Along with other city councillors, I was asked if I would like to read my council agenda and papers on a ‘tablet’, with the aim of saving paper (and therefore money) as well as carbon usage.

We often have agenda papers of 500-1000 pages for some of our meetings, particularly the one I chair, where we scrutinize twelve different departments of the Council. An electronic tablet would certainly be lighter to carry, although I would still want to be able to scribble notes in the margin and use Post-It notes as navigation markers. And what if they were stolen or got damaged?

Given the inbuilt obsolescence of technical gadgets I fear that a tablet might be upgraded or become outdated before it paid for itself in terms of saved paper costs.

Any advice welcome! Thanks to those who have commented, who are confirming my scepticism…

UPDATE

My colleague Cllr Salah Albander, councillor for Trumpington, already has one of these devices, an I-pad brand, which he purchased second-hand, doubtless from someone who found it less useful than the marketing hype would suggest. I took the opportunity at last night’s council meeting (25th Feb) to photograph Salah using it and now add it here, to pacify those amongst my readership who require pictures to accompany the text.

Diana Manasseh, a pineapple grower from Ghana, was in Cambridge today telling us all about fair trade pineapple and mango farming and the tangible differences that the fair trade premium makes to the farmers and their families. It was fascinating to hear how the shopping choices we make in Cambridge affects the people who grow and harvest the crops.

Ghana is a poor country, and its challenges include a lack of basic amenities such as access to water and electricity, as well as health care and education. Fair trade offers producers a guaranteed price for their goods, and the money goes back into the community. Several of us listening were amazed at the sheer number of projects that have come about through the fair trade premium. I am probably missing some out, but for example, at Bomarts it has paid for: boreholes to provide clean drinking water, a toilet block, refurbished medical centres, a maternity wing at a clinic, school meals to encourage the children to stay at school longer (Cambridge’s newest restauranteur Jamie Oliver would surely approve!) and nursery equipment for the smaller children.

Bomart starts harvesting pineapples in March and mangos in May. Fair trade pineapples can be found on the shelves of four major supermarkets: Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons. My pineapples will taste all the sweeter now that I’ve glimpsed something of the lives of the people who grow them.

Diana’s a Fair Trade Certification Officer at Bomarts Farms and is here on a tour. It’s her first trip to the UK, and she said she was enjoying it, though it is her first experience of snow. She was speaking today at Emmanuel United Reformed Church in Trumpington Street Cambridge, at the invitation of the Cambridge Fairtrade Steering Group.

There was also an exhibition on 30 years of Traidcraft – I didn’t realize it had been around that long. When I first came across fair trade as a university student in 1980, there was only WDM tea and Campaign coffee, which you had to be . . . errr . . . committed to drink, if you know what I mean.

Nowadays the Traidcraft catalogue is a veritable cornucopia of goods, from tea and coffee (VERY nice, I start the day with two cups of their Indian Ocean) to chocolate, wine, cards and giftwrap, clothes, even holidays! And that’s just one fair trade supplier. I use www.ethicalsuperstore.com to find more sorts of product. My current problem is that although I have lots of fair trade clothes, they are nearly all summery and it’s too cold to wear them without something warmer on top. A shopping trip must be in order . . .

Diana is repeating her talk tomorrow night at King’s College, and on Thursday at Bourn Village Hall.

Police Community Support Officer David Jackson will be at the Cherry Hinton Village Centre on Wednesday 3rd March between 6 and 7pm to listen to people’s concerns or comments about the neighbourhood. He will have information about making your property secure, and how to register your property using a computer data base. Please do go along and let him know what your concerns are, and also let him know if you think the Force is succeeding in its pledge on responding to your call.

If you would like to receive regular updates of police activity in the area, sign up for the Cambridgeshire Constabulary E Cops newsletter by visiting http://www.cambs-police.co.uk/myneighbourhood/ecops/

I picked up an interesting piece of news at a Lib Dem meeting last Thursday. Local bus operator, Stagecoach, is so exasperated at the never-ending delays to the Guided Bus that it is letting everyone know.

Its fleet of 15 buses bought a year ago for the busway used to sport ads saying ‘I’ll be on the busway soon — will you?’ These strips were replaced last week with new ones plaintively asking ‘Will I be on the busway soon?’

Stagecoach bought the buses a year ago (for a cool three million pounds), but the opening of the busway seems no closer, with Cambridgeshire County Council in deep dispute with their contractor. Not surprising Stagecoach are narked.

Meanwhile, Conservative-run Cambridgeshire County Council is to spend five million pounds of taxpayers’ money just on legal costs . . . not to mention the additional costs of the busway itself, which is not surprisingly way over budget.

Councillors on the Cambridge traffic committee have approved a 20mph speed limit trial in the Wulfstan Way area. The trial will start in March and last for twelve months.

It will cover Wulfstan Way, Gunhild Way and Godwin Way, and the three cul-de-sacs in that area.

The Wulfstan Way area was chosen because it has a high number of pedestrians and cyclists, and several community facilities – churches, schools, doctors’ surgeries and shops.

There is a larger trial in Cambridge city centre but this is the only one out of town. Queen Edith’s is leading the way! Full details of the scheme can be seen on the County Council’s website.

The South Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats are holding an open meeting on education at St John’ Church, Hills Road, on 18th February.

 Speakers

 Cllr Peter Downes, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on education on Cambridgeshire County Council (former Head of Hinchingbrooke School and President of the Secondary Heads Association)

Cllr Sebastian Kindersley, Cambridgeshire County Councillor and Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South Cambridgeshire

Come and hear the Lib Dem point of view and have your say!

7 p.m., The Wilkinson Room, St John the Evangelist Church, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 8RN (opposite Homerton College, buses 1, 4, 7 and lots more)

Drinks and snacks available. No ticketing, just come!

Education meeting poster

Conservative policy on parking controls in Cambridgeshire is only to put down yellow lines for safety reasons, not to deter commuter parking, which is one of the most common complaints in Queen Edith’s, neighboured as we are by Addenbrooke’s Hospital and two sixth-form colleges.

Funds have accordingly been thinly spread, but we are pleased to report that yellow lines have been approved near junctions in the following roads, all in the interests of safety:

Almoners Avenue

Glebe Road

Rock Road

Wulfstan Way

Thanks to my colleague Cllr Alan Baker for his persistence in keeping up the pressure for these yellow lines!

We welcome Sgt Gavin Townsend as the new Sergeant for the City South Neighbourhood Team.

We are looking forward to meeting him soon and to discussing items of mutual interest. Our former sergeant, Gordon Morganthaler, has transferred to Peterborough: we wish him all the best for the future.

I and other councillors have been receiving many more calls about potholes recently, partly because of the colder weather but also because of years of inadequate maintenanfce by the County Council.

One of the things people get justifiably annoyed about is that potholes and other problems such as pavement holes sometimes get mended superficially, but not well enough, so that they need repairing again shortly afterwards.

I have just heard from an officer at Cambridgeshire County Council’s Highways Department that we shall have a super-team in Queen Edith’s for a week to carry out thorough repairs to the potholes in the ward. For all those of you on Wulfstan Way, your potholes are near the top of the list! The bad news is that ‘our’ week won’t be till the middle of March, but I am promised any dangerous potholes (and they are all dangerous if you are on a bike or have a walking stick…) will be made safe as soon as possible.

In the meantime, let me know of any dangerous potholes that you encounter and we will make sure they go on the list of repairs.

Shocking figures have recently shown just how many roads in Cambridgeshire are substandard– for more details, see the Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrat post, which highlights the lack of maintenance over the years.