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So now we're talking colours I'll put it in Black and White.....we need to get rid of the Labour controlled administration at County Hall, these people have stood back and watched Bedlington decline while they've channelled all available investment into a neighbouring town. Morpeth will be next to feel the brunt after they move County HQ to the same town...I said at last weeks Town Council meeting and will say it again both NCC and the MP have abandoned Bedlington.

"What happens to Bedlington now? - ghost town looming - perhaps it's time to sell up and move.." TomTom, with due respect, I get the impression you're not enamoured with the town! if it was only Tesco keeping you here - as you seem to be implying - then you are being a little short sighted. Whille this is a major blow for the people who work in the store and rely on that work to earn a living and keep their families - and I know a fair number of them - when all is said and done the bare fact, in the first instance, is this: we're losing a supermarket, and not a particularly good one. That's it: it's a shop, it's closing. The loss of Tesco isn't the end of the town, it's the end of that particular shop. I choose to live around here for several reasons: it's a friendly place, easy to get to Newcastle, easy to reach the coast, easy to reach some of the most stunning countryside in the country, reasonably well served by public transport, great places to eat and drink, quiet, surprisingly dry, and family. I agree there is little in the way of shopping here, but that's not what I look for when choosing a town to live in. Judging by the many people who choose to live in the new housing - and with potentially more to come - it's not high on the criteria of many others, either. Perhaps they are attracted by the easy commute to places of work, and by teh respectable schools. I also have to comment on: "The site is much too big to develop" No it's not; it's short sighted to believe that, were it to be developed, it would have to be in its present format. Why not divide it into smaller units, for a start? "one look at the litter strewn alleys leading down to the car park and the fag end strewn pavements around the Market Tavern" And how much, how long, would that take to clear? A day? And then regular litter picking afterwards? It's hardly a deciding factor! As I said, the tragedy lies in the loss of jobs, not in the loss of a second rate shop.

I do like that idea tomtom. Here's a novel thought.........why not start electing people because of their qualities/acumen/intelligence and character. Not because they wear the right coloured tie, not because they can talk a good fight not because they say the right things, sometimes you have to say the wrong things to get stuff done!........Looking at what we have now I wouldn't follow any of them into a WC never mind a battle and its going to be a battle, no mistake there. .........so yes lets have a coup d'etat and we can do that through the ballot box........We need to form lobbying groups and we certainly need to be better informed.........How many council meetings have you been to Tomtom, have you seen whats going on in them? We need to get people impassioned about the political process again because that's where the decisions are made. We have allowed our politicians to get away with far too much for far too long! Instead of the communities dictating politics it's the political elite which dictates to the communities, that's the wrong way around! This is what happens when there is little or no oversight by a laissez-faire electorate or when the electorate abdicates its responsibilities.