Blog Posts

  • Arbury – how can we help?

    A few weeks ago, after a visit to the excellent Manor school, I asked officers some searching questions about Arbury. I want to know why the reputation is poor, yet when I walk through the area it feels like a great place, lots of open space, clean and non of the obvious signs of deprivation… Read more

  • Relative poverty

    Comparing ourselves with others seems to be a human trait. We compare wealth, what sort of cars we have, how we look and where we live. We use relative judgement rather than absolute. Often we use this relative judgement to make ourselves feel more successful even though it makes others feel bad about themselves. Not… Read more

  • Vice Chancellor shares vision for Cambridgeshire

    For some time I have wondered why the county council and the university don’t work closer together. In particular, I am keen to develop and share a common vision for Cambridgeshire so we are all pulling together. The university is a significant organisation with an extremely strong brand internationally. Yesterday I had a meeting with… Read more

  • Cambridgeshire success story

    The week starts with the gloomy national news that almost 40 percent of households have seen their finances deteriorate and income from employment has fallen for the eleventh month running. Despite this national back drop it really struck me that Cambridgeshire is making fantastic inroads into bucking this trend and building infrastructure for a secure… Read more

  • Autonomy bought by HP

    I was grateful that HP contacted me to let me know about them acquiring Autonomy, before I read about it in the press. Not only did I get an email but also a phone call the next day. This is good in a number of ways. Firstly, it means that HP are working the patch… Read more

  • Northstowe

    One of our barriers to economic success is the lack of suitable housing in many areas of the county. We are particularly short of housing to support the growth of Cambridge as the tech centre of Europe. Several years ago Northstowe was selected as the site for a new town to ease housing pressure on… Read more