“The Guardian really needs to move back home up to Manchester” is a rant I regularly have in the pub with friends, even moreso now that the Beeb is in Salford. Anyway! The newspaper’s Northern Correspondent Martin Wainwright has ten reasons why the riots didn’t really take hold up here. The reasons are actually quite sensible, not the ridiculous “humourous” ones found in redtops or newspapers with Gothic mastheads, ranging from the weather (not as daft as it seems) to respect for ones community.
The BBC is reporting that a Bradford businessman is opening a restaurant that doesn’t use oil. Faz Rehman, opening the Jumerah restaurant on the Leeds Road, is not a chef but has looked at his lifestyle following ill health. Type II diabetes, common to Bradford’s Asian population, is linked to several factors including obesity, and reducing the amount of oil in food will help reduce the waistline. However, Mohammed Aslam of the Aagrah chain argues that you need a minimum of good quality oil, but some is absolutely necessary. A curry without oil? I like the idea, worry about how it’ll look & taste but will be willing to give it a go.
Also in the BBC, LCC are considering extending Dog Control Orders to cover certain types of land. The control orders already cover some areas of parks and private land but plans to include pathways, cemeteries and carriageways are under review. Control orders mean that owners can be fined for not keeping their dogs on leads in popular spots where they could cause a nuisance and LCC is keen to hear what people think on the proposals, with more information available on their website.
A new booklet detailing walks in the borders between Yorkshire and Lancashire is available, reports the Yorkshire Post. Author Colin Speakman, one of the founders of the Yorkshire Dales society and designer of a popular walking route between Ilkley and Windermere, said:
“This area that we have christened the Borderlands is glorious countryside that is usually ignored because more popular and better known places like the Dales and the Forest of Bowland are just up the road. But it has some gorgeous areas and a lot of the time there is no one else around, something you can no longer say for much of the Dales. Often, you can have these wonderful walks all to yourself when parts of the Dales are busy.”
The five routes are all available via public transport, starting and ending at a bus stop, with the aim to reduce cars on the road and of course increase passenger numbers for the bus company involved in producing the booklet. Free copies are available from tourist information offices and Transdev, or your local library (if you still have one).
The Burley-in-Wharfdale Festival is fast approaching but some events are already sold out reports the Ilkley Gazette. Tickets are still available for Bradford theatre company Paperzoo’s performance of Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter, as well as morris dancing taster sessions, drystone walling, basketball coaching and a performance by BBC Philharmonic principal oboist Jennifer Galloway. An eclectic mix of events, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Photographer Dudley Edwards has a collection of prints in exhibition at Harvey Nicks, of dancers from Northern Ballet. The exhibit formally opens on the 18th, and a charity auction will take place on Sept 13th. The photos, which are a study of the dancers in rehearsal, is the latest progression for the artist who started out in the 60s making street murals and customising furniture with BEV and was commissioned to paint Paul McCartney’s piano. A proportion of the profits from sales of the prints will be going to the Friends of Alfie Martin, a local charity founded when a newborn baby died waiting for a suitably equipped ambulance to transport him between Harrogate and the LGI.
A youth project in Holt Park is offering summer activities, including street art and parkour, for 10-18 year-olds. There are four days that you can get involved in, the first is on Friday but you do need to fill out a couple of consent forms available on the Holt Park Today website. The Turning the Corner project is part of Groundwork Leeds – the project will hopefully change the attitudes of the local community towards teens and hopefully make them think more about their community.
A new exhibit in Leeds Central Library by Inkwell, a programme organised by Leeds Mind, is reviewed on Culture Vultures by Alexandra Boyle. She talks to some of the Inkwell artists who were given three hours notice of the exhibition, who speak with passion about how useful the programme is to them and their mental well-being. The exhibition is on until the end of August and it is testament to the skill of the artists and the value given to Inkwell that they were asked to step in, given the waiting list and usual lead time for artists to exhibit there.
That’s it for today. As always, please get in touch if you have anything you’d like to say on these or any other stories. Email or twitter, we’re not fussy. See you tomorrow where we take a look at Photocamp and the dreaded Clearing season.
Beyond Guardian Leeds 
Talking of the Guardian’s origins in Manchester, let’s not forget it was founded by pro-reform campaigners in the wake of the Peterloo Massacre, in which the Army killed 15 and injured over 700 people during a massive pro-reform protest. The government’s response to Peterloo was to ban protesting altogether. Sound familiar?