THEY might not have a manager, but Sunderland certainly have plenty of heart. Two days after Roy Keane's departure rocked the Stadium of Light, the Black Cats produced a display of commendable discipline and effort to come within seconds
Joe Kinnear handed in his January wish-list to owner Mike Ashley this week. Newcastle fans must hope it included two very important words - Michael Owen. The Magpies may have thrown away what, in the first half, looked like an easy three points
Hull City 2 Middlesbrough 1 • Read match analysis in the blog section here GARETH Southgate has pinned his faith on youth this season and enjoyed relative success as a result, but if ever a result proved he needs more of an experienced
Newcastle United 2 Stoke City 2 IF Joe Kinnear’s wife is struggling for Christmas gift ideas, then she could do worse than buy her hubby a half-season ticket for St James’ Park. Sent off in the dying minutes on Saturday, the Newcastle
SUNDERLAND will start a new era at Old Trafford this evening with a side that includes four changes from the starting line-up that lost 4-1 to Bolton last weekend. One is enforced - goalkeeper Marton Fulop replacing the injured Craig Gordon - but three
DARLINGTON Council has become the first local authority in the country to sign a ground-breaking agreement to prevent and counter homelessness. The council will work with Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and local housing charity First Stop Darlington
Joe Kinnear is forced to make one change to the side that took a point away to Middlesbrough with Geremi in for the injured Nicky Butt. Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins continue in attack. The Newcastle manager keeps faith with Owen and Martins
I'm due at the Head of Steam railway museum in Darlington tomorrow afternoon to sign copies of my new book. The View From The Doghouse is the title of the fourth book in the Dad At Large series, based on my column about the ups and downs of fatherhood
HANDS off our accident and emergency services. That was the message from more than 800 protesters who filled Bishop Auckland’s Market Square today. Banner-waving protesters cheered as speaker after speaker denounced proposals to strip Bishop Auckland
POLICE in York are seeking witnesses to two armed robberies in the city on Friday evening. The first took place at the Tote bookmakers on Gale Lane, Acomb, at about 8.15pm. A man armed with a hammer threatened staff and smashed a glass screen protecting
DARLINGTON'S League Two match at home to Rochdale was called off today. The game, which had been due to kick-off at 3pm, was postponed this morning due to a frozen pitch. Earlier this week, club officials had appealed for volunteers to help
ACCORDING to NHS Direct, eight in ten people in the UK suffer from winter blues, or sub-syndromal SAD, which starts as the days grow shorter and less light reaches our brains. Getting exercise in the great outdoors is one of the best ways to
The last ocean-going cruise liner to be built at Wallsend, Saga Ruby has a special place in the North-East’s shipbuilding history. Sally Taylor joins the ship on one of her voyages from the Tyne to the Mediterranean. THERE were so many wooden walking
Geordie producer/director Michael Harrison lifts the lid on his Newcastle extravaganza. THE day this theatre has a bog standard pantomime I won’t be the person in charge,” says Newcastle Theatre Royal producer/ director Michael Harrison when asked
FORTY years of the Newcastlebased film and photography collective Amber are being celebrated in a season of its work on More4 this month. The season, says Amber’s Graeme Rigby, is very much a tribute to Murray Martin, a founder member and its key
The column finds a warm welcome on a cold day at St Andrew’s church in Bishop Auckland. CANON Neville Vine, Vicar of St Andrew, Auckland, is something of a sailor, too. It helps explain why he is walking so gingerly, like a man whose sea legs have
I HAVE been reading The Northern Echo every day for many years, and having noticed your interest in animal welfare issues have been wondering what can be done to stop cruelty and neglect. The reintroduction of the Dog Registration Scheme, which
ADAM Walker says that as a teacher he has “always sought to bring out the best in all students regardless of race, colour or creed” as though this was in some way unusual (HAS, Echo 28). But this is simply an expectation of all teachers. Promoting
‘DURING a series of experiments in Sunderland when he was ten years of age, he was put on a stool with a chain in his hand and made to deliver, from the tips of his fingers and the point of his nose, sparks from an electrical machine,” said The
THE pathetic excuse for a Christmas tree in Peterlee (Echo, Dec 3) was symptomatic of the pathetic excuse for a town centre. The original tree was sparse and unattractive, just like the town centre. Shops are closed, some with grey metal shutters
TIME after time recently I’ve read of serious cases where the guilty party has been given a suspended sentence or let off completely. Is it just that our law courts are afraid of the human rights lawyers – or are there some new Government guidelines
