I need to get out and about more. Two stories in today’s edition have one thing in common: reaching the top of the Cheviots and taking in a 360-degree panorama. It’s awesome, we’re reliably informed - in stereo!
I’ve only lived here for 23 years so I’ve got time yet.
We start today with the TikTok generation taking inspiration from flash mobs of the past and making themselves the pains in the backsides of the present.
Also in today’s edition, Tees Valley Combined Authority has to remain on the naughty step, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey delivers an upbeat North East message and Jimmy Nail adds a record-breaking fifth date at The Glasshouse.
Plus, who on earth thinks it’s acceptable to pick up dog poo, tie the dog poo bag, then stick the dog poo bag, with dog poo in it, inside Hadrian’s Wall.
Hadrian’s Wall!
Generation ‘games’
The 50s brought us Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Elvis, leather jackets, brylcream and jiving. Adults feared moral decline and delinquency.
Mods and rockers clashed in the 60s, the decade that brought us the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, mini skirts and long hair (for the lads). Adults feared tribalism, violence and permissiveness.
The 70s began with glam rock and the blurring of gender identity thanks to the likes of David Bowie and Marc Bolan. It later brought us punks and skinheads. Adults feared anarchy and anti-establishment attitudes.
I could go on. Sniffing glue, New Romantics, Goths, raves, Es, grunge… every generation thinks the next one is uniquely chaotic. Every generation turns out to be wrong.
I mention all of this because right now we have ‘link-ups’ and, in the case of Newcastle, ‘ride-outs’. It’s possible that we are in the early stages of both.
A link-up happens when teenagers use social media to meet up in one place, causing bemusement and/or chaos. We’re talking hundreds of them, by the way.
Over the Easter break, link-ups in Clapham, Milton Keynes and Birmingham resulted in arrests and shops having to close. Fires were lit, fireworks set off and balaclava-clad teens tried to loot shops. It’s not a harmless phenomenon.
Moya Lothian-McLean, the 31-year-old Managing Editor of Mill Media had never heard of link-ups until she got caught up in one in Birmingham. She writes about it here.
In Newcastle, there have been three ride-outs during consecutive Saturdays in March, say Northumbria Police. Ride-outs are similar to link-ups, except for the fact that the teenagers, around 300 of them in this case, congregate with bicycles then ride around the city centre ignoring all known road conventions. Cars were damaged, clothing set on fire (?) and missiles were thrown.
Police have identified 47 young people through CCTV footage and arrested four, aged between 11 and 15, on suspicion of conspiring to intentionally or recklessly cause a public nuisance. They have since been released on police bail.
Still not clear
A Best Value Notice (BVN) placed on Tees Valley Combined Authority by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has been extended. The notice was issued after a review into the running and development of Teesworks in Redcar.
A BVN is the Government’s formal warning that an authority may not be running itself properly. It sets out concerns, requires improvements and puts the authority under close monitoring. If the notice is extended, it means the Government still isn’t satisfied with progress - and the risk of direct intervention increases.
MHCLG has confirmed the notice will remain beyond the initial 12-month period until at least its next review point, although it is unclear when that is.
Private Eye has been all over the Teesworks story. You can read their special report Stripped Tees: How Britain’s flagship ‘levelling up’ project turned into a scandalous giveaway here
Two-way tussle
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey visited Newcastle ahead of next month’s local elections and said he believed the contests in the region were “increasingly between us and Reform”.
Speaking after planting flowers in a memorial garden dedicated to the victims of the Heaton Main Colliery disaster of 1815, Davey said: “Before the last election, the name of the game was getting rid of the Conservatives and it was quite difficult to take on Labour in the North East in that situation. However, Labour has done so badly and let people down.
“Now there is a very different political fight to what it was in the general election, and that is why I think we can make a real breakthrough – building on years of solid community work in the North East.”
Warning to unis
High levels of borrowing and rapid expansion of student numbers are among the factors threatening the survival of some universities, according to the think tank the Higher Education Policy Institute.
Their report, A Degree of Regulation: Building a More Financially Sustainable and Resilient Higher Education Sector, urges the Government to introduce new measures to curb “the most damaging behaviours”.
On rapid expansion, the report says Arden University, a private institution which is moving into The Spark building at Newcastle Helix (see Business Bites), has undergone a more than thirtyfold increase.
Road to Holy Island
He’s best known as the leader of the dance troupe Diversity, but Ashley Banjo had “life-changing moments” when he joined six other celebrities in a walk along ancient pilgrimage routes from Whitby through Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and ending on Holy Island.
Those celebrities included Cold Feet actress Hermione Norris, Geordie lass Jayne Middlemiss and Patsy Kensit. The BBC described it as “a three‑part journey exploring faith, history, and the landscapes around Lindisfarne”.
