Columns written by The Press newspaper's features columnists

Nothing hotter than an otter

10:04am Saturday 25th May 2013

Jono Leadley, of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, reports on an exciting siting of an otter.

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It’s time to speak like the foreigner

11:33am Friday 24th May 2013

THERE are strange goings-on on the other side of the English Channel. I take it you don’t routinely read the French newspapers, so you probably didn’t see Tuesday’s edition of Liberation.

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Send in the loons

11:35am Thursday 23rd May 2013

I MUST admit to enjoying the swivel-eyed loons. Nothing lifts the spirits like Tories chewing each other’s legs off. This is not to make a political point so much as to recognise how good they are at it.

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My life is one big bargain hunt

8:43am Wednesday 22nd May 2013

WHAT a proud mother she must be, I thought, as I read about the so-called ‘Coupon Kid’.

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Mixed up world of the sci-fi fans

8:37am Wednesday 22nd May 2013

TWAS a clash worthy of Luke Skywalker v Darth Vader, the Doctor v the Daleks or Kirk v the Klingons when members of two rival Norfolk sci-fi clubs, some in fancy dress, confronted each other over the momentous issue of getting an autograph from an actor who once appeared in Doctor Who.

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The size of it...

10:47am Monday 20th May 2013

STAND back in amazement! A woman who wears size 16 clothes has been photographed in a bikini for a high street fashion chain. Good heavens, whatever next…

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My first cuckoo? Nigel Lawson...

11:04am Friday 17th May 2013

HERE’S a novelty. ‘Tweet of the Day’ isn’t actually a tweet – as in a pithy pronouncement in 140 characters or less on social networking site Twitter – but a real soundclip of birdsong on BBC Radio 4.

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An acronym? Not in my back yard!

8:51am Thursday 16th May 2013

WHO wants to be summed up by an acronym? Not me, if the abbreviation in question is NIMBY. Yet sometimes life trips you up that way.

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It’s no bed of roses

11:07am Tuesday 14th May 2013

ISN’T gardening supposed to be relaxing – something you do on days off or bank holidays to unwind? In theory, maybe. But in practice it’s anything but.

We mustn’t forget carers’ needs too

11:06am Tuesday 14th May 2013

LAST Friday night – or, more precisely, 40 minutes into Saturday morning – my phone woke me and stopped just before I could reach it.

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Streets ahead...

11:37am Monday 13th May 2013

IT’S a long time since I reported on the vision for the introduction of the footstreets in York. I was the local government reporter for the then Coney Street-based Evening Press and the clamour of protest about the dream of a pedestrianised city centre was deafening.

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Why we’re faking it in York

9:50am Friday 10th May 2013

FORGET controversy over Richard III’s resting place or the closure of Lendal Bridge to cars – the hot topic of debate for women of a certain age in York this week is how dark dare you go?

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'At best this so-called Local Plan is ill-thought through'

8:14am Friday 10th May 2013

Like many York residents, I was dismayed and saddened by the recent publication of the Council's plans to destroy York's greenbelt, by building thousands of homes on it, as well as a number of traveller sites and wind farms.

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The bridge over troubled waters

9:35am Thursday 9th May 2013

IT IS PLEASING to wonder if the council’s new West Offices has a banner bearing the words: “You can’t please all of the people all of the time… but you can sure as hell annoy most of the people most of the time.”

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Condemned out of their own mouths

9:35am Tuesday 7th May 2013

THERE’S a new voice in British politics, the headlines boomed at the weekend. It remains to be seen what impact UKIP’s strong showing in recent polls will have on the make-up of the next Government – how often do mid-term elections reflect the voting at the following General Election? – but they’ve certainly provided a jolt for the “established” parties.

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