It has been described as one of the most pressing issues the Government has had to face. But what has been proposed to solve the country's pensions crisis? Lindsay Jennings reports. SPEAK to people about pensions and you're likely to get a number of
A MAN and a woman have been arrested in connection with the murder of a North-East hardman who was gunned down at a beauty spot. The 38-year-old Gateshead man was arrested on suspicion of the murder of convicted drug dealer David Rice. The 25-year-old
The mother of eight-year-old Daniel Conroy Curtin, who was killed after being knocked down in a park by a joyrider, today agreed to donate his organs for transplant, Cleveland Police said. Daniel died in hospital last night, nine days after he was
POLICE are hunting a would-be child snatcher who has attempted to grab a number of children in the last few weeks. Cleveland Police are investigating a spate of attempted abductions in Middlesbrough and Redcar. In the first incident, at around 7pm
A 44-year-old man was today being questioned by police over the murder of a hairdresser inside her salon. Mother-of-three Sharon Bell died in a horrific attack that started inside the New York Hair Salon in Newcastle city centre on Tuesday. The
THE father of murdered Jenny Nicholl was spared jail today after he pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs of children from the Internet. Major Brian Nicholl, 49, had over 2,000 child porn photos on his computer which police seized after 19-
WAYNE ROONEY will have to wait another three weeks before he is given the all clear to return to England training - meaning he will almost certainly miss out on the group stage of the World Cup. But, after results of yesterday's scan on his broken
THE eight-year-old boy hit in a car allegedly driven by teenagers 'joyriding' has died. Daniel Lee Conroy Curtin's mother, Clare, released pictures of her son on a ventilator to show the consequences of so-called joyriding. The brave little boy
SCORES of entries have started to pour in for this year's Great North Walk, as people from across the region prepare to march across its new location. The event is to be held in Darlington for the first time since it started in 1988, and it is the most
THE first Quaker Triathlon has been hailed a success after more than 120 competitors, some from as far away as Bath and Liverpool, took part. Hosted by Darlington Rotary Club, the event raised funds for a Scope guide used to detect bowel cancer and related
COUNTY crusaders are threatening to take down road signs in a row over historic geographical borders. Activists from the national CountyWatch group are threatening to remove several Welcome to County Durham signs that are several miles away from the traditional
The Attorney General's office was ordered yesterday to disclose information leading to his advice on the legality of invading Iraq in 2003. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas upheld requests for an explanation of Lord Goldsmith's statement to Parliament
Newcastle United footballer Kieron Dyer protested his innocence last night after being arrested for allegedly exposing himself at a hotel while drinking with pals. Dyer, 27, who earlier this week celebrated the birth of his son, attended a police station
A MAN arrested by police investigating the killing of a 42-year-old at a popular North-East beauty spot was released on bail last night. The 46-year-old was arrested by officers armed with machine guns as part of the investigation into the murder of
THE film blockbuster Da Vinci Code was placed under the spotlight of North-East church leaders at a sell-out debate staged in a nightclub.The film, based on Dan Brown's controversial novel, which claims Jesus Christ was mortal and had a child with Mary
A HAIRDRESSER found dying outside her city centre salon had been repeatedly stabbed inside the shop, police said last night. Detective Chief Inspector Roger Ford played down speculation that the killer of devoted mother-of-three Sharon Bell used her
As the contestants end their first week in the house, Deborah Johnson looks back at one of the most eventful weeks in Big Brother's history. BONNIE "It's too boring in here," Bonner complained. Well she'd know all about boring. You can almost feel
As the contestants end their first week in the house, Deborah Johnson looks back at one of the most eventful weeks in Big Brother's history. BONNIE "It's too boring in here," Bonner complained. Well she'd know all about boring. You can almost feel your
A DECISION by a group of parents to return to the classroom brought them double honours yesterday. It was a year ago that parents of pupils at Gilesgate Primary School accepted a challenge to improve their ITC skills. Funded by the Focus on Learning Project
AN underwear fashion show was held in the North-East yesterday. Top lingerie company Triumph International showed off its latest designs at the MetroCentre, in Gateshead. The show was arranged by a leading choreographer and shoppers were entertained
