DOWNLOADING photographs taken around Bridport over Christmas, I suddenly found myself looking twice at this one, and wondering - what is that in the sky? Could it really be a UFO? Here’s a closer look. I have to say, I don’t think it’s a UFO – it must be the moon – but I’ve never seen it in quite this guise before.

DORSET COUNTY COUNCIL is planning to save £4,000 a year by giving up its membership of the Assembly of European Regions (AER).

The move is part of the council’s efforts to save £48.6 million over the next three years. Dorset is one of only three UK local authorities to belong to AER

West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin gives his first interview to a national newspaper since the General Election

Downing Street regards Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister and MP for West Dorset, as a plausible figure to explain how the Conservative Party believes it is genuinely sharing power This article titled “Coalition is working, insists Oliver Letwin” was written by Nicholas Watt and Patrick Wintour, for The Guardian on Wednesday 22nd December 2010 22.00 [...]

It’s good when it comes, but Michel Hooper-Immins has to wait for his beef and his beer.

TOURISM in Bridport looks set to receive a massive boost with the building of a new 60-room hotel. Plans are well underway for the Travelodge group, owned by Dubai International Capital, to open a new, purpose-built operation on the site of the old Mountjoy School once it has closed in Flood Lane and moved to [...]

FORECASTS of more snow have forced the cancellation of a folk concert at Broadwindsor Comrades Hall tomorrow night (18 Dec). Award winning folk singer Jackie Oates, the Symondsbury Mummers and a local choir were due to bring Christmas cheer to the village. But, with many of the folk singing guests coming from the Dartmoor area, [...]

LUSH Places is building itself up to a climactic Christmas. The air is awash with rumours about the possible identity of the ‘guests’ at the winter solstice concert in the village hall this weekend. With the leader of super folk band The Imagined Village in our midst, it could be anyone. Hell, there is even talk of one [...]

DORSET COUNTY COUNCIL appears to be the only local authority in the country getting an increased government grant. Dorset can look forward to an increase of 0.25 per cent for 2011/12. So does this mean that Dorset will not have to make cuts? That proposals to slash 500 jobs will be abandoned?  The answer would seem to [...]

UP TO 500 JOBS will go next year at Dorset County Council and there will be “significant impacts on services to individuals and communities.” The council has to reduce spending by £45-50 million over the next three years – that’s £15 – 20 million more than first expected. And that £15-20 million extra has to be cut [...]