Teenage girls are spending fewer evenings with friends, feeling isolated in their communities and dodging school sport at higher rates than boys, according to a report into England’s “bedroom generation”.  Polling of 15-year-olds for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) finds that more than one in five girls (21 per cent) now spends no evenings out with friends during a typical week, compared wi…

Bob Davenport, the powerful Gateshead-born singer who became one of the defining voices of the British folk revival, has died aged 94. For more than six decades, Davenport was an uncompromising champion of traditional song, bringing the music of the North East and the wider British folk tradition to audiences at home and abroad.

After some four decades of silence, "Clotherholme's Big Ben" is chiming again, thanks to a new caretaker who gave up his weekends to bring it back to life. For the better part of half a century, the clock above Ripon Grammar School has been right twice a day. Now it is right all the time.

Passengers with mobility scooters are now able to travel on all of the different types of trains in Northern’s fleet with a free permit. It comes after the train operator updated its rules to allow smaller mobility scooters on Class 158 trains.

Dear Editor, Like most of us, I don’t think twice before hopping on a bus or train to go to work, meet friends or do a spot of shopping. However, for millions of people across the country who are deaf or have hearing loss, barriers on public transport can make even every day journeys feel impossible.

Almost all charities surveyed say current funding levels are not keeping pace with costs. Half are considering redundancies, while three-quarters report falling income over the past year.

Grocery bills that have crept up modestly this year are on course for a far sharper rise, with food inflation forecast to almost double by 2027 as extreme weather, energy costs and supply chain disruption converge on the food system.

New polling by Opinium for Carers UK reveals that 3.33 million people have given up work to care for a family member or friend who is older, disabled or seriously ill, with 1.1 million leaving their job in the last two years alone – more than 1,500 people a day.

Passengers across the North will benefit from faster, more reliable journeys thanks to an around £1 billion investment in new trains, as the government puts passengers back at the heart of the railway.

To support customers affected by airline disruption due to the recent air traffic outage, National Rail has agreed some flexibility for ticket holders. Customers can use their rail tickets to travel at alternative times, or get a fee-free refund.

New index shows established brands recovering fastest from customer discontent, while debt charity StepChange records a near-perfect score at one of the hardest moments in people's financial lives, writes Andrew Palmer The challengers were supposed to be winning this fight. This month, the old guard hit back.

Ruby’s Law, which is striving to protect pets in domestic abuse settings, has its second reading in Parliament in October. Ahead of that, campaigners are inviting MPs to a drop-in on 8th September so they can learn more about the proposed legislation and the positive impact it will have on victims of domestic abuse and their companion animals.

New research from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) by economist Julian Jessop examines two of the most widely blamed causes of the UK's poor economic performance over the past decade and a half: fiscal "austerity" after 2010 and the 2016 vote to leave the European Union. It concludes that the evidence for either being a major drag on growth is much weaker than commonly assumed.

Consumer confidence increased by 0.9 points movement in August 2026, according to the latest data from YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). The Consumer Confidence index rose from 105.5 to 106.4. Any score greater than 100 indicates positive sentiment, while a score of less than 100 indicates negative sentiment.

Dear Editor, Some of life's best moments come with a soundtrack – whether it's at a music event, a festival or a night out with friends. It's how many people connect, celebrate, and make memories. To keep it that way it's really important to protect your hearing health.

The UK’s third tallest structure, Caldbeck transmitter station, is celebrating 65 years of keeping communities across Cumbria and South West Scotland connected through television and radio services. The transmitting station, which first went on air on 1 September 1961, serves around 280,000 homes and has become one of the UK's most important broadcasting locations.

Car tech computer confusion has become one of the UK’s top five causes of breakdowns, the AA reveals. Whilst people might be used to ‘computer says no’ at home or work, many are being flummoxed by the technical complexity of their vehicles.

Britain’s tax system has become more economically damaging since the financial crisis, says new IEA briefing. The worst may be yet to come. Taxes on investment have risen sharply on two occasions in recent years – immediately after the financial crisis, and once more after the pandemic. This time, there is little prospect that they will fall again.