I was an enthusiastic contributor to North East Bylines right from the outset. The invitation to write came in the aftermath of the first Covid-19 wave during which time I went to take care of my 90 year old father, literally sleeping on the floor of his one roomed sheltered housing accommodation in Barnard Castle. My mum was in a care home five minutes up the road and we were not allowed to see her until she was in her death throes. My father and I were both outraged at Dominic Cummings‘ cynical jaunt to our neck of the woods, supposedly to ‘test his eyesight’. I used the opportunity afforded me by North East Bylines to vent my anger and grief, not just the personal affront I felt but to write something on behalf of the thousands like me whose lives and loved ones were deemed disposable by Cummings and the Tory government. It was an important act of catharsis for me and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to be very public at that time.
For nine months I wrote for every single edition, first fortnightly and then weekly as the journal ramped up its production. I was given the freedom to write about anything, taking the opportunity to report on local campaigns such as No To Hassockfield. I also marked notable days such as International Women’s Day, International Day for Disabled People, World Water Day and many more. When major world events (such as the US election and the subsequent storming of the Capitol building, the coup in Myanmar, and Brexit-related shenanigans) occurred the editor asked me to file reports. This meant mining my own experience in the world of international politics and ensuring I remained up to date with developments. The discipline of a weekly writing assignment helped to create some order in my life which was torn apart by Brexit and then the pandemic.
The regular weekly writing stopped when my father died in early April 2021 but the muse soon returned as I began to try and fill the looming emptiness that accompanies bereavement. However, I was much kinder to my journalistic self this time around, not bound to the self-imposed weekly regime and branching out to review arts events – albeit often with a political theme.
In February 2022 I went to Ukraine as part of a political and trade union solidarity delegation. We were in Kyiv in the days leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion and only just managed to get out before the skies were closed to civilian aircraft. Upon my return GB News contacted me for a story and I told them to get stuffed. Their love-in with Tory Brexiter Putin enablers made me sick. North East Bylines got my scoop instead.
It has been wonderful to watch the various regional Bylines popping up all over the country and I have written for several including North West, Yorkshire and Central. But my overriding loyalty remains to the North East with its warm-hearted, hard-working editorial team and its commitment to truth-telling journalism with a regional flavour. May the initiative continue to grow and prosper, giving an important platform to citizen journalists for the next five years and beyond.
