Malcolm Robinson

Almost certainly to a 'man' nationalistic to a point of arrogance! If you can't speak French don't try and live there they don't do forms in English never mind Urdu or even Vietnamese.......unlike our own dear homeland where you almost have to ask for an official form in English. They also have something we don't have and that is a constitution which gives every citizen inalienable rights. As for the racism point I think it is more down to how the term is used rather than its spelling.

Actually GGG just read the French are now net importers of energy not exporters! So maybe not the shining (no pun intended) example of popular nuclear usage as once heralded!

Yeah but GGG always in times of national hysteria, or self preservation, there is a rise in popularity of these sorts of political parties who manage to turn all the blame for whatever onto a minority, in an effort to exploit our natural auto kinetic defences rather than rational ones, and further their own ends. Course the culpability for what we are talking about here is clear............

That it the real problem for me GGG it's all about misdirection. It's the same as the way a magician works, you look at the right hand and don't see what the left hand is doing. While everyone has been thinking how well off they were, deluded with house price increases and cheap loans, the country has gone bankrupt. Been talking to a director of a hedge fund group recently and he says they are back to making millions but this time there is no safety net, no one has learnt any lessons in the city! At least Obama seems to see the ramifications.

Thought we went through a decent period of actually repaying the national debt? Oh yes that's right the Iron Chancellor stopped the repayments and started the borrowing again......... about the same time he sold half our gold reserves which have lost us around 8 billion at today's prices, knackered pension schemes, imposed a fuel tax escalator............

Alternative to vasectomy After having their 11th child, a Liverpool couple decided that was enough, as the social wouldn't buy them a bigger bed and they weren't strong enough to nick one. The husband went to his doctor and told him that he and his wife didn't want to have any more children. The doctor told him there was a procedure called a vasectomy that would fix the problem but it was expensive. A less costly alternative was to go home, get a firework, light it, put it in a beer can, then hold the can up to his ear and count to 10. The Scouser said to the doctor, "I may not be the smartest whacker in the world, but I don't see how putting a firework in a beer can next to my ear is going to help me." "Trust me, it will do the job", said the doctor. So the man went home, lit a banger and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5," at which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs so he could continue counting on his other hand. This procedure also works in Middlesborough, Ashington, Blyth, parts of Bradford , anywhere in Wales and Ireland , most of the southern States of USA, and Mexico ..

Merlin, I agree and that's why I think threads like this are so important, they throw up off the wall stuff, some of which could hold some of the answers/suggestions we need to go forward. What is certain is that we need the debate which produces a consensus and then an open partnership with all parties involved in an effort to get the town moving in the right direction. If we are forceful and united enough to do that we will see change, if we don't get together on the issues the status quo continues............ As for the community centre its future seems a bit more rosy than of late.....time will tell.

The real 'story' is in the comments......... Luke and Mark buried their differences and after a civil ceremony went to live in Stockton where they both became bouncers for Mothercare!

Didn't you do any drinking in Bedlington in the early 90's merc?

Thing about the frogs Monsta is that they have secularism enshrined in their constitution.

