Blog Posts

  • Lib Dem controlled council – serious financial problems

    The Lib Dem run Cambridge City Council has revealed, to the press, a serious financial problem. Failure to correctly account for public finances is a serious issue which would normally ensure political heads roll. I have one particular concern. Cambridge City estimates and collects the council tax for Cambridge. The county council element of the… Read more

  • Cabinet – Lib Dems demanding brand new county hall

    When I chair Cabinet I often hear comments from opposition members, some are interesting, some valid but mostly its about point scoring if the press are there. Today I was astonished to hear Lib Dem Leader Killian Bourke demand a brand new county council headquarters building. Building a shiny new HQ is not my priority… Read more

  • Local Politics

    Local politics is interesting. In some places there are Unitary Authorities. This means that there are one set of councillors looking after most services. Unitary authorities need to be of certain size to work or things go wrong when there is insufficient critical mass. A realistic size for us would be a county wide unitary.… Read more

  • Study shows Cambridge is EU’s most succesful tech cluster

    A new study by Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK), has revealed that Cambridge is Europe’s most successful technology cluster, having produced 10 companies valued at more than $1 billion, and two valued at more than $10 billion. In total, Cambridge has over 1,525 high-tech companies, employing more than 53,000 people. In 2011, these… Read more

  • Liam Fox draws new Tory battle lines on Europe

    He will call for the Tories to go into the next general election with their main slogan on the issue as: “Back to a common market.” Liam Fox on Europe Read more

  • Superfast broadband for our rural communities is coming

    The subject of broadband is confusing. In Cambridgeshire there are three things going on. Firstly, commercial suppliers continue to upgrade exchanges to provide Superfast broadband at no cost to the public purse because it makes commercial sense to them. These are typically higher density populations. Secondly, the county council is investing in what are called… Read more