Stalking is currently in the news following the publication of  a parliamentary inquiry which concluded that the laws on harassment and stalking are not “fit for purpose” 15 years after they were made, and are in need of fundamental reform. They inquiry believes that while the police and criminal justice system provides protection to the rich and famous from stalkers, it fails to take complaints from the public seriously. At the same time, the world’s first clinic has opened to provide treatment for stalkers based at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield.

Whenever I watch a psychological thriller, I find any filming of stalkers is the most sinister, chilling and terrifying part. Quite clearly there should be updated laws and advice about how police should deal with stalking; more than three quarters of cases murders by ex-partners involve stalking.

Interestingly, a decision to create a specific criminal offence of stalking in Scotland in 2010 has already had a dramatic impact, resulting in 400 alleged stalkers being prosecuted in the first 11 months of 2011, compared with just 70 in the whole of the previous 10 years under the UK-wide 1997 Protection from Harassment Act. The parliamentary inquiry found that in England the 1997 legislation was used more often to prosecute neighbours arguing about garden hedges and only rarely to deal with stalking.

David Cameron, whose brother, Alexander, recently complained to the police about a stalker, has admitted there is a gap in the law and strongly hinted he wants to see a new specific offence created. And the Home Secretary, Theresa May, has long campaigned on the issue after she took up a constituency case of a mother whose daughter was murdered by a stalker after complaining to the police. A Home Office consultation on whether a specific criminal offence should be created in England and Wales closed on Monday.

Let’s hope this new clinic can save lives, let’s hope that new laws are introduced in the UK too specifically for stalking. Please take this seriously. I wonder if a clause could be included to deal with harassment and intimidation caused by cyber bullies too.

The county’s Literature Development Officer, Helen Taylor, has chosen some very appropriate text to remind us why his writing is as relevant today as it was in Victorian England.  This is the opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens written in 1859.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Helen tells us that Charles Dickens came up to Cambridge three times to give public readings of his work: 18th October 1859, when there was almost word for word coverage in the Cambridge Chronicle and Cambridge Independent Press newspapers, followed by 28th March 1867, and finally on 18th March 1869 as part of his farewell tour.

Two published Cambridge diaries from the period mention them. Josiah Chater refers to the visit in 1867 and says, “we did not go” in 1869, he says, ” to hear Charles Dickens, who gave some readings … from Martin Chuzzlewit and Holly Tree Inn. I liked it very much”.

Joseph Romilly, who often mentions in his diary that he is reading Dickens: 2 March 1850, “read loud the new No (sic) of Copperfield – the blissful day with Dora is very comic”.  He also went to the 1859 reading: “The room was quite full and Dickens was received enthusiastically. I had never seen him before, he has great power of changing the expression of his countenance. I preferred him in the pathetic parts. He amused me by prefacing his reading with saying he had no objection to the audience expressing the feelings which different parts of the reading might excite …”

The plays of the books were also fairly quick to appear and on 9th October 1844 the Christmas Carol was performed at the Theatre Barnwell, Cambridge.
Wisbech and Fenland Museum are the proud owners of the original manuscript of Great Expectations which I have seen during visits there.

And today, Cambridge University unveiled a letter from Charles Dickens to his son Henry written nearly 150 years ago.  Dickens’ son, Henry, then just 19 and the first of the writer’s 10 children to go to university, had just arrived at Trinity Hall in Cambridge, to study maths – and was provided with an a generous stock of alcohol by his father!

I have taken my son to the Charles Dickens Museum in London and loved every minute. He was a complex man whose literary legacy is hard to beat.

I wonder who our modern day equivalent of Dickens is, who is today’s writer whose prose captures the full essence of life in 21st century England, and will it also stand the test of time for centuries to come?

Meanwhile, I hope the Cabinet enjoyed their copies of Dickens thoughtfully given to them by Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt.

I imagined Musk would want to patent and protect his sensational spacecraft designs, Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and the reusable Dragon.

