Month: May 2013

The Cereste Shuffle

08:22 Thursday 23rd May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Well the Leader of Peterborough City Council has reshuffled his Cabinet team, following an extraordinary two weeks at the Town Hall. Marco Cereste will work without a Deputy, following a failed Leadership challenge earlier this month by his then Deputy Matthew Lee. Cllr Lee has been dropped from the Cabinet, along with disgraced Cllr Peter Hiller, who was recently convicted of causing criminal damage. Elsewhere, Cllr Gavin Elsey has been moved to the position of Culture, Recreation and Waste Management, and Cllr Nigel North moves to Environment Capital and Neighbourhoods, while Cllr Irene Walsh adds responsibility for Public Health and Communications to her Community Cohesion and Safety brief, and Cllr Matthew Dalton has left the Cabinet for family reasons. Well we can now speak to the man himself, Marco Cereste. Morning Marco.
MARCO CERESTE: Good morning Paul. You OK?
PAUL STAINTON: Yes I’m good, thank you. Very very good. memories of wrestling flooding through my mind this morning.
MARCO CERESTE: Oh well you see I’m old enough to remember all of that. It used to be great. You should have seen my grandma when they were wrestling. (HE LAUGHS)
PAUL STAINTON: Was she the one with the handbag?
MARCO CERESTE: She was in the ring with them. You should have seen it. It was great fun.
PAUL STAINTON: Anyway, you’ve had a bit of a wrestle with your new Cabinet, haven’t you? Two falls and a submission for Matthew Lee. Continue reading “The Cereste Shuffle”

Future Cities – The Integrity Of The Process

 

On 14th May on this website an article appeared entitled Peterborough DNA – Future Cities Demonstrator – Questions Arising.

There it was pointed out that the leading actor in a Peterborough bid for funding from the Technology Strategy Board appeared to redact substantial relevant and conflicting private business interests from the Peterborough City Council Register of Interests during the bidding process.

That information was published here, and two media organisations, one Member of Parliament, and four Peterborough City Councillors were directly advised that this information had been published. Continue reading “Future Cities – The Integrity Of The Process”

Privacy Security And Social Media

17:23 Friday 24th May 2013
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CHRIS MANN: The Government has defended the security services against criticism that they could have done more to prevent an attack which killed a soldier in London on Wednesday. It came out yesterday that the two main suspects had been known to MI5 for some time. Since the attack, calls for the so-called Snoopers Charter to be revived have gained momentum. Our political reporter Georgie Russell joins us from Westminster.
GEORGIE RUSSELL: Well I think Chris ever since it was made public that the two suspects in this case were known by the security services, naturally questions have been asked as to whether MI5, MI6, could have done more to stop this attack on Drummer Lee Rigby taking place. So the Government has come out today to say yes, and investigations will take place to find out what they knew, what action they took, whether mistakes were made and so on. But also the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles wanted to go on record and say quite clearly that MI5, MI6, have a very tough job with limited resources. Continue reading “Privacy Security And Social Media”

Neil Midgley On Woolwich And The Media Revolution

08:18 Friday 24th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: One face dominates the front page of this morning’s papers. The front page of the Times, the front of the Daily Mirror, the front of the Daily Mail, and in glorious technicolour on the front of the Sun this morning. It’s the face of a young soldier in a red uniform, Drummer Lee Rigby, brutally murdered in broad daylight on the streets of Woolwich. .. Fresh video footage has emerged of the aftermath of Wednesday’s attack. You can see one of the suspects charging armed police before being shot. The second suspect appears to have raised his handgun. More shots were fired, and he too drops to the ground. The two men remain under armed guard in separate hospitals this morning. They’ve been named as Michael Adebolajo who’s 28 and originally from Essex, and Michael Adebowale, 22 and from Greenwich. Detectives will question them as soon as they are well enough. Both men were known to security services, but were no longer under investigation. So far, six properties have been searched. Another two people, a man and a woman, have also been arrested, and Parliament will now investigate what the security services knew about the two main suspects. We can speak to media expert Neil Midgley, who joins us this morning. Neil, morning.
NEIL MIDGLEY: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: This appears to be a fast developing investigation. Continue reading “Neil Midgley On Woolwich And The Media Revolution”

