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I think that even Guardinistas are grudgingly accepting that Nigel's remarks about pressure on our resources are dodgy material for ridicule these days, so I think you are perhaps embarrassingly behind the curve there. Last night someone told me that they'd just been reading the Guardian comments section and had to double check that they were on the right website - it was starting to sound uncannily similar to the Torygraph, at least on the EU. Maybe there's even hope for Polly Toynbee. Of course it's no longer about "immigration"; people are really concerned about uncontrolled economic mass migrancy. The Internet and cheap technology has given this an entirely new dimension. It's a dimension the EU mandarins are only just starting to wake up to, and which will inevitably force politicos of all persuasions to confront. Blaming things on so called neo-nazis won't work for much longer either CL. There are only a minuscule number of right wing agitators, but they are filling a leadership gap which has been exited by double-talking professional politicians. The real societal damage is coming from the extreme left. Their agenda is to use uncontrolled mass migrancy to overthrow existing orders with the super-simplistic idea that out of total chaos will come a new world order. Any mature person knows that this isn't going to happen, but what will happen is that people will rally around those who provide order at the price of complete forfeiture of democratic rights. i think I've said this before, but if we continue down the mass immigration path we'll see this country under military dictatorship, because the public will see that as preferable to extreme left-wing lunacy, or an inevitable Islamisation. The same forces are at work in other parts of Europe too, and who knows just where that will lead. We need to decouple from European politics really fast and try to lead by example based on a foundation of strong world trade. Once we concede our independent seat at the WTO, and our seat on the UN Security Council, that will become so much more difficult - but this is exactly where Cameron is leading us at a rate of knots!

"other nationality" was your words: it means whatever you want it to mean. The Benefits Street I have here was filmed on James Taylor Street, Birmingham, but there was a series filmed in Stockton, which I've not yet bothered with. Your Swedish friends are probably only being prescient: it's a foretaste of Corbynite Britain. What's really amusing about it is the fact that the "star" Dee was paraded at the Tory party conference to prove EUCams credentials as a champion of err... working people. Then came the inevitable fallout with Torydom, and the threat to join Ukip - which in fact would have been the last party to let her stand for parliament. Isn't she in clink now on drugs offences? In any case it was filmed before the current EU inspired mass economic migration round, at a time when we were all kidding ourselves we could cope. Ah, yes, let's debate providing that no ideas are floated that seriously challenge my/our self-delusion. That's the "debate" of the Labour Party (and they are surprised it got them Corbyn!), and the debate process of the EU. That's not actually debate, it's an illusion of debate, and an illusion of democracy. I'd advance that as a modern replacement for "Nation shall speak peace unto nation".

It's generally unwelcome, but they need to subsist, so generally you can't reject their attentions and pay them. The really pushy ones get told to lose themselves though, and then it becomes very clear that they expect a totally free ride on the European economy. "Other nationalities" don't harbour large numbers of activists who's hidden agenda is to takeover the world, and move civilisation back to the middle ages. "Other nationalities" respect the immigration laws of their chosen countries. "Other nationalities" mostly have real skills to contribute that don't depress the wages of the most needy in the host country. "Other nationalities" aren't being used as tools by the SWP and other enemies within.

At least they will be genuine signatures. The Corbyn machine has a whole industry working on them; how do you think he hijacked the Labour Party? They've nullified the BBC consultation too and cost the taxpayer £250,000 in the process. 177.000 of the replies (92%) were cooked up by leftie zombies or their bots to a pre-written script. The aim is to provide an illusion that a majority welcome the left-wing takeover of BBC output.

BTW if you want to know what is happening in the Med, well.. apart for the ever increasing string of sinkings and drowning tragedies reported... all the local illegals have simply b'd off! In fact they'd become so much part of life here the place isn't quite the same. For the first time in years you don't get your supermarket trolley snatched and pushed for you. Seems like they all got Mrs Merkel's invite and headed North whilst the door was still open. Some nice guys amongst them anyone would trust, but many who already have a chip on their shoulder too. They've all got their smartphones and are reporting back to immigrant central where the best benefits are to be had, so I guess Sweden will still be on the list. The people who compute these things say it will be an astonishing four million when the weather improves. Post me some visiting cards and I will hand them out for you - I'm serious!

