THERE always was a certain frisson of vicarious excitement when Penrith’s annual death list was delivered to the King Street office just in time for the New Year edition of the Herald.

THERE always was a certain frisson of vicarious excitement when Penrith’s annual death list was delivered to the King Street office just in time for the New Year edition of the Herald.

ARE you all sitting comfortably, the festive preparations all but done?

ARE you all sitting comfortably, the festive preparations all but done?

I’VE never been enamoured of television and radio programs that rely for their “laughs” on humiliation and making their victims look foolish. Thus I have no sympathy for the Australian radio station that tried that idiotic prank which led to tragic consequences.

PEOPLE might call it an “old-fashioned” disease, but recent deaths show that whooping cough can still carry a distressing sting.

I WON’T go so far as to advocate banning Christmas, but I do wonder sometimes exactly how much happiness the so-called festive season brings. BBC money expert Martin Lewis hit the nail on the head with his suggestion that, at the very least, we stop giving presents to our fellow adults.

I LISTENED to Cumbria’s newly-elected police commissioner, Richard Rhodes, giving his first interview on local radio. Seems a nice enough bloke. Nothing in his initial remarks that one could take exception to.

HOME Secretary Teresa May was rightly angered when immigration judges upheld a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that preacher of hate Abu Qatada cannot be deported to face trial on terror charges in his home country of Jordan and must be released from his British prison.

AT last, someone is willing to defend Jimmy Savile. Oh, hang on, it’s the Yorkshire Ripper. A bit like asking the Borgia family to go on Masterchef and make the puddings for Gregg to sample.