I’ll keep this bit short because there is so much to cover in today’s edition. I’ve never known a week like it.
There was a meeting of the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority on Tuesday so there was a fair bit to cover there - trains, training and business support being the most noteworthy.
Mayor Kim McGuinness has also been busy sharing her Budget wish list with Chancellor John Healey. Transport and training were again on the agenda as well as fiscal devolution.
There’s a disturbing investigation into the way we look after young people who need cared for - a council was charged £1.4m to look after one child for a year.
There’s more national attention on what is happening in Durham County Council, a crackdown on crime in Cleveland, and the shocking threats made to a council leader for supporting City of Sanctuary status.
Former Newcastle striker Andy Carroll has revealed he was the victim of a sexual assault, a review into the handling of breast cancer patients at an NHS trust is being extended back to 2015, and the Red Bull revolution at Newcastle begins in earnest tonight.
Plus there’s the 62-mile walk in Northumberland named as one of the world’s top experiences and the Newcastle robots delivering room service in hotels and carrying out cleaning work in care homes.
And there’s more!
Brian Aitken
Editor
Review extended
Hospital chiefs in County Durham have agreed to review up to a further 4,500 breast cancer cases after failings including delayed diagnoses and unnecessary surgeries were found.
Hundreds of patients suffered harm under County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, according to a review of cases dating back to 2023.
The BBC’s Sharon Barbour previously investigated the failings and has spoken to multiple women affected, including one who said she felt “mutilated” and the trust’s mistakes were “absolutely unforgivable”.
Chief executive Steve Russell said the trust was “incredibly conscious women and their families” had experienced “distress, uncertainty and harm”. He said no apology could undo that but the trust would “support women who have been impacted” in any way possible.
Dear John
Chancellor John Healey has received a lengthy wish list from North East Mayor Kim McGuinness ahead of next month’s Budget. Three immediate priorities are:
improving affordable local transport;
giving the North East greater powers over skills and post-16 education to tackle high levels of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET); and
delivering fiscal devolution so more money raised in the region can be reinvested locally.
Her wider submission also set out proposals to support housebuilding, strengthen local government finances, invest in major transport projects including the Leamside Line, boost the region’s green energy sector, attract inward investment and create a £500m North East Growth Fund.
I suppose that’s enough to be going on with. You can read the mayor’s letter here and her full submission here.
More scope - and scrutiny
Kim McGuinness is looking forward to fiscal devolution. Whitehall is preparing for it. But England’s mayors should face much greater official scrutiny to avoid Andy Burnham’s devolution revolution being “derailed by one bad decision”, says IPPR North.
The centre-left think tank, whose researchers have worked closely with Burnham’s government, welcome the “bold and ambitious” plans as a step towards “reversing decades of damaging over-centralisation that has held the country back”.
However, the think tank said increasingly powerful mayors should be subject to much tougher oversight. “A bad decision or mismanaged funding from any one authority risks turning public opinion against devolution and undoing progress.”
Its proposals include establishing regional audit offices to scrutinise how money is spent and what it delivers. It is also proposed that each region should be overseen by a senior accounting officer, similar to the model of permanent secretaries running government departments.
Larger mayoral authorities, such as London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, should be overseen by beefed-up accountability committees to guard against any “misuse of funds, corruption and elite capture by lobbying interests”, the think tank said.
£1.4m - to look after one child
There is something very wrong with the way we look after young people who need cared for.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found that two of Teesside’s five councils spent almost £20m placing children in unregistered care settings over the last two years. Redcar & Cleveland spent £16.4m, the third highest amount in England.
They are not isolated cases.
Redcar & Cleveland spent £1.4m with a private care staffing provider in 2024 for the placement of just one child, and a further £1m in 2025. Middlesbrough, by comparison, recorded a payment of £417,524 for one placement related to the same staffing provider.
The full data and responses from the two Teesside councils were shared with, and independently analysed by, The Teesside Lead.
“Our overriding responsibility is to safeguard vulnerable children and ensure that they receive the support, stability and care they need,” said Luke Henman, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive member for Children’s Services.
