Agenda
‘We must commit to a new war – on poverty and hunger’
Published 2 January 2009
As I walked from my favourite rundown Paris hotel to the Gare du Nord I was stopped by a rather dumpy American couple, all-too-obviously tourists, who asked me in a Midwest drawl if I could ‘take a snap of them outside the rail station’.
‘We clearly cannot manage life well without God’
Published 23 December 2008
To be singing carols at this particular point in time may seem a bit like listening to the band playing on The Titanic while the iceberg lies straight ahead. So what is the radical and challenging message that the baby king of Bethlehem gives us? It is that we cannot manage without God; indeed he came to live among us to sort us out.
Enjoy a home-grown Christmas
Published 12 December 2008
It’s the biggest spending spree of the year and for many shopkeepers and producers it can make or break their business. This Christmas is more crucial than ever for many.
MARK GREEN IN IREBY
Published 12 December 2008
THERE are some great things about living in a tucked-away Cumbrian village – and some not-so-great. I’m very lucky that the village farm has a wee shop (well, an outhouse) where you can buy the veg that they grow and pick up your milk and eggs and you put your money in the honesty box.
Cumbria police tell drink drivers: You can't fool a trained officer
Published 5 December 2008
The snow is starting to fall heavily outside Cumbria police HQ as Sergeant Graeme Hodgson leafs through thick files of what can only be described as harrowing reading.
Will Carlisle shops pay the price for higher parking fees?
Published 28 November 2008
For many years the shops in our town and city centres have lived in fear of the giant shopping developments on the outskirts, open 24 hours a day and offering free parking.
So children are animals? What does that say about adults?
Published 23 November 2008
Antony Hext reaches down to his friend Nathan Thomlinson’s left leg and stares at his sock. “Have you got your machete?” he asks. “Is it in there?”
Who are happy hour drinks promotions happy for?
Published 14 November 2008
Cheap booze. For many those two words are enough to put a beaming smile on the face. A nice relaxing night with a bit of change left in the purse or wallet, whether that drink is consumed in a pub or the comfort of home.
For brave young soldiers like Sarah, we must always remember
Published 7 November 2008
Sunday will be a difficult day for Maureen Feely. In tribute to all soldiers, fallen in so many wars, she will pause to remember them. In honour of her treasured only daughter Sarah, killed in active service in Afghanistan, the day will be much like any other ... awash with precious memories.
Cumbria marathon runners 'want to be tested'
Published 31 October 2008
As the world of work becomes less manual and more office-bound, growing numbers of us feel the need to test our physical toughness by getting back to nature – and proving to ourselves that we can handle it.
A crash course in road survival
Published 24 October 2008
Five years ago a shocking statistic spurred the county into action: it was revealed that Cumbria had the worst rate of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents, per head, in the country.
Ernie, the hill farmer who has a fragile existence
Published 17 October 2008
Our beloved Lake District landscape is changing almost imperceptibly as farmers and their sheep retreat off the fells. It’s news to no one that sheep farming is in decline but as the trickle out of the industry has turned into a torrent, fears of an irreversible shift are growing.
Spreading the word
Published 17 October 2008
When the Rev Canon Dr Richard Pratt closes the door to his vicarage in January and heads to west Cumbria, Carlisle will surely seem a quieter place.Still, the wider picture shows numbers are continuing to fall. “Life seems to be more pressurised and only on Sundays can people stop and draw breath,” he muses before jumping up to make more tea. “That’s a bad thing I think. Also as a society people don’t join things as much: WIs, Rotary Clubs, political parties. People have pressure on their time, on their energy and have different commitments.”
Richard's spreading the word
Published 10 October 2008
When the Reverend Canon Dr Richard Pratt closes the door to his vicarage in January and heads to West Cumbria, Carlisle will surely seem a quieter place.
Going underground?
Published 10 October 2008
There is a story, sworn by its teller to be true, of an American woman who visited Carlisle in the 1980s. “Nice place,” she said. “But what a dumb thing to do – building a castle so close to a road.”
What are they putting in our water?
Published 3 October 2008
About 130,000 homes in Cumbria are supplied by water containing added fluoride – and soon that number could be increased.
‘It beggars belief that a body entrusted with improving your health is promoting this...’
Published 3 October 2008
Dianne Standen’s daughter has had to spend thousands of pounds on cosmetic dentistry after developing mottled, discoloured teeth. She has had to pay for veneers to cover the damage done by the condition called dental fluorosis.
Stewart Young - back at the helm, a man on a mission
Published 26 September 2008
The fashionable view is that it doesn’t matter who runs the county council. Politicians are all the same, aren’t they? Stewart Young begs to differ.
No theatre for 45 years... is Carlisle a cultural desert?
Published 19 September 2008
Parked cars and shopping trolleys mark the site of Carlisle’s last theatre. The final curtain fell on Her Majesty’s in 1963.
Destination Christmas
Published 19 September 2008
Christmas.It’s spelled C-a-r-l-i-s-l-e for many. Make a quick tour of the city centre and in among all the jingling tills, you’ll hear accents from Scotland, the north east and Preston.
SERVICES
Vote
- Sekers: the movie
- Cleator hotel temporarily closes
- 12 jobs to go as card shops shut
- In profile: the team who are set to run Sellafield
- New lease of life for brave Katelyn
- Anti-social behaviour in town
- Double-death crash: man has been arrested
- We won’t let Haven RL go under says council Add your comments
- Plunging in to 2009
- Sellafield Ltd in legal row with training organisation
- That was 2008 that was!
- Cumbria kids return to school after snow day-off
- Lake District death fall woman named
- 'Code Red' cold weather alert issued - and snow on way
- Plunging in to 2009
- The 2008 picture album
- Cleator hotel temporarily closes
- New lease of life for brave Katelyn
- Sekers: the movie
- Kids' deadly game on frozen Cumbria lakes
