Typical Saturday morning in Cambridge: 29 Nov 08

I am a creature of routine and on Saturday mornings this means Cambridge and breakfast at Don Pasquale. There’s usually something interesting going on, I generally bump into friends and I do my best to avoid spending money. This week has been pretty typical.

The event in Market Square this week was an Amnesty International protest regarding violence against women. Amnesty is an agency I’ve got a lot of time for and few would argue with the positions it takes. Its non-political and it fights battles on behalf of people who may be too small to fight their own. With regard to today’s issue it seems women today who are in a violent or otherwise abusive relationships but who are in the UK on ‘temporary or spousal visas’ do not have access to government support. That seems unfair. If a woman deserves help she should have a right to it irrespective of their residential status. It’s simply inhumane to think otherwise. Speakers included David Howarth (Cambridge’s MP).

In marketing-speak Amnesty is a good brand: well respected and consistent. And without wishing to trivialise Amnesty so it Timpsons who repair shoes, cut keys and do simple engraving on just about every high street. Timpsons is not cheap but it does a useful job and I’ve always found its employees friendly and willing. Today I had a minor shoe repair to be done. When I collected it there was no charge, ‘just make a small charity donation sir’. What a great way to reinforce a brand.