threegee

panem et circenses Presumably Boris has done it already?

You are very wrong Tony. If Carswell were one of the establishment mob he'd have hung on in there instead of going back to his electors. He's an intelligent guy, and knows the way to really shake Cameron is to take the constituency from right under his nose, using the massed ranks of both Tory and Labour voters who've had enough of the system. If you want the same old system, and the same old crooks running it, then carry on supporting the establishment. But my bet is that a fair few of your members are wising-up too - listen to them! It will be a pity if our town has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century by other regions - but if that's how it has to be, then that's how it will be. I may be wrong but I think there are now enough educated people here who are no longer fooled. Generally the system has fostered dependency, and those of an independent turn of mind have upped sticks and left. That's been a tragedy for our area, but suited the two (and a bit) party system very well indeed. In fact we've been so gullible we are almost a joke in the South East - certainly our MPs are! Do yourself a favour and listen to what Carswell actually says. Forget the accent, and his former party, and tell me what you actually disagree with. He's not alone, and there are Labour MPs too who will come clean once they see that the days of the political elites are rapidly coming to an end. For many of them it will be simple self-preservation, but that something you can't accuse Carswell of. You are right in thinking that there is a class enemy of working people, but times have moved on, and our area has not. The class enemy is at Westminster, in Central London, and in the huge bureaucracies that both parties and their chummies in Brussels has spawned. You are being suckered by New Labour in just the same way as other parts of our country are being suckered by the Tory Party. The big swing to the LDs at the last general election was the result of many people waking up to this. But the LDs were shown in their true colours almost from the word go - a bought and paid-for part of the establishment! Things happen a lot faster these days, and you are about to see proof of this writ large. With your union roots I can well see that you'd be sceptical. But keep an open mind on this one because the establishment are going to try every trick in the book to hold on to power. You know damn well that it really doesn't make any difference to your membership who is in power, you get the same old excuses and nothing really happens. What the people at the top of the tree say, and what they actually do are two entirely different things. But, they keep most of the fruit, and we get the windfalls. Disaffected Tory voters may have kicked this one off, but more and more Labour voters are wising-up and supporting UKIP now. As it's a people's party that takes its instruction from the bottom and not the top, policy has moved distinctly leftward over the last year or so. But, in the end, that really doesn't matter, because what it's about is breaking the mould, and ending the cosy cartel that runs this country (and in which the EU now figures greatly). I like your Bismark analogy. The Bismark - like our system - was believed to be unsinkable. No warship sank the Bismark, but unity of purpose from people who didn't buy into the German government's myth rendered it unseaworthy! And, when the German capital ships were seen to be powerless, the course of history was changed.

Yes and no! Malcolm doesn't seem to agree with me, but I think it matters a great deal for us here in the S. E. Northumberland. But - like many of the big issues that do matter - no one seems to "give a monkeys". IMHO leaving the UK would be a disastrous mistake. Salmond is a snake oil salesman, and will blame the UK for the disaster he himself brings on. He's acting like the UK will agree to all his demands, when in fact any UK politico who doesn't play hard-ball with a Scotland that has turned its back on the UK won't last very long. The matter is out of party politics, and he'll get more or less the same treatment from whoever is in power. He's also a proven liar, and his gentlemanly undertaking to accept the poll result will be rapidly forgotten. He will continue to moan and blame the rest of the UK whatever; it's a no win situation for the UK! On the other hand Northumberland would greatly benefit from an independent Scotland, and if - as looks likely - the Scots don't buy Salmond's snake oil, he'll drain us of even more resources. So: Whole UK: A no-win situation. Northumberland: A win with Salmond : A (bigger) lose if Scotland decides to stay. Scotland: A disaster with Salmond (will take a while to become evident) : A win if they stay (but will moan even more) Salmond Personally: He won the instant he secured the referendum! Other views?

Everything UKIP has been telling you is wrong with the system - from a Tory MP! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28967904 He's exposed Cameron's cunning plan for a re-run of Harold Wilson's trick of keeping us in the then Common Market by pretending to secure a better deal. There is NO better deal, and it's not an economic union - it's a political one! It is designed to secure the continuing dominance of the ruling classes - people who produce nothing but live in luxury off the backs of people who do! It adds more layers of these drones, so that the layer you elect has even more excuses not to deliver the kind of fundamental change we need! The Eurocrats call it "post-democracy"; what they mean by this is that you are too thick to know what's best for you. The system's sole purpose is to replicate itself. The Labour Party wants everything the Tories have; their strategy is to let Cameron do their work for them, and say as little as possible on the EU. There was a time when Labour were opposed to the then Common Market, but New Labour saw an opportunity to feather their own nests and grabbed at it. I've recently been listening to speeches from the likes of Hugh Gaitskell warning of the perils of loss of UK sovereignty, he and others (like Enoch Powell) foresaw the problems, but the present Labour clique are bent on selling our country out - just like the Tories! My generation was fooled by the politicos on the Common Market - Ted Heath even admitted that he'd lied to secure the original vote. If we let this happen again we don't even deserve to be British! Wise up folks and VOTE UKIP - a party that belongs to its members, and were no one has been bought and paid for!