New Leader For Cambs County Council 2013

07:07 Wednesday 22 May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: What a difference a day makes, doesn’t it? Yesterday morning Cambridgeshire County Council was leaderless and in no overall control. Now the Council has a Leader, and the system of governance has been turned upside down. The frontrunner for the Leader’s job, Tory Martin Curtis, was elected Leader with 32 votes, 16 more than rival candidate John Hipkin. But both the LibDems and Labour groups abstained from the vote. They did however vote on a new decision making framework. From May 2014 decisions will be made by all-party committees, rather than a Cabinet. Well Cllr Hipkin (Independent) said the public shouldn’t worry that the committee system will slow down decision making. (TAPE)
JOHN HIPKIN: If this is the way the County’s going to work over the next four years, then I think the people of Cambridgeshire can be reassured. We’ve made a number of sensible decisions. We’ve shown real cooperation between the groups. I think we’ve got on to friendly terms. There’s a good atmosphere in Shire Hall. I’m not sure how long it will last, but believe me it’s strong today.
SAMANTHA DALTON: And why did Labour and the LibDems abstain from voting for you as the Leader? Instead they chose to effectively allow the Tory Leader to come in and be voted for.
JOHN HIPKIN: Well I guess as you know in interviews of this sort one always says this, you’ll have to ask them why they did as they did. But my guess is neither of them was comfortable about forming an alliance. Particularly I think Labour members had a problem about making an administration with UKIP. And I think, if I may say so, I think some of them are more comfortable in opposition than they are for taking responsibility for government. Something which may interest your listeners, which is that UKIP voluntarily upon my request gave us two very important places on two very important committees, simply because they understood that we had a closer relationship with the communities in question that did they. Now say what you like about UKIP, but that’s what they have done. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well here to discuss it are Maurice Leeke, new Leader of the LibDems, and Phil Rodgers, a Cambridge based political blogger. Good morning gentlemen.
BOTH: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: First of all, Maurice, it all appears to be working wonderfully well so far. Everybody getting on, everybody sharing things, it’s like a beautiful vision in rainbow colours. Continue reading “New Leader For Cambs County Council 2013”

Upheaval At Cambs County Council

07:41 Tuesday 21st May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: A crunch meeting is being held at Shire Hall in Cambridge today to decide who if anyone will be the big cheese, the big honcho, the head man, the head woman at Cambridgeshire County Council, although there are not too many women councillors it has to be said. Since the local elections at the start of the month, no party has had a majority of seats, so will the Tory group decide to run the Council as a minority, or will the Council be run by a series of all-party committees? .. Antony Carpen is a Cambridgeshire based political commentator .. Were you surprised Antony when Nick Clarke lost his seat and the Council went into no overall control? Were you surprised in Cambridgeshire? Continue reading “Upheaval At Cambs County Council”

Asda Wisbech Licence Review Raises Wider Issues

17:48 Monday 20th May 2013
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CHRIS MANN: An Asda supermarket in Wisbech has been given a list of improvements to implement to save its alcohol licence. Repeated thefts of booze from the shop, and a stream of violent incidents led Cambridgeshire police to challenge their licence to sell alcohol. Inspector Robin Sissons has more. (TAPE)
ROBIN SISSONS: Well because of the economic climate being as it is at the moment, we’ve seen an increase in shoplifting. Now obviously normally we work in partnership with shops, and we have increased patrols in the shops. We sometimes put crime prevention cars out the front called the Rap car. Or we put literature in the shop and help wherever we can. On this occasion the staff didn’t seem to be willing to engage with the police, and in fact they were doing the opposite. They were really trying to detect crime by challenging people after they’d committed the crime, rather than trying to reduce crime by once identifying a possible offender, saying to them “excuse me, can we help you”, and trying to put them off the crime, rather than allowing them to commit it. So after three or four months of negotiations with the staff, it wasn’t going well, and mediation failed. So in the end we had to call a review, I’m afraid.
CHRIS MANN: So you’re challenging its licence. What happens next? Continue reading “Asda Wisbech Licence Review Raises Wider Issues”

New Leader For LibDems On Cambs County Council

07:23 Monday 20th May 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The LibDems in Cambridgeshire have changed their leader, just days before a big meeting that will decide who will lead the County Council. Former Leader Kilian Bourke has been ousted and replaced by the newly elected councillor for Waterbeach Maurice Leeke. Cllr Leake no stranger to Shire Hall, he’s led the Liberal Democrats before. I’m pleased to say Maurice is with us now. Morning.
MAURICE LEEKE: Morning.
PAUL STAINTON: So the new man, a new broom. What’s gone on? Have you all fallen out?
MAURICE LEEKE: No. No. Quite the reverse. Kilian has done an excellent job for us over the last couple of years, and particularly over the last couple of weeks, with the discussions that have been going on since the changes in the County Council elections.
KILIAN BOURKE: So why get rid of him now then, if he’s doing such an excellent job? Continue reading “New Leader For LibDems On Cambs County Council”