It seems obvious really. If you live near a train station then it’s easier for you to travel around the country. You are better connected.

“Glaringly obvious” says the think tank Centre for Cities which is urging the Government to prioritise building homes near railway (and Metro) stations to, erm, fast-track growth.

But speed is of the essence and that means speeding up planning reforms and transferring disused Network Rail land to mayoral authorities.

Talking of speed, there’s more on nurdles this week, which is only to be expected considering the scale of this environmental issue. I’ve been looking back at Eyes & Ears coverage over the past six weeks and it seems as if me and the clean-up volunteers are waiting for everybody else to catch up.

Worrying scenes - and hopefully not the start of a trend - in Northumberland where a vigil and balloon release in memory of a teenager who died in a road accident resulted in a vehicle being set on fire, fireworks thrown at police and electric motorbikes seized.

Environment Agency officers are using their detective skills to try and track down the people behind the illegal dumping of commercial waste near Newcastle Airport. The list of suspects may be pretty narrow.

Plus, there’s a follow up to Monday’s story about the Meta AI glasses and an article on how the climate crisis is exposing just how fragile our food system is. And the ad break has one of the brilliant Creature Comforts ads from the 90s for Heat Electric.

Brian Aitken
Editor

Action stations

Building lots more houses near railway stations is one of the most effective ways to boost the economies of cities such as Newcastle, a report from the Centre for Cities think tank said this week.

“In a low growth economy like Britain, it is one of the most glaringly obvious problems to fix,” said Anthony Breach, director of policy and research. “Going big on homes around stations will make a significant dent in the housing shortage. It makes public transport far more efficient and cuts commuting times. It expands the labour market which is good for productivity. It regenerates areas that residents have seen fall into disrepair.

“But the Government must also be clear eyed that without speedy planning reforms and rail devolution, good intentions will get stuck in the swamp of delay, red tape and inter-agency bureaucracy.”

The report comes a fortnight after housing secretary Angela Rayner unveiled new planning rules which mean that councils will have to default to a “yes” position on housing development applications within reasonable walking distance of stations.

Centre for Cities said that the Government’s push to build more around stations will “move far too slowly without urgent reform of land ownership and planning rules”. It has called for the speedy transfer of vacant land around stations from Network Rail to mayoral authorities.

The report said that if Newcastle was able to increase its housing density levels to rates seen in similar sized cities in France and Japan, it would result in 53,000 more homes being built – plus 19,000 more around Metro stations.

Metro extension

The North East will have three new stations to build around in the coming years after Nexus this week revealed plans for the first new Metro line for 30 years. This involves new stations at Follingsby, Washington North and Washington South.

The £900m scheme to add a line through Washington was unveiled in June 2025 and it is hoped trains will start running along it in 2033. The plans involve some road changes and using the 188-year-old Victoria Viaduct to cross the Wear. Nexus is holding 14 public events across the region this month so residents can learn more about the plans and give feedback before the scheme is finalised.

Call for change

Port of Tyne chief executive Matt Beeton has added his voice to calls for the way nurdles are transported around the world. This comes more than six weeks after two vessels collided at the port and resulted in millions of plastic pellets being disgorged into the river in just five seconds.

It’s been called an environmental disaster with nurdles being washed up on beaches as far apart as Blyth and Scarborough. But the plastic pellets are classified as non-toxic despite the threat they pose to birds and fish who eat, but can’t digest, the tiny balls.

Beeton has suggested a change to the categorisation of nurdles because the non-toxic classification meant the port was not made aware that a ship was carrying the nurdles or that they had been spilled until the day after the crash. He also suggested nurdles could be stored better in containers.

This is a reference to the use of ‘single bags’ being used for packaging. I reported four weeks ago on an article published by Norwegian-based Gard, one of the world’s largest marine P&I (Protection and Indemnity) insurers, who said in 2023: “The use of single bags should be avoided. ‘Single bags’ refers to using a single plastic liner within the container. When the steel container is pierced, so is the plastic liner resulting in spill of nurdles even when the container itself remains on board.”

Quite.

BG Orange was the berthed container ship which was sliced open in the accident. It is owned by BG Freight Line (part of the Peel Ports Group). I’ve still not seen any media organisation ask them questions on their storage policies or even heard a word from them since the environmental disaster. Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers continue to take part in the great nurdle clear up along our coastline.

Alternative route Pt 2

Andy Burnham repeated his intention to look for alternative ways of funding the dualling of the A1 when he spoke in Parliament for the first time as Prime Minister. He fielded many questions including one from North Northumberland MP David Smith who said: “This afternoon, I and 12 other MPs, the mayor and – in the spirit of cross-party working – the local Conservative leader wrote to him to ask what more we can do to work with him and his Government to secure this generational change for infrastructure in the North East.”

“I will ask the Transport Secretary to work with colleagues at No 10 North to see what can be done to bring forward a new way of delivering this much-needed infrastructure. I know how critical it is.”

£2m ‘not enough’

Cleveland Police is being given an extra £2 million to tackle serious and organised crime. This follows the arrests of 27 people since the deaths of two police officers and five young men who crashed into them when their car was driven the wrong way on the A66 dual carriageway.

Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey told the Teesside Lead he wouldn’t turn the money down but the additional funds “won’t touch the sides”. He said: “The issue is structural. The [funding] formula has to change ASAP to reflect poverty and crime rates.”

Early finish for funeral

Four Middlesbrough schools will close early today amid safety concerns over a funeral of one of the young men who died in the A66 crash on August 22. Head teachers warned parents large crowds were expected to gather in the South Bank area for the funeral, with traffic disruption likely. The decision to close the schools was taken following discussions between the heads and Redcar and Cleveland Council.

More vigil trouble

A vehicle was set on fire and fireworks thrown at police in disorder linked to a vigil for a teenager who died in a crash in Cramlington. Northumbria Police said the “unacceptable behaviour” happened at a planned balloon release in memory of a 16-year-old boy whose death was not connected to seven people killed in a crash on the A66 in Middlesbrough last month.

Four electric motorbikes were seized. Supt Michelle Robson said people coming together for memorials should do so safely, respectfully and within the law. “Where such events are used as an opportunity to carry out offences, we are committed to taking action against those responsible.”

Environmental detectives

Environment Agency officers are sifting through an estimated 400 tonnes of commercial waste which has been dumped at Callerton Hill, near Newcastle Airport, in an effort to find the culprits.

The agency’s Mark Rumble said the items almost certainly came from a waste processing facility. “A lot of the good recyclables have been removed,” he said. “And what’s left here is processed, shredded and ready for landfill disposal. We’re conducting a search through the waste to look for leads as to where it has come from.”

Fly-tipping sites have also been discovered at Hartlepool and Peterlee this summer. Hexham MP Joe Morris said the priority “needs to be going after those who are responsible for organised crime”.

A quick word

Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy has written to Health Secretary Yvette Cooper calling for government support for an extension of the University Hospital of North Durham. “Residents are alarmed by reports that, despite an approved business case, the planned A&E extension was never formally funded and can no longer proceed,” she wrote. A fresh application to turn the 19th Century Tritlington Hall and stables into holiday let accommodation has been approved by Northumberland planners. A group of nurses are seeking £400,000 in legal costs from the trust that runs Darlington Memorial Hospital. Employment judges previously ruled that the trust had “violated the dignity” of the nurses, who are being supported by an organisation called Christian Concern, by allowing a colleague - a biological male who identified as a woman - to use the single-sex changing area. A three-person tribunal panel said this week that they would make a decision on costs at a future date. A “one of a kind” guitar decorated with more than 100 pieces of mother of pearl, resin and mirror plate is being raffled by Andrew and Jess Mills, owners of Curvy Sounds in Heaton, to raise money for the conservation groups trying to buy the Rothbury Estate. Security is being increased at Monkseaton High School after a series of online videos showed masked youths inside the building which is now only used by community groups following the recent closure of the school. Food and drink festival Chester-le-EATS will celebrate its fifth birthday on September 26-27 with organisers Durham Cricket promising more traders, new experiences and the introduction of food and drink Masterclasses. Reality TV star and radio presenter Vicky Pattison is to run, cycle and kayak the 250 miles between her home city Newcastle and Heart’s London HQ for Global’s Make Some Noise charity. Her five-day challenge begins on October 5.

30-year celebration

Thirty years ago this month British basketball was transformed forever when Newcastle Comets were rebranded as Newcastle Eagles - the start of a journey that would establish the franchise as the most successful in the sport’s history.

If Sir John Hall’s Sporting Club dream was short-lived then his decision to add basketball to a roster including football, rugby union and ice hockey laid the foundation for two decades of unprecedented success.

When current MD Paul Blake and the late, great Ken Nottage purchased the Eagles from Sir John for a nominal fee in 1999 there was no hint of what might follow. But by the time Fabulous Flournoy took over as player-coach in 2002 fans were given their first glimpse of a storied future.

Last night’s 30th anniversary dinner, staged at the Eagles’ Vertu Arena home, brought together players and coaches past and present to celebrate a winning streak that saw Flournoy land 24 major titles in 12 years.

Newcastle have now won 28 major honours and Blake said: “It’s been an incredible journey and ours is a story that’s far from finished. Our aim is to continue to build on a fantastic legacy and bring more silverware home to the North East.”

Staiths fundraiser

It is thought to be the largest wooden structure in Europe and has been popular with visitors since closing in 1980 - but Dunston Staiths is in need of repair so it can remain open to the public.

A Just Giving page has been opened to raise £3,000 to pay for the first stage of works to repair rotten timber at the base of what is the last remaining staith on the Tyne where coal used to be loaded directly onto ships. A £4m funding bid has been submitted to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to fully restore the structure which dates from 1893.

Business bites

Chief executive Mark Mullen is to step down from his position at Newcastle-based Atom Bank just months after a failed sale of the business, according to a Sky News report. Britain’s first digital-only bank later said that “ongoing discussions between the CEO and board about succession planning” have accelerated as part of “prudent long term planning for Atom’s next stage of growth and development”. Former TV Dragon Sara Davies, the founder of Crafter’s Companion, has taken a “meaningful stake” in online retail site Not On The High Street. County Durham-based Pragmatic Semiconductor, which makes microchips that are thinner than a human hair, has launched a new Chinese brand which it has been exhibiting at the International Internet of Things Exhibition (IOTE) in the country’s southern city of Shenzhen. Sunderland-based Avant Homes has submitted plans to Newcastle City Council to demolish the former Sage headquarters at Great Park and build a 320-home development called Skyline Quarter. Stockton Council says it will make a “substantial final offer within the coming days” to purchase Billingham town centre. A planning application has been submitted for the proposed science, technology, engineering and mathematics facility at Darlington’s Science Park which will be operated by Darlington College. Gateshead IT company Aspire Technology Solutions has its sights on being a £100m turnover company by 2030. Latest results show revenue up from £35.1m to £50.8m and an increase in operating profit from £6.9m to £10.7m.

1990 ad break

It’s September already and we’ll soon be thinking about when it’s time to switch the heating on. In the early 1990s there were a series of ads for the Heat Electric campaign that used Creature Comforts, the stop‑motion plasticine animals created by Nick Park of Wallace & Gromit fame.

The starting point was unscripted interviews given by members of the public. The humour comes entirely from the brilliant animation, as you will see from this one where a young lad has just had a “spontaneous” electric shower.

THE WIDER VIEW

Fragile food system

Across Europe, farmers are seeing yields shrink as drought and extreme heat put crops and water supplies under pressure. The climate crisis is exposing just how fragile the food system we have built has become.

“The Covid-19 pandemic should have been a warning,” says Lucy Antal in openDemocracy. “It exposed vulnerabilities in a food system dependent on complex, highly interconnected supply chains and a workforce vulnerable to borders, illness and labour shortages.

“The government is aware of this threat. Its most recent Food Security Report acknowledges that our ‘just in time’ food system – with its minimal stock levels and reliance on uninterrupted transport – is extremely vulnerable.

“Just in time is efficient, until it isn’t.”

Seeing the light

Monday’s edition (It’s grim up North*) carried the story about Community Protection Warnings being issued by Newcastle City Council against two so-called ‘content creators’ who have been accused of using Meta’s smart glasses to exploit homeless and vulnerable people in videos filmed without their consent. One critic described the practice as “poverty porn”.

The AI glasses allow people to capture photos and videos, listen to music, take phone calls and ask questions to an artificial intelligence assistant. But some people are using them to record people without their knowledge and publish the videos on social media.

The only clue that a recording is taking place is a small light at the top of the frame. Meta has now disabled the recording abilities for thousands of its glasses after rolling out an update that can detect whether the LED light has been covered or destroyed.

Nicholas

Mental health crisis

There has been a big increase in the number children - some as young as six - being brought to A&E in a mental health crisis, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

The number of six to 17-year-olds turning up in significant distress for things like self-harm and eating disorders, or in emotional crisis, rose by 36% between 2019 and 2025. Some faced waits of more than 12 hours once there. The college said A&Es were not the best place for them, but a lack of support in the community meant they often had nowhere else to turn.

The Government said it was looking to improve services and is due to publish its mental health strategy later this year.

Soft is hard

Another one from the letters pages of The Times. This time a response from Charles Helliwell about the lack of soft skills and youth unemployment:

“I have spent more than 30 years as a business coach and mentor, and loathe the term ‘soft skills’. There’s nothing soft in teaching young people the simple art of communicating with each other, behaving in a civilised and decent manner and improving the performance and productivity of many public and private organisations as a result. Most people take for granted that it’s easy and we can all do it without help and support. But that’s not the case. It’s a minefield laid within a maze.

Two main stories today. One is a rather disturbing tale from Newcastle of how social media ‘content creators’ are making capital out of vulnerable people - ‘poverty porn’ it has been called.

It’s being made possible by Meta’s AI glasses. They were invented with the best of intentions but are now commonly known as ‘pervert glasses’ because they allow wearers to record people without their knowledge and publish the videos on social media.

Community Protection Warnings have just been issued by the city council against two of these “self-appointed auditors”. The council hasn’t named them but the individuals have been named in a petition which has so far attracted more then 5,600 signatures - plus there’s a BBC article on the subject and an in-depth investigation by The Newcastle Eye.

We also have a column from Bethany Usher who poses an important question.

For decades, we complained as a region about being overlooked. Now travel writers, lifestyle journalists, influencers and property experts are declaring the North East the next UK hotspot. Is it time for everyone to shut their mush about how great we are, she asks.

“Stop taking pictures of your perfect flat white with a view over the Tyne or the Wear or the Tees in the background. There’s no need to upload your perfectly filtered reels picking sea glass at Seaham or balancing a perfect pint of Guinness on the wall next to Marsden Rock, or smiling at the top of stunning Roseberry Topping. Put the phone away.”

Brian Aitken
Editor

Outcry over ‘poverty porn’

They are a technological blessing for people who are blind or have low-vision, and people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. To others, however, they are known as ‘pervert glasses’ and are being banned in a growing number of public places such as pubs, restaurants, theatres, gyms and schools.

In Newcastle, Community Protection Warnings have been issued against two so-called ‘content creators’ who have been accused of using Meta’s smart glasses to exploit homeless and vulnerable people in videos filmed without their consent. One critic described the practice as “poverty porn” - and it’s making money for the people who upload it.

The AI glasses allow people to capture photos and videos, listen to music, take phone calls and ask questions to an artificial intelligence assistant. But some people are using them to record people without their knowledge and publish the videos on social media.

Newcastle City Council said: “There are a handful of people in our city centre filming others who may be going through tough times or in some cases just dress differently.
These self-appointed auditors are using Meta glasses to film people without their consent. They make videos which are then uploaded to social media and ruthlessly exploited for likes attracting comments that are often dehumanising.

“While we can’t stop people filming in public places, we can act against those who are harassing or persisting with unwelcome attention. This is wrong, and it’s not welcome in a city that prides itself on being caring and looking out for the vulnerable whether that be those sleeping in shop doorways or struggling with their own demons.”

An online petition calling for the council and Northumbria Police to crack down on the practice has attracted more than 5,600 signatures. Christine Gray, from North Tyneside, who began the petition said: “It’s disgusting, they target vulnerable adults for nothing more than cheap laughs.”

Creators Michael Ballymore and Tin tin were named in the petition and told the BBC in a joint statement: “We aim to act responsibly, and within the law, while highlighting issues that many people witness every day.” They have thousands of followers on social media and their videos have millions of views.

The Newcastle Eye has an in-depth report on the situation. It says there are examples of Ballymore providing those on the streets with money, food, and more. It also quotes, however, Meg McMillian, Editor-in-Chief of Radge Mag, who said: “If I filmed someone at one of the lowest points in their life without their meaningful consent, uploaded it to millions of people, and profited from the engagement, handing them a meal beforehand wouldn’t suddenly make the rest of it ethical.”

The Eye also reports that Ballymore’s real name is Thomas Mann, who was sentenced to six years for conspiracy to supply cocaine in 2024. The Ballymore account remains active through his associates, who keep the name alive with content uploads and links to his merchandise.

The Eye author has obviously spent hours looking at the Ballymore account: “In one clip, you can hear Mann (Ballymore) repeatedly saying, ‘Go on, do her then’ during an altercation between two people. In another video, he puts the camera in the face of one woman asleep on a bench before pinching her ear, saying ‘Scary spice is looking rough these days isn’t she?’ And the article quotes Mann as saying: “Me and Tin tin are gonna clean up the city, one spice head at a time.”

(Spice is a synthetic, lab-made drug designed to mimic cannabis but is far stronger, more unpredictable and more dangerous.)

The People’s Kitchen is a Newcastle charity that has provided food and support to homeless and vulnerable people in the city for around 40 years. Trustee Maggie Pavlou told The Eye: “We are deeply concerned whenever vulnerable people are filmed or photographed in ways that may compromise their dignity or wellbeing, particularly if they are unable to give fully informed consent or understand how that content may be used.

“Homelessness is not entertainment. Poverty is not content. People’s personal struggles should never become a source of online attention or public spectacle. The People’s Kitchen will continue to provide a safe, welcoming environment where people are valued for who they are, not for the stories they can generate online.”

Nothing mad about it

It’s been frustrating to see how little interest there has been from the national media in the environmental disaster that happened when millions of tiny plastic pellets spewed into the water in just five seconds after a collision between two vessels at Port of Tyne last month.

So, it was good to see this piece from Samuel Montgomery in The Telegraph about the innovative volunteers who have contributed to the clean-up efforts - it’s not his fault that a London-based sub editor called them ‘madcap inventors’ in the headline.

I know that face

North Tyneside is one of two councils identified by The Sunday Times which is using live facial recognition technology embedded in artificial intelligence CCTV cameras to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

Is this a ‘good news’ story or an ‘invasion of privacy’? The article itself seems unsure - although it’s primary source appears to be the Open Rights Group, which campaigns to protect privacy rights.

Stephen Ballantyne, North Tyneside’s interim director of resources, said: “We are committed to ensuring that the use of CCTV is proportionate, compliant and subject to appropriate governance and oversight.”

A quick word

Campaigners are calling for more investment in glass heritage museums after the closure of Sunderland’s National Glass Centre last month. Campaigners in Sunderland and Stourbridge said glass heritage was “being allowed to disappear”, and called on the government to invest in institutions across the country which try to preserve it. Reform’s Martin Evison resisted the efforts of the Lib Dems to retain the Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn ward in a Newcastle City Council by-election. More than 30,000 people joined this year’s Novum Summer Festival – and organisers have confirmed it will return to Newcastle next summer.

It’s grim up North*

For decades, we complained about being overlooked. Now travel writers, lifestyle journalists, influencers and property experts are declaring the North East the next UK hotspot. Is it time for everyone to shut their mush about how great we are, asks BETHANY USHER.

Shhhhhhhhh. It’s getting too much.

As a bairn when I visited the South, I worked hard to convince well, anyone I met, that it really wasn’t that grim up North. I’d wax lyrical about the beaches, the music and art scene, the stunning coastal castles and the mesmerising beauty of Durham Cathedral.

I was an eejit. Now, thanks to Instagram and TikTokers, the national press has finally cottoned on, and we stand on the brink of, shudder, gentrification and a property developer influx.

Changes to our way of life are everywhere. Even on rainy days, I can find myself queuing outside of one of the many trendy coffee shops on Roker Seafront, now – alongside neighbouring Seaburn – declared by The Times as the fifth best beach in Britain. It’s a long way from when we used to jump off the Cat and Dog steps. I mean Ha’way Mackems, whee do we think we are?

Roker to Whitburn is now even positioned to become the next unaffordable place to buy a home after Tynemouth and Whitley Bay soared more than a decade ago. Other up-and-coming property hotspots include Gilesgate Moor in Durham and Darlington’s West End. Homes in Low Fell and Gateshead boasted one of the strongest rates of growth in the country last year, at almost eight per cent.

And you need to shush now too. Yes, you. Stop taking pictures of your perfect flat white with a view over the Tyne or the Wear or the Tees in the background. There’s no need to upload your perfectly filtered reels picking sea glass at Seaham or balancing a perfect pint of Guinness on the wall next to Marsden Rock, or smiling at the top of stunning Roseberry Topping. Put the phone away.

Because of your tireless promotion, VisitEngland has declared we are home to England’s “true hidden gems”, listing our castles, fishing villages, countryside and starry skies. It even says that the thing shining brightest is the people and celebrates how friendly we are. That is precisely the sort of talk we need to discourage. It starts now - no more smiling and talking to strangers!

Meanwhile, Rough Guides now waxes lyrical about our “enticing medley of delightful market towns, glorious golden beaches, wooded dells, wild uplands and an unsurpassed collection of historical monuments”. It reports that even County Durham has “shaken off its grimy reputation” and is now a thriving tourist area, recommending Bishop Auckland, Barnard Castle, Teesdale, Weardale, Beamish and the Bowes Museum.

Lonely Planet even has an entire North East England section. The official tourism website invites visitors to “uncover, explore and experience” everything from Durham and Newcastle to Alnwick and Hadrian’s Wall.

Of course, really, this is all amazing news. Tourism sustains jobs, venues and businesses. It brings customers into the independent restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, breweries, vintage shops, galleries, markets and music venues that have transformed our region for the better.

The numbers also show that the (black) cat is well and truly out the bag. According to the latest STEAM regional study, the North East welcomed more than 70 million visitors in 2025, with tourism worth more than £7.1 billion to the regional economy.

Food and drink provided its largest share. And the restaurant scene across the region really is second to none. This summer alone we’ve trotted the globe within a 30-minute drive, from Nigerian Jollof in Sunderland or Korean BBQ in Durham, fired hibiscus cabbage in Ouseburn to Indonesian Fritters in Guisborough. We’ve come a long way from when the best food you could get was Nana-style chicken curry, chips and rice from the Baker’s Oven after a night at Pzazz.

And it was independent businesses like these who created the North East’s new appeal. What makes us unique is that this has been a people-led movement. Ouseburn did not become interesting because somebody described it as a “creative quarter” in a destination strategy. Artists, musicians, publicans, makers and small businesses built something truly special there.

Such brilliance is everywhere. It is in the local lads who brought Sunderland’s historic Bridge Hotel back to life through Pop Recs and built Mexico 70 and North; in the family-run Cullercoats Brewery whose award-winning ales have raised more than £80k for the local RNLI station; in the two Durham lasses creating a home for northern artists at April 11; and in the Middlesbrough creatives turning overlooked spaces into cinemas, galleries and music venues through Base Camp Industries. These are not interchangeable chains parachuted into our high streets. They are businesses shaped by this place and its people. That is what makes them truly distinctive.

But when influencers announce your hometown to the world as one of the best places to live and travel journalists call it a hidden gem, there’s a hidden cost. Property guides start to “discover” that houses are “surprisingly affordable”, investors then arrive and prices rise. Our next challenge is that the people and businesses responsible for making our region so attractive don’t find themselves priced out.

The North East’s own tourism plan recognises the danger. Its Regenerative Visitor Economy Framework says tourism should improve residents’ wellbeing and benefit communities, businesses and the environment, not simply deliver ever-growing visitor numbers. The ambition is to double the visitor economy to more than £10 billion by 2034, but to do so without damaging the places on which it depends. VisitEngland has described the framework as one of the first of its kind in the world.

That distinction matters. A place can benefit from tourism without being repackaged entirely for tourists and by making it work for the people who live there. Growth is valuable when it keeps independent businesses open, provides decent jobs and supports cultural venues. It is less convincing when local character becomes a marketing asset while local people are priced out of enjoying it. It needs to help create opportunity for the many, not the few.

We also should be suspicious of the phrase “hidden gem”. Once a place has appeared in scores of visitor guides and generated countless Instagram posts, it is neither hidden nor undiscovered.

And as we all know, the North East was never empty, culturally barren or waiting to be found. It was simply living its own life beyond the usual range of national attention and developing in our own, unique way. The challenge now is to make sure that our future success works for all the fantastic folk that make this region special in the first place.

• Dr Bethany Usher is Director of Education at Newcastle University.

*No, it’s not

Deluded

There are so many things going on in the world that bewilder the average-thinking person. Take Donald Trump (please). He can’t be right in the head. Whatever Joe Biden’s failings were, they pail into insignificance compared to this fella. So, why is he not coming under the same cognitive scrutiny?

Here’s two posts from him this week. In one he declares himself the greatest US president of all time. In the other he posts a ‘fake news’ image of himself with Dolly Parton - a picture that the wonderful lady would never have ageed to.

Then there’s Lake Ontario America…

The answer to the UK’s future energy needs is hiding under the North Sea, say academics at Durham University.

The empty oil and gas fields that powered Britain for half a century could be refilled, this time with hydrogen made from our surplus wind and solar power. It is calculated that there’s enough capacity to power the UK for seven years - but the planning has to start now, they say.

That’s in The Wider View section at the end of this edition, which also includes a story about peace, love and understanding. Alternatively, you could say it’s a story about masked children beating up a Buddhist monk in a South Tyneside park.

I said in Monday’s edition (Sugar, sport and sums 24.08.26) that the Government’s theme this week was to be housebuilding, and devolving more powers to mayors to sign off large-scale projects on their patches. And so it came to pass.

The North East will receive £445m in funding to build 3,400 new social and affordable homes and Newcastle became one of only three councils in the country to get money - £140 million to support the delivery of nearly 1,000 council houses.

Middlesbrough has unveiled its vision to be “the UK’s most creative place for young people to live”. The timing of the announcement this week wasn’t so great, however.

There’s also anger from volunteers as the official nurdle clean-up is scaled back, conservation groups get closer to buying the Rothbury Estate, drivers are warned of a parking scam and there’s the Sunderland connection to a Paris flashmob performing Bohemian Rhapsody (a must see).

Do you remember Tyne Brand? At its height, the North Shields factory employed up to 750 people, making it the largest canned meat producer in Britain. The building is now something of an eyesore and plans have been approved to build new flats there.

Seems appropriate then that our TV ad break this week is a Tyne Brand ad from the 80s - “no lumps of fat or gristle guaranteed”.

Homes comfort

The North East can have few complaints after receiving £445m as a first share of the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme. It’s stage one of a 10-year programme that still has more than £16 billion to be allocated outside London.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: “We have an ambitious plan to deliver more than 15,000 social and affordable homes over the next decade, and today’s announcement is another important step towards making that happen.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government called it the “largest expansion of council housing in decades”, as it confirmed an initial £9.6 billion worth of allocations.

The Guardian, however, pointed out that Prime Minister Andy Burnham had backtracked on his announcement during the Makerfield by-election that all the money should be spent on council housing. Around 60% will be social rented houses with the remainder being shared ownership schemes or sheltered housing.

Building for the future

Only three councils will receive money from the Social and Affordable Homes Programme. Newcastle is one of them - meaning they will receive £141.4 million to support the delivery of 966 new council homes.

Council leader Colin Ferguson said: “At a time when demand for affordable homes continues to grow, this investment will help create stronger communities, improve opportunities for residents and support the long-term regeneration of Newcastle.
We’re proud to have been recognised as a strategic partner and look forward to delivering the homes our residents need and deserve.”

Founding principles

Let’s hope all those new homes are built on good foundations…

Heatwaves are increasing the risk of subsidence, The Telegraph reported this week in an article headlined ‘Britain’s homes are cracking under the strain of hotter summers’. London and the South East are most at risk - but their ‘level of susceptibility’ map doesn’t look that great from a North East perspective either.

Delayed decision

Monday’s announcement of a new set of national planning rules has resulted in the cancellation of Newcastle’s planning committee meeting. This means a decision on plans to replace Hadrians Tower with a £60 million student housing tower has been pushed back until next month at the earliest.

Creative centre

Plans have been announced to revitalise Middlesbrough and make the town “the UK’s most creative place for young people to live”.

The proposals include demolishing the civic centre and building a theatre which would be equipped to host West End shows. The 10-year plan also includes a town centre hotel, an academic centre of excellence for surgery at James Cook University Hospital, bringing empty homes back into use, and creating an urban park.

Middlesbrough Labour Mayor Chris Cooke said the developments “would represent the most significant investment” for a generation. The full prospectus of plans will go before the council’s executive in a meeting on Tuesday with the idea to use it as a tool to lobby government and commercial funders.

‘Community in fear’

The timing of Middlesbrough’s announcement was not great considering the eyes of the UK are still fixed on the weekend crash in which two policemen died when their car was hit by a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way on a dual carriageway.

The five young men in the Passat also died and police said 17 people, aged between 18 and 61, had been arrested across Teesside as part of an ongoing investigation into the lead-up to the crash. They have been held on a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.

A fundraiser for the two police officers who were killed has passed the £1m mark.

Distrubingly, reports persist that the situation is escalating. The Mirror’s Jeremy Armstrong has filed an article headlined ‘Inside Middlesbrough community living in terror and fear as gang turf war claims nine lives in five days’. It’s grim reading.

Coming up…

Restaurants, theatres and pubs in the UK, including Wetherspoons, have already banned them. Now Newcastle City Council have felt the need to issue a warning about Meta’s AI glasses: “There are a handful of people in our city centre filming others who may be going through tough times or in some cases just dress differently.” There’s more in Monday’s edition of Eyes & Ears.

Clean-up anger

Volunteers helping with the great nurdle clean-up are angry that the official operation has been scaled back. Millions of the tiny plastic pellets spewed into the water after a collision at the Port of Tyne last month and nurdles are washing up on beaches in Northumberland and as far south as North Yorkshire.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness is not too happy either. “Now is not the time to cut the number of people paid to be out there on our beaches cleaning up nurdles,” she said on social media. “My team has contacted Solis Marine, the company organising the clean-up on behalf of the shipping insurers, to ask them to explain why casual workers have been stood down, and to get a commitment from them that they will respond immediately as new nurdle deposits wash up or are uncovered in the sand.

“They should not be allowed to decide on their own what a proper clean-up looks like. Our local volunteers have given up their time and worn themselves out combing beaches. They will be dismayed and I am standing up for them to demand answers.”

Environmental charity Fidra said: “The continued spread of nurdles to regions far from the source of the spill vividly highlights the wide-reaching impact - volunteers are reporting new finds every day.”

Closing in

Several major pledges totalling £5.5m in the past week have left the conservation groups hoping to buy the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland with just under £4m left to find by the end of October.

The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust have received the support of Sir David Attenborough during the appeal and feel they are within “touching distance” of the £30m target.

Parking scam

Drivers are being warned to avoid using QR codes when paying for parking. A Newcastle couple lost £370 after using the Spanish City plaza car park in Whitley Bay.

They used a QR code on a RingGo pay and display machine. They were then told their payment had been declined and that they hadn’t been charged - but found out the next day that five transaction of between £20 and £150 had been taken from the account by scammers.

