Steve

Apparently we won Eurovision, well if you add up all the losing countries with our score anyway.. lol

I've come across some who won't vote as they now feel Britain has gone too far to destroy democracy, some mornings I've had over 100 emails to go through from supporters, many who admit they voted remain but now see how the EU works, many who think our political parties have forgotten the people. Now it's time to get politics fixed.

Brexit Party signs, badges and other materials available from my shop - all FREE of course :)

Essential services should be (where practicable) not be privatised, Schools, Prisons, Hospitals, Doctors Surgeries, etc.. Of course many of these are sadly were privatised in the 90's/early 00's and are subject to PFI agreements where the taxpayer pays through the nose while bending over. Really weird how these private companies can go under so easily though, and the public 'companies' seem to increase their running costs exponentially yet we get less and less 'value' from their services - Of course they can't go under as our money seems to be free rein for taxation. And then there is Arch..... I'd like to see that properly investigated and come to a conclusion where those responsible are punished in accordance with the law and hopefully they're made to pay back and give back assets to us.

@threegee While that's very true for a lot of the country, around here I think it's just people are sick and tired of the same old getting nowhere, it's like the labour party stick their fingers in their own ears every time the people speak, they just do what they want and ignore us. Brexit comes into it too (though it shouldn't as this was county elections). TBH I think there will be one heck of a cull of labour MPs come the election. Many are in shock at how many people have moved from labour to conservative in this region, it would have been unheard of even a short time ago. Sadly the conservatives took votes from my party too - like nearly all of em! On the plus side, my party have two parish seats and I know some of the independents have too, and believe me we all want the same. Definitely a win for Bedlington I think, and a wake up call to the remaining labour councillors. I truly think we'll see some very positive changes once everyone settles in.

Excellent news, I really believe they'll all make Bedlington an even better place.

Bedlington central looks promising

Best of luck Malcolm, we need people who listen to the locals (like you do) and not just their controlling party whip, hence I'm standing down here in Sleekburn for a party with no whip! I'll stand up for the people firstly, and support any councillor with genuine improvement at heart, even if it goes against any UKIP policy, It's the people who matter. Thought I'd post this here as there's still a lot of people we didn't get to see or drop a leaflet in with - Further information available or speak to me on 01670 898119

From a business perspective, keeping the tree would have been the way forward. Even if they were *given* extra land for car parking/access. I like Lidl, and look forward to a supermarket in Bedlington, but there are plenty of sites where it could have been located if they couldn't work out how to plan/landscape around the tree. One thing we do have in the area is plenty of greenery, I look out of my window at work and enjoy what I see. How many more of these greenspaces are we going to lose? Call me a tree hugger all you like, but I enjoy nature, and want to enjoy our town Mind you, this pic I took yesterday makes it look like have lots of greenery! (tip: save and zoom in )

Had a guy in here getting his computer repaired earlier. This morning he had been on a flight to Brussels, 15 mins from landing the pilot alerted them that Brussels airport was closed so they had to divert. So of course his business meeting was cancelled meaning he had to fly back. Of course the religion of peace thinks it's all good and acceptable, and of course WE have to put up with it thanks to our eu dictators. I have to wonder if todays events were to do with the terrorists they got at last week, or is it because our eu dictators have finally decided to return some of the travelers to Turkey - some of which we can be sure were up to no good.

That's a nice idea, as long as they do give off real light that is usable for humans to see what's around. I too like the dark, but for many it has made going outside on an evening too daring to even consider - so sad, one woman was almost in tears telling me how she felt 'trapped' in her own house because of the fear of who *might* be lurking in the shadows. Elderly (or indeed any age) should not be scared to venture outside - and they weren't until the mass exodus of street lighting. Of course, am sure we'll be keeping the eu dictators happy in doing so, and the extra costs will be passed on to the very people who are now scared.

County Hall, a lovely building, dating from the 1980's - Yet no good now? Sue the builders if it's really as bad as they'll have us believe. A lovely LARGE building I might add, if that's not big enough for the council and it's 'services' then I'd say there's a problem with the council itself and not the building. But as mentioned above, PFI is the way our council think everything should go, they've demolished schools so that we can 'rent' them, hospitals are 'rented'.. etc etc When John Major looked into PFI (and yes that was the start of it), it was promptly stopped. Only to be revived and brought on mass by Tony Bliar, now we own nothing, we rent everything, and pay exorbitant amounts of *our* money to fund it. I've heard of schools being charged an extra £10K just to get a noticeboard put up thanks to PFI and renting all our amenities. Of course we pay the 6th highest council tax in the country, so NCC can afford to squander our money in such a fashion. Where the rest gets squandered is anybodies guess, but it certainly isn't spent on improvements. We the people have NO need for new council offices, but seems some people who have too much of our money think different because they *want*.

Here's one of the 'new improved' lights with some of the old lights in the distance for a comparison, no prizes for guessing which one works better! The old orange lights were around 40 times further away from me. The 'new' lights are like watered down 'moonshine' lol Scared to leave your house after dark? Complain to NCC now, or contact your local councilor.. Demand that your safety be restored. We've become too complacent and put up with lack of services for far too long now, together we CAN make a difference. Of course NCC will still say it's a 'success', a 'benefit to the community', 'money well spent'... and when they eventually have too many claims made against them - they'll blame 'government cuts' and say it was someone elses fault.

Yeah, me too - well read them online anyways, got a thirst from news when I was a lad (that makes me sound well old) doing my paper rounds. I do find that the guardian is riddled with propaganda though. I once created an account on there just so I could announce my disgust at the tripe they were publishing, I gave up hope so didn't bother on there anymore though. Mind you I find much of what the 'news' the media prints needs us to do our own research to find the truth of the article, and the rest isn't true 'news' at all.

Does anyone read the guardianista any more? Apart from Corbyn I mean?

News sites full of tripe today about how Britain isn't good enough to survive if allowed to govern itself. Good on Boris for having the sense to (hopefully) research and educate himself instead of listening to the propaganda we're being fed. I like Boris on general, though I hate what he's done to London's road infrastructure, and I detest that he often finds it difficult to answer questions. Sadly there's a section of people who fall for the propaganda from the EU. Anyone read or believe that we are better off being governed by the EU should talk about it, because the stuff in reading in the media at the moment can generally be proven utterly wrong. Let's be proud of our country, I believe in us

If rather that than getting 'greased' lol Was talking to a lad couple of days ago who had similar happen when he was a mechanic.. So wasn't just a pit thing. I'm pleased I stuck to computers lol!

Maybe you're near me, if you are careful you don't fall into the potholes, they're too deep to 'trip' over! Somewhere I got some pics of old Iights and new, while they were changing them.. Heck of a difference, in reality though.. It ain't half darker.

Business the way it should be cheers Bill. Hope you clicked that link on ya desktop to get plenty more of those laughs