Durham Cathedral was a highlight for Ashley: “I don’t know if you would go through all the trouble to build something this beautiful unless in the name of something higher.”
Other highlights along the way included Housesteads Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall, Newcastle Reform Synagogue (the city became home to hundreds of Jewish people fleeing East European oppression in the late 19th century and later those escaping Nazi persecution) and Harwood Forest, part of Northumberland National Park, the backdrop to the pilgrims’ stay in a remote hostel.
All three episodes of Pilgrimage: The Road to Holy Island are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
100 and counting
This year marks the centenary of the very first plantings at Kielder, now a working forest providing employment for 500 people. The careful management of Kielder has made it a benchmark for forestry in the UK, not least for the low-impact tourism that has been carefully folded in.
This is all information I gleaned from an entertaining and informative travel feature in The Guardian by Annabelle Thorne.
“Kielder is a place of superlatives,” she says. “England’s biggest forest, the UK’s largest human-made lake by capacity, the darkest skies – along with quite possibly the most terrifying mountain bike trails in the country. The Deadwater Double Black Downhill opens officially on 1 May, a rock-strewn, ledge-filled, vertiginous route that I wouldn’t want to walk, let alone cycle.
“It’s one of several new initiatives planned to celebrate the centenary, including a new Room on the Broom trail for kids, based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, and the reopening of Kielder Castle in the summer after extensive renovations.”
The next bit ties in with Ashley Banjo in the previous article. One of his moments of awe came in the Cheviots when, for the first time in his life, he had an uninterrupted 360-degree view of the world.
Annabelle had a similar experience at the top of Deadwater Fell. “Standing at the very peak, 1,900ft above sea level, it feels as if I can see for ever; a 360-degree widescreen vista, from the Cheviot Hills in the north east to the peaks of the western Lake District, the snow-capped Pentland Hills rising up towards Edinburgh, like great white meringues. It’s genuinely awe-inspiring. I’m just glad I don’t have to mountain-bike back down.”
Heritage? It’s shut (misprint)
It took 15,000 soldiers six years to build, is a Unesco World Heritage site and the best-known Roman structure still visible in Britain. But that does not stop people using the 1,900-year-old cracks and holes of Hadrian's Wall to hide their dog poo bags, as the BBC has discovered.
“It’s a real sense of frustration, we have this amazing structure here which so many people want to come and enjoy,” says Northumberland National Park head ranger Margaret Anderson. “For somebody to think it’s acceptable to wedge poo bags into a Unesco World Heritage site, well actually it makes you quite sad.”
A more appropriate word rhymes with sad.
Record run
Jimmy Nail has added a fifth date at The Glasshouse in Gateshead after tickets for his Stories and Songs run sold out in record time.
What was originally announced as a one-off performance this autumn has quickly grown into something far bigger. The North East singer, actor and writer will now play five nights at the venue, marking an unprecedented run in its 21-year history.
The shows, which form part of Jimmy’s first national tour in 25 years, were initially expanded to four in October following strong early demand. Now a final fifth has been added on November 3, which will bring the tour to a close on home turf. Tickets are on sale now via The Glasshouse website.
Jimmy is notorious for avoiding media interviews when he can. Which is why you should sit back and enjoy his long chat with my colleague Sam Wonfor from Cultured. North East here.
On top form
A topping out ceremony has been held at Northumbria University’s North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST) attended by leaders from academia, industry, government, civic and construction partners. The ceremony marked the point at which the building reached its full height – a significant milestone in the delivery of a centre that will play a key role in training the UK’s future space workforce.
First wave
The first eight of 50 Young Futures Hubs are being opened with Newton Aycliffe in the first wave. The centres will help under 18s with employment advice, health and wellbeing, and are also aimed at preventing them from falling into a life of crime.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “The closure of over a thousand youth centres since 2010 didn’t just take away facilities, it took away community, connection and opportunity for a generation. We are determined to rebuild that. These hubs are about more than bricks and mortar, they’re a statement that this Government believes in young people and is investing in their futures.”
A quick word
The nameplates from Locomotion No 1, the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public railway, are to be sold at auction and are expected to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000. Plans for more than 100 homes in Seahouses have been approved with restrictions to prevent them being used as second homes or holiday lets - 19 will be designated as affordable housing. Northumberland councillors have approved a £55m relief road for Blyth - although the work depends on the Government confirming in the summer that it will put £50 towards the project. Greggs may be overstating the case just a tad by saying they have created an “iconic trilogy” - but the North East’s favourite bakers have launched the chicken roll to sit alongside their sausage and vegan cousins. Family-owned Danesmoor Group, which has a heritage dating back more than 120 years, is looking to grow after receiving a £14.7m funding package from Lloyds. The Darlington company, which serves the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom trade, employs 400 people and has invested in new headquarters. Another week, another padel courts story. Health club and hospitality business Bannatyne Group has posted record turnover and is looking to drive growth through acquisitions and new padel courts. Two heritage groups fear the Victorian undercroft at Forth Goods Yards next to Newcastle Central Station would be lost if a £128m development for build-to-rent apartments and a multi-storey car park goes ahead. Newcastle City Council has agreed to put £873,000 towards urgent maintenance needed at the Discovery Museum and Laing Art Gallery. Plans to redevelop the Washington F-Pit Museum, where mining began in 1777, have been approved by Sunderland councillors. Fraser Anderson has been confirmed as chief executive of The Glasshouse International Centre for Music following a six-month interim period after the departure of Abigail Pogson.
