threegee

Really! Where does it say that?! I - in common with the Russians and Chinese Communists these days (and, of course, the UK Labour Party) - think that industry should be controlled by the best most competent people who get there by their own abilities, and not by political appointees. But that has nothing to do with how government is run. Your thus doesn't follow on from your thus, and that doesn't flow from your so... - even if your "are/will be" was right, which it likely isn't!

So how do you feel about the present Police Authorities? Are they a glowing, and cost-efficient, example of democracy in action? Who appoints them, and how much do they cost? You don't know? Maybe you were never meant to know! I fail to see what this has to do with privatisation/nationalisation of industry, please explain? Sometimes, you know (actually, quite often!) politicians do the right thing for quite the wrong reasons. Think it's meant to mitigate against it being a place to retire failed and non-performing "public servants" to. Wouldn't do to give the House of Lords any actual competition in that regard. Not so much widening it as deepening it. The present system couldn't be any more undemocratic! I think it's a close run thing between Blair 1 and Blair 2 in the credibility stakes. Have to agree with Grayling on this one. If MPs have to stand down first then why don't peers? This could be positively beneficial for the public purse if people like Slugger Prescott fancy their chances!

Yes, but how many of them can read English!

About fifty years overdue! I never understood why the public tolerated such an archaic system. We need more democratisation, and - particularly in Bedlington's case - a lot more common sense in voting for our own interests! That means not being dupes for long outdated class-driven politics, and exacting a high price from BOTH main parties for our votes.

Ryanair is actually a pretty good example of private enterprise and the diversity it throws off. At least when I'm being treated like a sheep I know that I'm not being fleeced as well. When it becomes too unbearable there are more expensive alternatives. Also, there's alignment of interests in that Mick O'Leary is using the same take-it-or-leave-it strategy on my behalf against (often state sponsored) monopolistic suppliers to keep costs down. People still flock to Ryanair because it is actually what they want from all the real-world alternatives. Not what they say they want, or what they would like to be offered. When it isn't what they want then Ryanair will fail, and there's going to be no rush to pick up the pieces and pour taxpayers money into it. ( Of course! Is there ever anything but good-spirited discussion of the issues on here? Let this be an example to you Boss Class at Westminster! )

Having gone off and checked the facts on this one I'd be more than happy to elucidate on the East Coast mainline situation. Before you engage though, please check the official performance figures of the current (and "caretaker") operator against the former regime. The franchise was profitable under National Express too, but with higher customer service levels! And.. the last time I used a National Express train the WiFi was free, not £4.99 and hour!

National Interest is always a hard one to argue - why politicos always quote it when they've run out of other excuses. What was in the national interest is generally evident only with hindsight, and sometimes not even then. Take the various wars as an examples of that. I don't object to the French owning chunks of our infrastructure if they think they can run it better - but you know how I love them! After all, we have simply huge overseas investments ourselves, and have often shown the US of A how to do their thing properly. It becomes highly political when an overseas company is sacking large numbers of British workers and "exporting British jobs", but British companies have done/do exactly the same overseas. It's up to us to get our act together and free up our labour markets again I think. Problem is that there are no longer too many people around that can remember near full employment, and so-called "employment protection" is a political hot potato.

Wow! And, before your back there was private capital which built the railways. It's unlikely we would have had them if it hadn't been for those "capitalist pigs" who put up the money. Many of them backed the wrong horse and lost their money and no one compensated them, but Britain and the industrial revolution always benefited massively. Meanwhile, what did the British state do with all the taxation they raised - some of it generated by the private railways? Ground nuts maybe? But, more likely, it was blown on "the war effort". One of the fundamental laws of economics: Private individuals and their enterprises generate wealth - governments dissipate/waste it! Real nice of you allowing "private companies" to play with the state's (stolen) train sets. But, if nationalisation is so bloody good, why can't the state do a better job with the rolling stock? Does not compute! Maybe you should re-read that article Adam. The dumb mistake was made by the very same civil servants you would have running the whole show. The bill (£40M) for the mistake has to be picked up by the public purse. That's just a low-cost preview of what happens when there's moral hazard involved in running an enterprise - AKA nationalisation.

I meant qe2fields.com not you!

More mature members will remember him from: Twenty six episodes 1963-4. Music by The John Barry Orchestra, but curiously not composed by John Barry.

Seems like I voted twice - count defo went from 17 to 19! Click on the rectangular [Heart] YOUR FIELD graphic folks, under the number - they haven't made this immediately obvious!

Aahhh... class war is alive, and well, and living in Bedlington! Easy prey for the "toffs" in the Labour Party who are peddling the politics of envy to an entirely new generation of suckers (and immigrants - some of them even legal!) just like the old days. Bring back Clause IV I say! Meanwhile, back in the present: Blame on all sides here I think; not just Andrew Mitchell who got above himself. A "bit of common" on any one side and we'd never have heard of the incident.

