threegee

NPower have alot to answer for!

Sounds insane, but competitive forces are (mostly) working in the UK. In parts of Southern Europe you pay two to three times more per killowat - which makes UK electricity look VERY cheap!

Someone in Otterburn hasn't been doing their job studying the small print, and then chosing the optimum supplier.

wouldnt that still kill off the traders?

even if they did pay the same, the price they get their products for is at a huge discount compared to town traders simply because of the shear bulk they buy it in.

Maybe and maybe not. At the end of the day you can't buck the market, but you can educate it. Specialist suppliers would still survive, even thrive. What it would do is to allow small traders to bow out gracefully if the competition got too hot. It would encourage innovation instead of the lowest-common-denominator culture we now have. The same mindset which is the root cause of our painfully regular factory-farming driven crises. Even under current anticompetitive conditions we have a few specialist food suppliers in Bedlington.

Anyone want to sell a pint for £5??

.. and that proves my point!

The Sunday trading debate has been running since the 1960's - at least!

The religious angle is - and has always been - a red herring. It's all to do with outdated trades union attitudes going back far longer.

I don't even think that the big shop (that can afford the extra labour) / little shop (that may be put out of business) is even valid anymore. Lots of smaller businesses, often run by industrious immigrants, have disproved this. Remember "Open All Hours"?

Such trading restrictions, including local authority enforcement of local "closing days", are long overdue to be scrapped. I doubt that they've been properly enforced for decades anyway.

One thing we DO need to do is to put a permanent and total stop to out-of-town, often "green field", shopping developments. It's that that has killed the center of Bedlington and hundreds of towns besides. Megastores should operate by the same rules as smaller traders, and that includes zoning. If the market demands huge stores then it should be forced to pay the same cost per square meter as smaller traders have to pay, and/or buy those smaller traders out at a fair price.

Yeah, we're all dying to know who it is!

Funnily - I thought that it might be you!

I would like it though,coz i could give all the topics i started 5 stars

Start a poll there then. We'll be bound by the democratic vote of all the chat forum users.

p.s. I will be voting with monsta - against!

Why can`t we rate the Chat Central topics

Because: monsta wouldn't like it!

why? seems pretty pointless!

is that not a facebook/myspace rip off?

It has been part of this software since those were even thought of. The point is it enables members to rate the worth of a subject. It's not about post count it's about content!

there so smooth and gets you out in a hurry!

A bit more imagination than the last try. But clearly not up to the standard of the Guinnessy one.

We'll regard it as a test post - for now!

You can now instantly rate topics in this Forum. A software upgrade to the BB is due real soon too.

You can now instantly rate topics in this Forum. A software upgrade to the BB is due real soon too.

Who's idea was the new section?

http://www.bedlington.co.uk/community/index.php?showtopic=1104

Do you remember when Barnes had mobile shops that traveled around the housing estates, a guy that worked for them left and started his own business and took over the rounds. He used to have a couple of Bedford OB coaches converted into mobile shops, I think his name was Gibson.

Now that you mention it, they had those too! Ronnie Gibson is name that rings a bell. The same Gibson possibly?

I believe Muters pop was another famous name of that period or am I just having a laps of memory? It may be Woods that I am thinking of.

Muters indeed! Pop factory at the station. Careful what you say about the family pop as the name lives on. Nice people the Muter kids, though I've lost touch. Yes, Woods soft drinks too, but weren't they Morpeth or somewhere else locally?

We have a new section i see!

HERE

Was gonna post something there, but couldn't think of anything in particular i like or loathe about the town!!!

What about? -

LIKE: What a cracking online community it has!

(for those wet Winter nights)

Sure you wouldn't like to moderate it to keep it "visitor friendly"?

A short survey shows that many one-shot visitors to the site only want a snapshot of the place. Sometimes to buy property or rent a house here, or for other reasons.

Apart from the fine contributions to the Gallery we really don't do this because:

• The Members Forums are too busy with other gossip.
  
• The Member's Forums can't be searched by the major search engines.
  
• The usual threads are simply too long and convoluted.
  
