ANOTHER tragic death thought to have been caused by carbon monoxide - this time from a coal fire - has persuaded local coroner David Hinchliff of the necessity for there to be a carbon monoxide alarm in everyone's home.
In the latest case, in Normanton, it was the sounding of a neighbour's detector which brought gas engineers to the scene and led to the discovery of the bodies of an elderly couple.
Still vivid in Mr Hinchliff's memory, no doubt, is another inquest that he has opened into the Horbury children, Christianne and Robert Shepherd, who died while holidaying on the Greek island of Corfu.
So too was the thought that an alarm in the Normanton couple's home might have prevented the latest loss of life.
For gas fires, of course, the main dangers are leaks and appliances accidentally left on; for coal fires the problem is to keep chimneys well swept.
In both cases the need for regular maintenance is obvious. But at the end of it all, the lifesaver is that all-important alarm.
Road truth
IS Kirklees Council taking an anti-motorist stance in the rather swift implementation of a decision to block up the gaps in the central reservation of the dual carriageway on Bradford Road between the Bradley Bar and Asda roundabouts?
And were the gaps a useful short-cut or a temptation to make some dangerous U-turns in heavy traffic?
Views will differ - but if the council have compelling evidence of bad driving as the cause of this latest change, those concerned have only themselves to blame.
Ashes gloom
FIRST word from Australia in the Ashes series is not reassuring.
The home team have already reduced the First Test to a question of whether we can avoid being bowled out twice.
How quickly has the euphoria of the last successful duel with Australia faded. Just now it looks like being a long hard winter on the cricket front.
