Image: Houses of Parliament, London, Monet c.1904
Since I wrote my last article on Cambridge MP Julian Huppert’s Parliamentry voting record, which I published on the 9th of September 2010, there have been 44 more votes in the House of Commons.
On the day I published that previous article Mr Huppert rebelled against the coalition [...]
I am writing this article on the day that new MPs, following the May 2010 election, will take their oaths to the Queen.
In the UK only avowed monarchists can sit in the Houses of Parliament. Before taking their seats in the commons those we elect as MPs have to take an oath of allegiance [...]
A meet-up of those interested in reinvigorating democracy and making the next election the most open and transparent ever is being held on Thursday the 25th of February from 19.30 in B-Bar, Market Passage, Cambridge. The Cambridge event, which is for those living in the surrounding region as well as city residents, is one of [...]
Adrian Sanders MP dismissed websites as ‘Tittle Tattle’ during a session of the House of Commons’ Culture Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday 8 December 2009.
In a shocking exchange at the House of Commons’ Culture Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday the 8th of December 2009 Adrian Sanders MP (Liberal Democrat, Torbay) dismissed [...]
I have been looking into the performance of Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust’s “Exceptional Cases Panel”.
The panel is tasked with deciding if public money ought be spent on a treatment which is not covered by existing NHS contracts and policies. The kind of requests which the panel deals with include high cost treatments [...]
Cambridge City Council held a Community Services Scrutiny Committee on the 12th of March 2009. I used the opportunity for members of the public to speak at council meetings to ask why the draft Parks and Open Spaces Strategy being put to the committee didn’t mention the trees on the parks and open spaces.
I [...]
On Saturday the 28th of February NO2ID organised a “Convention on Modern Liberty” held in various locations “across the UK”.
A satellite meeting , which I attended, was held in the Cambridge Union.
This article focuses on just one of many important items which were discussed during the day. Clause 152 of [...]
At full Cambridge City Council meetings councillors are able to ask questions to executive councillors; these have to be submitted in writing the day before the meeting. A ballot is held to determine the order of questions and as many as can be dealt with in thirty minutes are answered. Any questions remaining beyond [...]
During the State Opening of Parliament a military officer is given the role of parading in front of the monarch with what looks like a santa hat on a stick. It is a symbol of the monarchy which is kept with the crown jewels in the Tower of London. It is properly known as [...]
I spoke on the setting of local policing priorities at Cambridge City Council’s North Area Committee on the 6th of March 2008.
I said that I had attended these meetings a number of times, particularly when the police were present to make suggestions on improving policing in the area. I believed that I was participating [...]