threegee

Somewhere near the Guidepost roundabout I think. May have been where the roundabout is today as quite a few buildings were demolished (at the previous crossroads) when it was built. Google Streetview Certainly I've heard of it and have likely been there in the distant past. This isn't very far from where my Grandfather's family lived, and established a stonemasons yard, when they moved to the area from Aberdeen in the 18th century. Someone help my memory here! Please let us have details of who these people were, and any scraps of background information you have. This will do a lot to help other people - maybe hundreds of years hence! What goes here gets recorded in lots of other places and, unlike paper records and stone inscriptions, is here for posterity! Now isn't that an alarming thought?

This is good! This is positive negativity! I can feel a "Are you listening to your customers, or are you a Dinosaur?" ...feature coming on. I've heard more or less the same about Asda-Tesco from Mrs threegee - so it must be true! Maybe Tesco is ahead of the game and is now in the process of fixing this? Library? Well... silly jobsworths I think. Here we are lobbying like hell to save their arses, and when we ask them to stick a couple of little Bedlington.co.uk flyers up by the computers we are told they "don't do that sort of thing"! If they aren't there for the very community that pays their wages what exactly are they there for? Maybe what we should be lobbying for is a change in management?

We could remedy this with http://nickersshop.bedlington.co.uk if there's a real demand for nickers delivered to your door today - in a plain brown package, of course!

Why it's there: The system was originally devised as a way to flag-up those quality posts that are worth spending a little time reading. Even the moderators don't have time to read everything. Through this it tends to encourage quality postings, and discourage slanging matches, where both parties generally get voted down - unless one party is grossly out of line. We often get the odd prat who emails something like "I'd join in if you removed some of the idiots" and by implication ran the thing more responsibly. Also implying that their opinion has far more weight than anyone else's (but they don't want to risk ther cosy prejudices being challenged). Of course if the moderator's cow-towed to them they most likely wouldn't, and probably have nothing worth saying anyway. But to those people the rep system illustrates that what's already there has stood the test of mass approval, and that it's they who are the odd ones out! Personally speaking: I broadly agree with Mr D. Except I try to apply the has it been helpful to anyone and has it made me think tests, before I apply the do I agree with it test. Two out of three generally gets it. On negative I suppose it has to be the opposite, though I'd immediately vote down anything abusive of someone else, especially when it was unprovoked by personal remarks. And finally: To sum it up I'd say that the rep system - although originally devised to flag what was worth spending time reading - sort of fully democratises the moderation process, and adds a bit of social pressure to ensure better behaviour (why I'm going to vote -rep stays). Because a lot of members know who a lot of members are there's very little for the moderators to do anyway. The only problem seems to be that not enough members are aware of it. Maybe a red button will make them use the green one too?

Unfortunately you are right! Formatting all over the place in Open Office! Can't we persuade them to put it out as a standard .PDF? A prior requirement to buy, or steal, a £300 proprietary software package can't be the best way to present the face of law & order! Someone needs to point out the Public Notices section to them too I think. The concept of "free" might take a little explaining.

The system is heavily weighed against small parties, and I think quite deliberately, to stop any new movements from getting off the ground. The arguments against PR are greatly overstated. The present system has disenfranchised large sections of the population for decades. I don't see anything wrong in drawing a government from across party boundaries either. No one party has a monopoly on good ideas. OK, so the PM loses a lot of his rights to act like a dictator that have simply been appropriated over the last fifty or so years, but that's all to the good. I also think that five years in power without any real answerability is too long these days. Probably the US has it about right at four years. But, how does a system reform itself when it's against the self-interest of those in power to reform? A looming revolution, or mass civil unrest, has been the only way that has worked in the past. All we are seeing at the moment is the worst examples of abuse by individuals being dealt with, and a bit of trimming of the rules. Instead of real reform the system is, as always, just doing the bare minimum to protect itself. There needs to be a way for ordinary individuals to bring about change to the system without the explicit approval of the system itself. Maybe a real people's chamber which can only deliberate on constitutional matters and heavily relies on IT for its mandate? Could be the best ever reason to ask their lordships to find somewhere else to have their afternoon nap!

The well known Bedlington estate agents "OK Matews ER" (Stitching problem) They're only reasonably good, and have the Queen as a client! Nice day for it, but the time changes of the various sweeps through the place certainly show. I think Dennis got caught under where the Bedlington.co.uk sign is now.