Spanish City general manager Chris Marsh said: “RingGo does not use QR codes. We would never recommend following a payment link via QR code due to the potential for this scam.”

A quick word

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Susan Dungworth has launched a new strategy to improve public confidence in the region’s public transport network to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. It follows Department for Transport statistics which found that women report feeling significantly less safe than men. A scheme which provides 18 to 25‑year‑olds who have left local authority care with free unlimited public transport travel is being continued, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has confirmed. A temporary ban on accepting fridges and freezers at a recycling centre in North Shields has been lifted now that a backlog has been cleared. Comedian John Cleese will be signing copies of his book Fawlts and All at Waterstones in Newcastle city centre on September 9, ahead of a night-time performance at the Tyne Theatre to mark 50 years of Fawlty Towers and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Age UK Northumberland has launched a scheme to tackle loneliness and social isolation through short-term, personalised support for those aged 50 and over. Individuals are paired with a trained volunteer befriender for weekly visits over a period of up to six months. William Clouston has resigned as leader of the Social Democratic Party (no, me neither) after eight years. Clouston, who is a steering group member of the True North think tank, will remain as Chair of Corbridge Parish Council. The late night levy on Newcastle’s pubs, bars, and clubs looks set to be abolished after the council’s licencing committee agreed the charge should be scrapped. A consultation will now take place with a final decision taken at October’s full council meeting.

Time for this

I was on one of my frequent internet journeys recently when I came across a brilliant video of a flashmob in Paris performing Bohemian Rhapsody. I just needed an excuse to share it with you.

That time has come.

It turns out that the Freddie Mercury figure in the video is Sunderland’s own Mickey Callisto and he is the star turn on the penultimate night of The Fire Station’s Summer Parties. That’s tomorrow, by the way. My excuse is I don’t watch Britain’s Got Talent. If you do, then you will know all about Mickey and his amazing voice. Maxïmo Park are headlining at the Sunderland venue tonight. The summer party season then bows out on Sunday with a sold-out Ibiza in Symphony.

BGT viewers will also recognise the cool young dude playing guitar in the flashmob video because Olly Pearson was a finalist last year. He’s 12 going on 32.

Miles better

Alan Shearer and North East Mayor Kim McGuinness completed the first official mile of a fundraising challenge to help raise £1 million for a new hydrotherapy pool at the Alan Shearer Foundation in West Denton which supports children and adults with complex disabilities.

Called Move a Mile, organisers hope people will collectively cover 52,719 miles – one for every seat at St James’ Park – with schools, businesses, sports clubs and community groups encouraged to get involved.

Business bites

Barbour has established an on-site training facility known as the Barbour Academy at its site in South Shields. The company will be recruiting 40 machinists and installing additional production lines in response to “unprecedented global demand”. Noggin HQ was founded by childhood friends Evangeline Atkinson and Laura Mills who had experience of being declined for credit despite working full-time and regularly paying rent and bills. Their company has now raised £2.3m as it launches its alternative credit scoring technology to UK lenders after gaining credit referencing authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority. Construction work has begun on a major £35m transformation of the 12-acre Seventh Avenue site at Team Valley which was acquired by UK Land Estates last year. Dynamo North East has published a report on closer collaboration between public sector commissioners and tech businesses, using feedback from a leadership forum. Chief executive Dr David Dunn said: “One of the powerful messages that came through was the desire from both sides to learn more about each other. For the public sector to better share challenges to overcome, and from the tech sector, to share new ideas and innovations.” An interim chief financial officer has been appointed at Newcastle firm SkinBioTherapeutics, succeeding a whistleblower who alerted the firm to an accounting crisis at the company. Anita Slater has been appointed for an initial six-month term. CEO Stuart Ashman resigned in February. NEPIC chief exec Joanne Smith is among the signatories of a letter calling on the government to recognise the importance of the chemical sector and to agree a clear path for its future. The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) has teamed up with Lookers to offer exclusive deals on British-built Nissans to its members, as well as their families and friends. The scheme is supported by Nissan Motor GB Limited and delivered in partnership with Select Lease by Mobilize.

1982 ad break

The old Tyne Brand canning factory at the Fish Quay in North Tyneside closed in 1976 and has become something of an eyesore. Plans have just been approved for the construction of over 130 new flats there.

Do you remember Tyne Brand? “No lumps of fat or gristle guaranteed”. My thanks to Jack Arthurs for reminding me. Above is an ad for their meat pie fillings in 1982 - production continued elsewhere after North Shields was closed.

The company began life in 1901 as the Shields Ice & Cold Storage Company. Their first canned product, haddock, in 1903 was a flop, but their second attempt, herring in tomato sauce, was a hit.

Tyne Brand was a frontline supplier in both world wars and by the late 1950s the firm was turning out a million cans a week across three factories. At its height, the North Shields factory employed up to 750 people, making it the largest canned meat producer in Britain.

THE WIDER VIEW

Power solution under the sea

Debate about the future of North Sea energy usually focuses on how much oil and gas is left for us to extract. But energy engineers at Durham University have proposed an alternative future.

Empty oil fields could be used to store “green” hydrogen – an energy-rich renewable made by passing electricity through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen, without producing any carbon emissions. Professors Stuart Jones, Andrew Crossland and Chris Groves have calculated that depleted North Sea fields could store enough hydrogen to power the UK for seven years - but the planning has to start today.

In an article in The Conversation, they say: “Every time Britain has a still, grey week in winter, something invisible happens behind our plug sockets: gas power stations fire up to keep the lights on. That gas is often imported, with prices set by volatile global markets. This is one reason why energy bills surged during the cost-of-living crisis, despite the low cost of available renewable energy.

“On very windy days, we have a different problem. The grid can’t always use all the electricity our wind farms generate, so we pay them to switch off. In effect, we throw away clean energy because we have nowhere to store it.

“Our latest research, published in the journal Applied Energy, points to a solution hiding under the North Sea. The depleted oil and gas fields that powered Britain for half a century could be refilled, this time with hydrogen made from our surplus wind and solar power.

“We found that suitable depleted North Sea fields could provide 3,659 terawatt-hours of hydrogen storage capacity, equivalent to more than seven years of projected UK electricity demand in 2040. Using them could also take conventional gas power stations off the grid altogether by 2040.”

Who’s calling?

This really does fall into the ‘you couldn’t make it up’ category. A company that promised to help protect the elderly from nuisance calls has been fined for… making nuisance calls to the elderly.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that Elderly Aids Limited (EAL) had “deliberately targeted” older people to promote call-blocking devices, saying that it would protect them from nuisance calls.

The company made more than 750,000 unsolicited calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) between May 2024 and February 2025. Complaints to the ICO said callers were “aggressive, misleading, and often failed to identify themselves”. The company has been fined £190,000.

Andy Curry, the watchdog’s head of investigations, said: “Not only did this company target vulnerable people who had explicitly asked not to be called – they harassed them to sell call-blocking devices. EAL showed a complete disregard for the law and the people they were hounding. This penalty should serve as a clear warning to any business that thinks the law does not apply to them”.

Peace, love and understanding

Elvis Costello is a brilliant songwriter. I adore his (What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? I learned years later that he didn’t even write it - that distinction goes to the talented Nick Lowe of Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile fame.

The Costello version was released in the late 70s when punk rock was in its prime. Lyrically it would have been more at home a decade earlier in the flower power days of the Mamas and Papas.

Why am I telling you this? I guess it’s because Costello singing about peace, love and understanding was the first thing that came into my head when I read the story of a Buddhist monk being attacked by masked children, yes ‘masked children’, in Hebburn Riverside Park, South Tyneside, on Tuesday.

“I hold no anger, resentment, or bitterness towards the young lads. While their actions crossed a line, panic and poor judgement often lead young people to react recklessly,” said Karucha Sripramote, who was wearing his orange Buddhist outfit when he was punched and kicked after being repeatedly harassed by the ‘masked children’.

The monk, who has lived in Hebburn for more than six years, said he was “deeply touched by the outpouring of support” and warm messages he had received since the attack.

“I know first hand how kind, welcoming, and peaceful this town is. This single incident does not change how much I value and appreciate living here. As a Buddhist monk, I contemplate life through understanding, patience, and the principle of cause and effect.

“My only hope is that these young lads take a moment to reflect on the kind of community they wish to grow up in. The way we treat others inevitably shapes the environment our own loved ones and families live in.”

I can’t think of a better way to end today’s edition.

Politics, or Andy Burnham’s busy Friday at No 10 North in Manchester, features large in today’s edition.

That’s to be expected, of course. Eyes & Ears is a regional publication but, now that we are in the midst of a devolution revolution, so many national issues have significant regional and local repercussions.

We now know he is committed to bringing the Olympics to the North. He wants to problem-solve rather than point-score - so senior civil servants will be sent on secondment to every mayoral authority.

Ben Houchen might yet get his wish to pay “rebates” to Tees Valley residents, while he and the other elected mayors will be given the power to overrule councils and get more houses built.

Today’s edition also includes the maths students who are opting for company-sponsored apprenticeships rather than going to university, the Northumbria graduates who are making it big in the fashion world, and the councillors having to be reigned in for spreading “serious and unsubstantiated allegations”.

Music-wise, we cover Sam Fender, punk rock and Ernie, the fastest milkman in the West. And if you’re thinking of heading west to the USA then there’s a reason - and a lesson - in why you should give the iceberg lettuce a miss.

Brian Aitken
Editor

Power and sport

Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants to make a bid for the World Cup in addition to bringing the Olympics to the North of England, he told a meeting of regional mayors at No 10 North on Friday.

There was also an announcement of a pilot scheme which will see all mayoral authorities, including the ones in the North East and Tees Valley, receive five to 10 civil servants on secondment to “build capability and capacity and accelerate the transfer of power to local areas”. It was billed as “the largest transfer of Whitehall capacity to local leaders”.

Burnham said: “No 10 North is putting more power into every postcode across the country so communities can unleash and unlock their own potential. I’m bringing together mayors from different political parties to work on these challenges, because people deserve problem-solving rather than point-scoring.”

A future leaders scheme was also announced with graduates in Yorkshire and the Humber encouraged to apply to a new civil service fast-stream pilot which No 10 said would allow more people to “build successful careers in regions outside London”.

Hope for Houchen plan

The meeting at No 10 North coincided with an interview Caroline Simpson, Burnham’s deputy chief of staff, gave to Politico Magazine.

Simpson, who Burnham poached from her job as chief executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, appeared to leave the door open to the possibility of councils using incoming economic freedoms to pay “rebates” directly to residents.

When Ben Houchen put forward this idea it prompted the PM to say a mayor could not be a “mini-chancellor of the exchequer.” However, the Tees Valley mayor said he has since discussed the prospect with Treasury officials and believes it will be possible unless the government directly outlaws it.

And Simpson didn’t exactly rule it out either. “The PM is absolutely right,” she said. “There’s going to be no ability to sit outside of the tax framework at a local level. That’s not what fiscal devolution is about. But flexibility about how that money is spent in a local area is going to be there… the absolutely technical ‘what does that flexibility look like?’ is going to have to be worked through.”

Build baby build

Andy Burnham’s focus this week is going to be housebuilding, and devolving more powers to mayors to sign off large-scale projects on their patches. For Kim McGuinness and Ben Houchen this will involve housing schemes above 150 houses, projects of more than 15,000 square metres of commercial space, and any building over 30 metres tall.

We know this because the PM invited David Collins to No 10 North on Friday to discuss his new policies. Collins, the Northern editor of The Sunday Times said: “I was shown to Burnham’s office and walked past a whiteboard showing 28 key projects for the mayors, to which No 10 North will give its attention. Most of them are public knowledge,” he teased.

In the exclusive interview that followed, Burnham pointed out that local authorities are still in a position where they’re losing more council and social homes than they're building: “The grip of the housing crisis tightens every year, and that’s obviously a problem for people.”

He blames right-to-buy for allowing people to purchase their own homes without allowing councils to replace stock. So, the devolved mayors will be able to overrule councils and push through big projects, just as Sadiq Khan can in London.

In addition to gaining the new “call-in” powers, mayors are set to be able to grant “up-front permission”, which the government says will allow building to begin “without a developer having to apply.

More of the same

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has already said he will tackle profiteering in the care sector, but Middlesbrough Mayor Chris Cooke wants him to go further and have “a profit cap on anything that is statutorily required” such as school meals.

Cooke, who chairs the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities for metropolitan councils in the Midlands and the North, said: “There are far too many providers with less good practices than a lot of the local authority provision. What we are seeing is absolute gouging on pricing which is unfair, so I really welcome some of the reform that’s coming on the private sector profiteering, but it is doesn’t go quite far enough.”

University challenge

Maths high achievers from specialist sixth forms are opting for company-sponsored apprenticeships to avoid student loan debt and gain job security, according to a report in The Times.

Nine specialist maths sixth forms have opened in the last decade and two more are in the pipeline, including one in Durham. There is great demand for them with five applications for each available place.

Iona Fielding from Blackpool turned down an offer to study aeronautical engineering at Durham University to begin a five-year aerospace engineering degree apprenticeship with BAE Systems, and Kieran Rowlings has chosen a four-year degree apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce rather than study mechanical engineering at Durham.

Matter of ‘facts’

Chief executive John Hewitt has contacted all Durham councillors over emails that presented “personal views, allegations and assumptions” about him, council staff and councillors as though they were fact.

“Having worked in local government for over 35 years, for many different administrations, I have never witnessed officers being singled out in this manner in an email circulated to the entire membership of a council, with allegations being presented as fact without any evidential basis. This is not acceptable and cannot be tolerated.”

He said the spreading of “serious and unsubstantiated allegations” posed “potentially significant legal risks” for the Reform-led council.

Major success

Northumbria University fashion and photography graduates Francis and Helen Major started printing T shirts in 2003. Today, the couple’s Cramlington-based business has grown to become a global fashion and lifestyle brand, with more than half of all sales coming from outside of the UK.

Harper & Willow Ltd – which trades under the brand name Disturbia – has reported a 50% revenue increase from £35.1m to £52.8m and an operating profit of £12.5m, up from £8.2m.

United in tribute

“I want people to dream about their football club. They should. We should all be dreamers at heart. Some people are the opposite and say, ‘We can’t do that’. But when you ask them why, they can’t give a reason. Well, I say, ‘Why not’?”

A famous Kevin Keegan quote which was just one of the features during yesterday’s match between Newcastle and Liverpool as members of his family joined supporters and former players in celebrating the life of the Newcastle legend who died at the age of 75 last month following a battle with cancer.

Wave of support

A crowdfunding drive to raise £15,000 to permanently display the Battle of Trafalgar Union flag flown by Newcastle-born Vice-Admiral Collingwood’s warship has reached its target in just 11 days.

With the target set to run to September 3, the surge of public support has left organisers “overwhelmed”. Now North East Museums has extended its appeal target to £20,000 to create a permanent setting for the flag from HMS Royal Sovereign at the battle. Tony Henderson has more.

A quick word

Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council have signed the Poitiers–Granada Declaration which commits universities and their host cities to working together on shared challenges - sustainability, climate action, democratic participation, digital transformation, social cohesion and regional development. Taxi drivers in North Tyneside want to increase fares by 8% to help drivers combat a rise in fuel prices and the cost of living. Suspended Reform councillor Glenn Gibbins has denied making an online post which referenced Nigerian people that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character and will now go on trial at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on November 9. Social housing network SHINE and Dynamo North East have formed a partnership that will provide opportunities to share expertise and explore how digital technology, data and innovation can improve services and outcomes for residents.

Screen star Sam

There will be a special screening of Sam Fender’s London Stadium concert at Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema on October 17. Filmed in front of more than 80,000 fans in June 2025, the concert captures the North Shields star at one of the biggest headline shows of his career, including a performance of record-breaking No 1 hit Rein Me In with Olivia Dean. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Toby L and Kit Monteith, producer Josh Connolly and Polydor Records creative director Semera Khan.

Cream of the crop

I’ve said before that The Times has the best letters pages. Here’s a reader response to enduring love being built on a shared interest: “Learning how to teach English to foreigners, I was paired with a fellow student to practise question technique. When I asked what the first record she’d ever bought was, she said Ernie (the Fastest Milkman in the West) by Benny Hill. Same as mine. Marriages have been built on less: 40 years later, we’re still together.”

Let’s hear from you

This may not be The Times, but it’s always a pleasure to hear from Eyes & Ears readers. Friday’s edition (Eyes & Ears 21.08.26) included a story about diesel buses being replaced by electric ones along one of Newcastle’s pollution hotspots.

This prompted a response from Olwyn Hocking. who is a paid subscriber to Eyes & Ears: “The switch to zero emission buses through the Cornerhouse pollution hotspot will be long overdue progress, given that it’s been expected to be one of the last places in England to reach minimum air quality standards.

“However, the bigger picture remains that Newcastle will still have harmful levels of pollution, due in large part to slow progress at replacing its dirty diesel buses. It’s well-known that local residents suffer above-average levels of health conditions that are exacerbated by poor quality air - Climate Action Newcastle has called on the Mayor and city to switch more quickly to cleaner better buses.”

Recommended reads

Investigative journalist Peter Geoghegan writes a Substack column called Democracy For Sale. He travels to States to visit in-laws most years and every year returns a bit more concerned by what he sees. This year, his biggest concern was prompted by being warned off eating the iceberg lettuce served up in a Kentucky restaurant - and the lesson we need to learn from it.

Britain’s postwar sugar rationing ended in September 1953, meaning children born just a few months apart had very different levels of sugar exposure both in the womb and during early childhood.

This forms the basis of a new study which found that people who had less sugar during the first few years of life were much less likely to develop several different cancers later in life. They also showed signs of slower biological ageing - and even in adulthood, they continued to consume less sugar and had healthier diets overall.

Fifty years ago, the UK’s punk scene was erupting. Sex Pistols were leading the charge. Influential punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue had just published its first issue. The Clash and The Damned made their live debuts, with the latter releasing the first ever punk single New Rose in October.

Five decades on, punk’s impact continues to be celebrated, debated and mythologised, says The i Paper. The word ‘explosive’ in their headline may be doing too much heavy lifting but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.

This has been a hot topic for decades but I don’t think we should raise our hopes too high just yet - although there is something refreshing about the way he says ‘no’.

It was interesting to contrast the local and national reaction to two other stories this week.

The influential Adam Smith Institute suggested setting up defence enterprise zones in the North East to create thousands of jobs and recreate the success of attracting Nissan in the 80s - a well-argued case which attracted barely a ripple of interest from the national media.

Then there’s the decision to take powers over regional growth away from the Treasury and into the hands of the new No 10 North. The likes of the Telegraph and Times were all over that but it barely registered with the local media - despite the fact that it could have a considerable upside for regions like ours.

Levelling up anyone?

Just when fans of Newcastle United were beginning to despair about the ambitions of the club’s owners, there came a massive statement of intent yesterday with the announcement of a world-class training complex to be built near Newcastle International Airport (on land owned by former chairman Sir John Hall).

In terms of the “hidden arms race of elite football”, it puts Newcastle just behind Real Madrid and way ahead of PSG, Manchester City and Bayern Munich. I was also taken by the club’s other considerations: “We will preserve and enhance a historic estate, its biodiversity and wildlife habitats, and be a great neighbour.”

Also in this edition, why the heatwaves were too much for our fridges and freezers, what climate change means for our food supplies, and how a switch to electric buses will be good news for our youngsters.

Brian Aitken
Editor

A1 intervention

The Prime Minister’s ‘listening tour’ of the country took him to the North East on Wednesday where his primary objective was to talk about homelessness. Local Democracy Reporter Dan Holland took the opportunity, however, to ask about the dualling of the A1.

Now, Andy Burnham was never going to stand up in the North East and say it’s not worth it or it can’t happen, but his response gave at least some hope for the upgrading of the 13 miles between Morpeth and Ellingham where six people have lost their lives recently.

“The A1 is an issue that I am not going to conveniently forget because I am now in the position I am in,” he told Dan. “I have said to Kim (McGuinness) we will make devolution work in a way that is right for people in the North East, there is more power coming to the North East of England, that is a commitment and No 10 North will be driving these changes with Kim. For instance, on that issue, looking to see if there is an alternative way we can put a funding package together.”

‘Alternative way’ means the money is not there, but he’s at least open to ways of finding it. Mayor McGuinness said later: “We are hearing encouraging noises coming out of government and I am going to get on with that urgently because it needs to happen.”

Day full of hope

Back to homelessness. The PM, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and North East Mayor Kim McGuinness visited a Changing Lives supported accommodation service in Newcastle.

Burnham announced a plan for every person sleeping rough in England to be offered a route off the streets by Christmas and pledged to donate 15% of his prime ministerial salary to homelessness charities. This is on top of the 15% of his MP salary he already gives to local causes in his Makerfield constituency.

“I wouldn't want to ask anybody to do anything that I’m not prepared to do,” he told reporters.

Changing Lives chief executive Stephen Bell took to LinkedIn to say the visit was an endorsement for the charity’s staff and volunteers - and also a day which gave him hope for the future after hearing what senior politicians had to say about their ambitions to eradicate rough sleeping (full disclosure: I used to work for Changing Lives and have seen the brilliant work that Stephen and his team do to help the most vulnerable people every single day).

Transfer of power

The new No 10 North is to take on responsibility for economic growth in a “huge transfer of power” away from the Treasury. This will allow Whitehall to focus on controlling the public finances, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told The Times.

“There’s a job to be done around control of public finances. It’s just the dual job of growth and control of public finances that sometimes clouds the growth mission. And particularly having No 10 leading on that growth mission means you’ve got maximum power to unlock the blockages where they exist in the wider Whitehall system.”

There will have been countless times over the years where representatives of the North East will have prepared a sound business case for investment only to despair at the logic of the Treasury’s rejection. The A1 is a case in point. We may well be about to enter a new era (he said optimistically).

Nissan v2

With Andy Burnham in listening mode, the Adam Smith Institute is calling for the creation of defence enterprise zones in the North East to recreate the success of Nissan in Sunderland.

The plan proposes fast-tracked planning under a single governing authority alongside full factory write-offs, zero-rated business rates, reduced NI and discounted energy bills. And it has identified five publicly owned sites – High Hanning, Quarrington Hill, High Pittington, Blaydon Quarry, and Newburn Riverside.

The report, which carries a foreword by Sir David Harrison, the founder of True Potential, says the North East’s low land prices, existing 110,000-strong manufacturing workforce, and industrial heritage make it well-suited to the scheme. The right-leaning free market think tank says that the areas would be served by one large anchor tenant that would stimulate growth in local supply chains.

Sunderland Council leader Chris Eynon said: “This is a very innovative idea to help supercharge our manufacturing base along with supporting the UK defence industry within our region.”

Some statement of intent

With three of Newcastle United’s best players being snapped up by Barcelona, Arsenal and Spurs this summer, fans can be excused for being worried about what the season ahead might hold - the first game is against Liverpool on Sunday, by the way

But yesterday came positive news of the club’s ambitions when it was announced it has agreed to build a £190m training ground on 260 acres of land at the Woolsington Hall estate owned, ironically, by former chairman Sir John Hall and close to the city’s airport. It is subject to planning approval, of course, but can you imagine the reaction if any councillor voted against the application.

As a statement of intent, it is a massive statement.

Chief executive David Hopkinson said: “Our proposed performance complex will create the world’s best performance environment for our teams. We’ll develop purpose-built facilities that are geared towards developing sustainable success in the future, where players, coaches and staff can perform at their very best every day.

“We will be submitting a detailed planning application that not only demonstrates our vision, but also how we will preserve and enhance a historic estate, its biodiversity and wildlife habitats, and how we’ll be a great neighbour.”

A formal planning application for the new elite performance facility and academy is expected to be submitted in early 2027, with a view to the men’s first team moving in for the 2029-30 campaign.

A matter of size

If you want an indication of the world that Newcastle United are about to enter, you can read this article in sportsrender.com which talks about the “hidden arms race of elite football”.

“Modern football is decided far from the spotlight - inside massive training complexes that look more like futuristic cities than sports facilities. These are places where players live, recover, learn, and evolve. Not just grass pitches - but sports science labs, performance data centres, recovery technology, and carefully designed architecture built for one purpose: winning.”

Real Madrid’s Valdebebas complex is the biggest training facility, spanning nearly 120 hectares. Newcastle’s Woolsington site is not far behind at 105 hectares - and that’s comfortably bigger than PSG (59 hectares), Manchester City (32 hectares), Bayern Munich (30 hectares) and Spurs, which is a similar size to Bayern’s but includes an organic garden and orchard to supply the club’s chefs with home-grown food.

Suspension, resignation, by-election

Sunderland councillor Glen Gibbins has been suspended by Reform pending the outcome of a court case after he was charged with making a grossly offensive comment on social media about Nigerians. Gibbins was due to appear at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court today.

Durham councillor Ian Catchpole says he has resigned from Reform and will sit as an Independent, although the party said his resignation “came in the middle of an internal review into the unauthorised disclosure of private group material to individuals outside the party”, with the whip removed from him pending the outcome.

A by-election will be held in Northumberland after Councillor John Allen failed to attend a meeting for six months. He was expelled from the party after being accused of making comments online that he wanted to shoot then Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

E-bike seizures

There has been a massive increase in the number of e-bikes being seized by police forces across the country. None more so than in Northumbria where seizures almost tripled from 90 in 2024-25 to 262 in 2025-26.

Carlisle Labour MP Julie Minns, who has been campaigning for a ban on sales of illegal e-bikes and conversion kits, said they were the “perfect accessory to phone theft, mugging and drug dealing” and a danger to motorists and pedestrians.

Cleaner service

Diesel buses running through an “air pollution hotspot” are to be replaced by an all-electric service on the Coast Road between Newcastle and North Tyneside. The news comes in the same week that a landmark study of 3,400 youngsters published in The Lancet Public Health found that the introduction of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone is linked to improved lung growth in children.

Too hot for freezers

A consequence of our long hot summer is that fridges and freezers have been giving up the ghost at a higher rate than normal - at a time when there are fewer specialist centres that can deal with their disposal.

Many councils have suspended their white goods collections because of the lack of storage space. North Tyneside has become the first in the region to do so with fears that this could lead to an increase in fly-tipping.

Nicholas

Decisions, decisions

A quick word

Tynemouth’s North Pier only opened a week ago after restoration work but has had to close again after vandals caused £20,000 of damage. Newcastle City Council is looking to scrap a Late Night Levy which licensed premises have had to pay since 2013. Newcastle and Liverpool are the only councils outside London to impose the charge. Rail services between Newcastle and Edinburgh are to be disrupted for three weekends in a row to renew track and upgrade services. Most operators will run buses between Morpeth and Dunbar during September 19-20 and 26-27 and October 3-4. A petition signed by 2,410 people calling for North Tyneside Council to keep the High Borrans outdoor education centre in the Lake District open will be discussed at next month’s full council meeting. A spokesperson for the council said campaigners were “searching for an answer that may never arrive”. Initial investigations into the pollution at Blyth beach suggests creosote contamination, reports the Environment Agency. Elgin Energy has submitted plans to Darlington Borough Council for a solar farm in Hurworth Moor which could generate enough renewable electricity to power up to 16,400 homes. Newcastle councillors will decide today on a plan to knock down Hadrian House in the city centre and replace the disused office block with a 21-storey accommodation complex for Northumbria University students.

Final sites unlocked

The final three sites in North East Mayor Kim McGuinness’s £71m Brownfield Housing Fund - Netherton Lane in Northumberland, Derwentwater Court in Gateshead and Marden Residents Association in North Tyneside – will unlock 38 new homes for social rent.

This brings the total homes unlocked through funding allocated by the mayor to more than 4,000, with more than 620 new homes already completed and others being built.

“Everyone in the North East deserves a safe, secure, and genuinely affordable place to call home,” the mayor said. “But for too many people, that simply isn’t the reality today. That’s why I’ve made it a priority to build more affordable homes, so families aren’t priced out of their communities and can put down roots close to jobs, schools and the people they care about.”

Business bites

South African Brett Griffiths has been appointed to take over from Paul McEldon as CEO of the North East BIC, one of the region’s largest business support and flexible workspace providers. He takes up the position on October 1. Fruit and veg wholesaler JR Holland has been bought by San Francisco-based GrubMarket - the technology group’s first UK acquisition. The JR Holland name and Team Valley-based management team will remain. Power Tool World, which operates from two sites in Newton Aycliffe is expanding with the addition of a third warehouse and an investment in automation. Newcastle biotech firm BSF Enterprise, which pioneers lab-grown leather, has agreed a strategic partnership with German consulting firm Schakau Managementberatung to help commercialise its product range. Ramside Estates has acquired Select Telecom, a long-standing supplier to the hospitality group which sees reliable connectivity as fundamental to all areas of its operations. Tekmar has secured a €1m contract to design and manufacture concrete protection and stabilisation products to safeguard cables across a major European windfarm.

2014 ad break

You know what, I’m not even going to tell you about this ad. It doesn’t matter who made it. Just watch it and let it change your mood. Trust me.

THE WIDER VIEW

There’s more to come

Wildfires, water shortages and heatwave after heatwave. Climate change got very real this summer.

The changing climate is having a profound effect on Britain’s food supply, as Paul Mason writes in his alarming article in The New World.

He quotes a food company’s warning that this year, the UK’s wheat yields have “plummeted”, and we are on track for “one of the worst harvests on record”. Potato prices are up 40%. Lettuce has almost doubled. Fertiliser prices have also spiked due to the closure of the strait of Hormuz, meaning food inflation this year is set for 6%. Climate change is about to deliver a shock to our food production system, made worse by poor policy decisions.

That has to change, he writes. “Britain needs to develop an all-new way of feeding itself and to make its existing systems more resistant to this kind of punishing heatwave – because we know it will happen again.”

Talking of Hormuz

Hard to tell if this is AI generated or not

Alternative view

You can take the conclusion of a survey and present the same ‘one-fact story’ in two different ways. The alternative here would be ‘Two thirds of Britons say Harry and Meghan should move back to UK - or don’t care if they do’.

Fewer people are reading books and newspapers. Those that are reading are not reading as much as they used to. This isn’t just dumbing down - it’s a threat to democracy says columnist James Marriott, a recent big-name addition to this year’s bill for the Durham Book Festival.

Andy Burnham is in listening mode and Hexham-based columnist Peter Hetherington has some words of advice for him on something that several prime ministers ago we would call levelling up.

Volunteers continue to do a brilliant job with the great nurdle clear-up - but when are we going to hear from the owners of the two vessels involved? One caused the environmental disaster at Port of Tyne four weeks ago and the other, under maritime law, is responsible for paying for the clean-up operation.

Also in today’s edition there’s the women who carry sprays on public transport because of safety fears, the struggling parents who are watering down baby milk powder and the mystery of Ginge, the Sunderland cat who went missing and was found a year later living in a feral cat colony near Leeds.

There’s also a new book out on Prefab Sprout, the North East band led by reclusive frontman and songwriting genius Paddy McAloon. The author even went to the lengths of tracking down “pop music’s most famous motorbike” - the Triumph featured on the cover of the band’s album Steve McQueen. As a read, it’s something of a great escape.

Brian Aitken
Editor

Listen and learn

Andy Burnham begins his ‘listening tour’ of the country today having already promised to deliver growth in every postcode.

“The prime minister’s ambitions are bold,” says Peter Hetherington in The Guardian. “But from where I’m writing, 282 miles north of London, in the Tyne valley, it’s clear that the priority of successive governments is sustaining the growth of the capital as it faces unprecedented demand for energy and water to service the more than 200 data centres operating, or under development, in this expanding city-region.”

He contrasts the decision of National Highways to build a massive tunnel boring machine as part of the £10 billion Lower Thames Crossing with the view that dualling 13 miles of the A1 in Northumberland, where six people have died recently, is poor value for money

“From such issues, seen as small in a national context, bigger resentments grow over London domination,” he said.

“And that could get worse. No matter what initiatives might be announced by Burnham on his travels, he faces one overarching challenge: squaring the seemingly unstoppable market-led growth of big tech and AI in and around London, with his wider ambition for a more balanced economy throughout England.”

Hetherington hopes that Burnham will listen to his suggestion for a reborn national agency to kickstart both neighbourhood renewal and business support - one that would work in partnerships and be able to draw on the Crown Estate’s £16bn and the National Wealth Fund’s £27.8bn.

“Beyond that, we need a new settlement for England – a country without a vision, still less a plan – where the demand for energy and water alone in the south-east, alongside the pressure for new housing, will have to force a rethink about national priorities. That thinking needs to start now.”

Questions remain

Another week has passed. Another week where I’ve seen no sign of the two companies responsible for the plastic pellet spill in the Tyne being questioned on their responsibility for “the worst incident of nurdle pollution in Europe”.

In case you need reminding, Cadeler is the company which owns the Wild Orca, the vessel which struck the berthed BG Orange and sliced open containers which contained ‘single bags’ of the nurdles, meaning a billion of them spewed out into our waters in just five seconds (Eyes & Ears 07.08.26).

Under maritime law’s ‘polluter pays’ principle, BG Freight Line, owner of the BG Orange, should be footing the bill for the clean-up and seeking redress afterwards. Is that happening? Is anyone asking? Why are we not being told?

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness reported on social media a couple of days ago that the shipping company insurers are going to double the size of their teams working to clean up beaches from Northumberland to Sunderland.

Good - although they shouldn’t need reminding that the environmental disaster happened four weeks ago. The welcome new arrivals will see the thousands of volunteers who have already been taking part in the clear-up across 17 of our beaches. Martin Brookes, chief executive at the voluntary organisations network VONNE, said the response has been, and continues to be, remarkable.

“This is more than a feel-good story about community spirit. It demonstrates the capacity, expertise, and the ability of the VCSE sector to mobilise quickly and effectively when emergencies happen.

“But volunteer goodwill should not be taken for granted,” he said. “The VCSE sector’s contribution has real economic value and organisations as well as informal groups supporting emergency responses need to be appropriately resourced and, if possible, paid for their time and expertise.

“We need the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, local authorities and the companies responsible to recognise the value of this contribution – not simply applaud it.”

Travel fears

Women are “weaponising” themselves on public transport by carrying hairspray and other sprays because they fear being attacked or intimidated. One woman told the BBC that she holds her keys in her hand and has a tracker app on her phone so her family knows where she is.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness launched a survey in May to understand how safe women and girls feel when travelling across the region, including walking and cycling. I’m not aware of those results being made public yet but a story by BBC political reporter Helen Richardson says there were 1,938 respondents with 87% saying they felt unsafe or uncomfortable while travelling.

Linda Kirk, who runs the Just for Women centre in Stanley, told her: “A man doesn’t think anything about just jumping on a bus, a woman’s different. They have to think about weaponising themselves. It’s ridiculous.”

Words matter

Books and newspapers are increasingly giving way to social media content as the habit of reading fades. This isn’t just dumbing down, it’s a threat to democracy, argues The Times columnist James Marriott.

Marriott, one of the big names announced for this year’s Durham Book Festival, traces his own love of books back to summers spent browsing North Shields’ Keel Row Books as a teenager.

“Political discourse that was once conducted in ­print - with its remarkable capacity for sustaining logical thought and extended argument - now takes place in the moronic inferno of social media,” he writes in a Weekend Essay. “In the fragmented, trivialised and angry new world that is being shaped by the smartphone, conspiracy theories and mad ideas spread with terrifying fertility.

“If our politicians seem lightweights and our public discourse trivial to the point of dysfunction, it is in large part because books and newspapers have been replaced by ubiquitous screens.

“It is no accident that democracy as we know it today, in which all adults can vote regardless of sex or class, first arrived in the age of mass literacy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”

The article previews the release of his forthcoming book The New Dark Ages which he will discuss with Durham University chancellor Fiona Hill at the book festival, which runs from October 9-11.

GP jailed

GP Muhammad Iqbal, 64, who sexually assaulted two women during physiotherapy sessions arranged by their insurers following road accidents, has been jailed for 18 months. Durham Police said the offences happened in Darlington and Sunderland in 2023. Iqbal had denied the offences but was convicted following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

Runaway mystery

Meet Ginge. He’s now a world-wide celebrity after the story of his year-long disappearance and reunion with his owners was carried on social media.

No one knows how he got from his Sunderland home to a feral cat colony near Leeds. It was there that Lucy Roche, volunteer branch leader for a cat rescue charity, came across Ginge and noticed he was very tame. So she took him to the vets where Ginge’s microchip gave his home address - and let to an emotional reunion after 12 months apart.

Glass centre surveys

Two independent surveys will be commissioned to assess whether the National Glass Centre can be saved from demolition. Sunderland City Council will pay about £25,000 to check if the now-permanently closed facility can be flattened without the owner, the University of Sunderland, first obtaining planning permission.

Council leader Chris Enyon said: “As long as this building still stands there is a chance to save it.”

Baby milk fears

The founder of a baby bank in County Durham is calling for a cap on the rising cost of infant formula milk because struggling parents are turning to “unsafe” practices such as using less powder to make it last longer. Megan Sinden of Moorside Baby Bank in Consett said: “It’s not a luxury item, it’s a basic need for a baby.”

Infant formula is designed to provide the correct balance of nutrients for babies when mothers cannot or choose not to breastfeed, and adding extra water alters that balance.

A quick word

Staff at Beamish Museum have signed a petition calling on the board which runs the attraction to scrap a proposal to take about 88 workers out of the Local Government Pension Scheme - a move which could cost each staff member thousands of pounds. Kielder Forest will mark 100 years since its creation with a free weekend of live music, forestry demonstrations, cycling, vintage vehicles and family activities on September 5 and 6. Forestry England is hoping to bring together families, former forestry workers, contractors and the communities connected to the forest over the past century. South Tyneside councillor Alex Barr has resigned from Reform UK and will continue to represent his ward as an independent. The reasons behind the resignation remain unclear. Developer 11 Arches, the organisation behind Kynren, is seeking planning permission to convert Grade II-listed office space into flats as part of Bishop Auckland’s Market Place redevelopment. The Environment Agency has told swimmers they can bathe again at parts of Blyth South Beach after investigating reports of a possible fuel or oil spill. Congratulations to Darlington golfer Ellie Givens who won the Swiss Open, her first Ladies European Tour title in 210 attempts. NHS bosses are urging those celebrating A-level results to get their meningitis B vaccinations “sooner rather than later” as they prepare to start at university. This follows the deadly outbreak among students in Kent in March.

Four star to pop star

Paddy McAloon was happiest when he was working at his dad’s petrol station, writing songs between filling up cars with four star. He didn’t want to be a pop star who would have to get on stage and perform in front of thousands of people.

Stardom came his way, nonetheless, and if I say the words: “Hot dogs, jumping frogs, Albuquerque” then you will probably know who I am talking about.

For Paddy is the man behind the band Prefab Sprout and a highly-acclaimed reclusive genius who is happiest writing songs in his native North East.

Writer Nige Tassell has just released a book Truly Gifted Kids which pulls together stories, interviews, analysis, history and travelogue into a portrait of the band, with McAloon at its centre.

During his research, Tassell acted as a roadie for Paddy’s brother Martin and went in search of “pop music’s most famous motorbike” - the Triumph motorbike featured on the cover of the band’s album Steve McQueen. Those of you who remember The Great Escape will get it.

Public service

William Arnold, an artist and photographer living in Cornwall, took a 1,700-mile round trip to the Isle of Lewis to keep a public telephone box in service. Phone boxes have to be used at least 52 times a year to remain operational, so he travelled to the village of Einacleit with £36 in small change and made 52 calls to 52 different people. The 43-year-old, who has been working to save phone boxes since 2022, told the BBC it’s a “slightly ridiculous” project but that the lines can be “vital rural lifelines”.

And finally…

‘Education, education, education’ were the three priorities Tony Blair gave at the Labour Party conference in 1996. One of his successes was the London Challenge, turning around the performances of inner-city schools in communities that had been left behind.

We have been promised something similar through Mission North East. It starts this term - and it can’t come soon enough judging by yesterday’s A Level results where the gap between the attainment levels of the North East and London is as wide as its ever been.

Also in today’s edition there’s the writer who visited Northumberland and says the county’s food and drink go hand in hand with heritage and tradition. And there’s the Northumbria academics turning agricultural waste into a clean coal substitute.

A structurally-sound Metro bridge has been deemed “at serious risk of collapse” - because of the inadequate crash barriers on the road below. Two council rivals talk of misogyny on the campaign trail, and David Whetstone has a wonderful piece of colour writing on the Novum Festival finale and the 2.5km domino run.

Brian Aitken
Editor

‘A’ Levelling up

Mission North East was only announced in a Government white paper in March and detailed in an announcement by the then Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in May. It doesn’t even begin until the start of the new term in September.

But it is so badly needed, as even a cursory look at yesterday’s A Level results will tell you.

The ‘mission’ is to build on the success of the London Challenge, which was launched by the Blair government in 2003, and showed what is possible when you concentrate expert-led, place-based support in communities that have previously been left behind.

And London is doing all right now. Almost a third of students in the capital, 32.7%, were awarded A or A* when results were released yesterday morning. That contrasts with 23.1% in the North East - the largest ever gap between the two regions.

Schools North East said the regional results should not be interpreted as a league table of school quality. Instead, they highlight a much deeper structural divide in the circumstances, resources and opportunities available to children and young people in different parts of England.

Director Chris Zarraga said: “Schools operate within profoundly different social, economic and public-service environments, with inequalities beginning long before children enter school and continuing beyond the school gates.”

The ‘mission’ statement

New Education Secretary Lucy Powell has not mentioned Mission North East since taking over from Sunderland MP Bridget Phillipson - then again why would she?

It is worthwhile reminding ourselves, and anyone else in government, of what is being promised: “These landmark programmes (there’s a Mission Coastal as well) will transform children’s lives - giving the most disadvantaged children the mentoring, careers support, and enrichment opportunities they need to achieve and thrive.

“Expert practitioners will work directly with leaders and teachers, building teacher capacity and raising standards. Schools will work together in local clusters, learning from each other rather than tackling challenges alone.

“Beyond the school gates, new partnerships with employers, sports clubs, faith groups and youth organisations will provide vital mentoring, careers support and cultural enrichment - the building blocks of a full childhood.”

Campaign abuse

Two rivals who went head-to-head in a South Tyneside council by-election last week both suffered misogynistic abuse during the campaign.

Reform’s Katie Groom, who was elected, said she had thick skin “but I don’t want to brush it off and say it doesn’t matter, because other women can find those comments upsetting and degrading.” Green candidate Kathryn Kaupa said abusive comments risked putting “diverse voices” off entering politics.

Metro bridge ‘at risk’

A Metro bridge across the busy A19 at Howdon is at “serious risk of collapse”. The problem, however, is not with the bridge but the state of the crash barriers in the A19 central reservation.

According to North East mayoral strategic authority papers, the risk was identified in late 2024. The bridge was struck by a car transporter in January this year and Metro services were suspended for around 90 minutes to allow engineers to check for structural damage.

Nexus now plans to install additional concrete crash barriers and a “cushioning system” to protect the bridge’s central support pillars. It is expected that the works will be carried out in early 2027 and will require lanes near the Tyne Tunnels’ northern entrance and exit to be closed for up to four weeks.

Energy storage plan

A planning application has been submitted that would see 288 metal containers erected on 25 acres of agricultural land near Easington in County Durham. The containers form a battery energy storage system (BESS) and would stockpile energy from offshore wind turbines for use when needed.

Developer Zenobe said the build would take about 18 months and would create between 150 to 400 construction jobs. Once operational it would only need to be manned by two to four people.

A BESS near South Hetton had been recommended for approval last month but Durham councillors rejected the application after 700 objections were received.

Fuel from field waste

Academics from Northumbria University have secured £1.25m in funding to build a plant in Pakistan that will turn agricultural waste into a clean coal substitute - while providing an income for women in the rural Punjab.

Dr Jibran Khaliq, who is leading on the consortium project for Northumbria alongside Dr Shahid Rasul, said: “Pakistan spends over two and a half billion dollars every year importing coal to power its industries, while millions of tonnes of crop residue are burned in fields because there is no market for it.

“What makes this project different is that we are not proposing another laboratory study; we have spent six years developing and validating the knowledge, and now we are building a live commercial facility with three textile mills already committed to using the fuel. This is the step that turns research findings into an investable, replicable business that Pakistan can own and scale.”

Call me disappointed

Well, the ‘once in a lifetime’ solar eclipse has been and gone. The BBC spoke to spectators across the region who said it was “nice to be with a group of people and feel the atmosphere”. I was with my wife and we both said: “Was that it”?

The moon, apparently, covered 90-96% of the sun - the biggest coverage since the total eclipse in 1999. A line in the BBC story resonated with me: “Those expecting a total black-out might have been disappointed.”

Nicholas

Audacious and eccentric

If you missed this year’s Novum Festival then you are not alone. The best way to see what I missed was to read David Whetstone’s colourful words - and pictures - in Cultured. North East. You should too.

“The finale of Newcastle City Council’s summer Novum Festival was both audacious and eccentric, “ he writes. “Adjectives that could perhaps be applied to the whole programme.

“I had, after all, just witnessed eight people with suitcases clambering on top of a council van at the top of Northumberland Street. Just prior to that they had performatively shared a single ice-cream outside Fenwick and encouraged people to lie down with them on the street, using the suitcases for pillows.”

The finale of the finale was the much-anticipated domino run - a 2.5km line of breezeblocks that snaked through the city centre, in and out of buildings including cafes, the library, Theatre Royal and Tyneside Cinema.

“As the 4.30pm finale approached, a ripple of activity suddenly became a flurry as the green T-shirted ones swung into action, supervised by more important looking people with walkie talkies and an air of knowing what the heck was going on. A caterpillar trail of breezeblocks was being assembled before our eyes, and around us and among us.”

Two potential hazards had been identified beforehand - the cobblestones and people who may have had a sherbet too many.

“Nevertheless, in a display of pure chutzpah, the Newcastle domino run embraced The Duke of Wellington, The Old George and The Beehive, that famous bastion of clear-headed discourse, before crossing the Bigg Market and shooting down Pudding Chare.”

David had secured a place at the ‘finish line’ at Newcastle Helix - but a fair number of people decided to join the dominoes on the run.

“Anticipation mounted. It was getting nearer. The serious men made a few last breezeblock adjustments… and suddenly our numbers were swelled as a crowd came running. Yes, while this might have struck you (as it did me) as a spectacle for which a chosen vantage point was a pre-requisite, others had opted for supreme exertion, which I suppose is natural in a populace raised on the Great North Run.”

Which takes me seamlessly (this is not just thrown together, you know!) on to…

A quick word

Football favourite Chris Kamara, TV presenter Ben Shepherd and fitness coach Joe Wicks are among the celebrities taking part in this year’s AJ Bell Great North Run on Sunday, September 13. Former Sunderland manager Peter Reid will be running for the Sir Bobby Robson Institute - 40 years after playing for the Newcastle legend in the 1986 World Cup finals. The building of Berwick’s new hospital is not expected to restart until next year following the collapse of original contractors Merit Construction. The £9m roadworks on Newcastle’s Central Motorway could be completed by the end of October - nearly six months earlier than expected. South Tyneside Council has applied for £21m from the Department for Transport Structures Fund to replace Heugh Street Bridge in South Shields which has been closed to vehicles since last November. Talking of bridges, work to replace Baths Bridge in Durham will begin before the end of the year following a £7.5m award from the mayoral strategic authority. The Accidental Bookshop in Alnwick will host actress and TV presenter Caroline Quentin for a special evening next month where she will discuss her new book Dawn to Nature, a follow up to her bestseller Drawn to the Garden. People are being urged not to bathe at Blyth South Beach after the Environment Agency said it was investigating reports of a possible fuel or oil spill. A campaign group set up to save High Borrans, North Tyneside Council’s outdoor education centre in the Lake District, has written to the council’s mayor and chief executive to say it is considering legal action to prevent the planned closure.

Durham line-up

Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys is one of the headline names at this year’s Durham Book Festival, along with Christopher Eccleston, Susanna Clarke, James Marriott, Lucy Foley, Hollie McNish and Louise Doughty. Tickets are now on sale for the festival taking place over the weekend of October 9 to 11 with most events at Gala Durham. David Whetstone has lots more here.

Call - don’t confront

Residents have been warned not to approach campers on Blyth Links. Northumberland councillor Daniel Carr said: “I’ve had a number of residents raise concerns about unauthorised camping and people occupying areas of the Blyth Links with vehicles, horses and tents. If someone is occupying the Links without permission, report it to the relevant authorities.”

Homes action call

Newcastle-based housebuilder Bellway has called for the Government to take action such as reducing stamp duty to invigorate the housing market.

The company posted a positive trading update but chief executive Jason Honeyman warned of “ongoing headwinds” around mortgage affordability, challenges to the general economy and rising costs for builders.

“In order to ease affordability constraints and stimulate demand, an immediate reduction in stamp duty alongside a Government-backed deposit support scheme for first-time buyers would both drive economic growth and accelerate the delivery of much-needed new homes across the country.” he said.

Business bites

Greggs has become a Partner member of the North East Chamber of Commerce. Bosses say their work around employment, community wellbeing and skills development closely aligns with the ambitions of the chamber’s Unlocking the North East Economy policy plan. Three business leaders from the region are included in Innovate UK’s latest Women in Innovation programme. Ubrix founder Kate Murray, Lou Willis-Keeler, from Souuthe, and Newcastle physio Suzanne Vernazza, the founder of Know Your Floors, will each get a grant of £75,000 plus a 12-month package of business support. Fenwick has reported an improved performance in the first year of its three-year transformation strategy with an operating loss of £23.4m - down from £39.1m the year before. My Property Box has bought the residential lettings portfolio of a Teesside-based Horizon Sales & Lettings - a move which allows Horizon to focus on social housing through its Horizon Community Living initiative. County Durham-based Banks Homes expects to complete more than 100 homes this year - and quadruple that number by 2031. Newcastle has joined Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds as one of Savills core regional new homes hubs in the North. The expansion comes as Savills launches six developments across the region for housebuilder Cussins (North East). The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has signed a long lease to take three of the five floors at the L&G-backed Faber building in the heart of Sunderland’s regeneration scheme. Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has bought Harvey Nichols after the department store chain was placed into administration. The deal covers six stores and around 1,000 jobs - with “significant restructuring” in the offing. Gateshead-based Turntide Technologies has been awarded match funding for a £17m project to accelerate the production of new flux motors. The money comes from the Government’s £4 billion Drive35 programme, which is intended to speed up the electrification of the car industry.

1994 ad break

They don’t make ads for Levis like they used to. This is a classic from 1994 where two young ladies don’t see what they were expecting to see when a handsome fella gets out of the water.

Their disappointment is the cue for the guitar music to kick in - a sound so popular that it forced multi-instrumentalist and composer Peter Lawlor to extend the music into a single and form a band. The song Inside gave Scottish rock band Stiltskin a No 1 hit and featured in their top-selling album The Mind’s Eye.

The ad is the first one and a half minutes of this video before it moves on to the Stiltskin video in all its glory, featuring singer Ray Wilson who was later hired as the frontman for Genesis when Phil Collins left in 1996.

THE WIDER VIEW

Very very tasty

The Creel and Reel seafood truck, The Pantry, Gemma Gee the Cramlington Forager, The Potted Lobster, smokehouses, a quality burcher and, of course, Ad Gefrin all get an honourable mention in an article in The i Paper which took a close look at the “quietly evolving” food scene in Northumberland.

“I’ve always known Northumberland had a cracking coastline,” said writer Lucy McGuire. “Now, I can also vouch for its brilliant culinary scene. Food and drink here go hand-in-hand with heritage and tradition, and while you won’t leave hungry, you will leave wanting more.”

Actually, I am feeling peckish now you mention it.

Bananas!

There are more than 1,000 varieties of bananas in the world - but the sole variety we eat in this country is the Cavendish. And it is dying out thanks to an insidious fungus, reports The Telegraph in a long but surprisingly entertaining read.

The stats are amazing. Britons buy some five billion Cavendish bananas a year, enough for 80 per adult. If you were to start in London and lay these end to end, they’d reach to the Moon and back. The UK market alone is worth nearly £700m. Globally, the world’s favourite fruit is worth £26 billion.

The threat to the Cavendish comes from a fungus called Panama disease which we’ve known about for long enough but only now, when it’s really serious, is something being done about it. Step forward our hero, Professor James Dale, an unassuming 76-year-old Aussie and the creator of a Cavendish banana genetically modified to resist Panama disease.

Most people reading this will know someone – a relative, a friend, a neighbour – who needs or who has needed care and support. Adult social care is everyone’s business, but will it ever be fixed, asks Professor Bob Hudson in today’s main article.

He highlights ten dilemmas awaiting resolution.

It’s hard to get away from environmental issues at the moment. Another heatwave is on the way, large parts of the country have had little or no water for a couple of months, we have a nurdle emergency on our shores - and South Tyneside Council has voted to scrap its 2019 climate emergency declaration.

It was to be expected that an ousted Labour councillor would be bitter about Reform taking over and making changes. But Ernest Gibbon has green credentials that are hard to ignore. He was chair of the Local Government Association’s coastal special interest group for seven years.

So, when he say the decision “unravels years of partnership work, slams doors on vital investment, threatens livelihoods, and steals opportunities from our young people,” then he deserves to be heard.

Also today, a “shocking story of complacency in the face of multiple problems”, in Tees Valley; the best places in the North East to witness Wednesday’s eclipse; and the new Director General of the BBC’s ‘mysterious’ visit to Holy Island.

Costly climate bill

A former South Tyneside councillor has warned that the repercussions of scrapping the 2019 climate emergency declaration could cost taxpayers millions of pounds and lead to job cuts.

Ernest Gibson, the national chair of the Local Government Association’s coastal special interest group who lost his seat in May’s elections when Reform swept to power, said: “This is nothing less than sheer vandalism – the deliberate destruction of years of investment, partnership and progress, born of the highest degree of ignorance about how public funding, law and regional partnership work.

“This declaration is not a standalone policy, it is woven into the very fabric of how South Tyneside operates. It is embedded in every council service, agreed by local businesses, built into our new £95 million college campus, and integrated into our schools’ curriculum.

“It unravels years of partnership work, slams doors on vital investment, threatens livelihoods, and steals opportunities from our young people.

“Those who dismiss this commitment as ‘just words’ have clearly not looked at what it has actually delivered across our borough and embedded across all services. Housing, planning, waste, transport and maintenance have all adapted to deliver better, cheaper, greener outcomes for residents.

“Local businesses are fully aligned. Hundreds of firms have invested time and money to meet agreed standards, trusting the council would keep its word. Now this motion threatens to undo all of that with real, measurable harm to jobs, funding, the public purse, and the next generation.”

This IS important

Three things stand out from the environmental disaster that happened within five seconds of a departing vessel hitting a stationary ship in the Port of Tyne a couple of weeks ago.

The reaction of the authorities to the release of up to a billion plastic pellets into the Tyne lacked urgency.

The reaction of volunteers to clean up the beaches has been magnificent.

The reaction of the national media to what has happened has been strangely muted. It’s as if what happens up here is not that important.

Friday’s edition (Eyes & Ears 07.08.26) included details of the ‘Single Bag’ method of transportation of these tiny pellets, known as nurdles. That needs greater scrutiny. It’s an issue that has been talked about for years.

And the focus has to remain on the owners of the two vessels involved to make sure they do what it takes, for as long as it takes, to sort this environmental mess out.

Action call

Inquorate meetings, unmet deadlines, a two-year backlog of unaudited accounts and cash flow doubts over the South Tees Development Corporation’s ability to repay £421 million debts...

Experienced journalist Peter Morris has filed a report for North East Bylines as the STDC’s audit and finance committee prepares to meet on Wednesday.

“This is a shocking story of complacency in the face of multiple problems,” he writes. “Largely created by Tees Valley Mayor Lord Ben Houchen as a result of his overconfidence, unchecked by the feebleness of his cabinets and others around him ever since his first election in 2017.

“The MHCLG, far from lifting the the Best Value Notice it has placed on Tees Valley, should take stronger action. There have been some signs of improvement in the past year, but these have been under the auspices of interim senior staff who come and go, and there is no evidence that improvement is embedded in the organisational culture.”

Mysteries tour

The BBC’s new Director General Matt Brittin toured the Holy Island set of the drama series The Northumbrian Mysteries and met with representatives of North East Screen and Newcastle-based Lonesome Pine Productions.

The visit, during the last days of filming, follows the BBC’s expanded commitment to developing production and creative talent in the North East as part of its Across the UK strategy.

Star Robson Green took to social media to describe the production as: “One of the most joyous filming experiences of my career… a series for all the family set against the magical and jaw dropping backdrop of Northumberland.”

Natural sun screen

A solar eclipse is coming our way on Wednesday evening when the moon will get inbetween us and the rays of the sun for around two hours. High Life North magazine has produced a ‘where to watch’ guide for the North East.

This includes a Quick Facts panel on what will be the most significant eclipse since 1999: Eclipse begins: around 6.10pm; Peak: around 7.07pm; Ends: just before 8pm; Coverage from the North East: around 90%; Best direction to face: west (I thought it would be ‘up’).

A quick word

A crane was seen lifting heavy objects from the top of the The Glasshouse on the Gateshead quayside last week. It’s part of the biggest schedule of improvements since the building formerly known as The Sage Gateshead opened its doors 22 years ago. Sage One is due to reopen on September 19 for the start of the classical music season but the rest of the building remains open. EasyJet has launched holiday flights to four new destinations from Newcastle International Airport - Reus, Tenerife, Prague and Sharm el-Sheikh. New Writing North is recruiting volunteers to help deliver this year’s Durham Book Festival and other literary events across the region. Campaigners fighting to save the National Glass Centre have accused Sunderland City Council of “dragging its heels” to prevent the 30-year-old building from being demolished. Reform has held on to a seat in South Tyneside following the resignation of a councillor over allegedly offensive comments made on a podcast. Katie Groom took the seat with 628 votes - 274 ahead of Labour’s Neil Maxwell.

Quick work

Ad Gefrin is understandably celebrating the sell-out launch of its Crǣft Series - the first Northumbrian single malt whisky released in more than 200 years. The limited release of three single casks sold out in four hours.

The Wooler distillery commissioned three North East artists to create the artwork for the three bottle designs: Voirrey Taylor for the Bourbon cask, Luke McTaggart for the American Single Malt Cask, and Sarah Calavera for the American Single Malt finished in a Sherry Hogshead.

The Crǣft Series is the first of 12 single cask releases, with the next launch planned before the end of 2026 - and there’s an open call for artists who would like to work on the next labels.

Is social care really going to be fixed?

By Bob Hudson

If sincerity alone was enough to resolve political problems, then Andy Burnham would be well on the way to fixing adult social care. In his pledge to do so, the PM invoked the case of his father, suffering from dementia and unaware of his son’s premiership. The father-in-law of Health Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is in a similar situation, and the disabled son of Lib Dem Leader, Ed Davey, requires 24/7 care. Truly the political and the personal are intersecting.

Sincerity needs to be allied to courage. There have been an estimated 25-30 formal inquiries and reviews into the subject since the turn of the century, none of which have been acted upon by any prime minister from Blair to Starmer. In selecting social care as the issue upon which he is prepared to expend scarce political capital, Burnham is displaying exceptional courage.

What Do We Know So Far?

Currently we are only at the point of aspiration and principle, not detail. Outline pledges include:

• A ‘National Care Service’ that in some way resembles the NHS model rather than American healthcare – a deft comparison made by Burnham

• A commitment to (or at least a desire for) cross-party agreement

• Lifting up conditions for care workers, with more career progression and integration with the NHS

• An end to profiteering in the care system

• Bringing forward the Review by Louise Casey to next year (rather than 2028) and committing to full implementation of her recommendations.

Any one of these pledges will be difficult to resolve, let alone all of them. But why?

Why Is Reform So Hard?

The longer a problem is left to fester, the more complicated it becomes to resolve. Layer upon layer of complexity and contradiction arises as one sticking plaster is slapped on top of another. Emptying unnecessarily occupied hospital beds, for example, is not the same as providing person-centred care in the community; and recruiting to the workforce is in conflict with Home Office policy on migration. Here are ten dilemmas awaiting resolution:

1. Lack of Funding: local councils have suffered spending cuts of close to 50% since 2010; they simply do not have the money to commission better services;

2. Unmet Need: Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England with unmet care needs.

3. Unsupported Carers: Carers UK estimate there could be just over 10 million people in the UK providing unpaid - and typically unsupported - care.

4. Workforce Recruitment and Retention: there are currently 131,000 vacancies and a career structure lacking progression.

5. Uncapped Care Costs: plans for a cap on individual care costs have never been taken up, despite making it onto the statute book.

6. Weak Regulation: Inspection levels are well below pre-Covid volumes and there is a lack of expertise amongst inspectors, as well as inconsistency in assessments.

7. Lack of Integration with the NHS: the unavailability of social care provision is routinely identified as a reason for delayed hospital discharges.

8. Shifting Responsibilities from the NHS to Social Care: there are inter-agency battlegrounds over rehabilitation and long-term care, especially dementia;

9. Outsourcing Public Services: public provision of social care has largely disappeared; small operators (commercial and not-for-profit) can barely function; bigger ones find ways of profiteering.

10. Failing to Listen to Users and Carers: Social care is fundamentally about rights and relationships – helping people to pursue the things that matter most to them, irrespective of their age or conditions. This has tended to take second place to tick-box assessment processes.

There Are Always Opponents and Options

This complexity alone makes reform difficult, but in the case of social care it tends to be accompanied by some political rhetoric of the worst kind. Burnham’s appeal for a mature conversation has fallen on many deaf ears. Kemi Badenoch declared she was all in favour as long as no more money had to be found, while Reform’s Robert Jenrick claimed that tax inspectors would be sent to people’s death beds. Meanwhile the right-wing media had a field day: ‘Burnham’s pledges cost £21 billion more than he bargained for’ (Mail); ‘Fears Families Will Be Hit By £76,000 tax on death’ (Sunday Express); ‘Death tax plot a slap in the face to hard-working Brits’ (Sun). And all of this before any policy has even been arrived at or discussed!

The PM is optimistic that existing resources could be better used, especially in relation to freeing up hospital beds, but there is no escaping the need for some hard political choices. The minimalist choice is to keep the current arrangements but give local councils a bit more money to keep things ticking over – the cheapest option but not one that could be badged a reform. Other options are costly:

• A lifetime cap on care costs – costing around £4 billion a year by 2035 dependent upon the detail

• Free personal care (but excluding accommodation costs) as in the Scottish model – an estimated extra £7.5 billion a year by 2035

• An NHS-style model free at the point of use – an estimated £18.5 billion a year by 2035.

With the PM confirming he will stick to the tax pledges in Labour’s 2024 manifesto and ministers being instructed to stick to their spending limits, there will be no quick wins of any significance.

The Casey Review: Listening - and Educating?

For the time being then, it’s over to Dame Louise Casey and her ‘Big Conversation’ on the future of care. Much will hinge upon her recommendations next year, but the danger here is that this is viewed simply as a listening exercise with competing views.

The reality is that social care is still poorly understood. Polling suggests the wider public is unaware of the way the service is funded or how it produces inequitable outcomes – one recent survey found 33% of people believe social care is already free at the point of use, while a further 18% thought it might be. This suggests that if people are to be supportive of the idea of insuring (in some way) against catastrophic risk then Casey’s task is as much about teaching as listening.

It is doubtful if anyone reading this column does not know someone – a relative, a friend, a neighbour – who needs or who has needed care and support. Adult social care is everyone’s business.

In his speech announcing its prioritisation, Burnham asked a question: ‘How have we got to a position where it’s too difficult to fix the basic care that we give to each other?’ It’s a good question. He is sincere and he is courageous. We should wish him every success and give him every support.

Bob Hudson, Visiting Professor in Public Policy at the University of Sunderland and author
of ‘Clients, Consumers or Citizens? The Privitisation of Adult Social Care in England’
(Bristol University Press, June 2021)

Flagging this to you

I recommend you set aside a few minutes to read David Whetstone’s reflections on the acquisition of Lord Collingwood’s Trafalgar flag for the region, as reported in Friday’s edition (Eyes & Ears 07.08.26). It’s a great read from a quality storyteller.

The giant flag currently rests against a wall in the downstairs area of Newcastle’s Discovery Museum. Later this year it will be displayed upstairs and this time next year it is planned to be the eye-catching centrepiece of a display telling the Collingwood story.

You can read David’s article in Cultured. North East by clicking here.

Two very clear themes in today’s edition: pollution and the appalling way some men treat women.

I’ve taken a closer look at the shipping accident two weeks ago which caused a billion tiny plastic pellets to be released into our waters.

More than three years ago there were high level talks on the packaging requirements for plastic pellets in freight containers. Today fingers are being pointed and questions are being asked after two vessels collided in the Port of Tyne. But it looks to me as if we’re not asking all the right questions - and we’re sometimes asking the right questions of the wrong people.

Teenagers, army recruits and MPs all tell similar stories today - about the violent misogyny they face on a regular basis.

A group of young Tyneside women have made a film which has been sent to the Prime Minister. One of them tells of a ‘rape list’ where boys ranked girls they wanted to assault.

The BBC has published an investigation into allegations of rape and sexual abuse against female recruits at an Army training college in Harrogate. And there are further shocking instances of what our female politicians have to endure.

We have an uplifting tale about organ donation - how a 14-year-old has saved five lives. There’s also the story about a unique piece of history that has been secured for the region and what the Government’s new mental health announcement means for the North East.

And we’ve got Bob Mortimer in the ad break as well!

Pressure pointers

It’s being called Europe’s worst plastic pollution incident of its kind. The consequences, we are warned, will stretch way beyond the clean-up operation on our beaches where an army of volunteers are doing a brilliant job of clearing up the tiny plastic pellets that have washed up on our shores.

Nurdles. The pellets are called nurdles. Like me, you may not have heard of them until recently but they are used to manufacture most everyday plastic products. A collision at the Port of Tyne on Sunday July 19 is where our nurdle story began.

Up to a billion of them are thought to have got into the water at the Port of Tyne, millions of them within five seconds of the departing Wind Orca hitting the side of the berthed BG Orange and slicing open containers “like a can of beans”.

I said this was a massive environmental issue, but it didn’t feel like it because the lack of media attention (Eyes & Ears 24.07.26). I’ve read a lot about the incident and what’s happened since. Fingers have been pointed, questions asked. Shouldn’t Port of Tyne have acted sooner? Why have the councils not done more to help with the clean-up? Surely the mayor can do something?

I’ve not seen much about Cadeler, the company which owns Wild Orca and caused the damage in the first place. That damage also resulted in a crane to topple and an operator fall 115 ft, breaking several bones and requiring a hospital operation. He is now recovering at home, I’m pleased to report.

And what about BG Freight Line, the owner of BG Orange? Under maritime law’s ‘polluter pays’ principle the company should be footing the bill for the clean-up and seeking redress afterwards.

Surely public pressure should be on those two companies to do what it takes, for as long as it takes, to sort this environmental mess out. If this incident happened at sea we wouldn’t be questioning the actions of ports and public authorities.

Sickening scenario

Millions of nurdles got into the Tyne in five seconds. That doesn’t sound like they were bagged or packed into separate crates inside the shipping containers. Why ever not? We wouldn’t be looking at a massive ecological issue right now if it was a few dozen crates that had to be fished out of the river rather than millions and millions of tiny pellets being projectile vomited into the water.

Nurdles are not currently classified as dangerous cargo, so there are no mandatory requirements for how they’re packaged inside a container or where that container is stowed on a ship.

We could have expected some regulation by now. Following the catastrophic spill from the X-Press Pearl off the coast of Sri Lanka in 2021, several countries proposed that nurdles be formally classified as an environmental hazard which would require them to be safely packaged and stowed, and clearly documented so carriers know what they were carrying.

The headline above is from April 2023 and was published by Norwegian-based Gard, one of the world’s largest marine P&I (Protection and Indemnity) insurer.

The article starts: “To reduce the risk of large nurdle spills experienced in recent years, the regulatory work is now focussing on packaging requirements for plastic pellets within the freight container, notification to the carrier so that containers containing plastic pellets can be identified quickly to aid recovery, and stowage requirements for containers containing plastic pellets.”

The article goes on to highlight ‘The debate over packaging’ and addresses the issue over whether the use of “single bags” are adequate.

“Plastic pellets should be packed in good quality packagings/bags with a maximum mass of [25 kg] per package/bag. The use of single bags should be avoided”. ‘Single bags’ refers to using a single plastic liner within the container. When the steel container is pierced, so is the plastic liner resulting in spill of nurdles even when the container itself remains on board.

So, were the nurdles on the BG Orange containers stored in single bags? Port of Tyne chief executive Matt Beeton told ITV’s Kris Jepson: “As the Wind Orca moved away, it hit the side of the BG Orange and went right down the side. In doing so, cutting holes in the hull, and ripping open some of the containers as well. Two of those containers had nurdles in, it sliced them open, damaged a whole host of other containers and within about five seconds, about 17 tonnes of nurdles were emptied into the Tyne.”

I think it reasonable to ask questions of owners BG Freight Line (part of the Peel Ports Group) about how they package nurdles and if their policy has changed in any way since April 2023.

Long-term ecological issue

Environmental experts have warned that the spill of plastic pellets into the river Tyne has to be treated as a long-term ecological issue – not just an immediate clean-up challenge.

Sophia Stovall, chief executive of the Tyne Rivers Trust, said: “It is far too early to know the full environmental consequences of this incident, but experience from other major nurdle spills suggests it is unlikely to be remembered solely as a short-term clean-up problem.

“They are extremely difficult to recover completely once they enter a river or marine environment and can be transported by tides, currents and wind, become trapped in habitats and continue to move through the river, estuary and coastline long after the initial incident.”

Nurdles are usually between 1mm and 5mm in size and used as the raw material to manufacture many everyday plastic products. Their small size and appearance mean they can be mistaken for food by fish, seabirds and other wildlife – and their impact extend up through the food chain.

‘Rape list’

A group of young women from Tyneside have made a short film with This Life Collective highlighting the violent misogyny they face, including explicit sexual language and rape threats often disguised as “banter”. One girl told of a ‘rape list’ where boys ranked girls they wanted to assault.

Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones said she was “horrified but sadly not surprised”, linking it to a rise in peer-on-peer sexual offences. The North East has the highest rate of violence against women and girls in England.

A specialist teacher with 30 years’ experience in schools said the rise of toxic masculinity among social media influencers had a serious impact on “disenfranchised boys”. The film has been shared with the Department for Education and the Prime Minister. Director Sue Davison hopes the girls can inform future policy discussions.

Inquiry call

Calls are growing for an independent inquiry into an Army training college for teenagers following allegations of rape and sexual abuse against female recruits. Four young women told the BBC they were sexually assaulted and harassed while attending the Army Foundation College (AFC) at Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

South Shields MP Emma Lewell, who sits on the Defence Committee, said: “If this was any other school or residential environment for children, it would have been closed down.”

Abuse on call

Overwhelming levels of threats and abuse are creating a dangerous environment for politicians, their staff and families, says Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Lizzi Collinge.

Anger was being “whipped up and personalised” as part of everyday political debate with staff members having to shield her from violent correspondence. She was speaking days after Labour colleague Bridget Phillipson, the MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, said she had turned off comments on her Facebook page over abusive comments.

Share

It’s good to talk

The importance of talking about organ donation has been highlighted by the family of a 14-year-old boy who died after a vehicle overturned on a farm. Five lives were saved thanks to Aaron Anderson from Consett. A fortnight before his death, he had told parents Donna and Craig he supported organ donation.

The NHS, which wants people to discuss their preferences with family members, said 63 people in the North East and Yorkshire died last year while waiting for a transplant. Meanwhile, the number of families consenting to organ donation dropped from 69% in 2020-21 to 57% in 2025-26.

Donna told the BBC the decision to agree to donation was easier knowing “that's what he would have wanted”.

You can access the organ donor register here. I just have.

Piece of history secured

The Union Flag which was flown from North East hero Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood’s warship at the Battle of Trafalgar has been saved for the region. North East Museums has acquired the flag from HMS Royal Sovereign, ensuring it remains in the UK, with the support of several generous funders.

Newcastle-born Cuthbert Collingwood took control of the British fleet in the victory against the French and Spanish at Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, after the death of commander Lord Nelson. An estimated 500 North East sailors fought in the battle.

The flag was due to be taken out of the country before an export bar was placed on it by the Secretary of State because of its significance to the UK. North East Museums has raised over two-thirds of its £700,000 fundraising target to purchase the flag and create a permanent home for it at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle. Tony Henderson has more on the story here.

Donations doubled

The clock is ticking on the Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s efforts to raise the £30 million needed to buy the largest area of land to be put on sale in England in decades.

David Attenborough has already championed the cause to buy the entire 3,800-hectare Rothbury Estate. More than £20.6 million has been raised and every donation made this month, up to £100,000, will be match-funded by The Dixon Foundation and Ringtons.

Sunny outlook

A large solar farm near Blackhall Rocks has been approved by Durham County Council’s planning committee despite 67 letters of objection.

Lucinda Bird, whose family owns the land, said the Benridge Solar Farm would help secure the future of their farm by providing reinvestment income. Grupotec Solar UK said the project would also create up to £10 million of construction opportunities for local firms, contribute about £200,000 a year in business rates and establish a £24,000 annual community benefit fund.

A quick word

A blue plaque marking abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s 1846 lectures at North Shields’ Baptist Church has been unveiled by North Tyneside Council and the North Shields Heritology Project. Douglass, still legally enslaved at the time, was invited by the town’s anti-slavery society. Hundreds of objections have been lodged against a £36m holiday park proposed for Hamsterley Forest near Bishop Auckland, including 70 cabins and a Go Ape course. Andrea Bainbridge of the Hamsterley Forest Action Group said it would turn the area “into a theme park” and threaten wildlife. Gibside, the National Trust’s Grade I listed gardens in Gateshead, has been hit by 30 crimes in a year, including two recent break-ins on consecutive nights that forced the cafe to close. The Enjoy Stockton visitor information centre, which had about 15,000 visitors a year, has closed for good in a move Stockton Council says will save £50,000 this year and £75,000 annually after that. A new production of Shakepeare’s Othello, set in the early 1980s against the backdrop of the Falklands War, is to open at Northern Stage in Newcastle next month ahead of a national tour. Durham council is to spend £1.5 million on filling potholes on county roads over the next three years with half the money spent in 2026-27. Councillor Tim McGuinness, cabinet member for rural, farming and transport, said: “This will be a game changer.”

It’s come to this

People often moan about high streets being full of charity shops, nail bars, bookmakers and vape shops. Now it’s charity shops warning about the decline of our high streets.

Back to Blyth

Blyth Celebrates, the programme of events, festivals, performances and cultural activities that was part of a wider regeneration initiative called Energising Blyth, attracted a total audience of some 90,000 during its inaugural year.

Funded by Northumberland County Council, it also helped to establish the town as one of the county’s emerging cultural destinations, according to those who monitor these things. No wonder it’s coming back, writes David Whetstone in Cultured. North East.

Business bites

British Steel is starting 70 new apprentices and graduates next month after receiving more than 1,000 applications. North East-based Develop North is entering its tenth year with an expanded investment strategy and strong pipeline following solid interim results. Northumberland engineering and technology company Osbit has appointed Nigel Ward as MD following Robbie Blakeman and Brendon Hayward’s decision to step down from running the business. Durham planning committee has rejected Amazon’s bid for a 125-metre wind turbine at its Bowburn fulfilment centre because it would impact views of Durham Castle, Cathedral World Heritage Site, the Durham City Centre Conservation Area and the living conditions of nearby residents. The Scotch Corner Designer Village was approved in 2015. It has since had opening dates pushed back from 2021 to 2023, then 2024, March 2026, and spring 2027 - it’s now said to be autumn 2027. Aberdeenshire subsea ROV inspection and intervention company Film-Ocean has opened an operational and project delivery office at the Cobalt Business Exchange near Newcastle. Ceilings manufacturer Zentia, the Gateshead firm formerly known as Armstrong Cork Company, which folded in June with the loss of 170 jobs could be bought out of administration by a new owner.

1996 ad break

You’ve probably heard Romesh Ranganathan ask (countless times): “What has the BBC ever done for me” - although I never tire of hearing him say “Bog off, Du Beke” at the end.

Here is one of a series of ads the BBC aired in the mid to late 90s promoting itself as the channel of diversity. And they couldn’t have asked anyone better than Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer who perform some hilarious spoof BBC programme trailers.

THE WIDER VIEW

Walk in - get help

People needing immediate care for mental health problems will be able to access specialist walk-in hubs close to their home. Ministers have set out plans to create a network of nearly 200 community mental health centres and mental health A&Es by 2029.

The aim is to give those experiencing a mental health crisis or significant distress somewhere to go to get help when they need it - with plans to open dozens of the hubs in high street locations like banks and libraries.

Many of the hubs are expected to be open seven days a week and some will have short-stay bed facilities. Six areas have trialled the approach since 2024.

The government is also pledging to set up another 59 dedicated mental health A&Es, on top of the 23 which are already operational. Many will be attached to existing A&Es.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “Nobody should be left to struggle with their mental health alone. But every day, thousands of people are waiting months for help, then finding the only door open to them is a busy A&E. These new centres will be a lifeline for so many.”

The chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health, Andy Bell, said he was delighted that the government was taking action on mental health after it had been neglected by successive governments - although he was concerned that the mental health emergency departments had not been properly tested yet.

In the North East, the Government’s plans will include emergency departments at Lanchester Road Hospital, County Durham, Roseberry Park, Middlesbrough, St Nicholas Hospital, Gosforth and Sunderland. There will be two new community mental health centres in County Durham, and one each in Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar & Cleveland, and Sunderland.

We’re supposed to be in the ‘silly season’ when politics pauses, courts recess, and government output slows.

The phrase dates back to the 19th century when Parliament’s long summer break left newspaper editors scrambling for stories to fill their pages. They don’t have to worry about 2026!

I have a story today about the Single Justice Procedure, something which sounds like a very good idea but is criminalising vulnerable, sick and elderly people.

There’s a follow up to Friday’s edition which carried news on the new PM’s devolution announcement. Fair to say that Ben Houchen is not happy that devolution doesn’t mean he can do what he wants with the money coming his way.

Then there’s the case of a councillor’s behaviour in Northumberland. We have no details - in stark contrast to what happened in Newcastle last year. Privacy of process Vs public accountability.

Plus, what happens when a private equity company takes over a nursery, a Newcastle academic’s water warning, mopping and bopping at the Commonwealth Games, and North Shields singer songwriter Sam Fender breaks the longest standing record in British music history.

And, for good measure, we have a quality piece of writing on “one of the great full-circle stories in British business”. The words Hays, Irene and Dame may be mentioned.

Justice?

The Single Justice Procedure (SJP) is not something I am familiar with. It sounds good in theory: magistrates dealing with lots of minor offences in one sitting without the need for defendants or prosecutors to attend.

Except the ‘J’ in SJP is not always apparent and it has been under government review following complaints that vulnerable people, sick pensioners, and hospital patients are being unfairly convicted.

Take the case of an 86-year-old Newcastle man with Parkinson’s disease whose wife has Alzheimer’s. Their daughter manages their finances but their annual car tax renewal went unpaid when she was moving house. He paid an £80 penalty, which left him confused about the criminal prosecution that followed.

Due to the design of the SJP, prosecutors such as the DVLA do not routinely see mitigation letters, and are at risk of missing important information that could bring into question whether a prosecution is in the public interest or not.

A widow who can’t drive was pursued by the DVLA over an unpaid car tax bill on her late husband’s car, an oversight that happened while she was mourning and arranging his funeral. A 77-year-old with severe dementia, with no memory of the original penalty notice, was convicted despite his brother’s attempts to argue his case.

It needs looking at - we’re criminalising people who don’t deserve it.

Who decides?

Devolution or Devolution Lite, that is the question.

Friday’s edition (Eyes & Ears 31.07.06) brought you the news of Andy Burnham’s devolution promise to give regional mayors a share of income tax and business rates. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said he would like to use that money to give his constituents a tax rebate.

By the time the Prime Minister made his pre-publicised devolution announcement in Sheffield on Friday, Houchen’s ambitions were already common knowledge - as were the views of Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf who said regional leaders should have the power to block asylum seeker accommodation in their areas.

You then had the bizarre situation of the PM responding to a reaction to something he had just announced.

“This is not about allowing mayors to become a mini Chancellor of the Exchequer or a local Home Secretary,” he said. “Those issues around taxation and asylum are national policy matters. This is a policy that is about growth and investment, an area where the UK is currently underperforming quite significantly. If you don’t invest, you don’t get the growth.”

But Mayor Houchen isn’t convinced: “Devolving a pot of cash and then keeping every real decision in Westminster isn’t real devolution. Andy Burnham spent a decade telling Whitehall to let go, but a few weeks into Number 10 and he’s holding on tighter than any minister I’ve dealt with.

“I’d rather ministers just cut out the middleman and lower taxes. But if they’re handing me a share of the income tax raised on Teesside, true devolution means the decision where to spend it is for locally-elected leaders. I want to give every penny back to the workers who earned it through a rebate scheme. If people don’t like that, they can vote for someone else - that’s what real accountability looks like.”

Councillor investigated

A complaint has been made against an unnamed Northumberland county councillor alleging a breach of the code of conduct.

Standards Lead Simon Openshaw told the council’s audit and standards committee: “All complaints are confidential. That is why we see very few details at this committee. I don’t know the nature of this complaint, but a complaint has progressed through the process that we have. It is likely to be a significant complaint – there are a number of parties involved.”

Intriguing.

Northumberlands’s way of handling the complaint is in stark contrast to the way Newcastle handled a bullying complaint made by a senior official against the then council leader, where the identity of both parties was made public almost immediately.

Privacy of process Vs public accountability. An interesting debate to be had right there.

Quality storytelling

It’s fair to say that Sir Richard Harpin knows a thing or two about growing a business. He founded HomeServe and sold it for north of £4 billion after all.

It turns out that he’s also a good storyteller who knows how to sell his Business Leader podcast. Here’s how he promoted this week’s interview with Dame Irene Hays on his LinkedIn:

“In 1980, ABTA refused to give Hays Travel a licence. The ‘shop’ was a laminated dressing table in the back of John Hays’ mum’s baby wear shop in Seaham, County Durham, selling Butlin’s and Pontins breaks and coach trips to Blackpool. Without its own front door, ABTA ruled, it was not a proper travel agent.

“So the Hays family typed a reply: ‘It has come to our attention,’ they wrote, ‘that there is a shop in London called Harrods, and in the back is a travel agency called Thomas Cook. Could you please explain the difference?’

“The licence arrived. And what followed became one of the great full-circle stories in British business. Because 39 years later, Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel company, collapsed under its debts after 178 years, putting 9,000 UK jobs at risk.

“The little business from the back of the baby wear shop stepped in and bought all 555 of its shops. Hays had 190 of its own at the time. The deal was signed in October 2019, and almost 3,000 former Thomas Cook staff were offered jobs. The press crowned John and Irene Hays the heroes of the high street.

“What came next would have finished most companies. Covid shut down world travel, costing Hays £11 million in a single month. Then, in November 2020, founder John Hays passed away. His wife and business partner, Dame Irene Hays, who had run two councils and a Whitehall department in her first career, led the company through it.

“Today Hays Travel is the UK’s largest independent travel agency, with around 500 branches, more than 4,500 people, record profits, and sales past £3 billion for the first time. First year turnover: £812. Debt taken on in 46 years: zero.”

I should maybe offer him a job.

Here’s a link to the podcast.

You may have missed…

By George!

I didn’t say it was George. Wasn’t sure if it was George. Turns out it wasn’t George. Friday’s edition (Eyes & Ears 31.07.26) attracted this generous comment:

As always, fantastic summary of North Eastern goings-on! Well worth subscribing to. Just a note that the George Clarke (and yes: I assumed it was the Sunderland-born architect etc) in Celebrity Gladiators (BBC have cancelled Celebrity Mastermind… dumbing down of the BBC anyone?!) is a young YouTuber from Bristol and not our local George. Keep up the good work!!

I would welcome more comments from more of you. This author says Eyes & Ears is well worth subscribing to. It’s a relatively modest £6.99 a month for a minimum of eight editions. All you have to do is click this button:

Subscribe now

A quick word

South Tyneside Council has voted to approve a Local Plan after years of delays, political battles and government intervention. The plan will shape where homes, jobs and infrastructure are built until 2040. South Tyneside’s 2019 climate emergency declaration has been rescinded following a vote at Thursday’s full council meeting. Reform councillors said the authority could continue improving the local environment without maintaining the declaration. Newcastle law firm Hay & Kilner is celebrating its 80th year by recruiting and opening a new office in Stockton. Managing partner Jonathan Waters is looking to increase turnover by 50% over the next five years. A new nature trail created with the help of secondary school pupils from Sunderland has opened at Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve in Houghton-le-Spring. Newcastle Building Society has reported a resilient first half performance in a “fast-moving and often uncertain external environment”. Chief executive Andrew Haigh said: “Our focus has remained on building resilience, investing in the long-term strength of the group, and delivering meaningful value for our members and the communities we serve.” Newcastle entrepreneur Cassandra Sonma Ukaobi has become the first black female founder to secure investment through the North East Accelerator Programme, which is backed by Mercia Ventures. The £50,000 investment will help grow her nurse-led wellness brand Tolicious. Newcastle restaurant My Delhi has already expanded into Sunderland, Leeds and Leicester. Now the owners have has bought Itihaas, a “dining institution” in Birmingham.

Maths homework

The nine biggest private equity-owned chains of nurseries spent 15% more of their income on directors’ pay, rents and loans than large not-for-profit providers, and 9% less on staffing, according to analysis shared with The i Paper.

The two private equity-owned nursery chains with the highest number of places, Kids Planet - which has more than a dozen nurseries in the North East - and Bright Stars, gave pay packets worth £335,000 and £266,000 respectively to senior directors. But the highest-paid director, earning £400,000 last year, was at Grandir UK, which operates more than 95 nurseries.

Parents and staff who have worked for nurseries bought by private equity firms told The i Paper the takeovers resulted in fee increases, additional charges, lower-quality food and toys for children, and losses of highly-qualified staff members.

Water warning

Almost half of England’s reservoirs are operating at lower than normal water levels, including two classed as “exceptionally low”. Academic Hayley Fowler, a professor of climate change impacts at Newcastle University, warned: “We’re entering an era of water extremes: more floods in winter, more droughts in summer, and not enough storage to bridge the gap.

“If we don’t act now, the taps that ran dry in 1976 could run dry again. This drought isn’t just about a lack of rain.”

Sam’s record

San Fender’s duet with Olivia Dean, Rein Me In, has officially broken the longest standing record in British music history. By spending 19 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the UK singles chart, it overtakes the record set by Frankie Laine and I Believe in 1953.

Rein Me In first entered the charts in June 2025 but didn’t reach No 1 until February 2026, just a week before it was crowned song of the year at the Brit Awards. It was knocked off the top spot by Harry Styles’ American Girls, but only for a week. Since then it has only been superseded briefly by Olivia Rodrigo’s Drop Dead and Ariana Grande’s Hate That I Made You Love Me.

I Believe spent 18 weeks at No 1. Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You was there for 16 weeks in 1991 and Wet Wet Wet topped the charts for 15 weeks in 1994 with Love Is All Around - until now the longest-running No 1 by a British artist.

Mop’n’bop

A volunteer at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow went viral after breaking into a dance while mopping a netball court. His cue came when Queen’s I Want To Break Free came on over the loudspeaker.

He did the splits, used his mop as an air guitar and performed an impressive rendition of a dance move known as “the worm”, before returning to his mopping as if nothing had happened.

The volunteer was later named as professional dancer CJ Miller, who has done his future employment prospects no harm at all.

“The days of asking Whitehall’s permission are over,” declares North East Mayor Kim McGuinness today.

Time will tell if she is being premature and overly optimistic but there’s no denying that this is a significant day with Prime Minister Andy Burnham announcing the biggest transfer of power, funding and responsibility from Westminster in a generation.

Mayors will get to keep a share of income tax and business rates revenues as part of the growth agenda - although Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and a couple of his Reform counterparts say they are more inclined to use the extra revenue to provide tax rebates for voters.

Will that be allowed?

And in the small print of today’s devolution announcement is the news that the size of the civil service will shrink as a result. Yes Prime Minister, as Sir Humphrey would say!

Elsewhere, there’s the news that Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service has been rated ‘inadequate’ at responding to fires and other emergencies.

Let that sink in. A fire service. Rated inadequate. At responding to fires and other emergencies.

There’s also the tale of the football club who are on the naughty step for taking the mickey out a fan who prefers strawberry daiquiris to pints, the amateur cricketer who has amassed 7.5 million views just by clicking his fingers, action stations at Crown Works Studios, and the rubbish question of how closed does a bin lid need to be.

Yes Prime Minister

We knew it was coming, but today Andy Burnham will announce the biggest transfer of power, funding and responsibility from Westminster in a generation.

Mayors will get to keep a share of income tax and business rates revenues so regions benefit when their economy grows - and there will be new powers for areas further back on the devolution road.

The measures are designed to loosen the Treasury’s firm grip on the money that flows out to local areas and are being framed as a way to boost growth and give regions greater control over the decisions that shape jobs, transport, housing and public services.

“I know what it’s like to be ignored by politicians in Westminster,” said the Prime Minister. “I’m not going to make that same mistake now I’m PM. Under our plans, more of the taxes raised in a community will stay in that community. Soon, every local leader will have the power and resources to improve public transport, build homes and create jobs.”

The changes will start from next spring when mayors will begin retaining a greater share of business rates. More details will be given in the next Budget.

The final line in the Government press release caught my eye, however, and anyone who has seen an episode of Yes Minister will know why: “As powers move out of Westminster, the Civil Service will become smaller and more strategic, focusing on the responsibilities that are best exercised at a national level.”

Now, what would Sir Humphrey do after reading that?

More please

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness is, not surprisingly, enthusiastic about today’s devolution announcement. “The days of asking Whitehall’s permission are over,” she said. “We can now just get on with the job and improve the lives of people here in the North East, now and for generations to come.

“We’re changing the North East for good, and much greater financial freedom is the first step. This means we can do more to support hard-pressed families through things like cheaper Mayor’s Fares and childcare grants; it means we can grow the Metro and rail network, build more council homes and open youth clubs to give young people the opportunities they deserve regardless of their background.

“Now we can step up and market the North East to the world as a visitor destination and a place to invest, creating new jobs as we do so by helping our people and businesses thrive and grow.”

The Sunday Times told us there would be a big devolution announcement today. In something akin to getting your retaliation in first, the mayor wrote to Chancellor John Healey a couple of days ago to make the case for extra support for the North East as it is “starting from a different position to many parts of the country after decades of industrial change and underinvestment”.

There were four specific asks in her letter to the Chancellor including a “place-based participation deal” bringing together employment support, 16–19 education, careers services and relevant health and growth funding in an integrated approach.

She also asked for powers to be devolved by default from arms-length national bodies like Homes England, the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank, and faster devolution of money and powers to retrofit the region’s housing stock.

Rebate debate

Not all mayors are aligned in their thinking on what is called fiscal devolution. Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, and two of his Reform counterparts, would like to use the money to lower the tax burden for their voters, according to The Times.

“Every mayor is backing fiscal devolution because they want more money to spend in their area,” Houchen said. “However, if the Tees Valley is handed a slice of local income tax and business rates generated locally, I’ll create a new rebate scheme to put money back into people’s pockets and let families keep more of the money they earn.

“Fiscal devolution must be about giving places like Teesside the power to do things differently, back growth and reward the people that drive our local economy instead of squeezing every last penny out of them.”

Luke Campbell, the Reform mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, and Andrea Jenkyns, the Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, are said to be exploring similar proposals.

Direct appeal

Don’t forget about councils when it comes to direct funding, says Newcastle leader Colin Ferguson. More funding for mayors risks “changing who we need to go cap in hand to” instead of “allowing us to get on with the job”

“We need to talk about councils like Newcastle and the meaningful devolution of powers and fiscal responsibility going to local communities,” he said.

Nicholas

Treasure Darlington

Prime Minister Andy Burnham held his first meeting at No 10 North a week ago - now Chancellor John Healey is being encouraged to make full use of the established Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) and ensure it is used as an example of regional devolution in action.

The Treasury says Healey is strongly committed to the site and plans to visit soon - with former Darlington MP Peter Gibson saying he hopes he spends more time there than Rachel Reeves, who was there for just two days in 2025.

The campus has been hailed as a “thriving hub” by council leaders, with 1,925 civil service roles based in Darlington across 10 government departments. Around 350 Treasury staff are based at DEC - almost 20% of the department’s staff.

Bridget in the chair

Sunderland MP Bridget Phillipson, who lost the Education portfolio but remained as Equalities minister, has been appointed Chair of the Labour Party.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has tasked her with driving a “culture change” within the party. Her remit includes preparing the party for the next election and modernising its digital campaigning.

Darlington MP Lola McEvoy has been reappointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. And Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy has been given a job as a PPS to Matthew Pennycook, a minister in the Housing, Communities and Local Government department.

‘Inadequate’ at responding to fires

Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service is to be closely monitored by inspectors after being rated ‘inadequate’ at responding to fires and other emergencies.

Chief inspector Michelle Skeer said: “I have concerns about the performance of Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks. I have serious concerns about the service’s standards for response, values and culture, training and skills and equality and diversity.”

The performance of the organisation was graded across 10 areas and rated ‘inadequate’ in five, ‘requires improvement’ in three, ‘adequate’ in one area and ‘good’ in another.

Studio action

Work is expected to begin in the autumn on the first phase of the Crown Works Studios after a revised planning application was submitted to Sunderland City Council this week.

The first phase is intended to establish Crown Works as a regional hub for high-end television and film production, while acting as a catalyst for future development across the wider site.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: “We’re on the verge of blockbuster films and smash hit TV being filmed here on the banks of the River Wear. I can’t wait for our brilliant creatives, both in front of the camera and behind, to be first in line for the opportunities that Crown Works Studios will bring.”

Alison Gwynn, chief executive of North East Screen, said: “The timing of these developments could not be better. Adding essential studio infrastructure means we can attract a much wider range of productions, and open up more opportunities for local crew and suppliers.”

Fly-tippers caught

A company director was one of three men from Middlesbrough convicted of fly-tipping at Peterlee Magistrates Court. The waste found at Leamside in County Durham contained roof tiles, plastic guttering, drainpipes, pallets and sheets of hardboard.

When interviewed by a neighbourhood warden, Baily Patrick George Baldwin, the sole director of Delta Rooflines NE Ltd, asked: “How do I make this go away so it doesn’t go to court?”

High-ly disappointed

A charity trying to save the High Borrans outdoors centre at Windermere has said it is disappointed it had not been consulted ahead of North Tyneside Council’s decision to close it. Friends of High Borrans member Brooke Lemm said the charity was willing to apply for grants and continue its work helping to run the centre.

“The centre should remain open not just simply for nostalgia but the whole ethics of that outdoor experience,” she said. “It helps children develop functional life-skills - teamwork, independence, confidence, listening, working with each other - they’re fundamental for life.”

Pint of order

Ricky Gervais says offence is unavoidable in modern comedy, so he no longer cares if people are upset because their reaction can’t - and won’t - dictate what he writes or performs. Basically, somebody somewhere will be offended by any attempt at humour.

I was reminded of that when I read the story about the football fan who was having a matchday drink with his mates - and ordered a strawberry daiquiri.

Billingham Town’s social media said the fan would be “banned for life” and had been “reported to the Northern League, The FA, and Cleveland Police”. A follow-up post, which has since been taken down, said the club had planned a “public trial” of the fan as “half-time entertainment”, and was shared with what appeared to be an AI-generated image of gallows on the pitch.

The post drew complaints and Durham County FA said it was investigating. The club said the post was part of an “ongoing light-hearted narrative” about the fan’s daiquiri drinking and said it was “proud that our recent content has brought smiles to millions of people around the world”.

A quick word

A rare early painting by celebrated North East artist Norman Cornish, Colliery Row, has been donated to Northumbria University. The university holds the Norman Cornish Archive and possesses the largest single collection of Cornish’s paintings and works on paper in the world. The cost of demolishing the A167 flyover in Gateshead has risen from £18 million to £31 million. Why do we keep getting these infrastructure costs so wildly wrong? The two-day Seaham Food Festival starts tomorrow with celebrity chefs, artisan producers and street traders. TV chef Matt Tebbutt headlines the cookery demonstrations and is joined by Bake Off: The Professionals judge Cherish Finden, Shelina Permalloo, Cyrus Todiwala, Francesco Mattana, Oli The Choc and presenter Chris Bavin. Speed bumps in Redcar are being replaced at a cost of £9,000 after complaints they would regularly clip the underside of cars, regardless of the speed they were travelling. Stockton International Riverside Festival returns for its 39th year today with another packed weekend of free outdoor performance, transforming the town centre into a stage for street theatre, circus, dance and music. There has been a 70% uptake in attendance at a sheep shearing course at a Northumberland farm after the Home Office said this will be the last year it will allow shearers from Down Under to spend three months in the UK. The Planning Inspectorate has overturned Durham County Council’s decision to reject an application for a 63-hectare solar farm and battery storage system in Haswell Plough. Another proposed solar farm, at Wagtail Lane, Craghead, which was rejected by Durham County Council, can now go ahead after a decision by the Planning Inspectorate. Sunderland Reform councillor Glenn Gibbins has been charged with posting a grossly offensive comment on social media in connection to a comment referencing the Nigerian community. An Amazon drone has crashed into a garden in Darlington while delivering a package. A spokesperson said its initial assessment suggested an “object extending above the roof of a moving vehicle inadvertently came into contact” with the Prime Air drone. George Clarke and comedian Chris Ramsey have signed up to take part in Gladiators: Celebrity Special which will be screened on BBC 1 later this year.

Knats not all

“Dad, you know my mates who have a jazz band?” I nodded vaguely. He may have mentioned them before. “They’ve just been nominated for the Mercury Prize.”

Head swivel. What?

Jazz collective Knats have indeed been nominated for the prestigious prize for their second album A Great Day In Newcastle.

Sam Fender won the prize in Newcastle last year. The award ceremony returns to the city in October and the North East has two chances of retaining the award because JADE has also made the shortlist with her album THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! (she does like her capitals).

Sir Paul McCartney, 84 years young, Olivia Dean, Suede, RAYE, Florence and the Machine and Nia Archives are among those in contention.

BLOCK party

Newcastle’s NOVUM Festival returns on August 7 with another invitation to look at the city a little differently. Across three days, streets, squares and public spaces will host free performances, installations, music and family activities, alongside some striking large-scale artworks.

This year’s programme includes Motionhouse’s gravity-defying BLOCK, the percussion-led energy of Possê, North East collaboration The Fabric of Us and the much-anticipated Dominoes Newcastle finale, which will see thousands of breeze blocks topple through the city in an extraordinary chain reaction.

You'll also find Bird Rave, silent disco walking tours, interactive art, roaming brass bands, family play zones and creative workshops, making it easy to dip in for an hour or spend a whole day exploring.

David Whetstone’s interview with Julian Maynard Smith, the man behind Dominoes, is here.

It’s not cricket

A video clip of a cricket match in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has been seen more than 7.5 million times on Twitter and has been reported on by news outlets all over the world.

The film appears to show a Saltburn cricketer click his fingers to make it sound like the ball hit the edge of an opponent’s bat. The batsman was then given out after ball was caught by the wicket keeper.

The fingers on social media are now all pointing at the Saltburn club and the fielder who has been dubbed ‘Clicky Pointing’ - which is amusing if you know that Ricky Pointing is the name of a famous Australian cricketer.

I’m not going to name the guy. He has suffered enough by being suspended, losing his curry house sponsorship and being subjected to a double-page spread in the Daily Mail.

Business bites

Blueberry iced matcha lattes, picnic food and a wider range of salads have helped Greggs weather Britain’s summer heatwave. First-half revenues rose 7.2% to £1.1 billion and pre-tax profits increased by 20% cent to £76 million. Newcastle-based Winn Group, which employs around 750 staff, has reaffirmed its committment to the North East after reporting annual growth which saw turnover rise more than 10% to £217 million. Storelectric has acquired more than 600 acres of industrial land in Teesside, marking another significant step in the company’s plans to develop long duration energy storage (LDES) projects at Tees Energy Park. North East property investment firm Develop North has provided a £1.95 million funding facility to the company regenerating the former Hawthorn Leslie shipyard in Hebburn. Barry Holmes of Hebburn Riverside Development said: “This investment unlocks the wider regeneration of an iconic riverside site and allows us to begin transforming land that has stood dormant for decades into a thriving new community.” North East-based wholesaler Kitwave has acquired Charles Saunders, one of the largest family-owned foodservice companies in the South West. Listed North East business Hargreaves Services has reported a surge in profit before tax from £17.5 million to £40.3 million. Revenue was up from £264.4 million to £351.4 million. A review into the Middlesbrough and Hartlepool development corporations will be completed by the end of September when Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen will make a decision on their futures. London-headquartered Real Estate Investment Trust Landsec has entered into exclusive talks to acquire the Metrocentre in a deal though to be worth more than £500 million. On Monday we reported that plans for a landmark office block behind Newcastle Central Station have finally been submitted for approval three years after they were first unveiled (Stotties, pollution and GDV). Now a planning application has been submitted to build 79 homes in the Accelerated Development Zone at Stephenson Quarter.

1978 ad break

The winner of Steve Gibson’s #AdWorldCup was announced in last week’s edition (Eyes & Ears 24.07.26) but one of the early favourites for the non-trophy was the classic Hovis ad Boy on a Bike which was released in 1973 and directed by Ridley Scott, no less.

Many people assumed the ad was filmed in the North, but the venue was the Dorset market town of Shaftesbury - although the music, the Largo from Dvořák’s New World Symphony, was performed by the Ashington Colliery Band.

Despite me telling you all of that, this isn’t the Ridley Scott award-winner - it’s the Two Ronnies’ parody version which was screened five years after the ad was first broadcast.

THE WIDER VIEW

Can social care ever be fixed?

Fair play to Andy Burnham. He hasn’t shied away from grasping some big nettles. The Big Conversation on Care is the latest attempt to fix England’s broken social care system. Getting a handle on this issue has been attempted no fewer than 22 times since the 1990s.

The new Prime Minister has vowed that this time they’ll find the right answers. But what might these be – and will the tough choices on how to pay for it lose Labour votes? Five experts from The Conversation give their views here.

Case not closed

Three bins with one thing in common - they were not emptied by binmen in Stockport who have been ordered not to empty bins where the lids are not closed properly. These were deemed to be not closed properly. Families have been kicking up a bit of a stink about the situation.

Sadly, there’s another death to report on the A1, we have movement on the city centre site with the mysterious 70% drop in its value (when it’s finished), and a new partnership between the North East and Homes England.

No 10 North opened for business on Friday with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham joined by regional mayors. Clinical and occupational psychologist Jenny Cozens - an Eyes & Ears regular - has first-hand knowledge of the government decanting to the regions and says it “failed rather spectacularly and very expensively”.

Also today, after years of inquiries, reviews and investigations into grooming gangs, how much more evidence do we need before addressing the gaps we already know exist, asks Debra Cowey, a North East-based sexual exploitation specialist.

Today’s edition ends with a video called ‘Brits were slim in the 70s. Seven things that changed that’.

It’s 15 minutes long. I would encourage you to watch so that you can be as enraged as me about what successive governments have done since 1979. Number 7, in particular, is shocking. The poor man was discredited, disgraced and shunned - then 17 years after his death it becomes clear that everything he said was right all along.

Pollution protests

The spillage of millions of plastic pellets into the sea after an accident at the Port of Tyne last Sunday has sparked protests. The pollution is being seen as far north as Blyth and to Seaburn in the south.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has demanded that the owners of the two vessels involved pay for the massive clean-up operation. She said: “Sadly, it is already clear this looks like the worst incident of nurdle pollution in Europe, and our clean-up will be long and expensive. We must start from the principle that the polluter should pay, so North East taxpayers do not end up footing the bill.”

What are nurdles, why do they matter, and what will the impact be on the North East? The BBC has a very good explainer here including an interview with Heather McFarlane of The Great Nurdle Hunt website which we mentioned in Friday’s edition (Eyes & Ears 24.07.26).

Rate of progress

Plans for a landmark office block behind Newcastle Central Station have finally been submitted for approval three years after they were first unveiled.

The proposed 12-storey development at One Founders Place is in the Stephenson Quarter, an area designated as an Accelerated Development Zone (ADZ) in the Newcastle City Deal signed with the government in 2012 - meaning any growth in business rate income is ringfenced and retained by the council.

A planning application submitted by Founders Place LLP, the partnership between the council and developers PfP-igloo, describes the scheme as a “major mixed-use development that will transform the former Stephenson Quarter”.

“Founders Place will be developed for offices as the primary use supported by a range of other uses including hotels, residential, leisure and other ancillary uses. A mix of uses will ensure that the site is vibrant throughout the day and night.”

The business rate bonus was guaranteed for 25 years so the council still has nine years left to reap the benefit.

In March 2023, Igloo Regeneration’s Peter Connolly spoke to Built Environment Networking ahead of a development conference at Newcastle Civic Centre. “I’ll be discussing exciting projects including the £450 million Stephenson Works scheme in Newcastle”. You can read that article here.

Stephenson Works was the name of the second phase of the Stephenson Quarter development and was later rebranded as Founders Place - when the GDV (Gross Development Value) dropped from £450 million to £136 million.

According to Microsoft Copilot: “GDV is what the whole scheme should be worth on the open market once it’s finished. In practice, GDV is used to judge whether a project stacks up financially. It’s the anchor number lenders and developers use to assess viability, profit, and risk.”

Regular readers will know that I have asked about this 70% drop before…

Homes partnership

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and Homes England have agreed a new partnership to accelerate the delivery of major regeneration, housing and infrastructure projects across the region.

At the heart of the partnership is the creation of a joint Major Projects Delivery Unit which will bring together expertise, resources and leadership from the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, Homes England and local authority partners to unlock complex sites, support major developments and drive forward the region’s growth ambitions.

Tom Bridges, executive regional director at Homes England, said: “The North East has huge potential for growth, and this enhanced partnership, building on our already established Strategic Place Partnership, is exactly the kind of joined-up approach that unlocks it.”

Another A1 death

I was driving through Northumberland on Friday afternoon. An unmarked police car with blue lights flashing and siren blaring passed me at speed. Two more police cars followed minutes later. Yes, something bad was happening on the A1. Again.

A fourth car soon followed. Traffic was coming to a halt. A lorry turned off on to a side road. Car drivers behind followed, me included, in the hope the lorry driver knew how to bypass the accident and get us back on to the main route north.

I’d never driven through Belford before. It looked lovely. But all the while I was thinking about what tragedy I was avoiding and how many peoples lives were changing forever as a result of what had just happened.

It turns out that a driver in his 80s died and a female passenger in her 70s is in a serious condition as a result of a collision between a car and a transporter lorry.

Closure confirmed

Despite protests, petitions, and cross‑party pressure, North Tyneside Council has decided to confirm the closure and sale of High Borrans outdoor education centre in the Lake District by November this year.

Councillor Tracy Hallway, cabinet member for education, inclusion, employment and skills, said: “I know what High Borrans has meant to generations of children and families. But this debate cannot simply be about nostalgia. It has to be about whether North Tyneside Council can responsibly continue to own and operate a residential outdoor education centre over 100 miles away in the Lake District.

“So I have a straightforward question for every councillor supporting this motion. What would you cut to pay for it? Adult social care? Children’s services? Road repairs? Libraries? Parks?”

Since the announcement over the closure of High Borrans (Eyes & Ears 10.07.26), the authority has maintained that the facility requires around £3 million in order to stay compliant, despite £900,000 being spent on the centre in recent years.

A quick word

The North East received just 57 Green Flag awards for its parks and green spaces this year, the lowest in the country - most regions achieved over 120. An issue, as the BBC reports, could be that councils have to apply for, and pay for, the status. A 7ft bronze sculpture of football legend Brian Clough has been returned to Middlesbrough’s Albert Park after being taken away for repair. The third annual Stottie Week, which begins on August 10, is moving to “another level” after The Big River Bakery’s £25,000 award from Airbnb’s Best of British Fund. There will be a digital trail on the banks of the Tyne and a host of events involving schools and the local community. The family of former Gateshead MP Lord John Horam have announced that he died after a fall on his way home from working at the House of Lords on July 2. He was 87.

A look inside

Images have been released to show how Glassworks: Sunderland might look, just days ahead of the proposed closure of the National Glass Centre.

The latter, at St Peter’s Riverside on the north bank of the Wear, is due to cease operations at the end of the month despite a concerted campaign by supporters to save it.

The architect-designed images of the proposed new facility have been submitted with a planning application to Sunderland City Council to develop the former Peter Smith Antiques building, in Sunniside, into a hub for glassmaking, ceramics and creative production. David Whetstone has more in Cultured. North East.

Moving Up North

By Jenny Cozens
Clinical and occupational psychologist

Andy Burnham is going to move parts of his government up to Manchester. Good luck on that! I’m sorry, but the drive to locate a significant part of the government’s decision-making process anywhere north of Watford has been tried before - and failed rather spectacularly and very expensively.

In 1995 Quarry House was built at the end of the Headrow in Leeds, replacing an enormous council estate. The idea then was to house the Department of Health & Social Security there in order to make government seem rather less centralised.

The building is huge and spectacular - called The Kremlin by locals. Back then, as part of the enticement to the highest levels of London civil servants, it had a swimming pool and a nursery and was lavishly decorated with an extraordinary carpet in the entrance and art dripping from its walls.

However, if you’ve ever spoken with Southerners you’ll know that the distance from London to any city up north is far, far longer than the distance from those cities to the capital. I was working for the northern regional office at the time, but based in Leeds University as a senior research fellow. This was to make the NHS look as if it was spending less money on staff – supporting research rather than employing yet another civil servant. Remember, it’s all about the wording…

While those in the old northern regional office were delighted with the idea of the HQ moving close-by: not least, it would reduce their huge costs of travel to London meetings. But southern staff were far less enthusiastic. There was a period of ‘sort-of moving’ – sort-of, but not really - for some time.

Of course, the Secretary of State for Health had no intention at all in leaving Whitehall for a city like Leeds, even for beautiful carpets, the promise of a good restaurant, and decent beer. So senior staff spent much of their lives travelling the four or five hours up and down to London for brief meetings with MPs.

Apart from the cost of all this, there was also the problem that the IRA enjoyed issuing bomb-warnings to such a landmark northern building as Quarry House. The alarms would sound and the staff would casually troop down, over the magnificent carpet, to stand outside in the rain for the compulsory half-hour while the building was searched. I always took a raincoat if I was visiting…

Gradually, without its really being noticeable, those senior civil servants who had appeared to be moving north slipped back to their familiar comfort of London and its surrounds: despite long hours of commuting, the poor air, and nothing a northerner would call ‘countryside’... And there they’ve stayed.

I know Manchester is said to be a thriving and exciting city and a who-wouldn’t-want -to-be-there sort of place, but looking at the history of these previous attempts I suggest that Andy waits until global warming makes London an impossible place to conduct any sort of business. And then move north.

It won’t be long.

• Jenny Cozens is a clinical and occupational psychologist living in Northumberland. She has worked in the NHS from local services to Whitehall; helped doctors survive their jobs; written books, and been agony aunt to Good Housekeeping and Parents. She is also a regular reader of Eyes & Ears.

How much more evidence do we need?

By Debra Cowey
Sexual Exploitation & Systemic Reform Specialist

The Government’s national inquiry into grooming gangs marks another significant moment in our understanding of child sexual exploitation. But after decades of inquiries, reviews and investigations, we must also ask a difficult question:

How much more evidence do we need before addressing the gaps we already know exist?

One of those gaps sits in plain sight.

Much of our national conversation rightly focuses on children. Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) has driven important changes in safeguarding, policing, public awareness and professional practice. That progress should be recognised.

Yet sexual exploitation does not suddenly end at the age of 18.

Coercion, manipulation, grooming and abuse continue into adulthood, but recognition of sexual exploitation often changes. As victims move beyond childhood, they may instead be viewed through the lens of homelessness, substance misuse, mental ill-health, domestic abuse, offending or ‘lifestyle choices’, rather than as adults experiencing ongoing sexual exploitation.

This became the focus of my recent research.

Alongside reviewing policy and practice, I undertook a national consultation with professionals working across safeguarding, policing, health, housing, advocacy and the voluntary sector to better understand how current systems respond to sexual exploitation across childhood and adulthood.

The findings were striking.

Only 10% of practitioners reported being very confident that sexual exploitation is identified before crisis or disclosure. More than half (53.3%) believed adults experiencing sexual exploitation are not adequately protected once they transition into adult services. Meanwhile, 90% reported regularly supporting individuals experiencing repeated or cyclical exploitation.

Perhaps the most powerful insight came not from the statistics, but from one practitioner who simply observed: “Once they are adults, they are seen as making ‘unwise choices’ rather than being exploited.”

That sentence stayed with me.

Not because it reflects poor practice by individual professionals, but because it highlights a wider systemic challenge.

Many dedicated practitioners are working incredibly hard within systems that have developed different legislation, thresholds, policies and safeguarding frameworks for children and adults. The result is that exploitation can become fragmented across services, making consistent recognition and coordinated responses far more difficult to achieve.

It is this pattern that led me to develop the concept of systemic erasure.

Systemic erasure does not mean victims are invisible. It means they may be visible to multiple agencies, yet their sexual exploitation is no longer consistently recognised, recorded or responded to as sexual exploitation.

That has significant consequences.

If exploitation is not recognised, safeguarding responses become inconsistent. Opportunities for prevention and disruption are reduced. National data becomes fragmented. Organisational learning is weakened. Most importantly, people continue to experience harm without receiving equal recognition or protection.

My recently published book, The Systemic Erasure of Sexual Exploitation: Beyond 18 – Structural Inequality in Protection, explores these issues in greater depth. It asks whether equality in protection has truly been achieved and proposes practical reforms to strengthen recognition, accountability and safeguarding across the life course.

The national inquiry provides an important opportunity to understand historic failures and improve accountability. But it should also prompt us to ask whether there are lessons we already know.

Because if we already recognise the gaps within our current systems, meaningful reform should not wait for another report.

The evidence is already telling us where we need to improve. The question is whether we are prepared to act upon it.

Further information, research, policy publications and books are available at:
Coloured Hearts CIC
https://colouredhearts.com/books-and-publications

Be prepared to be annoyed

This video is called ‘Brits were slim in the 70s. Seven things that changed that’. It isn’t your average 70s nostalgia-fest and it’s not really about the 70s but what happened in the years from 1979 onwards.

I didn’t know that the milk-snatching government of the late 70s also scrapped nutritional rules around school meals and turned kitchens into businesses.

There’s a few other things in here about fat, sugar, the food industry and how a leading scientist was wrongfully shunned and disgraced that shocked, surprised - and got me rather annoyed.

Now it’s your turn.

Tackling homelessness is something that new Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants to do - and he wants to build loads more council houses as well.

The two separate, but connected, priorities featured in this week’s North East Mayoral Strategic Authority’s Cabinet meeting where it was reported that 43,000 households are either homeless or living in unsuitable accommodation.

Mayor Kim McGuinness got backing for a plan to deliver more than 15,000 social and affordable homes across the North East over the next decade.

The new PM is not short of people offering advice and suggestions. Two of the first letters to cross his desk bore the signature of Mayor McGuinness.

A big USP for Eyes & Ears is saving you time in trying to stay up to date with what is happening in the region - “I read everything so you don’t have to” - but I couldn’t help but think this week that I wasn’t reading enough about the collision at Port of Tyne and the subsequent release into the sea of millions and millions of nurdles (plastic pellets to you and me).

It’s a massive environmental issue - but it didn’t feel like it.

What else have we got this week?

There’s the amazing story of the teenager who wanted his foot amputated because he was in so much pain - but his agony is over after becoming the youngest person in Britain to get a spinal implant.

Newcastle United are to speak to Kevin Keegan’s family about a permanent tribute to the Toon idol, the millionaires who want to pay more tax, an insight into healthy life expectancy, and the winner of the ad World Cup. Was it the surfer or the gorilla?

Brian Aitken
Editor

Plastic pellet pollution

A collision on Sunday at the Port of Tyne could have serious environmental consequences.

The Port confirmed a spill of tiny plastic pellets, known as nurdles, happened after a vessel struck a berthed container ship. A gantry crane on the quayside then collapsed and a worker was taken to hospital.

The collision resulted in damage to a shipping container of nurdles, which are used as the raw material to manufacture most plastic products. The plastic pellet pollution has spread to beaches in North and South Tyneside and as far away as Roker in Sunderland.

People are being advised not to touch them and to keep dogs on leads.

Once in the environment plastic pellets are very difficult to remove, they can absorb toxic chemicals and bacteria such as E Coli. The nurdles are attractive to seabirds but they aren’t digestible and can cause starvation and liver damage.

Heather McFarlane, senior project manager at the charity Fidra which runs the Great Nurdle Hunt website said: “We know from previous experience that nurdles in the environment can impact local communities, tourism and fishing as well as wildlife like fulmars. This spill is less than three miles away from Marsden Bay home to one of England’s most important seabird colonies.”

North Tyneside Mayor Karen Clark said: “We will be seeking answers from the Port of Tyne about the speed of their initial response and the effectiveness of their communications with local authorities, residents and partner organisations. People deserve to know what happened, why it happened and what lessons will be learned.”

The incident was reported in Mondays edition ‘Councils, care and costs’

Trust us, Andy

Northern mayors and leaders have written an open letter to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, a founding member of The Great North, to build a new partnership with them that puts devolution at the heart of national renewal.

Burnham has made devolution the centre piece of his agenda for government, including establishing a No 10 North to rebalance power and prosperity across the country.

The Great North partnership sets out five priorities for Government:

• Putting devolution at the heart of national policy;

• Building a globally competitive Northern economy, recognising the region’s unique strengths;

• Unlocking investment through better transport and connectivity;

• Promoting the North internationally as a powerhouse of innovation, culture and industry; and

• Ensuring every community shares in growth and opportunity.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, who is also Chair of The Great North, said: “Andy Burnham consistently argued that Westminster had to trust places like ours with more power and responsibility. Now he has the opportunity to turn those arguments into lasting change.”

Dear Andy…

The open letter from The Great North was published the day after North East Mayor Kim McGuinness sent her own letter to the new Prime Minister.

“We need to end not just trickle-down economics, but trickle-down power too,” she wrote. “Now is the time to be bold and allow the English regions to enjoy the freedom a federalised system gives them to intervene locally in order to make life better.

“You are the first prime minister in British history who genuinely believes in using devolution to tear down the barriers to local growth. If we get this right, we will finally show people what take back control looks like.”

How it could work

Re:State is the leading Westminster think tank for public service reform, even though they say so themselves. Independent, with a cross-party advisory board, they have just published a report called Building No 10 North.

It’s one that Kim McGuinness and her fellow mayors will like - because it talks about Whitehall learning to let go.

“No 10 North can succeed only if it is designed from the start to be an exemplar of wider changes to how the State works,” the report concludes. “It must strengthen the part of central government that immediately supports the Prime Minister, while systematically transferring power, money and responsibility outwards, and building a very different relationship with local and regional government around England.

“To accomplish this, No 10 North must operate outside the existing Whitehall system to help inculcate changes designed to, over time, transform the whole operation. Built well, it could become the machinery through which Whitehall finally learns to let go.”

Medical feat

Imagine having a pain in your foot that meant you couldn’t walk or put any pressure on it. Now imagine that pain being so great that even the slightest touch could be excruciating. And no treatment or medication would make it stop or go away.

Washington teenager Ralph Seed lived with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) for five years - and was seriously considering having his foot amputated.

Now he has become the first teenager in the UK - and one of the first in the world - to have spinal cord stimulation implant technology fitted to treat his pain in real time. The moment the device was switched on after surgery at Newcastle’s RVI Hospital, Ralph’s pain completely vanished.

“It was a long journey to get here as the pain has affected my life so much,” said Ralph. “For the first time in five years, I’m pain free. My mum was emotional and so was I. It’s not really hit me, I still can’t get my head around it. I’m hoping the implant is going to help me get my life back again.”

Dr Sachin Rastogi, consultant anaesthetist who specialises in pain, joined Mr Akbar Hussain, a functional neurosurgeon, at Newcastle Hospitals to pioneer the procedure for the first time in this country with a teenager.

“The results were immediate and unprecedented for a device like this,” aid Dr Rastogi. “Seeing the impact of being pain free for Ralph is simply one of the most moving things I have experienced in my career.”

More homes

Mayor Kim McGuinness has unveiled a plan to deliver more than 15,000 social and affordable homes across the North East over the next decade.

The Plan for Homes was approved by the Mayoral Strategic Authority’s Cabinet on Tuesday. “A safe, secure and affordable home should be within reach for everyone,” said the mayor.

A study presented to the meeting showed 42,961 across the region are living in “unsuitable housing”, more than 16,000 of which are suffering from overcrowding. Around 4,300 are homeless or living in “concealed” arrangements, such as staying with friends or family, and demand for homelessness services has increased by 27% over the last five years – with more than one-third of those affected households including children.

Bernicia’s John Johnston, Chair of the North East Housing Partnership, said: “The plan not only sets out the scale of the challenges we face as a region but also offers a range of solutions including investment in brownfield regeneration, shaping the funding for social and affordable homes and delivering investment in construction skills.

“We are looking forward to working closely with the Mayor, local authorities, Homes England and partners to deliver against the plan and ensure housing supports thriving, sustainable communities across our region.”

“The big challenges here are”, according to Arlen Pettitt in his Wor Room newsletter, “site identification, planning, community buy-in when everyone’s a bloody NIMBY, and then viability of schemes.”

Yes, that WAS it

It has been well documented in these columns just how underwhelming the long-awaited independent report into the culture inside Newcastle Civic Centre was - thanks in no small measure to the restrictions on the scope of the inquiry (Gala days, bees and a forward-looking inquiry 13.07.26).

The report went before the full council this week where it looks like there was no appetite to question why the review was limited to ‘now and forward’ or who decided why the findings should be held back until after the May elections.

Maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise since 52 new councillors were elected in May - but the inquiry was instigated by the Lib Dems who are now running the administration.

Hall saved

Newcastle City Council has stepped in to save Neville Hall, the former North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, along with its priceless archive.

It was previously run by charity The Common Room, which saw the building undergo an £8.9 million restoration, but the council said it was no longer generating enough income to survive.

Keith Merrin, Director of North East Museums, who will now run the hall, said: “We’re looking forward to bringing this magnificent historic building and important archive into our portfolio. It is a fantastic space for special events, meetings and conferences which will be a major part of its future use.”

Another extension

The life of Hartlepool nuclear power station has been extended yet again. Opened in 1983, it was expected to generate electricity for 25 years. In the latest of multiple extensions, operator EDF said Hartlepool and Heysham 1 in Lancashire would run until March 2030, two years longer than the last estimate of 2028.

Chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, Tom Greatrex, said: “The significance of this cannot be understated, given the UK’s exposure to volatile gas prices and the need to protect households by providing baseload power.”

RIP ‘King Kev’

Newcastle United are to talk to Kevin Keegan’s family about a permanent tribute to honour the club legend who died this week aged 75.

The club’s first league match of the season is a home game against Liverpool where Keegan spent much of his playing career. The two teams are in discussions to ensure “his memory is marked fittingly before the game”.

Newcastle’s men’s, women’s and under-21s teams will wear black armbands during all of their pre-season matches this summer.

Nicholas

A quick word

A monument commemorating the Easington pit disaster in which dozens of miners died has been vandalised. Labour MP Grahame Morris said the vandalism was “an attack on our culture, our heritage and our shared history, especially in the year we mark the 75th anniversary of the pit disaster”. The charity FareShare North East had to throw out 16 tonnes of perishables such as milk and meat - the equivalent of 7,000 meals - after thieves broke into its Middlesbrough warehouse. Independent councillor Kenny Hope has been asked to apologise to Durham council officers and undertake standards training following a misconduct hearing into emails he sent about the accuracy of scrutiny committee minutes. The £50 million Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital admitted its first patients yesterday. Redcar MP Anna Turley has warned residents after hearing “deeply concerning reports” that three men pretending to be from her team tried to enter a person’s home. Cleveland Police are investigating. A small scale oyster nursery is being placed into the River Tees as the next step in a long-term conservation project to clean the water. Nature restoration company RESTORE is leading on a project on the Emblehope and Burngrange Estate between Otterburn and Kielder Forest to transform 7,500 acres into a thriving wildlife reserve. Plans have been submitted to Durham County Council to expand Kynren into a year-round tourist destination.

Teesside base

Alfor Aviation is to move its global headquarters to Teesside International Airport and establish a significant European base for passenger-to-freighter aircraft conversion there. The £50 million investment will create 250 skilled jobs.

CEO Omer Mafa said the company looked at various European locations but the Teesside Freeport was a decisive factor. “By establishing our global headquarters at Teesside Airport and committing to the site for the next 50 years, we are demonstrating our confidence in the region and in the future of British aerospace manufacturing.”

Space to grow

“The North East is building something unique for the UK.” Those were the words of senior Lockheed Martin executive Dan Tenney on his return visit to check on progress of the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST) which is due to open this year. NESST is a collaborative project between Lockheed Martin Space UK, Northumbria University, and the UK Space Agency.

