Rupert Read on Finite Resources and Five Party Politics

10:52 Tuesday 27th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: You’ve been getting in touch in your numbers, particularly about the recent elections. Gareth says: “I rather sympathise with Nick Clegg, because I think he’s a caring guy. I don’t blame him in terms of broken promises, because I think he was trying to reduce the effect of some of the Conservative’s policies. Nevertheless he was arrogant in thinking that anyone who doesn’t want a federal Europe was backward thinking and xenophobic, with racist tendencies. Europe must change, and that starts with the accounts. Corruption is rife, the parliamentary system packed with people who think they know best, despite the differences between the nations that make it up. I am just sad that the Greens didn’t make more headway, as they are the answer, if we want a healthy planet. And without that ..” says Gareth in Thorney, “.. we don’t have any future at all, whoever is in power.” Well that comment by email from Gareth came bang on cue, because we are returning to our main question now. Is it right to brush off the vast number of votes that UKIP received as protest? It’s been the defence used by numerous politicians following the UKIP victory in Europe. Another party who’s name has been associated with protest voting against the three main parties in the past is the Greens. Although they beat the Liberal Democrats both locally and nationally, thy failed to secure a seat in the East of England. Rupert Read was their lead candidate in the region and he joins us now. Rupert, good morning to you.
RUPERT READ: Morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: First of all commiserations. Last time you nearly made it. Did you think this time you’d get the extra push and get over the line, perhaps at the expense of the LibDems?
RUPERT READ: Well it was certainly a very tough election result once again for the Greens to come runners-up here in the East. So near but yet so far. We thought we had a real chance, but it was a very tough election, partly because of the overwhelming focus from the national media on UKIP, which I think was really quite absurd. And it makes me really angry that Nigel Farage and his party got this vast free amount of publicity, on top of the enormous amount of publicity they were able to buy thanks to their faceless multi-millionaire backers. And we in the Greens, at the national level – you gave us a fair crack of the whip here on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire – but at the national level we were really squeezed out. And it’s quite unfair, and as Gareth says I’m afraid unless things change pretty soon, the consequences are not going to be pretty for our children.
ANDIE HARPER: The point is that the Green Party is not hugely pro-European. You have lots of doubts about it, don’t you? But that doesn’t get focused on. It’s the anti-Europeans, the high-profile anti-Europeans, with a Leader who smokes and likes a pint and is no doubt a good bloke, that get all the publicity. You aren’t wholly pro-Europe, are you?
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Peterborough 2014 Election Roundup – New Kid on the Block

17:08 Friday 23rd May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[B]EN STEVENSON: An historic night, not just for UKIP. As well there’s the Tories, who have lost overall control of the City Council for the first time since 2001. There’s a new kid on the block. UKIP created history by winning their first seat in the city, and then followed it up moments later with their second, and then their third. UKIP struck in Paston, Bretton North and in Orton Longueville, and it could have been more. A few high profile Conservatives were given a shock as well. Cabinet Adviser Janet Goodwin lost her seat to UKIP. Wayne Fitzgerald needed a recount to survive in the West Ward, and there were also recounts in Eye and Thorney. The Libdems and the Liberal groups both held on to their seats, and there were re-elections for three members of the Independent Group.

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Martyn Postle on the Pfizer Bid

09:23 Monday 19th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: This morning Astrazeneca has rejected the fourth and final takeover bid from its American rival Pfizer. The new bid valued the company at £69 billion, but the Chairman of the British pharmaceutical company said it undervalued the firm. However since they turned their offer down, the share value has now plunged by 14%, driving its market value down (to) £52.1 billion. That’s in a very short time indeed. So, is that the end of the battle of the drug companies? Martyn Postle is a director of Cambridge Healthcare and Biotech. Martin, good morning to you.
MARTYN POSTLE: Good morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: So, markets react so quickly, don’t they? Most people think people standing on the outside would have been quite pleased to hear them say that they’ve rejected the final offer by Pfizer, but now what happens?
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Gateshead Posh and the U’s

08:21 Friday 16th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Back to our story about Cambridge United heading to Wembley for the Conference play-off final against Gateshead this Sunday. We love our historical links here on the show with the clubs our Cambridgeshire side takes on. Last week we told you how Cambridge students were responsible for setting up Leyton Orient Football Club. Well today we’re at it again, because did you know there’s a Peterborough link with the U’s opponents Gateshead? Sit back, relax, and let Peter Swan tell you a story.
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Mark Lloyd on Government by Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council

08:07 Tuesday 13th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Let’s get into the committee system that Cambridgeshire County Council are adopting today. They voted to abandon the local government cabinet model in May last year. Later this morning roles within the new system will be allocated. It’s proven to be a controversial decision, inciting Leader Martin Curtis to hand in his resignation. This is an edited excerpt from Martin Curtis’s blog, which has been voiced by one of our journalists.
VOICEOVER: “As I stand down as Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council I thought I would end my term of office with a series of articles which highlight where I think Cambridgeshire is on a service by service basis, and explain the concerns about why the change of direction forced on the Council is not good for you the Cambridgeshire resident. My view has always been that the decision to implement committees as the response to moving to no overall control was wrong. The decision to move to committees was made at the first full Council meeting after May’s election, with 39 out of 69 councillors newly elected. More than half of the Council had no experience of working in a county council. In those circumstances, nobody could convince a reasonable person that it was a well thought out decision, but it was one that practically ties us to a committee system for five years. So if it doesn’t work, the decision made in haste without any depth of thought leaves you the council tax payer stuck with a failing system for the next five years.”
PAUL STAINTON: That’s Martin Curtis’ words voiced up by one of our journalists. Not a big fan it’s safe to assume. He describes it as a decision made in haste without any depth of thought, and he claims it’s a system no longer supported by the majority of the Council. However we heard earlier from Catherine Staite the Director of University of Birmingham’s Institute of Local Government Studies. She says there are pros and cons to each system, and the success of the Council will depend on how councillors work with officers.
(TAPE)
CATHERINE STAITE: A lot of backbenchers have got frustrated in the cabinet and scrutiny system, feeling that they as local members don’t have the amount of say that they would like to have, and therefore they feel that by spreading the power across committees, that would give more people opportunities. I think that does work to a certain extent, but I think a local authority the size of Cambridgeshire is an enormous business. It requires strategic leadership, and there’s a risk that if you spread the power out too widely, it would take too long to make a decision.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That’s Catherine. Well joining me in the studio now is Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council Mark Lloyd. Mark, morning.
MARK LLOYD: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Nice to see you. Is this true democracy at work now, or are we going to be in some sort of state of paralysis as is the fear?
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Language Skills Recruitment and the Care Industry

17:20 Wednesday 7th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: There could be new efforts to ensure care workers can speak English before placing them in vulnerable people’s homes: the view of Dr Shereen Hussein, Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health, who says poor language skills can lead to bad care and abuse. Let’s get a professional view on that. Joining me now is Alan Lewin. Hello Alan.
ALAN LEWIN: Good evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Director of Axiom Crossroads Care in Cambridgeshire. Just tell us a little bit about what you do, your company does.
ALAN LEWIN: OK. We’re based in Peterborough, but we provide what’s called domiciliary care, and we provide care within extra care housing throughout Cambridgeshire. Domiciliary care is when we provide care to people within their homes. And as I say we also have staff in our extra care schemes throughout the county.
CHRIS MANN: How many people do you look after most weeks?
ALAN LEWIN: We look after about 80 people, something like that.
CHRIS MANN: And how many staff do you have?
ALAN LEWIN: We have about 50 care workers.
CHRIS MANN: OK. And is English language comprehension a big issue for you?
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Compost Awareness Week in Cambridgeshire

09:55 Tuesday 6th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: It’s the start of Compost Awareness Week. This is a week of activities, events and publicity to improve awareness about using organic waste as a resource to produce compost. We’ve just been treated to a beautiful Bank Holiday weekend, and no doubt many of you spent the time in your gardens, but how many of you bothered to make your own compost? How many of you would have bothered to do what we did, which is when we moved quite recently, we filled two sacks up of compost that I had created in one of our two compost bins, and took it with us, because it was such good stuff? Well Mark Shelton is the Education Manager for AmeyCespa. Mark, good morning.
MARK SHELTON: Morning Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: Nice to talk to you. I remember when Donarbon ran the site at Waterbeach a few years ago, I spent a fascinating day there, I have to say, being shown around, and certainly the garden composting department was a busy one, and you could in those days go and buy garden sacks of compost. Does it still happen?
MARK SHELTON: We give it away free. It still happens, and we’ve actually got a visit today, so we are still showing people around, and people are still welcome to come. It’s free here at the Waterbeach site, and we also make the compost available free at our March and our Alconbury sites.
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Agricultural Innovation Centre for Soham

17:44 Friday 2nd May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: It’s been announced that a multi-million pound agricultural innovation centre is coming to Soham. £500,000 has been awarded from the Eastern Agri-tech Initiative. Let’s find out more now from Grahame Nix. Hi Grahame.
GRAHAME NIX: Hi.
CHRIS MANN: Chief Executive of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership. So tell us, what does it do?
GRAHAME NIX: The innovation centre was part of the Eastern Agri-tech Initiative that the LEP bid for from the Regional Growth Fund, and we were successful in bringing £3.2 million in for investment. And part of that was to create an innovation centre to encourage growth in the agricultural sector, which is really important in our area. And today we’ve been able to announce the half million pound of investment that we’re able to put in to encourage that centre to take off.
CHRIS MANN: So it’s a bit like the science hub that’s at Addenbrookes near Cambridge.
GRAHAME NIX: Indeed.
CHRIS MANN: This is one for agriculture.
GRAHAME NIX: This is one for agriculture. So it’s another research opportunity, so it picks up very much on our research heritage in this area. But it also picks up on the important Government initiative that’s come out around the agri-tech sector. Our area is one of the most important agricultural centres in the country. We have a huge research base between both Cambridge and research in Norwich. We have innovative farmers, and what we’re trying to do is put them together, and to encourage improvements in productivity, reductions in waste. And this centre which we announced today will be part of that process. It will be a focal point for people to come together and do interesting research in that area.
CHRIS MANN: How long will it take to get up and running, and before we see the effect of it?
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