“Councils across the country are often left with no option but to look outside registered provision to support a child - this is a symptom of a broken social care system nationwide.”
Help us grow
It was only 10 days ago that we launched The Source, a new online newspaper for the North East - and the new home of Eyes & Ears. Full details are in this article…
We want to make The Source a modern platform for public interest journalism and a launchpad for the next generation of great storytellers.
Independent, politically-neutral but North East biased.
Paid subscriptions are voluntary - but they would help us grow into a thriving sustainable business. Please support us if you can - it’s £6.99 a month or £69.99 for the year.
Line extension
The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (MSA) is to fund feasibility work into extending the successful Northumberland Line to Woodhorn and Newbiggin, with the hope that a planning application could be ready by next autumn.
The line has been so successful that there have been calls to put on additional carriages - with Mayor Kim McGuinness saying: “The success of it speaks for itself - and we will get more carriages on it, we are absolutely determined.”
The MSA was discussing the new North East Rail Vision, which contained details of a raft of upgrades planned for the region’s rail networks by 2040. Alongside the Northumberland Line are plans to bring the Metro to Washington, reopen the Leamside Line and take control of the region’s train stations.
Priorities targeted for delivery by 2032 include increasing train service frequency to a minimum of one every 30 minutes at stations including Cramlington and Chester-le-Street and recovering the “losses suffered” in the 2025 East Coast Main Line timetable change.
Open door policy
Companies will benefit from a new £25.9m programme called Business North East which was announced by the MSA on Tuesday. It promises a “no wrong door” approach to accessing support.
Beginning in January, the project will establish a regional hub providing specialist advice alongside seven local authority ‘spokes’, helping businesses understand finance, access mentoring and explore exporting opportunities.
John McCabe, Chief Executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Business Advisory Council, said: “Designed in close collaboration with businesses, local authorities, universities and support providers, the programme is ideally placed to help more businesses in our region start, scale and grow.”
Training funds
More than 1,600 education and training places for young people across the region are being created thanks to an £8.1m investment by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.
The programme will fund 14 projects across all seven local authority areas, supporting colleges, sixth forms and academies to expand teaching facilities, develop specialist learning spaces and improve support for learners with additional needs.
Charlotte Carpenter, Director of Skills, Inclusion & Public Service Reform at the MSA said: “By investing right across the North East, we’re making sure no young person is held back from the skills, training or support that can shape their future.”
NEET solution
Former Darlington MP Alan Milburn is finalising his Government report into the NEET crisis as I write.
If he is still in listening mode, then the True North think tank has called for reform of the benefits system to prioritise getting young people into work and wants to see incentives for employers.
Director Dan Harrison said: “The North has no shortage of talented young people. What we too often lack is an equality of opportunity that allows every young person to turn that talent into achievement.
“The 2026 exam and updated NEET figures should therefore be a call to action. If the North is to fulfil its economic potential, improving educational attainment cannot be treated as peripheral education policy. It must be at the centre of our approach to regional growth.”
An i on Durham
The i Paper has become the latest media outlet to venture North and take a look at what is happening in Durham.
The county council has “an £83m black hole in its finances, and faces a council tax rise and crippling cuts to services”. Some of those services include grass cutting and road gritting. Wedding fees are going up and libraries are getting less money.
Jobs will have to be cut in education and Special Educational Needs (SEN), the council will lose eight of its gritters, the cost of Park and Ride services will increase, funding to the annual food festival will be cut and a theatre café will be shut. The council will also look at reducing gulley cleaning, closing tips and reducing grass cutting – a topic which has already given Reform a headache.
Nick Brown, one of several Reform councillors to quit and sit as an Independent, is critical of the administration for having a lower council tax increase this year despite warnings that the deficit would increase.
“Now the chickens are coming home to roost,” he said. “The economic situation has got worse, the cost of borrowing has gone up.”
Deputy leader Darren Grimes told The i Paper the ‘gap’ in Durham for 2027-28 will only be £800,000 once savings are delivered. “Eight in 10 councils say they are near insolvency. Hampshire is staring down the largest budget gap in England. Durham is nowhere near that,” he said. “And the reason is the decisions taken in the last 18 months.