I SAW an economics expert being interviewed about the recession on the BBC. He presumably commanded a fee, but was stopped from speaking because a Mr J Bloggs sent an email or text in. Who is J Bloggs nobody knows. We have had lots of texts and
I AM an 88-year-old greatgrandmother and I am consumed with anger at the arrests of MP Damian Green and civil servant Christopher Galley, and Milton Keynes reporter Sally Murrer. All of them were arrested, it seems, for telling the truth in print
Although hairy and cooking isn’t the best combination normally, in the case of the Hairy Bikers it’s a recipe for success. Steve Pratt speaks to TV chefs Simon King and Dave Myers. BEING both hairy and bikers, they more than fit their name the Hairy
INCREDIBLY it is now four years since Father Michael Higginbottom was removed from his post as parish priest at St Augustine’s Church, in Darlington. Father Higginbottom was suspended on December 10, 2004 when the church announced that investigations
BOXING’S most recognisable name takes on the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter today when Oscar De La Hoya meets Manny Pacquiao in a 12-round welterweight bout at the MGM Grand. The biggest fight of the year so far is being held at the 147lbs
ENGLAND’S players yesterday began preparations for the first Test in India as their bosses headed back to the subcontinent to make final security checks. In a mish-mash of kit, the Test squad and a shadow side practised in the middle of the Sheikh
RACING at Wetherby today hinges on an 8am inspection but officials are ‘‘reasonably hopeful’’ the meeting will go ahead. Only small pockets remain of the snow that fell on Thursday and granted a frost-free night, hopes are high that the fixture
MUCH has been made of the decision to give Tony McCoy the leg up on Master Minded in the Seasons Holiday Tingle Creek Chase but the duo look set to strike gold at Sandown. Trainer Paul Nicholls and owner Clive Smith have opted to use the champion
INGLIS Drever is reported to be on good terms with himself as he recovers from the hock injury he sustained at Newbury on Saturday. The triple World Hurdle hero was pulled up by Denis O’Regan in his bid to win the Long Distance Hurdle for a fourth
In the latest of our series with North-East Olympians ahead of London 2012, Richmond swimmer Joanne Jackson looks back on her bronze medal success in Beijing and tells Scott Wilson how it has helped to secure British swimming’s financial future.
DANNY Wilson admits Hartlepool United’s latest trial by television has left him feeling deflated. Weeks after Pools were warned off making an appeal against the red card shown to Sam Collins during the home loss to MK Dons, goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett
From the port of Stranraer to Hartlepool Marina via Coventry and Sunderland, Kevin Kyle’s career has often been a frustrating one. Chief Football Writer Paul Fraser found, however, the Scottish striker to be relaxed and in good form in his new surroundings
STEVE Bates is tipping Jamie Noon to make an instant impact when he returns to Newcastle Falcons’ starting lineup in this afternoon’s European Challenge Cup game at Overmach Parma. Noon has spent the last four weeks on international duty, missing
SUNDERLAND shareholder Charlie Chawke hopes Roy Keane will eventually return to the club as manager. Chawke, a leading member of the Drumaville Consortium who took over the Black Cats in 2006, insists that Keane’s departure from the Stadium
RICKY Sbragia last night expressed his disappointment at Roy Keane’s sudden departure from the Stadium of Light, but Sunderland’s caretaker manager insists his players will have recovered their focus by the time they face Manchester United this
MIDDLESBROUGH will this afternoon face a club whose success in recent years has been founded on a trio of former Middlesbrough players – Nicky Barmby, Dean Windass and George Boateng spearheading their remarkable rise to sixth spot in the Premier
GARETH Southgate has confirmed he’s looking for experienced players in the January transfer window but admits he may have to sell some of his current squad to land his top targets. While he wouldn’t identify the names of players likely to be
SHOULD today’s game beat the weather, Darlington are due to hand debuts to two players who have arrived from the same part of the country but have very different backgrounds. When Rochdale visit the Arena – subject to a 9.30am pitch inspection
IT sounds like the name of one of Sherlock Holmes’ cases, but for the recently-departed Roy Keane, the mystery is all too real. “The curse of being the Manchester United manager in waiting” is an unexplained footballing phenomenon. And on
HULL boss Phil Brown is urging his players to ‘‘play a bit more football” as they look to get back to winning ways against Middlesbrough. The momentum from the Tigers’ superb start to life in the Premier League has slowed over the past month
HAVING been inundated by job applications since Roy Keane’s departure, Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn will spend the weekend assembling a shortlist of potential replacements. More than a dozen bigname candidates including former Newcastle
MANCHESTER United will assess the Football Association’s verdict on the ‘Battle of Stamford Bridge’ but it seems certain they will appeal Patrice Evra’s four-match ban. When a charge of using racist abuse was originally levelled at Chelsea’s
