County Durham, officially simply Durham (/ˈdʌrəm/), is a ceremonial county in North East England. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington.
Tracy-Ann Oberman is an English actress, playwright and narrator. She is known for roles including Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and Valerie Lewis or "Auntie Val" in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020).
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods is a British academic and former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Durham from 2005 to 2019.
Northumbria Police is a territorial police force in England, responsible for policing the ceremonial counties of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. It is the largest police force in the North East by geographical area and number of officers. The force covers an area of 2,141 square miles (5,550 km2) with a population of 1.46 million.
The diocese of Durham is a diocese of the Church of England in North East England. The boundaries of the diocese are the historic boundaries of County Durham, meaning it includes the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne and contemporary County Durham north of the River Tees. It contains 249 parishes and 292 churches. Durham Cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham, and the diocesan offices are located just outside the city at Stonebridge. The bishop lives in Bishop Auckland and has offices in Auckland Castle.
Walcher was the bishop of Durham from 1071, a Lotharingian and the first Prince-bishop. He was the first non-Englishman to hold that see and an appointee of William the Conqueror following the Harrying of the North. He was murdered in 1080, which led William to send an army into Northumbria to harry the region again.
George Wilfred Proudfoot was a British Conservative Party politician and former Member of Parliament (MP). He was also a prominent North Yorkshire businessman, well known for his ownership of the Proudfoot supermarket chain and Radio 270. In later life he embarked on a new career as a hypnotist, hypnotherapist and NLP and Instructor. He died in July 2013.
In the United Kingdom, unionism is a political stance favouring the continued unity of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as one sovereign state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Those who support the union are referred to as Unionists. Though not all unionists are nationalists, UK or British unionism is associated with British nationalism, which asserts that the British are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of the Britons, which may include people of English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, Jersey, Manx and Guernsey descent.
Rachel Annabelle Riley is an English television presenter. She co-presents the Channel 4 daytime puzzle show Countdown and its comedy spin-off 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. She is a mathematics graduate.
In the United Kingdom, devolution is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly and to their associated executive bodies: the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and in England, the Greater London Authority and combined authorities.
Campaign for the North was a think tank which sought to address the North–South divide and establish a Regional Government for the North of England covering the six historic counties of the region. The Campaign promoted a devo-max settlement and, in doing so, aimed to create a Northern Government with tax-raising powers and responsibility for policy areas including economic development, education, health, policing and emergency services.
The North East Party (NEP) is a regionalist political party in North East England founded in 2014 by a group of 16 people including the former Labour MP; Hilton Dawson, and 7 members of the FAIR party. The party campaigns for a better deal for North East England generally and was committed to a devolved assembly in the North East with powers similar to those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, if approved by a referendum. It says bodies such as the North East Combined Authority do not have a mandate to take on new responsibilities and representatives must be directly-elected. Dawson stepped down as Chair of the party in June 2016 and was replaced by John Tait. Dawson remained active in the party taking on the role of Secretary and Nominating Officer.
Laura Pidcock is a British former Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 2017 until 2019, when she lost her seat. She served as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights in Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet. In the 2019 parliamentary election, she lost her seat to the Conservative Richard Holden, who won the constituency with a majority of 1,144.
Thelma Doris Walker is a British politician, formerly the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Colne Valley from 2017 to 2019. Before her political career, she worked as a teacher for 34 years and later as an independent consultant.
Richard John Holden is a British Conservative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon and Billericay since 2024.
Northumbria, in modern contexts, usually refers to the region of England between the Tees and Tweed, including the historic counties of Northumberland and Durham, but it may also be taken to be synonymous with North East England. The area corresponds to the rump lands of the historical Kingdom of Northumbria, which later developed into the late medieval county of Northumberland or Comitatus Northumbriae, whose original southern boundary was the River Tees. A provincial flag of Northumbria has been registered.
Northern England devolution is the broad term used to describe the wish for devolved governmental powers that would give more autonomy to the Northern Counties.
The Northern Independence Party (NIP) is a minor secessionist and democratic socialist party that seeks to make the region of Northern England an independent nation, under the name of Northumbria, after the medieval kingdom of the same name. The party, which was founded in October 2020 by the lecturer and former Labour activist Philip Proudfoot, currently has no elected representatives. It is led by David Heaven.
Peter Jonathan Hewitt Newbon was a British academic and campaigner against antisemitism. At the time of his death, he was a lecturer in Romantic and Victorian literature at Northumbria University and a director of Labour Against Antisemitism.
