Category: Peterborough

The High Street Decline Continues But Slightly More Slowly

07:25 Tuesday 24th September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: A new study out today shows retailers closed an average of eighteen town centre shops a day during the first half of the year. Photography shops, video libraries and travel agents were amongst the biggest losers, although charity shops, bookies and payday lenders helped pick up some of the slack. Tony Bonsignore from our Business Unit’s here. Morning Tony.
TONY BONSIGNORE: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: We’ve talked about this many times, but when I read that out there, photography shops, video libraries and travel agents, I thought yes, we’ve moved on. It’s a rejigging of the high street. We don’t use those things any more, do we?
TONY BONSIGNORE: Yes, I think that’s right to an extent. I think in terms of the types of shops that are suffering most, I think there’s two things going on here. One is the fact that they are being hit still by this squeeze on household finances. Consumer spending is still under an enormous amount of pressure. But to an extent I think there’s another thing going on here, and I think you’re exactly right. I mean, photography shops .. we saw Jessops go under earlier in the year, didn’t we?
PAUL STAINTON: When was the last time you went to a shop to get some photographs sorted out?
Continue reading “The High Street Decline Continues But Slightly More Slowly”

Labour Lord Hunt On Monitor’s Rescue Plan For Peterborough City Hospital

08:18 Friday 13th September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: More efficiency savings and better use of all the Hospital’s resources will help dig Peterborough City Hospital out of the financial soup. That’s according to officials from the health service regulator Monitor, who laid out their plan to sort out the Hospital’s money worries yesterday. David Bennett is the CEO of Monitor. He says they have faith in the measures they’re about to put in place. (TAPE)
DAVID BENNETT: We are the ones who are going to have to explain to the Department of Health why it is they’re going to have to continue to provide for maybe thirty years a continuing subsidy. So it’s essential that we can reassure ourselves and the Department everything has been done that can reasonably be done to minimise the amount of that subsidy. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well the Trust running the Hospital currently suffers from a yearly deficit of course of nearly £40 million. The difficulties started with the infamous signing of the Private Finance Initiative to get the money to actually build the Hospital, money that needs to be paid back of course, over this incredible thirty one years. Now under the terms of the recovery plan, parts of the Hospital may have to be leased out to private providers, to help plug the financial gap. Lord Hunt is Labour’s Deputy Leader at the Lords, and their Spokesman on the NHS. Morning.
LORD HUNT: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: How much do you think Labour’s PFI policy had to do with the troubles that we’re in in Peterborough now? Continue reading “Labour Lord Hunt On Monitor’s Rescue Plan For Peterborough City Hospital”

Green Condemnation Of NHS Contracts With Private Health Care Consortia

17:15 Friday 13th September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: The Leader of the Green Party has launched a fierce attack on the private health companies bidding to run elderly care services in Cambridgeshire. Four firms, Capita, Serco, United Health and Virgin Healthcare have been shortlisted for the £800 million contract. Natalie Bennett told the Green’s Annual Conference in Brighton the Party opposed what she calls corporate bloodsuckers and jewel thieves, making profits from the NHS. (TAPE)
Continue reading “Green Condemnation Of NHS Contracts With Private Health Care Consortia”

Captured Markets

08:20 Thursday 12th September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Senior managers at Cambridgeshire County Council could soon receive a pay rise, if proposals being discussed on Monday are approved. The news comes a few months after the Cabinet told staff they needed to reduce staffing costs by 3%. LibDem councillors are urging officials to reject the pay increase and say the proposal is devastating for staff morale. Well speaking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Drivetime show, their Spokesman for Resources Ian Manning urged council officials to show leadership when considering the proposal to increase some Council officers’ pay. (TAPE)
IAN MANNING: This is about what does the Council have control of. The Council has, it individually has, direct control of the wages of the management and senior management staff. And that is why I think they should be showing leadership, in the same way that we did when we voted against giving councillors a pay rise. They should be showing leadership and saying we know how tough it is. We’re not taking more money. (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well that’s what the LibDems had to say. Let’s get reaction from the Leader of UKIP on Cambridgeshire County Council, councillor Peter Reeve. Morning Peter.
PETER REEVE: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: We’re not talking about a big pay rise here, are we?
Continue reading “Captured Markets”

The Syria War Lobby

17:23 Monday 2nd September 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Should MPs be asked to vote again on the idea of military action against Syria? A number of high-profile politicians certainly think so. But a BBC poll suggests the majority of us are against military intervention. Joining us from Westminster with the latest political reporter Matthew Presland.
MATTHEW PRESLAND: Well Chris I mean the Government’s posistion on thie seems fairly clear to me. Downing Street has firmly ruled out a second vote by MPs on British involvement in Syria, but I mean even if more evidence you know against President Assad’s forces comes to light in the coming days and weeks they say. Now a Number 10 spokesman says the Government has absolutely no plans to go back to Parliament for another vote. And just about an hour ago in the Commons the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said MPs had spoken, and that people should respect it. Continue reading “The Syria War Lobby”

Stewart Jackson On Syria

17:07 Tuesday 27th August 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: MPs will return to Parliament this Thursday, as Britain draws up plans for possible military action in Syria. David Cameron cut short his family holiday to get back to Downing Street and co-ordinate Britain’s response to a chemical weapons attack he believes was carried out by the Syrian regime. We can get the latest now from Westminster and our political reporter Ellie Zaniewska. Continue reading “Stewart Jackson On Syria”

Churchill Speeches – A Mixed Reaction To Wartime Propaganda

17:18 Wednesday 21st August 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A Cambridge University academic is casting doubts on the effects Winston Churchill’s wartime speeches had on the British public. Using the archives of Churchill College, Professor Richard Toye has questioned the accepted view that Churchill’s oratory was received enthusiastically by Britons, and was a decisive influence on the nation’s willingness to fight on against Hitler and the Nazis. His new book argues that Churchill’s speeches generated considerably more controversy and criticism than historians previously thought. Well Professor Toye joined me earlier.
RICHARD TOYE: The widespread popular belief is, and indeed amongst many historians is, that the speeches were received with near universal enthusiasm, and maybe there was a very tiny residue of people who were irreconcilable, but that basically the vast mass of the population felt completely inspired by these speeches.
CHRIS MANN: But your research for the University of Exeter which you’re carrying out this week at the Churchill Archives in Cambridge shows differently apparently. Continue reading “Churchill Speeches – A Mixed Reaction To Wartime Propaganda”

A Walk In The Woods

08:54 Thursday 15th August 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: The Woodland Trust is encouraging people in Cambridgeshire to explore their nearest undiscovered wood. But where in Cambridgeshire should you go? Well Chris Hickman is from the Trust, and can tell us more. Chris, morning.
CHRIS HICKMAN: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: What do you mean, “undiscovered wood”? Continue reading “A Walk In The Woods”