Cameron wary on broadcast debates

11:11 Thursday 5th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We were promised, I think promised, or it was mooted, we were going to get two possibly even three TV debates. But now it seems we may get one or none at all. David Cameron says he’ll only do one debate. So is the Prime Minister chicken? .. That’s what David Cameron’s political rivals are saying now he’s refused to take part in the head-to-heads with Labour Leader Ed Miliband. The Tories say he will now only do one TV election debate, and it has to include at least seven party leaders, and it has to happen before the start of the official election campaign. Our political reporter is Robin Chrystal. Morning Robin. .. So is he running chicken here? Why would he?
ROBIN CHRYSTAL: Well his answer is no I’m not running chicken at all. I’m prepared to have a debate. No sitting Prime Minister has done that before. He says the broadcasters have been mucking him about. They haven’t consulted him about what they wanted to do. If they’d consulted him first he would have said we need to have some of the other parties involved. He wanted the Greens in particular. Then he said the broadcasters came forward with a formula and didn’t consult him again. So his answer is look, this is my final offer, I will have one ninety minute debate but it must include all the parties including the Labour Party obviously, himself, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP, the Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymru. But just listen to this: David Cameron back in 2010, when he was actually Leader of the Opposition and Gordon Brown and Labour were Prime Minister.
(TAPE)
DAVID CAMERON: There are Parliamentary systems that do have television debates. We’ve seen them in Italy, in Australia, in Poland. And I have to ask him. The Prime Minister has no, in principle objection. When he was Shadow Chancellor he did a television debate against my Right Hon Friend the then Chancellor of the Exchequer. So I have to ask him, what on earth is he frightened of?
(LIVE) Continue reading “Cameron wary on broadcast debates”

Jonathan Djanogly on immigration and UKIP

11:22 Wednesday 4th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’ve been talking immigration this morning as UKIP Leader Nigel Farage has been setting out his party’s plans for a points-based visa system. Recently the party proposed a cap of 50,000 people a year, compared to the 300,000 currently entering the country. Now Nigel Farage is refusing to come up with a target figure this time, but he did say under the Auatralian system he supports 27,000 people would have been allowed to come here in the last year.(TAPE)
NIGEL FARAGE: That number will vary a bit every year. But all of those people that come will have to bring with them health insurance, and will not be able to claim benefits of any kind until they’ve been here and paid into the tax system for five years. And that I think is a fair way of dealing with people that want to come to Britain to work.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Now we had Rupert Read on from the Greens earlier, who said that there’s a better way to deal with immigration. That’s to sort out the problems at source, and then people wouldn’t want to come here. A sort of Utopian vision is what the Greens were presenting. We also heard from Heidi Allen as well, who threatened to quit if David Cameron doesn’t come up with the promised referendum in 2017.
(TAPE)
HEIDI ALLEN: It’s such a fundamental position of constant integrity that David Cameron has made to the British people, and I’m a member of the British people as well. And if that came to pass, if a referendum, you know, obviously we need to be in power in May, but you know it would be going back on one of the things that’s most emotive to people in this country. And that would be deceitful.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Yes. Well let’s get the view now of Jonathan Djanogly, the MP for Huntingdon. Jonathan, good morning.
JONATHAN DJANOGLY: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Most of our listeners it has to be said, I would say, 95% of the people listening to this show, sixty odd thousand, are pretty much in favour of what Nigel Farage is saying this morning. Where stand you?
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Steve Sweeney – the future of Hinchingbrooke Hospital