Unfortunately the same people who misuse +rep will misuse -rep! They'll vote for/against people rather than the content. The solution is to encourage far more people to use the rep system, and make it clear that it's to vote on the quality of the post. That you should even consider voting up posts you don't agree with if the argument is well put; after all your instincts could just be wrong and the posters logical argument right! Diversity of opinion is good for any community, just so long as those opinions have been properly thought through. Another point to make is that you should make up your own mind, and not be influenced by other people into how you vote. There's already enough herd instinct around to do for all the "lemmings" fifty times over!

Great heads-up mobius. But in case we get accused of putting the wrong spin on this that's not quite what The Journal reporter implies. This would indicate a voluntary liquidation. There's also the implication that individuals and not these companies were being prosecuted, and that Wansbeck gave up pursuing the matter for other reasons. So there's nothing in The Journal, or here, to say anyone did anything criminal, or even that there were any civil penalties imposed. Nice sensitive remark for his family to see Monsta! Who will ever be able to say for sure what his state of mind or health was? It could well be that he was preoccupied and didn't see the train coming, or suffered some kind of medical emergency in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stranger things have happened.

Well we have the TV debates, and Monsta's take on them, to look forward to. To keep them from getting into too many bad habits I'm inclined to only vote UKIP at the Euro elections, and toss a coin (without Mad Gordon's head on it) at national and local elections. More than two terms of any of them has never been good. We probably wouldn't be in quite the mess we are in now if Teflon Tony hadn't lied about serving a full third term. That's apart from his "little fibs" that got us into two very expensive wars against people who never set a foot on any of our land! I remember a pit wife near the raas telling young me that Winston Churchill was an "old war monger". This was puzzling as I knew he'd got us out of one, but I still don't know of any he got us into. After a while I straightened this out in my mind: she wasn't really an Old Labour supporter at all; she was a Nazi parachutist in drag!

Has to be the most pointless budget in history! Gordon wants a give-away, and Alastair - asserting the new-found Independence of someone who's going to lose his job very soon - wants a responsible, steady-as-we-go, one. Neither can to do what will be needed - just yet! So... if they somehow scrape back in they'll sneak all the tax increases etc. in at a later date, or if Cameron/Osborne get in, any measures won't get past the Commons vote or will be nullified very quickly. Either way it's a completely pointless pretence at going through the motions of normal government, and a waste of paper.

Hang on, VAT was only temporally increased to 17.5%! But somehow that temporary became permanent. It was originally introduced at 10%, and that was all the revenue that would be needed in the brave new Eurocentric world. That netted about the same as the former Purchase Tax on "luxury goods".

So what's wrong with the IMF? Easy one to answer: they don't control it! No gravy-train jobs there for washed-up europoliticos. No, do what we tell you because we have the power to remove you. No, put hard economics before political manoeuvring. crisis management a bit strong Malc. Not the crisis bit, the management bit! BTW did you notice Greek VAT up from 19% to 21%? UK VAT to 20% within months - that's now a cert! Even VAT on food being contemplated. Who's going to be the first to use the phrase The Decade of Discontent?

So Dr Trotter's house (the tallest of the buildings bottom right) was still a private house in 1930! Not yet a Martins Bank of Dad's Army fame! Certainly it doesn't look like a bank in this shot. That's the main reason I put this a few years earlier. I wonder what those people walking across the Market Place would say if you told them that less than 80 years hence £2M of public money would be spent on repaving it. You'd have to tell them how much a loaf of bread or pint of beer would then cost to put things into perspective. But even after that they'd be struggling to believe it. In a town that's in danger of losing some of the basic services we had even then I'm still struggling to believe it!

In the picture - sort of - but not where you think it is! The houses off to the left in the middle distance are the Doctor Pit houses. And I think you can probably see Telephone Row nearest the pit head. That was the first row to be demolished, as my newly reclaimed memory now tells me! No, where you are looking for Double Row is in the misty distance to the right of the large chimney. I'm not totally sure if you can see the Barrington Colliery houses extending from the right border just below the horizon, or if they are somewhere in the mist a bit nearer the chimney. But that's the general direction of Double Row, as this was obviously taken from the top of the Church Tower looking out a tiny bit West of North. BTW that large chimney was demolished some time in the very early 1950's, as I can remember being asked to look North from behind the Market Place and say what was missing. Such is youth I had to be told; I simply couldn't see anything different about the view! Any more pictures from this viewpoint? Difficult to date from this one alone - no vehicles, no close ups - but the 1920's seems a candidate.

