craig bellamy

I wasn't really surprised to hear that Craig Bellamy was cleared of assault charges at Cardiff Magistrates Court.

Week in, week out we report on cases from Cardiff and other towns in the regions. These cases show off the underbelly of the region and have the potential to skew your view of a place.

After all if you were to believe the courts were a representation of the life of an area you would think that South Wales is full to the brim with violent thugs, perverts and thieves.

Obviously that is not the case.

Continue reading "craig bellamy" »

Cardiff City's new stadium

• Comments (1)

After six years of talking, Cardiff Council bosses have today finally approved the plans for the Bluebirds' new stadium.
What fantastic news - especially as City sit on top of the Championship.
In today's Echo, we reflected on the years of reporting on this story before plumping for the headline 'Bluebirds: A moment of history.'

Continue reading "Cardiff City's new stadium" »

Splashes like buses

Somedays you have quiet news days - somedays the news stories queue up like buses.
Today is one of those days.
We were in the fortunate position of being able to change every edition front page to bring readers a brand new story.

Continue reading "Splashes like buses" »

theatres and rugby

Cardiff Council, like most local authorities, have got their work cut out balancing their books while trying to meet the ever-increasing demands of Government.
Today, we report on the funding crisis at St David's Hall and the New Theatre.

Continue reading "theatres and rugby" »

Christmas louts

In Saturday's paper one line of copy caught my eye.
'It was the biggest gathering at Barry's King Square since the end of World War Two.'
The people of Barry turned up en masse to mark the completion of their £10m library, the refurbishment of Central Park and, importantly, the switching on of their Christmas lights.
This line, written by our Barry man Peter Collins, really caught my eye, capturing as it did the excitement of Christmas and the pride of a town.
Today, just four days later, we sadly have to report that their festive display has been wrecked.

Continue reading "Christmas louts" »

Drinking in Cardiff, Winter wonderland

A year ago the Echo was reporting on serious concerns that the new 24-hour drink laws would change the face of our city centre.
Readers told us of their concerns for safety, health issues and the staff working in our pubs and restaurants.
Today, we are pleased to report news that a partnership between police and licensees seems to be working and is attracting national attention.

Continue reading "Drinking in Cardiff, Winter wonderland" »

last minute drama

Today was one of those days when the Echo's newslist gets turned upside down at the last minute as reports started to reach us of a really nasty robbery in Rhiwbina.

This came as we had the front page nicely set up with a great picture from last night's Christmas Lights switch-on and big cross-references to tonight's bumper sports night in Cardiff.

Any robbery is nasty but to pick on an elderly couple and then steal the old man's walking stick is absolutely disgraceful and senior police officers were telling us that they were appalled by what they heard.

Continue reading "last minute drama" »

City fans forum and a castle siege

• Comments (1)

Today's paper is a good mix of serious news and great people stories.

Today's page one decision was a straight choice between the story of Bridgend council's new chief executive who joins the council and then takes maternity leave and a couple of protesters who managed to shut down Cardiff Castle yesterday.

Continue reading "City fans forum and a castle siege" »

Welcome to our newsroom

So what really happens at a newspaper office?
Where do we get our stories? How do we decide on which stories to cover?
What is the story-behind-the-story - the information that we can't share with you on the pages of the Echo?

Continue reading "Welcome to our newsroom" »