PUPILS past and present attended a Northallerton primary school for a commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the sinking of the battlecruiser Hood. Northallerton man Rob Kennedy made a 4ft 11in replica of the vessel as a tribute to the association between
FOOTBALL legend Sir Geoff Hurst caught up with a prize-winning team of footballers during a visit to North Yorkshire. He joined the Hutton Rudby under-11 girls team at Stokesley Sports Club to check out their training programme for next month's Youth
GROUPS from Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland are being invited on a course designed to help them explore North Yorkshire's moors on foot. Walking in the Countryside: Part One will give participants vital skills and has been organised by the North
AMBITIOUS plans to revamp a popular park have won a £24,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The funding means the Friends of Pannett Park, in Whitby, can now go ahead with a project to restore a floral clock. The first step will see the removal
A DECISION about whether to close a day surgery unit at a community hospital in north Durham is to be made in Darlington. The board of County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust will discuss the future services at Shotley Bridge Hospital,
RESIDENTS of a Teesdale village will soon have to make a lengthy journey to Bishop Auckland to receive out-of-hours medical care, after changes to the GP service were announced. From July 1, people from Middleton-in-Teesdale will now have to make a 42
A GROUP of students went from Bishop Auckland to Barcelona in the name of art. The 30 students, from Bishop Auckland College, who visited the cultural Spanish city, each created a piece of work inspired by their visit, all of which will be displayed in
A CHEF to the stars has taken over a new role - cooking for visitors to a popular North East museum. Darren Parkhill has left the bright lights of Newcastle, where he cooked up dishes for Alan Shearer and Robbie Williams, to become head chef at the cafe
PROUD parents Michelle and Lovepreet Chahal heard the patter of not-so-tiny feet when their bouncing baby boy was born. Baby Aarron weighed in at a 13lb 7.5oz when he arrived ten days late. And, at 25in, the tot is too big for his new baby clothes and
STUDENTS with designs on careers in the entertainment industry will show off their work at an exhibition next month. Costumes, sets and props for the worlds of film, TV, theatre and heritage feature in the show by degree students at Cleveland College
A YOUTH group has designed and built a garden and play area for other members of the community to enjoy. The Grangetown Youth Ground Force Group designed and constructed the £1,700 garden and play area at Grangetown Library. It includes seating, play
IT was the end of an era for a village store as the shopkeeper hung up his apron after 50 years. Barry Milburn had spent most of his adult life behind the counter of his family-run store that has been supplying goods to the residents of Hutton Rudby,
FIREFIGHTERS in Grangetown will target the worst areas for arsons - which accounted for all of the call-outs in the past four weeks. Crews will launch Operation Fifa on Thursday by going into streets where there has been a large number of fires, with
RUNNERS from a County Durham school have raised more than £4,000 for a local charity.Students from Barnard Castle School were able to donate £4,250 to Butterwick Hospice after their annual cross-county run.Each of the school's 500 pupils took part in
Ugly metal braces in the mouths of teenagers may become a thing of the past. Health Editor BARRY NELSON finds out about the shape of things to come. EATING sandwiches and watching Ian Lund's dental horror movie at the same time is probably not a good
Oh no, oops, sorry. It's not an attack by a silly man advertising a fizzy drink. Those bright orange blobs and stripes are really the result of your tanning moisturiser. They are the big new products of this summer, body moisturisers with a hint of a
Now that the dust has settled on the first phase of the scramble for a regional casino licence, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on what the Casino Advisory Panel has concluded. For those not up with the plot, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newcastle
DID Tony Blair take Britain into an illegal war in Iraq? It is a question of huge importance, destined to cloud Mr Blair's legacy as Prime Minister because it is simply one of the most damning allegations that can be levelled at the leader of a country
OPERATIONS ABROAD: After three years of worsening pain an x-ray in January showed gross osteoarthritis in my hip. I was given an appointment for May 4, which I refused when informed by the consultant's secretary that even if I was an urgent case I
