Symptoms

Pilgrim's note above defining "Natural England" as a "food factory" is only partly true; the obvious examples are well tended arable crops and fields full of animals waiting for the chop. However (sod you Mr Gove), much of the so-called natural landscape has been shaped for the purpose of game shooting ... observe the woods cresting a hillside and ending at the top of a sloping meadow - its purpose is to allow game birds to be driven out of the woods where they take flight over the guns stationed in the meadow below. So, the next time you take a car journey just note how much of this type of landscape exists. Of course, much of the land in Blighty is STILL owned by the nobs and it was their forefathers who carved-up vast tracts of the land for their sporting pursuits.

Next time Maggs, not so much Pernod.

A bit of an update ... I tuned into the ITV iPlayer to view Johnny Kingdom's new shows about Exmoor (they're currently being broadcast live on ITV midweek) and at the beginning of the final credits of the first show of the series was a dedication to Stuart; that first show, and subsequent shows credit him with the 'original music'. This 'background' music throughout the shows is lovely and so evocative of the Exmoor landscape. Go to the ITV iPlayer and check out the programmes and the music.

Fangs for the memory Christopher.

The World is full of folks pretending to be someone they aren't. Con artists do it for dosh, Grant Shapps hid behind his alter ego Michael Green's 'get rich quick scheme', many online do it for 'protection' (including here), Michael Jackson used bleaching products to become 'white', Nige pretends to be a 'man of the people', Harriet and Dave both minimise/deny their poshness for political advantage. It really doesn't matter if that Yankee lass did a good job at the NAACP she got the job by deception; she deserves all the opprobrium being directed at her. Or course, it a complete nonsense to think that this type of behaviour ONLY exists on the left ... it's everywhere! A pox on all their houses.

"Woh Neddy"cries Wilma as he's caught galloping through the tunnels. GGG (get it?) won't be pleased that an employee of a nationalised industry wasn't bent under the lash of the bosses mantra, 'Tote that barge, Lift that bale', but just taking a moment off from his toil (just a joke G).

Esso did those bullet holes ... a promo to coincide (as Mal says with the Goldfinger film). All the other obvious stuff was given away - World Cup player coins, all those dreaded drinking glasses, 'Tiger in the Tank' stickers (who can remember the Tiger's tail giveaway ... to be fixed to the car aerial). As a family we used to go on camping holidays to the Continent and BP did a passport for kids; it looked just like the blue adult passport of the time. Anyway, at each BP filling station over there you'd get it stamped, just like the border crossings entry and exit stamps on the real passports at the time {pre EU}. The BP passports could then be redeemed for prizes.

For once Sym & GGG are aligned on the EU question; ditto on the BlightyFA withdrawl. Mind, I reckon UEFA is just as bent as FIFA (and the Olympic bosses). I wonder just how many 'grace & favour' call girls were sneaked out the backdoor of that swish Swizzleland hotel having been caught by the Peelers doing unspeakable things to those 70 year old FIFA bosses?

News just in from our stringer in Swizzleland, Don Sepp Jon-un Corleone, Head of the notorious Fifa crime family has sent all his opponents to 'sleeeep weeeth thee fisheees'. He's shown thanking all his supporters before rewarding them for their loyalty ...

Maggs - wielding the red pencil isn't for me ... I'd just let too much stuff through. My motto would be 'publish and be damned', so clearly I wouldn't last long before being carted off to the gulag like Solzhenitsyn.

John, how was I, or many others here, to know that "foxy" wasn't a pseudonym ... especially when it's juxtaposed alongside an avatar of a nude woman humping a haversack who some on here might describe as a 'fox', or a 'foxy lady'. So, an honest assumption I hope you'll agree. Anyway, back to the use of pseudonyms by other folks on here; a brief look at just the first page of the Members' List (As) shows at least 50% using pen names and I'm sure that percentage will vary page by page. So it's a bit unnecessary (and maybe unfair) to describe those using an alias as being cowardy custards for not using their given name. Who's to say 'Symptoms' isn't a surname ... I could be called Richard Symptoms but never Beloved Symptoms. Actually, on the first incarnation of Bedlington.co.uk I did use my given name, the site then went dead for a couple of years then re-appeared. I had to re-register but the new site wouldn't accept the 'old' username (my given name), hence the pen name. Of course, for security and ID theft reasons it is always advised NEVER to use a real name on any Forum ... so silly me first time around. As I acknowledged in my earlier reply to GGGG, I'm not going to buck the notion that Forums shouldn't be moderated and I do applaud those who take on the thankless task ... I might prefer a 'light touch' but hey, it ain't that big a deal especially when the mods' judgements can be openly questioned.

GGGG - your valid points above are noted ... I understand how crude automatic filters can be and how they can appear to be unnecessarily heavy-handed. However, I'm drawn to the bottom of my #1 post to where there's an entry, "Edited by foxy, 13 May 2015 - 04:42 PM.". So our 'beloved foxy' isn't a real person who often posts here but just a bit of filtering software??? The plot deepens.

