Columnists

Julia Breen: 'Not sleepwalking into fascism, but striding with full headlights on'

5:00am Thursday 18th April 2019

THERE’S an increasingly unpleasant undertone creeping in to society. I am by no means saying anything that hasn’t been said before, but the problem is that nothing seems to be changing.

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Home is where the art is

12:48pm Monday 15th April 2019

THIS year marks the 30th anniversary of Mackenzie Thorpe taking the plunge by opening his shop in Richmond and embarking on a professional career as an artist.

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Headline Challenge - 2019 so far in quirky headlines

7:00am Monday 15th April 2019

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.

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Chris Lloyd: Fudge is the taste of the future

12:49pm Thursday 11th April 2019

“IT is,” said the radio presenter at about three o’clock yesterday morning as I listened hazily through my sleep, “a classic EU fudge.” My phone lit up with some breaking news. “Brexit delayed until Hallowe’en,” said a message from the Daily Telegraph, “after fudged EU compromise.”

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Tabby or not tabby? That is the question

11:01am Wednesday 10th April 2019

MUCH as I love my wife, I can’t help worrying about how fickle she can be.

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Picking up the threads of time: Volunteers and interviewees come together for launch of oral history exhibition

8:15am Monday 8th April 2019

VOLUNTEERS and interviewees came together for the launch of an oral history exhibition in the historic setting of Ushaw, on the outskirts of Durham. PETER BARRON spoke to them about their memories...

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The cling-clang of the chiffchaff heralding spring

4:09pm Thursday 4th April 2019

AFTER the warmest February on record, March was balmy enough to entice many men who should know better, myself included, to wander out wearing summer shorts.

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Light the buildings up by all means, but please also take time to really understand autism

10:30am Thursday 4th April 2019

I WAS crying with relief.

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Mike Amos joins the Barney army

12:00pm Wednesday 3rd April 2019

ON August 18 last year, we wrote of a two-man Edinburgh Fringe show – BBC Tees presenter Bob Fischer, 47, and 31-year-old Gateshead-based television producer Andrew Smith – in undiluted appreciation of Last of the Summer Wine.

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On the road to acceptance

5:04pm Monday 1st April 2019

At the start of World Autism Awareness Week, Peter Barron meets a North-East man who was not diagnosed with autism until he was in his thirties but now runs a business helping to increase understanding of a condition affecting 700,000 in the UK

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Ben Houchen: Preparing our airport for take-off

4:34pm Sunday 31st March 2019

LAST year we reached a deal with Peel to take our local airport back into public ownership. Earlier this year we got the agreement of the five Labour leaders of our local authorities to do this. This month we officially got hold of the keys and appointed an experienced operator to run the airport on our behalf.

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Chris Lloyd: A shambles is a market - not a common market, but a meat market

10:30am Friday 29th March 2019

IMPASSE, logjam, paralysis, gridlock, standstill, stalemate, deadend. Call it what you will, we are stuck fast.

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Driving me nuts - my wife's battle with a squirrel

6:50pm Thursday 28th March 2019

A BATTLE of wills has developed in our house over the past few weeks and I think my wife may be losing it – in more ways than one.

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Driving me nuts - my wife's battle with a squirrel

6:50pm Thursday 28th March 2019

A BATTLE of wills has developed in our house over the past few weeks and I think my wife may be losing it – in more ways than one.

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We need a revolution of slow in these fast-paced times

11:12am Thursday 28th March 2019

YESTERDAY, rushed out of my mind as usual and in between two school runs, already late for work, I passed an elderly gentleman who often takes a morning walk down my street.

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Mike Amos: Walking the walk - the column bids farewell to three friends

5:00am Wednesday 27th March 2019

DAVID CHARLESWORTH, a very good friend to these columns and to Chris Lloyd’s, has died. He was 66.

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Daley record

5:03am Saturday 23rd March 2019

ONCE voted the biggest waste of money in football history, and dining out on it pretty much ever since, Steve Daley pitched up the other evening at a sportsmen’s do at Tow Law Town.

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Random act of kindness adds polish to lollipop man's big day

5:00am Saturday 23rd March 2019

WHEN lollipop man Tony Kelley gets married today, he'll have an extra spring in his step – all because of a heartwarming act of kindness by a grateful parent.

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Nun's hidden talent to be exhibited after 100 years

8:09am Friday 22nd March 2019

A REMARKABLE collection of artworks by a Benedictine nun, whose talent was hidden behind the walls of a secluded convent a century ago, is to go on display for the first time.

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Peering leaderless into the Brexit abyss – could a second referendum save the day, and Mrs May?

3:54pm Thursday 21st March 2019

THERE are 195 countries in the world. Twenty-three have women leaders.

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