Tories may 'lose broadband vote'

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 charles wrote:

Because Cambridge did not have a cathedral it had to wait until 1951 to
become a city. The rules were relaxed.

not so much relaxed as changed. Cambridge didn't need a cathedral since
there isn't a Bishop of Cambridge. The city is in the Diocese of Ely.

But there's no reason why the diocese could not be split in order to
create a diocese of Cambridge. This is what happened with Portsmouth,
Derby, Guildford, Newcastle upon Tyne, etc., etc.....

I wonder what the subdioceses of Ely are. Oxford is split into three,
Oxford, Reading and Buckingham. So Reading already has a bishop. We just
need a cathedral.....

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

In article ,
David Rance wrote:
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I can understand cities within the area of shire counties doing
their own thing but Berkshire doesn't have any!
(In any case, as far as I'm concerned, Slough is still in
Buckinghamshire - and I'm sure that the majority of Berkshire
residents would have similar feelings!)

Many years ago Reading was a County Borough. Then in the 1970's
reorganisation it lost that status, but now it appears to have
regained what it lost - or has it? It is canvassing for city status
but it's doubtful if it will get it.

needs a cathedral first. Or possibly these days a mosque.

Actually that's an urban legend. You don't have to have a cathedral to
be a city.

not an urban legend - it used to be the way to be a city - but things
changed

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

In article ,
David Rance wrote:
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 charles wrote:

Because Cambridge did not have a cathedral it had to wait until 1951 to
become a city. The rules were relaxed.

not so much relaxed as changed. Cambridge didn't need a cathedral since
there isn't a Bishop of Cambridge. The city is in the Diocese of Ely.

But there's no reason why the diocese could not be split in order to
create a diocese of Cambridge. This is what happened with Portsmouth,
Derby, Guildford, Newcastle upon Tyne, etc., etc.....

It could be split - but the ones you mention have significant populations.
Actually, with dwindling congregations, dioceses are more likely to be
amalgamated.


I wonder what the subdioceses of Ely are. Oxford is split into three,
Oxford, Reading and Buckingham. So Reading already has a bishop. We just
need a cathedral.....

there aren't Cathedrals for suffragan bishops.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 charles wrote:

In article ,
David Rance wrote:
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 charles wrote:

Because Cambridge did not have a cathedral it had to wait until 1951 to
become a city. The rules were relaxed.

not so much relaxed as changed. Cambridge didn't need a cathedral since
there isn't a Bishop of Cambridge. The city is in the Diocese of Ely.

But there's no reason why the diocese could not be split in order to
create a diocese of Cambridge. This is what happened with Portsmouth,
Derby, Guildford, Newcastle upon Tyne, etc., etc.....

It could be split - but the ones you mention have significant populations.
Actually, with dwindling congregations, dioceses are more likely to be
amalgamated.


I wonder what the subdioceses of Ely are. Oxford is split into three,
Oxford, Reading and Buckingham. So Reading already has a bishop. We just
need a cathedral.....

there aren't Cathedrals for suffragan bishops.

sigh No, but suffragan bishops become real bishops. That's what
happened to our last few and they moved away.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

Graham Murray wrote:
The Natural Philosopher writes:

which IMHO is utter crap. You dont want vast monolithic organisations,
you want stratification. Regional crime squads probably need to be
national crime squads, but the bobby on the beat needs to be YOUR
bobby, from YOUR patch in a station that isn't 40 miles away, that you
can talk to easily, cos he hangs out in the local pub.

You mean bring back the Police House so the village bobby lives in the
village and the estate bobby lives on the estate.

Yes actually I do, and bring back station masters, who are probably
cheaper than the vandalism their absence encourages, and who could, in
the final analysis, sell you a ticket.. and a lot of other things too.

People living over shops is, for example, very good security.

The trouble is all these sorts of things priced themselves out of the
market when unions and the like started setting national pay sacles for
a police constable: Now a police constable working for the Met, in
London needs paying, not only is it expensive to live there, its a ****
job, and you need a car to get around.

So a village bobby, ended up on the same pay scale, and so they ditched
them in favour of town based stations with cars and radio. Result: they
don't know who the local lads who would benefit from a sharp talking to
ate, until they do something drastic and end up in the nick. Its sad.

For our village, a bike, and a cottage with a blue light on, would be
perfect. And a salary commensurate with the local cost of living, which
isn't high really apart from housing, and thats nowhere near london rates.

Sort of crime Triage: If its trivial and local, deal with it, if its
serious, call in the local twos and blues boys, and hand over.

George Weston wrote:
On 19/03/2010 01:27, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
George Weston wrote:
On 18/03/2010 21:34, charles wrote:
In ,
J G wrote:
On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:10:02 +0000, George Weston wrote:

but they all have one thing in common, which is that they all cover
*all* council services in their areas.

Except where there are parish or town councils.

writing as a Parish Council Chairman, I should point out that very few
Parish Councils provide 'services' other than cemeteries - where
needed.

And writing as a (Welsh) community council member, I would agree with
you!

This makes life a bit simpler for the residents of these areas,
who don't have to try and remember "who deals with what" when it
comes
to roads, refuse collection, highways, council tax, schools, etc...

So who deals with the local ambulance service, or the local fire and
emergency service, or the local police service, all of which used to
be under county council control.

In many areas the Police force covers more than one County, so this
shouldn't be a probem. Ambulance services are provided by the NHS not
teh
County Council. Even some Fire& Rescue services cover wide areas eg the
London Fire& Resue Service works across many boroughs.

Absolutely. In my area, Gwent Police covers the counties/county
boroughs/cities of Monmouthshire, Newport, Caerphilly, Torfaen and
Blaenau Gwent.

Similarly, Avon and Somerset Constabulary covers Bristol, Somerset,
North Somerset, Bath & Northeast Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Police services are organised on a regional basis rather than being
county-based, and sometimes still use the names of former counties
which no longer exist (examples: Avon and Gwent).


which IMHO is utter crap. You dont want vast monolithic organisations,
you want stratification. Regional crime squads probably need to be
national crime squads, but the bobby on the beat needs to be YOUR bobby,
from YOUR patch in a station that isn't 40 miles away, that you can talk
to easily, cos he hangs out in the local pub.

Agreed. We had a village cop until about 15 years ago, who definitely
*did* drink in our local - probably a bit too much, if truth be told!
One night, before the more relaxed licensing laws came in, his
colleagues raided the pub, which was still open at gone midnight, as
usual. They hadn't warned him they were coming and he just escaped
through the gent's toilet window before any of his colleagues recognised
him!
Anyway, the constabulary then decided in the interests of efficiency to
do away with village cops. They moved ours out and then sold the
police-house (which is now a foster home for teenagers "with problems").
A double-whammy for our village!
They've recently also restricted the opening hours of the police
stations in our local towns and may well close one of them completely.
We now have a "neighbourhood" constable who is based in one of the towns
about 8 miles away but who is also on call for emergencies, which in our
force's area means Newport city, where all the thugs hang out, so
there's no point in calling him out on a Friday night!
Apart from that, it's a case of calling 999 or 101 and waiting to see
who turns up, from wherever - if they do at all...


In that sense most other countries have local cops and national cops.

Yep. Mind you, having "local" police can sometimes bring local politics
and possibly corruption into play, as witnessed in many Hollywood movies
featuring fat, corrupt local sheriffs, who get re-elected by bribing the
locals, and so on...


Yes, that happens, but in a sense that's a local choice anyway.

When I first visited the USA in 1973/4 there was a standing joke about
Las Vegas Cops.

A man drives into Vgeas, pulls out a gun and shoots a Mexican room
service girl.

The cops arrive and say 'whadyya do that for?'

He replies 'For fun'

and they say' OK then that's alright, if you are jest havin' a bit of
fun...that's what we want people here for!'


Corruption always happens, at any level - I know for a fact that our
local council planning office can be 'bent' by application of cash.

The point is to more or less keep it in check, and if it does get
exposed, have the ability to prosecute under National laws, not local
bye-laws ..

And the soundest way to keep it in check is to have local people doing
local things, elected by local people, living in local communities
where you can dump a heap of horse**** on their front step at 3.a.m.

Or vote them out.


George

David Rance wrote:
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I can understand cities within the area of shire counties doing
their own thing but Berkshire doesn't have any!
(In any case, as far as I'm concerned, Slough is still in
Buckinghamshire - and I'm sure that the majority of Berkshire
residents would have similar feelings!)

Many years ago Reading was a County Borough. Then in the 1970's
reorganisation it lost that status, but now it appears to have
regained what it lost - or has it? It is canvassing for city status
but it's doubtful if it will get it.

needs a cathedral first. Or possibly these days a mosque.

Actually that's an urban legend. You don't have to have a cathedral to
be a city.

David

You most certainly used to, when I were a lad.

A relic of our Christian past I suspect.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
David Rance wrote:
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I can understand cities within the area of shire counties doing
their own thing but Berkshire doesn't have any!
(In any case, as far as I'm concerned, Slough is still in
Buckinghamshire - and I'm sure that the majority of Berkshire
residents would have similar feelings!)

Many years ago Reading was a County Borough. Then in the 1970's
reorganisation it lost that status, but now it appears to have
regained what it lost - or has it? It is canvassing for city status
but it's doubtful if it will get it.

needs a cathedral first. Or possibly these days a mosque.

Actually that's an urban legend. You don't have to have a cathedral
to be a city.

David

You most certainly used to, when I were a lad.

I don't think Brighton's got one.

Norman Wells wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
David Rance wrote:
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I can understand cities within the area of shire counties doing
their own thing but Berkshire doesn't have any!
(In any case, as far as I'm concerned, Slough is still in
Buckinghamshire - and I'm sure that the majority of Berkshire
residents would have similar feelings!)

Many years ago Reading was a County Borough. Then in the 1970's
reorganisation it lost that status, but now it appears to have
regained what it lost - or has it? It is canvassing for city status
but it's doubtful if it will get it.

needs a cathedral first. Or possibly these days a mosque.

Actually that's an urban legend. You don't have to have a cathedral
to be a city.

David

You most certainly used to, when I were a lad.

I don't think Brighton's got one.

It wasn't UK gay capital either, when I were a lad ;-)]

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Norman Wells wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
David Rance wrote:
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I can understand cities within the area of shire counties doing
their own thing but Berkshire doesn't have any!
(In any case, as far as I'm concerned, Slough is still in
Buckinghamshire - and I'm sure that the majority of Berkshire
residents would have similar feelings!)

Many years ago Reading was a County Borough. Then in the 1970's
reorganisation it lost that status, but now it appears to have
regained what it lost - or has it? It is canvassing for city
status but it's doubtful if it will get it.

needs a cathedral first. Or possibly these days a mosque.

Actually that's an urban legend. You don't have to have a cathedral
to be a city.

David

You most certainly used to, when I were a lad.

I don't think Brighton's got one.

It wasn't UK gay capital either, when I were a lad ;-)]

Then you must be very, very old. It certainly had a reputation in that
regard even in 1968, when I lived there.