ADVERTISEMENT It was news to Ben Houchen that he has been nominated for a peerage, apparently. And it was news to us that it was news to him, because we’ve been expecting it for months. Houchen, on the other hand, told the Northern Echo yesterday morning, that his focus “isContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT To a fanfare welcome from Tory Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, the area’s two new development corporations are taking shape even before they have been approved by law. The members of the two boards for Middlesbrough Development Corporation and Hartlepool Development Corporation have just been announced. They include theContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT I am not hopeful. Today the latest session of the COP circus starts in earnest and yet again it’s another extravagant jamboree. Will it make any difference at all to what the world needs? Very unlikely. The commitments made at COP21 (Paris) have not been fulfilled. COP26 (Glasgow) wasContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT A fire chief has praised the unsung heroes of the service who keep communities across Tyne and Wear safe – and make sure they have the fastest fire service in the country. Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Lynsey McVay, has praised theContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT One of the leading lights of the Asian music scene is heading to the North East, for a not-to-be-missed, one-night celebration of Bollywood. Singer/songwriter Navin Kundra has spent more than 16 years as a hit performer, having had six number one singles and being named a former Entertainer ofContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT The current UK government is the most extreme I have known in my lifetime. However, over time, and despite the media, the public is becoming aware of that. At the moment less than 30% support their ever further right policies. It has been a rather grim 12 years, butContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT Invasion, hoard, illegal, alien. Overwhelming onslaught, out of control. Fearful, huddled, desperate, human. Overwhelmed, helpless, loss of control. Seen through a lens of suspicion and blame, the naming of supplicants changes the view: frightened, resilient, hopeful, brave, herded like cattle, belittled, betrayed. Gerda Pickin We need your help! TheContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT We’ve just finished the 35th Tyneside Irish Festival; in that time we’ve seen most things that the Emerald Isle’s cultural, artistic, musical, dramatic and political performers can produce. We’ve drunk at the cup, as they say. However, we’ve never seen the Irish Navy; until last Monday afternoon when theContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT On 25 October, the issue of crustacean die-off in Tees Bay finally made it to a hearing at the parliamentary Environment Committee. And so it was that a group of MPs met with a range of stakeholders – representatives of Defra agencies and the Tees harbour authority, fishers andContinue Reading
ADVERTISEMENT The indications are that sadly, it is the end of the road for Britishvolt’s new battery factory in Cambois, Blyth. The UK’s foremost investor in battery technologies has been on ‘life support’ for several months as operational funding dried up and construction activities at the Cambois site were delayedContinue Reading