Business bites

Figures released by Invest Newcastle show that 31 companies set up in the area in the last financial year with 12 businesses expanding their presence - generating 1,619 jobs and safeguarding 611 others. The numbers are similar to previous years. Former Square One Law managing partner Gill Hunter has been appointed board advisor at North East accountancy firm Blu Sky. A huge solar panel system installed on the roof of the largest warehouse at Tees Bulks Quay at Teesport is now live. It uses around 2,000 panels and is part of efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of PD Ports. Newcastle-based PolyBox, a company created for marketers by marketers which provides rapid access to clear, accurate information, has received an additional £700,000 of growth funding. Private equity-backed Orwins has added Newcastle commercial law firm Clarke Mairs to the group with the 10 partners becoming shareholders in Manchester-based Orwins, which was called BBS Law before a rebrand in May.

1999 ad break

There was an alternative World Cup taking place at the same time as the FIFA president was allowing the US president to change the rules of football and our ‘game of two halves’ became four quarters.

The #AdWorldCup was taking place on LinkedIn, thanks to Steve Gibson of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum. A total of 16 top quality ads battled it out for no trophy whatsoever. The final was a closely-fought match between a gorilla and a surfer.

“Guinness took one of the product’s biggest pain points, the time it takes to pour, and positioned it as something distinctive, iconic, and worth waiting for,” said Steve. “They didn't apologise for the delay. Instead, they transformed it into a ritual and reward.

”Cadbury took a different route. The Gorilla doesn’t explain anything about the product at all. Instead, it tries to capture a moment of pure, unadulterated joy through anticipation, an epic drum-fill and the feeling of release when the song finally kicks in.”

And the winner is…

THE WIDER VIEW

Not shy, not retiring

The healthy life expectancy in the UK is falling. That’s the age you reach without significant illness, disability, or frailty. I mentioned this a few weeks ago - it’s down to around 60 in many parts of the UK and only 50 in Blackpool.

But The i Paper’s Sophie Gallagher has been to Orkney, Britain’s “healthiest place to grow old”, where you can be expected to be as fit as a fiddle until you are close on 73.

The archipelago’s relative isolation means supermarkets have a narrower choice – fewer ready meals, more home cooking – and there is a strong emphasis on exercise, including walking, gardening and dancing, as well as a booming over-60s social scene.

The weekly routine of 74-year-old Wendy Flett, for example, includes pilates, aerobics, wild swimming, bingo calling and volunteering. “I’m not the exception,” she says. “And I don’t do anything on a Friday.”

Tax us more

Gary Lineker is one of 120 millionaires who have signed a ‘Proud to Pay’ letter saying they should be taxed more to help pay for Andy Burnham’s cost-of-living measures.

“We want you to tax us. We can afford it. We’re not talking about higher taxes on those who get up and go to work for their income every day, but on the very richest whose income is derived from the wealth they hold.”

Others who signed the letter from the Patriotic Millionaires UK campaign group include songwriter Brian Eno, former Greggs chairman Ian Gregg, economist and author Gary Stevenson and crime writer Val McDermid.

What are you talking about?

Communications was one thing that Sir Keir Starmer undoubtedly got wrong. He is not the most engaging of orators, but that wouldn’t have mattered so much if he was able to communicate the things he HAD done when he was in charge.

Ian Clark (@warehamphotographer) published a list of 24 achievements on his Substack saying: “Starmer is not, objectively, bad. This idea that he is somehow the worst PM in British history is frankly laughable. Liz Truss lasted 49 days, crashed the pound and was laughed out of Downing Street. Since Labour took office, Keir Starmer’s government:

• Scrapped the two-child benefit limit (even if not fast enough), lifting hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and putting money back into some of the hardest-pressed households in the country.

• Expanded free school meals, cutting costs for families and making sure more children get a proper meal during the school day.

• Expanded funded childcare, reducing one of the biggest monthly costs facing working parents and making it easier for people to stay in work.

• Raised the National Living Wage, increasing pay for millions of low-paid workers.

• Strengthened workers’ rights, giving people greater protection against insecure work and bad employers.

• Introduced statutory sick pay from the first day of illness, so workers are less likely to choose between their health and their wages.

• Ended no-fault evictions, giving renters more security in their homes.

• Brought rail operators back into public ownership, taking key services out of failed private hands and giving the public a stronger stake in how they are run.

• Cut NHS waiting lists from their post-pandemic peak, meaning more patients are being seen sooner.

• Raised the state pension, protecting pensioners’ incomes against rising costs.

• Scrapped the old non-dom tax regime, making some of the wealthiest people in the country pay more fairly.

• Added VAT to private school fees, raising money from those most able to contribute.

• Removed business rates relief from private schools, ending an unjustified tax break.

• Increased neighbourhood policing, putting more officers and PCSOs back into communities.

• Helped bring knife crime down, meaning fewer families face the devastation of serious violence.

• Recorded the lowest homicide rate since the 1970s, a material improvement in public safety.

• Created Great British Energy, giving Britain a publicly owned clean energy company.

• Created the National Wealth Fund, backing investment in industry, infrastructure and clean energy.

• Passed planning reforms aimed at getting homes and major projects built faster.

• Improved relations with the EU, reducing diplomatic hostility and rebuilding practical cooperation.

• Agreed a UK-EU security partnership, strengthening cooperation on defence and European security.

• Signed a long-term partnership with Ukraine, reinforcing Britain’s support against Putin’s invasion.

• Secured new trade agreements, opening up markets for British businesses.

• Helped restore seriousness to government after years of scandal, chaos and decline.

“People do not have to like Starmer. They do not have to vote Labour. But pretending this is the record of the worst Prime Minister in British history is absurd,” he said.

I said at the beginning that communication was a real issue for Starmer. Having just been elected with a massive majority, the first thing he told us was things would get worse before they got better. Andy Burnham meanwhile scraps VAT on our electricity bills and reduces the cap on bus fares to £2.

I’m losing count, but we get a new Prime Minister today. Maybe this one will last a bit longer.

Devolution is likely to be high on his agenda. No surprise there really considering Andy Burnham’s nine years as mayor of Greater Manchester.

But Britain is a highly-centralised state and it wasn’t that long ago that local authorities had financial authority and the power over police, criminal prosecutions, public transport, further education, water and sewerage.

Yes, really.

I doubt Burnham’s devolution revolution will go that far but it’s interesting times for the regions.

There’s also a geographical bubble that needs to be burst in Westminster, questions over the costs charged by the private care sector, drama at the Port of Tyne, and a resolve to keep fighting for the A1 to be dualled.

Brian Aitken
Editor

Care charge outcry

A senior council official has criticised the “morally reprehensible” sums being charged by the private care sector to look after vulnerable youngsters.

Northumberland councillors were told that there was a £4.5 million overspend of its budget for external residential care placements in 2025-26. The number of children in external care placements stood at 80 in March - six higher than the year before - with the average weekly cost of one placement increasing from £6,052 a week to £6,592.

Audrey Kingham, the council’s executive director of children, young people and education, said some companies were upping their bills at just a few hours’ notice. “It is really difficult for us to manage that private market and the cost base. There are some behaviours that are, in my mind, morally reprehensible in the charges they raise.”

Port drama

A man was taken to hospital after an incident at Port of Tyne yesterday afternoon. Northumbria Police said: “It was reported that, for reasons yet to be established, a ship had collided with a crane. Emergency services attended and a man was found to have sustained injuries not believed to be life-threatening.”

To the manner born

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has made no secret of his desire for a Number 10 North. Research published by social mobility charity the Sutton Trust would suggest it is needed.

• 50% of civil service bosses, 52% of special advisers and 46% of the House of Lords were educated in London and the South East.

• Just 17% of Lords and permanent secretaries were educated in the whole north of England.

• A privately educated person in London and the South East is 24 times more likely to become a permanent secretary and 23 times more likely to become a Lord than a state school pupil in the north of England.

CEO Nick Harrison said: “We talk about the Westminster bubble. These figures suggest it’s not just a political bubble, but a geographical one too.”

Early priorities

Investment in grass cutting, potholes, bulky waste collection and youth services are the early priorities set out by the minority Lib Dem administration in Newcastle. Council leader Colin Ferguson said: “We’ve rolled up our sleeves and got on with the job. I want residents to be able to look out their windows and see a noticeable difference in communities.”

A1 case file

North East MPs urged the Government to rethink its decision on dualling the A1 during a debate in the House of Commons last week but transport minister Simon Lightwood repeated the view that the case was “a comparatively weak value-for-money proposition when assessed against competing investment priorities”.

Northumberland County Council leader Glen Sanderson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the response was “completely predictable and in no way does it slacken our resolve on the latest bid”.

“I think the resolve is absolutely as strong as it was and, to that end, we have taken on some extra resources within the council – even though it is not a council road – and we are putting together evidence, data, and statistics which will build into a file which we will give to National Highways in September.”

Costs soar

The cost of a coastal cycling corridor running from Blyth to Whitley Bay has increased from £9.7 million to £13.5 million. The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority Cabinet will be asked this week to agree a revised funding package for the scheme as part of an £18.6 million investment into walking and cycling routes.

The Cabinet will also be asked to award £4.5million to active travel upgrades in Sunderland, connecting St Peter’s Metro Station, the city centre and the Stadium of Light. A further £2.25million will also be allocated to safety measures outside 16 schools across Newcastle, North Tyneside, and South Tyneside.

A quick word

Around 200 people took part in a march through South Shields to the Town Hall on Saturday in protest at the prospect of South Tyneside Council closing 10 nurseries. A petition has attracted more than 5,000 signatures. Blyth Wildlife Rescue, which operates across Tyneside and Northumberland, has had to stop taking new admissions. Its facilities are full - but the charity is also warning that its funds are low. Darius Defoe, who recently announced his retirement after 22 seasons with the Newcastle Eagles, is to be granted the Honorary Freedom of the city in recognition of his achievements on and off the basketball court. A campaign is underway to save a mosaic mural which depicts County Durham’s history. The artwork sits on the side of the County Hall, which is being vacated ahead of its demolition next year. Former Newcastle Lib Dem councillor Thom Campion, who sexually assaulted a woman in his house in March 2023, has been given an 11-month prison sentence, suspended for a year. Residents of Newbiggin Hall are calling for the creation of a new country park in Newcastle as part of their campaign against plans for a new housing development - with fears that a new access road could cut through a popular green corridor. Councillors have paved the way for former Middlesbrough Mayor Dave Budd to be awarded the freedom of the borough.

Nature delivers for Northumberland

One of the North East’s greatest natural and heritage assets contributed £146 million in a year to the regional economy, according to the latest figures.

The new data shows strong growth in the value of tourism generated by Northumberland National Park and also highlights its importance for culture, heritage, nature and wellbeing.

Visitor numbers reached 1.79 million in 2025 - up 6.7% on the previous year and exceeding 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels for the first time - while generating £146 million. Tourism in the national park is now estimated to support 1,369 full-time equivalent jobs. Tony Henderson has more in Cultured. North East.

Lauren reveals rare disorder

North East broadcaster and former Kenickie frontwoman Lauren Laverne has revealed she has been diagnosed with smouldering myeloma, a rare blood and bone marrow disorder.

The Sunderland-born presenter, 48, shared the news in an Instagram post on Friday, almost two years after announcing she had been diagnosed with cancer, from which she was later given the all-clear.

She expects to be back at Radio 6 in a couple of weeks and said: “It’s an asymptomatic blood and bone marrow disorder that in some people can develop into blood cancer. Thankfully for me the risk of this happening in my case is pretty low.”

Durham calling

A call has gone out around County Durham. It’s called Creative Call. And it sees the Into The Light partnership inviting institutions, businesses, educators, funders and decision-makers to support that call and help grow the county’s creative sector.

X-Factor winner Joe McElderry hosted a launch event at Durham Town Hall. He said: “Growing up in the North East and building a career in music and theatre, I know how much talent exists across our region. But talent also needs opportunity, encouragement and people willing to open doors. I was proud to host Creative Call’s launch; it is practical, positive and shaped by the people who know the county’s creative scene best.”

You may have missed…

And this…

Power to the people

Devolution seems to be working, in this part of the world at least. And Greater Manchester is often held up as the supreme example of how devolved powers can benefit local communities.

Today, Andy Burnham, a man who has held senior positions in Westminster but was mayor of Greater Manchester for the past nine years, becomes Prime Minister of this country.

He is an advocate of de-centralising powers. The devolution story is about to get very interesting.

Mayors and mayoral authorities are about to become even more important. But what about councils?

Britain is one of the most economically lopsided countries in the rich world. London powers about a quarter of all growth and accounts for more than a third of exports, despite having about 15% of the national population. By contrast Berlin generates 5% of economic output in Germany, where skilled jobs are spread between places like Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg.

A big part of the problem, as highlighted by The Observer’s Daily Sensemaker column recently, is our highly centralised state. Only 6% of British tax revenues are collected by local government, compared to 14% in France, 24% in Spain and 32% in Germany.

This means British regions have to appeal to Whitehall for money. But civil servants, as we know to our cost, give priority to projects in the most productive areas - although recent changes to the Treasury’s Green Book will help in that respect.

It wasn’t always like this - and what comes next will sound pretty amazing for many of you.

There was a time, in living memory, when the police, criminal prosecutions, public transport, further education, water and sewerage were the responsibility of councils.

I am indebted to author Dan Jackson (@northumbriana) for Tweeting about a column written by former council chief executive Sir Rodney Brooke which was published in the Local Government Chronicle four years ago. It’s brilliant.

“It is difficult for today’s officers to imagine the importance local government once had,” he writes. “My half-century of involvement with local government coincided with its decline, as its powers dwindled and its financial autonomy was removed.”

Sir Rodney started working life as a young reporter in Yorkshire - but quickly realised that the town hall was the powerhouse.

“Council news filled the paper. The Labour group fed the stories which the Conservative administration wanted to keep quiet. In reprisal the local Tory magnate, Harry Hardy, bought the newspaper, closed it down and sold the title. Shortly afterwards a grateful country ennobled him as Sir Harry Hardy.”

Having moved into local government, Sir Rodney noticed a heirarchy.

“Top dogs were the county councils, which traced their ancestry back to the courts of quarter sessions in 1388.

“The grandeur of the clerks of the county councils surpassed imagination. The London train would be held for Sir Charles McGrath, one of my predecessors in the West Riding County Hall. On arrival in London he would send his card to the permanent secretary of the Local Government Ministry, announcing that Sir Charles was in residence at Claridge’s and would be pleased to receive the permanent secretary if he cared to call.

“The county clerks treated their urban counterparts with contempt. The town clerk of Sheffield wrote to Sir Bernard Kenyon, Sir Charles’s successor, saying ‘I must now discontinue this correspondence since I fear that I can no longer match you for calculated rudeness’. Sir Bernard concluded a meeting with the town clerks of Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield, with the words: ‘What a load of bloody fools: no wonder you finished up where you have’.”

The decline and fall of local government continued.

“My seven years as secretary of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities (AMA) saw local authorities’ powers and autonomy continue to erode as first Margaret Thatcher and then Tony Blair demonstrated their dislike of local government,” said Sir Rodney.

You get to a situation today where councils have to spend so much money on things they HAVE to pay for that it leaves them little or no room to do anything else.

• In February 2024, I wrote about the difficult spending decisions councils were having to make (Time to stop blaming ‘the council’): “While we are focussing on the novelty of regional mayors, the destruction of a layer of local government that has served us well for almost 200 years gathers pace. The loss of our civic infrastructure is now impossible to ignore: libraries, museums, leisure facilities, playing fields, public toilets, community centres, parks, youth services and so much more. The civic glue that helped to give us a sense of community, belonging and pride are vanishing, with no obvious way back.”

We were warned

As it became clear that Sir Keir Starmer was going to have to hand back the keys to No.10, our columnist Dr Bethany Usher said we had just witnessed one of the most effective media-led political assassinations of modern times (Climate, strange girls and ‘attack journalism’ 29.07.26).

“As the cannons now turn on Andy Burnham, expect his political programme to be reduced to a single ideological label such as ‘red’, ‘hard left’, ‘radical’ or ‘socialist’,” wrote Dr Usher, Director of Education for the School of Arts and Culture at Newcastle University. “Discussions of inequality will be portrayed as the politics of envy.”

The journalist and author had already found more than 100 negative stories about Burnham:

“The Express argue he should ‘terrify Britain’, has ‘already failed the UK’ and ‘doesn’t know what a woman is’. The Daily Mail declare he is ‘plotting wealth tax raid’ and like Miliband is a ‘net zero nut job’. He is advised by ‘quasi-Marxists’ and ‘high tax fanatics’ and, according to Nigel Farage in a new exclusive column, has orchestrated a ‘brazen’ ‘coup’ that is reminiscent of a ‘banana republic’.

“The Telegraph declare that his eyelashes are the most ‘interesting thing about him’ and consider debates as to whether ‘Bambi Burnham’ who ‘the girls and the gays’ will love, ‘wears mascara’. The Sun claim he is a man with ‘no plan’ and consider the ‘chaotic life’ of his wife who, shock horror, once appeared on ITV’s Blind Date with Cilla Black.”

With Burnham set to become Prime Minister today, I scanned some headlines over the weekend to see how the attack journalism was coming along. Here’s a small selection:

The Express: Andy Burnham just made one major blunder - it reveals everything about him and Nigel Farage slams Andy Burnham’s first speech: ‘Utterly vacuous’.

The Telegraph: Welcome to Burnham’s world: a farrago of nonsense, revisionism and economic illiteracy and Burnham’s ‘unashamedly Labour’ push spells economic ruin.

The Sun: Soaring cringefest of Burnham’s rise to PM leaves me with two sickly feelings and Burnham taking UK back to the 70s might be fantasy for Labour but NIGHTMARE for us.

Daily Mail: Burnham’s New Order: Labour’s Messiah without a mandate dad dances before he begins moving into Downing Street where he will take Britain back to disastrous 1970s.

Tale of two headlines

The BBC inadverdently provides another example of attack journalism.

You may remember John Cleese’s 1985 advert for the BBC in which he asks a pub full of stars: ‘What has the BBC ever given us’? (It has featured in the Eyes & Ears ad break).

Now, over 40 years later, the BBC has revived the advert, this time fronted by Romesh Ranganathan. The comedian stars as a disgruntled licence fee payer grumbling in EastEnders’ Queen Vic pub to a host of household names including Chris Martin, Claudia Winkleman, David Jason and Greg James.

While the Guardian headline says ‘Romesh Ranganathan reboots corporation’s 1985 licence fee plea’ the Telegraph goes for ‘BBC uses highest-paid celebrities to demand licence fee’.

Demand?

Sad.

It’s difficult to keep North East Mayor Kim McGuinness out of our headlines given the importance of her role and the budget she has at her disposal.

She will be part of a Northern delegation heading off on a trade mission to India in the autumn. She has also announced a £7 million support package for businesses and £2.2 million for grassroots venues and emerging performers.

There’s also the small matter of a £100 million discrepancy in the region’s bus franchising plans.

Teesside MPs are toasting the Government’s decision to bring the steel industry under state control, John Cleese, of all people, has annoyed the organisers of the Durham Miners’ Gala and a council is backing the free school meals issue we highlighted last week.

Brian Aitken
Editor

Data centres and water

The headline grabbed my attention: ‘Data centres don’t use that much water’. Well, that’s not right, was my immediate thought. Everyone knows they do.

We’ve got soaring temperatures thanks to global warming, a record number of wildfires, hosepipe bans and increasing warnings that we need to conserve water supplies. AI data centres would be an attractive proposition - if they didn’t guzzle so much of our increasingly precious water supplies.

Wrong, says Sky News technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe.

His investigation shows that our misconceptions are based on US statistics and that UK data centres use roughly the same amount of water as the postal sector and far less than food manufacturing or sports facilities.

“Did you know that hospitals use a TON of water,” he says. “Hand-washing, toilets, kitchens, cleaning, sterilisation, surgical scrubbing, laundry, cooling, dialysis – it all adds up. One of those big data centres uses as much water as a medium-to-large specialist hospital; or, if you must, the daily household water use of a town of about 1,200 people.”

So why do people think data centres consume so much water? Because the reporting often uses numbers that sound big but aren’t, he says. The BBC ran a story saying Scottish data centres used enough water to fill 27 million bottles a year. Further down the article it became clear that this huge number of bottles was 0.005% of Scotland’s supply.

A case in point

A massive data centre is planned at Cambois in Northumberland where Britishvolt were planning a gigafactory.

QTS, owned by Blackstone, one of the world’s biggest investment companies, is redeveloping the site of the former Blyth Power Station to build one of Europe’s largest AI and cloud data centre campuses.

The company uses what is called a closed-loop cooling system which means that, once operational, it will only use mains water for standard building needs such as toilets, kitchens, cleaning and humidification.

The graphic above is obviously American because we have centres and not centers and I’m not aware we have any almond farms in this country. But the chart compares annual water consumption on 8.6 acres of land across various industries.

A QTS spokesperson told me: “In 2025 alone, the QTS closed-loop cooling system saved an estimated 28 billion litres of water worldwide when compared to evaporative cooling. We are proud to be leading the way in developing solutions that conserve water while enabling the digital future.”

India trade mission

A group of Northern political and business leaders are to go on a five-day trade mission to India in the autumn.

Travelling under The Great North brand, the delegation will promote the North’s economic strengths in advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and clean energy. The visit, on October 12-16, will also focus on fostering collaboration in digital technology, financial services, creative industries and tourism.

The trade mission comes as the historic UK-India Free Trade Agreement comes into force, projected to boost annual bilateral trade by £25.5 billion by 2040.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, who is also chair of The Great North, said: “The Great North was created to do something the North of England has rarely had the opportunity to do before: come together with a single voice and tell our story to the world. This mission to India is a powerful example of that vision in action.”

The delegation will include civic and business leaders, academics, and regional partners from Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, York and North Yorkshire, the North East, and Cheshire and Warrington. It will be supported by the Department for Business and Trade and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Steely determination

Teesside MPs have welcomed the Government’s announcement that British Steel has been brought under public ownership.

Redcar MP Anna Turley said: “Having witnessed the loss of steelmaking in Redcar, no community understands the consequences of governments standing back and letting strategic industries disappear better than ours. I hope this gives workers at the Lackenby and Skinningrove sites greater confidence about the future and helps unlock further investment here on Teesside. I’ll continue working with ministers to ensure our area is at the heart of Britain’s industrial revival.”

Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough & Thornaby East, praised the Government’s decision that he said “will bring security and protection for thousands of jobs in the industry” across the UK. “This is deeply personal for us on Teesside where steel built towns, livelihoods and identities from the early 19th Century onwards.”

More please

Durham County Council is to write to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson calling on the Government to widen eligibility for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF). This was the issue raised by Professor Greta Defeyter in last week’s edition (Eyes & Ears 10.07.26).

The Northumbria University professor, who is also Chair of Feeding Britain, highlighted the contradiction of 500,000 youngsters who are deemed poor enough to receive free school meals during term time but not during the holidays.

Democracy and hypocrisy

Durham’s decision on calling for the HAF scheme to be widened was contentious in more ways than one.

Lib Dem councillor Alex Neil supported the motion but accused the Reform administration of hypocrisy over previous decisions on council tax support. Then the Lib Dems accused Reform of “blocking and shutting down democratic debate” at what was the council’s final meeting in County Hall.

“Of five motions on notice, only Reform’s own motion, first on the agenda, was heard. The other four were kicked into the long grass until October,” said Lib Dem leader Amanda Hopgood. “This isn’t how local democracy is supposed to work. Residents deserve their elected representatives to have their voices heard, not silenced by a majority unwilling to sit and debate the issues that matter.”

£105m short

Auditors have said that the North East’s bus franchising plan did not take account of staffing costs over 30 years and would cost nearly £105 million more than expected. However accountants Grant Thornton said the additional expenditure did not change their conclusion that the scheme is affordable.

A spokesperson for the mayoral strategic authority described the extra staffing costs as a “small fraction” of the sums involved in the franchising calculations.

£7m business support

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has announced a £7.1 million support package to help businesses manage rising costs, protect jobs and support future growth.

“When firms are facing rising costs, it has a direct impact on jobs, and it makes it harder to make ends meet,” the mayor said. “With government also setting out new support to improve access to finance for small businesses, we want to make sure North East firms are in the strongest possible position to benefit.”

The investment marks the start of a wider programme to reshape business support, with the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA) working alongside the region’s seven local authorities to provide tailored, locally-delivered services that are easier for businesses to access and better connected to national funding opportunities.

Strife of Brian

John Cleese has angered organisers of the Durham Miners’ Gala. The comedian reposted footage on Twitter of a pro-Palestine delegation and said: “If this scene had been in Monty Python, nobody would have thought it out of place.”

Alan Mardghum, secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association, said: “He has a lot of fame and influence over people and comments like that are totally out of order. The Durham Miners’ Gala has a very long history of international solidarity. They need to read their history and talk to people who have been involved for many, many years before they make comments like that.”

For the record

I’m not going to name names and I really don’t know how widespread this is, but I received an email this week which said: “I just wanted to check in on the below release and see if there is any additional information I can provide for this release to be of interest? If possible, it would also be good to know if there are any fees associated with news placements and how much it would be to appear online and socials please.”

For the record, the only payments I want to receive are from satisfied readers who think that the quality content I am providing twice a week is value for a £6.99 a month subscription.

A quick word

Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria are among the 35 universities who have joined the new Defence Universities Alliance, which aims to bring together defence and academia to strengthen research, develop critical skills and build the skilled workforce needed to support the UK’s future defence capability. Newcastle councillor Amy Hunter has resigned. Reform UK said that her health, personal and work commitments had “changed abruptly”. The Lib Dems are running a minority administration with 25 of the 78 seats. Reform and the Greens now have 23 each. Complaints about councillors in County Durham increased by 336% to 288 in the past year. However, a new report says only 30% engaged the council’s code of conduct, meaning the majority did not meet the threshold for further action. Nearly 100 sculptures of Peter Rabbit have appeared in Newcastle and North Tyneside – the fourth interactive public art trail run as a fundraising initiative by St Oswald’s Hospice since their successful Great North Snowdogs in 2016. Northumberland National Park has secured £20,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to recruit and train more volunteers. The former Debenhams store in Sunderland could be turned into an entertainment centre with go-kart tracks, bowling lanes, an arcade and restaurant areas. Plans to stop paying volunteer coastguards have been dropped by the government over fears officers would quit or reduce their hours. The volunteers can claim about £11 an hour for callouts. Cleveland Police said the number of people injured by “dangerous dogs” has more than doubled in the last five years with 533 in the past year when 137 dogs were seized. Durham Police has received the highest grade possible in a new performance system. Being rated Level One means Durham is among those encouraged to share their experiences of good practice with other forces nationally.

Small - but thinking big

A new £2.2 million fund has been launched to help grassroots venues and emerging performers weather rising costs and continue nurturing regional talent.

The mayor’s Small Venues Fund was launched at an event in Sunderland last night and will offer grants ranging from £3,000 to £100,000 over a three-year period, supporting venues with a capacity of up to 300 seated or around 500 standing.

Generator CEO Mick Ross said: “Every headline artist, every award-winning comedian, every producer, technician and promoter starts somewhere. Grassroots venues are the R&D department of our creative industries. This fund is a landmark moment.”

Side dish

The treasure trove of North East documentary photographs and films known as the AmberSide Collection is to be given over to the custodianship of Newcastle University. It is part of a project called Relocating Amber, for which charity The AmberSide Trust has received £242,508 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. David Whetstone has more in Cultured. North East.

Adventures start tomorrow

Life as an evacuee in the 1940s and discovering post-war Britain through the eyes of a teenager in the 1950s are just two of the six themed adventures families can experience during Beamish Museum’s Summer of Fun programme which begins tomorrow and runs until the end of August.

Business bites

The expansion of wealth management group Fairstone continues with the acquisition of two independent financial advice firms - Sunderland-based Grainger Financial Planning and Riverstone Wealth Management in Morpeth. Distribution and storage firm AV Dawson is adding a £5 million dry bulk rail terminal to its Port of Middlesbrough site. MD Charlie Nettle said: “Our fifth rail terminal expands our presence in the dry bulk market and reinforces our commitment to delivering solutions across rail, land and sea.” Peterlee-based utilities firm Everflow has secured investment of £44 million to expand across the UK and move into new sectors through mergers and acquisitions. The 200th anniversary celebrations of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Tour of Britain Women helped deliver record visitor numbers in Tees Valley. New figures show the visitor economy generated more than £1.5 billion in 2025, following a 4% increase in visitor numbers to 21.3 million. Mike Ashley has entered the auction for Harvey Nichols despite a backlash from the store’s luxury suppliers over his involvement. The former Newcastle United owner’s Frasers Group has been approved to participate in the sale after convincing the department store to drop its initial opposition to a possible bid. Durham County Council bought the Newgate Shopping Centre in Bishop Auckland four years ago for £3.1 million in the hope of regenerating the town centre but has now told traders it intends to sell. The large De La Rue site at Team Valley where passports and banknotes were once printed has been put up for sale with vacant possession. It comes with parking for around 250 vehicles.

1971 ad break

The UK is increasingly at risk of experiencing wildfires, with last year seeing the most blazes on record. And it will get worse. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) reported that there were 342 wildfires in the week beginning July 6 - the figure was nearly 1,000 for the whole of 2025, according to The Lead.

The impacts of climate change increase the risk and severity of wildfires but, according to the NFCC, most wildfires are caused by human activity, including leisure activities or deliberate acts.

So, this may be a good time to let you see this public information film from 55 years ago about following the Country Code. Warning: this does include a courting couple where the young man carelessly throws away a match - after lighting his pipe.

THE WIDER VIEW

PPE shame

Two-thirds of the personal protective equipment bought by Boris Johnson’s government during the pandemic was defective, wasting £10 billion of taxpayer money and putting the lives of healthcare workers at risk.

It’s a figure worth repeating. TEN BILLION POUNDS.

Wasted.

This conclusion comes from the Covid inquiry’s latest report. Its chair, Baroness Hallett, also criticised Johnson’s decision to create a VIP lane that prioritised PPE providers with political connections, although she stopped short of calling the system corrupt, reports The Observer’s Daily Sensemaker newsletter.

“Her report paints an excruciating picture of a state that was ill-prepared for a pandemic and responded chaotically. Only one third of the masks in England were within their expiry dates, and aprons were at 22% of their target volume. Scotland had no high-grade respirator masks at all. This failure to plan forced GPs and care homes to source their own equipment.”

Michael Gove, who was the lead minister in the cabinet for much of the pandemic, was questioned by Channel 4 on this waste of money. He said it was an honest mistake and refused to apologise.

Hallett said her inquiry had found “no evidence of cronyism or corruption on the part of ministers or officials in the final decision of whether to award or reject a contract”, but noted the system was “inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government”.

She said: “This heightened the risk of abuse. It damaged the reputation of those involved in procurement during the pandemic and undermined public trust in the UK government’s emergency procurement system, in the UK government itself and in its response to the pandemic.

“The High Priority Lane should not be repeated.”

You may have missed…

SEND staff under threat

Major reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system face being “derailed” by NHS staff redundancies, according to The i Paper.

Wide-scale NHS reorganisation, which is set to see the loss of 18,000 admin and managerial jobs, has fallen “disproportionately on SEND teams”, according to a new report by the Institute for Government (IfG).

The report, shared with The i Paper, reveals that uncertainty over plans to fold NHS England into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has led to SEND redundancies at a time when services are already stretched.

It argues that a “joined-up” approach is needed across the Government for the SEND reforms to be a success.

Have you heard of a review that didn’t look back? Welcome to Newcastle.

