DECISIVE leadership or a fit of pique? Whichever way it is regarded, the decision by Eden Council leader Keith Phillips to sack three members of the cabinet for what he viewed as disloyalty has resulted in turmoil at our local council at a time when unity is essential.

THE word “class” has made its perennial appearance in what is turning out to be the longest and already most tedious general election campaign in British political history.

ARE the various spokesmen of the University of Cumbria speaking with forked tongue or do we ordinary mortals simply not comprehend education speak?

THE review of Eden Council’s handling of the Penrith New Squares fiasco will be welcomed by council taxpayers in the town and district, particularly as it is largely to be conducted by an independent body in the shape of the Audit Commission.

THE Iraq inquiry, if it achieves nothing else, will have highlighted a couple of important realities. The first thing most of us will have noticed is that there is no such thing as the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth.

THE vice chancellor of the cash-strapped University of Cumbria, Professor Peter McCaffery, has revealed the full extent of the problems facing the Newton Rigg campus at Penrith.