Category: Opinion

Norky shares his experiences as a technical officer where he worked to help people in poverty and deprivation

Tim and Steve discuss the threat posed by footballers taking the knee as a stand against racism, which may in fact be a Marxist plot

Norky retells his days spent trainspotting the Streaks amongst other trains at York railway museum, and how he read comics with his cousins

The line between patriotism and nationalism is almost indistinguishable today. Whereas it once meant a devotion to a particular place and particular way of life, now it is about creating an ‘us vs them’.

It is almost medieval in its assumption that once a girl has reached sexual maturity, she is a dangerous and serious risk to the established social order while male youths are just ‘lads’ awaiting maturity. Both Robinson and Begum should be permitted to put their youthful foolishness behind them and get on with their lives.

Roger Winterbottom examines the implications of Dominic Cummings’ evidence, the bizarre switch of Cummings’ former accusers and supporters, and the convenient timing of Johnson’s marriage.

Sapphire Boast, an English student at Leeds Trinity University, discusses the challenge of dyslexia and how to overcome it

Emily Horner discusses divorce; how it affects young people, teenagers and adults. Bill and Melinda Gates were married 24 years, which statistically is a successful marriage. But recently, the rates of divorce have increased and the average length of marriage is declining.

Peter Norcliffe explains what being proud to be British means to him; he is ardently proud, without being nationalistic, of the four nations of the UK and the union flag, as well as the Yorkshire flag.

Norky wonders what his parents would think of modern day celebrities; while asking what makes a celebrity a celebrity, he reminisces about the likes of Spike Milligan, Charlie Chaplain and Peter Sellers.

Paul Bright remembers the Six Nations’ ‘excuse for a trip’ club, where clubs went on day excursions. He honours some individuals who are experts at trips out, Dominic Cummings is just one of them!

Paul Bright, in his first article for Yorkshire Bylines, explains the rivalry between Colin the Caterpillar from M&S and Cuthbert from Aldi. Will M&S have a chance at winning the judicial review, or should there be, as Judge Rinder put it, ‘caterpillars everywhere’?

Obituary for Baroness Shirley Williams, who defined democracy for the UK. Her work and wisdom inspired generations to question the way politics worked.

The Festival of Debate 2021, is starting in a few weeks. Its purpose? To increase political discourse, encourage local voices to speak up, and come up with solutions to the most pressing issues in society right now. All events are free and welcome to anyone interested.

Aidan Enright describes his battle, as an Irish in Britain, between his ‘British’ and ‘Irish’ identity. After being submerged in both cultures, he feels drawn to both. After heavy debate around Brexit in Britain though, he often yearns for his Irish home.

Dr Pam Jarvis draws to light the future problems and questions about the monarchy now that Prince Philip has passed away: will Prince Charles have the appetite to be king when his mother dies? Dr Jarvis asks whether there could be a referendum to peacefully decide who will be the king.

Is there an oppressed minority on the political right who have been dominated into silence? Will no-one stand up for them? Cometh the hour, cometh the Fox. Roger Winterbottom wonders what it is they really want to say.

Steve and Tim have been discussing the importance of flying the Union Jack, and the troubling issue of crisis actors at protests. Catch up on their previous conversations too!

Sapphire Boast looks at the response on Instagram to the rules women have to follow to stay safe from male aggression

Alex Toal argues that we should hate the institution of the monarchy, not the monarch. With the monarchy a block on constitutional reform and a symbol of inequality on several levels, it needs to go.

Steve and Tim discuss the magic money tree that can fund a £37 billion failed test and trace programme, but can’t fund a proper pay rise for nurses.

Alex Toal examines the known unknowns that may well define the Johnson premiership: the NHS pay dispute and the return to schools. Should they fail to go to plan, knock-on effects may disrupt the local elections and hamper either his or Keir Starmer’s leadership.

The big con – that public sector cuts offer the only effective route to debt and deficit reduction, through cutting wages and services – has done immeasurable harm to our country. It is not and never has been about fiscal consolidation, but instead serves a hidden libertarian, right-wing agenda that seeks to shrink government and cut worker rights and protections in the name of illusory and bogus freedoms.

Roger Winterbottom admires Dominic Cummings’ honesty in explaining how the special adviser’s chums somehow came to be the recipients of large government contracts without any competition.

Andy Brown, Green Party councillor on Craven District Council, reviews the recent speech from Sir Keir Starmer and regrets the lack of leadership on issues like Brexit and how to bring progressive parties together to achieve their aims.

Steve and Tim discuss the deep fake behind the recent Mars space mission and the relative cost of the UK’s test and trace programme.

Roger Winterbottom wonders whether Boris Johnson is an experiment in a new field in robotics and machine learning: Artificial Gormlessness. Can he pass the Turing test and convince us that he’s human?

Welcome to Schroedinger’s Border. This is the border in the Irish Sea which the UK government negotiated and which the UK government says doesn’t exist, and which is both there and not there as long as it’s kept in a box and nobody looks at it.

As Martin Brooks notes, fish are not subject to the freedom of movement restrictions that Britain’s people now are. “It’s questionable if the notoriously independently minded fish can be persuaded to change their attitude and behaviour.”

Green Party peer Natalie Bennett argues that we clearly do need, post-Brexit, a Financial Services Act but as it stands the financial services bill is nothing like what we need.