If the future is Whittlesey students, the future is good..

Last weekend I was part of a team of staff and students (with me as a token Governor) taking part in a 24 hour relay at Sir Harry Smith Community College, with five teams of four or five each keeping exercise bikes going for a total of 24 hours. Each person contributed at least 4 hours worth of cycling in half hour stints, suffering sleep deprivation, my sense of humour and some pretty sore backsides.

Of course it was great to raise money for a good cause, but actually there are more reasons than that to be lad to have taken part.  Top of the list has to be to observe and chat to the students, who despite tiredness, lack of sleep and a lack of sensible sleeping arrangements behaved impeccably, with no-one complaining and everyone joining in in some way or another in the spirit of the occasion.  I was so impressed with everything about the night, but especially how the students coped with the circumstances - and I should stress these were students of all ages, not just from the top years of the school.  I know they all went home feeling tired, I hope each and every one of them went home feeling proud, I certainly felt privileged to have been part of the event.

I would also like to thank Vesuvio for the marale boosting pizzas at aabout 9 o'clock Friday night.  A really nice and well appreciated gesture.

Cambridgeshire Lib Dems are Liars: Exhibit No 7674

I sit down and think, right I must try not to focus on the Lib Dems for the next few weeks, people already get the idea from reading my blog that they are a deceitful bunch, but then something else comes up that is so outrageous I just can't ignore it.

Cambridgeshire Lib Dems latest deceit falls into that category.  Before I get into detail, let me ask you a question.  If you ask the postman to deliver a letter and then he actually does the job, who has done the delivery?  Exactly, the postman, the guy who has done the job.

So it can be safe to assume that when the Lib Dems claim that they have "delivered" the North Cambridge Railway Station, they have been integral to the decision-making and that they had done something more than just ask for it to happen.   Well, the truth is, they have claimed they "delivered" it, and yet have done nothing except be one of the many organisations lobbying for it to happen. They also say that "Lib Dems in Government approved the station" - which is either an absolute lie or shows the true distance that they have been from the decision-making process.  The decision to "approve" the Station was one made by the County Council's Conservative Cabinet, in consultation with the ruling Conservative Group.  It was facilitated by an agreement from Theresa Villiers, a Conservative Minister, that the Government would include any Cambridge Science Park Railway Station in future rail franchise agreements - but the approval was made by the Conservative Cabinet.  The means of funding, and the renewed vigour for the Station was a combination of work from County Council officers based on a vision from Nick Clarke, the Conservative Leader of the Council and challenge from the Cabinet, including Ian Bates, the Conservative Lead on the matter.  Absolutely no Lib Dems have been involved in delivering this project, absolutely none.

Just to make this point there are a few questions that need to be asked:

1.  Would this project have happened without the Lib Dems?   The answer is absolutely yes.   The original scoping for the Station was done by the previous administration - also Conservative and the new vigour and emphasis came from the Conservative Leader of the Council.

2.  Could this project have happened without the support of the Conservative administration.  The answer quite clearly from what is above, is that it would not.

Interestingly,in a debate on Twitter over this Lib Dem lie, not one of the three that has engaged has challenged my answers to these questions.  Instead they comment about the fact that I have once again got somewhat irate about Lib Dem behaviour.  I would argue that the world would be a better place if politicians spent more time challenging dishonesty rather than behaving dishonestly like the Lib Dems have in this case.

Torch Relay Route Announcements

The magnificent quadrangle at Trinity College

Today saw the detailed announcement of the Olympic Torch Relay routes through Peterborough, Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives.  The individual routes can be found here.

I am really chuffed with what has been announced for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.  Whilst we have had very little say in the decision-making for the County, we did sell the vision of sending the torch around the quadrangle at Trinity College to replicate the Chariots of Fire run, and the idea of using a punt for some of the route.  Both of these have been incorporated into the plans as part of the exit out of Cambridge on 8th July, with the entry into the City on 7h July coming through Newmarket Road and Mill Road prior to an evening celebration at Parker's Piece.  The routes through St Ives and Huntingdon, offer a similar combination of the scenic and the highly visible, and the route to the embankment in Peterborough on 3rd July includes a trip on the Nene Valley railway.

