Only one tonight: Madeley Ward, Newcastle-under-Lyme BC. LD gain from Lab. LD 617 (47.7%, +21.7), Lab 342 (26.4%, -7.9), Con 294 (22.7%, -8.9), UKIP 41 (3.2%, -4.8). Swing of 14.8% from Lab to LD since 2011. Ouch.

Newcastle did not beat Manchester United today, because the long term trend is for Manchester United to beat Newcastle. - Bishop Hill's quote of the day today. He found it here. This is the game being referred to....

Exclusive: Mark Barrow, the former chief executive of the north Staffordshire local authority, spent more than £1000 attending the "international Newcastle Summit".

The government is offering cities like Newcastle more power and freedom but what will it mean for the city and the rest of the north?

Autonomous Mind focuses on a decision by Newcastle Council to give money to "good causes". As he says This underlines the lack of accountability in our town halls.Several areas should be off limits for state spending. Here are two. When companies reach an out of court settlement with a complainant who's threatening to sue them, they usually add a dollop to bribe the complainant keep the compl...

A Newcastle Council boss is snapped by one of his own camera's speeding in the city says the "irony" is not lost in him.

I became enthralled by the musical Godspell back in the early 1970s. I regularly used to go to the Newcastle Theatres to see all sorts of shows, by myself or with my Mum. (I was still a teenager back then!) … Continue reading →

It's safe to say that Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg don't get on. Even before he was elected leader, Miliband told the New Statesman he would never work with the Lib Dem leader: "Given what he is supporting, I think it is pretty hard to go into coalition with him." He refused to share a platform with Clegg in the AV campaign, and then attacked him in Newcastle with a list of promi...

    I nearly choked over the coffee on Sunday morning. The Appointments pages of a leading newspaper opened with the offer of £130,000 plus benefits for a Managing Director, Business Group, UK Trade and Investment. It also offered £110,000 plus bonus for a Newcastle based CEO of the Marine Management Organisation quango. Careers at

Plant conceived by Clipper Windpower was to have built the world's largest turbine blade and was expected to have provided jobs for 500 people