HEAVY ground at Haydock shouldn't hinder Glasshoughton's prospects of winning the Renault Manchester Handicap. The Michael Dods-trained three-year-old proved on more than one occasion last year that rain-sodden turf wasn't a problem, in fact with hindsight
WHAT a brilliant effort by Barnard Castle golfer Rob Dinwiddie in winning the English Amateur Strokeplay Championship, otherwise known as the Brabazon Trophy, at Ganton, near Scarborough. After winning the Scottish and Welsh titles last summer, he completed
JONATHAN WOODGATE has been offered to Middlesbrough by Real Madrid, but any deal will not take place until the new manager has been installed at the Riverside Stadium. After two injury-ravaged seasons in Spain, sources in Madrid claim Woodgate's advisors
WHAT a brilliant effort by Barnard Castle golfer Rob Dinwiddie in winning the English Amateur Strokeplay Championship, otherwise known as the Brabazon Trophy, at Ganton, near Scarborough. After winning the Scottish and Welsh titles last summer, he completed
WIGAN and Bolton have joined the race for James Milner, but Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder has still to decide whether or not he will sell the unsettled midfielder. With West Ham boss Alan Pardew poised to make a £1.5m bid for Lee Bowyer, the Magpies manager
Commonwealth champion Kelly Sotherton starts her preparations for a major championship double when she competes at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix in Gateshead next month. Sotherton, the heptathlon bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympics, was one of
HEAVY ground at Haydock shouldn't hinder Glasshoughton's prospects of winning the Renault Manchester Handicap. The Michael Dods-trained three-year-old proved on more than one occasion last year that rain-sodden turf wasn't a problem, in fact with hindsight
INJURIES restricted Stephen Wright's return to the Premiership with Sunderland to two games last season, so he must feel as if he has never been away from the Championship, writes Paul Fraser. But, having played 39 times in the Football League championship
ENGLAND'S football fans had their first taste of the country's new wonderkid last night as Theo Walcott stepped on to the international stage. A media frenzy has surrounded the 17-year-old - and his girlfriend Melanie Slade - since England coach Sven-Goran
A CUSTOMER survey has proved that good things come in small packages after it named Durham Tees Valley as the UK's third favourite airport. The results mean that it is the most popular airport outside London, with only Gatwick and Heathrow scoring higher
TEARS flowed as hundreds of mourners gathered yesterday to remember a young woman who was killed only days after moving to the North-East. Friends and family of Carie Burns packed St George's Church, in Kendal, Cumbria, to pay tribute to the 21-year-old
A KNIFE attack victim has spoken of his shock at being slashed across the abdomen in an unprovoked attack. Theo Jalal suffered a four-inch cut to his stomach when he and friend were assaulted by a gang of youths, before they were both stabbed. The 21-
RESIDENTS have slammed bogus charity collectors who tried to dupe them into making donations they thought were going to help needy people. This week, residents of Tunstall Terrace, in Darlington, were asked to leave bags of unwanted clothes and other
SCHOOL governors and a local authority are still to decide the future of a teacher after he was cleared of groping a pupil. A series of meetings have been held to discuss whether Joseph Kerr should be allowed to return to the Darlington comprehensive
Now that the dust has settled on the first phase of the scramble for a regional casino licence, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on what the Casino Advisory Panel has concluded. For those not up with the plot, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newcastle
House (five); New Street Law (BBC1): The unthinkable happened in House. Hugh Laurie's doctor actually wanted to talk to a patient. As a medic who'll usually do anything to avoid contact with sick people, this was a first. But then the patient was a
Oh no, oops, sorry. It's not an attack by a silly man advertising a fizzy drink. Those bright orange blobs and stripes are really the result of your tanning moisturiser. They are the big new products of this summer, body moisturisers with a hint of a
DID Tony Blair take Britain into an illegal war in Iraq? It is a question of huge importance, destined to cloud Mr Blair's legacy as Prime Minister because it is simply one of the most damning allegations that can be levelled at the leader of a country
It has been described as one of the most pressing issues the Government has had to face. But what has been proposed to solve the country's pensions crisis? Lindsay Jennings reports. SPEAK to people about pensions and you're likely to get a number of
OPERATIONS ABROAD: AFTER three years of worsening pain an x-ray in January showed gross osteoarthritis in my hip. I was given an appointment for May 4, which I refused when informed by the consultant's secretary that even if I was an urgent case I would
