Columnists

IS it just money, or something far more difficult to admit? I’m asking because new figures remind us that life expectancy in the North of England is shockingly short in comparison to areas in the South.

AT last a rail watchdog appears to be on the side of Yorkshire’s long-suffering passengers as Transport Focus launches a new Make Delay Pay campaign after compensation worth as much as £100m went unclaimed in 2017-18.

AS parents become stressed about the responsibility of looking after their children for the duration of the six-week summer holiday, they should spare a thought for the teaching profession.

THE KEY question that will confront Britain’s new Prime Minister is this: Just how do they intend to unite a Tory party which is at war with itself over Europe?

After all these years, it turns out I might have been doing something right.

THE new Prime Minister will face the in-tray from hell, with Brexit dominating vast swathes of their time and resources.

JUST over a year ago, I visited Sheffield to see for myself the strength of a community united.

THE leadership of Sheffield City Council can consider itself very fortunate that the authority will not face further censure over its tree-felling policy – and a total disregard for public attitudes towards the environment.

IT did not require a genius to conclude that last year’s timetable fiasco was “a massive failure on the part of the rail industry” which “led to severe hardship for passengers and businesses”.

THIS week MPs voted for a proposal that will make sure that Parliament is sitting and not ‘prorogued’ or shut down this autumn.

UNLIKE those phoney football fans Tony Blair and David Cameron who once occupied 10 Downing Street, Theresa May’s interest in cricket – and devotion to one Geoffrey Boycott – is genuine.

IT is sadly ironic that youth worker Jayne Senior MBE, a whistleblower who was on the side of victims of the Rotherham grooming scandal, has been accused 
of betraying the confidences, and trust, of a group of CSE survivors following a three-year independent investigation into her work at Swinton Lock Activity Centre.

CALDERDALE was devastated by flooding on Boxing Day 2015. Storm Eva followed Storm Desmond, and wreaked havoc on parts of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire.

EVEN though David Cameron’s promises to support Yorkshire flooding victims proved less than water-tight, this should not detract from the innovative work taking place to protect homes and businesses.

FOR a quarter of a century, we have kidded ourselves on crime and punishment by pretending that there is no correlation between increases in the prison population and reductions in the numbers of offences.

WHEREVER you look, it is obvious that people are concerned about the environment. From Sir David Attenborough to Extinction Rebellion, different parts of society are raising environmental issues in their own different ways.

FOR once, Chris Grayling’s response to the likely August Bank Holiday disruption on the East Coast Main Line is ‘better later than never’.

CHRIS GRAYLING’S policy failings are now so numerous that it has become impossible to keep pace. They are just as frequent, if not more so, than a clapped-out train running late here.