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Opinions
Welcome to our opinons page, here you will find columns from well known locals such as Chrissy Dawson, Dan Jarvis, Ian McMillan, Milly Johnson, Ronnie Steele, Shelly Diprose and Stephanie Peacock.
As always we like to encourage our readers to get in touch with issues that matter to them.
If you'd like to send in a letter to our Editor based on something you have read today, or on another topic you can do so via email here.
Milly Johnson: Baking bread always brings back happy aromas
THIS time of year, bugs are rife and I ended up getting a nasty 24 hour thing that made me miss this year’s Proud of Barnsley awards.
I got off lightly as the other half has had a proper drawn out affair that is laughing in the face of paracetamol.
But I was delighted to hear that 14-year-old Freddie Davies won the Young Superstar category.
His VT made me cry, hit me right...
Dan Jarvis: Awards celebrate all that’s great about our town
It is heartening to see that our town will again come together for the 13th annual Proud of Barnsley awards.
These awards provide us with a precious opportunity to pause, reflect, and acknowledge the outstanding contributions of exceptional people in our town.
As a local MP, it is a privilege to attend local events and witness the incredible stories of selflessness, dedication, and determination that Proud of Barnsley nominees display first-hand.
Whether...
Ian McMillan: Finding out about the borough’s villages has been enlightening...
You might have seen that me and the brilliant artist Patrick Murphy have been doing a number of events in the last few weeks.
They’re called A Walk Around Town and were commissioned and funded by Barnsley Council’s Cultural Development Fund programme, called ‘Storying Barnsley’, via Arts Council England, who really do put a lot of money into Barnsley, and stories were what we were looking for, to make a series of alternative maps...
Chrissy Dawson: It’s funny growing older…
ONE of the funny things about getting older (and I certainly don’t mean in the funny ha-ha way), is that your body knows when the bad weather is coming.
We older folk walk around with this hidden weather gauge.
The slightest change in the weather and our arthritis kicks in – knees, hips, shoulders and hands begin to ache.
Some people can tell us when it’ll rain just through their body aches and pains....
Milly Johnson: How a tin of Quality Street always made me realise Christmas was on the way…
WHEN I was a child, nothing evoked the scent of Christmas more than opening up a deep tin of Quality Street.
That first hit of chocolate and ‘je ne sais quoi’ was heaven. For years, I’d buy a tin just to get that first noseful , gaze upon the contents that shone like jewels, and take myself back to my early days.
Quite honestly, I could take or leave the chocolate. They weren’t...
Stephanie Peacock: Healthy hearts are of the utmost importance
Every year, around 30,000 people in the UK suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital.
Sadly, survival rates remain worryingly low, with the Resuscitation Council putting the number of people who survive a cardiac arrest at just ten per cent.
In Yorkshire, survival rates are even worse, with only one in thirteen people surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and in our region alone, approximately 3,000 people die each year in this way.
However,...
Ronnie Steele: You’re far too political
“Ronnie Steele, you’re far too political,” is an allegation sometimes levelled at me – as though politics must be the domain of politicians only. My response is, most politicians can’t be trusted.
The great improvements to our lives, such as the vote, the welfare state, gay rights, trade unions, abolishing of capital punishment, a woman’s right to control her own fertility, etc, have all come, not through Parliament, but from mass movements of ordinary
Stephanie Peacock: Keep an eye out for fraudsters
I know that lots of people worry about the prospect of their personal information being accessed and used by someone through fraudulent activity.
This is really worrying, and the incidence rate of financial crime has increased over the last few years through the emergence of cyber crime. Fraudsters often use social media and email to contact victims.
Findings from the BBC estimate that the UK loses £2,300 per minute to fraud, and Barclays...
Ronnie Steele: The way we were…
It’s late summer of 1972, and the Friday morning sun feels warm on our backs as we stand at the top of the M1 slip road at Dodworth, trying to hitch a lift.
My mate Carl and I are heading for a weekend ‘economy stay’ in London and we’re each carrying a number of things, including a rucksack and a rolled-up sleeping bag.
We also possess a five pound note each, to cover the...
Chrissy Dawson: Summer’s been a hard one for green-fingered residents
Oh no! The summer is nearly over and autumn is on its way.
I don’t know about you, but we were saying that we haven’t actually seen a lot of wasps, bees and butterflies this year, although we went to Cudworth Park a couple of weeks back and there were loads of dragonflies.
I love dragonflies as they always remind me of little nymphs. I have, as always, tried to plant flowers that attract...
Milly Johnson: Why is everyone snarling and impatient?
I DON’T know what is happening to this country, I really don’t. You would have thought that after the Covid years people would be happier, more content to have survived, but everyone is snarling and impatient.
I was walking around the Penny Pie Park gyratory when a car zoomed past me so fast it blurred.
‘He’ll never be able to stop at the traffic lights at that speed,’ I thought. I was right –...
Milly Johnson: Monsieur Short was one of a kind
I was so very sorry to hear about the death of Mr Short, my old French teacher at Hall Balk School for Girls in the 1970s.
‘Lend us some money, I’m a Bob Short’ was one of those little jokes attached to him. He was the father of novelist Joanne Harris, though you could tell that if you saw them together because Joanne just looks like him.
I can see Mr Short (can’t call...
Stephanie Peacock: Reforms will make lasting change
The state opening of the new Parliament took place for the first time under a Labour government in 15 years.
The King’s Speech is when His Majesty attends Parliament to outline the priorities that the Government have for the upcoming Parliamentary session.
This King’s Speech contained a number of ambitious aims.
We know economic stability is crucial, many are struggling with the cost of living, with rising energy and food prices. We have...
Chrissy Dawson: I love cafe stop-offs
Wherever me and Pete go, one of the things that we love to do is stop off for a coffee somewhere.
It’s like an unspoken rule; it’s our law. I always say that I’m watching the world go by, when in fact what I’m really doing is good, old-fashioned, down-to-earth nosying.
I just can’t help myself. My ears are like tiny radars, they pick up anything and everything that I find interesting.
Just...
Milly Johnson: Non-voters have no place to moan
Anyone who didn't vote in the recent elections has absolutely no place in moaning if the voting didn't go the way they wanted.
It was an odd one, wasn't it? That Labour won nearly two-thirds of the seats with just a third of the popular vote.
In fact, if you drill down into the numbers, it looks like the weirdest maths lesson on the planet.
I was glad that Dan and Stephanie kept their...
Chrissy Dawson: Cash is king
Cash is king! Well, I certainly think it is. No, I’m not part of the tin hat brigade, but I do worry about the ‘doing away’ with cash.
I have no objection to those that choose to use their cards for everything. One tap and it’s done… yes, I know.
But I don’t want to do it - I actually like having cash in my purse. I like the fact that I know exactly how...
Stephanie Peacock: 31.05.24
The general election has finally been called for July 4.
I have been proud to be the Member of Parliament for Barnsley East over the last seven years, and I will be standing for election as the Labour candidate for the new constituency of Barnsley South.
As your local MP, I have had the privilege of meeting thousands of local people, charities, schools, organisations, and businesses.
Over the last seven years my team...
Ian McMillan: 10.05.24
A few days ago I was walking past a bus stop and somebody inside said, apropos of nothing, ‘Well, tha just dunt know what to wear, does tha?’ And he’s right, tha dunt. There was nobody else in the bus stop so I assumed the observation was pointed towards me, and so I did a little laugh and put my thumb up in a jolly fashion, then pointing to my woolly hat and my open-necked...
Stephanie Peacock: 26.04.24
Soon, people across Barnsley will go to the polls to vote for local councillors and the Mayor of South Yorkshire.
This is set to be a year full of elections, with a general election on the horizon at some point before the end of January 2025.
Barnsley Council has been a proud Labour authority for 50 years, during a period of huge change in the area, from the closure of the pits to today’s cost-of-living...
Milly Johnson: 12.04.24
I am just writing book 22 and needed the name for a café and I was pondering on this when my son announced that he was just off ‘to Vera’s café’ in Darton for a meal. I don’t know the name of the café these days but I’m sure it isn’t still Vera’s, but that’s what everyone still calls it, even kids like mine who never knew it as Vera’s in the glory days. And...