From the archives: The spheres of Cambridge

I don't know how many of you have read the Philip Pulman 'Dark Materials' books but one theme they rely upon is the idea of worlds layered one upon the other, never quite touching but just one step away. So you have different Oxfords all co-existing without even noticing each other. Some very similar, some very different but all occupying the same geographical space.

I've begun thinking about Cambridge in very much that way - that you have different spheres who knock against each other in the street, overlapping, wrapped up in their own priorities but only recognising others from their own world.

Most noticeably this is true with the homeless community who, even when they're asking you for change, look through you like you aren't real. But it's also true with the two universities. Cambridge is a very different place to the bin man in Arbury to the Cambridge University student put up in halls whose world revolves around his or her college.

Quite how many of these communities there are it's hard to tell - particularly when you're only in one of them yourself. A few examples would be the Turkish community, which seems pretty tight, as do many of the Asian foreign students. Then there's the white working class "youth" in the clubs on a Friday night and their related but impoverished younger cousins lounging about on Parkers Piece or skateboarding around the Grafton Centre.

It isn't simply that there are class distinctions here (which there clearly are), there are also fundamentally different ways of seeing the world. A multistory car park is a place to store your 4x4 to some and a wild place for urban fitness to others. Parkers Piece at night is a place of concern for some who are crossing it and to others this is the social centre of the city, poor things.

Tonight I had the good fortune to cross one of these boundaries and get sucked into part of the world of the homeless community, if only for half an hour or so. On one level it was pretty unpleasant, essentially I had to intervene to prevent a Moroccan guy having his head beaten in by two, well, um, urgh, scumbags I suppose you'd call them.

There was an odd moment though when they realised I'd stepped into their space. The look on their faces, even the guy I was saving from a pasting was, "hold on - you're from the other place - you're not meant to be here!" The funny thing is part of me agreed, it was as if I shouldn't even have been able to detect a racist attack was taking place right in front of me.

But once you've started something you often feel you need to finish it so I stayed in their sphere. Anyway, my presence managed to diffuse the situation and I walked a ways with my grateful charge as he ranted and raved about how he wasn't one of them, he had a daughter, somewhere, and an Armani jacket.

As we parted he even charged me for his time, telling me "Come on, I've walked all this way with you" forgetting I was walking with him to make sure he was safe. For once I was happy enough to give him what was in my pocket and tell him to take care of himself, but it was still fascinating to see that although the gap between us had closed enough for us to actually recognise the existence of the other the fact we were from completely different worlds still remained, so I still hadn't quite transcended the status of cash machine for him.

Neither of these worlds is more real than the other, neither one more substantial - although mine is decidedly more comfortable than his to be to be sure. I'll be sleeping the sleep of the just up on my shelf tonight and Christ knows where he'll be. For a moment though we did see one another and were able to help each other out, if only for a brief while.

Immigrants welcome here

Good to see UKIP's racist anti-immigration poster was defaced in Cambridge. If you are offended by naughty words, please don't look in the bottom right hand corner. It says fuck.


What the artists lack in neat handwriting they more than make up for in succinct passion don't you think? (first saw this at Ellee's)

Headscarves not allowed?

I've no time for the fashion police who tell women what they're allowed to wear. If someone wants to wear a headscarf that's their choice. Some people, even among the 'great' and the 'good', think that it's acceptable to regulate other people's clothing - although obviously if you're white headscarves are fine.

Whilst this sort of bullshit isn't confined to journalists and politicians they do provide legitimacy to any bigot with a rage to vent. I'm happy to see that the racist attacker of a young Cambridge student has been given a clear message that just because someone wears a scarf does not give you licence to abuse them.

Nadeen Dah was unloading her shopping when Samantha McKay (40) "launched a tirade of racist abuse against the student, shouting: "How dare you wear a headscarf in this country."... As she did this, Miss McKay pushed her with both her hands back against the car." McKay was then restrained before she could continue the attack.

My Mum comes from this country and wears a headscarf, is McKay going to attack her next? Unlikely, because the scarf debate is just a veil for racial prejudice. Anyone with an ounce of sense can see that there is a contradiction between telling women what they can and cannot wear and women's liberation but it doesn't stop some thinking they have a right to sound off about stuff that's fuck all to do with anyone but the woman concerned.

McKay pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault and, as this was not her first offence, was jailed for three weeks. I'm glad. We can't tolerate arbitrary racist violence against women in the street, no matter what they happen to have on their heads.

When 'respectables' denounce the headscarf they feed into real and existing prejudices. You wont see them having a pop at the stuff nuns wear because underneath it all it's not religion, gender or equality but race that prompts the bias. Every voice against the scarf is a voice for intolerance and makes attacks like this all the more likely.