• Our own search isn't much use unless you know the key words to search on already.
  
• They probably don't want the hassle of joining for what might be a one-off visit.
  
• The moderators need an easier job of watching for misinformation too - particularly important here.
  

Be honest but be fair to the old place! i.e. not too many gripes. Enjoy!

P.S. We need a mature moderator (without any warnings) for this forum too. Please PM me.

Interesting report on the news this morning, Alnwick Castle is the number one tourist attraction in the UK.

If only they could pronounce it! Even the BBC has trouble with it these days - well, especially the BBC!

New found popularity nothing to do with a millenium of fascinating history, but a kid's book made into a film there. Such is modern culture!

Can't answer the first two but Barnes' no longer there,if its the fruiters your on about!

I remember Sadie Barnes at the Market Place shop. She was perhaps the last of the line - though I think married into the Barnes family. She had a good business head, and it seemed the business didn't survive long after her demise.

In the 1950's / 1960's they had branches in the Market Place, Rothsea Terrace, the Station, and more The wholesale arm probably supplied many smaller local business.

Another famous Bedlington family name for the history books.

Threegee,i don`t really think this place needs another mod. There`s never any bother on here now and hardly any swearing.If Miss Vic just popped in once a day to check things out that would be sufficient..

This is because you only see the director's cut and other people get to see the rushes! There are reasons we need another moderator. And we also could do with some for the special interest forums. Trust me on this!

Seriously... get a grip.

Very seriously! You simply don't know how the real world works.

bit like mattel toys are dangerous! which is a fact!

You exaggerate. A few of their toys have been shown to contain what may these days be regarded as dangerous levels of lead. They have taken action and the problem probably no longer exists. Nor are they the only major toy manufacturer to have had this sort of problem.

Previous generations had much higher levels of lead in their toys and have apparently escaped any sort of long term effects. Future generations will probably shake their heads at how the parents of the early 21st century allowed their kids to play with things which so obviously caused such psychological damage. The evidence is there already Monsta!

Personally speaking, I don't worry about what people with lesser intelligence think of the title of my post.

There's an army of lawyers out there any one of which could bet their fat pay cheque on the distinct possibility that they can change your mind!

Fortunately this is a members only forum that won't be trawled by the SEs; this is a public interest matter; it's border line; you are responsible for what you publish; and no one has complained.

So if you lick !*!@# , act like your someone your not and talk down to everyone Monsta, Threegee might answer your messages!

The protocol here is only that you read what is written BEFORE you reply to it. Respect for other people's time isn't cow-towing or even deference - it's just common courtesy! Something most people learn with age. Do as you would be done by is the old adage.

Good thing you aren't talking about a food product in that bastion of freedom of speech the good old U.S. of A. then!

http://www.cspinet.org/foodspeak/resources/freespeech.htm

Maybe you should amend your title from People to Person to stay factual? Even then it sounds a little libellous as it maybe singles Morrisons out for special treatment - which could be construed as malicious by someone of low intelligence.

Personally speaking I think we never know what we are eating wherever we buy it from. We are all to blame here in demanding ever-cheaper food and in not questioning how it is produced. The FSA is fighting a losing battle. In the Uk we need a total philosophy change not even more regulation. Until this happens this sort of news story is fated to be painfully regular.

it was threegee cause he doesn't answer mine either! :lol:

Think of 3G as H.R.M. QEII. All requests are given consideration but protocol dictates that only those that conform to certain standards receive an official acknowledgement.

HMQ surely accepts the principal of redemption though. I mean it's working fine for Camilla so it could work for you too!

I can't believe that in 14 days we've had only one application to help Miss V, and that application is from the member with the most ever warnings (none of which were issued by me - but probably for good reason nevertheless!).

Come on people! Helping to run this thing doesn't involve pulling your back teeth. It won't cost you much in the way of time, and you don't need to be a "crusader" either!

To volunteer PM me - or I will sulk, and may even tread that well-worn path of leaving Our Town (entirely and permanently) for warmer climes!

No-one is innocent.

Everyone is innocent until proved Guinnessy! This is a plonk of (pre-Blairite) British Justice.