IF it’s not grim up North, the long term outlook certainly is – at any rate for the North-East.

First, there’s Scotland. More powers are heading its way. From early post-referendum signs you wouldn’t bet against another vote on independence taking place within ten years. Full self-government looks inevitable one day.

That will leave the North-East on the perimeter of the UK – tomorrow’s Outer Hebrides. But the prospect is worse than that. Despite confident words from some regional mouthpieces, HS3, the Tory-backed extension of HS2 from the Midlands to Manchester and Leeds, with a link between the two, will to many look to be of small, if any, benefit to the North-East. Indeed, it will place it at a disadvantage to Yorkshire and the North-West.

Now, the poor-neighbour syndrome looks set to be cemented by a further Tory plan, to be unveiled tomorrow. Intended to form what Chancellor George Osborne calls “a northern economic powerhouse”, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester would be granted “London-style” self-rule.

The M62/H3 corridor looks like becoming a new Hadrian’s Wall. North of it will be the UK’s Twilight Zone - aka the North-East. The region needs to wake up to this threat and fight it vigorously. There could be no better start than to insist on the best-possible rail services for this region, which gave the nation its railways.

SIR Richard Branson insists his dream of space tourism – hideous concept, we’ll trash space as we’ve trashed the earth – is still alive. His commitment to this couldn’t be better demonstrated than by a promise to accompany the pilots on the next test flight.

THE centenary of Whitby’s Rohilla disaster was fittingly marked. But the publicity - in my view- didn’t place sufficient emphasis on the role of the Tynemouth motor lifeboat, Henry Vernon. Most attention focused on the heroic efforts of the local oar-powered lifeboats, with the appearance of Henry Vernon, which saved most lives, tagged on.

But navigating Henry Vernon 44-miles in darkness down the unlit coast in a raging sea was a major achievement in its own right, which helped earn cox Robert Smith a gold medal. His captain, HE Brown, was similarly honoured – the Tynemouth crew thus receiving two of the three gold medals awarded for the rescue.

AS a reporter light years ago, I was one day covering Middlesbrough’s Magistrates’ Court when the prosecuting inspector approached the press bench. “We’ve got two cases of riding without lights coming up,” he announced. “You don’t usually report these, but there’s too much of it going on and we’re having a crackdown. We’d be grateful if you could report cases during the next few weeks”.

My paper did so. If that police inspector were around today to witness cyclists riding with impunity on pavements he would consider law and order totally collapsed.

ACKER BILK – a true memory. I was present at a Yorkshire county cricket match at Scarborough one Sunday when a message came over the PA system: “If Mr Acker Bilk is in the ground will he please go to the secretary’s office.” The packed terraces erupted with laughter. As it subsided there was second burst near me. A spectator had remarked: “There’s a stranger on the shore wants to speak to him.”