Cambridge Lib Dems - the root of all evil

I had a Labour Party news letter the other day but I've only just got round to taking a look at it. The thrust of Romsey News, for that is the august publication of which I speak, is that the Lib Dems are rubbish and, well, that's about it.

I tell a lie, they do also call upon the great general public; "if you are aware of any incident, however small, let them [the police] know." I'm sure the cops'll appreciate that, everyone with a hot line to Park Side police station "My neighbour whistles in a very nasal tone", "some boys were larking about, but they've gone away now", "that lady looks like she might get drunk later".

Libs Dems - boo

Anyway, far be it from me to leap to the defence of the local Lib Dems but Romsey News does seem to be rather over generous when it comes to the ability of the local council to influence world affairs. The two main criticisms of the council are that the company that organised the Cambridge Folk Festival went bust owing the council money and that the Icelandic banking crisis meant a loss of over £9 million in assets.

Now I blame the Liberals for many things. I shalln't forgive them for the First World War for a start, but I'm shocked to discover that Cambridge Lib Dems were responsible for the global financial meltdown. Why isn't this on the national news? Why hasn't the Mayor been led away in chains? Wont the US be considering targeted air strikes to obliterate these maniacs?

Either that or the council is the victim of the credit crunch, collapse of the Icelandic banks and has been unfortunate over the folk festival, and is learning the lessons for the future. But then again I suppose that's what Labour are good at - blaming the victims.

Labour has no alternative vision

Do you know what, when Romsey News asks why Cambridge City Council did not withdraw their money from Icelandic banks it may well be because the no one asked them to.

It is a glaring omission that at no point does the local Labour Party claim to have called for this - which you can guarantee would be in there had they done so. And I know for a fact that Labour nationally didn't put out an early call for councils to withdraw their money from Icelandic banks. Labour run councils up and down the country were effected by the collapse.

In other words, just like the Tories nationally, they are just blaming the people in charge at the time of the disaster even though they would have done nothing differently. Cambridge Labour would have lost the Iceland money and they would have made exactly the same decisions on the Folk Festival but their hands just happen to be clean because they weren't elected. I'm afraid that doesn't impress me.

As it happens, before the crunch, I called on the County Council, from the floor, to adopt an ethical investment policy that takes account of what and where they are investing in not just the attempt to make a fast buck - none of the three parties wanted to see this taken forward, so it's quite clear in my mind that local Labour politicians did not have any kind of alternative agenda on investments before the crash.

This kind of tribal politics does the people of the area no favours what-so-ever. They could be putting forward real alternative strategies for Cambridge but there is literally nothing in the leaflet that implies Labour has any vision for the area at all. They come across as a bunch of whingers frankly.

Cambridge Green Councillor Ejected From University Buildings

This just in on developments in the Cambridge University Occupation;

At 2.10.p.m. today (Tuesday 27th Jan) Cllr. Margaret Wright, who had expressed the Green Party's support for those students occupying the Law Faculty building in the University of Cambridge in solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza and with all those seeking peace in the area, was escorted from the Law Faculty Building.

She was responding to an invitation from Cambridge Gaza Solidarity.

When she made a request to speak with these students she was taken to a reception desk by security guards. Here she showed her councillor's ID and University Library card. She was told by the academic secretary to the faculty she could not speak to the students and that she was being 'escorted from the building'.

Once outside she was able to speak to a student representative who was dismayed at her treatment. Cllr. Wright said,

'The University should be proud of students who are opposing injustices committed on a global scale. Cambridge students have a long tradition of such commitment. While I am certain that the University is able to police a peaceful protest on its premises in this manner, I am nevertheless disappointed that it is choosing to do so.'

---

Donate to the Gaza DEC appeal.

Cambridge University goes into occupation

Tonight students have occupied buildings at Cambridge University in solidarity with Gaza. This is part of a wave of student occupations sweeping across the country. My man Manos reports;

On the night of the 23rd January about a 100 Cambridge University students gathered to watch John Pilgers' film "Palestine is still the issue". The film is touching, documenting the second Intifada, and the continuing occupation of Palestine.

There was something special in the air: the film was followed by a debate, on what can be done by students in the country to meaningfully react to the situation in Palestine. The debate is still raging around me. It is clear some were already set on a course of action: occupations around the country have been blossoming and a plan is discussed about taking the building and occupying it.

The arguments for and against are still raging: on one hand occupations in other places were successful to get scholarships for Palestinian students – a tangible outcome. On the other hand people voiced concerns that an occupation should be the "last resort", after demands have been put to the University. Practical problems of
advertising the action are also being considered, as well as how to effectively hold the building.

The climate of fear about doing something wrong was slightly comical for such a low key action. People mentioned the threat of being charged with "aggravated trespass" as well as getting in trouble with the University authorities. The discussion calmed those who called the action "extreme" and laughter's were held then the action was liked to "taking hostages".

At the end of about an hour of discussion back an fourth a vote was taken, and a majority decided to take the building for the night, and re-vote on whether to continue with the action tomorrow morning. Teams of people moved swiftly to keep the doors open for access in and out, and others started scouting for toilets and wi-fi access.

People are still arriving from other meetings, others have been dispatched to bring food and blankets. If you always wanted to get involved in actions, your time has come! The occupation is on in the Law faculty building, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge, UK.

Blog of the occupation:
http://cambridgegazasolidarity.blogspot.com

Other occupations include:
LSE, Essex, Warwick, KCL, SOAS, Manchester Met, Oxford, Sussex, Birmingham, Leeds.

Tony Juniper selected as Cambridge Green Party General Election candidate

Tony Juniper, who was until recently the Director of Friends of the Earth has been selected as the General Election candidate for Cambridge and was endorse by Radiohead star Thom Yorke who said Juniper would be "a great Green Party MP". From the press release;

Tony Juniper has lived in the city for 20 years and has campaigned on green issues for more than 25 years. As Campaigns Director and later Director of Friends of the Earth he led many successful initiatives on a wide range of issues from wildlife protection to organic food and from recycling to fuel poverty. He stepped down from leading Friends of the Earth in July 2008 following the success of the Big Ask campaign which led to the world’s first national legislation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions - the 2008 Climate Change Act.

Tony Juniper said;

“More and more people can see that if we want a sound economy, a fair society and a secure environment, then we need to make important changes. The Green Party is alone in having a manifesto which shows how these changes can be made through due democratic process while at the same time reducing global inequality. The current economic downturn offers great opportunities to put forward the Green agenda.

"I have spent many years influencing politics through campaigning and realise the crucial importance of entering the parliamentary arena. Not only have I seen at first-hand what needs to be done, but I have already spearheaded initiatives that changed legislation through enlisting the support of tens of thousands of citizens.

"The incredible research and technology capacity we already have here in Cambridge can be used to help build a truly green economy. This is already beginning to happen in other countries and we are lagging behind. I want to ensure that Cambridge is at the forefront of this new global green revolution. By electing one of the UK’s first Green MPs, Cambridge can be certain of playing its part.”

Juniper’s selection has been welcomed by Thom Yorke, the lead singer of Radiohead, who worked with him from 2005 to secure the world’s first national law on climate change.

Thom Yorke said;

"Tony Juniper has amazing energy and enthusiasm which inspires those around him, including me. He speaks a language that even I can understand when it comes to green issues and I have spent many evenings learning more from him than I can ever learn from books. Most importantly he has a keen understanding of how to change our political future from the inside without compromise, and has accumulated the most breathtaking amount of experience as head of Friends of the Earth UK. He would make a great Green Party MP, our country need people like him as the environment becomes central to UK politics."

Cambridge's Green Party City Councillor, Margaret Wright said,

“I am delighted that Tony Juniper has been selected. He has all the qualities needed to make an excellent MP for the city.”

Dr. Rupert Read, Lead Green Party European Election Candidate in Eastern Region added;

"With Margaret's election in 2008, Cambridge gained its first Green Councillor and the city now looks set for further growth of the Green Party. I am delighted to welcome Tony Juniper to our candidate list, here in East Anglia, and I am hugely encouraged by the prospect of voters in Cambridge being able to vote for Tony to be their representative in Westminster, where his abilities and great experience so clearly belong."

Cambridge's Howarth promoted to shadow justice secretary

David Howarth, my MP, has been promoted in Nick Clegg's pre-election reshuffle to the position of shadow justice spokesman - a pretty lofty position for someone who's only been an MP for three and a bit years.

I've always liked Mr Howarth who is extremely personable and he rather surprised me when, as Lib-Dem energy spokesman, his performance was well above my cynically low expectations.

Howarth, who was taught law at Yale and Cambridge, has been a consistent opponent of ID cards and has a very good record more generally. I wont say I have no disagreements with him, because I do but to be honest they don't come up very often.

Not that I voted for him, nor will I any time soon - but Clegg has in my opinion made a very wise choice in this particular pick.

Congratulations on the promotion DH, best of luck in your new job.

Backwards Cambridge

It's been a while since I had a post on how backwards Cambridgeshire can be. However picking up a copy of the Cambridge Evening News can reveal a goldmine of information on how dim people round here can be sometimes.

First we have the complaints about a school play. On the front page. The peasants are up in arms over a production of "fiddler on the roof" which contained a video montage which "showed a variety of scenes from Middle Eastern conflicts".

The producer of the musical, which depicts the ethnic cleansing of Jews in Tsarist Russia, Richard Fredman, said in the programme notes "I make no apology for dedicating this production to all people forced from their homes by intolerance, ignorance and fear." Perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the play you might think.

