Chris Lloyd
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A tidal wave of Toryism
12:15pm Saturday 14th December 2019
IT is a time for geographical and geological metaphors: this is a seismic result, especially here in the North-East where a tidal wave of Toryism has swept through County Durham and along the Tees Valley, turning red to blue, from the former steeltown of Consett in the west, through the ex-coalfield to the former steeltown of Redcar in the east.
The last election in the dark days of December
12:48pm Thursday 5th December 2019
THE last December election was in 1923, and The Northern Echo’s polling day forecast predicted a “moderate northerly wind, becoming light and backing to west”.
Taking the wrapper off plastic pollution
5:30pm Thursday 24th October 2019
I WRITE this surrounded by the debris of my £3.39 bargain lunch from Boots. I get a portion of chicken and bacon pasta in a plastic box with a plastic fork sealed under a plastic wrapper, a couple of pieces of mango and melon in a plastic box with a small plastic fork sealed under a plastic wrapper, and a watermelon and raspberry smoothie sealed in a plastic bottle.
The Boro striker who was hotter than Harry Kane
2:10pm Thursday 17th October 2019
IN the 85th minute of Monday night’s disgraceful game against Bulgaria, England captain Harry Kane, after missing many chances and setting up three goals for others, finally slotted one for himself.
Chris Lloyd: Will Boris end up a snivelling, blubbing blockhead?
10:00am Friday 4th October 2019
THE shortest-serving Prime Minister, whose period in office was not curtailed by his sudden death, was noted for his shock of blond hair and his blue eyes.
Singing out a mnemonic for a no-deal exit
2:33pm Thursday 12th September 2019
THE Brexit Party rally at Sedgefield Racecourse on Wednesday was frenetic. A strong, chill September wind blew wrappers from the burger stand across the paddock so that they wrapped around the ankles of people caught up in the hubbub, while a Norwegian camera crew ambushed people in the queues, looking for close-ups of the turquoise party shirts as they tried to understand what the hell the British were up to.
Filibustered out by a big girl's blouse
3:08pm Thursday 5th September 2019
THE tension in the House of Commons in the last 72 hours has provided for some extremely notable speeches, principally from Sir Nicholas Soames and Kenneth Clarke, and some extraordinary outbursts.
There's No Place like Utopia
2:06pm Thursday 8th August 2019
“ENJOYING a walk recently near Beamish, we wondered about the origins of the name of the nearby village of No Place, which is also known as Co-operative Villas,” says Pete Winstanley, of Durham.
In upper Teesdale is one of the largest outdoor artworks ever in this country, but is it any good?
8:00am Thursday 1st August 2019
“ISN’T it great that we’re up here talking about art?” said a lady sucking on a pear while sitting on the edge of a hush at the top of Teesdale.
Why do we say 'it is raining cats and dogs'?
12:26pm Thursday 1st August 2019
Sweepings from butchers’ stalls, dung, guts, and blood,
Still over the Moon about Apollo
2:55pm Thursday 18th July 2019
“PERHAPS the second most fantastic thing after the Moon visit itself,” said The Northern Echo breathlessly in its editorial of July 22, 1969, “was the fact that we were able actually to see the first man put a foot on the Moon as he was doing it a quarter of a million miles away.”
A roundabout way of celebrating Darlington's history
2:05pm Thursday 11th July 2019
DARLINGTON’S ten-year flirtation with a hamburger is to come to an end in a roundabout sort of a way in September.
Redcar rain falls mainly on Majuba
4:18pm Thursday 13th June 2019
COME and speak to us in sunny Redcar, said the Women’s Institute. Come in flaming June when the days are sunniest and the evenings longest.
The weatherman who put the D into Day
2:55pm Thursday 6th June 2019
DELIVERANCE? Debarkation? Destiny? Decision? Determination? Dooms-? What does the D in D-Day stand for?
Strange and trivial fascinations, usually with a historical bent, in a never-ending quest to understand today’s world.
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.
