mercuryg

Hang on, this lost sort of stuffs your argument a bit - look: Alfa 147GTA AC Cobra 427 Audi TT (!) BMW 125i, M3, and M5 - (er, you said....) BMW 2002 Turbo (i'm only on 'B' for christs sake....) Cadillac CTS, Chrysler 300 - who are they kidding? Caterham 7?? This is a cracker - DeLorean DMC12!!!!!!!!!! Honda S2000? Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8? Is this serious? Lotus Elise? Look, i'll stop there; we need some clarification as to what a supercar is; I take on board your expectations of teh exotic entirely, but a Jeep? A Cadillac CTS? The Audi TT? What's official about this list? We need an independent arbitrator to clarify the word 'supercar'......

Why not? It has a race developed engine and suspension system, is of the highest quality and, as you say, is bloddy fast!

Sims you up, Mr Darn; the 101 man! No need, just a bit of controversy into the mix! I think they may have a website - i'll check for you. mmm, depends who they are....

Er, no, i'm saying a supercar is NOT defined by it's cost, not vice versa. I listed, for your perusal, a whole bunch of supercars that can be bought for less than 20 grand, some for less than ten. What, then, is your 'definition' of a supercar? Do you see a price level at which an automobile falls into that bracket, or is there a performance criterion involved? I'm intrigued, as you already questioned the Audi R8's credentials (let alone those of the 200mph Nissan Skyline!) There must be something that you see as defining the role of 'supercar', yes? For me, it's performance, not price. For instance, had the Alpine A610 (you know what one is, yes?) been on themarket, fresh, today, it would undoubtedly have listed at over £50,000 - that;s heavy money by my standards! - and provided performance levels to put it very firmly in teh supercar bracket; because you can get one, now, for as little as five gran does not mean it goes slower....

You give up too easily; the half million is just the start - dismissing it out of hand as YOU believe it would not be used is simply ludicrous. The demographic of the Bedlington population encompasses more than just you and I, it covers a great deal of age ranges and social types. With due respect, I don't think you're considering the overall picture. That £500,000 was earmarked FOR bedlington; this is the point. As I said, complacency will bite you on the !*!@# - the 'I can't be bothered to vote because it will make no difference' attitude that prevails among the younger voters of today is exactly what has landed teh country in teh situation its in today. Bedlington high - great - but what if you want to use the facilities within School hours? Furthermore, there is little comparison between pubs and leisure facilities, as the pubs do not cater for children. If you don't care, that's fine, but don't moan to the rest of us when it doesn't work out for you. This is your town, it's your country, get on the case. Join Mrs Vic in her haranguing of useless politicians, and get something done.

Since when was a supercar defined by its cost? twenty grand would buy you a nice 911 3.3 Turbo, for instance, or a Honda NSX, one of the most technologically advanced supercars ever built. Indeed, that Noble you picture - you can get it's predecessor, the M12, a supercar (with a Mondeo engine, as it happens) that will take you to 60 in under four seconds, for less than 20 grand. What about the latter generation V8 lotus Esprit, 175mph worth of supercar madness, or the supercar bargain of the moment, the Alpine A610? really, unless your supercar has to be new, it doesn't hve to cost the earth. My brother has a collection of the things, a couple of Ferrari's, a Porsche, a very, very fast AMG Mercedes, and none of them cost him buckets! get with the picture, get real! Me, i'm looking for a Lotus Excel, in good nick, and have three grand to spare.....anyone know of one, let me know.

