‘Education, education, education’ were the three priorities Tony Blair gave at the Labour Party conference in 1996. One of his successes was the London Challenge, turning around the performances of inner-city schools in communities that had been left behind.
We have been promised something similar through Mission North East. It starts this term - and it can’t come soon enough judging by yesterday’s A Level results where the gap between the attainment levels of the North East and London is as wide as its ever been.
Also in today’s edition there’s the writer who visited Northumberland and says the county’s food and drink go hand in hand with heritage and tradition. And there’s the Northumbria academics turning agricultural waste into a clean coal substitute.
A structurally-sound Metro bridge has been deemed “at serious risk of collapse” - because of the inadequate crash barriers on the road below. Two council rivals talk of misogyny on the campaign trail, and David Whetstone has a wonderful piece of colour writing on the Novum Festival finale and the 2.5km domino run.
Brian Aitken
Editor
‘A’ Levelling up
Mission North East was only announced in a Government white paper in March and detailed in an announcement by the then Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in May. It doesn’t even begin until the start of the new term in September.
But it is so badly needed, as even a cursory look at yesterday’s A Level results will tell you.
The ‘mission’ is to build on the success of the London Challenge, which was launched by the Blair government in 2003, and showed what is possible when you concentrate expert-led, place-based support in communities that have previously been left behind.
And London is doing all right now. Almost a third of students in the capital, 32.7%, were awarded A or A* when results were released yesterday morning. That contrasts with 23.1% in the North East - the largest ever gap between the two regions.
Schools North East said the regional results should not be interpreted as a league table of school quality. Instead, they highlight a much deeper structural divide in the circumstances, resources and opportunities available to children and young people in different parts of England.
Director Chris Zarraga said: “Schools operate within profoundly different social, economic and public-service environments, with inequalities beginning long before children enter school and continuing beyond the school gates.”
The ‘mission’ statement
New Education Secretary Lucy Powell has not mentioned Mission North East since taking over from Sunderland MP Bridget Phillipson - then again why would she?
It is worthwhile reminding ourselves, and anyone else in government, of what is being promised: “These landmark programmes (there’s a Mission Coastal as well) will transform children’s lives - giving the most disadvantaged children the mentoring, careers support, and enrichment opportunities they need to achieve and thrive.
“Expert practitioners will work directly with leaders and teachers, building teacher capacity and raising standards. Schools will work together in local clusters, learning from each other rather than tackling challenges alone.
“Beyond the school gates, new partnerships with employers, sports clubs, faith groups and youth organisations will provide vital mentoring, careers support and cultural enrichment - the building blocks of a full childhood.”
Campaign abuse
Two rivals who went head-to-head in a South Tyneside council by-election last week both suffered misogynistic abuse during the campaign.
Reform’s Katie Groom, who was elected, said she had thick skin “but I don’t want to brush it off and say it doesn’t matter, because other women can find those comments upsetting and degrading.” Green candidate Kathryn Kaupa said abusive comments risked putting “diverse voices” off entering politics.
Metro bridge ‘at risk’
A Metro bridge across the busy A19 at Howdon is at “serious risk of collapse”. The problem, however, is not with the bridge but the state of the crash barriers in the A19 central reservation.
According to North East mayoral strategic authority papers, the risk was identified in late 2024. The bridge was struck by a car transporter in January this year and Metro services were suspended for around 90 minutes to allow engineers to check for structural damage.
Nexus now plans to install additional concrete crash barriers and a “cushioning system” to protect the bridge’s central support pillars. It is expected that the works will be carried out in early 2027 and will require lanes near the Tyne Tunnels’ northern entrance and exit to be closed for up to four weeks.
Energy storage plan
A planning application has been submitted that would see 288 metal containers erected on 25 acres of agricultural land near Easington in County Durham. The containers form a battery energy storage system (BESS) and would stockpile energy from offshore wind turbines for use when needed.
Developer Zenobe said the build would take about 18 months and would create between 150 to 400 construction jobs. Once operational it would only need to be manned by two to four people.
A BESS near South Hetton had been recommended for approval last month but Durham councillors rejected the application after 700 objections were received.
Fuel from field waste
Academics from Northumbria University have secured £1.25m in funding to build a plant in Pakistan that will turn agricultural waste into a clean coal substitute - while providing an income for women in the rural Punjab.
Dr Jibran Khaliq, who is leading on the consortium project for Northumbria alongside Dr Shahid Rasul, said: “Pakistan spends over two and a half billion dollars every year importing coal to power its industries, while millions of tonnes of crop residue are burned in fields because there is no market for it.
