YORKSHIRE: International journalists covering the Grand Depart of the Tour de France cycle race in Leeds on Saturday have been invited for a beer — so long as they are in a trade union.

Leeds NUJ branch has invited comrades among the 1,000 reporters from around the world for a drink.

A local brewery has even created a special ale for the social gathering — the Bitter Journalist, well-named considering the job culls at the Leeds-based Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post.

PEACE: Scottish activists will gather in Glasgow today to oppose a century of “wars of empire” from 1914 to the present.

Alan MacKinnon of Scottish CND said the conference aimed to “hopefully provide some relief from an extravagant programme of official events which attempt to glorify World War I as a necessary war to resist German militarism.”

Speakers include CND general secretary Kate Hudson, author Jenny Clegg and left-wing Labour MSP Neil Findlay.

NATURE: The Woodland Trust and National Trust said yesterday that they had raised the £3.8 million to secure the last parcel of woodland needed for a massive restoration project.

The two conservation charities joined forces last year to buy and transform the 825-acre Fingle Woods on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon.