Antony Carpen
@acarpen
Ex-Whitehall type still with views on public policy, but now local historian in Cambridge (UK) blogging at - also writing about the future of the city on The Cambridge Town Owl.
In the olden days knights played conkers with balls with metal spikes on. The best was called William the Conkerer because he won 1066 games unbeaten. m.youtube.com/watch?v=TQDG... Henry’s Cat from the mid-1980s 😁
Given Cambridge is growing quickly & given this was going v cheap, I thought it might have been useful but… ***So many carbuncles!!!*** (And taxpayer-funded too!) 😱😞
NEW BLOGPOST: “The forgotten studies on adult education and learning for leisure” cambridgetownowl.com/2026/07/14/t... Turns out there are some things still relevant to today. Also on what school didn’t teach us 1990s teens. And Cambridge can we build a Somerset House type place? Cool!😎
The local legacy of Puffles is this slide at Coleridge Rec in Cambridge (where Puffles was a candidate in the 2014 council elections). Councillors commissioned it in 2015. Only a few weeks ago I spotted a couple of teenage skaters sitting on the dragon chilling out. Was lovely to see.
I'd just put Puffles by the window to get them to behave 🐲 Over a decade ago I took Puffles to a local wildlife park which was one of the Birdsite followers. The reactions of the different animals was fascinating. (Meercats and primates lost it, owls couldn't decide if Puffles was predator or prey)
Via Sam Davies on Birdsite, gutted for the children. Waiting for the city council to put a notice up on their website cambridge.gov.uk/news 👀
NEW BLOGPOST: Still not over lost sleep from heatwave. cambridgetownowl.com/2026/07/13/h... On events I missed out on that others covered incl an open day at Mill Road’s old library & what to organise within it
On the financial barriers to learning how to strengthen democracy through adult education. link.springer.com/book/10.1007... 😞
I’ve posted links to digitised copies of Redcliffe Maud / Royal Commission on #Localgov 1966-69 At lostcambridge.wordpress.com/2024/10/27/c...
***Sixteen*** written ministerial statements due later today (See commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/Document/106... and scroll down). Including the Government's plan for music. @socialsoprano.bsky.social @francescoppola.bsky.social
Maybe the winner of this match won’t be as big a challenge as feared for England?
***What was he doing?!*** Embolo sent off for a dive - second yellow. This will be like Beckham’s red in 1998 for them. 😞
Halftime 1-1 Tense for most of that first half. Opened up after the first goal. #NorEng England had the most possession but did little with it. Norway showing how dangerous they are on the counter attack.
“The membership contribution is just £5.00 per household per year,…” “We have a policy of not refusing membership to anybody who can’t pay.” cambridgebususers.org/join/
Also mentioning campaigns on bus access for young people outside Cambridge with CitizensUK. www.citizensuk.org/chapters/cam... “We will be holding our founding assembly in November 2026.”
Around 20 of us at the Cambridge Bus Users AGM cambridgebususers.org hiding from the peak daytime heat. 🥵
Arrived today from the 1980s - textbooks on O’Level Politics are **really hard to find**
ICYMI: The future of Cambridge - lots of new and refreshed documents now up, which councillors will be voting on next week. cambridgetownowl.com/2026/07/08/m...
Looks like the developer remembered they owned the site after a couple of years of little activity, and has submitted their demolition and construction plans - only recently got approval
Also on TOTP 1989, BBC Four, Kirsty MacColl with Shaun and Bez www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live...
Cambridge bus campaigners have their AGM on Saturday afternoon -> cambridgebususers.org/2026/07/05/a... At a time when the funding for future services is not as firm as it should be... ---> 1/2
NEW BLOGPOST: What do you think of the new top floor? Old Shire Hall to become aparthotel. cambridgetownowl.com/2026/07/09/p...
From nearly a century ago - taxing the very wealthy via an asset that cannot move: land - the value of. Top four items arrived fairly recently archive.org/details/@ant... Still read well today.
Well this is ***Not Normal*** I was today years old when I clocked my first official UK Red Alert for Air Pollution. uk-air.defra.gov.uk/latest/alerts
The decline of lifelong learning/adult education funding means there’s no money for democracy education, & none for science refreshers for adults (texts digitised at archive.org/search?query... ). I live in s city full of scientific orgs (Cambridge) & *none* do term-long evening classes on science.
NEW HOSEPIPE BAN: In Cambridge - which is *very rare* for the city www.cambridge-water.co.uk/household/te...