“What makes this project different is that we are not proposing another laboratory study; we have spent six years developing and validating the knowledge, and now we are building a live commercial facility with three textile mills already committed to using the fuel. This is the step that turns research findings into an investable, replicable business that Pakistan can own and scale.”
Call me disappointed
Well, the ‘once in a lifetime’ solar eclipse has been and gone. The BBC spoke to spectators across the region who said it was “nice to be with a group of people and feel the atmosphere”. I was with my wife and we both said: “Was that it”?
The moon, apparently, covered 90-96% of the sun - the biggest coverage since the total eclipse in 1999. A line in the BBC story resonated with me: “Those expecting a total black-out might have been disappointed.”
Nicholas
Audacious and eccentric
If you missed this year’s Novum Festival then you are not alone. The best way to see what I missed was to read David Whetstone’s colourful words - and pictures - in Cultured. North East. You should too.
“The finale of Newcastle City Council’s summer Novum Festival was both audacious and eccentric, “ he writes. “Adjectives that could perhaps be applied to the whole programme.
“I had, after all, just witnessed eight people with suitcases clambering on top of a council van at the top of Northumberland Street. Just prior to that they had performatively shared a single ice-cream outside Fenwick and encouraged people to lie down with them on the street, using the suitcases for pillows.”
The finale of the finale was the much-anticipated domino run - a 2.5km line of breezeblocks that snaked through the city centre, in and out of buildings including cafes, the library, Theatre Royal and Tyneside Cinema.
“As the 4.30pm finale approached, a ripple of activity suddenly became a flurry as the green T-shirted ones swung into action, supervised by more important looking people with walkie talkies and an air of knowing what the heck was going on. A caterpillar trail of breezeblocks was being assembled before our eyes, and around us and among us.”
Two potential hazards had been identified beforehand - the cobblestones and people who may have had a sherbet too many.
“Nevertheless, in a display of pure chutzpah, the Newcastle domino run embraced The Duke of Wellington, The Old George and The Beehive, that famous bastion of clear-headed discourse, before crossing the Bigg Market and shooting down Pudding Chare.”
David had secured a place at the ‘finish line’ at Newcastle Helix - but a fair number of people decided to join the dominoes on the run.
“Anticipation mounted. It was getting nearer. The serious men made a few last breezeblock adjustments… and suddenly our numbers were swelled as a crowd came running. Yes, while this might have struck you (as it did me) as a spectacle for which a chosen vantage point was a pre-requisite, others had opted for supreme exertion, which I suppose is natural in a populace raised on the Great North Run.”
Which takes me seamlessly (this is not just thrown together, you know!) on to…
A quick word
Football favourite Chris Kamara, TV presenter Ben Shepherd and fitness coach Joe Wicks are among the celebrities taking part in this year’s AJ Bell Great North Run on Sunday, September 13. Former Sunderland manager Peter Reid will be running for the Sir Bobby Robson Institute - 40 years after playing for the Newcastle legend in the 1986 World Cup finals. The building of Berwick’s new hospital is not expected to restart until next year following the collapse of original contractors Merit Construction. The £9m roadworks on Newcastle’s Central Motorway could be completed by the end of October - nearly six months earlier than expected. South Tyneside Council has applied for £21m from the Department for Transport Structures Fund to replace Heugh Street Bridge in South Shields which has been closed to vehicles since last November. Talking of bridges, work to replace Baths Bridge in Durham will begin before the end of the year following a £7.5m award from the mayoral strategic authority. The Accidental Bookshop in Alnwick will host actress and TV presenter Caroline Quentin for a special evening next month where she will discuss her new book Dawn to Nature, a follow up to her bestseller Drawn to the Garden. People are being urged not to bathe at Blyth South Beach after the Environment Agency said it was investigating reports of a possible fuel or oil spill. A campaign group set up to save High Borrans, North Tyneside Council’s outdoor education centre in the Lake District, has written to the council’s mayor and chief executive to say it is considering legal action to prevent the planned closure.
Durham line-up
Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys is one of the headline names at this year’s Durham Book Festival, along with Christopher Eccleston, Susanna Clarke, James Marriott, Lucy Foley, Hollie McNish and Louise Doughty. Tickets are now on sale for the festival taking place over the weekend of October 9 to 11 with most events at Gala Durham. David Whetstone has lots more here.
