IT is becoming increasingly clear in the debate about secondary schools in Darlington that one outcome is certain.

No decision, of course, has been made but unofficially there's a tacit acceptance in the corridors of power that Hurworth is for the chop.

It's not rocket science to work this out. Presently all but 100 or so pupils are bussed to the school, many of them from Darlington. This costs money. The site at Hurworth is potentially the most valuable for development purposes apart from, perhaps, Hummersknott. And that, given the school's affluent and no doubt awkwardly-vociferous middle-class West End catchment area, is not a practical option.

So, we can look forward to a charade of a consultation exercise over the next couple of years. You read it here first. The outcome is inevitable.

Tell it to the birds

IN SPITE of sounding like something from the other side of the looking glass, there really is a health and safety regulation wich says that no more than 50 birds should be found feeding on a landfill site at any one time. Try telling the gulls that.

When you've stopped laughing at the sheer impracticality of counting and shooing, and the nuisance value of clacking bird-scarers to anyone living within earshot, think of young Michael Taylor and his falcon. Mr Taylor has turned from training owls for Harry Potter films to offering a pest control service and feels his main clients will be landfill site operators aiming for a natural, winged, bird-scarer.

Get those greys

RED Alert sounds like something from James Bond and cold war days but is actually the most unwarlike North of England Red Squirrel Conservation Project.

Red squirrels are in danger of becoming extinct in mainland Britain within a generation, largely through the vigour of the all-invasive greys, 19th century immigrants from the US - though, if this week's reports are to be believed, the native reds have also had their ranks crossbred by a European invader.

Does anyone other than Spectator's wrinkly colleague remember the "shilling a tail" bounty which encouraged landowners and others to cull the greys? No chance of that in today's "if it's furry and does cute, love it" world.

Great idea, thanks

Readers will recall our Great North Country Fare campaign of of 2002 and 2003, which encouraged readers to eat locally-produced food. The campaign will be running again at the Dales Festival of Food and Drink in Leyburn next month and the web site which features all the local producers is still available - see www.thisisthenortheast/gncf.

So Spectator was intrigued to see this week that a certain regional morning newspaper published in Leeds has launched its own local food camapagn - Raised in Yorkshire. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.