Denzel

Hey Moaty, it's me, Denzel.

Where have you been? on a bus trip?

I've been on a magical, mystical journey Pete. I have wandered plains and tundra, climbed mountains, forded rivers and sailed the seven seas. I have embraced mankind to my bosom, and returned a better person for it.

Hello, John.

Good luck with the radio station. I'd listen.

Shameless sycophancy here.

Nice colour scheme.

No quite; Wetherspoons have agreements in place to buy their stock very late in its life, cutting down on the lead time they have in which to sell it hence the cut prices. In doing this they get a very good, guaranteed cut price deal as it takes what would rapidly become waste off the brewery's hands. The sheer volume they buy in means that they can easily undercut the rival brewery chains, who continue to treat their pubs as assets rather than businesses.

The problem that most landlords have these days is that they are tied to expensive brewery deals for their draught product; Wetherspoons, being able to offer a much better deal, offer their landlords a much brighter prospect. It's not just competition, it's extreme competition. Not that I don't welcome it, but unless it does generate extra trade (which I doubt) and pass some of that onto the remaining bars it will be of limited benefit to the town.

Having sold to Wetherspoon's through two of my previous employers, I can categorically state that this is completely untrue.

Cracking captions folks, they've got me in stitches here. LOLZ

I asked about this at the checkout last time I was in. The girl on the till said there is a slight delay due to Bats. Once the Bat issue has been sorted, things will get going.

Has anyone else heard about this? I'm presuming the Bats are in the building next door?

I'm batty about bats and anything bat-related.

I love buses.

Good question Merlin. I don't think any can compete with the Wetherspoon's business model, certainly not in a purpose built place, and with diminishing disposable incomes every pint supped in their bar is one less in the other bars. Unless we see a mass immigration of drinkers from elsewhere that is. It's not only drinking establishments who will feel the draught, the few restaurants and food outlets will too. It is a bit like the Tesco scenario, we want the upgrade but we are a bit fearful of the result.

Sorry Malcolm, but that's just rubbish. Wetherspoon's operate on a very simple 'high volume, low margin' principle which most of the big pub landlords are now embracing, such as Greene King, Nomura etc.

I can't think of anywhere off-hand where the presence of a JDW pub has destroyed existing trade. Additionally, JDW aren't actually that cheap, especially when compared to other pubchains. Furthermore, JDW outlets are always completed to a very high standard, and as The Red Lion is very much a landmark building round here, they can only improve the appearance of the place.

BMX - the bicycle of choice for !*!@# .

Restaurant? Pah.

You don't win an argument by insulting people, and on the contrary I do lots of very constructive things. And - gasp - the very last thing I am is a Socialist Worker reader!

Most of the people in the police force are well meaning and public spirited. But you have absolutely no grasp of how the system actually works. Where are the Gestapo now, where are the East German and Russian secret police? They were just ordinary well meaning people who got caught up in the madness - just like you are. They are now all in democracy mode and the excesses were someone else's fault. They even thought so at the time but no one would listen.

It's posts like this which illustrate how our country is sleepwalking into Orwellian times. When you ignore the warnings from people who have been in power, know the reality and not the perception, and are worried about where we are heading there really is no hope. If yours becomes the real mass view, then we're sadly doomed to re-live history.

You believe you are superior to these people and that it can't happen here? Curious how the younger people think that this time it will all be different, and the older heads know that they are deluding themselves.

I've changed my opinion, I'm starting to see a lot of similarities between the Stasi, the Gestapo, the Khmer Rouge and Gordon's Gang.

You were right all along.

A very scary remark, particularly because it's so common.

Quite a few loyal Germans thought they had nothing to hide either. The ones that ignored the warnings of their fellow citizens and convinced themselves that the authorities would act reasonably and fairly. Approximately six million of them!

It's not about what you say or mean, it's about what Maximilien Robespierre says you mean, or about what the party apparatchiks say you meant. They are the custodians of the records, the paymasters of the Gestapo, and the makers and the interpreters of the laws. So you can protest your innocence all the way to the scaffold. When the hard evidence is there (because somehow you upset someone in power, or your removal is expedient) you are screwed!

Last week an old newspaper seller also though he had nowt to hide. Quite clearly he wasn't daring to protest against authority, and simply going about his everyday business. But that wasn't the view of the state thug(s) that downed him. If someone gets charged it will because it's not conceivably possible to cover up the problem, and be a damage limitation exercise. The state always looks after its own, because without unquestioning obedience there is no state.

We can't have the anarchy that these loony-left protesters wish to precipitate, but equally we are heading for state anarchy under the guise of protecting us from things we don't need protecting from. It has happened so many times before, and at the moment it's as if we've learned nothing!

All you ever do is moan, moan, moan about anything and everything. You'd twist on 21 pal.

Please, don't insult the intelligence of anyone by trying to compare modern British politics with those of the sodding Gestapo. Pour yourself a nice herbal tea, grab a slice of lentil bake and get back to your copy of Socialist Worker, because, quite frankly kidda, you're a boring, repetitive !*!@# .

Once again ironic timing , in a week when Gov are now legally able to read everyone's private e-mails the very same Gov are in trouble because of an e-mail!

The government can read my private emails until they're blue in the face. I have nowt to hide.

As one of those knackers who don't believe in the needless massacre of innocent animals, I wont be putting a bet on... but if I was it would be on Southern Vic... just 'cos it's got me name in it.

If the horses running were by some chance those that are currently being ridden round Bedlington by inbred types, constantly on their mobile phones, one of whom who galloped out in front of me up the top end the other day... well I might just put on a bet in the hope that in that they actually do get shot, along with the riders.

If we didn't do it the bloody French would eat them all.

Good to see the wallpushers getting knocked out. Black armbands all round and a candlelit vigil to boot.

It's come to something when a non-descript mining town like Bedlington can't support a shop that sells spectacle repair kits.

I'm spitting feathers here.

I like the new colour scheme.

Now if we could get more people offering their opinions on more new subjects.

Happy Easter everyone!

Joe

Howay then Joe, start some off. You niggardly owld curmudgeon.

Happy Easter!

Aye, that's mint that like.

the new site looks canny good

High praise indeed from TonyC.

bedlington is the white -est place in the world.........a black face would stop traffic.most of the kids in bedlington only know of other races via photographs and books..alnwick is deemed a foreign location........i was 11 when i saw my first black face in the town...........his name was Mirandinha!!

Shut up man. Clown.

how the hell can you say that! have you been to a third world country? take pakistan what a dump full of mud huts and terrorists, no thank you gordon brown is doing just fine

As sweeping generalisations go, that's one of the best.

Following yet another abject Newcastle United performance, my mood was lightened by visiting Bedlington's fabled 'Station' area. In the Railway, several excellent pints of fermented apple juice were consumed, banging tunes were blasted from the juker, and the 'crack' was top dollar.

Hamburger Pimp - a prince among men.

Doubt it, it'll still be a dump.

I forgot about the sodding thing.