GCSEs are to be scrapped and new, more rigorous O-levels brought back in the most radical overhaul of the school exams system for 30 years, it was reported tonight. Education Secretary Michael Gove is set to abolish the national curriculum in English
ARSONISTS who have been targeting prominent members of Middlesbrough Council have been branded terrorists and told their criminal actions will not derail democracy. Members of the council held a meeting last night to condemn the attacks after
Football, quoits, work and doing the garden have slowed the blog writing to a crawl and for that I apologise. However, a break in the European Championships tonight and I thought I might do a little bit of self publicity concerning a charity event that
PLANS are in place for a "world-class" sporting and leisure facility in Hartlepool. Daniel Robinson, of Gus Robinson Ltd, tonight joined Hartlepool United Football Club chief executive, Russ Green, in addressing local residents. The
The Football Association have been fined 5,000 euros (£4,035) by UEFA for the "inappropriate conduct" of England fans during their win over Sweden in Kiev last Friday. The fine was for the attempted pitch invasion by England supporters during the Group
A CLASSIC sports car built by a team which won Le Mans 24-hour race five times is to go on show at a railway museum. A historic Bentley Red Label tourer classic car is to go on show at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon. Designer WO
TALENTED young photographers have shown off their skills in a battle to win a town’s photo competition. Leo Brian, of Howden-le-Wear, won the overall prize with a picture of a Bewick Swan and was named Crook Young Photographer of the Year. He was presented
Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale has been reprimanded by the ECB for a Level One breach of their disciplinary code. Gale was reported by umpires David Millns and Peter Willey for "showing dissent at an umpire's decision by word or action", according to
A KEY part of the Foundation for Jobs is gathering opinions from parents as to what they see as the challenges to their children finding work and their understanding of the opportunities that exist in the North-East. With this in mind parents
SCORES of school students will be given a practical introduction to the low-carbon technologies changing the face of North-East industry next month. The Foundation for Jobs project will hold the Engineering Low Carbon Excellence event for about
AN offshore engineering company that employs 120 staff in the North-East has won two contracts worth more than £8m. DeepOcean has won a deal for an undisclosed sum to repair equipment in Brazil’s oilfields, along with an £8m bid to remove and recycle
A COMMUNITY company which helps some of County Durham’s most vulnerable people has created 120 jobs and undergone a £150,000 expansion. The Social Resource Centre (SRC) has doubled its Ferryhill head office to 4,000sq ft after a surge of business
TEENAGE racer Max Coates is pinning his hopes on winning backing from Yorkshire businesses as he gears up for the return of the British Touring Car package to Croft circuit this weekend. After four wins and a total of six podiums, Coates was riding high
Bishop Auckland have completed the signings of two players that should improve their chances of success this season. Bishops have signed defender Jamie Harwood and striker Sonny Andrews, who were both transfer listed by champions Spennymoor last week
The Killing (C4, 10pm) Cherry Healey: How to Get a Life (BBC3, 9pm) The Strange Case of the Law (BBC4, 9pm) THE bad news is that we are racing through the second series of The Killing that has kept us firmly on the edge of our seats and peering
THE weather may have been wet, wet, wet recently but don’t let that put you off summer’s standout aquatic trend. From shimmering fish scale prints to aquamarine colours, this season belongs to the underwater world. Think starfish, coral, seashells
THE A1 motorway has been closed near Sedgefield, County Durham, after a car accident. Emergency crews were called to reports of a car on fire on the northbound carriageway near junction 60 at around 1.30pm. A fire spokesperson said it
CAN I ask what Sedgefield has done to The Northern Echo? Reading your paper after being at the Olympic torch relay parade I was looking forward to seeing some pictures from the event. Imagine my dismay to find images from all over the North-East
I SPEND a good deal of my time listening to the proceedings of the Leveson Inquiry. Before it began I used to listen to Parliamentary select committee hearings. Perhaps I should come up for air more often than I do, but I would like to share with
I AM completely bemused by David Sparks’ bizarre response (HAS, June 18) to my earlier letter. He says I implied that Britain has somehow failed as “the world’s immigration social worker.” I implied nothing of the sort. The point I was trying
