This is The North East | News

We must keep private sector out of pensions
IT's hard to think seriously about pensions when you're in your mid-twenties. Old age seems a very long way away.

Why prisons need to be more positive places
IT'S AN old-fashioned way of doing things, holding up people from the past as heroes for the young to admire.

Tolerance, the mark of a civilised society
THE woman on the bus was looking out at one of those new housing estates that are springing up everywhere these days. "It's all the refugees coming over here," she said to her companion. "Thousands of them. They want somewhere to live."

How to avoid a party disaster
'I'M afraid there's a problem." It's the last thing you want to hear when you're doing a last-minute check on accommodation booked for family members gathering for a celebration - in this case my mother's 90th birthday party.

Why I'm keen on red tape
IT'S A constant cry from business interests: we're being strangled by red tape. It's a cry the Government's apparently taken to heart.

Give me a terrace over new-build any day
THEY were sleeping rough in Salford last week - for the chance to buy one of 349 houses that are not even ready to move into yet.

It's just too dangerous to grow old
THERE'S been a flurry of reports about care of the elderly in the past few weeks - and they all make chilling reading.

A title well woth the effort
IN all this fuss about loans for peerages, there's one thing I can't understand. Why should anyone want to be made a peer?

When mum becomes a friend
'Who's your friend?" I was asked, when - in my mid-thirties - I attended a social function at our local community centre.

Callenging the power struggle
'The word 'power' means they fight," explained my four-year-old grandson with schoolmasterly gravity.

Why trust really does matter
It's not just politicians who tell lies. We're all doing it, more than ever before. Or so it would seem from two recent surveys.

Ultimate test for dirty dog owners
THEY'RE DNA testing dog dirt on the Isle of Man. It's not that they think the dogs might have committed a crime. It's the owners they're after, the sort of owner who lets the dog foul the pavement and doesn't bother to clear up afterwards.

Will my husband look good in Lycra?
MY husband's got himself an up-to-the-minute go-anywhere bike. He's planning to hit the local cycle tracks. Excellent exercise, and it gets him out from under my feet. I'm all in favour.

Should I see Jerry Springer?
'You've got to go and see Jerry Springer: the Opera", said my friend. "It's a matter of principle, to support free speech."

In the midst of death
'How old are you Nana?", asked my grandson just before Christmas.

Tripping the light fantastic
There are golden beaches fringed with palms. There are mountains, blue-green, purple and gold, their high sunlit pastures rainbow-bright with flowers.

Smacking's never the answer
So Tony Blair admits to having sometimes smacked his older children. Now he thinks he was wrong.

The lesson of the 11-plus
I have a confession to make: I was an 11-plus failure. That was half a century ago, but I can remember it to this day.

Red alert for the declutter demon
If you haven't worn it for a year, throw it out - that's good advice when you're faced with a bit of New Year decluttering. In theory, anyway.

Let's hear it for the boys
It seemed like a good idea at the time. You couldn't say we'd rushed into it. I'd be embarrassed to admit how long it is since one of our two main bedrooms was decorated.

We happy breed of mongrels
It's a question that's been in the news a lot lately. What does it mean to be English? It seems there's a crisis about the English identity, with everyone wondering what exactly Englishness is.

It's the food that makes you sick
Jamie Oliver's just got an award from BBC Radio 4 in recognition of his school dinner campaign. Quite right too.

We should be proud to fly the EU flag
SO the European Union is a "political project"? At least, that's the view of the people who oppose Wear Valley District Council's right to fly the EU flag outside the Civic Centre in Crook.

The joy of freedom regained
There's one great pleasure in being a grandparent that doesn't get much of a mention.

An extreme form of laziness
What do you think of when you hear the word Muslim? For many of us these days the latest terrorist outrage comes to mind, the bombs in London or Iraq or Delhi or Israel. Or we think of shadowy figures in white robes and beards, urging their brethren to destroy the Infidel.

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