The problem? Some (not all) of the video footage was of Israeli tanks and soldiers rounding up Arabs.

The CEN says that as well as protests from a local group (who they mistakenly identify as representing the entire Jewish community in the area) "Prof Geoffrey Alderman, a columnist for the Jewish Chronicle, called on the college to issue an "unreserved apology", and said: "The effect - presumably fully intended - was to turn the Hills Road Fiddler from a musical depicting Jewish suffering in the Pale of Settlement into a piece of anti-Zionist and even (some might argue) anti-Jewish propaganda.""

It's probably news to the Jewish director that he's anti-semitic for putting in loads of hard work producing a play that opposes the ethnic cleansing of Jews by choosing to broaden the scope to all human beings forced from their homes. Seems like only some refugees really matter.

Secondly, we have the local residents celebrating climate disaster.

That's right, the "wind farms are evil brigade" have won a short term victory against renewable energy. It appears they think that their rural idyll (bi-sected by the A428 and the A14) would be spoiled by the erection of turbines at Cotton Farm, Gravely.

They think, incorrectly, that the turbines will be noisy (I lived one hundred meters away from Europe's tallest wind turbine and you couldn't hear a thing, even when it was going full pelt, very eerie to watch at night) and that they would have a "negative visual impact" - presumably more negative than being submerged under three foot of water or the sight of human tragedies all over the globe.

Now I understand that not everyone appreciates the sleek beauty of wind turbines as much as I do but frankly these backwards tossers, who are wrong about almost everything, should not be allowed to halt progressive change for everyone else. You wouldn't hear the turbines over the network of busy roads that crisscross the area and they'd improve the frankly shitty landscape - particularly if the local residents moved away because of them.

There - that's my helpful contribution of the day.

The terror of unlicenced paperboys

Look, if we're going to have a police state meme let's at least concentrate on the way the police misuse their powers on ordinary people - not just when one of the important people feels the fetid, pork pie breath of the law down their over starched collar. Plus it's nice to have a Cambridge story once in a while.

The front page news today was Cambridgeshire County Council's continued use of anti-terror legislation for things it was never designed for. Not content with spying on the punters, or the homeless they're now cracking down on the exploding paperboys of death... well, paperboys anyway.

When Newsagents Rashmi and Dips Solanki found themselves in court over some trivial paperwork issues little did they realise they had been the subject of a covert operation sanctioned under RIPA, an act which was brought in specifically in order to combat serious crime and terrorism, and lends extensive powers to the police to monitor communications.

As many of us have argued repeatedly over the course of this government the rhetoric Ministers use to justify legislation and how that legislation will actually get used don't always match up. When they bring in new laws they don't say "We want to arrest old men at our party conference" they frown a lot and talk about how seriously they take terrorism.

So what happened in our case? Well, the Solanki's were employing eight paper boys and girls and although they had applied for work permits for all eight, five of the permits had not yet been signed, and so the kids should not have been working yet as they were unlicensed. Here the intrepid council leaps into action.

Option one: phone them up and ask them to sort out the paperwork. After all there is no question of fraud being involved or improper behaviour, it's just some forms that need to be signed. There's not even any money owed as far as I can work out.

Option two: let's get James Bond on their asses! Yeah, it costs more. Yeah, it's heavy handed and unnecessary. Yeah, it turns the council from the servant of the community into a domineering, out of control watchdog. But on the plus side you get to play at spies!

So they set up a covert operation to prove that the school had not yet processed five forms. You'd have thought, popping round might have been quicker though. The pair now have a six month conditional discharge and a criminal record to their names and the council can be proud that its jihad to rid the world of shoddy paperwork has one again borne fruit.

A council spokesman said "We were simply enforcing the law." Is this really what local councils are for?

(apologies for not linking to the story:
the CEN site seems to be down at the moment)

Who will fill Blair's shoes?

I'm not referring to Peter Mandelson's return, shudder, but rather the rumours about who will fill Sir Ian Blair's blood stained boots as the head of the Met and top anti-terrorism policebod.

This man should have been sacked a long time ago. Although I didn't want *Boris* to sack him, as James says, we shouldn't allow the fact he was ousted by a Tory Mayor to blind us to the fact that this was long overdue.

Ken Livingstone is quite right when he points out that "Johnson was unable in his statement yesterday to offer a single good reason for his ousting of the commissioner, which suggests his administration lacks basic political honesty." But that's because Johnson is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons - or at least reasons he cannot voice whilst retaining the support of the traditional Tory heartlands.

But whilst some say that this is using the position as a "political football" but Blair was a 100% political policemen, taking a lead on extending the ability of the police to lock people up without trial - and when Livingstone et al defended Blair after the Stockwell shooting and ensuing police cover up it was itself an extremely political act. One that even good people like Jenny Jones took part in.