What modest Andy isn't saying is that he wrote - and is continuing to develop - the software that powers the new classified section. He's been working on it for months, and has lost count of the hours expended. There's already a number of other websites worldwide lined-up to deploy this feature themselves, but Bedlington gets first crack of the whip. So come on Bedlingtonians and get your chattels listed for free! Shame on us if other communities make more use of OUR software than we do ourselves! There's been a bit of a discontinuity converting from the old classifieds, as the old software (not written by Andy) lacks - amongst other things - a proper tie-in with your Bedlington.co.uk membership. So some of the member names on some of the current ads are guesswork, and so you may need to either repost your advert, or ask a moderator to do a correction. This tiny problem will work itself through before too long. What you currently see is only the start of a regional advertising network. By supporting this free service with a little of your time, not only will you move your surplus goodies at zero cost (and far less hassle than auction sites), you'll be in at the very start of what will eventually become a feature of countless other people's lives. ------------------ REMEMBER THAT PICTURES SELL THINGS! There's no charge to post as many pictures as are reasonable. So get that phone or digital camera snapping. If you have problems uploading pictures then we want to know AND WANT TO HELP YOU. PM us; post on the board; use the contact form; send a message by carrier pigeon, or open your bedroom window and shout! We need to know how things can be further simplified, we need to know about any problems you are having, and you need those pictures in your ads!

Did you put it on the Town Calendar? Remember to post pictures, and maybe write a follow-on news article. For maximum exposure events should be posted in the Announcements Forum. That way you get home page exposure, and it goes out on the RSS feeds to other websites too.

Did you put it on the Town Calendar? Remember to post pictures, and maybe write a follow-on news article. For maximum exposure events should be posted in the Announcements Forum. That way you get home page exposure, and it goes out on the RSS feeds to other websites too.

£200bn doesn't buy you very much time when you insist on throwing it at all the wrong things. Makes all previous "cynically engineered pre-election booms" look magnificent value! http://www.bedlingto...ant-you-to-see/ Hopefully Joe Public will wake up to the fact that "the recovery" is another hoax before 6th May. But part of me wants GB to scrape home on our badly skewed voting system, usual minority vote, and tide of Mandelsonian BS. Out of the resulting complete disaster might just come the social revolution we need. Whichever party wins the next election is going to rapidly become the most unpopular government in history. The honeymoon period won't last past the Summer. Why David Cameron, or any other sane person would want to lead this is beyond me. That's a question you probably don't need to ask about Gordon though as I don't believe he qualifies! We are already in that depression Malc - but it's a "repressed depression". The only thing which will realistically get us out of this is years of roaring inflation with all the terrible damage that will do to people on fixed incomes. Exactly what our amateur economist told us he'd ended! As you say, he was spending when he should have been saving, and when the smoke turned to flames he threw fuel on the fire. The best course now is a ten year slog, with a lot of pain to re-build a sustainable economy. But does any politician have the guts to spell this out and come clean with the electorate? I fear not, and that we are in for a very rough and very long ride.

http://www.propertys...e/postcode/ne22 And the Halifax - not exactly the most impartial observer - says national prices fell 1.5% in February. So imagine what's going to happen after the election if current predictions of a million public sector redundancies are even half right!

http://www.guardian....chael-foot-dies No stranger to our Town, he walked down the Front Street and spoke in the Picnic Field many times. June 1960. Michael Foot (left of center) makes a point while Ernest Jones, Vice President of the NUM (right of center) listens, as they walk down the Front Street toward the Picnic Field. Although sunny the raincoats proved a very wise move!

Just trying to prepare her for the inevitable disillusion Malc. As she's already worked out let's all hold hands and make the world a better place isn't a viable strategy, but neither is writing to a "big-party" politician in the run-up to a general election! You've identified one positive thing an individual can do. Why not take this further and prepare a checklist of things a caring Bedlingtonian can do that will make a difference? BTW for those "big-party politicians" reading this I'd like to add that I'm not against them and their efforts. What I'm against is their putting party politics before community. Not having the guts to debate the real issues with the community - an ever-increasing number of whom are not as dumb as their party bosses suppose. That's not true of all local politicians of course, and I don't need to elaborate on this. Times they are a changin, and those that keep their heads down and don't directly engage and take to the new electronic hustings are going to go the way of the dinosaurs. They'd actualy get a much easier ride - and probably pick up quite a lot of votes - if they came clean and explained their own frustrations earlier rather than later.