A man on a mission to see his son
AS Middlesbrough mayor, I meet many campaigners. The other week, I met the most remarkable one I have ever encountered.
View ArticlePreserving the past for the future
THE sun’s out and the summer symphony of lawn-mowers and hedge clippers is at full volume.
View ArticlePlaying the blame game
THERE was an investigation costing £4.6m, a wait of four-and-a-half years for it to come to court then a six week trial. But in the end, it took a jury just seven hours to ensure justice was done and...
View ArticleGiving us a sporting chance
"EXERCISE no help for depression”, was the headline that caught my eye this week. As someone who loves to keep fit and spends a lot of time encouraging others to do the same, you can imagine that I...
View ArticleIn denial about alcohol
RARELY a day goes by without a new study showing how much alcohol costs society. We may be punch-drunk with figures – if you’ll pardon the pun – but estimates that drink costs the regional economy...
View ArticleSix of the best for Miss Smith
TIME changes everything. Fads and fashions fade. Yesterday’s heroes are today’s has-beens. And, as we saw this week, politicians as well as the police end up looking younger.
View ArticleBomber Command’s sacrifice
THERE have been many memorable and moving ceremonies this summer. But, for me, one stood out from the rest.
View ArticleA cut to the quick of the Army
IT IS a great irony that the Government is going cap-in-hand to the Army to rescue its Olympic security plans just days after announcing it will cut 20,000 soldiers by 2020.
View ArticleA summer of laying the blame
WE had the summer of love and the winter of discontent. I wonder what they’ll call the miserable excuse of a season we’ve had this year. I have a suggestion, but it’s nothing to do with the weather.
View ArticleLet's lose the cloud of negativity
IF you’re not marching, you’re fighting, goes the old Army phrase. In this country, I often feel that if you’re not at the inquest into one catastrophe, you’re smacking your lips and waiting for the...
View ArticleWatching life's little irritations
IF they ever make “people watching” an Olympic sport, I’ll be the first to volunteer my services. As I’ve mentioned before, I regularly “people watch” and I reckon a few minutes watching the world and...
View ArticleChanging lives for the better
THE NHS is undergoing massive change at the moment. But then again, when hasn’t it? Everyone has a view of the Government’s reforms. But they’re happening and everyone in public life must do their...
View ArticlePlacing the economy in the fast lane
MAKING the world a smaller place has been our obsession since we took our first faltering steps. Since then, the planet has been shaken by the heavy tread of mankind in a hurry.
View ArticleSetting aside old stereotypes
IDON’T know whether Rizzle Kicks, Baaba Maal and Amadou and Mariam are household names down your way, but they have certainly made an impression in Middlesbrough.
View ArticleA sorry lesson in apologies
SORRY, whatever Sir Elton might sing, is not the hardest word. Most of us, at one time or another, have received apologies that were nothing of the sort – they were mass-produced excuses from a...
View ArticleSome guys have all the luck...
THEY say that whenever anyone went to Napoleon to sing the praises of this or that general, he would cut them off with one short question.
View ArticleOut of toon with the times
I’VE got good news and bad news. I wonder if the bosses at Newcastle United used that old line when announcing their new sponsorship deal to players. The good news is that the home ground will revert...
View ArticleLancing the boil in our institutions
ANOTHER day, another hero with feet of clay. Lance Armstrong, we are told, is not the sporting great who battled cancer and rode heroically to seven wins in the Tour de France.
View ArticleRemember, it is only a game
THEY may play to the same rules and refresh themselves with the same halftime orange, but in terms of cash and, if we’re brutally honest, in skills there’s little similarity between a Premiership...
View ArticleCutting the councils out of our lives
YOU’LL remember the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when King Arthur meets the Black Knight.
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