on duty in Cambridge: 13 Oct 08

Today I did my bit for democracy. This morning I spent a couple of hours getting steadily colder outside Boots in Cambridge supporting a Cambridgeshire County Council budget priorities road show. And after lunch I manned a Lib Dem stand supporting democracy week at Cambridge Regional College. Quite a difference.

In the morning we had little interest from local people. Of those that did approach us maybe 3 out of 4 had a cycling moan. Even though Cambridge enjoys a reputation as the cycling capital of the UK those that do cycle know that it still falls well short of the standards of many countries in continental Europe. What was interesting though was that when I arrived the road show was supported only by County Council officers. There was no-one there from the ruling group that sets priorities which in theory left me, leader of the opposition group, to argue the case on its behalf. Pretty scary some might say.

After lunch it was a case of ‘and now for something completely different’. This is Democracy Week and supposedly ‘hundreds of councils and thousands of schools up and down the country’ are taking part. Anyway in Cambridgeshire it’s one college, Cambridge Regional College, and no councils. To its credit the College invited the main political parties to take part and ourselves, the Lib Dems, and labour are taking part.

It was a lot of fun. The college is ‘home’ to 2500 full time students plus part timers and 700 staff. In the day time most of the students I saw would have been 16-20 years of age  and a far cry from the students at the other places in Cambridge. There was lots of fashion on display, why do kids of that age always seem to dress in a way that horrifies their parents and other adults? It has always been the case and always will. There appeared to be lots of ethnic diversity but what really impressed me was that along with the bustle and the chaos I sensed a degree of harmony  and no agro. The college itself is relatively new, is expanding and if clearly well looked after and maintained.

On our stand we ran 3 petitions. One each relating to Dafur, a fair deal for carers and homophobia. The last one clearly chimed and was signed by most. We gave out badges saying ‘homophobia is gay’ which is a tricky sell but most seemed to get it.