The Home Secretary and the police seem disgruntled about the politicisation of the office when it means Blair getting the boot, but when it was a question of defending Blair or using police officers to force through bills in Parliament - strangely they were happy with that. It appears they'd like to have their cake and eat it, and who can blame them for that?

Under the circumstances the job itself is beginning to look more and more like a poisoned chalice though - caught as it is in the battle between Whitehall and the Gherkin. Some people are ruling themselves out of the running already, although it looks like Sir Paul Stephenson is the odds on favourite for successor. According to The Times Stephenson models his management style on Tesco and learned his trade in the RUC during the troubles. Oh joy.

There are rumours that Cambridge's Julie Spence may be in line for the top job, although William Hill has her at 66/1. Blair was an Oxford man, his predecessor was from Cambridge, so maybe it is Cambridge's turn again? Cough. She's controversial but well liked by the press, seems keen on community policing and is tough as nails. At least that's the way she comes across.

I don't want to demonise her, she clearly has good points. However, she's also blamed immigrants for the rising cost of policing, and lobbied the government on this allowing the national press to whip up scaremongering against our foreign guests. Personally I think this was very ill judged, but she's the sort of police officer that could well go down well with both the Mayor (for her refusal to bow to "political correctness") and the Home Secretary (for her community policing combined with a hard nosed style).

Whoever does succeed Blair they will certainly have their work cut out for them and will need to be prepared for flak from every side. Mind you the wage packet of quarter of a million pounds should soften the hard edges somewhat.

The spheres of Cambridge

I don't know how many of you have read the Philip Pulman 'Dark Materials' books but one theme they rely upon is the idea of worlds layered one upon the other, never quite touching but just one step away. So you have different Oxfords all co-existing without even noticing each other. Some very similar, some very different but all occupying the same geographical space.

I've begun thinking about Cambridge in very much that way - that you have different spheres who knock against each other in the street, overlapping, wrapped up in their own priorities but only recognising others from their own world.

Most noticeably this is true with the homeless community who, even when they're asking you for change, look through you like you aren't real. But it's also true with the two universities. Cambridge is a very different place to the bin man in Arbury to the Cambridge University student put up in halls whose world revolves around his or her college.

Quite how many of these communities there are it's hard to tell - particularly when you're only in one of them yourself. A few examples would be the Turkish community, which seems pretty tight, as do many of the Asian foreign students. Then there's the white working class "youth" in the clubs on a Friday night and their related but impoverished younger cousins lounging about on Parkers Piece or skateboarding around the Grafton Centre.

It isn't simply that there are class distinctions here (which there clearly are), there are also fundamentally different ways of seeing the world. A multistory car park is a place to store your 4x4 to some and a wild place for urban fitness to others. Parkers Piece at night is a place of concern for some who are crossing it and to others this is the social centre of the city, poor things.

Tonight I had the good fortune to cross one of these boundaries and get sucked into part of the world of the homeless community, if only for half an hour or so. On one level it was pretty unpleasant, essentially I had to intervene to prevent a Moroccan guy having his head beaten in by two, well, um, urgh, scumbags I suppose you'd call them.

There was an odd moment though when they realised I'd stepped into their space. The look on their faces, even the guy I was saving from a pasting was, "hold on - you're from the other place - you're not meant to be here!" The funny thing is part of me agreed, it was as if I shouldn't even have been able to detect a racist attack was taking place right in front of me.

But once you've started something you often feel you need to finish it so I stayed in their sphere. Anyway, my presence managed to diffuse the situation and I walked a ways with my grateful charge as he ranted and raved about how he wasn't one of them, he had a daughter, somewhere, and an Armani jacket.

As we parted he even charged me for his time, telling me "Come on, I've walked all this way with you" forgetting I was walking with him to make sure he was safe. For once I was happy enough to give him what was in my pocket and tell him to take care of himself, but it was still fascinating to see that although the gap between us had closed enough for us to actually recognise the existence of the other the fact we were from completely different worlds still remained, so I still hadn't quite transcended the status of cash machine for him.

Neither of these worlds is more real than the other, neither one more substantial - although mine is decidedly more comfortable than his to be to be sure. I'll be sleeping the sleep of the just up on my shelf tonight and Christ knows where he'll be. For a moment though we did see one another and were able to help each other out, if only for a brief while.

What going on?

Not a reference to Mark Steel's excellent new book that I'm reading at the moment but just a quick look at how people use the net to find out what's happening in their local area.

The fact is that it can be quite difficult to find out if there's anything cool going on in your area, even if you've lived there for some time. Frankly local papers and other respectable sources rarely do anything except scratch the surface of what you'd actually want to attend. There is little mustard cutting coming from these sources unless you're into the most expensive and mainstream outtings available.

Round Cambridge way you have the site We're all neighbours which has served as something of a local hub - although I've always found the events listing far too cluttered to be useful. It does have a lively message board where people discuss all sorts of nonsense and an interesting, if slightly exclusive, community has developed around it.

Another local project of use is Just Living an ethical guide to Cambridge which, for those into that sort of thing, is a really useful resource. However, my impression is that most towns don't have anything like these free services and so it can create the impression that there's nothing going on that progressives might get excited about - and that's rarely the case.

I notice that London has just got a new free listings site which looks to have a lot more potential than many of its more mainstream rivals. Having played about on it it feels really easy to use and there's already plenty of interesting events up there that seem to cover right across London.

If you live in London you might want to check out http://freelondonlistings.co.uk/ both to find out about what's going on in your area but also, just as importantly, to let people know about events you might be hosting or promoting - I suspect this kind of listings site can be an effective way of helping make events into a success.

209 Radio appeal

Cambridge has an excellent community radio station called 209Radio that has a wide variety of specialist programming and provides a brilliant opportunity for anyone in the area to just get up and start their own program. I even had a news hour myself for a little while and great fun it was too, if extremely hard work.

Unfortunately, such is the way of these things 209, as a grassroots movements, doesn't just require enormous personal sacrifices on the part of those who are committed to keeping the station running it also needs serious funding.

Bringing diverse voices to the Cambridge airwaves and beyond for over 5 years now has been really valued by thousands across Cambridge (and beyond, for the internet listeners). Sadly, news went around last week that the station is in the midst of a funding crisis and is under threat of closing down.

This is now the challenge to keep the station open - they need to raise at least £20,000 by the end of September or they'll be off the airwaves. The situation is not totally helpless - the fund raising drive is already underway. Unfortunately this will mean hosting advertising for the first time - but needs must as the devil drives.

If you are one of the many who appreciates what 209radio has been doing, please consider donating a bit of money to them. The station is a registered charity and you can now donate through just giving: http://www.justgiving.com/209radio

It would be a great loss if 209 shut down, particularly when they are on the cusp of even greater successes. They've had some very important shows, including one run by Cambridge's homeless community, stuff on important issues and organisations that just don't get covered anywhere else, and music programmes with genres that would be ignored in today's broadcasting world.

When I heard they had a funding problem I thought, right, I'll lend my support - I listen in regularly and I'm never quite sure what weird and/or wonderful bit of programming I'm going to find so it would be a great shame if that were to disappear leaving us with the same old homogeneous tat that our elders and betters consider safe enough for us to listen to.

Report on the funding crisis:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=346835

Tesco lose - again

Tesco are such losers. Their nefarious plans to move into Mill Road are doomed and now they've had to abandon their plans to build Tescopia - commonly known round here as the Hanley Grange eco-town. Top news.

A corporate homunculus said "we recognise a proposal of this type has implications not only for the local area but the region. We also believe a genuinely sustainable community stands the best chance of being successful if a broad range of stakeholders in the region feel fully engaged in the process leading up to a decision. We believe this is most likely to be achieved through a review of the Regional Spatial Strategy."

Although Tesco still own the land (and after all there seems to be little land that they do not own) all plans for taking part in an eco-town are being shelved. Quite possibly for good.

Eco-towns are part of this government's plan to try to do what they wanted to do anyway by putting the suffix eco- in front of the policy. A bit like the war on terror really, only with beans rather than bombs. The eco-town legislation allows the government to bypass local planning processes but has little to do with sustainable communities. Hanley Grange was designed to take 50 houses per hectare, a government maximum that has never before been achieved. Simulating the film Soylent Green has far more to do with targets on house building than any long term commitment to the environment.

Local campaigners weren't fooled for a moment and the mainly rural community managed an extremely vigorous campaign to prevent this travesty taking place. It's hard enough to organise in urban areas but activists managed to gain wide spread and active support around the region - which has eventually pressured the government and Tesco back onto the back foot. Tesco even acknowledges that the local community were simply not up for their schemes.

Everywhere Tesco goes there are those who oppose it. Often these communities win and the feeling of elation - like that of David defeating Goliath - is a joy to behold but we need to remember Tesco is an every expanding beast. These victories slow its expansion, we've yet to take the battle back to the monster's lair.

The growing network of campaigners, mostly informal and non party partisan, shows that where a community fights it can knock a corporate giant on its arse. Break out the economy apple juice, it's time to celebrate and hatch plots on how to turn the fight against one villain into a fight against villainy in general.

Rewriting the apocalypse

I'm finding it difficult to express my disgust in a calm and rational manner, but I will do my best. Plodding across town about an hour ago I came to the site of some long standing graffiti (pictured) "Apocalypse now" plastered in bright white paint on an obscure factory chimney.

