Monthly Archives: October 2011

Update: Earlier today the County Council’s standards committee decided that flaws in the way the allowances review panel was appointed mean that the allowances review will have to be done all over again. Here’s the rest of the article written … Continue reading →

The last local elections were good news for the Labour Party, who won more votes and seats than they had done for many years. They won in eight of Cambridge’s 14 wards, with the Lib Dems taking the other six. … Continue reading →

Newspapers have had a very difficult time of it in recent years as the rise of the Internet has posed a huge challenge to their traditional business model. How have Cambridge’s local newspapers fared? Historical circulation figures are difficult to … Continue reading →

The Liberal Democrats have been gathering signatures for a petition against the 25% rise in County Councillors’ allowances, and according to news reports now have over 600 signatures online as well as 500 on paper. We can’t easily analyse the … Continue reading →

The County Council allowances controversy is still rumbling on, but it’s time to turn to an altogether more cheerful subject: death. The Office for National Statistics has recently published some data giving life expectancy figures for local authority areas across … Continue reading →

Update: Corrected one of the votes against from Lib Dem to Conservative, and added details of absent councillors. Thanks to Richard Taylor for video capture of the vote results. Richard has also written an article about the vote. Councillors voted by … Continue reading →

The debate about Cambridgeshire County Councillors’ allowances has been rumbling on over the last few days on Twitter and in the local press. The council meets tomorrow, so here’s one last bit of data to throw in to the mix. One … Continue reading →

In my last post I looked at the proposed increases to Cambridgeshire County Councillors’ allowances. I’ve been digging in to the data some more, and I’m not at all convinced by the arguments in the independent panel’s report. Here’s why … Continue reading →

On Tuesday next week, members of Cambridgeshire County Council will be considering a report into councillors’ allowances that recommends some substantial increases. The report has been produced by an independent panel, and runs to over 13,000 words and 38 pages. While … Continue reading →

The main part of the Cambridge punting season is drawing to a close now, and it may soon be possible to walk around the city centre without being accosted by people offering punt tours. Cambridge people love to complain about … Continue reading →