Forum's vision for the North: The week that was September 19 - 25, 2004

Their vision was put to Deputy Prime Minister and MP for Hull East John Prescott on a visit to Leeds, during which he announced a £100m government cash injection to help the North close the gap on the richer South.

He also launched a plan called Moving Forward: The Northern Way, the result of a collaboration between three of the North’s regional development agencies including Yorkshire Forward.

At its heart was a proposed programme of investment in business, homes and transport which would help to market the north to the rest of the world. Mr Prescott applauded the plan and said it would help to get many people off benefits and into work.

The vast majority of hospitals in England and Wales needed to improve services for the over-50s, according to a report by independent research group De Foster.

It said that people in this age group could expect to be treated with greater respect and dignity and experience shorter waiting times in the South West and North than elsewhere, but survival times after treatment were best when attending London’s larger teaching hospitals.

The analysis scored hospitals across various factors considered important to patients, with credits given up to a maximum of 10. None of the 215 English hospitals and 17 Welsh hospitals in the survey reached this level, and few scored above six. Despite the excellence of some of its hospitals, the capital also had nine of the 10 hospitals with the lowest scores for mortality rates amongst the over-50s.

In foreign news, a chilling video surfaced this week, showing Iraqi militants apparently sawing off the heads of members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party for “collaborating” with American forces – even as Prime Minister Ayad Allawi insisted that elections would go ahead as planned and would be a major blow to insurgency.

The videotape was posted on a website known for its Islamic militant content. A statement was delivered with the tape in the name of the Ansar al-Sunna Army.

Brian Clough, one of the most talented – and controversial – English football managers of any generation, died from stomach cancer this week. He was 69. Teesside born, Mr Clough was renowned as much for his self-belief and bluntness as for his outstanding managerial record.

He played for Sunderland and Middlesbrough and was capped twice for England before injury cut his career short.

As a manager he took Nottingham Forest to double European success and a record 42-game unbeaten run. Memorable for quite different reasons was his turbulent reign at Leeds United, which lasted 44 days in 1974.

Sixty years after he parachuted into battle at Arnhem, Yorkshire veteran Tom Hicks descended from the skies once again to celebrate its anniversary. Mr Hicks, 85, of Royston near Barnsley, who had served with the 1st Parachute Squadron, the Royal Engineers, was the eldest of 10 Arnhem veterans who parachuted from 10,000ft onto the same landing ground where they originally saw action in 1944.

More than 50,000 people lined the perimeter of Ginkel Heath near Arnhem in the Netherlands to view the spectacle. They then mobbed and congratulated the veterans on their feats old and new.