15 years ago I had a letter in the News Post leader proposing passport controls on Stakeford Bridge and people thought I was daft! We now need then on the Morpeth road to County Hall! This whole 'Unitary Authority' thingamajig has handicapped us even further and not just for the reason's Merlin mentions. It is supposed to bring decision making closer to the localities but in reality it has made an Authority which has always been described as being too remote by government inspectors even more so. It would be easier to find the 'Holy Grail' than it is to access officers! I wouldn't care but just over 50,000 people voted for this option, single tier, while over 60,000 people voted for a 2 tier system, what did we get, oh yes the democratic option, single tier???????? This has been imposed by central government against the wishes of the majority of the people who took part in the referendum so the noun to be used does begin with a 'D' but it isn't democracy! We have lost a whole swathe of our elected representatives, maybe not a bad thing considering the costs involved but, and seen services centralised in what for my money is little to do with service delivery but more to do with county balancing its own deplorable budget state. We now have a handful of parish councils who oversee the flotsam and jetsam of services councils provide. Anything with a real budget has disappeared into the hallowed halls of county. As an example we have just seen the decision to close our libraries deferred (that word again!) yet at the same time a new state of the art library opened in Haltwhistle? It would seem cuts in services in one part of the county are paying towards upgrades in another, hardly the level playing field we have been promised even just considering the population figures of each! Another example is in the area of leisure facilities. I know the hard work and dedication it took to get the money for this feasibility study into recreational facilities in Bedlington yet we see Ashington is to get one handed to them on a plate. The cynic in me would suggest mass demonstrations just before an election might just be a lesson we need to learn! Could we have had something else, yes. We should have reintroduced the old Shire boundaries and ran along the lines of the old BUDC, one council for the whole Shire. We have the infrastructure in place, we own, or did own, the council offices on Front Street, no need to use the community centre Merlin we have a bespoke suite of offices. We could have contracted the major services off county, health, education, fire, police etc, yet kept most of the day to day stuff and made our own decisions about the way we would like to see our own area develop. Local decisions made by locally accountable people not by faceless autocrats in the warrens of county hall! Come the revolution brothers and sisters, first against the wall.............

Monsta, Councils don't set tax in the way you propose, apart from property based ones that is, this would be so far out of their remit, or competence, as to be unthinkable. Good thread though...........

Ah monsta, Nick will be so proud of his acolyte! So it will just be the attire which you don't agree with then............so its burkas and hoodies really, why not go the whole hog and go for flat caps as well?

'off' would be the second word GGG! I am in enough trouble trying to lobby and get us out of the prospect of paying 'double taxation' on the parochial devolved services the town councils will soon supply! On top of that questioning county on their budget proposals has almost left me speechless at the way that is heading. One thing is for sure we are going to be paying a lot more in for a lot longer than anyone is thinking, or admitting, about! Given the thread title is it just me who thinks there might be a correlation between all these 'deferred' decisions, parking charges, leisure centre closures etc and the date of the soon to be election?

:lol:

The first man married a woman from China, he told her that she was to do their dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away. The second man married a woman from Italy; he gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table. The third man married a Geordie girl from Newcastle. He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry done, and hot food on the table for every meal. On the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough for him to fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

Monsta, council can't cover their own costs never mind anyone else's.

Isn't issuing actual dosh something unlawful? Sure I read it a while back when there was talk about a credit union. Absolutly nothing stopping the traders issuing a Bedlington voucher scheme though!

Bit like a credit union?

I don't necessarily agree we need 'light engineering' tagged into the back of Front Street to legitimise the high street, I think the costs would be prohibitively too high, even if it was possible. We certainly need that mix within a sensible distance to give diversity to our local economy both in terms of sustainable local jobs and wealth creation. I do agree with the point that the planners have a lot to answer for as far as Bedlington is concerned. Instead of an ambitious economic development plan we got a conservation area tag put onto Front Street which has always been used negatively as far as development went. It may have changed a little of late but too little too late comes to mind! The decision to only have commercial development north of the Wansbeck left us in Bedlington relegated, not only in terms of economic development but also in the area of community facilities, to being a dormitory town and the wallet of Wansbeck! Never even being 'placed' in a three horse race we are now in a fifty horse race with an even bigger handicap.

So what do you really think GGG?

It would seem the Italians are dying out faster than their birth rate, so much for that particular bit of national hype. There's nowt gets past you monsta is there! Now if you applied the same strict formula to political philosophy............

Or even this one.............. http://www.italiaora.org/

Melting ice caps........... http://www.worldometers.info/view/glaciers/ And one for GGG: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/01/21/antarctica-warming-an-evolution-of-viewpoint/

Take a look.......... http://www.worldometers.info/