Opinion

At the start of this year we were faced with the difficult news that Mildenhall US Airbase would be closing. This news came as a shock to many, not only from West Suffolk but across the UK.

In the 15 years I’ve edited the Bury Free Press, I’ve not come across John Room House. So let me explain.

It was the closest I will ever get to being Maverick. Laying face down at the front of a KC Stratotanker as a fighter jet was refuelled in mid-air.

For more years than I care to remember, I’ve happily poured milk over my breakfast cereal and tucked in, free to think about the day ahead, listen to the radio or read the paper.

When you think of the British ‘cuppa’, you’re probably thinking of tea. But research shows that in recent years we’ve drifted from our staple hot drink, and instead are drinking a ‘latte’ more coffee.

I received an odd phone call last week. It was from a journalist working for a national newspaper. “I want to ask you about something that a lot of headteachers are refusing to talk about,” she said.

As our newly installed central heating starts to struggle against the seeping bitter cold that winter brings, I like to spare a thought (and some food) for our feathered friends.

Few sporting spectacles in 2014 could rival the end stage of the Women’s Tour, which speeded into town with townsfolk and visitors thronging our streets.

A forgotten path tucked away in Bury St Edmunds town centre has prompted some discussion on these letters pages in recent weeks.

Winter has us firmly in its grasp, though contrary to some people’s assumptions the countryside is still full of life – you just have to know where and when to look.

When I left London, kicking and screaming all the way with the words of Samuel Johnson ringing in my ears, I was initially bedevilled by every cliche and lazy assumption about the countryside – boring; where you retire to; insular and culturally narrow; full of late adopters, etc. etc.

2014 was a great year for wildlife at Lackford. Starting with our smaller birds, 2014 proved to be an amazing breeding season for most with one of the best breeding seasons for many a year.

You’ve probably seen a lot about New Year resolutions already, but it is a great time to take a fresh look at what you’re doing with social media in your business. Or the perfect time to get going if you haven’t started already.

“The Bury Free Press will be open to communications from all parties. We invite assistance and suggestions from every class. We shall not afford space to gratify personal resentment or disappointed spleen.”

If Christmas is the loveliest time of the year, what follows next is more a feeling of trepidation and concern.

When our children were young, we often found that carefully chosen Christmas gifts were more or less discarded by Boxing Day – in favour of the packaging they came in.

I have been a teacher for more years than I care to count so there is very little that fazes me. When I was asked though to write this newspaper column I felt terrified.

If you were to make a list of the top discussion topics of my friends, politics might not be on it. Young people in the UK have a reputation – probably deserved – for not caring about what happens in the Westminster bubble. 18-24 aged turnout at the 2010 election was just 44% - the lowest of any age bracket.

It happens every year - commentators urging us to clean up our collective act when a new year dawns as if the past one has been such a miserable failure.

Another festive season is here and we are all no doubt just a little older, wiser, poorer and fatter than we were a month ago.