I didn't even know about this one until tonight and there are TWO weeks left for EUCam to get his reforms, so five weeks is easily enough for purpose. And if you want to know how the awakening British public really feels look no further than the EU apologetic Independent: EU referendum: Majority of UK public wants 'Brexit', poll reveals Which, of course, is completely at odds with what the BBC has been telling us for over a year. And is just as well, as if they hadn't believed their own propaganda we simply wouldn't have been getting a referendum that EUCam didn't think he wasn't going to walk. Current EU position: Blind Panic!

No, you don't see the word immigrant mentioned do you. The journos are pretty scared to go there. Have a REAL look at what is happening in your adopted country at the moment. At some point the rose coloured spectacles have to come off. Try this one for a start, but there are hundreds more Europe wide (all obviously only isolated incidents). 'She was an angel' First pictures of woman stabbed to death 'by migrant' at refugee centre Actually Sweden the Islamic terrorism hasn't actually started yet. You've got that to come!

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105863 Provide a little help to EUCam in his "renegotiation"; you know he really needs our help!

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/reports-sex-offences-rise-13-10771402 Someone care to make a statistical comparison with Cameron's Witney constituency, which reportedly hasn't accepted a single immigrant in years? I'd also like to ask Hartlepool Labour Party members a question. If you've really known what has been going on marking out immigrants by painting their doors red as you claim, then (as you have so many supporters who agree with mass economic migration and it's clear benefits for the community) why on Earth haven't you painted you own doors red? This would be the totally obvious thing to do to show support for mass immigration, and would also anonymise the immigrants.

So comrade Corbyn nips over the channel to aid his No Borders thugs and Calais is brought to a complete stop. The French are fuming as a result. The practical result of this seal of endorsement by Her Majesty's "Loyal" Opposition is to completely undo everyone's efforts to discourage more mass economic migration. The damage to Anglo-French relations and cooperation doesn't matter; the further lives put at risk don't matter; the inconvenience to the European public doesn't matter; the expense to others doesn't matter - Corbyn's conscience has been salved, and he feels better for it; Hallelujah! As if fuelling even more uncontrolled migration wasn't enough, he's meddling in the Falklands again, offering to concede sovereignty above the heads of 99% of the population there. Thus hanging his left-wing democratic credentials clearly on the line: your vote only counts if my conscience says it's an ethical vote. If comrade Corbyn ever gets anywhere near power our country will make Hollande's basket-case socialist France look positively aspirational. The poverty and misery will all be OK, because we'll all be equally poor and miserable, and - way above all - comrade Corbyn's conscience will be totally clear.

Free markets require that there's a level playing field, and that's always the job of governments. This government is failing lamentably in that. The Gordon Brown/Blair governments just screwed the country over in a different way. They are all obsessed with things that - in a historical context - will be shown to be fads, and have neglected the fundamentals. The present glut in steel won't last, but it will last beyond the time-horizon of our politicos. Way back all political parties would consider the long term national interest - the near certainty that a foreign power would use dominance in this or that to hold us to ransom. A government would maintain strategic stockpiles to give us breathing space whilst the country worked on the supply problem. Presently our politicos struggle to see as far as the next election let alone past it! When you dig into the subject of present day strategic reserves things can become quite disturbing, and it's a fertile ground for conspiracy theorists. Does that sound to you like a free market situation? Yet, our globalising elites have allowed this to develop for whatever reason. It would be wise not to dismiss absolutely all of the conspiracy theories without giving them some thought, and it's not hard to imagine the likes of Tony Blair flitting around the world in his private jet having a finger in the pie somewhere. The point I'm making is that losing our steel industry - whoever we concede control to - if a fundamental error of government. It's not just about the last 18,000 jobs, it's about leaving our country wide open to being exploited for economic, political, and even military purposes. Not an issue of free markets, but a clear issue of defence of the realm.

Looked at that way the Germans (only a tad over 2% of world output) and indeed the entire EU might as well pack it in. We've 18,000 workers still left and any government with an ounce of foresight would draw a line in the sand right now! It's a strategic industry; which means that without it we have none of that mythical "influence" that politicos are so keen on parading before us. Sooner or later there will be a monopoly supplier to put the squeeze on us, and the politicos who let this happen will have either gone into hiding, or be sunning themselves at their dachas whilst contemplating their memoirs! We'll need to stump up an inflation adjusted £40 a copy to read about how other politicos in their party (totally against their earnest advice) got it all so horribly wrong.

