Darlington's Skerne Bridge - the one which graces the £5 note - made a brief appearance on BBC TV's Newsnight programme on Wednesday night.

It was being used as an example of way the listed building system attempts to preserve in aspic bits of our built history nobody much cares about.

The Darlington bridge, which carried the first Stockton and Darlington railway, is difficult to find and involves trespassing on private land to view it close up.

Former Darlington & Stockton Times journalist Chris Lloyd, now of The Northern Echo, told the nation it was a crying shame the bridge was hidden away and forgotten - just another example of the way the region's railway heritage was ignored.

An eminent architect (at least he sounded very eminent - we didn't catch his name) then said the bridge was very unattractive and wasn't worth listing. It was just another example of the indiscriminate listing system which tried to stall history in its tracks.

Which is, dare we say it, absolutely true. Don't go out of your way to break the law to see the Skerne Bridge. It looks far better on the fiver in your pocket.

A marked man

Avuncular TV weatherman Bob Johnson is a marked man, at least in the eyes of one North Yorkshire coast restaurateur, Spectator talked to.

"I could kill him," she said. Apparently the wretched man kept forecasting showers, rain even, yet the days were turning out hot and sunny. Unfortunately, day visitors weren't even setting off once they'd seen the map and heard the predictions.

In a grim summer for coastal resorts, August's sunshine was welcome and those actually staying their week or fortnight proved Mr Johnson wrong and hit the beach every day. Nor was he alone; Radio 4 was just as doom-laden and just as wrong.

The trouble is that day trippers won't gamble on the forecast being dodgy on the grounds that they'll pick the one day it's actually right.

The brave

Word reaches us that more than 600 people have expressed an interest in the vacant post of chief executive at the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Which just goes to show that the troubles experienced by Mrs Heather Hancock, the departing chief, are not sufficient to put off those seeking a post with good views but difficult politics. Interviews for the poisoned chalice take place in early October.