REGARDING Rob Meggs’ letter about gay marriage (HAS, June 14). Mr Meggs, with his usual hypocritical assertions concerning liberal and social behaviour, must believe that the majority of people in this country are thick or els, like the politicians
I WAS most disgruntled when booking for a show at Darlington’s Civic Theatre to be told I would be charged £1.75 for payment by debit card. I always understood that a debit transaction means the cash gets into the recipient’s account within minutes
IS it any wonder that the public take a sometimes jaundiced view of their local councillors when a Tory councillor being paid £23,000 for attending just 19 meetings in the last three years. Sara Cliff has been paid the equivalent of £500 an hour
I WOULD like to ensure your readers do not get a distorted view of Stockton schools following the article about educational performance (Echo, June 13.) Stockton has an impressive number of strong schools and a growing number of very highperforming
RECENTLY, I happened to see the television programme Points of View for the first time in years. I was astonished to discover that most of the comments were anonymous.This was an example of middle-aged media – if I may so call television – aping
FORMER Commonwealth gold medallist Chris Cook believes Jo Jackson is back to her best and with the Olympics on the horizon it is not a moment too soon. Jackson stormed to bronze four years ago at the Beijing Olympics in the 400m freestyle and followed
WHEN doctors take industrial action tomorrow, it will be the first time they have done so since 1975. They do not take industrial action lightly and the British Medical Association (BMA) – the doctors’ union – says it is being done this time with
STEVE Bruce, the former Sunderland boss, will make a North-East return in August when he brings his new Hull City side to Hartlepool United. Pools will meet the Tigers on Saturday, August 4 - two weeks before the Football League season starts and a week
Author Gitta Sereny sparked a national outcry in 1998 after she paid a North-East child killer for a book in which she chronicled her crimes. Nigel Burton explains how the journalist dedicated her life to explaining why murderers committed the
ENGLAND boss Roy Hodgson heaped praise on match-winner Wayne Rooney after his side sealed a Euro 2012 quarter-final meeting with Italy. Rooney nodded home the only goal against co-hosts Ukraine in Donetsk three minutes after the break. The Manchester
MUSIC fans attending performances by Bruce Springsteen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light are being advised to plan their journeys carefully after two major closures were confirmed. The southbound stretch of the
A TEENAGER who stole his father’s car while more than three times over the alcohol limit and then crashed it on the A66 has been banned from driving for three years and four months. Joshua Nathan Briggs, 18, took the Fiat Punto from his father’s house
A SENIOR police officer has hailed efforts to reduce anti-social behaviour in Darlington after figures showed a 40 per cent drop in complaints in the last six months. Chief Superintendent Andy Reddick, area commander for South Durham, said he was delighted
AN outgoing club president handed over a cheque to a deserving charity as one of her last acts before handing over the reins. Jackie Morris, from Darlington Women’s Club, handed over a cheque to Val Mitchell, from domestic abuse charity Family Help,
ONE of the first things the new Coalition Government did when it came to power two years ago was to cancel the previous governments Building Schools for the Future scheme. New Education Secretary Michal Gove said the 55bn scheme was now unaffordable
TWENTY-SEVEN state schools from the region have been promised cash to rebuild with the first expected to reopen in 2014. The successful schools, a mixture of academies and local authority maintained establishments, were selected because they had particularly
TRIBUTES have been paid to a grandmother who overcame a fear of public speaking to become a world champion in the field. Joyce Mary Owen, who had lived in Darlington for 45 years, died on June 11, aged 86. Mrs Owen, known to her family
STAFF and customers at a supermarket have ben fundraising for a carnival that is due to take place later this month. Artists Brian Goodfellow and Shirley Wells received a cheque for £120 from Marie Steward and Paul Robinson, at the Sainsbury’s store
A NORTH-EAST organisation has stepped in to help launch ten local youngsters on the road to a career in sports and leisure. When the Middlesbrough & Teesside Philanthropic Foundation heard that Tees Active, the operator of sports centres across Stockton