Merc's comment prompted a bit more research. It seems that German steel is preponderantly specialist steel (stainless etc), and Chinese is the basic stuff. So, we are mostly talking apples and oranges there. Chinese imports to the UK have quadrupled over the last few years, and are set to drive even higher. They of course have the advantage of low energy prices - largely from new coal-fired power - whilst we are stuck with Miliband's wind mills. Even if wages were similar we still couldn't compete. But the real clincher is huge Chinese subsidies to their industry to maintain full employment whatever it costs. We shouldn't be accepting this and need to retaliate, if we don't retaliate we are sending the message that we are an easy touch on this and other things too. Of course the USA has retaliated in a big way - which makes our own situation even worse. The problem won't go away as the Chinese have huge stockpiles of finished products they need to liquidate and those stockpiles keep on getting bigger. So long as we provide the prospect of an open door they have an excuse not to cut back, and if they can entirely trash what's left of our industry that's another reason to keep on overproducing. So the unions are dead right and EUCam needs to do something. What both they and Cameron won't accept is that the only thing we can actually do is to ignore EU directives. Inside the EU we'd face huge fines for doing that, so once again the only lasting solution to a major British problem is OUT! Interesting that even Ronnie Campbell has been forced to this conclusion, and has recently joined Kate Hoey's Labour MPs for Out campaign. He's written to pal Corbyn urging him to allow a free vote. I assume our own Lavery is simply too dumb to think this one through, but one can always live in hope. How about showing some real solidarity with British working people Mr Lavery? You could easily show us that you aren't actually the fully signed up party place-man that everyone assumes!

You are venturing into Nick Clegg la-la land there Maggie. What he always failed to mention is that 95% of Brits moving to the EU are retirees that are past the end of their working life. Rather than take local jobs they create them. Rather than shipping money out of the area, they move their retirement funds and pensions in. They pay local and national taxes on that retirement income to boost their host country. They take residency but retain their British nationality, and the entire point of them moving abroad is that they mix with the culture they chose to adopt. They don't generally leech on the health services in those countries because the NHS still pays (another plus for the hosts), or they have private health insurance. And, if their numbers were ever to get to the stage where they were in any way threatening the local culture, they simply wouldn't want to go there. Oh, and they generally don't want to bring their entire large family, and other relatives too, or indeed out-breed the local populace. Because of all this they are almost always universally welcome. And, yes, most of them do their best to speak the local lingo, whilst providing the locals with a valuable and valued opportunity to practice real English. In short: it's not a two-way street. Brits generally give a lot more than they take!

Quick, start a "Corbyn's Cat Must Stay (deport Corbyn instead)" petition on gov.uk! I can easily code a bot which will produce the necessary number of up votes to force a HoC debate, and I doubt that this would even be illegal under the present rules.

I'm tempted to offer £10 for every immigrant which EUCam deports because their English isn't good enough. He knows he'll be gone by the time any case would even need to be considered. And, you can be damn sure the European courts will have the last say on this; any such deportation will be ruled against human rights, and leave us clutching huge legal bills for our trouble. Meanwhile the extra £20M of taxpayer's money he's throwing at the problem is just another instance of the squandering of our national resources by main stream politicos. It's further proof that the claim of unselective immigration being cash positive for our economy is an outright lie. Australia demonstrably has this about right, and we should learn from our Australian cousins and their century of experience. The fools who control the undemocratic EU will never learn from anyone, and are once again destined to learn the hard way!

Raymond was one of the first people i ever voted for, when i was eventually permitted to vote. I can't remember exactly what he stood for, but what he didn't stand for was the mindless status quo! Yes, paternalism was the ticket in those days, but don't knock the totally genuine concern, and place it in historical context (as I'm sure you do)! Your sentiments that "it matters not one jot what your political affiliation is, it is simply pride in where you come from" are exactly mine. But, if you think that Bedlington has moved well into the 21st Century you've not read too many of the posts here. There has been a major awakening, but sadly it's still far too easy to buy into the likes of Lavery's mantra of victimhood, state dependency, and that the world owes us all a living. Because of this most Bedlingtonians with get up and go still do, and everyone is poorer for it! "Ranting" is what I do best; but I'm steadily working towards making myself a historic curiosity - just like my dear old grandpa! John's talk about cycles earlier on this thread is interesting, but I'm not sure that he has all the background quite right.

That could easily be true, but you need to argue that with the unions who are demanding government action on Chinese imports depressing world markets. The unions must know that the government can't do the necessary within the EU framework. So.. both the Tories and the unions are either kidding themselves or kidding us - you choose! This is currently labelled as one of those "wicked" issues to which there is no easy solution. But it's certainly not one of those; like the resurrection of our fishing and other "strategic" industries there is a very straightforward solution: leave the political EU! Trade and politics do not mix, and the Common Market was sold to the British people as a free trade area. It's time to call the politician's bluff and get back to fundamentals. As you imply, we have a trade deficit with the EU, and they depend on our contributions to keep the whole political project afloat. We call the shots here, and if you meekly accept the EUphile's argument that we are in any way dependant on the EU for survival, you dramatically sell our great country short!

Research the threats on Longridge's life by left wing extremists, and the subsequent events... There are many reasons that such great men have been quietly disowned by their birthplace. I'm not saying the blame was all on one side, but the short-sightedness of local Labour politicos is - and continues to be - staggering. That short-sightedness has extended to the physical destruction of our heritage. Even as I child I could see that what was going on was a betrayal of our heritage, but right then I didn't have the facts to back this up. Was it planned or just sheer ignorance? Well.. a bit of both I think.

Because - like most of our town's "under-performance" - it became highly political! Those people were "evil" Tories, so must be erased from history at every opportunity. The overwhelming left-wing narrative demands no less! And more left-wing votes are to had from that place to the North, so Bedlington and its proud history doesn't even deserve a mention.

One thousand more jobs to go - some of them in the NE - due to Chinese dumping of steel. What does the USA do about this? It applies swingeing tariffs on dumped steel to protect US jobs until the dumping stops and normal fair trade can resume. What does EUCam do? He offers platitudes whilst another major industry slips away. He can't act without the permission of our German overlords, and such permission will never be forthcoming. This wouldn't align with Merkel's view of how things must be. And, what does the EU-centric, EU-funded, BBC tell us about this? Well, whatever you do don't mention the EU dimension to our job losses, as it would blow a hole straight through our propaganda about EU membership being good for jobs. Keep on repeating the lie about three million jobs being dependant on our membership of a political union, and we'll put through this bad patch - until, the next bout of EU damage to our economy. Sad that a once national treasure has been so subverted that we now get more objectivity from Al Jazeera or Russia Today!

Irrefutable Chinese logic there. Everyone knows what the "other" and prohibited use of a knife is! This road sign is entirely logical too (providing you are the sign contractor):

You couldn't make it up! He actually said it! Corbynite Labour policy is now to scrap Trident but not dry-dock our four nuclear submarines - because that would cause job losses! So, we'll be paying for nuclear subs to cruise the world to advertise the fact that we've entirely lost all our marbles! Surely it would be far cheaper, less polluting, and less humiliating for our country, to pay those submarine crews and support workers to build sand castles on the nearest beach? There's artistic merit in this alternative policy too; it needs to be debated at the next shadow cabinet meeting!

Ah, yes: Toka A Anji Lodi in English - in fact just what I was thinking before Google translate came up with the same answer. ない生活は不気味ですか？ Umm.. don't bother to translate that - you'll get: Life without Is it creepy? I leave you to guess what the original English was.

@Canny lass Zero cost (on a PC) can't be extravagant, and one password for everything spells major trouble. Anyway, how do you deal with sites that don't allow you to set your own password, and PIN numbers, and other private information? A good password manager does ALL this for you on ALL sites/occasions, and also makes sure you have them on ALL your devices at ALL times. It can also sign in to site automatically - that alone is a big time saver! Everything could get stolen, and you'd still retain full control of your digital life. The very fact that you do use scraps of paper means that you are avoiding the obvious solution! I challenge you to install Lastpass, and then come back here in a few months time to tell us that your life has not been made a lot lot easier!