Part of the joy of it is that it's tucked away and is even complete with a crossing out where the "artist" had set out but then made a mistake and started again. How often do you see that? Pretty rarely. It probably doesn't look much from this picture but it's been there for years and always brought a bit of warmth to my heart every time I saw it.


But. When I passed the factry what do I see? It's been "improved" with an additional "If not now when" with the rest of the original blanked out. Moralising tossers. Why go over part of the hidden history of Cambridge? Why not find your own spot? I just don't understand what they thought they were adding to the sum of the world's knowledge through this pointless bit of tat.

It reminds me of a wonderful bit of graffito in Ipswich on the bridge just near the train station. "Troops out of Vietnam" it proclaimed in five foot high letters. Faded but still beautiful thirty years later. What does some dimwit then go and do? Paint "Iraq" over the word "Vietnam".

Just so we're clear - in this context Troops out of Vietnam is a better anti-Iraq war slogan than Troops out of Iraq because no one, but no one, would have failed to draw the parallel themselves and it allows people to think for themselves about half a century of American wars. We don't need to be hectored. This was the act of a misanthropic philistine(s) which treats us like morons.

Obviously the council removed it all, once it had been defaced. What a shame. A real piece of modern history buggered up by some ignorant muppet.

I know some of the left think that shouting slogans at people is an effective form of politics, but frankly, for me, this episode shows that some people are unable to distinguish between politics that makes you think in an undirected way allowing for real depth - and politics that directs us to limit our thinking to shallow, pre-approved cliches that don't have a chance of persuading those outside of faithful.

Be nice to someone day: Oliver Cromwell

You might not think a piece on Oliver Cromell is exactly cutting edge political commentary - but in East Anglia you'd be oh so wrong. Readers of the Cambridge Evening News will have spotted that the old ironside has subjected to a curse no less from the high priest of the British Coven of White Witches, Kevin Carlyon.

What brought this on say you? Well, Cromwell's a local boy and down the road in Ely they are celebrating the 350th anniversary of his death with a bit of do.

Master of magic Kevin is displeased as Cromwell "turned a blind eye to the exploits of the self-appointed "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins, whose witchcraft trials led to the death of about 300 people between 1644 and 1646, including women from the Cambridgeshire villages of Haddenham and Sutton." Which has led him to curse the celebrations.

Charming.

A few things. Firstly, just to get this out the way, white witches are always claiming they don't curse people - this is now clearly untrue. There's no point moaning that everyone thinks you use your non-existent powers for selfish ends if you go round trying to literally rain on people's parades.

Secondly, and rather more to the point, Hopkins' title Witchfinder General was not one bestowed upon him by Parliament but by himself and his brief career (and he did make money out of it) flourished during the civil war - which was clearly a time of upheaval and agitation. 200,000 people died during a conflict (more than 3% of the population) that resulted in a fundamental change in the social structure of this country. All sorts of shit went down at this time - Hopkins was by no means the worst of it.

I'd also like to point out for the record that none of his "witchfinding" actually happened once Cromwell was in charge, so it seems a bit unfair to blame Cromwell for something that was essentially out of his control at a time when he had quite a bit on his plate. So, Kevin, I don't think the good people of Ely deserve your rather horrid little spell.

Cromwell gets a bad press as it is. He was a good guy and the moderate leader of revolutionary forces, without whom the first modern democracy would not have been founded. The revolutionary forces did not simply replace one set of religious dogmas with another that prohibited Christmas presents.

Historian Christopher Hill describes it this way "The Civil War was a class war, wherein on the side of reaction stood the landed aristocracy and its ally, the established Church, and on the other side stood the trading and industrial classes in town and countryside . . . the yeomen and progressive gentry, and . . . wider masses of the population whenever they were able by free discussion to understand what the struggle was really about ."

The victory of the Parliamentary forces signalled the end of absolutist monarchy and, despite their stern reputation, actually allowed a more progressive, and tolerant, form of religion - less dominated by social hierarchy - to flourish. This was the end of the period when citizens of England would be murdered by the state for their religious views and, for instance, saw the resettlement of many Jews in England, who'd previously been discouraged by rampant anti-semitism. It seems particularly unjust for that reason to lay at Cromwell's door the charge of religiously motivated murder.

After all you don't have to look very hard to realise that Cromwell had plenty of blood on his hands, and not just of the blue variety. Whether it was the king's supporters, the revolutionary wing of his own movement, the Irish, the Scots, indeed the blood stretches all the way to the West Indies - there's plenty of killings, much of which is totally justifiable in my view - but we certainly don't need to add these ones to weigh upon his restless soul.

