Malcolm Robinson

Ex B, Yes the next one you get will probably not even have the stamp on so you will have to pay for the postage! Actually NCC are in a really precarious position at the moment, the administration cannot set a legal budget, they get one more try then central gov step in and impose one.

If that is right Weatherspoons have just bought a delicenced pub? I would think getting the licence back would be a real uphill struggle, arguing that the town needs another pub while most are on their uppers if not closing, would tax the persuasive powers of Aristotle!

I think some of this sort of stuff is certainly artwork deriving from the 'pop art' movements of the 50's. Having said that it is unfortunate where certain exponents of the craft choose to exhibit their work!

Thanks for the link monsta, interesting reading about the green Sahara and its people.

I take it you too think an organisation using climate change to underpin their economic strategy for the next 5 years is about to waste and cost a lot of money it can ill afford!

Greece would seem to have already defaulted, certainly in the stringent confines of monetary union. Of course the likes of Germany and to some extent France have to bail them out, they are using the same money and if it looks suspect......... This would seem to me to be the whole problem within the Euro member states, without political integration a moneyed integration will always be faced with problems arising from weaker sovereign economies. Course they now have to re-write the rules to allow this sort of intervention, or probably as is so often the case turn a blind eye when it doesn't suit!

GGG, I wasn't really suggesting that this economic quagmire we are in is the same as what has gone before only that we now seem to have the attention span of a gnat! Maybe it's the celebrity culture which now so pervades our society but unless something is on the front pages or at the top of the news it is almost ignored by the majority of people. Perhaps Cowell is right, trivialise it even further and people might take it seriously? I think you are right about the whole overspend scenario and there is one glaring fact above all others, GB was the man in charge of the nation's wallet! I didn't think he was a particularly good chancellor but as a PM everything he touches seems to turn to *$%@! I don't mind the interventionism; in fact I think Gov's should be proactive, but doing so because of a knee jerk reaction to events rather than a reasoned strategy shows just how willing our current crop of top politicians are to swap their allegiance and conviction for a quick fix, however flawed it is. As for inflation the gov of the BoE should be going to the chancellor now to explain what he is going to do about the figure as it is above Gov budget projections. With 3% inflation and 0.5% base rates the only people suffering at the moment are the ones who didn't live beyond their means and tried to provide for themselves and their families. Sizsells, I think your post epitomises the way most people are thinking that's why I think sitting and main party candidates will get thumped at the next election. If you don't think any have the answers why vote for any of them? Trouble is we may see Monsta's favourite party gain more influence and that isn't the way to go. You are right about your economic theory however there is a good case to be made for governments borrowing to invest, especially in times of economic crisis, but that investment has to be cost effective and produce a tangible return, even if it isn't in the short term. Seeing all that 'public' money disappear into the coffers of the banks, where they still sit on it, and calling it recapitalisation is criminal, as is the whole QE exercise which is only going into buying government debt because no one else will buy it. The whole thing would be thought much too far fetched to be a Brian Rix farce!

That's better Brian; I guess the Aussies don't have a trade's description act? :lol: Anyone imagine the hassle if that went up on the Red Lion!

:lol:

Didn't they pinch them off the Persians????

I like Ferguson, anyone who says the indebted western economies are like crack addicts hooked on cheap credit which they can't repay for their daily fix is a sensible economist in my book. Having said that fancy a yank thinking America is the 'the last bastion of western power'........... I kinda think the MP's are jumping ship cos they know they are about to get bashed at the next election and going now they get to pick up about 65K each relocation allowance! Bit like the great and good at county, they are jumping ship to get their enhanced redundancies this year, next year with the changes being brought in they won't get anything like the figures on offer now! Now who picks up the tabs for all this stuff????? I have been though recessions before and they are not a 5 minute thing which slots nicely into a TV news break. We seem to have bankrupted the county in a Keynesian style attack but because the people in charge don't have the stoicism to see it through fully we are left in an even worse position? The next lot will probably try to get back to neo liberal style economics which will have a devastating effect on jobs given the global nature of such things now.

Can't read the stuff on the side of the pub Brian? Anyone got a spare set of goggles?

I would have thought we had learnt something about the interconnectivity at play these days in economic terms. If a fly farts in China someone in Newcastle looses their job! Greece looks set to destabilise the Euro at least in the short term, it has already destabilised Maastricht as the EU hurriedly breaks its own rules for members, that impacts onto our exchange rate which in turn influences our exporters (one area where we could actually have a positive effect being outside the euro). So yes cheaper holidays but goods made here and exported (I know!) are less attractive compared to euro priced ones. Given our biggest market is euroland will we see the BoE devalue further or increase the recessionary effects of large scale unemployment? The story has always been there in Gov bond yields and still is.

CCTV soooooooo last year............... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100212/tod-you-re-nicked-police-drone-nabs-its-870a197.html

Nice Monsta, photoshop?

Been thinking along those same lines Merc. Are there still large capacity breweries willing to supply or do you have to go down the 'real ale' route? Course there is also the rates licensed premises attract. Maybe a poncy wine bar for Bedders????

Any Euroland pundits out there who have an opinion on Greece and the EU?

Hmmmmmmmm,

Rea, I think there is another equally valid point at stake here. For the last 30 odd years we have been told we didn't need a sports facility because there were several within a short distance either by car or bus. Well if the population of Bedlingtonshire has for the first time overtaken the population of the Ashington area in terms of numbers then if a new sports centre is needed why not build it here? Same reasoning would apply wouldn't it? H, I can symphonise with your view H but like all good conundrums there are other salient points to consider. Those being the development is slap bang in the middle of a supposed conservation area, there are already issues with vehicular access to and from Church lane, the church itself has problems of access now especially at times of weddings and funerals and there seems overwhelming opposition towards this development within the community, given the building which will be lost. Anyone supporting this development at the last Town Council meeting would have been stoned!

Oh dear.......... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100210/tod-arab-envoy-finds-wife-to-be-bearded-739a30c.html

I think we would get pretty short odds on the community centre at the moment! There are another 3-4 which might attract very slightly better odds! The only one missed off the list is the Bank Top isn't it?

There is possibly a clue on the boards adorning some of these establishments! It would seem the breweries have lost their little enough grasp on realties and imposed massive rent hikes.

Seems a bit more complicated than that............ In 1995 the Company was acquired by Lyonnaise des Eaux for £823m.[3]. In 2003 Suez, who had acquired Lyonnaise des Eaux, sold 75% of Northumbrian Water to a Consortium of private investors.[4] The Company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2003.[5] NWG's present Chairman is Sir Derek Wanless. Sir Derek is the former 'ousted' CEO of NatWest Bank, and a former Non-Executive Director (and Chairman of Risk Committee) at the Northern Rock Bank.[6] Suez........http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=102498

Mr D's list is starting to look like a dead pool list these days. Might be more apt to wager on which one will close next!

Perhaps holidaying on a Russian oligarch's motor launch or having the use of someone's villa might be considered along the same lines?