POLICE are concerned about the whereabouts of a 19-year-old man from Merseyside who was last seen in Darlington. Denny Paul McKenna, from Bootle, was last seen in Darlington near the A1 at 3.30pm on Thursday, May 18. Mr McKenna is 5ft 9in, white, has
A FREE book containing personal memories from Darlington people of life on the Home Front will be available from today. What We Did In The War will be launched by Darlington Mayor, Councillor Eleanor Lister, at the Crown Street library. It has been produced
A £750,000 retirement complex has been opened in Darlington by the town's new mayor. Councillor Eleanor Lister opened the development, at Swale Grove, in Skerne Park, which was built on the site of the former St Augustine's Church Hall and provides seven
ABOUT 300 balloons were released into the sky over Darlington yesterday to raise funds for the special baby care unit at Northallerton's Friarage Hospital. The hospital unit has been chosen by Cummins Engines as its charity for the year, and the balloon
A shipyard in the region is bidding for a contract to dismantle four Royal Navy vessels after being awarded a shipbreaking licence last week. Work on the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, the Lyme Bay, will be completed soon. If Swan Hunter, in Wallsend,
RAIL infrastructure company Network Rail (NR) went further into the red last night - but still paid huge bonuses to its top managers. NR chief executive John Armitt will receive £352,728, while his deputy chief executive Iain Coucher will receive £314,490
HIGH-profile deals such as the £506m takeover of car dealer Reg Vardy helped law firm Dickinson Dees report a ten per cent increase in turnover last year. The Newcastle and Teesside firm, which has also created more than 100 jobs in the past 18 months
POLICY and planning body the North East Assembly has vowed to fight for the development of a deep-sea container terminal on the Tees that could bring 5,500 jobs to the region. The Government issued a ports policy framework this week saying that southern
THE family of a North-East soldier who died after a nerve gas experiment more than 50 years ago have won £100,000 compensation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).Leading Aircraftsman Ronald Maddison, from Consett, County Durham, died aged 20 after having
A MULTI-MILLION pound school redevelopment project is expected to get the go-ahead when plans go before councillors next week. A major revamp of the 210-pupil Cockerton CE Primary School, in Darlington, has been proposed, which would see the existing
AN additional £1.25bn will be spent in the UK as a result of the World Cup, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said yesterday.Consumer spending is likely to be more than £720m during the tournament, while pubs, clubs and off-licences are expected to
UNDER-fire Home Secretary John Reid performed a U-turn yesterday when he ripped up the strict timetable to create a single North-East police force by April.Dr Reid told police chiefs he was abandoning his predecessor Charles Clarke's pledge to force an
A STORE detective was literally left holding the baby when a mother fled after she was challenged in a supermarket.The suspected shoplifter abandoned the child in the aisle and made a speedy getaway.Officials said she entered the Kwik Save store, in the
After four weeks of intense speculation, England will finally discover today whether Wayne Rooney has any chance of going to the World Cup. The 20-year-old striker spent just under half an hour at the BUPA medical clinic at Whalley Range having the scan
D1 Oils is creating 30 jobs as it increases production to 72,000 tonnes by the end of the year. The group, which recently opened its global headquarters in Middlesbrough, has built four environmentally-friendly refineries, the first of which is now running
Sir Bobby Robson approves of Steve McClaren's bid to appoint Terry Venables as an adviser on his England backroom team. McClaren has apparently identified the former England boss as the man he would like to work alongside him when he takes over the national
HIGH-profile deals such as the £506m takeover of car dealer Reg Vardy helped law firm Dickinson Dees report a ten per cent increase in turnover last year.The Newcastle and Teesside firm, which has also created more than 100 jobs in the past 18 months
Oh no, oops, sorry. It's not an attack by a silly man advertising a fizzy drink. Those bright orange blobs and stripes are really the result of your tanning moisturiser. They are the big new products of this summer, body moisturisers with a hint of a
Ugly metal braces in the mouths of teenagers may become a thing of the past. Health Editor BARRY NELSON finds out about the shape of things to come EATING sandwiches and watching Ian Lund's dental horror movie at the same time is probably not a good