Torch Bearers posing for Cambridge First

The reason this is important is because I see the torch relay as having two purposes, one is to bring the Olympics out to Britain, to make it less London-centric,giving the opportunity for the whole country to have an involvement through getting the chance to see the torch and the procession, the other role is to provide an opportunity to send iconic images that sell Cambridgeshire around the world to make sure we capitalise on a tourism boom that we know will follow in the years after the Olympics.  The routes in Cambridgeshire offer a perfect combination of those two.

We did a big press call for the announcement at Trinity College this morning, where I featured live on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and recorded interviews for print, radio and for Anglia TV, along with Cambridge City Council representatives and some of our Torch Bearers.  I was extremely reassured to find that the torch bearers were exactly the sort of inspirational people I had been told the selection process would produce.

Links to various news stories are here:

Hunts Post          Cambridge News           BBC News           Anglia News   

Peterborough Evening Telegraph           Cambridge First

Reasons to never, ever, ever trust the Lib Dems No 6,000,007.

People often ask me about my oft repeated mantra that the Lib Dems will do and say anything for electoral advantage, here is more evidence to support that line of thought.  Their latest line is that they are delivering 75% of their manifesto.  Well, the truth is probably best found by looking at their pledge card from the last election:

I am glad they are not delivering on most of this stuff (not all - but most).   But the point is this.  Never, ever, ever trust the Liberal Democrats.

I still fear for the coalition's future because as soon as the Lib Dems can see advantage in pulling out of it, they will - they will do it when it is right for them, irrespective of what it means for Britain.

Government Advisor's Report on Improving Alternative Education Provision

When I was previously Cabinet Member for Children at the County Council I was involved in the development of a different approach to managing alternative tuition in schools (which in very brief terms means dealing with children who for whatever reason are struggling to scope with mainstream schools). This approach involved devolving finances for the management of these children back to schools to encourage them to take better responsibility for their decisions.  Whilst I did occasionally have to stand up and be counted to defend our plans, there was overall a huge amount of support and some excellent listening, working and leadership from officers in Cambridgeshire and from secondary head teachers in our County.  Because of this it is now a system that works well, with many fewer students being excluded and sent to Pupil Referral Units and an overall reduction in costs.


I was delighted to be told today that our approach has been recognised as an example of good practice in a report by Charlie Walker, the Government's Expert Advisor on Behaviour. (The reference to Cambridgeshire can be found on Page 11 of the report)

I hope lots of officers and teachers around the County are patting themselves on the back today for the work they have done - it is an example of a direct link between innovation and the improvement of people's lives.   That's the sort of thing we as Councillors should be about.

Pleasantly surprised

One of my tasks for today was to attend a couple of meetings with our providers of home and residential care.  The aim of the meetings was to give an overview of fees and costs for next year which is not a great story given the financial circumstances we are in; in particular it means we cannot give the sort of uplift that some would be looking for.  I gave a short introduction to the meetings, giving the political perspective about Council finances and our prevention and transformation agenda in Adult Social Care and was also there to respond to questions.

I expected to be given a bit of a rough ride and was incredibly surprised by the response.  Yes there was some concern about costs - actually the most significant concern was about the impact of fuel costs on our providers, which I pledged to write to Ministers about, but actually the meeting was really productive with providers talking as much about future possibilities and the willingness to work with us on the sort of transformation vision we have.

It really gave me heart that, although times are tough, the agenda we have as a County Council is the right one.

A bit of humour..

This was one of two pictures I found on a Wisbech Facebook page following yesterday's Cabinet visit.  It made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. (It's also a good bit of photo shopping!)