The principle has already been accepted - if we have youngsters who need a free school meal then we should make sure they get nourished during the holidays.
That’s why we have HAF (Holiday Activities and Food), a programme which was tried, tested and championed right here in the North East.
Last year the Government extended the free school meals programme to take in all youngsters brought up in households in receipt of Universal Credit. Bizarrely, they did not include those same youngsters in the HAF programme.
We have a petition about that today and I would encourage you to sign. If you are in a militant mode, then I also have a petition to save the High Borrans outward bound centre from closure.
Professor Roy Sandbach is leading the charge. “I can’t tell you how many young people enjoyed life-changing times there,” he says.
Talking of young people, there is an outrageous follow up to the closure of Durham High School. Just days before the Chinese owners announced the closure, they tried to get a £250,000 “management fee” from the school.
Also this week, there is the town that’s like ‘the Wild West in the North East’, a late bid to prevent the demolition of the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, and a possible sign of the times in Durham - where Reform councillors rejected an application for a battery storage system despite officers saying the renewable energy benefits outweighed identified harms.
Brian Aitken
Editor
No HAF measures
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme was tried and tested here in the North East. You don’t have to look too close to see the fingerprints of Northumbria University’s Professor Greta Defeyter who is also Chair of Feeding Britain.
The premise of HAF is simple - children who need free school meals should also be catered for during the holidays. It’s a scheme that has been working well since being rolled out nationwide in 2021.
“Multiple studies have shown that HAF is a very successful programme against a range of social, health, educational and financial outcomes and offers exceptional social return on investment of £8 for every £1 invested in the programme,” said Professor Defeyter.
The Government’s Child Poverty Strategy expanded free school meals to all pupils from households in receipt of Universal Credit last year. This will take effect from September - but those 500,000 youngsters will not qualify for the HAF programme.
“In other words, the UK Government deems them poor enough to receive free school meals during term time but not during the holidays.” That’s why Professor Defeyter wants you to sign a Feeding Britain petition to get this position reversed. You can sign here.
Top backing
The Feeding Britain petition has received the support of North East Mayor Kim McGuinness who made tackling child poverty a top priority.
“Every single young person should have access to activities and good quality food throughout the school holidays,” she said. “Making sure children, regardless of their background, have the best start in life has been a priority for me as mayor.
“We’re investing £30m through our Child Poverty Action Plan, I lobbied loudly to scrap the two-child benefit cap and just this week we’ve convened hundreds of people committed to tackling hardship at our child poverty summit.”
More food for thought
Child poverty was also on the agenda in the Tees Valley where 31% of children are growing up in poverty.
An event was brought together by a group of organisations including Close-Knit Families, the North East Child Poverty Commission, the Point North Community Foundation, the Tees Charity and hosts AV Dawson.
It was created to explore how organisations can work more effectively together to tackle child poverty in the region and included contributions from journalist and broadcaster Steph McGovern, Tees Valley Combined Authority chief executive Tom Bryant, and a panel of regional leaders.
‘It’s like the Wild West’
“The children don’t fear adults anymore.” Just one short sentence from a disturbing report on South Shields from BBC reporter Jim Scott.
Exasperated residents say groups of youths and criminals who are unafraid of the police are intimidating and terrorising locals, with one person telling the reporter: “It’s like the Wild West in the North East.”
A social media group set up to report anti-social behaviour has seen more than 2,000 people join in four weeks.
Battery site rejected
Plans for a battery energy storage system (BESS) near South Hetton have been rejected after members of Durham’s planning committee went against the advice of their officials.
BESSs consist of metal containers storing huge numbers of lithium-ion batteries. Planning officers said the renewable energy benefits outweighed the identified harms but after almost 700 objections, councillors voted to reject the application on the grounds of harm to the landscape.
They what?
The Chinese owners asked Durham High School to pay a £250,000 management fee just a few days before telling staff the 142-year-old school would be closing.
This was revealed in the last of a series of five LinkedIn posts from acting head Laura Middleton in which she chronicles the days before the closure announcement from Galaxy Global Education.
“After the announcement, we did not receive support, practical guidance or help with the transition,” she said. “We did not hear from Galaxy Global Education ever again. Before the announcement, we were in the dark. After the announcement, we were left to carry it. And we did. The staff carried it.
“I am sharing this not to dwell in anger, but because people deserve to understand what happened. In its final days, the school was held together by the very people who had been given the least information and the least support.”
Eyes & Ears columnist Bob Hudson wrote about Galaxy Global Education and ‘the strange death of a high school’ on Monday.
‘Stop the demolition’
The Reform-led Sunderland City Council is looking to stop the demolition of the National Glass Centre (NGC) which is due to close at the end of this month.
Councillors have instructed officers to look at bringing forward an Article 4 direction as “an urgent priority”. This would require Sunderland University, the custodian of the site, to submit a full planning application to knock down the building.
It comes after the building was added to SAVE Britain’s Heritage buildings at risk register last week.
Is that it?
I’m sure we’ve all been excited by a movie trailer then found that the film itself was rather tame when you sat down to watch it…
We have waited a long time to hear the results of an independent Local Government Association review into the culture inside Newcastle Civic Centre and the relationships between senior officials and councillors.
The LGA report will be presented at a full council meeting next week but the headlines would suggest “good leadership, effective governance and good relationships” between senior officers and politicians, and that poor behaviour which became “almost accepted, tolerated and normalised” was attributed to a small group of elected politicians.
It does make you wonder why the Lib Dems, now the minority ruling party, called for the inquiry in the first place? And why the minority ruling party at the time, Labour, agreed that the investigation was needed.
Nature reserve fears
The 45-acre Aykley Wood Nature Reserve has been included in a list of sites which could be considered for future housing development as part of the new County Durham Plan (CDP). Lib Dem councillor Mark Wilkes called for the land to be removed from the scoping exercise before “any further upset is inflicted on residents across this county”.
Closure challenge
North Tyneside Council is planning to close the High Borrans outward bound centre in the Lake District. It’s a move that has not gone down well with Professor Roy Sandbach who has pledged to do all that he can to challenge the decision - and has been attracting significant support.
“I worked directly with High Borrans leadership for many years,” he said in a LinkedIn post. “I can’t tell you how many young people enjoyed life-changing times there. It is clear that that we are losing the battle to give young people exposure to real-world experiences that challenge the mind, and build leadership, teamwork and resilience. Worse, we deny them access to the beauty and challenge of the natural world. Words fail me.”
An ePetition has been set up on the council website. It says: “The value of High Borrans cannot be measured simply in financial terms. It should instead be measured by the lives it has changed, the confidence it has built, the futures it has unlocked and the generations of young people who have carried those experiences into adulthood.”
You may have missed…
Council houses, dualling the A1, Bowie at Bowes, scrutiny (lack of) at Tees Valley Combined Authority and Neville Trotter.
Big screen attraction
For years, the North East’s screen industry story was often told in terms of potential. The locations were here. The talent was here. The appetite was certainly here. What was missing was the infrastructure and investment needed to turn occasional productions into a sustainable industry.
According to new figures from North East Screen, that picture is beginning to change rapidly. The agency’s oven-fresh impact report says film and television production has generated £88.5m in gross value added for the regional economy over the past four years, while creating the equivalent of 1,419 full-time jobs since 2022.
Production spend in the region has risen by 83% to £72.5m, while filming days have increased by 58% as productions stay longer and make greater use of local crews, suppliers and locations. Sam Wonfor has more in Cultured. North East.
A quick word
The beach at Low Newton-by-the-Sea in Northumberland has been judged the best in the North. The annual Times and Sunday Times 50 Best UK Beaches, also praises fellow Northumberland beach Seahouses North, Tynemouth Longsands and Roker in Sunderland. A public consultation has been launched on plans to bring bus services in the region back under public control through a franchise agreement - one of North East mayor Kim McGuinness’ priorities. You can give your feedback here. Northumberland councillors have voted against supporting plans to reintroduce lynx to some northern parts of England, although a final decision rests with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Redhills in Durham, the former home of the Pitman’s Parliament, has been upgraded to Grade II listed status after its £14m restoration. The New Light Art, a charity championing Northern talent, is closing after an unsuccessful bid to Arts Council England for funding. The Environment Agency has lifted its advice against swimming in beaches in Hartlepool, Redcar, Saltburn and Marske after a main sewage pipe burst in Middlesbrough. An investigation is continuing into the leak.
Northumbria University is awarding honorary degrees to 14 people at its summer graduation ceremonies, in recognition of their outstanding achievements across the worlds of stage and screen, sport, science, business, law and the creative arts.
They include actress Jill Halfpenny, cricketer Mark Wood, screenwriter Peter Straughan, Centre for Life chief executive Linda Conlon and writer Michael Chaplin.
Football Lionness Beth Mead, Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson and further education stalwart Mark White are all to receive Teesside University honorary doctorates.
Restaurant week returns
More than 130 restaurants have already signed up to take part in what will be the biggest Newcastle Restaurant Week in the event’s 15-year history. Diners will be able to eat for £15, £20 or £25 per person during the seven days which begin on Monday August 3. The NE1 website has details on the venues taking part. The event is being run in association with Tyne and Wear Metro.