08:10 Wednesday 4th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Hinchingbrooke Hospital says their priority is their patients, and they want to become a top rated Hospital. Deidre Fowler spoke at a meeting of Huntingdonshire District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny panel last night. Councillors and members of the public gathered to hear about the future of the Hospital . The private company who run it you’ll remember, Circle, are pulling out of their contract. Sarah Varey our reporter went to the meeting.
(TAPE)
SARAH VAREY: A committee meeting like any other in the Civic Suite at Pathfinder House, except the twenty or so seats in the public gallery were almost full of people hoping to find out just what the future holds for the Hospital .
PUBLIC ONE: I’ve got a copy of the Care Quality Commission report (342k pdf). I’m just interested to see what the Chief Executive is proposing for the future. But from where I sit, he shouldn’t be there to propose anything for the future, because they’ve already failed. I’m very interested in the future. I’m actually passionate about it.
SARAH VAREY: As a patient?
PUBLIC ONE: Both as a patient and as a member of the public. I’ve been one probably of their most frequent fliers over the last six years, both as an in-patient and an out-patient. And I think the wonderful staff there are being constantly let down by poor inefficient management.
SARAH VAREY: There was a growing air of anticipation as Item 4 on the agenda was reached, a presentation by Circle CEO Hisham Abdel-Rahman. It came in the form of a multi-coloured Powerpoint presentation, using pie-charts and graphs to represent the causes behind the Care Quality Commission’s highly critical report. A selection of pre-sub,itted questions from members of the public were then put to Dr Abdel-Rahman and three members of the executive board and the Trust board alongside him.. They covered mostly old ground. When did Circle realise the financial situation was deteriorating? What were the contributing factors? Questions from the Scrutiny Panel followed, with a heartfelt plea from one who’s a nurse at the Hospital , asking why no-one told the staff that all was far from well. There followed more coloured graphics headed ‘A realistic view of an improvement journey.’ and delivered by the Director of Nursing Midwifery and Quality, Deidre Fowler. She emphasised the number one priority, to put the patients first, and affirmed their ambition to become a top-rated Hospital , adding ‘we’re downtrodden but not beaten’. Amanda Buckenham from the We Love Hinhingbrooke Hospital group sais she’s looking on the bright side.
AMANDA BUCKENHAM: I take away from it the positive elements, the things that are going well, the fact that they’re not complacent. They do recognise that the improvements need to be made, whilst obviously not accepting as quite a lot of us don’t the overall judgment of the Hospital as being inadequate.
(LIVE)
DOTTY MCLEOD: Sarah varey reporting there from that meeting last night at Huntingdonshire District Council. Steve Sweeney was there. Steve is the GMB’s regional Organiser. Steve, this was an opportunity really for people in Huntingdon to talk to the Hospital bosses, to get some answers. Was it effective?
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Rupert Read on Green Party transport policy

08:23 Monday 2nd March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: A new private company has taken over the running of the East Coast Mainline. It of course goes through Peterborough. The route has been in public hands since 2009, but yesterday Virgin Trains took over the running of it. Our reporter Tom Horn has been there this morning, and he’s spoken to a few passengers.
(OB)
PASSENGER ONE: I think the Government did a good job running it. Hopefully Virgin won’t put the prices up, run it as well as the Government did.
TOM HORN: What are the priorities for Virgin as far as you’re concerned?
PASSENGER ONE: Ideally it’s more services if possible, more seats. It’s always hard to get a seat in the rush hour from Peterborough to London.
TOM HORN: Overall you think Virgin has a relatively decent name of train travel elsewhere?
PASSENGER ONE: I do actually. I think they have a good name. I believe they also can be quite expensive. So I’m hoping they don’t change the prices much.
PASSENGER TWO: As long as the price stays the same and the service stays the same that’s fine. I was happy with it in public ownership before, and I believe it should have stayed that way personally. But there you go. The fact that it was owned by the public was good I think, because it should be a public service.
TOM HORN: Priorities for Virgin hopefully then?
PASSENGER TWO: Good service, be on time and don’t hike the prices to pay your shareholders. That’s my view.
PASSENGER THREE: Be nice to have a good commercial operation that tries to put the customers first rather than the staff, which I think East Coast was a bit about.
TOM HORN: What were your thoughts on the Government-run side of things for the last few years?
PASSENGER THREE: It was a bit like the old days of British Rail, staff looking after themselves, customers are irrelevant. Looking forward to Virgin. Should be a lot better.
TOM HORN: Priorities for Virgin you’d like to see?
PASSENGER THREE: On time and cheaper ideally. But on time first.
PASSENGER FOUR: Well I’ve been on Virgin before. I think they’ve .. I haven’t had no complaints about them. probably have to give it a few months and see what it’s like, and then complain at you later.
TOM HORN: What are the priorities for Virgin as far as you’re concerned?
PASSENGER FOUR: Mainly keeping them on time. If they’re going to promise you a train to come, you want it to be here don’t you really?
TOM HORN: You think it’s the right decision to put it back into private ownership? Because it was a decent job the Government did, running it as East Coast.
PASSENGER FOUR: I can’t see why it’s gone back private. As long as they don’t keep upping the fares for profit. That’s the main thing, isn’t it?
(STUDIO)
DOTTY MCLEOD: Well with me now is Rupert Read who is the Transport Spokesperson for the Green Party. Also happens to be their candidate for Cambridge at the upcoming General Election. Morning Rupert.
RUPERT READ: Morning.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Thanks for coming in. Your party has advocated renationalising the railway system. You’re hearing those people there who don’t really care who runs the trains, as long as they are on time and the fares don’t go up. Why does it matter to you?
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Ashley Walsh and Rod Cantrill on tuition fees and the Living Wage for Cambridge

17:19 Friday 27th February 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

(MUSIC – Same Old Song – Four Tops)

CHRIS MANN: Well will it be the same old song from the two politicians joining me now? A couple of subjects to talk about. Let’s first welcome them. Councillor Ashley Walsh from Labour, who’s the lead on the Living Wage on the County Council. The member for Petersfield. Ashley, hello.
ASHLEY WALSH: Hello Chris.
CHRIS MANN: And also councillor Rod Cantrill, LibDem for Newnham on Cambridge City Council, and a member of the Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee. Hello.
ROD CANTRILL: Hi Chris.
CHRIS MANN: A couple of things. We’ll come on to the university tuition fees in a moment or two, but there was a claim today by the LibDems saying the Co-op of all companies, the Co-op food stores, are paying people below the Living Wage. Expand on this please Rod.
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A1 through Huntingdonshire – the forgotten route of the county

07:19 Friday 27th February 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The A1 through Huntingdonshire has been described as a major constraint to growth and in urgent need of an upgrade. In a report to Huntingdonshire District Council, councillor Terry Hayward calls it the ‘forgotten route’ of the county. The Buckden roundabout is a particular source of anguish to people living nearby. Our reporter Tom Horn is at the roundabout now. How’s it looking this morning Tom?
(OB)
TOM HORN: Yes, morning Dotty. Well we’re right in the middle of the morning rush-hour here at the Buckden roundabout. I’m told this roundabout here at Buckden is actually the last one on the A1 before you get all the way up to Newcastle. Just to give you an idea of where we are, Buckden the village is one side, there’s a Shell garage just behind me. You head North to the likes of Peterborough and South to London. Obviously it’s a very busy morning already, cars struggling to get out of the village. Dotty, with me this morning is the aforementioned Terry Hayward , councillor Terry Hayward. Morning to you.
TERRY HAYWARD: Good morning to you.
TOM HORN: So first of all, what kind of problems do you experience here?
TERRY HAYWARD: Well as you’ve already mentioned, this is one of the main roads in Cambridgeshire. It’s one of the triangular roads, the A14, the 428 and the A1. And we’re the forgotten road quite honestly. As you can see we’ve got trouble getting out of the village onto the A1 here. You’ve got more or less perpetual traffic all day. There was a plan to have a new road way back in 1994, which was put to one side because of lack of money by a new Government. Basically what we need is a new motorway standard A1, stretching all the way from Sandy right the way up to the proposed new A1/A14 junction.
TOM HORN: OK. So of course there’s a constant stream of heavy traffic, cars, goods, freight vehicles, just passing the roundabout here. How difficult is it to get out of the village and onto the A1?
TERRY HAYWARD: Well virtually it’s almost impossible. You and I have been watching it this morning. Give you some example. I live about 100 yards up, away from the A1. On one occasion my wife and I were going into the village. She was driving. I was walking. I got to where we were going quicker than she could get driving, because of the holdup of trying to get onto the A1 and round the roundabout.
TOM HORN: So what’s the solution then Terry? What do you want to see change?
TERRY HAYWARD: Very simple solution. As I say we need a by-pass here. But longer than that we need a whole new motorway standard road, stretching as I say from the A14, the new A14, all the way down past Sandy. I know this is a project in the future, but it needs to be brought forward. It’s been forgotten for far far too long.
TOM HORN: Of course one measure that you have helped to introduce here already is the speed cameras, the 50mph average speed cameras, just a short distance from where we are. Have they made much difference?
TERRY HAYWARD: They’ve made a big difference. I’m Chairman of the A1 Safety Group, which is a group which combines the people from Southoe and Buckden. And we got these cameras put in about a year ago now. It took a long while, four or five years. And it is making a difference. It slows the traffic down. But one of the other problems that we have here is the A14, a notorious road blackspot. If there’s any holdup on there at all, then this becomes a short cut, either through the village or down Perry Road, which we’re atanding opposite. And this then becomes a total snarl-up.
TOM HORN: Terry, thank you very much for your time this morning. Dotty, I’m going to head into the village now. It might take me a while to get out onto the roundabout, as you’ve been hearing.
(STUDIO)
DOTTY MCLEOD: Yes. Good luck Tom. Thank you very much for that. Well we can now speak to Jonathan Djanogly, who is the MP for the area of course. The forgotten route of Cambridgeshire Jonathan. Is that a fair description do you think? Continue reading “A1 through Huntingdonshire – the forgotten route of the county”

Andrew Balmford on the economic value of protected areas

07:18 Wednesday 25th February 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: When you go out for a walk, maybe to Ferry Meadows, maybe to the Gog Magogs, maybe along the river just outside Ely, you’re probably enjoying the fresh air. You’re probably enjoying the views, probably enjoying spotting the odd bunny rabbit or butterfly. Have you ever stopped to think how much money nature-based tourism brings to the economy, both county-wide and across the world? Well research from Cambridge University out today has for the first time tried to work this out. The study found that globally it’s hundreds of billions of pounds that nature-based tourism brings to the economy. As a result, they’re calling for more investment in conservation. Even small nature reserves like the RSPB’s at Fowlmere in South Cambridgeshire receives 23,000 visits a year. Ferry Meadows in Peterborough gets 1.1 million. .. We can talk now to Andrew Balmford. Andrew is from Cambridge University’s Department of Zoology, and is the lead author of this report that’s out today. Andrew, my mind is boggling at how you even go about measuring the value of nature-based tourism, as it’s been called. How did you do it?
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Shadow Europe Minister Pat McFadden – Labour’s stance on a referendum

17:09 Monday 23rd February 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL HAWKINS: Labour’s Shadow Europe Minister Pat McFadden has been visiting businesses in Cambridge today to tell them what a Labour government would do about Britain’s future relationship with the EU. The Conservatives of course say they’d renegotiate terms of the UK’s membership and then hold an in/out referendum in 2017. The question is, what would a Labour government do. Their Shadow Europe Minister Pat McFadden dropped by earlier to tell me more.
(TAPE)
PAT MCFADDEN: Labour wants the UK to stay in the European Union. We think the biggest risk posed to investment and jobs and trade for the UK is to pull out. In terms of a referendum, it isn’t Labour’s priority to have a referendum on the EU. I think we should show some leadership. We’ve not ruled it out, in the event of a further major transfer of powers from the UK to the EU in the future.
PAUL HAWKINS: What powers? Continue reading “Shadow Europe Minister Pat McFadden – Labour’s stance on a referendum”