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Big plan, bad time

2:49pm Friday 23rd July 2010

WE fear Mr Cameron’s vision of a Big Society, freed from the shackles of the State to tackle the nation’s ills, is doomed to failure. That’s not because it is a bad idea. It isn’t. The concept of giving people the freedom and the encouragement to deal with their problems themselves makes a lot of sense. Taking responsibility is essential for the development of individuals, Mr Cameron’s Big Society is simply an extension of that concept beyond the realm of the individual. Creating the conditions in which that collective responsibility can thrive is a laudable aim.

High hopes

3:51pm Friday 16th July 2010

WE would like to share the optimism of Dr Adam Posen, the member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, who this week said the region was better placed to withstand the current recession in comparison with the periods associated with the decline of coal mining and shipbuilding.

Gaols goal

2:54pm Friday 9th July 2010

THIS is not a good week to back the Ken Clarke line on prisons. Especially in this region. The desperate hunt for Raoul Moat had to be launched only hours after he was released from Durham Jail. But hard cases make poor law. The Justice Secretary acknowledges thousands of Britain’s 85,000 prisoners must stay inside under even the most sweeping reforms.

Questions remain

3:43pm Friday 2nd July 2010

THE decision to kill off the regional development agencies was not exactly a surprise given the Conservative’s pre-election statements on the issue, but many in our region are disappointed that cross-party support for the North-East agency was ignored.

Pain for everyone

4:08pm Friday 25th June 2010

THERE, it wasn’t that bad after all, was it? After one of the longest softening-up exercises in modern political history, Tuesday’s emergency Budget was not the ideologically-driven “slash and burn” exercise that some would have had us believe.

Too many forms

4:45pm Friday 18th June 2010

THIS week, the Bishop of Durham described the idiocy of the practical workings of the nation’s measures to protect children from predatory adults. One of the assistants in his office at Auckland Castle was required to fill out a Criminal Records Bureau form, with the Bishop as authorised signatory, to continue her occasional work with a local church’s Sunday school.

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Heartfelt thanks

6:30pm Friday 11th June 2010

THIS week, we report with some satisfaction the achievement of the target set by our Heart of Durham Appeal. In barely six months, the city has raised almost £50,000 to buy an extra heart scanner for the University Hospital of North Durham.

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A play for today

5:38pm Friday 4th June 2010

PRIESTLEY is a name to conjure with in the North of England. Every breath we take could be a reminder of the Rev Joseph Priestley, one of the 18th-century discoverers of oxygen. But newly topical is the novelist and playwright bred in satanic mills country who, just 70 years ago, was suddenly the most acclaimed broadcaster in wartime Britain.

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Feeling the pain

5:37pm Friday 28th May 2010

ECONOMIC reality has dawned and the full awfulness of it will spread across our social landscape over the coming months. The cuts in public spending outlined in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech will mean lots of central and local government jobs disappearing, every one taking its toll on individuals, families and, in some cases, businesses. And the measures outlined this week are only the start; the emergency Budget is still to come.

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A price to pay

5:17pm Friday 21st May 2010

DURHAM County Council’s planners certainly cannot be accused of timidity in their blueprint for the future of the city and county. What has been unveiled this week should light the blue touchpaper of a debate about the relationship between the two.

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