Zeb Soanes on Twitter

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Orfordness Lighthouse

Every couple of months I drive up to Orford – it’s one of those rare places in the UK where the sky seems a little bigger, and the light a little warmer. Watching over the village is the arresting Orford Ness lighthouse.

One cold afternoon in January I stumbled on the news that Orford Ness lighthouse had been recommended for closure, and had an idea. An idea which, thanks to Twitter, I could simultaneously share with the world and pitch directly to Radio 4 continuity announcer and Suffolk-born man Zeb Soanes:

What began and ended with a few casual (and easily forgotten) keystrokes for me was the beginning of a chain of thought and real time commitment for Zeb, so it’s really pleasing that by his own account he had an enjoyable time reading an excerpt of the shipping forecast from the lighthouse this morning.

This recording is from today’s Lesley Dolphin show on BBC Radio Suffolk and yes, of course, I blushed a little at the name check.

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Five reasons to visit Northumberland

As I begin to write this I’m on an East Coast train with the Tyne Bridge to disappearing to my left. When heading back down south there’s always a sense that I’m leaving behind a special place. I guess many people feel a close connection with where they were born, but above and beyond that the reason I bang on (and on and on) about Northumberland to people from further afield is that I really think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the country.

So if you’ve never been, I thought I’d try and lure you with five possible reasons why Northumberland might one day win you over, with the aid of the interweb:

  • PUFFINS, on the Farne Islands – who could resist? Northumberland is also one of the last remaining places in the country where you can see red Squirrels.
  • A thriving regional music tradition, centred around the Northumbrian small pipes
  • If you spend a lot of time in the cities, you might want to experience the empty open spaces of the Cheviot Hills or the North Pennines
  • After you’ve had a Stottie, a regular sandwich will never seem quite as filling (and you can pick up a Greggs Steak Bake for 80p!)
  • And finally, who can forget Hadrian’s Wall? I don’t think it’s possible to truly understand the history of the United Kingdom without standing on one of the high vantage points and taking in the scale of the construction. On that note, on 13 March the good people of The North will be illuminating Hadrian’s Wall – definitely a spectacle worth seeing.

If I can be cheeky and squeeze in a sixth, and one you can’t easily prove online, I’d say one of the defining characteristics of Northumberland and the North East is that though life is still hard for a good many people (and there are parts of the area where you can see poverty deeply etched on the faces of the residents) you’re never too far from a smile from a stranger. We were brought up proper, we were.

First class

In defence of Nick Winterton. Ish.

If you haven’t already listened to Radio 5 Live’s interview with Sir Nicholas Winterton, which followed on the heels of a similar interview with Total Politics, have a listen to that BBC interview now.

The story which broke on Thursday was still rolling two days later, as I woke to a debate on my local radio station asking “should MPs travel first class?” It won’t surprise you that when asked the question in the context of Winterton’s outburst, most callers were of the opinion that MPs should be made to travel standard class. In fact, sod standard class, they should be dragged on a rope attached to the back of the train while working people queue up to use the toilet (between stations, naturally).

Yet, as someone who commutes five days per week in standard class, I find Winterton’s point uncontroversial when examined dispassionately.

A private environment

First – it is in the nature of many people (myself included) to look over the shoulder of people who are reading / using a computer, in any environment. We are natural nosey parkers. This is something I lamented last month while checking my inbox on the gay social networking site Thingbox, whilst on a train. (Those of a sensitive disposition should note that the screenshot contains some rather close to the bone humour, and, ahem, strident language. I have concealed the identities of the guilty.)

In first class, most train companies put three seats in to a space which would take five seats in standard class. Many customers will have their own table. Just as a point of logistics it is harder to rubber-neck the papers / screens of your fellow travellers. It could also be argued that there is a culture of discretion.  As MPs often help those who are in the most dire of straits, we should consider whether casework correspondence in particular could be read in standard class.

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