I run a local computer shop, and as such I come across a lot of people wondering about upgrading to windows 10, although I have to say the vast majority who had windows 7 or windows 8 have already upgraded. Asides from some early issues with windows 10 itself, overall the upgrade process has went smooth, with the extreme majority of software continuing to run absolutely fine. During the first 30 days after upgrading to windows 10, you can 'roll back' your installation to how it was before the upgrade. The FREE windows 10 upgrade is offered if your hardware is capable (although in some cases barely) and you have a qualifying version of windows currently installed on your machine. This free upgrade will be offered up until June or July of this year, so if you want it for free you still have 5 or 6 months to decide. Most people who have the horrible windows 8 will have upgraded already. Some older hardware that was NOT supported in windows 7 or 8 might even work again in windows 10, although as the posts above suggest there is a possibility of the opposite occuring. If there are problems with hardware or software, typically the upgrade will inform you of this and afterwards you may have a file on your desktop mentioning any removed software, and it will often include a link to the vendors site so you can *hopefully* upgrade to a windows 10 compatible version. Do read carefully when you upgrade as there are options to KEEP your files and applications, as well as a 'clean' install. Most of you will want to keep your files at the very least. If your machine is running slowly, or if you are having problems with malware, viruses, popups, crashes etc, I'd strongly advise you get the underlying problem rectified BEFORE you attempt to upgrade as this is one of the main issues we have been seeing that can cause problems. As the yahoo article above mentions, there is indeed a fairly large download - those of you on a metered connection, or using mobile broadband (dongles with sim cards and such) might want to get it upgraded on a different connection. I've already had a couple of customers wondering about bigger bills due to this so it's definitely something to be aware of. You can of course switch off the 'recommended' update section of windows update, or if you're really worried, set it to notify you before it downloads anything. Should anyone need advice, or if you are having problems, give me a shout or if you know where I am, give me a call or come see me

Everyone able to vote will have a national insurance number - Could be used for official voting and for petitions? Postal voting has been open to fraud for a VERY long time, in fact it seems like it was designed with fraud in mind - and I don't mean to stop it!

Darn, did I forget to post an update on this! It's a year later - and afaik we still have lights. The official response from NCC is that the lights are in place so the children from guidepost can walk to Bedlington schools safely. Of course had they (NCC) not closed schools all over Northumberland there wouldn't be a problem.. More 'common sense' from NCC it seems!

You're right about the perception of time Wilma - I just worked out your age from the dates you mention, I thought you were at least 100!

I got curious about this, and though I thought it was 'possibly' Blyth - I even had a location in mind... I them came across this: http://dre.durham.gov.uk/pgDre.aspx?&SEARCH=By+Keyword&TERM=Building+workers&ID=DRE6029&PIC=Y I found that after other research pointed me in the same direction - the dates of construction are correct 1925: http://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/nstnrail.html Not saying it's definite, but the interweb seems to point that way!

Recently at my place of business I received a leaflet informing me that they were replacing the street lighting with LED lighting. Anyone who has friends, relatives or who frequents Ashington will be able to tell you the affect it has had in their areas. I first became aware of this when an elderly client informed me she was now frightened to go out of her house after dusk as the lighting was so poor. The LED lights will illuminate an area directly underneath the lamppost that is only a few square metres. further away that 10 metres and it is absolutely pitch black. I visited the clients street to see for myself and indeed there were so many dark areas that I could immediately understand how she was feeling. There is more light given off by the waxing moon on a cloudy evening! Since this I have spoken to many in the Ashington area who feel exactly the same. I even got in touch with the council on her behalf but they weren't interested in the fact that now everywhere up there is in darkness and wanted me to list individual addresses. Nothing is likely to be done to rectify the situation and anyone wary of what might be hiding in the shadows is now forced to stay inside after dark. Local residents have taken to leaving outside lights on so that the pavement can be lit up around their doors. Park road in Ashington is a great example if you drive that way - unless someone is directly under a light, wearing fluorescent clothing then they become invisible. But do check out the other streets, rows and avenues. LED's are great if they're pointing in the direction you're looking, or in a small space - they'll light up the area in front with their narrower beams. Streetlights point down so just light up the foot of the pole they're attached to. A small bright arc, dazzling if you're looking directly at it, but darkness all around. Crime rates seem to be on the increase in Ashington too - could be something else, but.... So... I'm quite worried for local residents with the current plan to remove our street lighting. NCC will say it's costs, savings... At what cost I might ask?? Add to this that the cheap lighting has already proved costly to repair due to the poor quality of the drivers for the LED which are frequently failing... If it's costs - Where are our council tax reductions? Instead we have the sixth highest council tax in the country - even significantly more expensive than the likes of Kensington in London!! Views? (or lack of if you already have these useless streetlights!)