If you'd like to thwart the curses and turn out to support the great man here are the details; "Saturday, September 6, will see a squadron of Civil War re-enactors perform military drills outside the historic cathedral - just a few yards from Cromwell's Ely home - from 10am-4pm, while an actor on horseback will play Cromwell himself."

Defending Council Housing in Cambrdgeshire

Calling all locals;

South Cambs Against Transfer, which combines tenants and a group of councillors (nearly all the Independents plus the one Labour Cllr, and increasing support from LibDems), have begun distributing 6,000 leaflets opposing the housing transfer proposed by the ruling Tory group.

They're well organised and have several volunteers, but with nearly 100 villages in South Cambs they have their work cut out. Some Cambridge tenants have already offered help, but any more would be welcome. Dave Kelleway, chair of the group, has the leaflets, plus lists of all the council addresses in the district. If anyone would like to combine a stroll around picturesque Cambridgeshire villages and at the same time support council tenants against a typically unpleasant bunch of Shire Tories this is an ideal opportunity!

Please contact Dave and let him know if you wish to help.

With the government's 'council housing finance review' under way, it is disgraceful that the South Cambs' Tories are trying to rush this transfer through. Their only argument is the amount of rent taken away by the government as negative subsidy, but that is precisely what the review is addressing. It's called 'indecent haste', and (cynics might say) may not be entirely unconnected with SCDC being cash-strapped and looking to benefit from the capital receipt from the sale - at tenants' expense, of course.

It's lovely weather - what better than a nice stroll around pleasant country villages, taking a pop at unpleasant Shire Tories as you go..? A whacking 'No' vote would be good for Cambridge city too, because every such vote increases the pressure on the government to sort out what they have acknowledged is the "unsustainable" position for our Housing Revenue Account.

Jim's micro-economic analysis in full

I'm not into talking up the economic downturn, as they say the left has predicted accurately eight of the last three recessions, but even I'm picking up some of the signs. Two pictures taken today.

Just closed: Peppercorns

Independent sandwich shop just off the market.
Everything freshly made to your requirements by friendly staff.

Just opened: Poundland

My Mum gets very excited by this sort of thing, I don't.
I believe it's the first one in Cambridge.

You only have to look at the empty shop fronts on Mill Road and around the Grafton Centre to see that something is happening. What are they being replaced by? A half full Grand Arcade and Tesco. Is this the future of the economy?

Guest Post: Beware the Eco-Town

I've been planning to write about eco-towns for a while now due to the proximity of a threatened development to Cambridge. However,I've not known enough about it, nor had the time to investigate - so I've been bailed out of that hole by Serena who has sent me the following:

There are plans for a so called “eco-town” of 8-11,000 houses (a town the size of Ely) which will be planned, designed, built and financed 100% by Tesco to be built just South of Cambridge on a greenfield site.

"Eco-towns" are New Labour spin at its most cynical. Labour have abandoned their commitment to important sustainability criteria in order to build 3 million new houses by 2020. Legislation passed on "Eco-towns" allows the government to bypass local planning procedures, whereby councils and local residents can vet the feasibility of a proposed development. This process can take years, which is why the government wants to bypass them. By making these towns "Eco-towns" Gordon Brown can increase house numbers without taking local concerns into account. An almost identical proposal called “Hinxton Grange” for the same site was rejected a number of years ago and is only now being considered following the re-branding as an “eco-town”.

The houses provided are in excess of government figures on the need for housing in the area, so really only Tesco stands to benefit. There is limited local employment, and the biotech firms based in the area, when questioned have actually stated that the development would hinder their work and in some cases may cause them to leave the area or even the country (please see this link for more details).

The site is a Greenfield site, and located on an aquifer which supplies 5% of the water used by the surrounding areas (in, of course, one of the driest areas of the UK). When asked if they can guarantee whether the water supply will be polluted or damaged in any way, the developers reply “we are looking into it”.

Hanley Grange is close to a number of major roads and the M11. This would encourage car dependency. In addition the A505 and the M11 is already severely congested at rush hours. There are also concerns about the impact of at least 8,000 more cars on the already crowded A1301 and A1307 and concerns about the quiet streets of surrounding villages being turned into rat-runs. Bus and car travel to and from Cambridge from the villages in and around the Hanley Grange site already suffers from severe peak time delays through bottlenecks. Hanley Grange would only compound the problem.

There is further information on the facegroup site. I would be really grateful if you all could spare the time just to make yourselves aware of what is being proposed and join the campaign. Public consultation ends in one week, so time is running out to make ourselves heard!

So what can you do? There are two online petitions to sign. Please go to:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/stophanleygrange/
http://www.stophanleygrange.org.uk/petitions/1/sign-new.html

And please send an email registering your opposition to Hanley Grange to:
ecotowns@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Contact InfoWebsite:
http://www.stophanleygrange.org.uk/