A new voice for
the North East

Monday 21 October 2024
21/10/2024

Author name: Bethany Usher

Personality politics is a slippery beast

When you get it right, it can be an election winner. Tony Blair captured the mood of โ€˜Cool Britanniaโ€™ to sweep to victory in 1997. Thatcherโ€™s quip that any mother who could look after children all night and still function the next day could handle being PM, endeared her to the nation in 1979. Clement โ€ฆ

Creating a new brand for the WHOLE region

As we approach devolution and the mayoral votes, thereโ€™s a lot of chatter about what it means to be part of our great region and how we can build a more resilient economy and society. But North East identity is complex. Our history is one of greatness, trauma and bitter sibling rivalry between cities, towns โ€ฆ

Letโ€™s have a civilised debate

The terms โ€œcivilisedโ€ and โ€œsocietyโ€ were always contested.  As forged in fiery furnaces of early modern newspapers, โ€œcivilised societyโ€ usually meant white, upper middle-class and aristocratic conservative men. They were utterly convinced of the rationality of their social position and very invested in keeping it. You might find the odd remnant lurking like decaying Victorian โ€ฆ