Call - don’t confront
Residents have been warned not to approach campers on Blyth Links. Northumberland councillor Daniel Carr said: “I’ve had a number of residents raise concerns about unauthorised camping and people occupying areas of the Blyth Links with vehicles, horses and tents. If someone is occupying the Links without permission, report it to the relevant authorities.”
Homes action call
Newcastle-based housebuilder Bellway has called for the Government to take action such as reducing stamp duty to invigorate the housing market.
The company posted a positive trading update but chief executive Jason Honeyman warned of “ongoing headwinds” around mortgage affordability, challenges to the general economy and rising costs for builders.
“In order to ease affordability constraints and stimulate demand, an immediate reduction in stamp duty alongside a Government-backed deposit support scheme for first-time buyers would both drive economic growth and accelerate the delivery of much-needed new homes across the country.” he said.
Business bites
Greggs has become a Partner member of the North East Chamber of Commerce. Bosses say their work around employment, community wellbeing and skills development closely aligns with the ambitions of the chamber’s Unlocking the North East Economy policy plan. Three business leaders from the region are included in Innovate UK’s latest Women in Innovation programme. Ubrix founder Kate Murray, Lou Willis-Keeler, from Souuthe, and Newcastle physio Suzanne Vernazza, the founder of Know Your Floors, will each get a grant of £75,000 plus a 12-month package of business support. Fenwick has reported an improved performance in the first year of its three-year transformation strategy with an operating loss of £23.4m - down from £39.1m the year before. My Property Box has bought the residential lettings portfolio of a Teesside-based Horizon Sales & Lettings - a move which allows Horizon to focus on social housing through its Horizon Community Living initiative. County Durham-based Banks Homes expects to complete more than 100 homes this year - and quadruple that number by 2031. Newcastle has joined Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds as one of Savills core regional new homes hubs in the North. The expansion comes as Savills launches six developments across the region for housebuilder Cussins (North East). The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has signed a long lease to take three of the five floors at the L&G-backed Faber building in the heart of Sunderland’s regeneration scheme. Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has bought Harvey Nichols after the department store chain was placed into administration. The deal covers six stores and around 1,000 jobs - with “significant restructuring” in the offing. Gateshead-based Turntide Technologies has been awarded match funding for a £17m project to accelerate the production of new flux motors. The money comes from the Government’s £4 billion Drive35 programme, which is intended to speed up the electrification of the car industry.
1994 ad break
They don’t make ads for Levis like they used to. This is a classic from 1994 where two young ladies don’t see what they were expecting to see when a handsome fella gets out of the water.
Their disappointment is the cue for the guitar music to kick in - a sound so popular that it forced multi-instrumentalist and composer Peter Lawlor to extend the music into a single and form a band. The song Inside gave Scottish rock band Stiltskin a No 1 hit and featured in their top-selling album The Mind’s Eye.
The ad is the first one and a half minutes of this video before it moves on to the Stiltskin video in all its glory, featuring singer Ray Wilson who was later hired as the frontman for Genesis when Phil Collins left in 1996.
THE WIDER VIEW
Very very tasty
The Creel and Reel seafood truck, The Pantry, Gemma Gee the Cramlington Forager, The Potted Lobster, smokehouses, a quality burcher and, of course, Ad Gefrin all get an honourable mention in an article in The i Paper which took a close look at the “quietly evolving” food scene in Northumberland.
“I’ve always known Northumberland had a cracking coastline,” said writer Lucy McGuire. “Now, I can also vouch for its brilliant culinary scene. Food and drink here go hand-in-hand with heritage and tradition, and while you won’t leave hungry, you will leave wanting more.”
Actually, I am feeling peckish now you mention it.
Bananas!
There are more than 1,000 varieties of bananas in the world - but the sole variety we eat in this country is the Cavendish. And it is dying out thanks to an insidious fungus, reports The Telegraph in a long but surprisingly entertaining read.
The stats are amazing. Britons buy some five billion Cavendish bananas a year, enough for 80 per adult. If you were to start in London and lay these end to end, they’d reach to the Moon and back. The UK market alone is worth nearly £700m. Globally, the world’s favourite fruit is worth £26 billion.
The threat to the Cavendish comes from a fungus called Panama disease which we’ve known about for long enough but only now, when it’s really serious, is something being done about it. Step forward our hero, Professor James Dale, an unassuming 76-year-old Aussie and the creator of a Cavendish banana genetically modified to resist Panama disease.