'˜Goodbye' to a divided nation: The week that was February 21 to 27, 1997.

He was speaking during a visit to Teesside and said that while previous economic recoveries had seen a widening in unemployment rates between regions, this time around the gap had narrowed, “...and that is enormously welcome”.

The North of England had seen the fastest fall in unemployment in the previous year of any region in Britain – but Mr Major warned that the recovery would be jeopardised if Labour came to power.

Meanwhile, back in Westminster, a war of words broke out over a new round of defence cuts – 3,000 in the Territorial Army and 600 in the regular Army – the equivalent of losing a whole battalion were to go, a move which inevitably sparked criticism from the back benches.

Defence Secretary Michael Portillo said the cuts, which would save £15m annually, were due to a change in emphasis towards units required to be on a high level of alert for worldwide deployment.

Parents of disabled children were virtually prisoners in their own homes with insufficient help available to them, said a new report from the charity Mencap.

A lack of adequate short-term care for up to 100,000 disabled children meant that parents were under constant pressure, never getting a night out let alone a holiday.

The charity, which represented people with learning difficulties, said parents should be given the legal right to occasional respite care. Many parents were looking after profoundly disabled children 24 hours a day all year round.

Christine Roberts, a district officer for Mencap in Yorkshire, said: “Cost is often quoted as a bar to providing different kinds of respite care, but the reality is that providing it would save money in the long term.

“Without respite care, stress levels build up on both sides and there is no opportunity to relax. Eventually there will be a crisis and the carer cannot cope, which can sometimes lead to a long and expensive period of respite care.”

A medical research engineer saw eight years’ hard work pay off when a disabled three-year-old from Sydney travelled around the world to walk for the first time, thanks to a highly specialised brace device invented at his Keighley clinic.

David Hart had designed and developed the intricate body brace, which consisted of a metal frame hinged at the hips knee and ankle and connected to a pair of shoes worn by the child.

While her tearful parents watching, little Georgia Cooper took her first tentative steps using the brace, which cost £1,300 and for hundreds of others in the same position the images provided a beacon of hope.

There was already a year-long list of children in the UK waiting to be fitted with the device, as well as growing interest from around the world. Mr Hart described seeing Georgia walk as “a magical moment”.

A football fan from Doncaster was fed-up of living life as a Pratt, so he decided to change his name to that of his idol, Paul Gascoigne.

Kelvin Pratt, 26, changed his name by deed poll, saying he had always been the butt of jokes, whether in the playground or the pub. He had even changed his phone number in attempt to get round the problem.

Kelvin explained: “I went ex-directory after people started ringing up and asking, ‘Are you a prat?’ I am a big Paul Gascoigne fan, and having a dodgy surname anyway, decided to get rid of it and take the name of my hero.”

As for his favourite team, naturally it was “whoever Gazza is playing for...” Glasgow Rangers, then.