Category Archives: Uncategorized

The only qualification you need to become a politician is a mandate from the people at the ballot box – or so the various sayings go. Yet recent decades have exposed the limitations of this as one of the very few checks on an aspiring politician’s rise up the political ladder. Prof Sir Geoff MulganContinue reading “Geoff Mulgan’s case for training politicians”

…with the big stick of ‘If we do nothing, Michael Gove gets to turn Cambridge into a theme park where on the outside you have pastiche buildings and on the inside you have sci-tech things only, making money for developers but where no water flows out of the taps.’ Sounds reasonable? Actually, I was writingContinue reading “Turning grassroots-based ‘future of Cambridge’ ideas into actions”

Cambridge City Council’s Citizenlab website (where council consultations are hosted) has just announced proposals for a North Cambridge Design Code for new and revamped buildings. But doesn’t the council need to ensure more residents know the essentials about how our city functions – and our place within it as individuals and collectively, in order toContinue reading “Helping people understand how the city of Cambridge functions”

TL/DR? See the papers from the Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning (IFLL), commissioned in the late 2000s. Above – some of the papers produced for the IFLL. The phrase according to the IFLL’s Sector Paper 5 – A learning City Perspective (click here, scroll down) came from when Southampton became a unitary council,Continue reading “Cambridge: What would it mean to become a city of learning for the many, not the few?”

TL/DR? On Adult ADHD and an article that resonates with my own experience This is sort of on the back of an earlier post about my 3am brain dumps that I save to my phone. Turns out in the extensive comments posted in response to the article by Noelle Faulkner in The Guardian – alsoContinue reading ““I find myself angry and sad, mourning on behalf of my younger self.””

Because my brain doesn’t seem to switch off, and I otherwise forget things by the morning. Earlier this year, one of the people at the Queen Edith’s Food Hub community cafe (that happens at the same time as the Saturday food hubs – which provide free food packages for anyone that needs it) asked meContinue reading “Brain dump – from the random ideas saved on my phone, normally at 3am”

Newcastle has one – The Farrell Centre which “is a vital new platform for debating the future of architecture and planning, ensuring that everyone has a voice in this critical conversation.“ TL/DR? Read: You don’t need me to tell you why such a venue and facility could be transformational for the future of Cambridge. IfContinue reading “An Urban Room for Cambridge”

The Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, former MEP Cllr Lucy Nethsingha (LibDems – Newnham) speaks out on Gove’s plan for our city She was quoted in New Civil Engineer magazine here. What’s also been noticeable is the number of Artificial-Intelligence-Generated images (in particular this thread from Create Streets) doing the rounds that have resulted variousContinue reading ““I find the idea that a secretary of state should be the arbiter of what is beautiful for Cambridge deeply concerning.””

Furthermore, they should incorporate suitable learning materials from citizenship courses designed for schools, tailored for lifelong learning audience into their basic maths and english courses. (Image = cover of How to be a global citizen) TL/DR? The Combined Authority has a meeting of its Education & Skills Committee on 04 Sept 2023. As I alreadyContinue reading “The Combined Authority should commission GCSE citizenship & democracy evening classes”

TL/DR? Overhaul our local government structures and create a Unitary Council – you can read his thoughts here. Also don’t forget the petition for a new Royal Commission to overhaul local government in England! I’ve known Chris for a number of years – he’s a former Conservative Councillor for Coleridge Ward back in Gordon Brown’sContinue reading ““Building a Greater Cambridge” by Chris Howell”