Opinion & columns

Fight for Carlisle must now intensify

If Carlisle had been counting on a quiet week, following long local council election campaigns and resulting change of administration, all such hopes will now be dashed.

Last updated 11 May 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Finally interested – in sport of flying flames

Somebody once told me – I think he was drunk at the time – that no matter how much I disliked sport, if I looked hard enough and long enough I’d find something to tickle my fancy.

Last updated 11 May 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Don’t call me a fossil because I chose journalism

Given the nervous state of the newspaper industry these days, a more sensitive soul might have taken offence.

Last updated 4 May 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Wins tempered by low voter turnout

Carlisle's city council enters a new era of Labour control today, after 12 years of Conservative rule.

Last updated 4 May 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Set the default to opt-in to save lives

Committing to donate organs after death is more than making a gift, more than offering hope to the desperately ill – it is a simple, inarguable responsibility to the living.

Last updated 27 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

No appetite for recession? Come shopping with us

The day they started talking about double dip, I started craving an ice cream.

Last updated 27 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Stead’s excellence puts city on map

It is a good business rule of thumb. The companies that succeed, no matter how gloomy the economic climate, are those with strongly-driven work and performance ethics.

Last updated 20 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

If they’d stayed for sausage we’d have been safer

Word was, something was up. And worried word was spreading fast.

Last updated 20 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Victory for listening

Finding comfort, safety and friendship in older age is something we all would hope for. Those who found all they’d wanted in Aspatria’s Park Lodge care home have reason for celebration today.

Last updated 13 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Don’t let ambitious plans be relegated

The next three weeks will go a long way to deciding whether Carlisle United win promotion to the Championship. By August the club could be playing in the second tier of English football for the first time since 1986.

Last updated 13 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

On security matters, I try to play it straight

Security is a seriously complicated business these days. We know that now. Snoops and spooks will be spying on our emails, tweets and butcher’s queue coded gossip very soon ... all in the interests of national security, of course.

Last updated 13 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

High speed internet is now a necessity

Infrastructure means more than roads and bridges. In 2012 Cumbria needs connections far beyond the next street and town. We need links with the world. And the infrastructure for that is super-fast broadband.

Last updated 5 April 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

No need to panic while a petrol station can still pamper

Panic? Oh come now; we don’t panic. We’re made of sterner stuff than that. And it gives you wrinkles.

Last updated 30 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Controversy will haunt Carlisle Airport

Not a single aspect of the interminably long-running Carlisle Airport saga has passed without controversy.

Last updated 30 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

For role models, don’t allow young to look to our MPs

Why are MPs so boorish, baying, loudmouthed and rude? Or is it too impolite of me to ask?

Last updated 23 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Costly bureaucracy we can’t understand

If you were to define public service restructuring as same old organisation, new name, new budget and licence to spend as if going out of fashion, you might not be far wrong

Last updated 23 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Dinosaurs don’t Twitter well, their claws catch on the keys

An old friend popped up on my phone the other day, to offer a cheery hello. It was a long-time-no-see kind of greeting. And they are always welcome.

Last updated 16 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Vulnerable children have been let down

It was the despairing plea of a youngster that alerted The Cumberland News to deep problems at a Carlisle children’s home.

Last updated 16 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Fuel tax is driving people to poverty

If it feels as though daily life in Cumbria is growing harder thanks to squeezed budgets than elsewhere in the country, there’s good reason for that suspicion. It is.

Last updated 9 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk