United call
The North East Child Poverty Commission has mobilised the support of 90 organisations from around the region to call for an end to the two-child benefits cap.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under pressure to plug the hole in the public finances, but a powerful group of business leaders, civic figures, charities, faith leaders, housing associations and anti-poverty campaigners have united to sign a letter urging her to end the limit.
Commission chair Beth Farhat said: “All of the evidence tells us that the cruel two-child limit has been one of the single biggest drivers of rising child poverty, both here in the North East and across the country.
“It is simply not possible for the Government to achieve its welcome commitment of reducing the numbers of children growing up in poverty without scrapping this policy – and we are very clear that this should happen both in full and immediately.
“This would not only be a transformational investment in children across our region – it would mean the thousands of people throughout the North East working tirelessly each and every day to support families in hardship could start to add value to a meaningful national child poverty strategy, rather than constantly firefighting and responding to crisis.”
John McCabe, chief executive at the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: “We joined this call because child poverty is holding back our region. The two-child limit on Universal Credit deepens disadvantage, limiting children’s chances to thrive in school and ultimately the contribution they will go on to make in our economy.”
Two-horse race
Houghton and Sunderland South MP Bridget Phillipson will know on October 25 whether she will be the next deputy leader of the Labour party.
It will be a two-horse race as the education secretary and ousted cabinet minister Lucy Powell were the only candidates to get the 80 nominations required to enter the ballot of party members - Phillipson ending on 175 compared to the Manchester Central MPs 117.
The candidates must now gain nominations from constituency parties and affiliates before ballots are issued to members. A hustings will take place at the Labour party conference, with ballots opening on Wednesday October 8 and closing on the 23rd. The result will be declared two days later.
Some see the race as a referendum on the direction of Keir Starmer’s leadership. Phillipson is obviously the choice of No. 10 but Powell is close to Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham who many tip as a future Labour leader.
Developing story
The Tees Valley already has three. Now the North East could be about to get its first. I’m talking mayoral development corporations.
They can be set up by combined authorities to focus on regeneration in a defined area. They have planning powers, can take on land, possibly acquire land compulsorily, and drive development.
North East mayor Kim McGuinness is looking to set up a Newcastle and Gateshead Mayoral Development Corporation with proposals to go before the North East Combined Authority (NECA) cabinet later this month.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said target projects could include the site of the stalled conference centre and arena on Gateshead Quayside, Newcastle’s Forth Yards and Gateshead High Street and “any potential regeneration works surrounding a new football stadium if Newcastle United were to leave St James’ Park”.
No deal
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen travelled to Saudi Arabia to see if anything could be done to prevent chemical company SABIC closing the Olefins 6 cracker plant at Wilton.
The result of that flying visit is that the closure will go ahead as planned, but company chief executive Abdulrahman Al‑Fageeh gave a commitment to keep the polyethylene plant running - although there has never been a suggestion that its future was in doubt.
A Taskforce has been established in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions and the National Careers Service to coordinate retraining, careers advice, and practical support to get affected staff back into work.
Blaze arrest
A man in his 20s was arrested yesterday for allegedly causing a fire at the office of Washington and Gateshead South MP Sharon Hodgson. A message ‘328 days blood on your hands’ was spray-painted on a wall outside the office in the Concord area of Washington.
This is thought to be a reference to the day Israel announced it had killed Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas. Hodgson is a member of Labour Friends of Israel, a pro-Israeli group of MPs within the party.
High care costs
There are 261 people in Northumberland whose annual care bill tops £100,000 each. The figures were included in a financial report to council cabinet members this week which showed a predicted overspend on the local authority’s budget of £7.5 million by the end of the current financial year.
Mercury rising
The Mercury Prize is being held outside London for the first time this year and if the judges want to play to the crowd then there could be no better winner than Sam Fender for his album People Watching.
Lauren Laverne will be hosting the ceremony at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena on Thursday October 16. Local hero Sam will be competing with 11 other artists for the prestigious prize.
His rivals include Pulp, CMAT, who supported Sam at his concerts at St James’ Park, Fontaines DC, Wolf Alice, and 84-year-old folk legend Martin Carthy whose nominated album Transform Me Then Into a Fish is his first solo release in 21 years.
While Lauren was revealing the 12-album shortlist on her BBC Radio 6 Music show, Fenwick was hosting an event in Newcastle where a buzz was being created not just around the award night but the week-long Fringe which begins on October 9.
David Haley, chair of Generator, said: “The Mercury Prize coming to Newcastle is historic, but the Fringe is what makes it belong to everyone.
“From folk music in Northumberland to the northern festival of jazz, from rap and R&B showcases to production master classes at the iconic World Headquarters club, the Fringe will cut across genres and generations.
“But more than that, it brings the major players of the music industry here to the North, showing them our talent, our venues and our audiences on a national stage, and proving exactly what this region is made of.”
Open door
Former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll used a public conference for his left-wing political movement Majority to outline the case for taking control of Newcastle City Council at next May’s election.
A capacity audience of 330 at the Discovery Museum’s Great Hall heard him call for “a new way of doing politics” focused on building rather than fighting the old system. “We are the snowballs that will start an avalanche,” he said. “Our culture is inclusive and everyone is welcome.”
That inclusivity was helped by Zarah Sultana, the Coventry South MP who co-founded Your Party with Jeremy Corbyn, being a key speaker. Also taking part was newly-elected Newcastle Green councillor Dr Sarah Peters, whose campaigning received support from Majority members.
Partnership first
Other parts of the region, indeed the country, will be keeping a close eye on a ground-breaking partnership in Sunderland which sees six schools unite to form the Pennywell Fellowship.
Going beyond traditional school structures, the approach will allow schools to share resources to create links with employers, improve school-parent relationships and boost attendance.
The Laidlaw Foundation has facilitated the partnership following research by policy consultancy Public First who have published a blueprint setting out how other communities across the country can adopt the model.
The Fellowship has established delivery groups in the priority areas of Employment, Engagement and Enrichment, bringing together organisations such as Sunderland’s council, university and college, Nissan, Barclays, Sunderland Software City, the North East Automotive Alliance, Durham Cricket, Sunderland Culture, Gentoo and Active Sunderland.
Sally Newton, CEO of Laidlaw Schools Trust, said: “By bringing schools together with businesses, civic institutions, and local partners and charities, we can expand opportunities for every young person on the Pennywell estate. This is about more than academic success – it is about preparing our pupils to thrive in life, to access fulfilling careers, and to feel proud of where they come from.”
Ninth but first
Measures such as waiting times, patient access to care, and finances were used by the Department of Health and Social Care to produce the first NHS league tables.
In the Acute trust table, specialist trusts filled the first eight of the 134 places but Northumbria came ninth, making it the best ranked non-specialist acute service in the country.
South Tyneside and Sunderland were 21st, one place ahead of North Tees and Hartlepool, with Newcastle 26th. The table didn’t look quite so good for County Durham and Darlington (66), South Tees (82) and Gateshead (83).
Life-saving plea Pt 1
Two County Durham MPs have urged the Government to remove the ‘postcode lottery’ and ensure communities have access to life-saving defibrillators.
The national survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests is just 8% but life chances increase by 70% if there is access to a defibrillator within three to five minutes.
Bishop Auckland MP Sam Rushworth led calls for better provision during a House of Commons debate. He said that his mum collapsed in church and was only saved because there was a paramedic in the congregation.
Mary Kelly Foy, MP for City of Durham, said: “Nearly half the postcodes in my constituency are not within easy reach of a defibrillator. That is not just a statistic; it is the difference between life and death.”
Life-saving plea Pt 2
Blaydon and Consett MP Liz Twist used her slot on PMQs to ask what steps the Government were taking to reduce suicide rates. Sir Keir Starmer said there was increased investment in mental health services and that they were working with the NHS, local authorities and voluntary organisations to improve early intervention and crisis support.
Bake yourself at home
Your eyes are not deceiving you. These are Greggs sausage rolls and steak bakes - just in the form of cushions and bean bags.
It’s their latest enterprising initiative and collaboration, this time with Northumberland company Bazaar Group, which operates beanbagbazaar.co.uk.
The Cramlington-based company are using the Greggs product launch to rebrand under their most recognisable home interiors range, icon.
A quick word
Durham leader Andrew Husband says his council are looking to exit a contract for a controversial waste incinerator at Teesworks. Newcastle councillors last week voted to withdraw from the facility which is due to handle waste from seven North East authorities. Blyth Bebside will become the fourth Northumberland Line station to open on October 19. The Roof of England Walk, a 14-day circular trail that links together some of the highest footpaths in Northern England, is now open. Covering 188 miles around the countryside of Cumbria, County Durham and Northumberland, its name reflects the elevated position of the North Pennines uplands. Work to widen the AI near Birtley will not be completed until Spring next year because of welding defects. Free second-hand school uniform shop, Second Chance CIC, has moved to larger premises in Sunderland to cope with a rise in demand. Doncaster Sheffield Airport will be back in business in two years after the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority agreed to spend £160m of the region's devolution funding to reopen it. Northumbria Police are objecting to an application by Greggs for extended opening of two of their Newcastle city centre stores which could mean 24:7 opening for one of them. A council hearing has been put back until Tuesday next week.
Great response Pt 1
The 60,000 people who took part in this year’s Great North Run now have T-shirts and medals that show a map of Sunderland rather than Newcastle. Fair play to Brendan Foster and the team for the way they handled things once the mistake had (eventually) been spotted.
In a statement headlined ‘Wear sorry’, the organisers said: “We had Newcastle United stars on the start line and the Stadium of Light on the medal. The Great North Run is truly a celebration of the region, even more so than we had planned.
“For the 60,000 who ran yesterday, you’ve got the most unique T-shirt and medal in Great North Run history, a keepsake that we’ll be talking about in 44 years’ time.”
Great response Pt 2
Talking of saying the right things in the right way with a nice touch of humour…
Ant & Dec were in South Africa filming I’m a Celebrity so couldn’t be at the National Television Awards where they failed to win the Best Presenter award for the first time in 24 years.
They later took to Instagram where Ant thanked everyone who voted for them “even though we couldn’t get it across the line this year”. Dec chipped in: “We were beaten by an up‑and‑coming new guy, 64‑year‑old whippersnapper Gary Lineker. Congratulations to Gary – great speech too.”
On your own
Newcastle Building Society have introduced a mortgage deal called First Step where first-time buyers can borrow up to £350,000 on a five-year fixed rate with a deposit of just 2% - so long as it did not came as a gift or loan from the so-called Bank of Mum and Dad.
Ben Smith, of the building society, said: “We’re committed to doing everything we can to ensure that aspiring homeowners aren’t locked out of the market simply because they can’t build the kind of deposit that many traditional mortgage products demand.”
Financial planner at Mint Wealth, David Sterling, said: “This type of innovation should be praised: supporting those who want to get on the ladder as soon as possible, who give signals that they can stand on their own two feet and save a deposit.”
Home again
The first Metro train, which dates back to 1975, is set for a new lease of life with North East Museums. Metro carriage 4001 will have a new home at the Stephenson Steam Railway in North Shields - although it’s a homecoming really as it’s where the Metro test track used to be.
Stepping down
The man who has been at the helm of Northumberland National Park for two decades is to step down. Tony Gates has been chief executive since 2005 but plans to retire in March next year.
His time in office includes the creation of the Sill visitor centre, and the designation of the National Park and most of Kielder Water & Forest Park as England’s first International Dark Sky Forest. He also saw Northumberland voted the UK’s top national park by readers of Which? magazine on a number of occasions.
“It has been an honour to live and work in this beautiful and culturally rich county,” he said.
Profits jump
Northumbrian Water Group’s latest results show that revenues have grown to just over £1bn while profits jumped from £24m to £83.4m.
The company said it had hit 12 of its 17 internal targets but leakages and discharges were among those not met.
It also said Ofwat’s determination on bill levels for the coming years does not allow it sufficient funds to invest in upgrading its network and other environmental measures and that the matter has been passed to the Competition and Markets Authority for a ruling expected by March next year.
Business bites
Another week, another big order for Tekmar, who have announced a $10m contract for the design and manufacture of their polyurethane cable protection system, TekDuct, for a major offshore energy project in the United Arab Emirates. Stockton-based software company Sapere is accelerating its growth plans after securing a six-figure investment from UKSE, a Tata Steel subsidiary. It will be business as usual at the Consett factory of glass fibre composites producer Lamplas after being bought by Leeds-based MPM, a company they are used to collaborating with. Newcastle-based Bastion, a firm renowned for its physical security systems, has been bought by BeaverFit, a Shropshire-based provider of high-security and tactical training services, which operates across the UK, US and Australia. Noblegen Cryogenics, which manufactures liquid nitrogen generators, is consolidating its head office, design, and UK manufacturing operations under one roof at Boldon Business Park on South Tyneside. Scottish firm Greener Energy Group, which focuses on eradicating fuel poverty while supporting the shift away from fossil fuels, has launched operations across Durham, Darlington and Newcastle. Nottingham payroll, HR and finance software firm MHR has opened a tech hub on Newcastle Quayside because of the city’s “rich tech ecosystem, strong tech community and skilled workforce”. Cramlington-based Global plastics manufacturer Renolit have reported a dip in revenue and profits but “directors are confident that the business is now well set for the future.”
1968 ad break
The Joe and Petunia films are a throwback to the days when humour was used to make safety messages stick (some of you will be old enough to remember: “Polish a floor. Put a rug on it. You might as well set a man trap.”).
