Why Teachers Strike

17:08 Wednesday 26th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

(CROWDS CHANTING)

[C]HRIS MANN: There was another day of strike action by teachers nationwide today. Here in Cambridgeshire it led to 22 schools closing completely, and a further 68 being partially closed, out of 300. As you can hear, there was a big rally and march in the centre of Cambridge. Members of the NUT who are taking the action, as part of a long-running row over pay, pensions and conditions. .. Hilary Bucky is Regional Secretary of the NUT, and she joined me a little earlier to justify the action.
(TAPE)
HILARY BUCKY: Well teachers are very angry. We’ve been in dispute with the Government over pay, pensions and workload for several years now. We’ve achieved some minor improvements to the pension scheme, but one of the things that’s making teachers particularly angry at the moment is the workload. The Government’s own survey, which they sat on for eleven months and we now know why, shows that since this Government has been in power, teachers’ workload has increased again, and it’s now up to 60 hours a week, almost 6o hours a week for primary, and 56 for a secondary school teacher, which shows that for every hour that they spend in the classroom with the children, they’re working up to a further two hours at home during the evenings and weekends. And that really is intolerable.
CHRIS MANN: But why does striking help your situation?
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Tuberculosis Outbreak in Chatteris

08:07 Tuesday 25th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: People in Chatteris say they’ve been kept in the dark over an outbreak of tuberculosis at two vegetable processing plants in the town. Health Protection England has sought to play down fears, after confirming 17 workers have been diagnosed with the deadly illness since 2012. But earlier Chatteris town councillor Florence Newell told us she was absolutely livid about the lack of information.
(TAPE)
FLORENCE NEWELL: This has been going on since 2012 in Chatteris, and neither the Town Council nor the District Council were informed. We should have known. If this has been going on since 2012, and they’re people that are working in factories in Chatteris, we should have known.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well we stopped routinely immunising children against tuberculosis in 2005, and according to the last recent figures there were 88 cases of TB in Cambridgeshire in 2011. There were a total of 521 across the whole region. But a lot of you are very unhappy this morning and very worried. Cases are on the increase. So are people in Chatteris right to be so concerned? Well Dr Estée Török is a consultant in infectious diseases at Addenbrookes Hospital. Morning.
ESTEE TOROK: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: First of all, why is TB on the increase?
ESTEE TOROK: Well, in the United Kingdom we have about nearly 9,000 cases of TB reported every year, and it has been gradually increasing over the last few years. The reason for that really is that most of the people who develop TB have been born abroad. And as you know we have more people who have been born abroad who are living in the United Kingdom than we used to. And so it may well be related to that.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s immigration that’s exacerbating the problem.
ESTEE TOROK: It may well be. Yes. So a lot of these people may have acquired TB in childhood when they lived at home, and then they’re obviously presenting in adulthood when they’re living and working in the United Kingdom.
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Turmoil As Leader Quits at Cambs County Council

08:25 Monday 24th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: We’ve been discussing the news that Martin Curtis will step down as Leader of the County Council in May. He said on Friday that it was because he didn’t want to work as Leader within a committee system. Well earlier in the show the Liberal Democrat Leader Maurice Leake said if Martin couldn’t stand the heat then it was best he left the kitchen. Paul Bullen from UKIP suggested that his decision was prompted by a split within the Tory party. Some have accused him of running scared. Well councillor Martin Curtis has never been afraid to come on this show, and he’s here now. Martin, morning.
MARTIN CURTIS: Good morning Paul. A number of things that I want to clarify. First of all, I have said on a number of occasions over this last weekend, I think I even said it on Chris Mann’s show on Friday, that I believe a committee system could work,. I don’t believe it’s the best system of governance. I believe it could work.
PAUL STAINTON: Why walk away then?
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Private Pension Rules Relaxed

17:41 Thursday 20th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[J]OZEF HALL: More details have been given about the radical change to pensions, the big surprise announcement in the Budget yesterday. The Pensions Minister explained in the Commons how people will be given the freedom to do what they like with their pension pot on retirement, with restrictions lifted now. Critics say the money could be frittered away, but the Government says people can be trusted to act sensibly. Our political reporter John Adderley has more.
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Agricultural Runoff and Water Quality

09:35 Thursday 20th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: Could the wetter and warmer winters we’re having be having a negative impact on our rivers? I suppose this is the first wetter warmer winter we’ve had for some time. But that’s the subject of a new study, after environmental scientists suggested nutrient runoff from agricultural land could be lowering the quality of water in the rivers. Dr Bob Evans is from Anglia Ruskin University’s Global Sustainability Institute, and is involved in the study. Good morning to you.
BOB EVANS: Good morning.
ANDIE HARPER: Now I say the wetter warmer winters that we have now. Well that was the case for quite a few years, then we had that burst of cold ones. But if there’s ever been a wet warm winter, this has been it.
BOB EVANS: Well yes. But it was a very wet winter last year, which was also very difficult for the farmers. So these things go up and down. It’s really quite difficult to work out whether the trend is towards a particularly wet sequence, or a drier sequence. These things, they happen. They’re very difficult to predict.
ANDIE HARPER: Now there was always a concern about our water courses, wasn’t there, in the halcyon days of farmers putting sprays on fields willy-nilly? But most of us are under the impression that they’re so controlled these days that that doesn’t happen.
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Alan Melton on Wisbech Magistrates Court

08:19 Wednesday 19th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: The sale of Wisbech Magistrates Court to a private developer has been severely criticised by the town’s MP. It’s been sold for just £150,000, less than you’d pay for an average house. Earlier this year Fenland District Council decided not to buy the site, which is on the Nene waterfront, and could be part of the town’s regeneration. Now Steve Barclay the MP has written a lengthy statement on his website calling for the Council to explain to the town’s residents why they decided not to proceed . Well the Leader of the Council, Alan Melton, joins me now. Morning Alan.
ALAN MELTON: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Go on then. Explain.
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Heritage Lighting Uprooted from Cambridge Conservation Area

08:22 Tuesday 18th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: There’s anger in Cambridge as work to replace street lights sees some so-called heritage columns being removed in the city centre. The County Council are replacing all 55,000 street lights in the county to make them more energy efficient. Well I’m joined in the studio by Cllr Ed Cearns. Ed, morning.
ED CEARNS: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Now you’re the LibDem County councillor for Market ward. You’re not particularly happy with all of this, are you?
ED CEARNS: No, I’m not at all, because we spent the last eight months in discussions with the County Council and with Balfour Beatty the contractors to look at what can be done to save some of the heritage street lighting. And then yesterday, unbeknown to us, they just decided to take some of it away, despite assurances that none would be taken away until discussions had been concluded about funding arrangements, to try and keep and restore some of the street lights.
PAUL STAINTON: Now these are very old street lamps, aren’t they? What’s so special about them? Why should they not be replaced?
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Phillip Hawkins at the Cambridge Science Festival

17:55 Monday 17th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[J]OZEF HALL: The next guest might soon be able to tell you how likely you are to get certain diseases. Cambridge-based Dr Phillip Hawkins is one of the most eminent scientists in the UK. His work looks at understanding our genetic code, to see which diseases we are predisposed to. Let’s have a quick chat with him now. Good afternoon .. So you’ve made your way into the studio today from the Barbraham Institute. Tell us a bit about your work.
PHILLIP HAWKINS: We’re interested really in the chemical processes that occur within the first few seconds of a hormone arriving on the outside of a cell. That’s fundamentally what we do.
JOZEF HALL: Why do we need to know this?
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