HPW wrote: "Sym,thanks for posting this,I think I fully agree with your fears,but you made a serious mistake by deleting the word "Evil" and B..............ds"!!!!!!!!!!!" But I didn't Wilma ... it was others on here that applied the censor's eraser. In my original post #1 I certainly did strikethrough (with a line) the word evil just to be sarcastic but also apply the appearance of a tinge of balance and neutrality (me smirking). However, later in my original post #1 I wrote: "... Jocko/Froggy/Fritz/Toryb.a.s.t.a.r.d.s/mackemscum jokes ..." (but I didn't have full stops between the letters following Tory, as I have in this explanatory post). That 'b' word was erased and the lower one in the last paragraph changed to B..............ds. It's getting a bit like the Daily Hate where even mildly offensive, or even non offensive, words are being swapped for asterisks/dots or being 'airbrushed' out. It's a bit like living in a toytown version of China or North Korea. I did say, "Be afraid, be very afraid".

So now it starts beware the Censor ... Frau Theresa May wants Ofcom to pre-approve programmes reporting stuff that might be against the 'public interest'. Now, just to clear, it won't just be Auntie Beeb's bloomers that'll be examined but ALL broadcast media's undies will be sniffed (social media, telly, streaming, web, bloggs - the list will be endless). Give the Peelers and the Quangos any excuse and they'll extend their remit to be catch-all. This is censorship, pure and simple ... forget all the bleating from the Westminster shysters (and their apologists here and further afield) about it'll only be directed at the terrorboys; the wording on the draft talks about those 'against the public interest'. What a catch all ... a Government Minister, or a local Councillor, or a bossPeeler, or boss BigBusinessman could declare just about anything being against 'the public interest' or any group 'working against the public interest' ... would that trigger Ofcom calling-in news reports or telly documentaries to be censored? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/21/mays-plan-to-censor-tv-programmes-condemned-by-tory-cabinet-colleague I'm against any form of censorship (apart from self-censorship). Publish and be damned is my mantra and allow open challenge. p.s. Before anybody raises the record of the Left ... Labour were a disgrace with some of their anti-libertarian views and legislation.

A truly great bluesman. I preferred his early work (very late 40s and 50s) which was authentic traditional blues. I didn't fancy his stuff after this period as it did become influenced by the soul scene prevalent at the time (60s) and with the inclusion of loads of horns in his band; he did have a great voice right to the end. I saw him at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1978.

I thought I'd start a new thread to help centralise alerts to what 'the evil* Tories' have in store for Blighty. So now it starts in the NHS ... the top quacks want to curb treatment to some folks: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/12/doctors-to-withhold-treatments-in-campaign-against-too-much-medicine The quacks insist they're independant but look down the article and you'll find this paragraph: "NHS England has been working as a partner with the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges to join the international campaign of Choosing Wisely to establish which interventions do not help patients in the care of their condition." The quacks are Tory puppets! So now it starts restricting free speech: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/13/counter-terrorism-bill-extremism-disruption-orders-david-cameron Their new Bill will include the need "to submit to the police in advance any proposed publication on the web and social media or in print." Just think about that for a moment; give the Peelers this type of power and it's in their DNA to stretch it, and stretch it to catch all sorts of innocent folk. Ignore all the bleating from the Westminster shysters about this law ONLY aimed at the terrorboys. Has Sym to submit his Jocko/Froggy/Fritz/Tory/mackemscum jokes to the Bizzies or risk 'the four o'clock knock'? Mind, some on here would think that Sym deserves to be some lifers 'girlfriend' in the pokey *I've crossed 'evil' and' b*****d out to allow this thread to begin & continue on a neutral and balanced note.

Here's the glorious Steve Bell's cartoon from the Guardian today:

Have a look at this brilliant Mac cartoon in the Daily Hate - all about the Jocko hordes in Westminster: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3077432/Mac-SNP-s-election-triumph.html

Looks like Hereford in OZ. That wall looks to have a single yellow line in the road above it .... too much wacky backy Maggs? Future tip to prevent Sym neckache: take the snap, then rotate the phone to the correct orientation, then save the snap again. Oh. and Antony Gormley's new iron block sculptures will last for 1000 years ... so sayeth the man himself. Perhaps, he was commissioned by the kippers to create them ... 1000 year Reich celebration or their election success. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32702277

Stop Press!!! Hot off the teleprinter ... Nige to stay as bosskipper.

2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 2005 Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan 2002 Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal 1990 New Zealand Commemorative Medal 1977 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal Yep, a brave lad is our Eddy.

To save me looking ... what party is the fragrant Mal the Big Daddy?

Short of there being a 'one issue' independant candidate (say, closure of a hopital) it's unlikely that a serious challenge could be mounted against somebody like Lavatory, unless ALL the rival parties united and put up a single candidate to fight the seat. Unlikely to happen, although all those fundamentalist godbothering Unionist parties in Belfast East did it and won the seat back from the Alliance party because they didn't split their vote.

Let's speculate about what would happen after a dirty big snowball or lump of rock thumps into us from outer space. Most of the stuff on planet Earth gets snuffed out apart from a few lucky (???) ones. Look a thousand years in the future and what would we find? Would it all have developed into a pastoral utopia or a pale version of the Industrial Revolution (unlikely, due to all the easily accessible resources having already been extracted) . My bet is for something with a storyline lifted straight out the Game of Thrones; in other words constant tribal warfare.

Bricks, even Medieval ones, are of a generally common size - small enough to hold and small enough to fire easily. The red stones in your pics are sandstone and not fired brick. Northumberland does have yellow/buff/red sandstone & limestone quarries dotted around the place, including Bedders. Whilst the following document doesn't prove anything, it illuminates the range of stones available locally: Northumberland_Building_Stone_Atlas.pdf I've posted the following before but for those that haven't seen it it makes interesting reading: Bedlington.pdf