This is the first one from 1968, created to teach people what to do if they saw someone in trouble at sea. Joe and Petunia are a clueless couple whose obliviousness is played for laughs.
It’s mix of cartoon slapstick, period voice acting, and a very 60s public‑service tone is exactly why it’s fondly remembered today - although, to me, there is something rather unsettling about the way Petunia, voiced by Wendy Craig, eats her ice cream.
Joe, who could easily have been the inspiration for George from George and Mildred, was voiced by Peter Hawkins, a remarkable voice actor who was behind ALL the characters in Captain Pugwash, Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men, the Daleks and Cybermen in Doctor Who and the original Zippy in Rainbow.
Footnote: Peter was chosen to be the voice of Gromit, who along with his plasticine partner Wallace received a Special Recognition Award at the aforementioned TV awards this week. But creator Nick Park changed his mind and decided to make the character mute to save on the effort required to animate the dog’s mouth.
THE WIDER VIEW
The outside view
What is the collective noun for a group of place managers? North East retail consultant and former QT writer Graham Soult, himself a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management, was among those welcoming Diane Cunningham (another IPM Fellow) when she visited the North East for the first time recently.
Just as Graham is well known across the region for his sage insights on high streets, the perspectives of place managers are generally worth listening to because they spend so much of their time soaking up, and shaping, the towns and cities that underpin our daily lives – working on the ground to make places, especially high streets, more attractive, successful and, well, interesting.
Diane’s LinkedIn post soliciting suggestions of North East places to visit generated far more ideas than anyone could possibly fit into a week. However, she left us with a few observations.
Our architecture is (mostly) stunning, the coastline is beautiful and there’s some good stuff happening - and more to come. It was easy to get around without a car, and there were shopping centres in almost every place she visited - presenting challenges in some and almost fully occupied in others.
She thought there was a “limited indie offer when it comes to retail and food and beverage”. Ouseburn and the North Tyneside coast seemed to be where more indie retail was based.
“Many places have no green space in the centre (some are surrounded by water or countryside). In some cases, BIDs are working hard with pocket parks and pop-up seating areas to address this.
“In Newcastle, people are very proud of their city and the changes it has undergone and are quick to tell you (unprompted) which I really liked.”
It’s always interesting to hear how others see us. I could have brought you Diane’s observations a couple of weeks ago - but LinkedIn only brought her post to my attention this week. I don’t know what LinkedIn have done to their algorithms but I wish they would go back to how it used to be.
Next stop…
A Reform government would axe any high-speed rail schemes earmarked for the north. Deputy leader Richard Tice said companies considering bidding for contracts should “not bother” as the party would “spend the money instead on things the country needs more”.
Labour is expected to announce its backing for a £17bn Liverpool-Manchester line as a first step in a full railway running across the north (don’t think that means the North East, mind).
Tice made his comments in the foreword of a report for right-leaning think tank Policy Exchange, which was written by the former No. 10 transport adviser and long-term opponent of HS2, Andrew Gilligan.
Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “The chancellor is on the brink of putting forward a plan to build a modern, reliable rail network that northern businesses and communities have been calling for. For Reform to propose scrapping this network before it’s even been properly set out shows how irresponsible they are.”
Anyone for seconds?
You know that thing you hadn’t noticed before, even though it’s always been there. And then someone points it out to you and you can’t stop seeing it.
Second mentions are just like that.
Second mentions are the words a journalist uses to describe something or someone for the second time in a story to avoid repetition. They can be amusing, witty and inventive. They can also be scathing, sardonic and caustic.
Take a banana, for example. The second mention in a news story could call it ‘the fruit’. However, some writers may opt to call it ‘the elongated yellow fruit’, ‘the curvy favourite’ or perhaps ‘the energy-rich treat’.
That’s the sort of thing that caught the eye of husband and wife team Juliet and Matthew Maguire whose hobby for spotting second mentions became a passion and they have been running an account on Twitter called Second Mentions since 2013. They’ve also just published The Little Book of Second Mentions.
Writing in Press Gazette, they give honourable mentions to ‘the wibbly wobbly treat’ (jelly), ‘the screaming snack snatchers’ (seagulls), ‘the striped picnic botherers’ (wasps) and ‘the porcine-poultry hybrid’ (scotch eggs).
“One time, we had so enjoyed ‘the cod digits’ as a second mention for fish fingers that we invited our followers to suggest further examples,” they wrote. “Our favourites were ‘the oceanic oblong’, ‘the becrumbed piscine cuboid’, ‘the flaky cod appendage’, ‘the piscatorial phalanx’ and, behold, ‘Neptune’s crispy pointer’.
Yes, there’s a lot more to this journalism lark than you realise.