Opinion

Chris Ingham previews the best jazz gigs around the eastern region this week (July 31-August 6).

Of all our human achievements, for me as a grizzled English teacher one stands out: the ability to read and write.

Flaming June! Even if the weather has not been quite as flaming as I might have hoped (I was forced to put on a cardigan last night), my diary has been packed.

What a great coincidence that this month’s column lands during Recycle Week, the national campaign that encourages us to get organised and recycle more.

It is around this time of the year that we start to see the first young finches and tits visiting Suffolk’s bird tables, typically arriving in the company of their parents.

I’ve withheld judgment for a few weeks, waiting for them to ‘bed in’ to the street scene, but now I have a definite opinion about the steel trees in St Andrew’s Street South...

The wolf is an indomitable animal, aloof, untamable and in times past represented humankinds struggle against the wilderness as Christianity slowly spread through Europe, replacing what it saw as a feral abyss. Often depicted as evil in folklore and in the church teachings of medieval Europe, there was no place for such a wild beast in the garden of the Lord.

One of our sounds of summer is fast disappearing from the Suffolk countryside, a pattern that is being repeated across much of south-east England.

In the last few months, I have learned that there is a Shark in the Park, a Goose on the Loose,Harry loves keeping dinosaurs in buckets and, of course, a certain beast thinks a certain mouse would taste good on a slice of bread.

I’m finding it rather difficult to understand the football leadership crisis that’s sweeping the globe.

For all the students out there who are grappling with exam stress this week, I want to let you into a secret – your life won’t be over if you don’t get the result you want.

So, post May the 7th I am privileged to be one of the 330 Conservative MPs making up part of what is a historically different House of Commons.

Despite relying on my car for so many things – travelling to work, shopping, leisure, holidays – I don’t really like driving.

I share the rage of Walsham-le-Willowers who recently awoke to find a tsunami of washed up rubbish soiling their village verge and hedgerows.

Let’s be honest: the A14 trunk road is hard to love. Living here in Suffolk, we can’t avoid it. It’s as inescapable as it is unpredictable. Sometimes it delivers us to our destination with the unerring precision promised by the satnav or our online journey planner.

I was in the supermarket the other day when I overheard a conversation that always makes my heart sink. Two people were discussing who they would be voting for in the General Election and one said: “I won’t be voting for anyone – they’re all the same.”

Before you get into marketing your business or organisation, whether off line, on your website or through social media, you need to identify your business goals.

Suddenly plunged into darkness on an isolated footpath in the pouring rain, it was one of those moments I severely doubted the wisdom of my actions.

The first of the season’s nightingales have arrived back at traditional sites across the county. This migrant songster is a familiar species, at least in name, appearing throughout some of our best poetry and nature writing.

Back in May last year, I raised the potential for communities to become energy generators. The big Big 6 energy companies currently dominate the consumer energy market but changes are happening with some far-reaching opportunities for community energy ownership. Let me tell you more…