Chris Lloyd
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?
Who dares to be the next Tory to tackle Europe, the killer of careers?
5:57pm Friday 24th May 2019
EUROPE has destroyed the careers, and blighted the last years, of every Conservative Prime Minister of the last three decades: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron and now Theresa May.
What is Labour's future in the Tees Valley?
12:47pm Thursday 23rd May 2019
WHILE we wait with bated breath for the European election results and for Theresa May to fall, it is worth casting an eye over the smouldering wreckage of the Labour Party in the Tees Valley.
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.”
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.
