So here comes autumn, ‘the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ and Yorkshire Moggy Cake. I must assure you that this delectable treat is not made from a Yorkshire breed of cat (so Larry the Cat can rest easy). It is thought that the name Moggy or Moggie may come from the Old Norse word ‘múgi’ […]
Earlier this month, the Haribo company announced it was ceasing production of Moam products at its £92m factory in Castleford, leading to hundreds of factory job losses. Jon Hughes, director of Haribo, said this was a necessary response to a highly competitive market. But the timing of the job losses is bad; at this time […]
As if to confirm what most of us already know, tonight’s BBC Panorama programme, Test and Trace Exposed, will reveal the extent to which test and trace simply is not working. Alex Lee, who worked for the BBC four years ago, is the programme’s on-screen reporter. Lee was hired as a clinical contract caseworker to […]
Almost everyone loves bees and in Yorkshire we have the opportunity to observe an amazing variety of different species. There is one species of honeybee, several of the 27 different varieties of recorded UK bumblebees, and a whole series of fascinating solitary bees like the bilberry mining bees that leave tiny volcanos on moorland paths […]
That the National Trust could so upset a seemingly large swathe of its traditional supporter base is perhaps one more event to add to the weird dystopia that is 2020. But upset them it has. Not by changing the recipe for its Victoria sponge, nor by once more asking its volunteers to wear a rainbow […]
For generations, sheep and cattle farmers have shaped the upland Yorkshire landscape we all cherish. Now many traditional farmers, so vital to the fabric of our rural communities, are at risk of being put out of business. Uplands farmers – particularly sheep and beef cattle farmers in the Yorkshire Dales and on the North York […]
True stories from ‘Norky’ who comes from Scapegoat Hill, a small, isolated farming village, high on the Pennines in West Yorkshire. You can catch up on his ramblings so far via his author page. The war took a different turn for my father in 1943. He had served on the Scillonian for about a year, plying between […]
If you’re a writer in dark times what do you write about? Most choose to write about the darkness and tell you little else apart from (a) how dark it is and (b) that darkness is very, very bad. However, Ossett poet Simon Widdop is bucking the trend. His new collection, Poet from the Black […]
Red. Red blood. Red blood all over my hand. On the paving stones all around my left hand. Glasses? I lift my head slightly. Ah, smashed. Bones? I move a few limbs. Don’t seem to be broken. Good. A voice. Young woman. “Hello, my name’s Melissa and I’m a PCSO. I’ve called the ambulance. I’ve got your phone. Is there anyone else you’d like me […]
Dr Kate Lister, course leader for creative and professional writing at Leeds Trinity University, inews columnist and published author, has been shortlisted for the ‘most innovative teacher of the year’ award at the Times Higher Education Awards 2020. She was nominated in recognition of a project in which her students worked with Basis Yorkshire, a […]
Figures released yesterday by the Social Mobility Commission reveal that five local authorities in the Yorkshire and the Humber region are among the 24 least socially mobile in the country. Bradford is listed in 2nd place, behind only Chiltern in the South East, with Hull, Rotherham, Kirklees and North East Lincolnshire all featuring on the […]
Residents at a privately owned social housing estate near Leeds are fighting to save their community from an investment firm that has plans to demolish residents’ homes in favour of “executive, expensive housing”. Pemberstone has owned the estate for more than 20 years. It submitted an original planning application in October 2017 as it considers […]
True stories from ‘Norky’ who comes from Scapegoat Hill, a small, isolated farming village, high on the Pennines in West Yorkshire. You can catch up on his ramblings so far via his author page. In the months following the end of the Second World War, millions of military personnel were returning to their homes, at […]
Last week’s Extinction Rebellion protests once again saw images in the media of climate campaigners protesting in city centres while people tried to do their work around them, look after children or find somewhere peaceful to have a sandwich in their lunch break. The protests shone a spotlight on the increasing divisions in our society. […]
Spare a thought this weekend for Hull, with the news that ministers will be using new powers to buy land to provide Brexit lorry parks and customs facilities, to deal with the extra border checks around the Humber. In a case of “no shit Sherlock”, the government has finally woken up to the fact of […]
Are you sitting comfortably? This weekend Hull’s Back To Ours project is bringing bedtime stories and twinkling lullabies to people’s homes to spread family-friendly fun all over the city. In conjunction with the city’s Freedom Festival, they are reaching out with innovative events and activities to engage and excite people all across Humberside. Throughout the […]
When the trustees of Mytholmroyd Community Centre in the Calder Valley were considering how best to improve their car park, they wanted a robust and sustainable solution. So they contacted local charity Slow the Flow – educators in natural flood management and sustainable drainage solutions. Slow the Flow was set up after the Christmas and […]
Harrogate Spa Water, now owned by conglomerate Danone, applied last year to increase its Harlow development into two acres of public woods. This means public green space will be lost without compensation. Local environmental groups, Harrogate & District Green Party, Harlow Greens, Harrogate XR, and Pinewoods Conservation Group as well as residents are fighting the […]
Some of you may have been watching the BBC’s programme on the regeneration of Manchester (Manctopia) with a mixture of horror and fascination. Here on this side of the Pennines I think we can do things better, in a way that includes local people and is fair to all. Our towns and city centres are […]
This Friday sees the annual State of Sheffield event, an opportunity for Sheffield City Partnership to showcase its work of the last year, and for people across the city to identify and shape plans for the future. Unsurprisingly, the unprecedented challenges of coronavirus have meant this year’s report is focusing on what life has been […]
Mention the name ‘Betty’ in Yorkshire and we’re dreaming of any one of the several smart tearooms across the region which bear the name ‘Bettys’ (note to all our new proofreaders – there’s no possessive apostrophe). The story behind Bettys starts with a young Swiss baker / confectioner who landed in Yorkshire in 1907 and […]
The government has proposed that rather than operating as One Yorkshire Together, Yorkshire should operate as four separate areas, each with an executive mayor, alongside unitary local government councils. In North Yorkshire, each town and area will now be considering where their interests lie with the potential format of the unitary authorities. There are options […]
The traditional grouse shooting season on the moors of North Yorkshire is turning out to be anything but glorious. Usually by mid-August the upland estates of the north are swarming with the tweed-covered friends of the seventh Earl of Bucktooth, accompanied by the dozens of hirelings necessary to ensure a successful slaughter. This year however […]
Julian Sturdy is Conservative MP for York Outer and also a farmer. On 22 June 2016 he revealed on his website that he intended to vote to leave the EU which he describes in the same post as either on its way to becoming a super state or alternatively, might not survive at all. Mr […]
There’s a lot to be said for raffles. In these times where arts funding has become national news, a poetry night that is in its tenth year, which has been funded by nothing grander than the humble tombola, is something to be celebrated. At the heart of Away With Words is Jim Higo, the Bard […]
Two glorious banners, twelve lustrous golden stars above a dazzling white rose, assure every passer-by that there’s some corner of a Yorkshire lawn that is forever Europe. Both are veterans of street stalls and great London marches but neither flew above our garden before that bleak first day of February 2020. They flew in anguish, […]
In 1890, my great grandparents Joseph and Eliza Senior took the whole family to Sagan in what was then Germany (now Żagań in Poland). This is where a Yorkshire mill owner called Oldroyd set up a textile factory (which is still running today, now in local Polish ownership). He took a skilled labour force with him fro
An A-level student from Barnsley has written a letter to the prime minister and the health secretary, as well as her new Conservative MP Miriam Cates, about the A-level results shambles. Her letter pleads for justice for this year’s A-Level cohort, after being subjected to a failed algorithm that appears to favour private schools over […]
On the day that an exams algorithm robbed a significant number of working-class children in Yorkshire and across the nation of the results they needed to access their university places, Jon Snow interviewed Nick Gibb on the Channel 4 news. Gibb began by telling Snow that the spread of grades across the whole cohort was […]
To recap – the government has proposed that God’s Own County of Yorkshire should not operate as One Yorkshire Together, but as four separate areas, each with an executive mayor, elected through proportional representation, to work alongside unitary local government councils. That puts the cat amongst the local government pigeons in North Yorkshire, as there are […]