“No decisions have been taken on savings or council tax. Cabinet papers set out options in public so residents can see them and respond. The pressure itself is no mystery: statutory duties keep growing, the funding to meet them does not. That is a Labour in Whitehall choice landing on County Durham and our low tax base and more deprived communities.”
Quay decision
It’s not a new arena. Not yet, anyway. But plans have been submitted for an open-air performance area and public park on the Gateshead quays.
The area between the Glasshouse and the Baltic has been earmarked for more than a decade for an arena and conference centre. But cost increases have stalled the plans, leaving an unsightly area on the key riverside plot.
Gateshead councillor Steve Campion, cabinet member for economic development, said: “This initial work is fundamental to unlocking the site’s future potential and creating the conditions needed to bring forward future development opportunities, including the proposed arena.”
Leader abused
Newcastle City Council leader Colin Ferguson has spoken out after receiving vile abuse on social media for a video defending Newcastle’s commitment to being a City of Sanctuary.
The video was circulated on a Facebook page called ‘Reform UK – Newcastle and North Tyneside’, leading to comments calling for him to be hanged and beheaded.
Councillor Ferguson, who is from Northern Ireland, said that, if he as a white British man was receiving such abuse, he would “dread to think” of the level of online hate aimed at people from minority ethnic groups or other religions.
“This ugly, divisive language has no place in Newcastle politics,” he said. “It has opened the floodgates for people to question my right to call Newcastle home, just because my accent hasn’t changed in the 20 years I’ve lived here.”
Newcastle City Council is on track to overspend its budget by £6m this financial year due to its property portfolio, legal costs and the provision of children’s services and adult social care. However, Deputy leader Mark Mitchell said “the numbers will change” as the year continues.
Police crackdown
Cleveland Police launched a series of early morning raids on Monday as part of a crackdown on drug dealing and organised crime. The area has seen increased police activity since a crash on the A66 killed two officers and five young men on August 22.
Supt Daryll Tomlinson said: “This is a relentless day of activity. Teams will be redeployed following tours of duty throughout the day. We have warrants for arrests after identifying addresses linked to drug dealing and serious violence.”
A quick word
Campaigners hoping to keep the North Tyneside Council-owned High Borrans outdoor education centre in Cumbria open see the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority as their last hope. Reform-led Sunderland City Council has decided to withdraw support for the anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card. The decision was criticised by former Sunderland captain Gary Bennett who has spent the last 30 years working to eradicate racism from both football and society, including education programmes in schools. The closure of 10 publicly-run nurseries has been confirmed by South Tyneside Council. A plan to close the day care centres in July next year was accepted with reductions in the 116 staff beginning in December. Newcastle International Airport has secured 13 additional direct flights to cater for Sunderland fans as they follow their team in Europe this year with games in Belgium, Italy, Poland and Portugal. Aldi donated 2.1 million meals during the school summer holidays. The donations were the result of the supermarket’s work with Neighbourly, the redistribution organisation that routes surplus food from supermarkets to local charities across the country. Six pilot whales have died on Coquet Island after around 40 were “behaving in a distressed manner typically seen prior to a stranding event” off the Warkworth coast on Sunday. Newcastle Restaurant Week began in 2011 with 13 participating restaurants. Last month’s event broke all records with NE1 reporting that more than 60,000 diners spent £1.2m at over 130 venues. Tributes have been paid to Peter Young who was political editor of the Evening Chronicle for more than 25 years. He was 81. Rockliffe has reopened following a multimillion-pound renovation that sees it transformed into a gastronomy-led, five-star golf destination. Group chief operating officer Shauna Robb said: “We have reimagined the resort to celebrate our regional heritage while introducing a new standard of English luxury - one defined by craftsmanship, genuine North East warmth and meaningful moments of discovery.” Newcastle’s first Fairtrade Trail began on Monday with over 15 businesses and hospitality venues showcasing their Fairtrade wares and raising awareness of ethical shopping. Fairtrade Fortnight ends on October 4.