After all, inventors are always asked whether they have a patent on their design if it tickles the fancy of angel investors on BBC’s Dragons’ Den programme.

They would be stunned at Musk’s response, just as I was when reading Patrick Fraser’s recent profile about this seriously rich man who follows his passions, is not afraid to take risks and does things his way; some might say he is foolhardy, but Musk seems to be thriving on his patent=free style of business management.

Musk decided against a patent, even though he faces competition from Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft who has announced plans for a commercial spaceship, and Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, who has ambitious plans to reach space too. It’s a cyber race you couldn’t make up!

According to Fraser’s report, Musk refuses to take out patents on many of his technological developments, fearing they could give away secrets.

“Sometimes patents allow people to see the idea well before it comes to market and copy it before you have the chance to achieve a good return on your investment,” he says coolly.

“The other thing is that patents tend to result in time-consuming legal battles. I spend too much time in the courts as it is.”

The last sentence is a reference to the 40-year-old workaholic’s divorce from his first wife and mother of his five sons (twins and triplets), and the workaholic is to divorce his second wife.

I wonder how many other inventors dare to follow Musk’s lead. I guess as space travel is such a small and specialised market, it’s a risk which Musk can take, though ultimately extremely lucrative.

Astronomy and space travel are new topics I am keenly following after attending Prof Stephen Hawking’s 70th birthday symposium and meeting Sir Richard Branson who told me that he planned to take the Cambridge physicist into space on his Virgin Galactic. These are all serious plans to begin colonising space, and I’m fascinated by it.

Here is a video of Musk talking about his space mission starting from 7.35 mins in.

I have signed its Declaration in support of their campaign, along with molecular diagnostics company Abcodia,who work with innovative global collaborators to provide earlier diagnosis of cancer.

World Cancer Day is using today to unite the world in the fight against cancer by raising awareness, educating the public, and lobbying for change and believes it is only by every person, organisation, and government, individually doing their part, that the world will be able to reduce the global cancer burden.

Abcodia recognises the value of global collaborations and believes that partnerships with like minded innovators around the world is the only way forward to making groundbreaking discoveries and improving the diagnosis of our major cancers, including colorectal, pancreatic, breast, ovarian and lung.

CEO Julie Barnes says:

“We are already working with, and in discussions with diagnostic manufacturers, scientists and academic institutions, investors and cancer organizations, to derive value from our unique biobank. We are working globally with partners not only in the UK and USA, but also in several European countries, including Belgium, Sweden, Germany and Italy.

“We recognize that our global partners strengthens and enrich our work, and welcome the opportunity of developing our links further with partners around the world who also share our mission.”

You too can sign the Declaration by clicking on this link.

The clause is included in the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011, which says that political parties will face a cut of half their State political funding if they do not have at least 30% women and 30% men candidates at the next general election. This is to rise to 40% after 7 years, and discussions are expected to start this month.

The Centre for Women and Democracy, to which I belong, reports that Ireland is currently at the bottom of the western European league table, with just 15% women in the Dáil, the Irish Parliament. France has 19% and Italy 21%, with the UK, at 22%, just above them.

Nan Sloane, Director for CWD, recently attended a conference in Dublin on ‘How to elect more women?’to discuss the Irish government’s proposed legislation bringing in quotas for women and men candidates at the next general election, and says the event was heavily oversubscribed, with more than 400 people attending.

Nan says the clause has aroused considerable interest and support:  “Already some parties are discussing the possibility of increasing the scope of the provisions either to increase the level to 40% immediately, or to include the 2014 local elections, or both.”

High ranking Irish politician and academic Ivana Bacik (pic) explained why quotas are so important in this report she wrote last year, and why Ireland has got left behind other European countries:

“Ireland has an appalling record on women’s representation in politics.

“In 1990, when Mary Robinson was elected as our first woman President, we were in 37th position in the Inter-Parliamentary Union rankings of women’s representation in the lower or single house of national parliaments. By February 2011, we had fallen to 85th position, with 23 women Deputies, or 13.8% of the full complement of 166 TDs.

“We are well below the world and European average and the internationally recommended figure of 30%. Perhaps the worst finding is that we have disimproved in the last 20 years. It is not that the number of women in our Parliament has changed greatly — the Dáil representation has never exceeded 14% – in other words, it has always been at least 86% male — but the fact is that other countries have improved their position since 1990, moving up the rankings.

“In particular, other European countries have adopted legislation requiring political parties to select a minimum percentage of women candidates – and this has changed their ranking.

“In 2009, I initiated the production of a report by the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee on women’s participation in politics. This was published in October 2009, and it recommended the introduction of legislation requiring political parties to adopt targets for the selection of women candidates, based on the model used in other EU states like Belgium and Spain.

“It is vitally important that this sort of legislation is introduced. Without it, voter choice will continue to be severely restricted in Ireland. In five constituencies in the 2007 general election, there were no women candidates at all, so voters could not support a woman no matter how much they wanted to.

“Local elections in 2009 were no better. Only 16% of councillors elected were women and that figure fell from previous local elections when a magnificent 17% was reached.

“Voter choice remains restricted in the current general election, with women representing only 15% of the total number of approximately 560 candidates running nationally – depressingly, this is an even lower percentage than the proportion of women candidates in 2007.

“We need to address the ongoing absence of women in politics as a matter of urgency.”

I discovered this special gem in Simon Jenkins‘ best seller, England’s Thousand Best Churches, where it was awarded five stars – the highest accolade – and visited it on his recommendation for the first time about seven years ago.

When I first stepped inside, I was immediately struck by its wonderful light and vast windows, the painted panels on its screen and its dark inward facing pews, and wondered when this very special Marshland church was last full. I wholeheartedly agree with Simon who says: “Inside, there is hardly a disappointment”.

The church, a short drive from the Queen’s Sandringham estate, is also much admired by Prince Charles, who has donated to its latest fundraising appeal.

I have returned there few times as I can never resist calling  in when I am in the area now that I have discovered it, which I did yesterday. My mother and I have also joined its small and welcoming congregations for its Good Friday service, and I misguidedly thought that its sheer architectural beauty would attract a throng of worshippers.

Thank  you Simon Jenkins for highlighting what a rare treasure this fabulous church is. In Simon’s words: “The ‘Queen of Marshlands’ deserves more respect than she has been accorded…..If English churches were Dutch Old Masters, this would be St Pieter de Hooch”

I urge you to see it for yourself.

I read the story and was shocked by two points: first, the terrible slur on my home town, with a Russian migrant quoted as describing Wisbech as rougher than Moscow; and second, the terrible demise and wasted life of 17-year-old Alisa Dmitrijeva, said to owe £15,000 to a drug dealer. Her badly decomposed body was found on the Queen’s Sandringham Estate by a dog walker in woodland near King’s Lynn, on New Year’s Day.

Latvian-born Miss Dmitrijeva was identified by comparing detail from her palm with records held. She was last seen in  King’s Lynn, on 31 August, 20 minutes from Wisbech.

With a third of Wisbech’s 20,000 population now said to be Eastern European, and five reported murders from their community in the last two years, a Wisbech man felt compelled to write to the Daily Mail urging the paper to highlight the “desperate situation” in the town which he claims is being ignored by politicians for fear of being branded as racist. Following its investigation, the Mail claimed that the “Baltic Mafia” was taking over English Fenland towns, terrifying local residents and ensnaring teenage girls, such as Alisa. One woman is quoted is saying she is too afraid to go out after dark as Wisbech “has changed for the worse”.

I thought it was sensational drivel, until I spoke to a very well reasoned trader in the town today who I respect and asked for his views on the article. To my astonishment, he agreed with it all. Yes, he said, there was an incredibly high number of migrants in the town, and 30% wouldn’t be unreasonable. Yes, he said, there was an element of fear in the town and it was driving shoppers away. No, he said, he did not think the Mafia comment was exaggerated as he had seen Mercedes and BMWs with blacked out windows prowling the streets which were new to the town.