FORMULA One teams are going to have to drastically scale back their spending if the sport is to survive, the president of motor sport’s governing body told The Northern Echo yesterday. Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, was speaking in Newcastle
A POSTMAN who stole thousands of pounds from parcels walked free from court yesterday. Paul Petre, who had 17 years’ service with the Post Office, stole a total of £14,141 from special delivery parcels sent to post offices in Derwentside, Durham
HOSPICE supporters have been thanked for their efforts at an awards ceremony. Awards were given to voluntary staff who have helped at St Teresa’s Hospice’s shops in Shildon, in County Durham, Barnard Castle and Leyburn, in North Yorkshire, for
MODERN policing came faceto- face with its Sixties counterpart on a rural moorland yesterday. Grahame Maxwell, chief constable of North Yorkshire Police, paid a visit to the set of the popular Sunday night television show, Heartbeat. Mr
about the extent of the economic downturn facing the region. Lindsay Thomas, a former director of the Financial Services Agency (FSA), who has been advising Northern Rock for six months, warned of 3.5 million unemployed by next Christmas and
A COMPANY’S development centre has won an award for its creation of a cordless vacuum cleaner. The Black & Decker European research and development centre in Green Lane, Spennymoor, County Durham, won the Plus X prize, awarded by a panel of
THE final part of a white goods manufacturer operating in a County Durham town could be closed. When Electrolux announced it was closing its factory on the Merrington Lane Industrial Estate, in Spennymoor, it said it intended to retain its warehouse
THE region’s main rail link could face congestion problems without investment in a new high-speed line. That was the warning last night from Susan Goldsmith, deputy managing director of National Express East Coast, who said that such a development
SHADOW Chancellor George Osborne, in an exclusive interview with The Northern Echo, committed his party to start construction on a high-speed rail line to the North-East by 2015. He said: “We have done a tremendous amount of work into how you
TWO men who were part of a gang which fleeced a pensioner out of £10,000 for gardening work that was never done were spared jail yesterday. Alex Old and Karl O’Hara were arrested after a worried neighbour called the police and an officer waited
BARGAIN hunters emptied the shelves at North-East branches of Woolworths yesterday after the high street stalwart launched its biggest-ever sale. Queues stretched across stores yesterday as prices were slashed by up to 50 per cent on the first
A PLANNING application for a multi-million-pound cattle market will be lodged within the next fortnight, it has been announced. Developers want to create a £17m livestock market and equestrian centre on a 70-acre site at Humbleton Farm, off the
TWO people are facing jail after separate incidents in which laser devices were shone at aircraft crews. Ben Vout, 19, and Peter Allan, 22, will be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court in the new year. Both men yesterday pleaded guilty in separate
OFFICIALS faced a hostile reception as they tried to explain proposals to change the role of a hospital. Executives and senior doctors told an audience at Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland, that the only way to provide safe, high-quality hospital
A TEENAGER brought her mum to tears when she donated competition winnings to her disabled friend. Sophie Walker was last night being pampered and preened at a mobile beauty salon after her best friend, Bethany Turnbull, gave her the prize as her
A PIECE of public art at the entrance to a business park that pays tribute to its workers has gained planning permission. Councillors yesterday approved plans to install a towering head and shoulders sculpture on the edge of Aycliffe Business
A TODDLER who survived a crash that killed his father and a family friend reached a milestone his family had feared they might not see. Liam Hardwick suffered life-threatening head injuries when a car collided with a group of people waiting
FRIENDS of a priest who was suspended by the Catholic Church four years ago hope a change in church leadership may lead to his reinstatement. Father Michael Higginbottom has not taken a service at St Augustine’s Church, Darlington, since December
AN MP spoke of his fury last night after a review found a chain of errors led to a fivemonth- old baby’s death at the hands of her father. Labour MP Kevan Jones joined an outcry from children’s campaigners over the failings that led to Alisha
TRIBUTES were paid last night to a North-East soldier who died in Iraq weeks after becoming a father. Lance Corporal David Wilson, from Spennymoor, County Durham, was described as a devoted family man whose life was made complete by the birth of
A FIRE which badly damaged at derelict bus depot in Sunderland was started deliberately, investigators believe. Fire fighters attended the former Arriva bus depot on Riverbank Road in Southwick at about 7pm tonight. A fire had broken