Designs on success
Next month’s North East’s design week Design in Everything is being supported with £150,000 of funding from the North East Mayoral Authority. Simon Green, CEO of Edge Innovation, said: “Along with the wide range of public, private and third sector organisations already supporting the programme, this gives us the opportunity to create something really exciting for the region.”
Bright Sparks
Newcastle-based Spark Robotics is supplying robots for repetitive work in hotels and other large buildings - and business is so good they are looking to move to bigger premises.
Founder Eric Guo said: “The aim is not to put people out of a job, but to empower them through technology. They are a perfect solution at sites like hotels, hospitality venues, logistics sites, shopping centres and large buildings where they manage repetitive work.
The robots deliver room service in hotels and carry out cleaning work in care homes, shopping centres and other large facilities. Businesses can brand or “dress” the robots to match their image, making them both useful tools and talking points for customers.
Way’s a world wonder
St Cuthbert’s Way, a 62-mile walking route through the Borders to Holy Island, has been named as one of the world’s top experiences in the Lonely Planet Best in Travel Guide - alongside the likes of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and France’s scenic Route Napoleon.
The walk begins in Melrose, where St Cuthbert started his religious life in 650AD, and makes its way through an “ever-changing variety of scenery and spectacular views” and can be “easily completed” in four to six days.
The Lonely Planet guide contains 50 “inspirational travel destinations” with writer and editor Tom Hall describing the route as “perhaps the closest thing modern Britain has to a Camino de Santiago”.
“The part of the walk that passes through the Scottish Borders is really characterised by these lovely towns and villages where there’s pubs, places to stop and stay alongside the beautiful scenery along the River Tweed,” he said. “It then goes into the Cheviot Hills in England and finishes with a bit of a bang on Holy Island.”
Carroll ordeal
Former Newcastle United striker Andy Carroll’s autobiography Owning It was released yesterday. It is already making headline news because of the revelation that he was the subject of a sexual assault five years ago.
The attacker, an unnamed “celebrity mate” of his ex-wife Billi Mucklow, was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison.
“What happened to me affected every facet of my life,” wrote Carroll who both co-owns and plays for National League South club Dagenham and Redbridge. “I’d think about it every day, making it difficult to focus on anything else, including football. The trauma of what happened to me hasn’t gone away.”
Air ambulance appeal
The Great North Air Ambulance Service had a busy summer, responding to 557 emergency call-outs from June 21 to the third week in September. This has prompted renewed calls for help to buy a third helicopter.
Chief pilot Phil Lambert said: “With only two helicopters we live on a knife-edge. If one is in maintenance and the other develops a fault we’re grounded and that means we can’t answer a 999 call by helicopter. A third aircraft changes everything.”
An appeal to raise £2.5m was launched last year but more than £1.5m is still needed before the end of 2026 to meet the target.
Business bites
The latest Entrepreneurs’ Forum survey of North East business owners shows that growth expectations have strengthened for the sixth quarter in a row - 83% expect turnover to rise in the next 12 months and 56% created new jobs in the last quarter. Around a third are holding off decisions until after next month’s budget. Sunderland-based OneClickComply, which can automate up to 90% of the work involved in cybersecurity compliance, has raised £1m from three funds to support its further expansion. The company has doubled monthly recurring revenue in the past six months and aims to achieve similar growth in the six months ahead. Plans to build the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors in Hartlepool have advanced to the regulatory assessment stage. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said the project has the ambition to bring major investment, highly skilled jobs and huge opportunities to the local supply chain. Prudhoe-based defence technology firm OpenWorks, recently recognised with a King’s Award for Enterprise, has opened an American HQ in Virginia and is looking to open a factory in Detroit. In quite a week for Prudhoe businesses, Dragonfly Advanced Materials has unveiled plans to increase production capacity, create sales and development jobs and boost industrial partnerships on the back of securing investment and grants totalling £1m. Nearly 300 jobs are being lost after a major glass manufacturer entered administration. Clayton Glass is to close its headquarters in Harelaw, County Durham, with 189 workers being made redundant. A further 101 jobs will be lost at the company’s sites in Blackburn and Bellshill in North Lanarkshire. BrewDog staff and creditors have been left empty-handed following the pre-pack sale of the company to Tilray Brands, the US‑based consumer packaged goods company. Administrators at AlixPartners said there were insufficient funds to pay all creditors. Northumberland Estates has sold two industrial estates on Team Valley to property company Northern Trust in a £10m deal. Fledgling companies in the offshore wind sector are being given the opportunity to establish themselves within the Energy Central hub in Blyth with more than £10,000 worth of support through the NOW Spin In accelerator programme. Newcastle-based Smart Carbon has been bought by private equity firm TVI Group in a deal that will accelerate the development of the business’ technology platform and support the company’s next phase of growth.
