| Nurses, paramedics, firefighters, driving instructors, postal workers and train drivers...we can now add teachers to the list of striking professions in our winter of discontent after plans were announced for seven days of walkouts in February and March in a dispute over pay. This morning Education Secretary Gillian Keegan admitted she cannot guarantee that schools will remain open during strikes called by the National Education Union (NEU). She said introducing minimum service levels would protect "vulnerable children" in schools, but she hoped that the Government's anti-strike legislation would not be needed for the teaching profession. Nine out of 10 teacher members of the NEU in England and Wales voted for strike action, and the union passed the 50% ballot turnout required by law. The DfE has offered a 5% pay rise to most teachers for the current school year, but the NEU is demanding a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise. In the North, the days where walkouts look likely are February 1 and March 15/16, when national strikes will take place, as well as Tuesday February 28 when there will be a specific walkout for all eligible members in the Northern, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber regions. Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint NEU general secretaries, said pay cuts for teachers had created an "unsustainable situation", adding that staff were leaving the profession "in droves". But this morning, Ms Keegan insisted that teaching is still an "attractive profession". 
The news came hours before controversial anti-strike legislation cleared its first hurdle in Parliament last night. In Parliament, MPs voted 309 to 249, majority 60, to give the Bill a second reading. Business Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs the public "has had enough of the constant, most unwelcome, frankly dangerous, disruption to their lives" as the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill was considered in the Commons. The Bill would require minimum levels of service from ambulance staff, firefighters and railway workers during industrial action, although unions and opposition MPs have condemned the proposals as unworkable. The vote was passed on party lines, with Conservative MP for Don Valley in South Yorkshire Nick Fletcher telling the debate: "I believe in the right to strike. I don't think they work but I do believe in them. "I was brought up in Doncaster and I saw the picket lines as a young man. The oil drums, mainly men stood round trying to keep warm, trying for an extra 4% or 5% on their wages with the unions backing them, and often they won. "Often they got that extra bit of pay rise that they wanted, but move forward five years, more forward ten years and what did you have? You had closure. Thousands and thousands of redundancies and closure. This is what happens when people go on strike."
It takes two to tango: Could Lords move near to Strictly's Blackpool ballroom?  One of two huge chandeliers at the Tower ballroom in Blackpool being cleaned this week
For avid Strictly Come Dancing watchers (and those taking part), the annual weekend in Blackpool for a special edition of the hit BBC show is normally a highlight of the year. Whether members of the House of Lords would be as enthusiastic about relocating to the Lancashire seaside resort remains to be seen. But yesterday a former Tory Minister argued that proposals to move the unelected Chamber to Blackpool's Winter Garden ballroom should be considered by the Government. Paul Maynard has drawn up a proposed law that would require the Secretary of State to report to Parliament on the merits of the House of Lords meeting in the ballroom, which is close to the one sometimes used for Strictly. The Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP, whose bill is unlikely to become law, said: "We have two large ballrooms in Blackpool, one is at the Winter Gardens, and one is in the Tower, where they have Strictly Come Dancing. "So, the Strictly Come Dancing bit might be the problem there, but the one at the Winter Gardens where the party conferences are held, I think would be an ideal location, particularly if the House of Lords has to move out temporarily whilst the Commons is renovated." It is not the first time MPs have suggested moving the unelected chamber. In the Commons in May last year, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said he would "wholeheartedly welcome" the relocation of the House of Lords outside of London, before naming Stoke-on-Trent as a contender.
Labour promises to scrap Gove's levelling up missions Twelve levelling up missions the country can use to judge the Government on its performance by 2030 were at the centre of Michael Gove's vision for spreading opportunity when he unveiled it nearly a year ago. But today the Levelling Up Secretary's Labour opposite number Lisa Nandy will promise to scrap the 12 promises across a range of policy areas from crime to health to housing.  Michael Gove's Levelling Up missions being back in the news gives us an excuse to use this GIF from last year again
As reported in the London Playbook newsletter, the Wigan MP will use a speech at the Institute for Government's annual conference to say it is "fundamentally dishonest to introduce measures of success without definition". Ms Nandy, who previously said the lack of certainty around the targets was akin to moving the goalposts, will lay out how Labour would instead introduce an independent advisory council drawn from every part of the UK, to monitor progress against "key metrics". She is expected to add: "Every major challenge this country faces comes back to one thing. We have written off the talent, potential and assets of most of our people in almost every part of Britain. This is not just a tragedy, it's a social crime."
Thousands in the North facing a bleak 2023 without a home At least 20,798 people were homeless in the North on any given night last year according to the charity Shelter - which now warns it is "bracing" for a spike in homelessness in 2023. But that figure - the equivalent of one in every 748 people - disguises huge regional disparities in the number of people forced to live in a hostel, temporary accommodation, or on the streets, a horrifying prospect as temperatures drop below freezing this week.  Our map shows big regional variations in the number of homeless people in different local authority areas. Graphic by Marianna Longo
Manchester had the highest rate of homelessness in our region, with around one in 74 people affected, reports data journalist Richard Ault for The Northern Agenda. People were least likely to be homeless in Cheshire East, where one in 12,463 people did not have a home. Shelter did not find any homeless people or families in Hartlepool or Halton in Cheshire. Of English regions, London had the highest rate - with around one in 58 people homeless - while people were least likely to be homeless in the North East, which had a rate of one in 2,118 people. In the North West, one in 507 people were homeless according to Shelter estimates. Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said: "The new year should be a time of hope, but this isn't the case for the 271,000 homeless people who are facing a truly bleak 2023. A cold doorway or a grotty hostel room is not a home, but this is reality for too many people today. "With private rents and living costs continuing to soar, thousands of people are not just facing a winter of worry, they are at risk of losing the roof over their head."
Net zero tsar doubts if Cumbrian coal mine will ever be built  Handout photo issued by Friends of the Earth of the rally to oppose the new coal mine near Whitehaven in Cumbria at the proposed site.
Leading green Tory Chris Skidmore, the Government's net zero tsar, told yesterday how he wanted to "reinstate" a cross-party consensus on cutting carbon emissions, saying he would back a future Labour government in tackling climate change. Speaking at the launch of his Net Zero Review, titled Mission Zero, commissioned by Liz Truss during her short-lived premiership, he said the UK must avoid climate action becoming a new front in a "culture war". One potential flashpoint is the Government's decision to approve a new coal mine in Cumbria, which prompted fury from green campaigners who say the Woodhouse Colliery site will create more greenhouse gas emissions. The underground mine near Whitehaven is expected to extract nearly 2.8 million tonnes of coal per year for use in steelmaking, rather than power generation. Backers argue it will create around 500 jobs for the area and will save on having to import energy at a time of high prices. Mr Skidmore said the decision "would not have been able to happen" if his recommendations had been in place. He also expressed doubt about whether the coal mine would ever be built, noting it was subject to a legal challenge. He said: "Let's wait and see whether this coal mine actually happens – if this report is taken forward it never will." 
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Northern Stories  Archaeologist and Digging for Britain presenter Dr Cat Jarman with Dr Daniel Young from Wessex Archaeology examining the Sheffield Castle core samples
- The Sheffield Castle archaeology project is set to star in the BBC's Digging for Britain television show this week. The episode on what has been dubbed the "birthplace of the city" will air on BBC Two on Sunday at 8 pm. Archaeologists have investigated the Castlegate site in recent years to find out what life and the landscape were like centuries ago when Sheffield was home to one of the biggest castles in the north. Findings by Wessex Archaeology located a substantial mound of redeposited alluvium which the team believed was almost certainly the remains of a classic motte and bailey castle from the Norman period.
- A Greater Manchester play centre has become one of the first of its kind in the UK to offer free entry. The Hideaway, a charitable educational family play centre in Partington Shopping Centre, Trafford, is replacing the standard entrance fee with a 'pay what you can' option 'to help support local families', say council bosses. The Hideaway is part of a charity which also opened one of six community hubs across the borough in 2020 with the help and support of Trafford council, Trafford Housing Trust and other partners, in response to the pandemic and now provides food and support to struggling families.
- Police have cleared the streets of yobs after firefighters were allegedly petrol-bombed and a police officer attacked. Northumbria Police used a 48 hour dispersal notice in an area of Westerhope and West Denton, in Newcastle, after the shocking incident on Saturday night. Crews from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service were pelted with missiles, including a petrol bomb and a heavy glass bottle, after being called to a fire in West Denton. The gang of around six teenagers are said to have prevented the firefighters from leaving the area by barricading them in with sandbags.
- Scarborough Council has been urged to reconsider granting Whitby-born England Lionesses footballer Beth Mead the Freedom of the borough. She was nominated for the civic award in August 2022 after the England women's team won the UEFA 2022 Women's Euros and she was named Player of the Tournament. But she did not receive the prize at the time and councillors have said it would be fitting to give her the award before Scarborough Council ceases to exist on April 1 as part of a major shake-up of local government in North Yorkshire.
- A major new arts centre opening in Manchester this summer will be allowed to operate 24-hours-a day despite neighbouring residents and local councillors raising concerns about noise. Factory International has been granted a 24-hour licence which allows alcohol to be sold until 4am every night of the year. However, neighbours of the former Granada TV Studios site which will become the permanent home of the Manchester International Festival, objected to the application, describing the opening hours required as 'excessive'. In particular, they argued that selling alcohol until 4am would result in noise disturbances.
- South Yorkshire bus campaigners have called on council leaders to get behind Mayor Oliver Coppard's plans for bus franchising as a first step to taking buses back under full public control. Better Buses for South Yorkshire called a protest rally outside the first South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority meeting of the year in Sheffield city centre yesterday. They want South Yorkshire council leaders to back the mayor's plans to introduce franchising, which would give more control to local authorities to deliver bus services, which saw big cuts last October.
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