I can't disagree more with Monsta; have you seen the size of the Hazelmere estate these days? I tell you what, drive around one day (or mount your BMX/Horse/Bogey/Whatever) at a weekend and count the numbers of kids playing in each street, then think how many of them would use a swinning baths in Bedlington if it saved them travelling to Blyth/Concordia. This town's not too small to warrant it at all, that's absolute nonsense. Then there's the likes of our very own Mrs Vic, who clearly uses such facilities and would rather one closer to home, and the likes of my dear old mum and her pals who go swimming on a regular basis, and would like to do so without having to use a car. And in between, of course. As for the buses they're bloody expensive (unless, like me, you get a free pass because you can't hear the fifteen foot high bright blue vehicle advancing up the street, but that's another story....). No, Mrs Vic is right: that money was for us - here in bedlington - and should be fought for tooth and nail; complacency is something that always comes back to bite you in the !*!@# , Monsta, and whether you want a swimming pool or not, it's 'our' money. On this subject, and as a slight aside, there is a small organisation known as the 'Friends of Gallacher park' (hope i spell that right) who are currently campaigning, and lobbying for money, to have that particular - and rather lacklustre - facility improved; their first step is to get a BMX/Skateboard park built, something for the kids to do in otherwords, and future plans are in hand. The space is ideal, and I believe we should all get behind it. More power to Mrs Vics elbow, I say. And her knees, and other joints. And Mr Darn, '101 - what are your thoughts?' - it's no wonder this place is quiet of you peddle that sort of mundane nonsense! get a grip, man, and get controversial!

That is the R8, yes? If so, it is far from being the staple of men of 'simple' tastes such as Mr Darn; indeed, Andrew Frankel, perhaps the finest writer in the automotive world, describes it as ' the best supercar for under £100k....' I suspect Mr Darn needs to begin saving.......(oh, and go for the V10 version).

She started it!

yes, it does. NASA uses data from several sources to compile graphs such as that, and has had a tendency to manipulate data to miss out any unusual 'spikes' or dips; this is common practice in predictive science, but does lead to theory being a greater element of the results than practice. As recently as October last year a monthly updat was issued by the authority that monitors climate change whose name ive forgotten (IPCC?) based on data given to it by one of the four sources that provides data to NASA, and elsewhere, for this purpose. They published a world map, based on this information, showing that October, 2008, was the warmest such month, worldwide, in recorded history, and banged on about this being 'evidence' of the increasing warming problem. two days later, however, they had to withdraw the data as it had been pointed out to them, by someone casually looking at it on the net, that all of the weather stations across siberia and the surroundiung areas were showing exactly the same temperatures as they had the previous month, September. It was immediately announced that, with apologies, they had - in fact - used the same information, erroneously! When asked how this could happen they replied that they 'could not afford' to install quality control measures. In other words, they have no way of knowing if the information thy are putting out - information used the world over to monitor the situation - is, in fact, correct. Futhermore, when they published the new map a few days later - with teh correct information - it showed a marked 'warm spot' over a totally different part of the world, rather than just teh expected change in siberia; the explanation was that information they had by then had not been available before, the implication, of course, being that what we get is what they have, and not the full picture. Given that one of the world's major providers of climate change information issues it without checks, what can we believe? In addition, given that my neice comes home and tells me that every time I leave a light on I kill a polar bear, I think some tempering of the scaremongering is very much needed.

You're going to spend more time in the garage than on the road. Some tips - don't go out in the rain cos the water will knacker the electrics; keep an eye out for the first sign of rust cos once it starts it will fall apart in a few weeks; don't run that engine for short periods, and make sure it's locked when you walk away cos they have a habit of unlocking themselves when they sense anything remotely magnetic in the vicinity. On the other hand, I love Alfa Romeo's; just couldn;t live with one.

Interesting; I drove a C8 at a press launch a couple of years back of the Spyker F1 team. Was rather nice, very luxurious, and made a great noise. Wouldn't mind one!

And how, pray, would you stop them performing said acts?

MrsVic, I was talking to Mr Darn the other day (over, of course, a plethora of pints and coffee with whsky in) and we both commented on how quiet it is on here. Perhaps it's time for you to drive around for a while and knock some old lady/gent/horse/sheep/cat over, so you can post another exciting 'incident' thread? Cheers Mercuryg

Then it should do so for all, not just those who's views don't sit with the current namby pamby let's be nice to the muslims cos we're scared of them politics of this current regime. To great fanfare and dismay in all the cases i;ve red of; every been to Finsbury? I'd suggest a visit, for educational purposes. The Home Office? The Police? Do you follow the daily incompetence that these two organisations get involved in? I'm glad you included the admission it may be a slight chance.