Business bites
Esh Group has reported its best ever financial year with pre-tax profits up from £5m to £15m and a 17% increase in turnover to £311m. Chief Executive Andy Radcliffe said: “The level of profitability achieved is more appropriate for a business operating on our scale and in our chosen market segments. We are back to where we should be.” Newcastle-based Peacocks Medical Group has opened a manufacturing base in Sheffield after launching its own brand product range and a number of exclusive UK distribution agreements with clinical product makers. David Stevens, chief executive at the 123-year-old business, said: “This is a defining moment. We enter this next phase as a stronger, faster and more capable organisation.” Wealth management group Fairstone has bought two independent financial advice firms in Aberdeen and opened a new hub office on the outskirts of the Granite City. Team Valley-based IT services firm TSG has completed a multi-million-pound takeover of Maidenhead-based Creative Computing Solutions. Sunderland-headquartered OnPath Energy has opened an office in Cambridge. The company is now working to identify potential new sites for onshore wind farms across the south of England.
Virgin Media should maybe take a look at how Hays Travel deals with customers. The Sunderland-based company has been ranked seventh in the July all-sector UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), the country’s largest and longest-running study of customer service performance. Sports and orthopaedic supplier Brace-Yourself, which is the exclusive UK distributor for a new range of products by Novak Djokovic, has secured a £150,000 investment to expand capacity. The North Shields company supplied the grey knee sleeve that Djokovic famously wore at Wimbledon in 2024 after knee surgery. The Tees Valley Combined Authority has eight vacancies in its finance team. The roles they are looking to fill include head of financial management and head of financial accounting. The latest impact report from the Entrepreneurs’ Forum shows a 35% increase in peer-to-peer mentorship. Chief executive Elaine Stroud said: “The increase reflects the fact that founders want practical, honest support from people who understand what it takes to build and lead a business.” Debmat Surfacing has been acquired through a buy in management buyout (BIMBO), supported by a seven-figure investment. The new ownership team includes Nick Shilling, the former MD of Thompson’s of Prudhoe, and Ian Wilkin, a former CFO and COO of a New York-based real estate private equity firm. Frans Calje is stepping down after 10 years as PD Ports chief executive and will be replaced by COO Paul Foreman on September 1.
1988 ad break
Most of you will surely remember the A-ha video for their single Take on Me with its blend of live action and pencil-sketch animation - where singer Morten Harket broke out of the pages and into the real world to ‘get the girl’. That video was directed by a clever gentleman called Steve Barron who was also responsible for Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing video and Billie Jean by Michael Jackson.
He also directed this McEwans Lager ad from 1988 featuring the Chinheads. The song Something So Real was written and performed by Edinburgh pop‑soul trio The Love Decree who released it as a single in 1989 where it was a minor UK hit but made No.1 in Scotland, keeping Black Box’s Ride On Time out of the top spot.
The idea of upside-down faces was not new - but Barron made the video visually unforgettable.
THE WIDER VIEW
Small pill, big change
Weight-loss jabs have been with us for some time. Monday saw them launch in tablet form - and that could mark a fundamental change in our society.
This is not simply the launch of another medicine, says Stefano Hatfield in The i Paper. It is potentially the start of a profound shift in how Britain thinks about weight, health and personal responsibility.
“The implications stretch beyond medicine cabinets and GP surgeries. They could reshape everything from supermarkets and restaurants to pubs, gyms, employers and, ultimately, the NHS.
“Drugs such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic have already begun rewriting that story. But injections, however effective, have always represented a psychological hurdle. A tablet changes everything.
“Swallowing a pill feels familiar,” he says. “It’s routine, almost ordinary. That simple difference could attract millions who would never have considered an injectable treatment. If the unprecedented demand before launch is any guide, Britain may be about to witness one of the fastest changes in public health behaviour in modern times.”
And that raises fascinating questions. What happens to an industry built around slimming clubs, calorie-counting apps and diet plans? What happens to the food and drink sectors if more people consume considerably less? Will gym memberships be driven by fitness and bulking rather than weight loss? Even employers may see improved health and lower sickness absence.
The ripple effects could be enormous.
‘A trifecta of chaos’
After last week’s explainer video on Brexit, I didn’t expect to be featuring the excellent Ros Atkins from BBC Verify again quite so soon.
This is an important subject, however: why does a pint cost so much - a question that is particularly relevant when so many are being consumed (and thrown into the air) during the World Cup.
It’s nine minutes long but you learn just how small the small profit margin is on a pint, the high level of duty taken by the government compared to other countries, and you get to hear the phrase “a trifecta of chaos”.
Nicholas
‘Your boys took a hell of a beating’
Talking of the World Cup, England’s next game is against Norway tomorrow night. For those of us of a certain vintage it will revive memories of 1981 when the Scandanavians beat England 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier - in an era when the result was considered a major shock.
The game is best remembered for an exultant Norwegian TV commentator who celebrated the victory by rattling off the names of every famous English person he could think of - Winston Churchill, Henry Cooper and Lady Diana among them - and concluded with: “Your boys took a hell of a beating.”
Everyone should hear this at least once in their lifetime.
Good to get news I otherwise wouldn't hear and great cartoon 😀