It’s a bit of a disaster!
Sometimes in politics and in life, you have to admit the man and party you worship is not getting it right.
Cllr George Howe, along with Alan Wright, wax
lyrically through rose tinted glasses about how well the country is doing since we left the EU.
I'm not sure they understand or possibly refuse to acknowledge it's a bit of a disaster.
Everyone has accepted we have left the EU, but nothing Johnson promised has materialised, other than the fact we have left and he did a special deal for Nissan, that has to be applauded.
In December Boris
Johnson promised his Brexit trade deal would "allow our companies and exporters to do even more business with our European friends" than before. Less than two months later exports to the EU is down 68%.
The Road Haulage Association has criticised a lack of help from the government.
On his promise of frictionless trade his only advice to all the companies suffering with all the red tape is move to Europe,
I'm staggered any Prime Minister could say that.
The musicians who contribute nearly £2bn a year to the economy have been stopped from touring the EU for half a year because of red tape.
Boris Johnson has alienated Scotland, Wales and has put a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain so much so, supermarkets are having trouble stacking their shelves because of this border, the border Boris Johnson still refuses to acknowledge.
He promised the fishing industry he was going to take back control of our waters, but fishermen are having to throw fish back into the sea rather than let them rot.
We have seafood rotting on the docks just up the road in North Shields, thanks to all the paperwork he promised would never happen.
Boris Johnsons philosophy of ignore it and it might go away might work when he was fighting with his chums at school, but we're in the real world not the school yard.
Ged Taylor, Barnes.
“With your help we can deliver
the support families in crisis
need."
Want to improve your mood during lockdown? Take a look at the colour on the walls of your home.
How we decorate our nest can have a massive impact on our positivity and wellbeing.
Lockdown has spurred 11 per cent of people into pledging to spruce up their home this year while every month search data has shown that more than 20,000 are looking for information on the topics of wellness and wellbeing.
Before you dig out the paintbrush, consider these tips from the team at Lick Home.
If you’re missing the great outdoors, bring those blue and green hues indoors to create a natural feelgood factor. Green is renowned as the colour of harmony and balance. Lick’s colour experts recommend green for your kitchen as it may subconsciously inspire you to eat more healthily. The lighter blue you opt for, the more soothing the space will be. Darker blues are more stimulating so are good for the office space in your home.
You can brighten your mood with peppy colours like pink and orange which will keep you energised. Small pops of yellow will let the sunshine into your home so try painting your favourite chair or the legs of your kitchen table.
Tash Bradley, colour expert at Lick, said: “It’s important to remember that you never see colour in isolation. It’s never just a grey wall. It’s a grey wall with a plant and some cushions. Its surroundings is how it influences the way we feel. It’s the combination of colours that inspire positivity and wellness in a home, rather than just the one colour.”
Work with multiple paint colours to find combinations that can work together to impact your mood in a positive way. Add in green with your plants and place them against a wall painted in soft pink. This way, you’re getting the positive benefits of both those colours, creating a more inspiring space that you’re okay with being temporarily locked down in.
For more ideas on how to transform your home, go to https://www.lickhome.com/ paint website.
Sunderland was in the grip of a pandemic which killed dozens of people 150 years ago this month.
Smallpox took its toll on the town in 1871 and it was often children who paid the price just by playing outside.
Historian Norman Kirtlan has described how the disease gripped Wearside and one of the unusual ways that it spread.
Norman, a member of the Sunderland Antiquarian Society, told us: "In February 1871, Sunderland found itself in the terrifying grip of a smallpox epidemic.
"Defective or nonexistent sewage pipes, along with the general filth in the town were major causes. At that time a group of children in New Hendon had chanced upon a discarded old mattress at Noble’s Bank,
“Thinking this was an excellent play-thing, they set about using it as trampoline, tent and whatever else came into their mischievous young minds. When, shortly after, all of the youngsters fell seriously ill from smallpox, enquiries were made to find out the cause.
“The mattress, it seems, had been the last resting place of an old woman who died of smallpox, and had been duly, but not carefully thrown out by her family.
"The children’s plaything had brought about their tragic demise.
“Long before Knocky nine doors, hitchy dabbers and mounta-kitty were popular pastimes enjoyed by those now in their golden years, the poorer youngsters of Sunderland had little to keep them occupied other than what was going on around them and their natural inquisitiveness often led to rather dire consequences.”
Smallpox is thought to have been in England since 1869 with numbers slowly rising until the last quarter of 1870, although the disease was believed to have been largely in France before then.
But after London and Liverpool, which were the first to record serious levels of smallpox, mining areas in the North East were next.
Out of every 1,000 people in Sunderland, between eight and nine people died in 1871.
The Brewery Tap in Dunning Street ran from 1842 to 2000. It was also previously known as Minerva and Neptune and fellow Sunderland Antiquarian Ron Lawson told us that it was once a smallpox hospital from around the same era.
Sunderland learned public hygiene lessons from the epidemic. And although other epidemics did follow, there were different headaches to
face.
Norman added: “A few years into the 20th century, Sunderland was hit by another epidemic, this time it was tuberculosis. By that time vaccination was commonplace,
and those who had just been put to the needle often found themselves with painful swellings on their arms.
"In order to alert others to the fact that the unfortunate youngster was suffering and needed a wide berth – a red handkerchief was tied around the bairn’s arm. The term, red rag to a bull has never been truer, and bullies would deliver gratuitous digs to the suffering limb, adding to the unfortunate child’s pains.”
To find out more about the history of Sunderland, visit the Antiquarian Society’s Facebook page or its website at http://www.sunderland-antiquarians.org