Columns
Official! 40 is the new 30
What I find most disturbing about turning 40 in five weeks’ time is not my receding hairline or expanding waistline. It’s the fact that I’ve only just got used to being 30.
Last updated 11 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Remind you of your student days gents?
It's good to see that David Cameron and Boris Johnson have cut short their holidays to come back and see the horrific destruction spreading through our towns and cities. It may remind them of their student days.
Last updated 11 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
To keep us engaged, keep your promises!
Hanging was abolished 42 years ago but now it looks likely they’ll be debating it in parliament again.
Last updated 11 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
How we learned to betray our young
When putting together a perfect storm of lost causes for schoolchildren, did anyone ever think to plan for the return of a sunny day? (2 comments)
Last updated 9 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Cumbrian village that's urging visitors to dance
Village signs tend to say “Welcome to”, then the name of the place, then perhaps “Please drive carefully.”
Last updated 8 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Will Carlisle bypass newts have their day?
Can it be true? Really? The first stretch of Carlisle’s long-awaited western bypass is due to open on Wednesday.
Last updated 8 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Can I stand a season of this?
Who would have thought that three months of hope could be mangled in three quarters of an hour?
Last updated 8 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
In need of a drink after Panorama
If you're not already a drinker, you will be by the time the summer schedules are through.
Last updated 6 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Reminiscing does more harm than good
Probably the most watched TV soap for more than five decades, it’s not surprising Coronation Street is now so much a part of our national culture.
Last updated 6 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Don’t patronise me!
Panned by national critics for being unfunny, irrelevant and offensively patronising of northerners, mine is probably a lone voice of whispered defence for Sugartown (BBC1).
Last updated 6 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Forget the global money crisis, our is puff back!
An extraordinary week, you’ll surely agree. The US pulled from the brink of ruin, Italians stepped closer towards theirs, the BBC lost the news – again – and a nuclear bombshell dropped in west Cumbria.
Last updated 5 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Clarkson, sit back and enjoy the view
Those who point out that the oil is going to run out some day, and we can’t go on burning it forever, are regularly denounced by Jeremy Clarkson as ‘eco-mentalists’.
Last updated 4 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Blot on Carlisle's landscape
Cumbria has many examples of fine architecture that deserve to be protected and preserved. The Central Plaza Hotel in Carlisle isn’t one of them.
Last updated 4 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Give me a coffee puff!
I've never had a coffee puff but in the interests of supporting local produce and against the interests of my waistline, I’m going to start buying them now.
Last updated 4 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
There is nothing poetic about dying too young from self-abuse
Mitch Winehouse wants a permanent memorial to his late daughter Amy – and he insists it should be a drug rehabilitation centre dedicated to her name.
Last updated 2 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Don’t take the Mickey
As Cockermouth continues its fight back from the floods, opinions are divided over the best road to recovery.
Last updated 1 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Don’t judge a rock star by his cover
The Damned were once among the scariest sights and sounds in music. In the 1970s they were the first British punk band to release a single – the classic New Rose – and the first to tour the United States.
Last updated 1 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
What price the life of a man?
The life-saving point is well made by North Cumbria’s Prostate Cancer Support Group.
Last updated 1 August 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Britain’s Mad Men? More mad plotlines
I was much heartened by a BBC Radio Four presenter’s pleadings last week. He asked – apropos of nothing: “Anybody watching The Hour? Can anyone explain it to me?”
Last updated 30 July 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
Can’t a girl indulge in a bit of fantasy now and again?
Twiggy’s no great shakes without one. David Cameron likes to be touched up gently around the hoardings with his. And when Vogue came to call, Kate Winslet wouldn’t have answered the door without promise of a big one at her disposal.
Last updated 28 July 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
