News, views and resolutions

JUNE

PIERS MORGAN displays a worrying lack of judgement. Firstly, as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, he says a bloke chopping wood (badly) to music is “what the competition’s all about”. He then appears on Question Time and says he feels sorry for Sarah Ferguson after the News of the World exposes her for trying to pocket £500,000 in return for providing access to Prince Andrew. I don’t share his sympathy.

THERE is a rash of speaking dates to branches of the Women’s Institute. After speaking to Norton WI, near Stockton, I’m asked to judge the competition for “the most interesting item beginning with R”. I disqualify a porcelain hippo because it begins with H, despite officials insisting it is a rhino beginning with R. “Rhinos have big horns,” I explain.

“Are you sure?” I’m asked.

The following night, I am asked to judge “the jazziest tie” competition at Jarrow WI.

I plump for a tie adorned with colourful little ghosts. “They’re not ghosts,” shouts the winning WI member. “They’re condoms.” What is the WI coming to?

THE Sun goes from the sublime to the ridiculous.

It comes up with one of the best headlines of the year on the story about Robbie Earle being sacked by ITV for flogging 100 World Cup tickets: “Tout of Africa”.

Then it produces one of the crassest headlines of the year on the preview of England’s World Cup match against Algeria: “On the 70th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s historic speech, England’s footballers must tonight give the nation their finest hour (and a half)”.

England’s World Cup hopes go on to end in humiliation.

JULY

CAROLINE CARTWRIGHT, 49, of Washington, Wearside, is in court for breaching an antisocial behaviour order, banning her from making too much noise during sex. She can’t possibly scream as loudly as Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams during Wimbledon. I suggest they be served with Asbos forthwith.

ON one of the most memorable nights of the year fugitive gunman Raoul Moat is cornered by police in Rothbury. We go through the night, updating the story, which ends with Moat killing himself.

AUGUST

THE Northern Echo launches its Back on Track campaign to persuade the Government to award Hitachi a £7.5bn contract to build the next generation of express trains at Newton Aycliffe. It would create 800 jobs directly and 7,000 in the supply chain. We need those jobs.

TO celebrate Yorkshire Day, the public relations company for Taylors of Harrogate sends us a box of Northern Echo tea bags. Sadly, the R is missing from “Northern”.

ONE of my favourite front pages of the year is published in the Metro newspaper. The headline is “Flying ants plague London” and the story is accompanied by a huge picture of an ant, with the caption: “Flying ants are like this – but with wings.”

SEPTEMBER

AN item about 26-year-old Northern Echo reporter Jim Entwistle being barred from Darlington’s William Stead pub for appearing to be under-age prompts a letter from reader Laura Dixon. “I was in Peter Barratt’s last week to buy a pair of secateurs,” she wrote. “When I got to the till, the assistant asked me if I was 18. I was a bit taken aback – I’ll be 83 next month.”

THOUSANDS turn out in Darlington to honour the soldiers of the 3 Rifles as they are granted the freedom of Darlington. At a civic reception, it is a privilege to present Brigadier Justin Maciejewski with a cheque for more than £4,500. The money, raised by our readers who supported our 3 Rifles wristband appeal, goes to the Care For Casualties charity.

OCTOBER

AFTER 69 days beneath the earth, 33 Chilean miners are brought to the surface in one of the happiest endings to a news story I can remember.

We push back the deadlines and, at 1.55am, the last miner, Luis Urzua emerges. His picture lights up our front page and I go home feeling elated. I’m soon back at work and the phones start ringing. Readers wanting to congratulate us on our coverage? No. We’d printed the wrong crossword clues.

WAYNE ROONEY no longer wants to play for Manchester United and slags off the club for being “unambitious”. Within days, he’s earned himself a £50,000-a-week pay rise and United put out a picture of a smiling Rooney cuddling Sir Alex Ferguson. Any newspaper wanting to use it has to pay the club £300 for the privilege. I tell them to get stuffed.

NOVEMBER

A DOCUMENT is leaked to us, showing that the Church Commissioners are secretly plotting to sell the historic Zurbaran paintings at Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. It is one of the exclusives of the year.

Two hours before deadline, I receive a telephone call from a firm of London lawyers, warning me not to publish the story and to give the leaked document back immediately – or they will take legal steps to force me to do so.

The front page is published under the headline: “Secret plot to sell our treasures.” It causes quite a storm in the North-East, but I’ve yet to hear again from those London laywers.

THE Northern Echo has an unfortunate choice of words in reporting a drugs raid: “A 43-yearold woman was visited by officers after the discovery of 18 cannabis plants at Neasham, near Darlington. The police found the plants while on a joint operation with Her Majesty’s Courts Service.”

DECEMBER

SEVERAL deer have frozen to death in a lake at Whitworth Hall, near Spennymoor. My decision to show the tragedy on page one sparks a debate. One reader says it is tactless journalism that has upset thousands of children. I disagree. As a result of our coverage, measures are put in place to prevent more deaths.

AND finally, six New Year resolutions from the Editor’s Chair

● To continue to promote County Durham as the place to build the next generation of express trains;
● To see steel-making reborn on Teesside;
● To fight the North-East’s corner as the region most at risk from public sector cuts;
● To keep up the campaign to prevent the Church Commissioners flogging the Zurbaran paintings and Auckland Castle;
● To redouble our efforts to find stories that make people smile amid the inevitable bad news about cuts;
● To publish the right crossword clues.