WITH a heavy sense of irony, last week’s long-awaited announcement on public spending cuts coincided with the news that Wayne Rooney no longer wanted to play for Manchester United.

He slagged off the club for being unambitious, Sir Alex Ferguson wore the look of a man dumped by his girlfriend, and the press speculated on which club Rooney would join.

The Daily Star considered Wayne’s warped world to be more important than the £81bn worth of cuts, including an extra £7bn off the welfare budget, meaning that some disabled people would lose their benefits.

The fact that nearly 500,000 people were about to lose their jobs made just two paragraphs alongside the Rooney saga.

Then, two days later, it was all miraculously resolved. It was all just a big misunderstanding.

Wayne did love Manchester United after all. The fact that he’d got himself a pay rise to £200,000-a-week (a £50,000 weekly increase) was purely incidental.

Then came the most galling part of the whole nauseating soap opera. A photo was issued by Manchester United, showing Rooney and Ferguson smiling and with their arms round each in a Mills and Boon-style love-in.

And anyone wanting to publish the picture was told it would cost them £300.

Yes, we had to pay Manchester United for the privilege of being part of the club’s sordid, phoney propaganda con job.

Even in these days of austerity, The Northern Echo could have stretched to £300 – but we didn’t publish the picture on principle.

I’m only sorry every editor in the country didn’t tell Manchester United to stick it’s grubby little snap where the sun doesn’t shine.

WHILE our front page on the cuts was being finalised back at the office, I had an evening speaking engagement with Carperby Women’s Institute, in Wensleydale.

The disappointment was that the dark nights meant I was denied some of the country’s loveliest views. But, as I was lamenting my poor sense of timing, I came across Castle Bolton, illuminated in all its ghostly majesty, as I passed through Redmire.

More landmarks should be lit up in these dark, depressing days of belt-tightening.

Look what the illumination of the Transporter Bridge has done for night-time views across my home town of Middlesbrough.

Indeed, my illustrious predecessor Harold Evans highlights the illumination of Durham Cathedral as one of his proudest campaigns as editor of the Echo in the Sixties.

Like him, I’m all in favour of illuminating our landmarks. But can the country afford to keep feeding the meter?

IT was a dark, gloomy Saturday in June 2005 when a Lancaster bomber announced itself with a distant drone, then brought a lump to my throat as it flew over the newlyunveiled statue of Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski at Durham Tees Valley Airport.

It will live with me as one of my fondest memories when I leave the editor’s chair, and it began with a letter from Betty Amlin.

Betty’s husband, Jimmy, had served with Mynarski, who was killed while saving colleague Pat Brophy in a stricken “Lanc” over France, but never officially commemorated.

We put that right by raising £70,000 to commission a statue of “The Forgotten Hero”.

What a campaign it was.

The proud memories came flooding back last week when Jimmy Amlin was given a guard of honour at his funeral.

Rest in Peace, Jimmy.