You've hit on one of life's great conundrums: If octopi have only eight legs how on earth do they mange ten tickles?

I'd have put money for the proposition that there'd be no connection whatsoever between that song and Glen Campbell, but... in the weird world of music, and way back in 1967, it seems... http://www.forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/glen-campbell-as-a-session-musician.161053/ How did we ever get by without the internet? But.. if we are moving to South Pacific it certainly wasn't Happy Talk on the night. The ScotNats might think he's A Wonderful Guy, but he's simply A Cock-Eyed Optimist because his estimates of oil revenue are so Bali High! He thinks the electorate have Got To Be Carefully Taught, but we all know he'll end up in a duet with the fat lady - singing This N-e-a-r-l-y Was Mine! If I'd paid a bit more attention to Scottish history at school I'd probably have been able to work Bloody Mary into this too! Though a prize should be offered to anyone who can hang Younger Than Springtime on either of the deadly(boring) duo! That said, I do detect an uncanny resemblance between Darling and Honey Bun - by way of said dead sheep! Oh.. and almost missed the show-stopper number: There Is Nothing Like A Dame - especially when you appoint them yourself, and then they report exactly what you want them to, when you refer yourself to them! Canny lot those Scot Nats; know exactly what they are getting themselves into - I expect! http://antioligarch.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/the-shame-of-britain-its-not-the-olympics/

Probably a few locals anticipating the rush to leave Salmond's ScotNat Shangi-La and making room . Most Scots with get up and go will - as usual - keep on going South though, leaving the moaning Wullies behind at haem to breed. Pity far too many of them are politicos; England would have been an altogether nicer place without any Scottish-bred PMs. And... this is a nation that is always moaning about the English having too much influence in their affairs! Anyway, I can think of many worse places to live than Bedlington, and quite a few of them aren't in the North East.

I'm told the Beeb guy was Glen Campbell, but he didn't even get to Perth let alone Phoenix, and certainly never to the point. He was Gentle On Salmond's Mind though! No True Grit in evidence at all, and it sure wasn't a Southern Night!

I can only tell you who lost - the BBC Scotland moderator who might as well not have been there! An utter shambles of a "debate", where 99% of the audience had obviously already made up their minds and weren't in an way interested in what anyone else had to say. The glee in the ScotNat camp when Darling said Scotland couldn't be prevented from using the Pound was telling - the Nats weren't at all interested in any of the follow-on gotchas. As for the participants, it was a contest between two socialists as to who could better waste other people's money - in Salmond's case the same money several times over (must have been taking lessons from Gordo there). On an issue which stirs such passion North of the border you'd have though there would be some passion in the debate. But, Darling was clearly reading the script most of the time, whilst Salmond was transparently following instruction from his spin doctor coaches. When he walked away from the podium jaws dropped - until it became clear that it was a pre-planned, spin doctor inspired, ruse to "psychologically embrace" the questioner. I hope the fees for all that coaching on presentation are going into English pockets. Could the whole thing be a cunning plan by Tory Central Office to permanently eliminate fourth or fifty Labour MPs from Westminster? If so the plan was likely doomed from the moment they failed to secure the services of Scotsman Anthony Charles Lynton Blair to champion the No cause! From then on a dead sheep could top the poll for the No campaign - and likely will!

Look, you get a certain choice of the best of two (maybe more), and some terribly good chocolates thrown into the mix! Nice people the Flemings! Ironic that a country that can't make up its mind about anything at all is first home to the EU - predicated on the notion that everyone can make their collective mind up on absolutely everything!

...in Science and Technology? http://www.goodcountry.org/overall Now all we need to do is to focus on our poor score in "International Peace and Security" Tony!

Sympathies to the family, but "Dickie" is/was the lesser of the brothers I think. A loss to the British film industry to now be missing the chief luvvie, but - in later years at least - he was just a bit too PC for me to think of as entirely "genuine". With David you are left in no doubt that the person talking is the person inside, but with Richard there was always the puzzlement of where the divide between actor and private personality might be. That's not to minimise some of the good work he did. I though his portrayal of Christie was pretty good, but there's the tiny suspicion that he may have been drawing a bit on his own character in that part. Not one of the all-time greats, but often passably good, and will still be missed.

