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News from March 1996

[archive index] 'Mad cow' fever in East Anglia - (31/3/96)

After it was announced by the Chief Medical Officer that a possible link exists between mad cow disease and the human illness CJD, not only did the rest of the world jump to ban British beef but also beef sales here fell dramatically.

Last Wednesday 500 distraught East Anglian farmers met in Newmarket at a special meeting to discuss the problem. They were advised by the National Farmers Union to agree to the slaughter of up to 1000 cattle a week.

The 'Soham Advertiser' reported microbiologist Prof Richard Lacey as saying the Government had risked the health of the nation for a decade by denying any kind of link.

Facts (based on a list in the 'Soham Advertiser')

BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy-mad cow disease) was first diagnosed ten years ago.
Out of 158,698 cases in Britain - 502 were from 97 farms in Cambridgeshire.
The symptons can take 10 to 30 years to show.
The human form, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) mainly affects the elderly causing loss of memory, deteriation in speech and coordination, blindness and eventual death

- based on articles in the Soham Advertiser and Cambridge Evening News of 28/3/96.

- BSE links.

[archive index] New injuries unit at Ely Hospital - (31/3/96)

Campaigning by pressure group ACHE (Action for a community hospital in Ely) has payed off. On Thursday it was announced that a GP based minor injuries unit will open at the ex-RAF Princess of Wales Hospital in Ely creating the first such facility in the area since the Royal Air Force abandoned the hospital nearly four years ago.

[archive index] South East Cambs Tory candidate re selected - (27/3/96)

James Paice, the MP for South East Cambridgeshire, has been re-selected by the Conservatives to stand for the constuency.

[archive index] Spielberg funds Cambridge lecturer - (21/3/96)

The film producer Stephen Spielberg has donated money to fund a visiting lecturer in modern Jewish thought at Cambridge University's divinity school.

- from yesterdays Cambridge Evening News.

[archive index] Number of families on benefit has soared - (18/3/96)

The number of families in Cambridge claiming the means tested Family Credit has risen by 42.9% in just two years according to a report published by the Low Pay Network last week. Through out East Anglia the number of families on benefit has risen by 36.6%

The report claims that more and more families 'in work' are having to claim benefits to make ends meet.

A spokesman for the Department of Social Security said the effect was simply due to more families becoming aware of what they are entitled to. He said that Family Credit is a means for people to beat the poverty trap making it worthwhile for them to work.

However Jonathan Fry of the Low Pay Network said, 'Family Credit has increasingly become a subsidy to low-paying employers, rather than a means of alleviating poverty among working families.'

'This change of emphasis is most apparent in the pilot Earnings Top-Up scheme, which extends the benefit to couples and single people without children.'

'This encourages wage under-cutting and acts as a random subsidy to employers.'

- based on an article in the Cambridge Evening News of 14/3/96.

[archive index] 'Monetary union doomed' - Euro-MP - (18/3/96)

Cambridgeshire Euro MP Robert Sturdy has voiced his opinion on the impracticability of a single European currency in economic and monetary terms.

He said, 'I can only see the merit in a single currency if Europe speaks the same business language and shares a number of economic and cultural assumptions, which I can not see happening before the arbitrary date of 1999'.

- based on an article in the Ely Standard of 14/3/96.

[archive index] Kennett Parish Council oppose landfill scheme - (15/3/96)

The council has called a meeting to be held at Kennett Primary School at 7.30pm on Thursday 21st. March to discuss plans by a company called Anti-Waste to create a 202 acre landfill site near the village.

Concerns about the proposed site include the 120 lorry trips a day to and from it and the rise in the level of the land it would cause.

Anti-Waste say that the site will be returned to agricultural use when it is full.

- based on an article in the Cambridge Evening News of 14/3/96.

[archive index] University to accept money from tobacco industry - (12/3/96)

Tonight's 'Cambridge Evening News' leading article concerns a planned gift of Ł1.5 million pounds to Cambridge University from tobacco pushers BAT Industries. The gift, to be used to fund a chair in international relations, is being made to mark the retirement of BAT chief Sir Patrick Sheehy.

Master of Trinity College, Sir Michael Atihah who campaigned against the promotion of smoking during his presidency of the Royal Society said, 'Money devoted to education is welcome wherever it comes from, but I still haven't altered my views. If it had been me I would not have taken it'.

Stephen Thornton, chief executive of the local health authority said, 'I am appalled at what organisations will do to glorify the peddling of tobacco products to Third World countries and anything that gives credibility or support to that activity is to be condemned'.

[archive index] Ł1.9 Million lost by council organisation - (11/3/96)

County council owned highways labour organisation 'Cambridge Construction' were found to have made a huge loss when its accounts were being closed down last December after the firm had been transfered to the private sector.

Auditors have said that:
-Jobs were priced too keenly
-Problems arose due to complex business arrangements
-The value of work in progress had been over estimated

- based on an article in the Ely Standard of 7/3/95

[archive index] Conservative nomination for new constituency - (4/3/96)

49 yr. old Richard Spring was nominated as the prospective candidate for the new West Suffolk constituency at a selection meeting at Newmarket memorial town hall last Friday.

The new constituency includes Newmarket, Mildenhall and Haverhill.

- based on an article in the Cambridge Evening News of 2/3/96.

[archive index] Red Cross talk with Irian Jaya hostages - (4/3/96)

The Red Cross have been able to talk with Indonesian rebel leader Kelik Kwalik about the plight of 12 hostages, including four Cambridge graduates, held by the Free Papua Movement.

A red cross doctor who examined the hostages said they were healthy but thin.

The last related article in ECOLN was Possibility of armed intervention to free Irian Jaya hostages - (9/2/96)

The Diocese of Ely Web site is running a page on the Irian Jaya hostage situation.

[archive index] Soham to host arts festival - (29/2/96)

St. Andrew's Church in Soham is set to host a major new festival of local Music and Art this October.

The festival, to be opened by a celebrity, will run from October 2nd. to the 6th. It will feature events and exhibitions including a mammoth firework display.

based on a story in the Soham and Ely Journal of 22/2/96.

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