Malcolm Robinson

I think if you walk into any corner shop up and down the country and ask the Asian gentleman there to run the country they will do a better job! They all show a much better understanding of economics, marketing, work ethic and supply and demand than any shown in government these days! I disagree GGG I would have baled out the banks but I would have let them go bust first and taken them over the next day thereby not honouring scandalous ex director’s golden handshakes. The economy would go on irrespective of where the money comes from, public or private sector, it doesn’t differentiate so why do we need to pour unlimited cash into it to keep it private? It now looks like billions have been wasted bolstering banking assets when the same cash could have been used to provide mortgages and investment capital which would produce domestic returns straightaway. I just don’t get why a government with this as a ‘stated aim’ didn’t have the bottle to actually do it? Anyway GGG get with the program the recession is all but over isn’t it, or is that just what we are led to believe?

You have a point monsta but if everything is reduced to the lowest common denominator don’t we loose choice?

Enhanced golden handshakes for the top brass of WDC! Had Bedders had some strong leadership about 2 million quid could have been ring fenced for investment into the area! I think it is a bit rich, politically speaking, for "Labour" to come out with headlines like this, although par for the course. This unitary authority was their protege even if they have now lost overall control due to the fickle electorate! Reading the verbal fisticuffs which have been going on in the letters page of the NPL recently anyone would think they had been against the idea instead of pushing it through. It has also been interesting to read about the financial benefits accrued by some in this new authority while others turned up for work only to be told they didn't have jobs anymore. The fact is that now all of our local assets are now under the direct control of a county wide authority and whilst we have always been in third place in the tripartite rat race within WDC, third place in the unitary authority will be a dream position for Bedders seeing as it is now split into several sections, thirtieth will be more like it!

Or not!

Sorry Mrsvic, I blame the mod! They have maybe pulled the vid as it is going to be used in a tv ad........

You saw it here first!!!!!!

Did someone say its a good time to bury bad news or has Mrs Smith put in another expenses claim!

Not really a joke............ http://link.brightcove.com/services/player...tid=17075685001

Sym, I visited the Smoke in the GLC days and rode the tube for 20p anywhere, thanks Ken! His crushing victory at the first Mayoral election might have had more to do with the perceived way he was treated by his party and an ‘anti’ vote than any great support for him and his policies. (In much the same way as Boris?) I suppose once a person makes a whole party machine bend to accommodate him he might just loose the plot!

Blank, I think we are talking about two different things here, although there is a strong symmetry between them. On the one hand I agree Bedders has never faired well under WDC as far as recreational facilities is concerned but on the other people are free, given certain restrictions, to make their own interest groups up and develop them whatever way they want. Of course that in itself might be foreshortened by the lack of available facilities etc, depending on what was needed, but the option is there. It has for too long been an unresolved question and the new boundaries laid down for the Shire will do nothing to help resolve it as far as council oversight goes. One of the soon to be small parish’s cannot hope to muster enough backing to take this forward so once again we will see hoped for schemes stalling.

Sym, I sympathised with him at first especially having to forgo his party’s candidature only to blow the official candidates out of the water but then things went wrong. It wasn’t really the Ken the London voters expected or wanted but I suppose the job had changed by then, not the least being a change of government colour. I think he had his time and needed to let go. I spoke to people who knew him personally and boy do they have tales to tell! As for Boris, mad as a box of frogs but I can’t help liking the guy, if nothing else you get to have a laugh!

Sym, Yeah the good folk of Old London Town had quite a choice, a newt or a congenital idiot!

Hope it turns out OK for all of you...........

Historic. Sociable. Unpretentious.

The Bedlington Chute. I don’t want to pour cold water on your idea chris but with all the boozers closing will there be a pool league left? Also at a time of less than available commercial credit and the fact that it is right bang in the middle of a conservation area considering build costs, RV and normal running costs might mean returns per square foot are not viable? Best of luck anyway.

Mrsvic's 'Morrissey' isn't a WDC councillor!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/498...Government.html

Didn't see the show and I can't load the catch up either. However if it did show the town in a disparaging light then maybe a campaign to ask channel 4 to redress what we see as a slur and ask them to do a better profile for Bedders? Could be a win win situation of handled correctly.

I think the quotes by Councillor Reid and the ubiquitous county authority should be sending a red flare up for us all. If the new authority are not going to be bound by any pledges made by the old councils who they replace where are we? This new authority has already been shown to be fiscally imprudent and may well go back on pledges it has only just made. It was bad enough being ‘governed’ from a small (very small!) room in Ashington now we are to be overseen by people who really might think Bedlington is just a dog kennel! As an aside, I know of moves to develop and promote Meadowdale School for community sporting facilities as well.

Sad news indeed Brian, especially when someone was just doing their job.

Adroit as ever Monsta, however Mrsvic does have a valid point too. When you see community assets being stripped out and replaced with........err........well nothing really we should all be asking questions. Course the normal whipping boys at WDC have been replaced so Mr Darn do you even know where to send your stern letter? Never mind its all about bring local government closer to the people it serves and making it inclusive! I wonder Mrsvic if the 500K might just be part of the million quid being already spent on the town, if so it ain’t new money!

Might be the Torygraph but still............. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/495...TV-cameras.html

You have advocates to help you in this sort of thing Mongo they are called councillors and failing that an MP. If you still feel aggrieved there are other roads open. On the face of it I agree with your assessment! Rents are based on length of tenure? I thought they were based on open market expectations for the type of property? If you have gone from 62 quid to 75 quid that's a 20%+hike. According to charlie's posting it should be around 68 quid and only one annual increase? Has anyone asked what the 2 quid increase is for and will it always be applied as there is a good chance inflation will soon come back to haunt us and if the inflation figure is a multiplier that could be a real worry.

They maybe read these boards!

In the rather cushioned '60s I drove a motor scooter through 20 foot snowdrifts to get to school. And I thought you were just a board mod, not a bored MOD!