I asked the trader, why Wisbech? He told me that local gangmasters advertise for workers in Eastern Europe, and some go to other towns like Boston, Spalding and King’s Lynn for work.

So I asked the trader for his solution. “Stop giving them our benefits. They even get child benefits for their children back home,” was the resolute reply from him and others in his store. Is it politically incorrect to say this? Or commonsense?

He was also quite definite that many Eastern Europeans were decent, hard working people, but there is a hard-core criminal element causing fear which hasn’t been nipped in the bud.

Wisbech people remain fiercely proud of their town, and many have not forgotten the drubbing it was given by the BBC and Evan Davis which claimed that locals blamed migrants for taking their jobs.

I also asked someone from Outwell who I met this morning for his views about the article, and he told me he avoids Wisbech too as it had changed in recent years, preferring to shop in Downham Market instead.

This is a great disservice to our small  businesses who are struggling to survive in today’s economy, but he was adamant that Wisbech held no appeal for him any longer.

One other part of the article that surprised told how during a five-day police crackdown on violent crime in the area and drugs raids, £40,000 of cannabis was seized and 25 people arrested for suspected offences ranging from knifings to burglary. Surely this kind of crackdown should be happening every day to stamp out crime! There must also be concerns from the Eastern European community about intimidation towards towards them as they fear reprisals from drug and crime gangs if they speak to police .

I guess I will always see Wisbech through rose-tinted spectacles, but clearly our politicians, council officers, police, traders’ associations, local people and the Eastern European community should be putting their heads together to discuss these issues. Every town has problems, and didn’t Wisbech have its fair share before migrants moved in?

Personal safety for all our citizens, and a healthy local economy, are vital for a successful community, and if there are very real concerns that they are at risk, they should be discussed openly.

 UPDATE 29 January: Immigration Minister Damian Green is this week expected to outline the principles behind the government’s new ‘‘selective” immigration policy that will give preferential treatment to investors, entrepreneurs and world-class artists, dancers, musicians and academics. Under the planned reforms ”fewer but better” immigrants will be allowed to settle in the UK, with those who lack the skills to ”help drive economic growth” or contribute to UK culture facing greater scrutiny.

*Instead of knocking my home town, I would like to see the media highlight personal successes stories about Eastern Europeans who have settled in Wisbech to highlight the positive contribution they have made to the local community. It’s not an underworld town, and I feel safe walking around there.

*Here is a link to Sally Chidzoy’s report on this topic for BBC Look East.

*In 2007, Chief Constable Julie Spence of Cambridgeshire Police said more officers were needed to cope with complex problems posed by an influx of migrant workers following the expansion of the European Union.  Were her concerns heeded?

She warned it could take as much as three times longer for officers to deal with a crime involving a migrant worker.

Were her concerns heeded?

*Wisbech Standard link to this post with comments. And the Huffington Post.

Cord blood banks have been set up at a number of hospitals around the UK, and I learned of Virgin’s plans for Cambridge from Greer Deal, director of Global Regulatory Services, who attended the latest  London Regenerative Medicine Network meeting where the collaboration was announced earlier this week.

Greer wrote about it on her blog:

“The last speaker was Dr Rajan Jethwa, from the Virgin Health Bank and the common theme during his presentation was the word “free”!  This was actually to support their image of being a “social enterprise”.  It’s strategically clever because to be a social enterprise is “the only way private business can be accepted as a healthcare provider within the NHS environment”.  So a few statistics: for £1,195.00 a member of the public donates 80% of the cord blood to a public bank.  This is enough for one adult transplant and is provided free to the NHS hospital.  The first 5ml of cord blood, however, is stored on behalf of the family with the Virgin Health Bank for a 25 year term which can be used by the family if needed.  All profits made by the Virgin Health Bank are donated to stem cell initiatives.

