Columnists
The rise and rise of Rishi – our next Prime Minister?
5:08am Sunday 23rd February 2020
IN terms of meteoric rises, there is none more stellar than that of the Richmond MP Rishi Sunak. Just seven months ago, he was a junior housing minister; now he is the second most powerful politician the country in charge of the nation’s finances who will present his first Budget within three weeks.
SSIgning the steelworks deal is the start of our new future
4:58pm Sunday 23rd February 2020
THIS month marks a milestone in my term as Tees Valley Mayor, and indeed in the whole history of devolution in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. After years of often bitter negotiations, we have struck a deal with SSI to take control of the former Redcar steelworks and bring it into local ownership.
Wearing the shirt with pride
8:13am Thursday 20th February 2020
IF I have one major disappointment about my time as a dad it’s the fact that none of my four children share my passion for football.
Baby, we were born to run...mum completes parkrun the day before she's due to give birth
5:00am Wednesday 19th February 2020
IT'S fair to say that running is a real labour of love for intrepid mum Deborah Jefferies.
Headline Challenge - 2020 in quirky headlines
8:10am Sunday 16th February 2020
The Headline Challenge is played every weekday morning on the BBC Tees breakfast show (95fm). Peter Barron, and occasionally Chris Lloyd, bat for The Northern Echo, coming up with a funny story from around the world and challenging listeners to produce a better headline than theirs. Points are awarded for the best headline each day and it's double-points for a song title, film, play or book.
A yarn that reveals a wartime mystery
8:31am Wednesday 12th February 2020
AT first glance, it looks like a fairly ordinary scarf – the kind lovingly knitted by a relative to keep a loved one warm in the winter.
Still steamed up about the fate of Locomotion No 1
12:10pm Thursday 6th February 2020
TEN years ago, the Church Commissioners tried to secretly spirit away some valuable paintings from Auckland Castle to sell them. They owned the paintings, they arrogantly said, so they could do whatever they liked with them, without consulting local people in whose midst the paintings had been since 1756.
It's a wonderful life - starring 93-year-old John Appleton
8:29am Wednesday 5th February 2020
SOMETIMES, “lifetime achievement awards” are presented somewhat prematurely – but not in the case of the wonderfully evergreen John Appleton.
Äddi a vill gléck to you all
7:07pm Thursday 30th January 2020
"HAPPY New Year, Europe," was The Northern Echo's front page headline on January 1, 1973, as Britain joined the Common Market.
The dementia-friendly choir providing the musical key to unlocking memories
8:39am Wednesday 29th January 2020
EYES shut tight, 96-year-old Barbara Petrie appears to be lost in her own silent world until she hears those around her begin to sing and, suddenly, she’s alive.
Boxing debacle
10:32am Tuesday 28th January 2020
YES, I know we’re rattling through January at a fair old pace, but I haven’t had chance to tell you about how I spent Boxing Day, and I think it’s important that I do because it shows new dads what life has in store.
Ben Houchen: New flights are vote of confidence in our airport and region
5:00am Monday 27th January 2020
TWELVE months on from the moment I rescued Teesside Airport and saved it from closure, we have just had the most significant announcement yet. In just a matter of weeks, people will be able to fly from Teesside to London City, Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Southampton and a revised Aberdeen service, along with a route to the Isle of Man in the summer. This will mean nearly 200,000 extra passengers a year going through our airport.
Darlington's identity is on the line
5:22pm Thursday 23rd January 2020
ONE engine, two museums – Locomotion No 1 cannot be stationed in two places at once. Someone will lose out.
Family tell of devastating moment they learned their little girl Poppy had kidney failure
5:00am Tuesday 21st January 2020
THERE’S a very good reason why Gavin Lancaster will spend his 40th birthday walking 13 miles – and she’s called Poppy.
Hearts and crafts
8:11am Monday 13th January 2020
THE Australian bush fires have produced one of the most tragic and shocking statistics of the year so far: a billion animals have perished in the flames.
The shame of the Tees Valley train
4:01pm Thursday 9th January 2020
UNLESS you try to use our local railways on a daily basis, you probably don’t understand how shockingly bad, how utterly appalling, they are.
In it for the long run - the 85-year-old parkrun hero who shows no sign of stopping
9:19am Monday 6th January 2020
IN the bright January sunshine that greeted 2020, a record-breaking 606 people gathered to get the year off to a healthy start by running three laps of their local park.
The Northern Echo 150: Why the regional press has never been more important
5:00am Wednesday 1st January 2020
FROM my desk in The Northern Echo newsroom, now on the first floor of our historic home on Priestgate, Darlington, I can see the team are busily putting together our New Year’s Day edition.
Hannah Chapman
Opinion on the issues of the week by The Northern Echo's editor.
Chris Lloyd
Chris Lloyd on a quest to understand today’s world.
Peter Barron
Weekly columns from The Northern Echo's former editor.
Ben Houchen
Monthly column from Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen.
