR? Watch the candidates set out their public transport vision for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough here. (The full debate will follow when I’m fully recharged after the inevitable bout of Post-Exertional Malaise that follows anything I doContinue reading “Why was the Resilience Web mayoral hustings the only publicly accessible debate between the candidates?”

I wrote this piece for the Queen Edith’s Community Forum as part of their local election coverage. In the early 2000s the Electoral Commission published a video titled I don’t do politics. It was in part in response to the very low turnout at the 2001 General Election – one that the recent general electionContinue reading “On democracy and elections”