Sunderland summer summit
Sunderland is set to take centre stage on the global music map this summer as it hosts the Music Cities Network Summer Summit – the first time the international gathering has been held in the UK.
Music leaders, policymakers and industry figures from across the world will converge on the city from June 18-20, with a wider programme of events taking place throughout the week.
The summit marks a significant milestone for Sunderland, which only recently secured its status as a recognised Music City and joined the global MCN network. It will also serve as the finale to the city’s Year of Music.
Creative hub
A new creative hub is set to open in the heart of Newcastle this autumn, as an underused city centre building is transformed into affordable studios, workspaces and a cultural venue for artists and makers.
Backed by a £1.7million investment from Newcastle City Council and funding from the North East Combined Authority, the project will bring 8,600 sq ft of space on the corner of Clayton Street and Nelson Street - just steps from the Grainger Market -back into use.
The building will become the base for Creative Central NCL, the five-year programme focused on strengthening Newcastle’s creative economy, while also addressing a longstanding problem for the sector: the lack of affordable, secure workspace in the city centre.
Business briefs
One of the first properties to be built at Newcastle Helix, the site where the Scottish and Newcastle Brewery used to stand, has been put up for sale by Legal & General. The Spark, which is fully-occupied and home to Womble Bond Dickinson, has a £34m price tag. Newcastle Building Society has continued its investment in face-to-face banking by opening a branch in Guisborough. That comes as Barclays, which has closed 800 branches since 2018, says it is going to open new branches and ‘bring back bank managers’ because they don’t want customers to get “stuck in some chatbot” when they need help. Business support firm UMi has won a national Innovation & Digital Transformation Award for its Sat Nav for Business platform, which now helps more than a million users find funding and support. Sunderland City Council is buying a business centre near the National Glass Centre and said it will continue to operate as office space in the “short term”. North Tyneside councillors have approved an £8.5m expansion of Newcastle College’s Energy Academy at Wallsend which could see student numbers triple to 1,200 over the next five years.
2007 ad break
It took eight people 10 days to make a car. Not just any car. The components included Madeira cake, Battenburg, chocolate fingers, rice krispies, jam, icing, dozens and dozens of eggs, and golden syrup instead of engine oil.
The Skoda Fabia Cake advert from 2007, with Julie Andrews singing My Favourite Things in the background, won many awards and helped shift public perception of the brand.
Ten days under the lights at Shepperton Studios didn’t do much for the ingredients, however, and most of the life-sized car ended up being binned.
THE WIDER VIEW
Bad connection
Putin started it. There’s been a big increase in home upgrades that can reduce energy bills since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Hold my beer, says Trump. Solar panel businesses are struggling to recruit installers fast enough because of a huge spike in orders since the start of the Iran war.
With energy bills expected to soar later in the year, the Government is throwing its support behind solar as a way to cut bills by offering low-interest grants and loans towards installations and is working with retailers and Ofgem to update the rules so that £400 plug-in solar panels can be connected to domestic sockets.
With all of that going on, now doesn’t seem to be a good time for the introduction of a £200 fee to connect customers to the National Grid (confession: I didn’t realise Maggie Thatcher privatised the grid in 1990). The service had been free until April 1 - and the charge is double what a typical UK home could save on its annual energy bill.
Good connection
A coalition of more than 50 food producers and supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, M&S and Waitrose, is running a groundbreaking logistics trial to move surplus food to charities using spare capacity in supermarket lorries.
Instead of sending empty or partially filled HGVs back to depots, the trial loads them with surplus edible food and delivers it directly to redistribution charities such as FareShare and The Felix Project.
By using supermarket lorries that are already on the road, the trial cuts transport costs for charities, reduces food waste, gets food to people faster and doesn’t increase emissions. Sainsbury’s estimates the scheme could save charities millions in the future.
Nicholas
It’s not an AI pic
In a sign of the times, the RSPCA had to announce this week that a photograph they released of 250 poodle-cross dogs found ‘living’ in one house was real and not generated by AI.
“As much as we wish this image wasn’t real, sadly it very much is - and we are being called to more and more multi-animal reports like this,” said a spokesperson for the charity.
Private Eye have very good on all the Tees Valley shenanigans.