Richard Ord

1 week ago | sunderlandecho.com | Richard Ord

​While Footy McFootbridge may never have been in the running, there’s a distinct feeling that the opportunity to give the new Wear crossing a memorable moniker has been missed. ​Underwhelming is a polite way to describe the anodyne choices being given to the Wearside public to christen this latest feat of engineering to grace the city. In case you’ve forgotten the three choices (and they’re easily forgettable) here they are in all their glory. Behold: Keel Crossing, Beacon Bridge and Wear Crossing.

1 week ago | sunderlandecho.com | Richard Ord

​While Footy McFootbridge may never have been in the running, there’s a distinct feeling that the opportunity to give the new Wear crossing a memorable moniker has been missed. ​Underwhelming is a polite way to describe the anodyne choices being given to the Wearside public to christen this latest feat of engineering to grace the city. In case you’ve forgotten the three choices (and they’re easily forgettable) here they are in all their glory. Behold: Keel Crossing, Beacon Bridge and Wear Crossing.

2 weeks ago | nationalworld.com | Richard Ord

A whistlestop Edinburgh visit revealed the surprising bedroom secrets of the Royal Family, perhaps Scotland’s greatest bakery – and a spectacular beagle-eye view of the city’s most famous landmark. Chatting to guests in Edinburgh’s newest hotel it was clear, given the sheer volume of recommendations for places to visit, an overnight stay was never going to do the city justice. But hey, the fun is trying to squeeze everything in, right? Not all can make the must-do list.

2 weeks ago | sunderlandecho.com | Richard Ord

​Tarantulas the size of garden sheds emerging from the sewers to exact gory retribution on a lazy public, unwittingly the architects of their own demise. ​Well, that’s how I see the end of days, thanks to a small story that appeared in this wonderful news organ. By all accounts, a box of baby tarantulas was left on a doorstep for collection but was ransacked by unscrupulous thieves sparking fears the little critters were now at large.

3 weeks ago | sunderlandecho.com | Richard Ord

​Thanks to the relentless march of technology, I have officially become a human Tamagotchi. ​Kids of the Nineties will remember the hand-held electronic pets you had to feed, water and exercise to keep alive. Now I am such a creature. Courtesy of an impulse-buy Fitbit watch, I am, by proxy, the human version of the Japanese toy craze of the 1990s.