I have been mulling over the topical issue of violence inflicted on women and girls for some time now, and ever since reading Euripides’ Trojan Women many years ago, I have been interested in the fate, often suffered by women, in conflict. Sadly, things don’t seem to change much down the millennia. So many examples […]
My friends and family have a variety of dietary needs which include vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and low-sugar for diabetes. I have become used to adapting food for them at various events! This is one of my favourite desserts from childhood – trifle which can be adapted to suit different dietary needs with a quick version […]
OK. Yes. I do watch a fair amount of daytime TV. I admit it. I never used to, but self-isolation / shielding / lockdown forced it on me. And it’s not all nightmare-inducing; some of it is fun. So what do I watch? Well, mainly Gold (or, as I prefer to call it, the Dead […]
Brendan McBear is a bear. He would describe himself as a New Monastic Celt when he’s not too busy taking the mickey out of The Big Eejit or BE – his companion and sometime mentor. His association with Chris Humble began when the Northumbria Community asked Chris to take him on pilgrimage. This is their […]
Who is up for a ‘mini’ Parade of Nations through Billingham Town Centre on Saturday 14 August? This is part of The World in a Weekend event being staged in the town from 13-15 August. The event is being organised by the Billingham International Folklore Festival of World Dance and supported Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. The parade […]
Throughout the summer Northern Stage has been inviting people to get Out on the Toon, with free outdoor events across the region to reconnect artists and audiences in their local neighbourhoods, and a pop-up outdoor theatre in Leazes Park offering free theatre, comedy, music and family shows. Roundabout Now from 12-15 August, Paines Plough’s Roundabout comes to Harbottle Park […]
What a day! Early afternoon and thick black clouds full of rattling and rumbling thunder; lightening sharp and dazzling; hailstones as big as golf balls stotting off the ground and bouncing three feet into the air. And it’s dark, miserable, cold. God, if this is August, what’s December going to be like? There’s a hammering […]
Superstore is one of Netflix’s most recent hits, a sitcom about the lives of a team of floor workers in a supermarket chain. With humour similar to that of popular series like Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn 99, the show turns a mundane day job into a hilarious series with relatable quirky characters. Grounded in […]
A previous article in North East Bylines showed us the fantastic work of ORCA [Organisation Cetacea] supported by DFDS on their ferry route from Newcastle to Ijmuiden. The wildlife programme run by Organization Cetacea [ORCA] on DFDS’ King Seaways ferry, certainly made many a business trip memorable for me. There is enough to do for […]
Redcar Blast Furnace It is a sad day for Teesside that the Redcar Blast Furnace is being demolished today. The furnace as we envisaged would have been truly iconic. In our opinion, this is an act of cultural vandalism, a scorched earth policy designed to systematically destroy relics of industry. For some, this structure represents […]
I know a place where wildflowers dare to grow with purpose and candidly bare their sweetness to a host of keen bees. The heady scent borne on a light breeze offers up a most sumptuous fayre. Carve out the time to stand and to stare and drink in the beauty, beyond compare so precious and […]
I remember that in the process of writing my diary entries, I had to recall memories recessed in the back of my mind for over a year. We often don’t think of traumatic memories as ‘trauma’. I briefly addressed the concept of mass trauma at the very end of the diary, so now it’s time […]
Brendan is a bear. He would describe himself as a New Monastic Celt when he’s not too busy taking the mickey out of The Big Eejit or BE – his companion and sometime mentor. His association with Chris Humble began when the Northumbria Community asked Chris to take him on pilgrimage. This is their third […]
Did the media’s description of penalty ‘saves’ at the Euro 2021 football competition as ‘misses’ fan the flames of racial abuse? England lost the shoot-out, and when a loss occurs we English seem to need to have someone to blame. Blaming the England players for not scoring, rather than praising the Italian goalkeeper for his […]
When we were young they just went to waste, a bit too exotic for council-estate tastes. From the tropics to the suburbs via Bookless & Co. we loved lifting them up and letting them go, smashing to the ground the sound made us smile, ruby entrails smeared on faces TISWAS style. Sitting on the doorstep […]
