Columnists
A view from the frontline of the fight against coronavirus
6:00am Wednesday 8th April 2020
TOMORROW night – like the last two Thursday nights – we will stand on our doorsteps, or open our windows, to clap the dedicated NHS workers who are giving their all in the fight against coronavirus.
Headline Challenge - 2020 in quirky headlines
8:10am Monday 6th April 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.
Serving up an act of kindness for hospital nurses
12:20pm Sunday 5th April 2020
I LOVE hearing about random acts of kindness in the midst of the coronavirus crisis – and here’s another from one of our local supermarkets.
At cross purposes
9:34am Thursday 2nd April 2020
THE coronavirus pandemic has thrown up lots of difficulties and I don’t, for a second, wish to belittle the seriousness of the situation.
Start spreading the news - The Bread and Butter Thing has come to town
7:33am Wednesday 1st April 2020
THESE grim times really are bringing out the best and the worst in people – but let’s start by spreading some good news.
Banking on kindness
7:16am Wednesday 25th March 2020
THE coronavirus may have brought the country to a near standstill, but they are rising to the occasion inside the ramshackle building that once served as a high street bank.
In the bad books
8:34am Thursday 19th March 2020
IT has been a serious bone of contention for some time that I am viewed as a second-class citizen by my own granddaughter.
In the mood for a joyful send-off in memory of 'Ukulele Bill'
6:00am Wednesday 18th March 2020
MUSIC was always going to play a big part in the farewell to “Ukulele Bill” – and the song choices summed up his life to perfection.
Hands of fate - historic twist as brass band celebrates 150th anniversary
8:09am Wednesday 11th March 2020
IT’S what you might call perfect timing. Just as one of the North-East’s oldest brass bands prepares to celebrate a proud milestone, a glittering piece of its history has returned home.
Dying for some answers
1:25pm Thursday 5th March 2020
LET’S face it, the idea of getting old and dying is hard enough for any of us to get our heads around. But when you’re only three, and just getting used to life, it’s especially tricky.
Call to arms as villagers launch fight to buy first community-owned pub in Teesside
7:42am Wednesday 4th March 2020
IT’S all hands to the pump in a pretty North-East community where the locals are missing their village pub so much they’ve rolled out an ambitious plan to buy it.
For all the tea in China
4:57pm Thursday 27th February 2020
I START with a piping hot cup of black tea at my side, made by a brief flirtation and a quick squeeze of a Yorkshire teabag in boiling water and augmented by two sweeteners. It’s 10.33am, and the UK Tea & Infusions Association website in front of me claims that my beverage is one of 43,901,245 that have been made in the country so far today.
In a sticky situation - dog owner landed with £10,000 vet's bill after cocker spaniel Cooper swallows stick
5:00am Wednesday 26th February 2020
DOGS chase sticks - that’s what they do. But in the case of Cooper, the cocker spaniel, it nearly cost him his life as well as landing his owner with a whopping £10,000 vet’s bill.
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.
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.
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.
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.
