Howell later apologised for "any offence caused" by his comments and said he didn't believe the north-east was desolate.
The region may not be "desolate", as a Tory peer so memorably misdescribed it, but venues can be a bit quiet on a week night.
At the opposite extreme of England, another mysterious phenomenon is about to appear around the West Country coast: a floating island, a mini-geography that is desolate and unfamiliar, composed of rock and moraine from the Arctic.
We were standing in what was once Sewingshields milecastle, gaping at the moody desolate Cheviot hills.
The area was desolate and unlit when Rhodes first moved in 20 years ago, and things in the immediate vicinity haven't changed much since 1997, he says.
Alien centred on an intergalactic cargo vessel which touches down on a desolate planet in response to a distress signal.
Chances are, when you conjure up an image of a country town, it is either a desolate main street, or a large regional centre, or the red earth of an outback town with a stray dog scratching.
The peer, who lives in southern England, said: "But there are large and uninhabited and desolate areas.
But the desolate drives through redneck badlands proved instead to be our first experience of being loathed, hated and threatened by the few inhospitable Americans we ever met.
I explore the desolate beaches with Tom, for this is his childhood playground.
On Sunday, I took a 30-minute walk around two desolate arable fields near Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Seand, possinly, a rough-legged buzzard.