Fear Street 1994, Fear Street 1978 and Fear Street 1666 are the movies that make up the newest horror trilogy to hit Netflix. Unlike previous series, the three movies were released at the same time, each part a prequel to the one before it. The series cleverly ties together characters from three different decades to […]
Early in the morning of 18 January 1981, flames tore through a three floored combined house party at 439 New Cross Road, South London. 13 young black people lost their lives directly through the fire and the toll rose to 14, when a further party attendee tragically committed suicide, two years later. Within six weeks […]
Last Wednesday, 21 July 2021, as I Joined with the SODEM team at the regular PMQs protest outside parliament, I was told in unequivocal terms by a Covid-denier that I didn’t represent “The People”. Just what I am to make of that? I’m sorry, “The People”, but I have never made any claim to represent […]
Brendan is a bear. He would describe himself as a New Monastic Celt when he’s not too busy taking the mickey out of The Big Eejit or BE – his companion and sometime mentor. His association with Chris Humble began when the Northumbria Community asked Chris to take him on pilgrimage. This is their third […]
Not the Armitage poem, more a Beckett play, staged in rows like The Muppet Shows. Am in some kind of digital purgatorio – or Waiting Room – as it is known. Pondering background choices: Smart – bookshelves Witty – a pub Serious – black-framed Art Lockdown breach – Barnard Castle. Anything but the spare-room drums. […]
On 23 March 2020, the Prime Minister delivered a very simple instruction to the British public: “you must stay at home.” Since this dependence day, and the introduction into popular discourse of the word ‘lockdown’, people have adapted to a host of alien measures and customs. Social distancing, mandated isolation, face cloths, PPE, and those […]
Beautiful photographs I suggest that the photo is absolutely beautiful. The pandemic has had few positive aspects, but one of them certainly is the appreciation for those wonderful workers who built this country up and keep it running each and every day. And this photograph shows the rightful pride key workers should have in what […]
Daydream is the concluding poem in a series of four poems written by international students at INTO Newcastle University Sailing through the endless sky, I saw stars twinkle in daylight. Or did the sun drop its chandelier? Diamonds, were scattered everywhere. I woke up before dawn, bathing in honey sunshine. I ate ocean breeze […]
The Ladyboys of Bangkok graced Middlesbrough Theatre on 12 July for an exciting night of music and glamour during their Flight of Fantasy 2021 tour. Due to social distancing, the show was split into multiple performances over a few nights. Audiences remained socially distanced and were required to wear masks. It was a different experience […]
I’m an international student at INTO Newcastle University. I study International Foundation in Business and Management course right from my home country Myanmar (Burma). During the pandemic period, schools, universities and colleges were forced to close by law. The transition in delivering education has made the students to study from their home and teachers to […]
Dream:White. A room, a cavernous chamber and a corona of towering, milk-white alabaster columns, rising from a carpet of snowy cloud. A white-noise subliminal soundscape, barely-discernible Mahalia Jackson/Enya mix-tape. Such radiance! A just-audible gasp escapes from slumbering lips. It was heaven. Dream:Blue. Fishing for guppies on the South China Seas. A miniature craft thrown […]
Forget-me-not is the third in a series of four poems written by international students at INTO Newcastle University Every time a forget-me-not blooms A girl would stand on a hillside with a bunch of forget-me-nots Her eyes drifted expectantly through everything From the sunrise until the stars only hope to love the return Her […]
Brendan is a bear. His association with Chris Humble began when the Northumbria Community asked Chris to take him on his pilgrimage to every Anglican cathedral in England.. Initially Chris wasn’t that keen but soon found that his Celtic charm and ready wit opened doors around the country! Here is Part 1 of a different […]
In 2012 I was asked to direct a revival on my first play ever to get a professional outing (on tour in 1975, no less!), a version of The Mysteries, as a community production for the Customs House in South Shields. It featured amateur actors and choir with a professional production team and we performed […]
These youngmen so heavy with a country’s hope,
legs shredded by the studs of high-footed politicians,
these torchbearers of the truth, their light
shaming the shade of cynics in corners.