The Covid-19 testing service at
@Cambridge_Uni
is continuing to test over 6,000 people a week who don't have symptoms - and has found zero cases in the last five weeks.
This barrier was originally going to be temporary, but three and a half years on itโs still obstructing pedestrians, cyclists, and the disabled, as well as adding a garish splash of ugliness to our most iconic streetscape. Can we have a more Cambridge-appropriate alternative?
New cattle grids by the Mill, eliminating the decades-old tradition of awkwardly squeezing your bike through the swing gate against the flow of pedestrians
Just nine cases in week 9 of
@Cambridge_Uni
's testing programme, all from tests on people with symptoms. The University also tested 10,121 people without symptoms, and found zero cases. Details at
Wow. Charging for computer time in
@CambsCC
libraries raises just ยฃ4k of a forecast ยฃ108k, but reduces usage by 54%. And the charging system cost over ยฃ18k to put in place. What a stupid, pointless waste of our money.
A stunning result in North West Cambridgeshire as
@sam_carling_
unseats
@ShaileshVara
by just 39 votes. At 22, Sam will be one of the youngest MPs in the new Parliament, if not the youngest.
Cambridge Lib Dem transfers put Labour's Nik Johnson 4,556 votes ahead in the Mayoral race. 87% of Lib Dem votes transferred, and 80% of them went to Labour.
An astonishing arithmetical error from
@GreaterCambs
in this FOI response. They claim that a population increase of 17.6% in Cambridge and 8.9% in South Cambs means the Greater Cambs population has increased by 26.5%.
"As a rule, the reticulated python seems able to swallow prey up to one-quarter its own length and up to its own weight". So the cats of north Cambridge should be on the alert.
What a terrible shame it is that
@CambsCC
ever left Cambridge in the first place. Future generations will think we were mad. Cambridge is the county town of Cambridgeshire and the County Council should have its headquarters here.
Wow. 9,668 EU citizens living in Cambridge were unable to vote *despite being registered* because they didn't complete an additional form by 7 May. Something has gone badly wrong.
This year, 1,825 out of 11,493 registered EU citizens completed the separate form to register to vote from Cambridge. Regrettably, not everyone registered by the deadline, which was set by government, meaning they could not vote on 23 May
Here is a zoomable map of the proposed Cambridge congestion charge zone. This is an unofficial map made by me based on the lower-res map published by
@GreaterCambs
. If implemented, driving a car anywhere in this zone 7am-7pm Mon-Fri would cost ยฃ5 per day.
One of these days I am going to run for County Council on the single issue of getting rid of that massive puddle that appears on the corner of St Andrewโs St and Downing St whenever it rains
Cambridge Lib Dem transfers put Labour's Nik Johnson 4,556 votes ahead in the Mayoral race. 87% of Lib Dem votes transferred, and 80% of them went to Labour.
@alexbeckett
From what I remember it would have made closer results a bit more proportional, but would have exaggerated landslides even more than FPTP. AV on its own isnโt really much of an improvement
Very sorry to hear that Chris Lloyd has died. He was landlord of the Free Press for many years and from 2002 the Cambridge Blue. Here are Chris and Debbie christening a new boat โFree Press 21stโ in 1999 โ the 21st anniversary of the Free Press rowing club
.
@camcitco
's Planning Committee has approved the application to install solar panels on the roof of King's College Chapel. Excellent news - a great symbol for 21st century Cambridge.
Now that the dust has settled from the election counts, I think it's time to say a big thank you to the City Council's election team at
@votecambridge
. They have truly done an amazing job this year.
The gap is too narrow for bikes to pass both ways, and part of it is in the cobblestoned gutter. If
@camcitco
wanted to send a message that they don't care about cyclists, it's hard to think of a better way to do it. (Photo from
@smithsam
)
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my first ever 100% set of city council predictions - holds everywhere except for the Green gain in Newnham. Graphs follow in a moment.
Charging for computer use in libraries cost ยฃ18k to set up but raised only ยฃ9k rather than the predicted ยฃ108k. A completely disastrous policy - computer use fell and it cost more than simply leaving things as they were.