Nothing to add to that; well said Mrsvic.

Without being too obvious, that's precisely what a press release is for..... Damn right! A good days work done.

Are you talking about the owners of the Dun Cow? Forgive me if i'm wrong, but i'm sure the owner is Punch Taverns, who are the very reason that the Taverns landlady is having trouble. They charge extortionate rent, for the building and the beer.

Silly? It would be criminal! It would be the worst thing ever! The price of what, though? I mean, unless you're buying a house or somethign else ludicrously expensive things havn't changed much at all. If yuo have savings, fair enough you're going to lose out, but otherwise very little. Im not forgetting, of course, all those losing jobs through this thing - been there myself - but the price of a pint has lottel to do withthe credit crunch. Absolutely; there are other factors, however, like what time of day it is - I like to have a few beers in teh afternoon and read my paper - and who those people are. I'd rather stan in a bar with three people who hav something interesting to say than with a hundred arseoles. I'm not classing you with those !*!@# of course, Mr Darn, knowing you as I do..... Yep, had the same experience. But now that;s a contradiction; of people - and i'm generalising (and certainly not among them) can buy cheap beer at the supermarket then they will. You cite the credit crunch, and refuse to accept this very obvious point. I know of many people who choose to stay in, despite being able to afford far more beer than I can at the pub! That's a scary prospect - countless Mr Darn's....... It doesn't work like that; lowering the prices by a sufficient amount to attract punters in that manner would result in the publican making a loss; despite what many believe there does not exist the massive profit margin on a pint, it's a myth; we're talking about the possibility of pubs knocking ten, twenty pence off a pint, or offering them at £2 at certain times (something the government is set to legislate against) and, to be frank, saving 20p a pint isn't enough to take me from one bar to another.

WHATT?????? Hang on while I compose myself and consider a world without pubs.... If you buy your beer on credit then that is a problem; I doubt the much vaunted 'credit crunch' has had much of an effect on whether or not the regular drinker goes out for a few pints or not. I don;t find the club having a 'good atmosphere' I must say; an atmosphere, yes, but that's about it. I guess it depends what you're looking for in a pub. As for £2.60 a pint being a bit much, the club has the advantage of being part of a heavily subsidised organisation; the pubs, on the other hand, are at the mercy of the brewery price structure (and that's all of them, not just the Tavern). having worked in the trade and been responsible for buying in stock, the profit on a pint at, say, a Punch Taverns house is not as great as one would believe at first, and the landlord/landlady has no leeway on that. Until something is done about supermarkets selling alcohol as a loss leader then the pub trade is going to struggle.

Indeed, mrsvic, indeed; it would be no surprise if more pubs were to close in Bedlington in the coming months, and no surprise if the Tavern were among them as they have to cope with the same problems as every other drinking establishment. As someone who is very much a regular, I can say i've never been asked to lend them money; that's not to say others havn't, but to suggest they're ringing people up three or four times a day pleading for dosh is a bit bloody silly. In addition, quite why the council would stump up anything for what is a Punch Taverns tied house I can't possibly see; they havn't, and they wouldn't. It makes no sense to anyone who has any. What I would suggest is that, rather than sitting on here all day spouting off about this, that and the other pub closing down, we should get out there and give them some custom. We are the ones who lose out when the bars shut, after all. Sarah runs a friendly pub that is a pleasant plave to enjoy a few pints; at weekends they put bands on and offer the town some much needed entertainment. I, for one, would miss them if they had to go.

I guess that makes me a 'cool kid' then....... I think the landlady you saw in there was not, as it happens, the North's; Mary would not bring herself to venture into an establishment where people are giving their money across the counter to someone else....no, it was she from the Grapes. My opinion? I like the place; it's friendly, Sarah and Ian are good people, decent pint and on Friday and Saturday nights the only place with anyone in. Mind you, I'm party to a few in the afternoon generally, so evening visits are a rarity for me......

Eloquent, mrsvic, but then that's what I would expect......

Not sinking - mother was one of the first inhabitants. House still standing. Ground not falling. As for the empty patch of land, the original plans showed a group of shops and a pub. Still no sign of either.