AS school leavers bear the brunt of the economic crisis, Dragons' Den star Peter Jones is offering to fast-track the careers of Cleveland's young people. With one in six youngsters currently not in education, employment or training (NEETs) in Britain
THE North-East has become a hotspot for foreign companies that are creating thousands of jobs across the region every year, a new report has revealed. Foreign investors generated 3,019 jobs in the North-East in 2011 - almost double the previous year's
DARLINGTON-based insurance provider BIB Underwriters (BIBU), has announced strong financial results and plans to recruit more staff to support its plans for growth. The business provides specialist wholesale farm, estate and rural insurance products
THE North-East's unemployment rate rose by 8,000 to 11.3 per cent in the last quarter, the latest jobless figures show. Nationally, the jobless total dropped 51,000 to 2.61 million in the quarter to April, while the number of people claiming jobseeker's
A MAN who said he had to make his own way home from hospital in his slippers while still under the influence of morphine has criticised the way he was treated. Stephen Varty, from Ferryhill, County Durham, called an ambulance late on Saturday
THERE is a saying: "Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank but give a man a bank and he can rob everybody." Harsh? Yes, but in the wake of the financial crisis it's easy to see how banker bashing became commonplace. It will take more than pledges to
Believe it or not, there are people outside my door in the newsroom, whingeing about England. We've played three games in Euro 2012. We've won two and drawn one. We're top of our group. We're in the quarter-finals. But all I've heard
Helen Russell in Barnard Castle THOUSANDS of people created a carnival atmosphere as the Olympic torch completed the last leg of its journey through the North-East. Crowds of high-spirited spectators lined the streets of Barnard Castle
THE first industrial action by doctors for more than 30 years seems likely to cause minimal disruption to NHS services in the region tomorrow. Patients who are due to have an operation or attend an outpatient operation are being advised to keep
ALAN PARDEW faces missing out on his two main transfer targets of the summer unless Newcastle United agree to pay in excess of £20m for Luuk de Jong and Mathieu Debuchy. Newcastle have been rebuffed in their attempts to land both de Jong and
A QUAKERS fans’ group has made a final appeal for members to help decide what to do with £40,000 raised to help the team. Darlington Supporters’ Trust said many of its members had already voted on whether the money should be handed to the football
A DISTRAUGHT family have hit out after thieves stole statues from the graves of two children who died in a house fire 11 years ago. Brothers Carl Taylor and Stevie Peel died in a fire at their home in Wood Vue, Spennymoor, County Durham, on
HEALTH bosses facing a £19m overspend last night warned that the biggest shake-up of services for decades is on its way in order to balance the books. Christopher Long, chief executive of NHS North Yorkshire and York, said there needed to be
A FORMER North-East postmaster and Second World War RAF pilot died last week. Grandfather-of-three Malcolm Bartram was born in 1921 and raised in Saltburn, east Cleveland. He briefly got a job at the Redcar steelworks after leaving school, before
A VICTIM of two conmen who went on the run with £500,000 of their customers’ cash eight years ago says he fears the pair may never face justice. Father and son Gary and Ryan Upson, from Darlington, have not been seen since May 2004, when they
MPs are calling for a crackdown on the owners of mobile home sites after a protest by a council. The council raised concerns over legislation “more suited to the 1960s” that is failing to protect people, most of whom are elderly, living in park
AN animal lover has expressed outrage after receiving a letter from Royal Mail warning her about her dog’s behaviour – eight weeks after her pet died. The letter, received by Denise Parkin, was one of 600 letters sent to homes across Darlington
A MONTH after tearing a calf muscle at the Oval, Gareth Breese is ready to return to the Durham team for tonight's Friends Life t20 game at Derby. The off-spinning all-rounder has been a vital part of the one-day side in recent years and could
SUNDERLAND have played down reports that Stephane Sessegnon is set to leave after Tottenham became the latest club to be linked with a move for the striker. One bookmaker yesterday suspended betting on Sessegnon swapping Wearside for north
A POPULAR walkers’ cafe that was closed after its owner became the subject of a hate campaign could reopen by next spring if planners approve a revamp. Lord Stones Cafe, on Carlton Bank, near Stokesley, North Yorkshire, was used by walkers, cyclists