You've forgotten the nepotism! http://order-order.com/2013/09/13/list-of-shame-every-mp-who-employs-a-family-member/ But seriously, you are doing a wonderful job there Ian, and are worth every penny of every increase you vote yourself and your family! It's just a pity that you are the laughingstock of the laughingstock, and make everyone in Wansbeck look like the singular ignoramus you are! Next time you chose to press home one of your withering attacks on the Tories take the trouble to check which party appointed the damnable person you are targeting! You managed to lose the NUM virtually ALL their membership during your short tenure; so keep on applying those management skills to the local economy, and keep on blaming someone else! There still seem to be people who you can take-in, but remember the old adage.

The Directory is now active. Any member should be able to submit a link. If you have a problem please PM me or Brett. Don't worry about a category, we'll develop those on the fly. Please keep your links relevant to local people, and remember if you are promoting your own web-pages then it's netiquette (only good manners) to provide a prominent back link from them to Bedlington.co.uk.

Links Page software now agreed on - so, a few days hence... hopefully... Thanks to West Bedlington councillors, or Adam, or whoever (you know who you are), for the original idea.

Interesting John, thanks! Something might come out of this. I notice the Dennis Fancett Community Help Hub.mp3 seems to be far too short - only 30 seconds! Can we try another copy, or did someone this end screw up?

So... the very latest bogy is ISIL, IS, or whatever they are calling themselves this week. Come in al-Qaeda, your time is up! Our politicos have something else to protect us from at vast expense (note the warnings of IS terrorism spreading to UK streets); our security services can once again justify their shady dealings; and, our armament makers get a boost to their flagging share prices. There's one thing we aren't being told though: where does IS get its massive funding? It is very well organised, and some serious seed funding came from somewhere. IS didn't simply spring into existence from another dimension in the cosmos. Our senior politicos have certainly been told, but they choose not to pass on this crucial snippet of info. Of course the only way to a cure to (and prevent the reoccurrence of) a cancer is to clinically seek the source. If your only visible concern is to be treating the symptoms, and you steadfastly ignore the root cause - even any mention of a possible root cause! Then there's always the suspicion that you yourself might just have an interest in a "snake-oil" factory, or may be uncomfortably close to someone that does! These days we are very quick to apply economic sanctions to people we don't ordinarily get on with very well and simply suspect of dodgy dealings with "terrorism". Why is IS proving an exception to this?

Delusion #2: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/11046740/Sir-Ian-Wood-15-years-of-oil-left-before-independent-Scotland-spending-cuts.html Not what Salmond wants to hear of course! And the truth he's trying to conceal about current production:

Robin Williams had 'serious money troubles' before his death

An major opportunity was missed in not converting the old Dr/A Pit line into a light-rail rapid shuttle service to The Market Place. It would have keep our "main" station operational too. Not a huge project, and would have gone a little way to undoing some of the wrongs of the past in not putting us on the main line as Stevenson envisaged. With a little station in the Market Place all the other proposed development, that has always stalled, would have followed on naturally. The synergy would have fed into the main rail project, and relieved commuter congestion on the road network. A complete lack of foresight and cohesive planning by local politicians I think.

MT doesn't need any apologists, she did what she had to do for the entire country! I don't have any problem with trades unions, they too do what they have to do. I do however have a problem with people who have highly selective memories, and people who demonise others, and particularly with people who feed subsequent generations half-truths. Scargill was not the trade union movement; or even the NUM; or even that part of the NUM he split! He isn't a demon either; or evil; or any of the silly mindless substitute-for-thought left-wing labels you would apply. He's actually a rather sad old guy who is still at odds with his own union, and thinks they (and the rest of the world) owe him a living. I don't take any delight at the NUM throwing him out of his subsidised flat - he's still living in his own dream world, and still way beyond any rational argument. I do sympathise with those who were taken in by him, but I do not sympathise with their entirely misplaced and soul-destroying bitterness. The world is a lot more complex place than people who chant mindless slogans, and blame others for their own lack of foresight, can admit to! Problems are deep rooted, and there are few simple solutions, and certainly none that don't require a bit of personal pain and effort. Feeding future generations thoughtless crap in order to perpetuate your own bitterness is about as mindless as it gets. It might make you feel better about yourself, but it doesn't help you, or anyone else - now or in the future. Oh, and I gave the video 5*. Not for its historical accuracy, or balance, but for capturing the nostalgia we all share.

I bet those side-by-side bikes were loved by politicos on holiday - they can steer in both directions at once! :blink:

I have, in my hand, these pieces of paper, and they bear the assurances from my ex-Nazi friends in the EU that following a Yes vote Scotland will enter a period of peace and prosperity. Peace and prosperity for our time!