Excellent scans and a good additions to the gallery Vic! The first one 1960's, despite the sepia. The other ones well pre-war. The church clock face has been painted in rather crudely on the third, which is a tiny shame!

...except... ...the security certificate on the copy my computer has downloaded here has already expired! It says expiry ‎15 ‎July ‎2012 01:59:59! Really really bright Sun Microsystems, you send out a highly critical update to hundreds of millions of people, and sign it with a duff certificate! If other things had the same level of quality control as software I'd be retiring to a dessert island, or finding a deserted mountain top somewhere in Patagonia.

That would seem to be the usual update, for some strange reason a full six weeks earlier than scheduled! http://www.java.com/...d/installed.jsp So... seems to be the way to go.

On the subject of F1 websites, it's perhaps a good thing they have moved on! Way back in the 1990's we found ourselves on the same server as the original UK F1 website hosted out of Yorkshire. Poking around on the machine I was flabbergasted to find that our hosting account had complete read/write access to all their files! Could have been interesting, but for some reason we soon moved on to another hosting company!

Ah, it's back to collecting the The Radio Constructor on my bike on wet days again! Looking at the other Walter Wilson pictures, did they EVER repair their sign - shades of Faulty Towers here - or did it gradually deteriorate? Presumably it originally said "THE SMILING SERVICE GROCERS"? BTW further up on the thread re. Moldens I'm surprised no one mentioned Percy Molden. The thing that most sticks in my mind about Moldens is that behind the scenes, in the office, was a shelf with a row of hard back tomes on how to run a business. The fact that these imposing business manuals looked in pristine condition my young mind rationalised with the fact that, if they'd been used, or indeed of any practical use, Percy wouldn't still be occupying only "half a shop" in a small town. Percy was a great character, but as a young boy I had an uncomfortable feeling being sent in there by myself. I was particularly uncomfortable at his insistence on inside leg measurements at every possible occasion. Boy's waists - or lack of them - seemed to be a particular talking point.

This one seems VERY serious, and you are doubtless going to hear a lot more about it when the media gets hold of the news: http://www.theregist..._block_exploit/ The recommendation is to disable Java on your Windows computers right now! Instructions for Firefox are here. Other browsers will have a similar mechanism for disabling it. Update: Someone asked me how to disable Java in MS Internet Explorer. See Here

Maxed the final credit card to meet that one. Nothing happens in August in the Southern Med; come September and it's back to the barricades! And, the Eurocrats will now deliver to the protesters what the Greek politicos are so very resistant to - it's finally dawned on all that Greece simply has to be thrown to the wolves. Rather than anyone being seen to be out of line, and making the first move in isolation, I think we will likely see an coordinated move with a view to minimising collateral damage and maximising the standing of those in power. The script has already been written.

Ah, Goebbels - there's a surname to conjure with! Or... in the case of our parents/grandparents generation... to compose catchy ditties with! http://www.europarl....t_GOEBBELS.html The more well-known branch of the family was disarmingly honest in ITS dishonesty: He may well have gone to hell, but that certainly won't have wiped the grin of satisfaction off his face!

Probably because it was called Pringles not Proudlocks! Una Pringle I believe, and Vulcan Place the location.

Well, Malcolm Hemsted is apparently "website administrator" of "http://bedlington.pl...ay-cricket.com" and has published his email and picture there, so why don't you ask him? Better still ask him to come on board and post what he knows about the family for posterity. If he has photos to post then so much the better. Hemsted rings a strong bell, and if I had to guess I'd say it was one of the shops at the East end of Front Street East, to the right of the banner here http://www.bedlingto...iners-picnic/ possibly the one with a double awning. Am a bit ashamed I can't remember precisely just at the moment. I'd certainly have shopped there on the odd occasion. For the record the one immediately to the left of the banner is Miller's Fruit and Veg, and they also owned the smaller shop to the left of the lamp post, though didn't always occupy it themselves. And I think you do know what happened to that budgie...

Update: I have detected some shadows in the first picture and so submitted the image to intense enhancement and computation. Can now unequivocally determine that the first picture was taken on the 14th June 1958 around 1pm (GMT), and that there's an escaped budgie from that day's show at the library perching on a TV aerial, just out of shot. Anyone know what happened to that budgie? http://www.nrfta.org...rfta/12161.html

A consistent approach brought to you courtesy of the Labour Party. The party which, thorough history, has never missed an opportunity of describing other's tenure as "Wasted Years". http://newleftreview.org/I/24/t-w-twelve-wasted-years http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Three_Wasted_Years.html?id=W2qKGQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y etc etc etc.

You are not alone! http://www.dailymail...s-villains.html Ask BP! Oh, and through marriage Dame Helen has to pretty much an authority on the subject.