Opinion & columns

A time for recovery and quiet reflection

How to make sense of the senseless? Two days on, the immense shock at Derrick Bird’s killing spree remains.

Last updated 4 June 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Make hay while the sun shines – rain’s on its way

It was all a bit of a whirling, whizzing, wear-yourself-out panic really. English summers usually are. Two weekends ago, it was.

Last updated 4 June 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Carlisle Cathedral will get support

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, otherwise called Carlisle Cathedral, may be one of the smallest cathedrals in England but its significance is huge.

Last updated 28 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Don’t betray the future of this brave generation

The day was a dark one for Cumbria. Though Monday’s May sunshine blazed with an August heat, shivers of shock and loss were chilling.

Last updated 28 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Cumbria university failure is not an option

There's little doubt that the shock departure of vice chancellor Professor Peter McCaffery adds yet another worrying dimension to the troubling instability of the University of Cumbria.

Last updated 21 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Nice should save its incentives to care for the sick

So, the four-day girlie weekend went well, then. Too much wine, too much food, too much gossip and raspberry gin... can’t say fairer than that.

Last updated 21 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Now is not the time for political sniping

This week the shape of British politics changed radically.

Last updated 14 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Have our votes been the latest to be fairtraded?

I spotted him across a crowded room. Head and shoulders above the rest, slender, attractive, with a luminous smile and twinkly eyes...

Last updated 14 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Teachers should be putting pupils first

The irony in angry protests about our imperfect education system is that nobody – apart from pupils – ever seems to learn anything.

Last updated 8 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Historic result after dignified contest

Carlisle has a Conservative MP for the first time in nearly half a century.

Last updated 8 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Cumbria decisive in its choice of MPs

There is no reason to believe the muddy waters of compromised government will clear sooner rather than later.

Last updated 8 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Embrace change and swap sushi for scarecrows

The girls are coming again next week. I use the term girls loosely, of course. It’s a few years since any of us knew girlhood.

Last updated 7 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Use your vote for local issues too

Local polling issues have slipped so deeply beneath the shadow of general election campaigning, they’ve become almost forgotten as an irrelevance.

Last updated 30 April 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

A very special power for we ordinary voters

Chocolate chip cookies, a cup of strong tea and a bit of laugh-out-loud chat about windfarms, parking problems, General Election blues and April’s unseasonal humidity.

Last updated 30 April 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Church must open mind to all options

The Church Commissioners have yet to call back their jury to pass verdict on the future of Rose castle.

Last updated 23 April 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Two-pint PM may be a better bet than Woody Allen

This is the weirdest election campaign I’ve come across – and believe me, I’ve come across a few.

Last updated 23 April 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Leave the ironing there’s a local in need of rescue

By gum, some people must have utterly miserable lives.

Last updated 16 April 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Sad that the CAB is still needed today

It’s a disturbing thought. In 70 years since the Citizens Advice Bureau was formed, problems haven’t changed. They’ve simply increased in number.

Last updated 16 April 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

We are not gullible voters in Cumbria

The trouble with party politics is that, in the thick of a General Election campaign, it can seem to voters that candidates are driven more by a will to win for their party than a wish to do the best for their constituency and country.

Last updated 9 April 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk