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You fear my answers are too straight for me. Which answers? I haven't had any! I don't recall making any ad-hominem attacks on any person or thing. I try to be objective in all my remarks. I make statements, sometimes provacative, but I try, especially when challenged, to support those statements with information from credit-worthy sources - experts if you like, the type of opinion that would be acceptable in a British court of law. I find that it usually makes for a good debate. I understand that you may feel threatened by this and in that case I'm truly sorry. Perhaps you could quote me on some of my ad hominem attacks so that we can discuss them? That offer is open to anyone who may feel they have been attacked in personal or subjective manner by me.

Queue is not a word Americans normally use, stand in line is more often used. Has Mr Obamas UK speech been written by Downing street flunkies or was it just rehashed from one of Mr Camerons fear tactic rants during the Scottish vote., http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13177422.Warning_from_Cameron__Yes_vote_will_send_you_to_back_of_queue_for_the_EU/ Sickening to watch Cameron standing next Obama and smirking as he threatens us

I wouldn,t know, 3g. I've only lived here 30 years. That doesn't make me an expert. I found the Sicilian people charming. I also, based on the couple of dozen or so with whom I had any in-depth conversation, found them to be extremely tolerant and respectful of others. They seem to be very proud of this tolerance and respect - pointing out that it's a long tradition dating back to Sicily's time as an Arab (Muslim) country. I asked a waiter in a restaurant if they minded that a clearly north African male came in to beg for money among their customers. His answer: "Why should I do that? He's only trying to make a living - same as I am." We could learn a lot from the Sicilians. I didn't read this link either. If you'd like to know why then I suggest you google 'Gatestone Institute'.

Sharia law is no more British' law' than are the 10 commandments as dictated in the Christian bible (Exodus 20: 2-17 and, just in case we didn't get the message first time round, repeated in Deuteronomy 5:4-21). Both are codes of conduct for a religious group and in no way judiciary. I'm sure you are familiar with the decalogue - that text that starts with something like 'you shall have no other gods before me' (that rings a bell from somewhere else). It's not legally binding. Should we perhaps start to persecute christians as well? They didn't ask to have these commandments imposed upon them. To judge by the number of divorces granted on grounds of adultery, I doesn't appear that too many people feel bound to follow them. Neither are they legally obliged to do so.

Did you ever use the word replaced? You used a derivitive - replacement (December 26 2015, page 2 of this topic). Nominalization of the verb replace to produce a noun replacement, in no way detracts from the intrinsic meaning of the root. It's similar to your verbalization of ghetto to produce ghettoize. "The present influx is about cultural replacement" has exactly the same semantic content as 'The present influx is about culture being replaced*. You are circumventing the obstacle to avoid answering.

We regularly go to Edinburgh for the Fringe. Now Bedlington has first rate comedians coming to our town. Ok some content may not be approved in ,so called, higher circles but we all need to laugh. Last week despite an important Newcastle Match the numbers at the Punch Drunk Comedy in the Netherton Club were impressive. Some people attending came from Otterburn. It was excellent and in our little town. Well done to Kai Humphries our own local comedian

Because it's off topic, and Tony only has to look at other threads to get his answers. I answered within the context of the heading (see my final paragraph) sorry that this didn't suit you. Why not start your own thread and ask "what would benifit bedlington if we weren't in the eu" or similar? That would indicate that you are genuinely interested, are prepared to engage in genuine discussion, have your own opinions tested, and aren't simply trolling.

Brilliant post Malc! Proof - if any more were needed - that our politicos really only want to hear what suits their own agendas. We been the world's most successful traders for hundreds of years without politicos inserting themselves into the process, or dictating the terms of trade. Trade is simply about providing the right goods and services at the right price. If you do that others will buy, and if their politicos put up barriers then ultimately it will harm them more. Ironic then that OhBarmy - from the nation that kids itself is THE pioneer of free trade - is using veiled threats of tariff barriers to blackmail us to do his bidding. He's certainly the most anti-British US president in my own lifetime and likely long before. There's little chance that whoever replaces him in November will be as hostile. If it's Trump then business will surely come before any politics, and Clinton has more sense than to meddle like OB.

Heh heh!Thanks a lot for your very kind comments folks! Ye knaa,it duzn't tek much ti set thi baal rowlin' here wi me!! Can a just tell ye aal this one? Me older Brother and me were born on thi syem day..but exactly three years apart. Our birthdays were just at the end of July,when school was breaking up for the four weeks summer holidays,when aal thi leavers wud be gaan ti thi Labour Exchange.......a fancy govt word for thi Dole Office!.....ti sign on ti seek work. Whey,in them days,it was nowt ti see owa a hundred kids standing in the queue,seeing as class numbers were in the 40's for each class x aal thi schools in Bedlington. So,in1956,[the year aa started Westridge School on thi first day it opened after the holidays...],me Brother started he's first day at Bedlington A Pit training gallery. He finished he's training,and was sent to work in the "Dish",down in the Harvey Seam.[the "Dish" was an area not far from the shaft-bottom,which was a collecting point for all the empty tubs which were sent down in numbers of four at a time....two "chummings" in each deck of the cage.] If you reckon on about 30-40 seconds winding time on coalwork,[fast!],you were getting maybe six tubs a minute,rattling along towards the dish,which was a long dip in the roadway,where the tubs had to be coupled together in sets of a score each time,then "hung" onto a constantly moving endless steel haulage rope,which had no mercy....if you got a hand or even a finger trapped in the "hambone" clips which attached the tub to the rope. The tubs had a "Cruk"[crook] at one end,and a three-link chain at the other end,at tub-axle-height.[very low to the ground!] You had to quickly acquire the skill of holding the chain ready,back bent.. head turned to watch the approaching tubs.......and the split second before the steel capped buffers slammed together with a deafening thud,had to quickly throw the chain over the cruk and get your hand out before it was flattened between the buffers! The cruk had a short piece of steel bar at the top at right-angles,as a means of preventing the chains from uncoupling themselves accidentally. This meant that you had to twist the last link sideways before hoying it owa the cruk.... a bit like trying thi hoop-la the shows! Sorry this is taking so long but it's hard ti explain!! Whey wor youngin,[as we caaled each other,] started alang with another experienced lad for 20 days close personal supervision. After that he was on he's own. One day,I was upstairs,[12 years old still!],and I heard my Mother's voice very loud and almost crying. When I ran downstairs to see what was wrong,I saw my Brother...white-faced..and in an awful state of shock. His hand was bandaged halfway up his arm from his finger-tips......he wasn't fast enough to get his hand out from between the tubs before they smashed into each other,and he got caught between the buffers,which were about seven or eight -inch-square section.......bigger area than an outstretched hand,so not much time to couple on the tubs and keep safe!! When he got his bandages off,his hand and arm were all purple and black,and twice the normal size,and excruciatingly painful for weeks. Mind,it didn't take long to speed up and do the job like an expert,safely,apart from the odd minor finger-end knocks,usually in fore-shift,at three o clock in the morning!! By the time I was 15 yrs old,I knew a lot about pitwork,from his stories,and reading library books on mining methods and machinery. I think most kids paid the price for being too slow on a job they would never have envisaged what the consequences might be!.. It's like I have said a dozen times before....you had to grow and be a man....fast!