
It is time again for our glance at the week gone by. But let us look forward a little as well.
Martin Emmerson, of BBC Radio Newcastle, brought me the sad news about Ian Laws, the much-admired Sunderland Echo man who died last night (Thursday). This is his own tribute, to add to the ones already published at Salut! Sunderland and elsewhere …
At high levels of the world of journalism, it used to be commonplace to find people who had started off as bright young reporters on their local newspapers before falling for the lure of Fleet Street, TV or radio and moving away in pursuit of whatever dreams they had.
The Sunderland Echo, as I have argued before, has to walk a precarious tightrope. It must please the fans while not displeasing, too much, Sunderland AFC, and no one should underestimate how easy it would be to fall from either side of the rope.
Rob Mason’s work as the editor or author of Sunderland-related publications is so packed with statistics that you feel he …