Opinion & columns

Valuable chances for school leavers

IN any recession it is often the younger people with few skills or little experience who bear the brunt of it.

Last updated 4 September 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

We’ll need more than Sands to be Capital of Culture

Much as I love Carlisle – and I do, I really do – I confess to a struggle with the idea of it becoming the UK’s cultural capital.

Last updated 21 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Getting closer to the dental summit

THE climb from this country’s damaging NHS dental care crisis is proving a long and hard one – and we’re by no means at the top of the hill yet.

Last updated 21 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

It’s time to spot the red faces of green crusaders

All change again. Rewind to pre-green brainwash and aim a self-satisfied smile towards crusaders who’ve had you marked as subversive for peeling polythene off your peppers.

Last updated 14 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

These men deserve the status of hero

A WORLD War Two hero and an Afghanistan war veteran. More than half a century separates them – but Harry Dobinson and Paul Davidson are really not so different.

Last updated 14 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

I haven’t got the stomach for this haggis wrangling

Not since Charles Darwin threw his trouble-making spanner into the works of the origins of man has there been such an unseemly fuss and fluster.

Last updated 14 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Muddled messages over Renaissance

Rumbling disgruntlement at progress or otherwise made by Carlisle Renaissance shows little sign of abating.

Last updated 7 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Cumbrian soldiers, go with our prayers for your safety

Another grim week in this year’s bloodiest month of July. More dead soldiers made their final journeys home beneath the national flag.

Last updated 7 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

I haven’t got the stomach for this haggis wrangling

Not since Charles Darwin threw his trouble-making spanner into the works of the origins of man has there been such an unseemly fuss and fluster.

Last updated 7 August 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Opportunity still knocks in Cumbria

WHEN the going gets tough, the tough set out to prove a business opportunity is the solution to someone else’s problem.

Last updated 31 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

The staples of Cumbrian life – rain and pies!

It’s an ill wind that blows bald men into town to buy pies. An ill wind and heavy rain, to be more precise.

Last updated 24 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

This art lover's pulse races over sight of old bust

I struggle a bit with art. The painted and sculpted kind that can’t immediately be recognised as Botticelli’s Venus or Michelangelo’s Pieta leave me cold, unmoved, feeling woefully inadequate.

Last updated 17 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Flu panic spreads with uncertainty

SWINE flu messages have become decidedly mixed and more than a touch confusing over recent days and weeks.

Last updated 17 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

In dire need of a ‘facilitator’ to fill in my application

I don’t know what a student learning facilitator is but I reckon it’s time to find out.

Last updated 10 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Worrying times for our town centres

CLOSURE of the last butchers shop in Carlisle’s Botchergate signals a sad sign of modern times, in which the faces and shapes of our town and city centres are changing irrevocably.

Last updated 10 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Education vision is still in our sights

THE “never say die” principle is preventing Carlisle’s education chiefs from throwing in the towel on a flagship vision for higher and further education in Cumbria.

Last updated 10 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk