...and he added a bit at 2:40 just for Merc!

We seem to have two already, and only one of that two is me!  Here comes the rush!

2 hours ago, ex Bedlingtonian said:

Isn't Ashianas a bit further down the block, more to the right of the entrance to Foggans Yard. I think the TSB is on the corner where the fish shop was.

Keep clicking to enlarge.

Seems you've started something WT, and it's going to cost me!

14 hours ago, webtrekker said:

Sorry threegee, I fully understand how cash for clicks works, but I'm an intense user of the internet and enough is enough for me where advertising is concerned, I'd rather pay a yearly subscription just to avoid ads. 

If that could be arranged I'd be the first subscriber, but I'd happily be the second too.

3 hours ago, webtrekker said:

Adblock Plus works for me! 

Ah, don't do that!  Andy gets a tiny bit of revenue from them which helps to pay for the server and camera connection costs etc. Click on the ones that actually interest you, but don't artificially boost the revenue by clicking on ones that don't.  Every click through helps build a better bedlington.co.uk in a tiny way.

Well, go win one for me Eggy, as it's the only way I will ever acquire a vastly overpriced "Apple product".

I get bombarded with ads from the company we already have an internet connection with.  So much for Google's carefully targeted advertising!

1 hour ago, moe19 said:

This was hanging in the National Portrait Gallery she was the daughter of J. Todd Thompson of Hartford Hall, Bedlington, the founder of Thompson's Red Stamp Stores

Ah, yes, yet another nationally recognised family that was a representative of free enterprise and job creation that Bedlington has honoured with a street name or memorial - not!  When I mentioned the shameful treatment of the Gooch and Longridge legacy being the product of political myopia some while ago I was ridiculed.  I feel that the whole thing goes far deeper, and that our town is now very much poorer (and a lot more obscure) simply because of leftist political dogma.  If we are waiting for the teaching profession to rectify this then we are in for a very long wait!

4 hours ago, lesmes said:

Hello again Moe

Yes, down glebe road and would say around the Silverlink car show room spot, and they were the same company as Moore’s Stores that someone has mentioned.

Very good for their general groceries broken biscuits etc, but quite expensive to most.

Quote

1971: Acquires the McColl confectionary chain of 422 shops, giving cashflow required for 14.5m takeover of major house-hold name Bovril, followed by Wright's Biscuits and Moore's stores and a controlling stake in Anglo-Continental

http://www.sirjamesgoldsmith.com/timeline/

Life is full of unappreciated connections! 

Sorry, I don't have any medicine to take, and the pretty young oncologist seemed quite happy when she looked over the medical tests on Monday morning.  Good for another year, subject to another MRI which is proving difficult due to funding problems here, was the verdict.  I might pay the clinic for it myself, but as we've just paid a wodge of income tax to help prop up yet another failing Eurozone economy, I was rather expecting a little of it back.

Have you read the Swedish government pamphlet delivered to your house about what to do when war breaks out between the EU and Russia?  "Duck and cover" is it?

I think the Carillion failure highlights a problem with HOW the contracts are awarded.  The government actually encourages shaky companies to underbid, as a large government contract provides them with cash flow to try to dig themselves out of trouble. 

The government is a monopoly buyer in these circumstances and could easily draft a contract which avoids this pitfall.  The contracts should require that when public funds are involved public money is placed in escrow in favour of subcontractors and their employees, any use of those funds to shore up the main contractors balance sheet should be declared fraudulent and therefore a criminal offence. The government could also dictate the maximum delay in paying subcontractor's invoices.  Superficially this would add to the cost of the contract, but in fact those costs wouldn't be anything like they first appear because it would give smaller subcontractors more incentive to enter the market and lower costs that way - I'm told that many subcontractors simply refused to deal with Carillion because of their ridiculously extended payment periods, and any sensible subcontractor would factor the finance costs into their bid.

The argument about public/private is all rather artificial, because at some point everything in government is furnished by privately controlled resources.  Blair's Labour government rightly recognised this, but as is usual with our politicos they went totally overboard in favour of what "seemed like a good idea at the time".  The government should be encouraged to carry out limited experiments with public funds, but these experiments shouldn't become general public policy until the results are in.  This, of course, doesn't suit the "I have all the answers" politicos.

Shallow thinking CL - the sort beloved by the left.  A club where membership requires you to hold two self-contradictory views in your head at the same time, and convince yourself that both accurately represent reality.

Amusing that Manfred Weber has stood up in the EU parliament in the last few days and deployed exactly the same spurious argument that you've deployed in the number plate debate.

Quote

“The most drastic example for the lack of leadership is probably the debate about the colour of the passports in Great Britain. 

“Just before Christmas, Prime Minster May announced that after Brexit Britain would return to the blue passport. This would be to quote ‘an expression of the UK’s independence and sovereignty.   

“The first problem in this respect is about honesty. The whole story is a scam. 

“EU law does not say anything about passport colours. Croatia has navy blue passports for years already. You didn’t have to leave the union for that. So why do you not tell the people the truth?”

Needless to say the shallow Verhofstadt though this was another hilarious example of British stupidity. 

Yup, "the science is settled".  That's apart from the fact that anything that IS settled isn't science.  Strange days we live in!

I wonder what that flag is Merc?  No, actually I don't!

That's far from the case here.  But... to paraphrase Herr Juncker: The EU flag is losing its importance in Europe.

I  think CL needs to think a little more deeply on the matter: at least as deeply as those on the Brussels gravy train.

The creator of the petition simply wants the right to be British by default again, and not to have to jump through hoops to assert this.  To him/her being British is the default state, and so why should things be different?

In part it's generational, but by no means entirely.  I'm delighted that your flag is the same as mine, and that neither of us are "xenophobes"!

31 minutes ago, Canny lass said:

I can't understand why anybody feels that they must wait until March 2019, or have a petition calling for the right to do so, if they want the Union flag on their number plate. They can have it now if they wish:

I understand the EU flag it's pretty much imposed on you; but whatever, the petition is a signal to the government for when the law is redrafted to exclude EU diktats.  It's up to the level where the govt has to respond now, so we'll be able to read the response in a week or two.

At a practical level: in this part of the EU nothing much is enforced and Brits drive UK registered cars around for years - I will start looking closely but can't remember seeing a GB sticker.  I was using a UK driving licence for almost ten years before swapping it when renewal was required, and that's the norm in these parts.  Crash helmets and seat belts are pretty much optional, that's unless the mayor is struggling to pay the local police wages (which is increasingly the case these days).  They've been going through the old records to try to find property tax bills they've overlooked in previous years in a desperate attempt to keep the town solvent.  So, all the EU propaganda about an economic recovery is just that, and the true state of things is clear in so many other ways.  I don't think I'm going to be using Euros for very much longer!

Happy New Year CL+Pete_+Joe+All!  I'm not telling you what my resolutions are though CL! 

Quote

Union Jack to appear on British number plates after March 2019.

Why is this important? For too long the unity of Britain has been allowed to be undermined and now is the time when we leave the EU to give everyone a sense of national pride once again.

SIGN THE PETITION

10,373 signatures as at 31st December 2017

Just when you were doing so well Ronnie!  You go and support the establishment, and badly damage the UK's negotiating position in the process.  What on earth were you thinking by supporting the Tory rebels, and voting against your constituent's best interests?

Come the next GE this will be remembered.  But, perhaps you've already decided to retire on your parliamentary pension and don't want to rock the boat.  Some answers please?

15 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Now I know you've been at the sherry! Everybody who's anybody knows that he lives in the forest behind my house!!

I don't know how to break this to you CL - maybe you need a strong drink too - but the guy behind your house is an impostor!

Santa Claus has been here for almost 1000 years after being kidnaped by some local syndicates who made the Turks "an offer they couldn't refuse"!  He decided to holiday in Moscow this Summer (and it seems he's quite popular up there) - I blame global warming!  After almost 1000 years he probably needed a holiday though.

Here's a sneak shot I got of him on his way to Moscow in May (don't you just dig his luggage!):

19 hours ago, Canny lass said:

"Coffee"? Tis the season to be jolly is it not?

Was never more CL!   Merry Christmas from Santa Claus Land!

Quote

DT Headline: Theresa May to tell Ireland 'nothing is agreed' on terms of Brexit as row over deal intensifies

Oh dear, it seems that someone did tell the Irish!  How could this possibly have happened as we have a UK government and an EU, both so utterly united in themselves and singing from the same songsheets?

There must be someone somewhere who isn't thinking of the greater good of us all, and wishes for things to go very wrong.  We must find that selfish person and shame them - maybe a Twitter storm or a FB campaign?   Now who, in either the EU or the UK government, could possibly be operating to a personal agenda?  This is hard, I think I need another strong coffee.

Quote

...

A senior Eurosceptic with knowledge of the discussions involving Cabinet ministers, including Mr Johnson and Mr Gove, told The Telegraph that No 10 had said a commitment to “full alignment” between the UK and the EU “doesn’t mean anything in EU law”.

A separate source confirmed that a specific Cabinet minister had been told by No 10 aides that the provision was “meaningless” and was simply included to secure Ireland’s approval for the document.

...

Seems like it isn't only the EU that is two faced.  I sort of get the impression that we are heading for a bad case of "irreconcilable differences" before the pantomime is over.  Well.. that's what a lot of us are really hoping!  

So... "Black Friday" is almost gone, and despite looking and looking I've resisted all temptation.  Perhaps temptation is too strong a word, because I've hardly been interested in anything on offer let alone persuaded to reach for my credit card.

Have I finally reached maturity at this ripe old age?  Is it just that BF isn't what it originally was?  Have I already got too many gismos/books/videos?  Is this a first step down the path to taking up holy orders even?  Or - as I strongly suspect - am I not alone in shunning yet another, and increasingly dreary, consumer fest?  Oh, hang on: before attempting an answer to any of these profound questions I must break off for a few minutes to do another quick search for bargain Chromebooks.

1 hour ago, Canny lass said:

I wa tempted to ask if it was any relation to Sweeney - but I thought better of it.

I'm tempted to reply...  sausages - but I won't!