Reading is a life sentence
PERHAPS, like me, you remember the days when there were two kinds of reading.
View ArticleWorld class art for everyone
I’M nearly 12 years into this job now and, as most of you will know, a lot nearer the end than the beginning. I’m still learning though, which keeps me on my toes. Another constant of the job is that...
View ArticleReady to face final curtain
POLITICS is a lot like the stage. Many would say the professions are too close for comfort.
View ArticleTime to get our act together
MEANWHILE back in the real world, another day and another report on the economic prospects of the North- East, with promises of 60,000 jobs.
View ArticleTweeting against the tide of life
I’VE spent most of my adult life swimming against the tide, so it won’t surprise you that I don’t share the current obsession with social media.
View ArticleThe court of public opinion
I’M sure Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is sorry for biting a Chelsea defender and means it when he says he won’t do it again. But I wouldn’t go letting him run loose when there are livestock about...
View ArticleMandarins have got us in a jam
JUST after I was elected mayor, I was told that I must never forget how important it was for the council to work with its partner agencies.
View ArticleA salute to football’s hairdryer
“THE decision to retire is one I have thought about a great deal and one I haven’t taken lightly.”
View ArticleSavaged by an undead sheep
WHEN Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin stood down in 1937, he promised his party he would never spit on the deck or distract the captain when he was at the wheel.
View ArticleTurning the law into a soap opera
SEXUAL abuse or violence towards young people is a wicked crime and should always attract an exemplary sentence.
View ArticleA pointless piece of research
IT appears we have a new frontrunner in the race for the most pointless piece of research.
View ArticleUnsung heroes and honours
IT’S not quite a call to abolish Christmas, but I suspect it will get me accused of sour grapes, cynicism or worse. But here goes.
View ArticleAmerica’s dream is a grim reality
SO the US got to the edge of the fiscal cliff, didn’t like what it saw and moved a few steps back. We should all be relieved it did. If the world’s biggest economy had gone into recession, our own...
View ArticleSearching for an oasis of sanity
IBET a lot of people have a treasured tea service or a set of beautiful crystal glasses.
View ArticleForging a union closer to home
THIS week, the talk has been about whether or not we will stay in the European Union. I want to focus on a topic that’s a lot nearer home.
View ArticleNormal for the next generation
LIFE isn’t full of surprises. For most of us, it’s full of routine, mainly linked to the task of earning our daily bread.
View ArticleThe secret we should all discuss
LIBRARIES are great places to learn something new, as I found out the other week.
View ArticleWhy City Deal is a big deal
‘LIVING from day to day” is an expression we hear a lot as thousands of families have their expectations about jobs, living standards and security hit by the recession.
View ArticleConfession is good for the soul
TELL all you can as soon as you can. The wise advice that’s given to any individual or organisation facing allegations of scandal or cover-up must be ringing in the ears of the Liberal Democrat...
View ArticleLessons in life learned Don’s way
DURING our lives, many people influence us. For me, from my early teens to my 20s, my life revolved around sport, competitive swimming and water polo.
View ArticleNever just a footnote in history
AT the service for Armed Forces Week in Middlesbrough, I got talking with three former servicemen, Kevin Mitchell and Bon Hanson both veterans of the conflict in Aden, and Ronald Shaw, who served in...
View ArticleThe real honour for Murray
WHEN years of dedication and hard work finally paid off for Andy Murray on Sunday, I bet the first thought that crossed his mind was: “Great, now they’re bound to give me a knighthood.”
View ArticleCutting back on luxuries
BALANCING the books has become a national obsession. On the national stage our millionaire leaders shed crocodile tears and trot out the old line “this is hurting me more than it is hurting you”, as...
View ArticleFallacy of the bleak north
KEEPING matters in perspective, Lord Howell is an irrelevancy. A wellheeled, well-connected irrelevancy, no doubt, but it is a long time since he was anywhere near the centre of power. While his...
View ArticleSearching for the scapegoat
WE’RE all learning to do without a lot of things, but boom or bust, society will always need its scapegoats.
View ArticleFrom the Boro to beyond
IT’S a remarkable thing, but wherever you travel, whether it’s the UK or abroad, it’s never long before you meet someone from Teesside.
View ArticleBuilding a positive perception
COUNCILS get it in the neck for lots of things. Being unimaginative and set in their ways is a common charge.
View ArticleIt’s always best to sleep on it
I’LL admit it. When speaking in public and on a subject I feel passionate about – and yes, there are plenty – I can lose track of time. Or as the less charitable might put it, go on a bit.
View ArticleFootball’s not just about cash
AH well, it’s only money. We’ve got so used to the sums flung about in the football transfer market that adjectives – inflated, absurd, obscene – have lost all resonance. For most people struggling to...
View ArticleAre we all constantly engaged?
THEY used to say that television killed the art of conversation. Now, I’m not so sure. The box is responsible for many evils, but this one may be a wrongful conviction.
View ArticleA game of man versus machine
AFEW weeks ago, I remarked that we had become so used to the obscene amounts paid to and for football players that they had lost the capacity to shock.
View ArticleDebate that is out of this world
WE live in an anything-goes society nowadays. There are very few taboo subjects. Speech and broadcasting is freer than ever and there are scores of comedians and columnists who make a nice living...
View ArticlePolitics and empty promises
WHEN families split up, there’s sometimes a bidding war for the affection of the children. It’s sad, expensive and totally pointless.
View ArticleWe can forgive but not forget
I AM pretty sure this column will divide opinion, so let’s start with something we can hopefully all agree on. One fewer extremist on the streets, one more person accepting that violence and abuse...
View ArticlePolitics needn’t be a bun fight
CALM, patient and long-suffering. That’s how the world sees us and how we see ourselves. The queues may not be so orderly, the seats on the bus not surrendered so quickly to older passengers, but...
View ArticlePainting a brighter future
I’VE been reflecting this week on how, as we grow older, we become increasingly resistant to change, and perhaps we could learn a thing or two from our children and grandchildren. Of course, it’s the...
View ArticleThe risk of a rude awakening
JUST imagine this for a moment. It’s been lashing down all night and now it’s blowing a gale. There’ll be no let-up for hours, say the forecasters.
View ArticlePlebgate pressure on police
IT all seemed so simple. After all, it fitted in with our preconceived ideas. On one hand, we had a public school-educated representative of a government notoriously unable to engage with ordinary...
View ArticleThe true value of public art
BEAUTY is in the eye of the beholder they say, and nowhere is that more the case than in the art world. I’m not giving much away when I say I’m not really an ‘arty’ person, and I don’t know a great...
View ArticleWe need a hand on the tiller
THIS newspaper’s comments on the absence of a North-East voice and presence in David Cameron’s trade mission to China – two places out of 131 in case anyone missed it – really said it all.
View ArticleMPs deserve a rise – and our respect
SO, no turkey for our MPs this year, or the next for that matter. Or ever again, if we have our way. Serves them right too. They’re all the same, out for themselves, looking after number one.
View ArticleTime we saw some backbone
FIRST of all, a word of thanks to all those people who have buttonholed or phoned me over the past seven days suggesting last week’s column was the launch of my campaign to become an MP.
View ArticleThis legal farce is a disgrace
GIVE it a few months and it will be a quiz question that has everyone scratching their heads. What were the names of the two sisters at the centre of the Nigella Lawson trial?
View ArticleAround the Boro in 80 seconds
AS starts to the week go, you would have to class it as unusual. Early Monday morning I wason BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, with a three-minute slot to convince Michael Palin why he must visit...
View ArticleQuestions that need answering
WHATEVER the outcome of the Mark Duggan inquest, the police were going to lose. A verdict of unlawful killing would have reinforced community fears that there is in the Metropolitan Police, a cadre of...
View ArticleStanding up for ourselves
AFRIEND told me the other week about how he was involved in a road rage incident.
View ArticleGoodbye – knowing when to go
LEAVE a party too soon and you’re a killjoy. Hang around too long and you’ll never get another invite. You have to know when to go and for the Ray Mallon column, the time is now.
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