1997 ad break
Last week’s ad break for the Nissan Almera GTi, a spoof of the TV series The Professionals, went down so well that I have had a request to show the follow up ad - this time from The Sweeney, the groundbreaking crime series from the 70s featuring John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.
Like last week’s ad, this is the full version that lasts just over a minute. The televised ads were just 40 seconds. I have no idea how they managed to cut both ads down - I wouldn’t know where to start.
If you missed last week’s ad then you can catch up with it here:
THE WIDER VIEW
Red Bulls ready
Regardless of the results this season, there is an excitement and buzz around Kingston Park. Newcastle Red Bulls are here to shake up the established order, writes The Telegraph’s rugby reporter Charles Richardson.
The club formerly known as Newcastle Falcons metamorphosed into Newcastle Red Bulls in the summer of 2025. But the proximity of the purchase to the start of last season meant the Red Bull rebrand was somewhat hurried. and it took some time for the Austrian energy drink conglomerate to put its stamp on the rest of the business, both on and off the field.
A year on, however, and those refurbishments are now tangible: “Red Bull might have had its offer accepted for Newcastle last season, but this campaign is when the company has taken the keys and started to give the place a characteristic high-octane makeover,” wrote Richardson.
Managing director Jonny Petrie told him: “We almost have a ‘governing body’ responsibility up here; the North East is such a broad geographical area and we as Red Bull and as a club want to make sure that we are investing in the growth and curation of the sport – amateur and professional.
“We’re trying to respect the history but also set out a bold way forward. It’s time to really go for this.
“We’ve been bottom of the league for however many years so we might as well shake this up in a way that does make people sit up and take notice.” The first match of the season is tonight.
Cash in your chips
I know someone who often uses the phrase “as cheap as chips”, especially when she is trying to convince me that something they would like is a bit of a bargain.
That’s going to have to stop (and probably should have some time ago) after reading ‘Five foods that could cost even more this winter - and why’ in The Conversation.
No real surprise to see chocolate and olive oil make the list. But a combination of adverse and unpredictable weather and higher fertiliser and energy costs mean that leafy greens, bread and potatoes are also set to increase in price in the coming months.
It’s not rocket science
It’s one of the most infectious diseases we know - and we had it beat. Now look what’s happening. The Conversation reports that 900 children have died from measles in Bangladesh in an outbreak that began six months ago.
The country had hoped to eliminate measles and rubella by 2020. Instead, the pandemic disrupted routine childhood vaccinations, leaving pockets of children vulnerable to the virus. Now other countries where vaccination rates have fallen face a similar risk.
Then there’s the good old US of A where the anti-vax movement has surged. It has a vaccine-sceptic Health Secretary in RFK Jr, while the US President regularly repeats debunked claims about childhood jabs and autism.
This is not just populist rhetoric, reports The i Paper. Donald Trump ordered a cut in the number of government-recommended vaccines from 17 to 11 – meaning parents will now have to pay for the other six, if they choose to. And the standard MMR shot is divided into three jabs, given over separate appointments.
The new approach has already had a real, and dangerous, impact. Previously rare outbreaks of preventable illnesses like mumps and whooping cough, as well as measles, are on the rise.
Beautiful.