Chris Lloyd
Dapper Derek and the mandarins
5:47am Friday 17th May 2019
FLICKING through a packet of old photographs of the former Bishop Auckland MP Derek Foster for inspiration ahead of today’s memorial service, I was struck at how dapper he was.
Incredible story of Rana whose great escape has come to an end
10:40am Monday 13th May 2019
RANA was my snowy-haired mother-in-law. She happily lived out the last years of her life, into her 91st year, in her “nest” in Hurworth almost incognito, blending into her street of bungalows, quietly keeping herself – and her cat – to herself behind a magnificent magnolia.
Kowtowing to the great god of gout
12:45pm Thursday 2nd May 2019
“IT is disappointing,” said Jeremy Corbyn, turning down his invitation to dine with President Donald Trump, “that the Prime Minister has again opted to kowtow to this US administration.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
A little understanding for our MPs
2:01pm Thursday 14th March 2019
THIS week has been as exciting as the opening group stage of the football World Cup. I rush home from work each night, turn on the TV and find myself inexplicably drawn into the drama of an obscure fixture such as Uruguay versus Switzerland. Next night it is something as captivating as Japan versus Saudi Arabia.
After 50 years Harry Mead's weekly column is coming to an end
10:00am Wednesday 13th March 2019
After 50 years Harry Mead's weekly column is coming to an end. Chris Lloyd talked to him about the poetry of the Yorkshire countryside and the prose of our democracy
Is it a codpiece or a callus?
5:47pm Thursday 7th March 2019
WHEN I give my talks, I begin by introducing myself as being someone who writes about quite interesting things like local politics and Brexit and very interesting things like local history.
The last great split - Headline from 1983 gives indication of future for rebel MPs
12:00pm Thursday 21st February 2019
“ICY shoulder for town’s defector MP”, said a headline in The Northern Echo in May 1983 as the Thornaby MP who had split from Labour to form the new Social Democratic Party struggled to get information from Stockton council.
Dunnocks, trollops and tattyboggles
3:16pm Thursday 7th February 2019
THE bird world is in a flap. The dunnock, that drab little sparrow which hangs out in hedges, has been outed as a “trollop”.
Be open and frank: we're scunnered
1:58pm Thursday 31st January 2019
OPEN and frank. Often in this column, I pick on a topical word and try to work out what it means.
Chris Lloyd: What Nissan could learn from the humble snowdrop
7:00pm Thursday 24th January 2019
WINTER has finally gripped my car in its icy grasp this week. Most mornings I’ve had to chip off the frost, both inside and out, while cursing man’s failure to invent a can of de-icer that is not impossibly cold to hold.
Is Brexit the Zinoviev of our time?
3:46pm Thursday 17th January 2019
“WHAT a crowded, tumultuous and changeful House the crisis assembled!” said The Northern Echo on its front page the day after the Government suffered the heaviest defeat in Parliamentary history.
Middlesbrough versus Newport: a tale of two transporters
4:06pm Thursday 10th January 2019
IT was great to see Rodney Parade rocking on Sunday, as lowly Newport knocked the high-flying foxes of Leicester City out of the FA Cup, a feat for which they were rewarded with a plum tie in the next round against mighty Middlesbrough.
Can Shelagh help save Barnard Castle's precious Witham?
10:42am Wednesday 9th January 2019
A DRIZZLY grey morning in Barnard Castle. The pavement outside the Witham Hall, the grand buff building in the centre of the main street, is gleaming wet and is being swept by a woman with a broom. Pigeons, she explains, roost in the classical portico overnight and leave their own welcome mat outside the community arts centre’s front door.
Chris Lloyd: If HMV goes, Darlington town centre will lose part if its soul
5:30am Friday 4th January 2019
SIR EDWARD ELGAR was an early adopter. If he’d been alive today, he would be streaming music through his wireless headphones.
What's in a name: can Teesside take flight once again?
4:53pm Thursday 20th December 2018
SAY you’d just landed at a newly renamed airport in Middleton St George, your wheels touching down at the start of the runway in the borough of Stockton and your plane coming to rest at the end of the runway in the borough of Darlington. Then you jumped into a taxi and said “take me to Teesside”. Where would you end up?
19th century petroleum hair wash engulfed pregnant woman in flames
1:53pm Thursday 13th December 2018
“RARELY has a more sensational story been heard,” said The Northern Echo 110 years ago.
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.
Mike Amos
Characterful people and colourful places of the North-East.
Chris Lloyd
Chris Lloyd on a quest to understand today’s world.
Peter Barron
Weekly columns from The Northern Echo's former editor.
Chris Moncrieff
Weekly political comment from Chris Moncrieff.
Julia Breen
Anti-injustice, pro-equality, sometimes ragey.
Ben Houchen
Monthly column from Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen.
Mike McGrother
Encouraging people to talk about mental health.
Mike Barton
Durham Police chief Mike Barton's monthly column on policing.