“The ‘big news’ of the evening was the announcement by Dr Jethwa that Virgin Health Bank had established a long term partnership with the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  This partnership is to accelerate the development and availability of stem cell transplants and it is hoped that it will demonstrate what can be achieved via a collaboration between the private and public sectors.  Another objective is to increase availability of cord blood cells and thereby reduce the currently high costs of transplants.

“Here at Global Regulatory Services we are particularly pleased with this announcement as, yet again, it showcases Cambridge (UK) as being a centre of innovation and excellence.  We are delighted to be located right in the middle of all these exciting scientific advances and to be part of what is affectionately called the ‘Cambridge Phenomenon’.”

Richard Branson elaborates on how his Health Bank will work:

“Virgin Health Bank was established to provide families with a high quality service through which they could store their baby’s cord blood stem cells and support the NHS by enabling them to donate some of those cells to others in need. The partnership with Cambridge University Hospitals will further the development and availability of stem cell transplants, and is a great example of what can be achieved through collaboration between businesses and the public sector.”
The initiative is planned to help address the problem of availability, which has partly been brought about by the high costs involved in such transplants. The cost of obtaining one stem cell unit for this purpose was estimated at £36,000 in 2010.
New parents delivering babies at Cambridge’s Rosie Hospital will be given information regarding cord blood banking, allowing them to decide whether they wish to participate in the scheme. Mothers who chose to store their baby’s stem cells will be able to donate some of them to Virgin Health Bank, who will then make them available for transplant on the NHS, increasing the chances of patients on waiting lists finding a match. Richard Branson has also pledged to reinvest any profits made from Virgin Health Bank to further the development of stem cell therapies.

However, I wonder if provisions can be made for families who want to donate to support this ethos, but can’t afford the fee. Can they donate for philanthropic reasons, relinquishing future rights?

Here is a link to a case study which demonstrates how a cord  blood bank can help save lives.

I do think you can stay in a position too long and that there is always a right time to move on so fresh blood can reinvigorate and bring different dynamics and insights to the board. With many other pressing commitments, I felt this was the right time for me to step down and hand over to James Berry, a retired financial director who will now steer our Headway group and its wonderful work providing rehabilitation for adults with an acquired injury, into a new era as it expands throughout the county.

I feel privileged to have been a part of it for so long. It was a steep learning curve too when I was first appointed as the chair and had to build up a new board from scratch. We all evolved together, and the greatest compliment anyone could have paid was when our former CEO who now works with another charity told me that he had recommended some of my innovative ideas to his chair of trustees.

I would like to thank my fellow trustees for their support over the years and for these lovely flowers. I was also presented with a beautiful orchid by staff, and a photo montage of them all, after I called in to say goodbye today, and I couldn’t leave without seeing our clients, always a poignant reminder of why Headway’s work makes such an important difference to people’s lives. A head injury is the kind of accident that could happen to anyone on any day without warning, changing their lives for ever.

I hope everyone realises this is not goodbye, I am a Headway friend forever…

What once seemed a controversial idea has now won widespread approval as Sativex, the first ever prescription cannabis-based medicine, is used in many parts of the world to help patients, though it is currently waiting approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Cannabis is known to work on parts of the brain known as cannabinoid receptors.

This Friday, the company behind its development, GW Pharmaceuticals, which was founded in 1998 by Dr Geoffrey Guy to develop cannabis as a medicine, will have the government’s seal of approval when Agriculture Minister James Paice officially opens their labs near Cambridge where their clinical research team will co-ordinate global trials. The company grows 30 tonnes of cannabis a year at a secret location.

Demonstrating true entrepreneurial flair, and with firm conviction, Dr Guy told Cambridge Business magazine:

“Most people in our industry said it was impossible to turn cannabis into a prescription medicine. We had to rewrite the rule book. We have the first approval of a plant extract drug in modern history. It has 420 molecules, whereas every other drug has just one.”

Congratulations to Dr Guy for thinking outside the box, and revolutionising plant drugs.

Meanwhile, the Home Affairs Committee  is currently reviewing its drugs policy and will consider whether this is the right time to decriminalise drugs. Are we ready for that? No way, I’m not convinced.