It looks like the new voter ID rules have disenfranchised nearly two million people. Last year there were 7 allegations of personation at a polling station. All parties should commit to reverse this utterly unnecessary policy.
Here is the overall result for Mayor of
@CambsPboroCA
, including second round transfers of Lib Dem votes. The huge Labour vote in Cambridge and a smaller win in South Cambs overcame the Conservative lead in the other four districts.
After going to great lengths yesterday to explain why they couldn't arrest
@xr_cambridge
activists involved in criminal damage,
@CambsCops
have today started arresting them. Better late than never. Can we stop them delaying emergency ambulances now?
A particularly big thank you today to Covid data hero Pouria Hadjibagheri, a key member of the amazing team behind the UK Coronavirus Dashboard. Thank you
@pouriaa
and very best wishes for the future.
Some personal news (a ๐งต):
On 4 October 2021, I resigned from my role as the Deputy Head of Software Engineering for Web and Data at
@UKHSA
.
This means that 1 January 2022 will mark my final day in the agency โ but *not* on the dashboard, so this is not goodbye.
...[1/10]
Well, I wasnโt entirely expecting to be doing this, but itโs partly the once-in-a-lifetime historical aspect, and itโs partly the extreme Britishness of it all.
#TheQueue
If you've asked me something and I haven't replied, that's probably because it's got buried in a torrent of notifications. And hello to all my new followers! I hope you like graphs.
@NeilDotObrien
What does that graph look like in absolute cash terms, rather than as a % of income? I suspect that 10% and 15% of not very much might not compare so favourably with 2% or 3% of really quite a lot.
Together with
@ChrisHowell
and Martin Lucas-Smith, I'm launching a new campaign for better local government in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Find out more at , and if you agree with us, please sign up to support the campaign.
Here's the swing from Labour to the Conservatives across the city - pretty remarkable that the Conservatives gained ground over Labour in every ward of the city, particularly given the national results.
Here's a graph comparing today's temperatures in Cambridge (red) with the temperatures on the day in 2019 when the UK recorded its current record high of 38.7C. So far it's looking slightly cooler, though it's unlikely that we have a 7pm rainshower to look forward to today.
A week to go until
@CambsCC
must respond to this
#FoI
request from law professor Kathy Liddell asking for the STZ consultation data to be released. The response should be quite interesting as Professor Liddell has clearly been reading up on the case law.
I have the solution to Brexit, based on a detailed analysis of national political opinion, using datasets from Parliament's petition website. And the answer is...puppies.
The final result in South Cambs is now in, and it's pretty remarkable:
Lib Dems 37 (up 8)
Conservatives 8 (down 4)
Labour 0 (down 2)
Independents 0 (down 2)
Dear
@CambsCC
, can you please find out who is responsible for putting up this idiotic sign in Fair Street and get them to remove it? There is neither a cycle lane here nor any need for cyclists to dismount.
Here's the graph of the King's Hedges by-election result - although I was expecting a Labour hold, the Conservatives just took the seat with a majority of 24 votes. The Lib Dems also increased their vote share but were still some way behind in third place, and the Green vote fell
Voters at Milton Road Library get to experience the rare sight of voting from the back of a car as we've had problems getting into the building โฆ hopefully we'll be in soon but for now our polling staff are doing a great job ensuring early voters can still cast their vote!
Although there are still nine days to go until the winter solstice, today marks the earliest sunset of the year in Cambridge - from now on the evenings start getting lighter. However the latest sunrise isn't until 30 December.
The Wikipedia article makes quite interesting reading. "As with all pythons, the reticulated python is an ambush hunter, usually waiting until prey wanders within strike range before seizing it in its coils and killing by constriction."
So: 1,900 people signing a petition against you; an ambulance doing a three point turn; and twitter mentions that are somewhere between 95-99% hostile. Let's face it,
@xr_cambridge
, today has been an utter disaster for you. Stop this roadblock now before it does any more damage.