For years we have heard stories, allegations and rumours about what has been going on behind closed doors at the Civic Centre in Newcastle. The people, the personalities, the clashes.

An independent inquiry was promised in December 2024. That delayed report was delivered months ago and has just been made public - and now we discover it does not cover old ground.

That is today’s main story. Before that though, there’s the pioneering North East company looking to create hundreds of jobs - they first need certainty on the government’s net zero credentials.

Then there’s the UK Town of Culture. Just under 400 wannabes, 20 from the region, but only one makes the shortlist of 15.

There’s a lovely piece of nostalgia from former BBC man Chris Stewart who remembers the Durham Miners’ Gala in the 70s and a feature on how bees are helping young men struggling with mental health and loneliness.

Give us certainty on net zero

A pioneering North East company which uses solar cells smaller than a human hair to generate energy is calling for certainty from politicians on net zero so that it can create hundreds of jobs in the region.

Power Roll currently employs around 35 people at its test plant in Murton, County Durham. In March, it signed a Joint Development Agreement with Japanese utility giant Tokyo Gas.

“It’s truly groundbreaking and we are working with partners in the UK and internationally to scale this up and bring it to market, chief executive Neil Spann told Richard Moss, the BBC’s North East and Cumbria political editor.

The company has plans to build a factory which could employ up to 500 people but any uncertainty over the Government’s net zero target could make it harder to realise the investment and risked driving jobs overseas.

The BBC’s special report on energy, which was covered in yesterday’s edition of Politics North, said an estimated 35,000 people in the North East were employed in the green energy sector and generated £2.7 billion a year for the economy.

Other parts of the energy sector though are seeing a change of Prime Minister as an opportunity.

David Whitehouse, from Offshore Energies UK, said British oil and gas would be a better choice than using imported fuel while the country makes the transition to net zero. “I think it is time for an approach that makes the most of all our energy, and all of our skills.”

Twenty to one…

OK, so there were nearly 400 entrants, but in the end only one of the 20 North East entries made the shortlist to be named UK Town of Culture.

So, congratulations to Stockton (the town centre ward, to be precise), who will compete with Ilfracombe (Devon), The Isle of Bute (Firth of Clyde), Lerwick (Shetland), Sandown (Isle of Wight) and Strabane (Northern Ireland) in the small town category.

The winners of the small, medium and large town categories will then go head-to-head for the crown and a £3m grant from the Government.

Having shown admirable ambition, it will be interesting to see what happens next in Alnwick, Amble, Ashington, Barnard Castle, Bedlington, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bishop Auckland, Blyth, Cramlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Hexham, Jarrow, North Shields, Peterlee, Redcar, Seaham, Shildon and Stanley.

Under the influence(rs)

Here’s one for you. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed that a North East council spent nearly £2,000 with social media influencers from outside the area to promote some local events and exhibitions.

That’s a waste of taxpayers money, said some, because there was no way the council could prove any return on the investment. Others saw it as simply a form of advertising and a way to boost the local economy.

The council in question, by the way, is Stockton - the only one of the 20 North East councils still in the running to be UK Town of Culture.

A quick word

North East stars JADE and Sam Fender were among the winners at this year’s O2 Silver Clef Awards at the Royal Albert Hall. Former Little Mix star, JADE picked up the Best Female Award, while Sam was named Best Live Act. Since launching in 1976, the awards have raised millions of pounds to support Nordoff and Robbins’ music therapy work with children and adults across the UK. The Tyne Theatre & Opera House Preservation Trust has been awarded £522,011 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to progress its plans for the historic Grade I listed theatre. It paves the way for a further application for £5m to refurbish the auditorium and create a second community performance space. A three-year Tees Valley Local Skills Improvement Plan, which identifies what is needed to better align post-16 education and training with employer demand, has been published by the North East Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Tees Valley Combined Authority. The awards keep coming for Hays Travel. The Sunderland company picked up a stack of awards including the big one, High Street Agency of the Year, at the coveted Agent Achievement Awards in London. A Gateshead council by-election held after a Reform councillor resigned after two weeks has been won by Reform’s Lindsay Atkinson by just five votes following a recount. Durham County Council has refused permission for a solar farm on green belt land in Seaham which would have generated enough electricity to power about 16,000 homes. The train the late queen travelled on when she officially opened the Metro in 1981 has been sprayed with graffiti less than two weeks after being donated to the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum in Washington. Newcastle University has awarded honorary degrees to video game pioneer Phil Scott, London Stock Exchange CEO Dame Julia Hoggett and the Government’s first Women’s Health Ambassador, Dame Lesley Regan.

Galas past and present

‘The past we inherit, the future we build’ was the theme of the 140th Durham Miners’ Gala as music, marching, flags and banners filled the streets of the city at the weekend. Well, an estimated 200,000 people filled the streets, but you know what I mean.

The event is as popular today as it was when it was first held in 1871. If you’ve never been, then you should read Chris Stewart’s boyhood memories of the big meet. If you have been, then you’ll love it even more.

“With pockets full of coins and bellies full of butterflies, all the kids would be dressed in their best summer gladrags. All the dads would be booted and suited in their best binge-drinking chic. All the mams would be in flowery frocks and would be laden with flasks of tea, bottles of Villa pop and packets of sandwiches.”

And then there was 1975, the year he looked up to the balcony of the County Hotel and saw his dad standing behind Prime Minister Harold Wilson…

A great read.

Opening date

Culture House Sunderland, the new venue and library at Keel Square, in the heart of the city’s designated cultural quarter, is to open on Saturday, September 12, it has been announced.

The multi-million-pound building, described as “a living room in the heart of the city”, will host events and exhibitions over four floors and be the home to the new and modern city library.

Caring qualities

Caring for bees requires patience in place of speed, attentiveness rather than dominance, and cooperation instead of competition - that’s why it’s a great choice for young men struggling with mental health or loneliness.

Michael Joseph Richardson, a senior lecturer in human geography at Newcastle University, has written an article for The Conversation about two projects he is involved with. One is on the rooftop of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the other is also in Gateshead at Chopwell Woods.

“Looking after bees requires commitment and consistency, qualities that are often left out of public discussions about young men,” he says.

Giving it large

I meant to mention it earlier but an exhibition of photographs by Tish Murtha is on at Baltic. How could I forget?

Tish was a day short of her 57^th birthday when she died in 2013, unexpectedly, of a brain aneurysm. Had she lived, she would have recently turned 70. That her life was relatively short is terribly sad… and sadness seems but a blink away in many of her photos, as David Whetstone writes in Cultured. North East.

“An exhibition at Baltic of photographs by Tish Murtha seems long overdue but now that it’s here you could hardly argue they’ve stinted in acknowledging her achievements,” he says. “A sliver of one of her photos of the Elswick kids she immortalised, grubby fingered and wistful, runs up the outside of the building. And inside… well, wow!

“A touching photo you could almost now call famous, capturing two children in a moment of endearment, greets you as you enter the Level 3 gallery, blown up huge.”

But, as David reports, those cute youngsters wrapped up in each other’s presence are also no longer with us.

It can’t be it

It was a long time coming, but we have eventually got to hear the conclusion of an independent review into the culture inside Newcastle Civic Centre.

As we reported in Friday’s edition (Eyes & Ears 10.07.26), the outcome was rather ‘underwhelming’. Now that we’ve had a chance to look more closely, there are other adjectives that would be more appropriate. We’ll settle for ‘unsatisfactory’ for now.

You only have to get to Page 4 of the Local Government Association’s Peer Team Report when you discover that the review/inquiry/investigation is not what you (I) expected it to be:

“The review is focused on the point in time the activity is taking place. It is not a retrospective review, nor an investigation, into previous activities, actions or behaviours. That is outside of the scope of this review. To be clear, therefore, this review is about now and forward, not what has happened before, but it does recognise the context.”

Say what?

The review is not about what has happened before? I thought that was the whole point of it. Who decided on that scope? This is coming up before the full council soon, so I’m sure someone will ask.

To recap, in the autumn of 2023 Newcastle Chief Executive Pam Smith spoke to the council’s audit committee and refused to deny the presence of a “toxic atmosphere” and bullying at the council.

What she said prompted the Chair and another committee member to warn council leader Nick Kemp of their “grave concerns and serious reservations concerning a number of governance issues” - including claims that some top executives were “unwilling or reluctant to answer challenging questions openly”.

In September 2024, council leader Nick Kemp resigned after being accused of bullying by senior official Michelle Percy. He was later cleared of breaching its code of conduct. The investigation by law firm Bevan Brittan LLP found that “more could have been done” to deal with her concerns at an earlier stage to “diffuse the situation” between two of the highest-ranking public figures in Newcastle.

It took around nine months and cost taxpayers more than £74,000.

Kemp and five other Labour councillors quit the group to become independents - leaving new party leader Karen Kilgour in charge of a minority administration.

Then came an astonishing full council meeting in December 2024. Kilgour first survived a vote of no confidence. Then the opposition Lib Dems put forward a resolution to “immediately” instigate an independent inquiry into the behind-the-scenes culture that had been taking place in the Civic Centre over recent years.

The quote marks around ‘immediately’ are mine because they seem so ironic now.

Kilgour’s Labour group voted WITH the Lib Dems - and an independent inquiry was assured.

This was in December 2024, don’t forget.

It was then decided that the ‘immediate’ inquiry into the culture within the Civic Centre could not begin until the bullying inquiry involving the (former) leader was concluded.

That meant that the LGA inquiry did not get underway until December 2025, a full year after it had been agreed - and some three or four years after the issues that me and other journalists (and the Lib Dems) were only too well aware of.

But now we learn that the scope of the LGA inquiry - one that is said to have cost a six figure sum - was limited. Councillors will have many questions. Among them will be:

• Who decided that the LGA review was limited to ‘now and forward’?

• If the review was not retrospective, how can it conclude that there was ‘good leadership, effective governance and good relationships between the corporate leadership team (CLT) and cabinet’?

• Who decided that publication of the report should be held back when it was ready weeks before the May elections?

And since the Lib Dems are now running the council there should be no problems getting all the answers we expect.

The principle has already been accepted - if we have youngsters who need a free school meal then we should make sure they get nourished during the holidays.

That’s why we have HAF (Holiday Activities and Food), a programme which was tried, tested and championed right here in the North East.

Last year the Government extended the free school meals programme to take in all youngsters brought up in households in receipt of Universal Credit. Bizarrely, they did not include those same youngsters in the HAF programme.

We have a petition about that today and I would encourage you to sign. If you are in a militant mode, then I also have a petition to save the High Borrans outward bound centre from closure.

Professor Roy Sandbach is leading the charge. “I can’t tell you how many young people enjoyed life-changing times there,” he says.

Talking of young people, there is an outrageous follow up to the closure of Durham High School. Just days before the Chinese owners announced the closure, they tried to get a £250,000 “management fee” from the school.

Also this week, there is the town that’s like ‘the Wild West in the North East’, a late bid to prevent the demolition of the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, and a possible sign of the times in Durham - where Reform councillors rejected an application for a battery storage system despite officers saying the renewable energy benefits outweighed identified harms.

Brian Aitken
Editor

No HAF measures

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme was tried and tested here in the North East. You don’t have to look too close to see the fingerprints of Northumbria University’s Professor Greta Defeyter who is also Chair of Feeding Britain.

The premise of HAF is simple - children who need free school meals should also be catered for during the holidays. It’s a scheme that has been working well since being rolled out nationwide in 2021.

“Multiple studies have shown that HAF is a very successful programme against a range of social, health, educational and financial outcomes and offers exceptional social return on investment of £8 for every £1 invested in the programme,” said Professor Defeyter.

The Government’s Child Poverty Strategy expanded free school meals to all pupils from households in receipt of Universal Credit last year. This will take effect from September - but those 500,000 youngsters will not qualify for the HAF programme.

“In other words, the UK Government deems them poor enough to receive free school meals during term time but not during the holidays.” That’s why Professor Defeyter wants you to sign a Feeding Britain petition to get this position reversed. You can sign here.

Top backing

The Feeding Britain petition has received the support of North East Mayor Kim McGuinness who made tackling child poverty a top priority.

“Every single young person should have access to activities and good quality food throughout the school holidays,” she said. “Making sure children, regardless of their background, have the best start in life has been a priority for me as mayor.

“We’re investing £30m through our Child Poverty Action Plan, I lobbied loudly to scrap the two-child benefit cap and just this week we’ve convened hundreds of people committed to tackling hardship at our child poverty summit.”

More food for thought

Child poverty was also on the agenda in the Tees Valley where 31% of children are growing up in poverty.

An event was brought together by a group of organisations including Close-Knit Families, the North East Child Poverty Commission, the Point North Community Foundation, the Tees Charity and hosts AV Dawson.

It was created to explore how organisations can work more effectively together to tackle child poverty in the region and included contributions from journalist and broadcaster Steph McGovern, Tees Valley Combined Authority chief executive Tom Bryant, and a panel of regional leaders.

‘It’s like the Wild West’

“The children don’t fear adults anymore.” Just one short sentence from a disturbing report on South Shields from BBC reporter Jim Scott.

Exasperated residents say groups of youths and criminals who are unafraid of the police are intimidating and terrorising locals, with one person telling the reporter: “It’s like the Wild West in the North East.”

A social media group set up to report anti-social behaviour has seen more than 2,000 people join in four weeks.

Battery site rejected

Plans for a battery energy storage system (BESS) near South Hetton have been rejected after members of Durham’s planning committee went against the advice of their officials.

BESSs consist of metal containers storing huge numbers of lithium-ion batteries. Planning officers said the renewable energy benefits outweighed the identified harms but after almost 700 objections, councillors voted to reject the application on the grounds of harm to the landscape.

They what?

The Chinese owners asked Durham High School to pay a £250,000 management fee just a few days before telling staff the 142-year-old school would be closing.

This was revealed in the last of a series of five LinkedIn posts from acting head Laura Middleton in which she chronicles the days before the closure announcement from Galaxy Global Education.

“After the announcement, we did not receive support, practical guidance or help with the transition,” she said. “We did not hear from Galaxy Global Education ever again. Before the announcement, we were in the dark. After the announcement, we were left to carry it. And we did. The staff carried it.

“I am sharing this not to dwell in anger, but because people deserve to understand what happened. In its final days, the school was held together by the very people who had been given the least information and the least support.”

Eyes & Ears columnist Bob Hudson wrote about Galaxy Global Education and ‘the strange death of a high school’ on Monday.

‘Stop the demolition’

The Reform-led Sunderland City Council is looking to stop the demolition of the National Glass Centre (NGC) which is due to close at the end of this month.

Councillors have instructed officers to look at bringing forward an Article 4 direction as “an urgent priority”. This would require Sunderland University, the custodian of the site, to submit a full planning application to knock down the building.

It comes after the building was added to SAVE Britain’s Heritage buildings at risk register last week.

Is that it?

I’m sure we’ve all been excited by a movie trailer then found that the film itself was rather tame when you sat down to watch it…

We have waited a long time to hear the results of an independent Local Government Association review into the culture inside Newcastle Civic Centre and the relationships between senior officials and councillors.

The LGA report will be presented at a full council meeting next week but the headlines would suggest “good leadership, effective governance and good relationships” between senior officers and politicians, and that poor behaviour which became “almost accepted, tolerated and normalised” was attributed to a small group of elected politicians.

It does make you wonder why the Lib Dems, now the minority ruling party, called for the inquiry in the first place? And why the minority ruling party at the time, Labour, agreed that the investigation was needed.

Nature reserve fears

The 45-acre Aykley Wood Nature Reserve has been included in a list of sites which could be considered for future housing development as part of the new County Durham Plan (CDP). Lib Dem councillor Mark Wilkes called for the land to be removed from the scoping exercise before “any further upset is inflicted on residents across this county”.

Closure challenge

North Tyneside Council is planning to close the High Borrans outward bound centre in the Lake District. It’s a move that has not gone down well with Professor Roy Sandbach who has pledged to do all that he can to challenge the decision - and has been attracting significant support.

“I worked directly with High Borrans leadership for many years,” he said in a LinkedIn post. “I can’t tell you how many young people enjoyed life-changing times there. It is clear that that we are losing the battle to give young people exposure to real-world experiences that challenge the mind, and build leadership, teamwork and resilience. Worse, we deny them access to the beauty and challenge of the natural world. Words fail me.”

An ePetition has been set up on the council website. It says: “The value of High Borrans cannot be measured simply in financial terms. It should instead be measured by the lives it has changed, the confidence it has built, the futures it has unlocked and the generations of young people who have carried those experiences into adulthood.”

You may have missed…

Council houses, dualling the A1, Bowie at Bowes, scrutiny (lack of) at Tees Valley Combined Authority and Neville Trotter.

Big screen attraction

For years, the North East’s screen industry story was often told in terms of potential. The locations were here. The talent was here. The appetite was certainly here. What was missing was the infrastructure and investment needed to turn occasional productions into a sustainable industry.

According to new figures from North East Screen, that picture is beginning to change rapidly. The agency’s oven-fresh impact report says film and television production has generated £88.5m in gross value added for the regional economy over the past four years, while creating the equivalent of 1,419 full-time jobs since 2022.

Production spend in the region has risen by 83% to £72.5m, while filming days have increased by 58% as productions stay longer and make greater use of local crews, suppliers and locations. Sam Wonfor has more in Cultured. North East.

A quick word

The beach at Low Newton-by-the-Sea in Northumberland has been judged the best in the North. The annual Times and Sunday Times 50 Best UK Beaches, also praises fellow Northumberland beach Seahouses North, Tynemouth Longsands and Roker in Sunderland. A public consultation has been launched on plans to bring bus services in the region back under public control through a franchise agreement - one of North East mayor Kim McGuinness’ priorities. You can give your feedback here. Northumberland councillors have voted against supporting plans to reintroduce lynx to some northern parts of England, although a final decision rests with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Redhills in Durham, the former home of the Pitman’s Parliament, has been upgraded to Grade II listed status after its £14m restoration. The New Light Art, a charity championing Northern talent, is closing after an unsuccessful bid to Arts Council England for funding. The Environment Agency has lifted its advice against swimming in beaches in Hartlepool, Redcar, Saltburn and Marske after a main sewage pipe burst in Middlesbrough. An investigation is continuing into the leak.

Northumbria University is awarding honorary degrees to 14 people at its summer graduation ceremonies, in recognition of their outstanding achievements across the worlds of stage and screen, sport, science, business, law and the creative arts.

They include actress Jill Halfpenny, cricketer Mark Wood, screenwriter Peter Straughan, Centre for Life chief executive Linda Conlon and writer Michael Chaplin.

Football Lionness Beth Mead, Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson and further education stalwart Mark White are all to receive Teesside University honorary doctorates.

Restaurant week returns

More than 130 restaurants have already signed up to take part in what will be the biggest Newcastle Restaurant Week in the event’s 15-year history. Diners will be able to eat for £15, £20 or £25 per person during the seven days which begin on Monday August 3. The NE1 website has details on the venues taking part. The event is being run in association with Tyne and Wear Metro.

Business bites

Esh Group has reported its best ever financial year with pre-tax profits up from £5m to £15m and a 17% increase in turnover to £311m. Chief Executive Andy Radcliffe said: “The level of profitability achieved is more appropriate for a business operating on our scale and in our chosen market segments. We are back to where we should be.” Newcastle-based Peacocks Medical Group has opened a manufacturing base in Sheffield after launching its own brand product range and a number of exclusive UK distribution agreements with clinical product makers. David Stevens, chief executive at the 123-year-old business, said: “This is a defining moment. We enter this next phase as a stronger, faster and more capable organisation.” Wealth management group Fairstone has bought two independent financial advice firms in Aberdeen and opened a new hub office on the outskirts of the Granite City. Team Valley-based IT services firm TSG has completed a multi-million-pound takeover of Maidenhead-based Creative Computing Solutions. Sunderland-headquartered OnPath Energy has opened an office in Cambridge. The company is now working to identify potential new sites for onshore wind farms across the south of England.

Virgin Media should maybe take a look at how Hays Travel deals with customers. The Sunderland-based company has been ranked seventh in the July all-sector UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), the country’s largest and longest-running study of customer service performance. Sports and orthopaedic supplier Brace-Yourself, which is the exclusive UK distributor for a new range of products by Novak Djokovic, has secured a £150,000 investment to expand capacity. The North Shields company supplied the grey knee sleeve that Djokovic famously wore at Wimbledon in 2024 after knee surgery. The Tees Valley Combined Authority has eight vacancies in its finance team. The roles they are looking to fill include head of financial management and head of financial accounting. The latest impact report from the Entrepreneurs’ Forum shows a 35% increase in peer-to-peer mentorship. Chief executive Elaine Stroud said: “The increase reflects the fact that founders want practical, honest support from people who understand what it takes to build and lead a business.” Debmat Surfacing has been acquired through a buy in management buyout (BIMBO), supported by a seven-figure investment. The new ownership team includes Nick Shilling, the former MD of Thompson’s of Prudhoe, and Ian Wilkin, a former CFO and COO of a New York-based real estate private equity firm. Frans Calje is stepping down after 10 years as PD Ports chief executive and will be replaced by COO Paul Foreman on September 1.

1988 ad break

Most of you will surely remember the A-ha video for their single Take on Me with its blend of live action and pencil-sketch animation - where singer Morten Harket broke out of the pages and into the real world to ‘get the girl’. That video was directed by a clever gentleman called Steve Barron who was also responsible for Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing video and Billie Jean by Michael Jackson.

He also directed this McEwans Lager ad from 1988 featuring the Chinheads. The song Something So Real was written and performed by Edinburgh pop‑soul trio The Love Decree who released it as a single in 1989 where it was a minor UK hit but made No.1 in Scotland, keeping Black Box’s Ride On Time out of the top spot.

The idea of upside-down faces was not new - but Barron made the video visually unforgettable.

THE WIDER VIEW

Small pill, big change

Weight-loss jabs have been with us for some time. Monday saw them launch in tablet form - and that could mark a fundamental change in our society.

This is not simply the launch of another medicine, says Stefano Hatfield in The i Paper. It is potentially the start of a profound shift in how Britain thinks about weight, health and personal responsibility.

“The implications stretch beyond medicine cabinets and GP surgeries. They could reshape everything from supermarkets and restaurants to pubs, gyms, employers and, ultimately, the NHS.

“Drugs such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic have already begun rewriting that story. But injections, however effective, have always represented a psychological hurdle. A tablet changes everything.

“Swallowing a pill feels familiar,” he says. “It’s routine, almost ordinary. That simple difference could attract millions who would never have considered an injectable treatment. If the unprecedented demand before launch is any guide, Britain may be about to witness one of the fastest changes in public health behaviour in modern times.”

And that raises fascinating questions. What happens to an industry built around slimming clubs, calorie-counting apps and diet plans? What happens to the food and drink sectors if more people consume considerably less? Will gym memberships be driven by fitness and bulking rather than weight loss? Even employers may see improved health and lower sickness absence.

The ripple effects could be enormous.

‘A trifecta of chaos’

After last week’s explainer video on Brexit, I didn’t expect to be featuring the excellent Ros Atkins from BBC Verify again quite so soon.

This is an important subject, however: why does a pint cost so much - a question that is particularly relevant when so many are being consumed (and thrown into the air) during the World Cup.

It’s nine minutes long but you learn just how small the small profit margin is on a pint, the high level of duty taken by the government compared to other countries, and you get to hear the phrase “a trifecta of chaos”.

Nicholas

‘Your boys took a hell of a beating’

Talking of the World Cup, England’s next game is against Norway tomorrow night. For those of us of a certain vintage it will revive memories of 1981 when the Scandanavians beat England 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier - in an era when the result was considered a major shock.

The game is best remembered for an exultant Norwegian TV commentator who celebrated the victory by rattling off the names of every famous English person he could think of - Winston Churchill, Henry Cooper and Lady Diana among them - and concluded with: “Your boys took a hell of a beating.”

Everyone should hear this at least once in their lifetime.

Yes, the headline above says A One and not A Aye - something that had become a rarity until the death toll on the main highway through Northumberland took a sad turn of events recently.

Former Tory MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan says civil servants in Whitehall “hated” the idea of dualling the road.

The main article today comes from the compelling Professor Bob Hudson who takes a closer look at the strange death of Durham High School. There’s more to come on this story, I’m sure.

Tees Valley. Team Valley. Only two letters of a difference - but after my mistake on Friday I was told: “There are plenty of examples of mistakes acting as the inspiration for great ideas - this might be one.”

I have to leave this inadvertent great idea with Mayor Kim McGuinness.

Also today there’s the prospect of a £200m shortfall in the finances of North East councils, the 19 towns from the region hoping for cultural glory and a ‘People’s History’ of Newcastle United is about to be published by acclaimed author Dan Jackson.

Keep trying

Former Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan made dualling the A1 a key point of her election campaigns. She had a chance to exert real influence when she was appointed Transport Secretary in September 2022. Unfortunately she was only in position for 49 days because she was a Liz Truss appointment.

With fresh calls to reopen the case for dualling, Trevelyan has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that civil servants “hated” the scheme and frustrated attempts to get the project done.

“It was hard, levelling up was hard, we were fighting a system,” she said. “The civil service simply didn’t want to do it. I tried and failed on this, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying. Otherwise, the North remains the poor relation.”

Fair for all

Newcastle council leader Colin Ferguson said “fair funding” for local government needs to be high on the agenda for whoever replaces Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

“Andy Burnham talked about greater devolution for regions, which we would welcome, but it can’t just be funding for regional mayors. Local councils, and cities like Newcastle, must have a seat at the table, better funding, and greater freedom to act,” he said.

In something of an echo, Northumberland Conservative councillor Nick Oliver said local authorities needed the “freedom and financing they need to deliver locally”.

The calls follow a warning by the Local Government Association that North East councils are facing a shortfall of more than £200m over the next three years.”

People’s history of NUFC

The ‘People’s History’ of Newcastle United is being told in a new book by bestselling author Dan Jackson.

Howay the Lads!, published this autumn, traces the club’s journey from its Victorian roots to the modern era, arguing that Newcastle United’s fortunes offer a window into the wider social and cultural history of the region.

The acclaimed author of The Northumbrians examines the club’s rise to Edwardian football dominance, its long pursuit of silverware and its enduring relationship with the city and supporters who have remained fiercely loyal through triumph and heartbreak alike. Along the way, he revisits iconic figures including Colin Veitch, Jackie Milburn and Alan Shearer.

Dan will launch the book at the Tyneside Irish Centre in Newcastle on September 3, where he will discuss the club’s origins, its place in North East culture and the characters who helped shape its history, in conversation with writer and Eyes & Ears contributor Harry Pearson. The book can be pre-ordered via Forum Books here.

A Team game

The Team Valley Trading Estate is big - but not big enough to accept devolved responsibilities from central government.

It’s one of the UK’s largest and most significant commercial estates, a community of more than 700 businesses spread over 700 acres providing jobs to well over 20,000 people. And PM-elect Andy Burnham is said to be ready for a “devolution blitz”.

But that won’t include Team Valley - no matter what I said in the third paragraph to my introduction to Friday’s Eyes & Ears!!! I meant Tees Valley Combined Authority but I typed Team Valley. Grrrr.

It turns out, however, that there may have been an element of inadvertent genius about my writing. After admitting my mistake on LinkedIn, Alexander Rose, Head of Public Funding at Ward Hadaway responded:

“There are plenty of examples of mistakes acting as the inspiration for great ideas - this might be one. The Team Valley trading estate already makes an important contribution to the North East economy, but it could do more with the right support. If it was set up as a Mayoral Development Zone then it might be able to achieve its full potential and become one of the examples of “good growth” in “every postcode” cited by Andy Burnham.”

I know that Mayor Kim McGuinness is a reader…

Fort’s Lottery boost

Britain’s most complete Roman fort has been given a funding boost to improve its status still further. English Heritage has been awarded a development grant of £286,623 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Shared Horizons Project at Housesteads in Northumberland.

Lying midway along Hadrian’s Wall, Housesteads was built within a decade of AD 122, when work on the Wall began. It was garrisoned by an 800-strong infantry regiment until the end of the 4th century. Tony Henderson has more in Cultured. North East.

A quick word

The Metro train on which Queen Elizabeth travelled when she officially opened the system in 1981 has been donated to the North East Land Sea and Air Museum in Washington where it will go on public display. Shareholders in Newcastle-based Atom Bank are considering halting the sale process because no bidder has met their £600m valuation target. The North East Chamber of Commerce has launched the Inspiring Women in Business Awards 2026 to recognise the achievements of women making a difference in their organisations, industries and communities, while also celebrating employers that are creating inclusive workplaces. A record 13,000 people took part in the Great North 10k yesterday, running a changed route through Newcastle which began and ended on the Great North Road where the Great North Run begins. Seven out of eight theatres at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton ended up under water during heavy rain last month meaning more than 400 patients had planned surgeries postponed.

Forest go-ahead

The High Court has given the go ahead for the planting of England’s largest new commercial forest in decades at Greencroft Forest near Lanchester in County Durham.

Harry Humble of True North Asset Partners said: “It is regrettable that this Judicial Review has taken up so much time and money. Now that the case has been resolved, we hope to move forward with the planting and delivering the significant economic, ecological and environmental benefits the forest will bring.”

Lanchester Properties has lodged an application for permission to appeal. Caroline Cleary-MacArthur, a director of the family-owned firm, said: “We have never opposed tree planting; we recognise the importance of increasing woodland cover and tackling climate change. However, planting commercial non-native Sitka Spruce forests on this scale, directly alongside villages and with little or no public access, is something we believe is fundamentally wrong for the environment.”

Long longlist

Nineteen North East towns are awaiting news of whether they have made the shortlist for the inaugural UK Town of Culture competition after their bids were showcased in a national exhibition in Liverpool.

From Berwick to Redcar, the region is strongly represented among the 398 bids submitted.

Ahead of the shortlist announcement, expected by the end of July, each of the bidding towns was invited to create a postcard celebrating its identity and cultural ambitions.

The digital display was unveiled at the Museum of Liverpool this week where Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy viewed the exhibition alongside judging panel chair Sir Phil Redmond.

Sam Wonfor at Cultured. North East has more here - and also produced this video of the North East postcards.

Out - bull before wicket

You’ll have heard of a bull in a china shop, but what about a bull on a cricket field?

It happened at the weekend, causing the North East Premier League fixture at Burnopfield to be abandoned after a runaway bull charged at players and avoided several capture attempts - including something of a honey trap.

“At first it was quite novel, it was quite funny – but we never thought it was going to impact on our game being abandoned,” said cricket club director Martin Oswell. “In a bid to lure the animal off the field, the bull’s owner brought a cow to the cricket club, though this proved unsuccessful.”

Burnopfield CC were disappointed the match had to be called off - they are second top of the table and had already scored 226 runs against Hetton Lyons.

‘Break up to build’

Allies of Andy Burnham are urging him to break up Homes England - the non‑departmental public body currently chaired by former Newcastle council chief executive Pat Ritchie - if he wants to deliver on his council house building revolution.

Homes England has been too slow and clunky at delivering affordable housing from Whitehall, said Dr Simon Kaye, director of policy at the Re:State think-tank, whose advisory board includes Conservative and Labour figures. Scrapping it would be a “game-changer”, he told The i Paper.

Burnham was one of the advisers for a 2025 Re:State report which said it would be more efficient to give public money directly to regional bodies to buy land and get homes built. “I hope he sees that it fits really neatly with his devolution instincts,” said Dr Kaye.

Steve Rotheram, the Labour Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, a close ally of Burnham, said the next prime minister should give “established mayoral authorities greater control over housing investment, helping us build more homes – including council housing”.

Chinese whispers: The strange death of Durham High School

By Bob Hudson

1884: the Fabian Society and the NSPCC are founded; the first Marks and Spencer store is opened; and Durham High School for Girls opens its doors. The first three are still thriving, whereas the High School is gone with barely a day’s notice to pupils, parents and staff. Until recently Durham High School (DHS) was an autonomous award-winning independent school, having been named Independent Secondary School of the Year for the North East (2024) by the Sunday Times. The future looked assured. So - what’s going on?

The Takeover

In 2024, DHS was acquired by Galaxy Global Education (GGE) as part of its expansion into the UK independent school sector. The stated mission of the company is to operate independent schools and promote international educational opportunities. Two other schools were also acquired – Malvern St James (Worcestershire) and Ruthin School (North Wales). In September 2024 a new UK company – Durham Education Limited – was incorporated to run operations at DHS, under the umbrella of GGE serving as the parent company of all the acquired schools.

The Closure

Whatever bright future the governing body of DHS might have anticipated from the takeover, rapidly dissipated. Activity seemed normal in 2025 and early 2026, with ongoing marketing and pupil enrolment (including becoming co-educational in the senior school), buttressed by a positive inspection that praised leadership, education and pastoral care. Even in June of this year the school was publishing newsletters promoting admissions.

Suddenly, on July 2 Galaxy Global announced the closure of DHS. The explanation was familiar – that rising costs, declining enrolment and the introduction of VAT on school fees had made the school financially unviable. The decision was accompanied by a glut of sympathy for all affected, along with an assurance that the priority for GGE had always been the welfare of the pupils.

Meanwhile at the other two schools acquired by GGE a similar story was emerging, with both Malvern St James (founded 1893) and Ruthin School (astonishingly founded 1284) peremptorily closed. In the case of Malvern, the local council fought to keep the school open and there was talk of an alternative investor, but to no avail. Ruthin had even published its autumn return dates but was closed with minimal notice.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to lose one school may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness; to lose all three looks damn suspicious!

The Response

The response from parents, pupils, staff and politicians has been frantic and emotional. Parents, and students of DHS, along with staff and trade unions, have held angry demonstrations outside the school, with their venom aimed at the owners of GGE. Durham City MP, Mary Foy, has condemned the decision as ‘abhorrent’, and said the reasons given for the closure are ‘completely disingenuous’.

Meanwhile, in an explosive farewell message, Mike Parker, the director of marketing and admissions at DHS said: ‘Whatever you read, this isn’t a VAT story. It isn’t a falling rolls or unstoppable decline story. The truth is deeper and more complex and eventually truth will out’. This is a startling statement from someone with a ringside seat and suggests we need to know much more about GGE, rather than fretting about Bridget Phillipson’s VAT on school fees.

So… What Do We Know About GGE?

All fingers now seem to be pointing to GGE itself, so, what do we know about them? The answer is surprisingly little. GGE was only incorporated in April 2025 (with a mere £100 of share capital) and has not yet filed its first statutory accounts. This means it is not possible to assess its available cash, debt levels, profitability, liquidity, dividends or inter-company lending – say from Durham Education Ltd to its parent company, GGE.

The organizational structure of GGE is equally opaque. Unlike a conventional UK education group, GGE is a trading name rather than a single transparent corporate group. It seems to be spread across several UK companies, school-specific operating companies and overseas entities. In particular a company (or individual) called Twelve Behind Cay Inc is listed as one of two ‘ultimate beneficial owners’, but other than being based in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands, information is at a premium.

The published group leadership includes some known UK names such as Lord Vaizey (an ex-Conservative Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy) and Nicholas Grenfell-Marten, former Chairman of the Independent Schools Bursars Association. However, it is clear where power lies – Shangqin Gao, who holds 75% or more of the shares and voting rights, has the right to appoint or remove directors, and is a Chinese national, resident in the UK.

Additional information about Gao is hard to come by but she controls a company related to GGE called Galaxy Capital Real Estate Ltd, a company that was incorporated in 2023 – two years before GGE. The company is currently dormant but questions will understandably be asked about the school land and buildings of DHS, Malvern and Ruthin, since these are the most valuable assets – large acres of land, Victorian and later school buildings, sports facilities and car parks. With planning permission, this could amount to a very lucrative real estate development.

Where Next?

Chinese ownership of critical UK infrastructure is not unusual. It is estimated that this investment currently amounts to not far shy of £200 billion spread across real estate, utility networks, water supply, gas networks, transport hubs and electricity distribution. However, investment in, and ownership of, our schools is a new realm of activity, that leaves those dependent on these establishments in a position of sheer powerlessness.

It is well-nigh impossible to secure accountability from such an opaque entity as GGE and its associated web of companies. Parents, staff and politicians are of the view that the company is intent on asset-stripping these schools, but find it impossible to get proper answers or even some redress for their plight. They gather, shout and brandish placards at the school gates, but the owners are not present, not visible and not listening. We have a new problem crying out for a new solution.

Bob Hudson,
Visiting Professor in Public Policy,
University of Sunderland.

Brexit - the facts

Eyes & Ears is independent, politically-neutral - but North East biased. I didn’t say too much when the tenth anniversary of the Brexit vote happened nearly two weeks ago. I thought you might like to see this, however.

The BBC’s Ros Atkins has built up a reputation for fact‑driven ‘explainer journalism’, producing short, tightly edited videos that distil complicated events into clear sequences of evidence.

Here he turns his factual, direct style of reporting to the issue that divided our nation in 2016. It’s not as brief as most of his explainers - it’s more than 16 minutes - but nor should you expect it to be.

I start today with a story that will surely develop as the days go on - the decision by a Chinese company to close a historic private school in Durham.

Bosses deny being asset-strippers but this is the third school they have closed and all are in desirable locations with large campuses.

Important business was discussed at the Tees Valley Combined Authority but the lack of scrutiny did not impress senior journalist Peter Morris. “At TVCA, failure is a collective achievement,” he commented.

Sunderland’s own George Clarke likes the sound of Andy Burnham’s plan to build loads more council houses - and wants to help. And Sunderland MP Bridget Phillipson says white working-class children must possess exceptional talent or be lucky to achieve success in Britain today. Good job she’s Education Secretary then.

Also this week: Remembering Neville Trotter, Bowie at Bowes, senior Greggs exec to retire after 28 years, 30 students secure airport jobs and Sir Ian McKellen’s love letter to England.

Brian Aitken
Editor

School lessons

The historic Durham High School announced on Wednesday it will shut its doors at the end of term after 142 years - but ‘Chinese whispers’ about the closure of the prestigious private school are getting louder.

Former business journalist Mike Parker, the school’s director of marketing, wrote on LinkedIn: “Whatever you read, this isn’t a VAT story. It isn’t a ‘falling rolls, unstoppable decline’ story. The truth is deeper and more complex and, eventually, the truth will out.”

The truth may be coming out already.

Durham High School was taken over by Chinese company Global Galaxy Education (GGE) less than two years ago. The company also announced on Wednesday that the even more historic Ruthin, a boarding school in Denbighshire which was founded in 1284, would close with immediate effect.

This comes just a few months after GGE was accused of asset-stripping by parents when it announced the closure of Malvern St James in Worcestershire just a year after taking over the school.

All three schools are in desirable areas with spacious campuses, reports The Times.

City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy was critical of the Chinese owners. “If what I have been told is correct, GGE and other overseas companies may plan to hoover up further independent schools around the country,” she told the Northern Echo. “My words to the governors of any schools would be this - proceed with caution and do not let what has happened in Durham be repeated elsewhere.

“I remain in full contact with the senior leadership team at the school, and a number of families who have reached out in the last few days. I can assure them that I plan to pursue this matter so those responsible for their abject failure to over 280 children and more than 100 staff in Durham face the consequences of their actions.”

‘Failure a collective achievement’

Tees Valley Combined Authority held its AGM last week at the end of a turbulent year, during which it has been under a best value notice imposed by the government and lost its top legal and financial officials - not long after also losing its chief executive.

Peter Morris was there to report for North East Bylines - all two minutes and 23 seconds of it.

“Immediately after the AGM its cabinet held an ordinary meeting,” he reported. “These were ideal opportunities for the five cabinet members to question the mayor, Lord Ben Houchen, and senior officials about the events of the past year and prospects for the 12 months to come.

“Weighty matters like the budget and treasury management, the best value notice and the local growth plan, resulted not surprisingly in an agenda of 15 items and 366 pages. But the cabinet got through the lot in 26 mins 44secs.”

The lack of scrutiny drew critical comment from Peter. “TVCA may fairly be judged an organisational failure,” he said. “The chummy atmosphere and lack of challenge of major reports, some dealing in hundreds of millions of pounds, is evidence that this failure is not just one man’s, the mayor’s. At TVCA, failure is a collective achievement.”

Building support

Let’s hope Prime Minister-elect Andy Burnham is not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Monday saw the new Makerfield MP make his first major policy speech since announcing his intention to take the keys to No.10 - even though he may not actually want to live there.

One of his main pledges was to embark on the biggest council house building programme since the postwar period. That proved something of a vote winner with Sunderland architect and TV presenter George Clarke.

Would be rude to refuse, surely?

Urgent action needed

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said white working-class children must possess either exceptional talent or luck to achieve success in Britain today.

Her comments follow an independent inquiry that concluded “once-in-a-generation reforms” are urgently required to address the persistently low attainment among white working-class pupils.

Schools North East contributed to the inquiry and director Chris Zarraga said: “The lazy explanation is that communities lack aspiration. The real issue is that too many children grow up on the wrong side of a structural divide in opportunity.”

RIP Sir Neville

There’s a certain irony that former Conservative MP Neville Trotter has passed away at a time when the government has been wrestling with the size of its defence budget - he had warned in 2011 that the coalition government’s deep defence cuts would diminish Britain’s role on the world stage.

I had a soft spot for Sir Neville, who has died aged 94. He was Tynemouth MP from 1974 to 1997 so was no longer in Parliament when I became Editor of The Journal in December 2003.

Yet once a year I would receive an hand-written letter from him inviting me to his home where wife Tiggy had prepared a wonderful selection of sandwiches. There I would receive his thoughts on the world and on the shipping, transport and defence sectors in particular.

There’s a lovely obituary from the Telegraph here.

Dual challenge

The leader of the Labour group on Northumberland County Council, Scott Dickinson, believes there will be a better chance of getting the A1 dualled if there was an Andy Burnham-led government.

Hold that thought.

Sir Neville Trotter also delighted in telling me the story of how he persuaded then Transport Secretary Cecil Parkinson and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to dual the AI in Northumberland.

Within a few months, however, neither Parkinson nor Thatcher were still in office. Geoffrey Howe - Thatcher’s longest‑serving ally - resigned and delivered a devastating Commons speech accusing her of undermining Cabinet colleagues and mishandling Europe. The turmoil in the Tory party resulted in John Major taking over as Prime Minister (without a General Election).

Wouldn’t it be something if the dualling of the A1 was stopped because of in-fighting among the Tories in 1990 and some 36 years later it could happen because of in-fighting in Labour that results in a new Prime Minister. I think Neville would look down on that with a smile on his face.

A quick word

The future of Newcastle City Baths has been secured after Greenwich Leisure, which manages more than 400 public facilities around the country, agreed a deal with the city council to take on the historic Turkish baths. The £28m redevelopment of The Maltings in Berwick is to get under way in the autumn after years of planning and consultation. Work is expected to be finished in 2028. One of the 49 saplings grown from the felled Sycamore Gap tree has been stolen from the grounds of Wray Castle, near Ambleside in Cumbria. It’s a year late but the finishing touches are being applied to Northumberland Street in Newcastle, completing a transformation that began in December 2023. Unions have ended industrial action at Haydon Bridge High School after a new leadership team was brought in to prepare the school for conversion to an academy. A partnership between Newcastle College and Newcastle Business Improvement District NE1, has seen 12 student chefs gain hands-on experience in some of the city’s leading restaurant kitchens. The initiative is part of the NE1 CAN programme. Paralympic legend Tanni Grey-Thompson has welcomed a £14.5m upgrade of her local train station at Eaglescliffe which she says has made access “light years better”. The upgrade is part of a wider programme to modernise all 26 stations across Tees Valley, following significant investment at Darlington, Billingham, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool. Rural leisure destination Whitehouse Farm near Morpeth has been served with a second enforcement notice for a planning breach and has been ordered to take down a covered walkway which was constructed during the pandemic without permission.

Bowie at Bowes

How to follow a Vivienne Westwood exhibition, asks David Whetstone in Cultured. North East? “The Bowes Museum has surely found the answer with an exhibition of more than 100 items from the David Bowie archive at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.”

The County Durham venue is included on the tour itinerary for David Bowie: On Tour, hosting what it has dubbed Bowie at The Bowes from October 2027 until January 2028.

The tour, featuring items never previously displayed in public, will open at V&A Dundee in November this year and then proceed to Blackpool before arriving at the Bowes Museum next year.

Vicky Sturrs, director of programmes and collections said: “Being selected as one of only a handful of venues to present this exhibition is a significant achievement and a real vote of confidence in The Bowes Museum.”

Business bites

Greggs CFO Richard Hutton plans to retire and step down from the board at the end of the year after 28 years with the company. Former Bakkavor Group executive Ben Waldron will join Greggs as CFO designate on October 27 and take over from Richard on January 1. The North East Chamber of Commerce is inviting businesses to join a trade mission to Singapore in November which will be delivered in partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. An “exceptionally rare” development space on Newcastle’s quayside has been brought to market by Knight Frank, offering the opportunity to “deliver a landmark scheme in a sought-after location”. Last month’s Sunderland Food and Drink Festival attracted 70,000 people - 20,000 more than last year - and made an economic impact of £2.8m. The three-day event brought live entertainment, markets and international cuisine to the centre of the city. Paul Davison has been elected location head for DAC Beachcroft’s Newcastle office, taking over from Nicola Fairbairn for a three-year term. Acornfield Properties, part of The Prime Group, has secured a seven-figure investment package to fund the construction of a 80,000 sq ft commercial development in Newton Aycliffe. Thirty Newcastle College students have secured jobs at Newcastle Airport after completing a programme, delivered jointly by the airport and the college’s Aviation Academy. Tyre Spot Autocentres, which has 11 retail sites in the North East and a distribution hub in County Durham, has been taken over by national tyre distributor Micheldever Tyre Services. The sites will be rebranded as Protyre Autocare. Halifax has been a high street brand for 173 years but it will disappear completely over the next few months with the branches converting to Lloyds. Northumberland County Council has launched a collaborative network in Berwick to boost jobs, skills and wellbeing for residents and businesses.

1975 ad break

Pretty sure I’ve already shown you this Parker pens ad from 1975 but I wanted to mark the passing of Penelope Keith this week by showing you one of her ads - and this is so much better than the one she did for Heinz soup or the car ad she did with Tom Conti and Sir Humphrey from Yes Minister. Enjoy a fantastic actress showing young ladies how to spend daddy’s money.

THE WIDER VIEW

Treasury island

If Andy Burnham wants to turbocharge his ambitions by having a “devolution blitz”, he must do more than choose the right chancellor - he has to bring the Treasury with him.

Burnham’s unique mix of experience in cabinet, shadow cabinet and as mayor may well enable him to achieve this, say Professor Dave Richards of Manchester University and politics lecturer Sam Warner of Bristol University. “But the fundamental issue of the need for the Treasury to loosen its grip is a central, yet overlooked, challenge,” they write in an article for The Conversation.

The pair are two of the four authors of a new book, The Myth of Treasury Control - 150 interviews (including Burnham), 384 pages, 125 quid so it should be good.

“As we show in our new book, the Treasury’s guiding principles have barely shifted, despite a decade of English devolution,” they say. “It still treats greater fiscal autonomy as something to be earned, not a governing principle. This sits uneasily alongside Burnham’s ambitions, which place local flexibility at the heart of economic and social reform.”

Nicholas

‘Who are ya?’

A short video featuring Sir Ian McKellen narrating A Love Letter to England has been released as the country continues to cheer on the nation’s footballers in their bid for World Cup glory.

The poem was written by James Graham, playwright of Dear England, and produced for the civic initiative The National Conversation in which members of the public are encouraged to submit a 60-second voice note sharing their views and visions on what unites the country.

The words are shaped by early responses to the campaign and are intended to keep the shared spirit alive after the World Cup ends. You can click here to make a contribution. Submissions can be made until the end of August.

Speaking about offering these words of support to the England team and its supporters, Graham said: “Gareth Southgate started his preparation for the World Cup by asking the team, what is England? We can’t expect our footballers to play with pride unless we are all clear about what it means to them, to us, about what unites and defines us.

“This short film is my attempt to contribute to that vision of what connects us. But it’s not just mine, it’s inspired by The National Conversation.”

Where to begin? Possibly Sunderland where there was an interesting mix of logic and timing in the council chamber as the new Reform administration voted to repeal the 2019 climate emergency declaration - on the very day a rare Red Extreme Heat Warning came into force covering much of the country.

And the logic? Well, there can’t be a climate emergency, apparently, because polar bears aren’t extinct and the Maldives “hasn’t” sunk. Good indicators to watch out for.

There’s an update on John Dance and his “lavish lifestyle” with a bank making a voluntary payment of more that £31m to clients of his Newcastle-based wealth management company.

The new CEO of Northumberland National Park outlines his vision, and a new production of Jesus Christ Superstar is coming to Newcastle and Sunderland next year. Sam Ryder is playing the lead role - saving much time in the make-up room, I think.

‘Attack journalism’ is as old as the newspaper industry itself. Even in the 17th century, editors realised that sustained attacks on individuals were commercially successful, politically useful and remarkably effective at shaping public opinion.

Eventually the attack either exhausts itself or culminates in resignation, electoral defeat, public retreat or reputational collapse. By then another target has usually emerged.

With Sir Keir Starmer preparing to exit stage left, this is where Andy Burnham comes in, as journalist and author Bethany Usher writes in her column for us today. Dr Usher, Director of Education for the School of Arts and Culture at Newcastle University, knows her history and says we have just witnessed one of the most effective media-led political assassinations of modern times.

Meanwhile, the Hoppings are over for another year. I can’t remember the last time I was at a funfair but the prizes have changed a lot, judging by this pic that was sent to me by contributor Jack Arthurs who was at Newcastle’s Town Moor yesterday.

“The heady scent of candy floss, wet straw, toffee apples, diesel generator fumes, burgers and fried onions, and chips with industrial lashings of salt and vinegar.” Now, that’s more in keeping with my memories.

The words are from Tony Henderson. He and artist Peter Dixon end today’s edition with a great piece from our archives as they relive the Hoppings of yesteryear - when it was deemed a failure to go home without a coconut.

Hot topic

They say timing is everything. Sunderland’s new Reform administration has rescinded the council’s climate emergency declaration.

The decision was made at the full council meeting on Wednesday, the start of the record‑breaking June heatwave and the day a rare Red Extreme Heat Warning came into force covering much of England and Wales.

The motion to repeal the 2019 declaration was propopsed by Councillor Bill Blackett who told the meeting: “Polar bears are not extinct, their numbers are increasing. The Maldives hasn’t sunk. In short, there is no climate emergency.”

As mentioned in these columns previously, the council also voted to end its involvement in the nationwide City of Sanctuary scheme.

Bank pays £31m

Caceis UK will pay £31.7m to former clients of John Dance’s collapsed WealthTek empire after the Financial Conduct Authority found the bank failed to act on clear warnings about the Newcastle-based firm’s activities, leaving investors exposed to financial crime.

The voluntary payout adds to more than £56m already recovered as Dance awaits trial in September next year on fraud and money‑laundering charges, which he denies.

The FCA described the case as “one of the most serious and largest frauds we have ever investigated” and allege that Dance transferred more than £64m in client funds for his own use in pursuing a “lavish lifestyle” which included owning a string of racehorses and a nightclub.

Whyzat?

Talking of timing, England cricket captain Ben Stokes has announced he is retiring from Test cricket. He told team-mates yesterday morning just before going out to play the fourth day of the third and deciding Test match against New Zealand.

His decision was made public just before tea. He then re-entered the field to a standing ovation from the Trent Bridge crowd - and took a wicket with his very next bowl. It’s another ‘you couldn’t make it up’ story from Stokes - one of many he has created throughout his career.

There will be a lot more to come on the reasons behind his decision and the timing of it. As things stand, however, Durham fans will be seeing a lot more of the 35-year-old at the Riverside this summer.

Park vision

Just four people have run the Northumberland National Park Authority since it was formed 70 years ago - and one of them only took up the post last month.

Former Natural England regional director David Renwick is the man with the not inconsiderable task of taking over from Tony Gates.

“I was fortunate to spend some time with Tony,” said David in an interview in the Hexham Courant. “He fully understood and championed the role and value of national parks to society, something I’m keen to continue as we move forward into an exciting new chapter in the national park’s story.”

David’s vision for the authority involves an emphasis on greater access, collaborative working, and conservation impact beyond park boundaries.

A quick word

A new production of rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar is going on tour next year with Sam Ryder in the lead role - he already has the hair for the part. It will be at Newcastle Theatre Royal from March 16-27 and Sunderland Empire from September 14-18. Northumbrian Water has been named Water Company of the Year at the prestigious Water Industry Awards 2026 with judges recognising its strong performance for customers, the environment and innovation. Northumbria University has been named one of the 50 GREAT British Employers of Veterans 2026 - the definitive national ranking of Forces Friendly organisations in the UK. Schools North East director Chris Zarraga has criticised government plans to scrap the PE and Sport Premium for primary schools next year and introduce a new School Sport Partnerships Network. The Kirkharle Courtyard parkrun in Northumberland has had to be cancelled for the second week in a row. The reason? Migrating frogs. Plans for a six-storey four star hotel overlooking Durham’s cricket ground in Chester-le-Street have been approved. Financial pressures are behind Northumberland racehorse trainer Paul Robson’s decision to hand in his licence. He took over the Hazlerigg stables from Rose Dobbin in 2024 but is moving to take up a position with Nicky Richard’s yard in Penrith.

‘There’s nothing like it’

Claire Malcolm, founding chief executive of New Writing North, opened her remarks at a lively Northern Writers’ Awards celebration and showcase with an update on the proposed new centre for writing and publishing in Newcastle.

“We are about to buy the Old Post Office,” she said.

Seven years in the planning (although with several previous possible sites looked at), £10.7m had been raised and “a new generation of storytellers” would soon see the benefits of the proposed facility opposite St Nicholas’ Cathedral.

It would enable a scaling up of activity, creating new opportunities for young people and new creative jobs. “You’ll be able to grow up here, dream of becoming a writer or publisher and not have to leave the North East to do it.

“We’re creating something completely unique with a vision that is all our own,” said Claire, who started New Writing North 30 years ago with a room, a typewriter and virtually a blank sheet of paper. “There’s nothing like it in the world. We’ll take stories from the North to the world and bring the world’s stories back here.”

David Whetstone has the full story in Cultured. North East.

Now the attack moves to Burnham

By Bethany Usher

Keir Starmer is gone. Just two years after a landslide election victory, Britain has witnessed one of the most effective media-led political assassinations of modern times. The cannons of the press barely fell silent before turning towards their next target, Andy Burnham, now heir apparent for the top job.

There are many legitimate criticisms of Starmer’s government. Democracies depend upon rigorous scrutiny of those in power and incredulous own goals such as the Mandelson fiasco certainly raised questions about his judgement.

But there was also a sustained attack that shaped public opinion and in this, right-wing press and social media campaigns won the day.

Attack journalism’s power lies in accumulation. An individual’s visibility is rapidly increased while the range of acceptable interpretations of them are deliberately narrowed. Political disagreement becomes personal judgement, structural problems become character flaws, information becomes instruction and repetition becomes a weapon.

We’ve all witnessed a press attack against a celebrity or politician. Willingly or unwittingly, we may have joined in by clicking on content, comments and subtweets, shares and likes. In stat-driven newsrooms, popularity means that more of the same is produced and other publications follow suit. Algorithms now turbocharge attacks by pushing similar stories and content.

As a bombardment of similar narratives appear across multiple publications and platforms, they become seen as common sense rather than editorial construction. Descriptive adjectives are inseparable from the person’s actions: radical, weak, dangerous, bizarre, extremist, woke, elitist, ludicrous, shameful. Character overtakes conduct as television debates reinforce newspaper headlines, opinion columns echo broadcasters and on social media both real people and paid for political bots, largely hosted in Russia, amplify it all.

Eventually the attack either exhausts itself or culminates in resignation, electoral defeat, public retreat or reputational collapse. By then another target has usually emerged.

But none of this is new…

Attack journalism was baked into news at its seventeenth-century origins in newsbooks and pamphlets. Long before the tabloid press, broadcast and online news, newspapers discovered that sustained attacks on individuals were commercially successful, politically useful and remarkably effective at shaping public opinion. While technologies changed, its representational methods are consistent, making attack one of the longest sustained genres in British journalism itself.

The first example appeared during the English Civil War. Parliamentarian newsbooks rhetorically criminalised Charles I by borrowing the language of crime pamphlets and anti-Catholic propaganda. The King was transformed from divinely appointed monarch into the embodiment of tyranny, a murderer and a common criminal.

As newspapers and celebrity culture expanded during the 18th century, attack journalism acquired another enduring characteristic as gossip became linked to political and social comment.

This began when an anonymous politico named “Junius” collapsed the distinction between public conduct and private morality, arguing that the two were inseparable. Sexual indiscretions, drinking habits and rumour became evidence of corrupt and hypocritical character of aristocratic ruling elites.

By the end of the 18th century, newspapers increasingly attacked those who challenged established political, social and cultural norms by transforming structural debates into stories about individual morality and “othering” based on elements of class and gender.

Radical journalist Thomas Paine – whose work steered the American and French revolutions – was not simply criticised for his arguments but became the story. Newspapers dismissed him as “Mad Tom”, a “lunatic”, a “traitor”, “a public pest” from the “lower orders”. His working-class background became evidence of intellectual and moral inferiority.

Similarly, when Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire – whose story was later immortalised in the Keira Knightley film The Duchess – became the first celebrity political campaigner, she was vilified because she was a woman daring to speak up in public. Newspapers quickly reduced her work to discussions of appearance and body, friendships, marriage, gambling and alleged sexual affairs.

By the 20th century these methods were a norm of reportage when a celebrity was perceived to threaten social orders. For example, when David Bowie’s challenged norms of masculinity and gender, newspapers fixated on his appearance, manhood and repeatedly described him as “bizarre”, “camp” and “dangerous”.

More recently, the attack on Meghan Markle reflected fears about modern, racially diverse Britain. Coverage repeatedly returned to nationality, motherhood, personality and even inferred gang associations. Stories about avocados, baby showers or holding a baby bump may appear trivial in isolation but collectively they created a persistent narrative of difference, entitlement and threat.

What comes next for Andy Burnham?

We don’t have to look far back into attack journalism’s long history to predict what happens next. Just over a decade ago, the press’ vicious attack on former Labour leader Ed Miliband provides a contemporary template and as he is a close political ally of Burnham, it is likely to take a similar form.

The attack on Miliband also rhymed with history. The charge was led by The Sun while the one against Thomas Paine, by Murdoch-owned stable-mate The Times. Separated by more than two centuries the rhetorical similarities are extraordinary.

Paine was dismissed as “Mad Tom” whereas Miliband became “Red Ed” who would “defile” number 10 with “socialist lunacy”. Both were “barmy” and wanted “class war”. Paine was “envious” of his “superiors” and Miliband’s programme was described as “the politics of envy”. Paine’s demands for working class rights were presented as a threat to the nation and Miliband’s ideas as a “horror story” that would bring about social and economic ruin. Both had their masculinity questioned, with newspapers joking about Paine’s breeches being found in the water closet and Miliband was repeatedly portrayed as a man who would never “wear the trousers”. His awkward smile, body language and even how he ate a bacon sandwich, all became shorthand for political inadequacy.

As the cannons now turn on Burnham, expect his political programme to be reduced to a single ideological label such as “red”, “hard left”, “radical” or “socialist”. Discussions of inequality will be portrayed as the politics of envy.

In the past week across news and opinion sections there are already more than a hundred negative stories about Burnham. The Express argue he should “terrify Britain”, has “already failed the UK” and “doesn’t know what a woman is”. The Daily Mail declare he is “plotting wealth tax raid” and like Miliband is a “net zero nut job”. He is advised by “quasi-Marxists” and “high tax fanatics” and, according to Nigel Farage in a new exclusive column, has orchestrated a “brazen” “coup” that is reminiscent of a “banana republic”.

The Telegraph declare that his eyelashes are the most “interesting thing about him” and consider debates as to whether “Bambi Burnham” who “the girls and the gays” will love, wears mascara. The Sun declare he is a man with “no plan” and consider the “chaotic life” of his wife who, shock horror, once appeared on ITV’s Blind Date with Cilla Black.

But in Miliband, Burnham also has an ally who understands how this works and, in the past, has proven himself unafraid of taking on the British press. As such, whom Burnham appointments as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is key.

British regulation has long recognised that persistent pursuit can amount to harassment. It is time to recognise that persistent personalised publication can also become a distinct form of media harm. IPSO and Ofcom remain largely designed to assess individual articles and broadcasts, yet attack journalism derives its influence from cumulative publication across newspapers, broadcasters, websites and social media. The regulatory framework should evolve to recognise that reality.

Nearly four centuries after newsbooks first turned political opponents into moral threats, the paper bullets are now digital, but the method endures. If we are serious about improving political debate, now is the time to confront one of journalism’s oldest and most damaging traditions.

• Journalist and author Dr Bethany Usher is Director of Education for the School of Arts and Culture at Newcastle University

I asked, you said…

I posted the above in last Monday’s edition and was delighted to get the following response from Jon Radgick:

“Eyes and Ears provides something that I am not aware is available anywhere else. It is a succinct digest of local news covering all sectors delivered with a dash of your personal character and humour.

“Twice a week means I can take the time to read it whereas a daily email would end up getting deleted unread. I realise that considerable effort goes into creating it and that if I and others don’t subscribe it will not survive.

“I think the price of a pint or so once a month is well worth contributing in the hope that it is worth your while to continue the good work. Good luck to you.”

You can click here if you are minded to follow Jon’s lead…

Subscribe now

Hopping back in time

In June 2024, TONY HENDERSON and artist Peter Dixon relived the days of The Hoppings on Newcastle’s Town Moor when it was deemed a failure to go home without a coconut.

Ah, the heady scent of candy floss, wet straw, toffee apples, diesel generator fumes, burgers and fried onions, and chips with industrial lashings of salt and vinegar. This was the evocative smell of The Hoppings.

Devotees of the celebrated fair will recall the long avenue of sideshows, featuring delights such as the boxing booths, striptease, animal freaks, woman in a goldfish bowl, and the motorcycle Wall of Death.

There were the stalls where the objective was to lob a ping pong ball into a goldfish bowl, a feat never ever witnessed by a living person, or to hit a playing card fixed to a wooden board with a blunt dart which always slid to the floor.

The thrill of “anything off the bottom shelf” — usually chalk ornament tat — on the bingo where players covered their numbers with bottle tops, or fired lead slugs at metal men in the shooting gallery.

For those of limited means, there was always the challenge of rolling a penny to land in the middle of a square bearing the number of coins returned if successful, dispensed at lightning speed by the proprietor wearing a Trilby hat.

But the main mission was to win a coconut, at whatever the cost. Failure to do so called into question one’s manhood, a fact exploited by an enterprising chap who set up a table at the Moor exit point selling coconuts at a premium so that the coconut-less could avoid social shame.

There’s more memories in the link below.