Month: October 2024

A budget to welcome

I took some time out this afternoon to watch Rachel Reeves deliver her first budget, and as well as the sheer joy of seeing a Labour budget presented by our  first Labour Chancellor, there was a lot to welcome.

I was really pleased to see compensation for those who have been waiting years for justice over the scandals around contaminated blood products and the Post Office Horizon computing system, along with funding to enable the removal of the sort of unsafe building cladding that led to the horror of Grenfell.  

And we finally have a Covid Corruption Commission, and we may finally find out just how so much public money was wasted on failed health measures and unsuitable protective equipment.

Continue reading “A budget to welcome”

Twice as Good…

I was lucky to move near St Matthew’s Piece in Petersfield in 2021, and was fascinated to see how much use single basketball net and single bench got used.

I really thought that it would be a neglected piece of outdoor equipment, but I was so wrong. The small square of tarmac, was used every day, by so many people – old, young, groups, individuals, families, school children… the list goes on.

But now, another pole and net, and another bench have been installed – well to be more precise, two new nets and two new benches, plus markings for basketball shooting.

It’s a joy to see how the space is used, often with different groups gathered around the two nets, or resting on the bench.

Thank you Cambridge City Council Open Spaces team for the great little space, which is being used so much and brings so much pleasure to everyone – even those of us who are watching rather than playing!