I fail to see the problem?
Discussion
Oh come on guys. I saw it live too and thought from a rational perspective she was being daft. But she wasn't being rational was she? She was highly emotional because she had just been on the phone to her very distressed mother. Most of us don't come into contact with heavily armed Police in a very real dangerous situation on a daily basis. I doubt my sister would've reacted much differently. And we're proper middle class Southerners and evryfink.
(From those members of the great unwashed who've featured on the telly the North East hasn't shown itself in its best light this last few weeks, though, has it?)
edited for spelling
Edited poorly.
(From those members of the great unwashed who've featured on the telly the North East hasn't shown itself in its best light this last few weeks, though, has it?)
edited for spelling
Edited by scenario8 on Friday 9th July 23:39
Edited poorly.
Edited by scenario8 on Friday 9th July 23:49
best bit though?
paul gascoigne turning up with some beers for moat *LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL*
paul gascoigne turning up with some beers for moat *LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL*
metro said:
They were stunned when Gascoigne turned up at their cordon and asked to talk to his friend 'Moatie', as he had brought him some food, lager and warm clothing.
The 1990 World Cup hero described Moat as "a good lad" and suggested there was no chance of the man wanted in connection with three shootings trying to harm him, as they are mates.
Officers did not allow the former footballer, who is better known as Gazza, access to the scene of the stand-off and have dismissed the idea that he is a close friend of Moat.
During an interview with Metro Radio, a barely coherent Gascoigne claimed: "He is willing to give in now. I just want to give him some therapy and say 'come on Moatie, it's Gazza'."
The 1990 World Cup hero described Moat as "a good lad" and suggested there was no chance of the man wanted in connection with three shootings trying to harm him, as they are mates.
Officers did not allow the former footballer, who is better known as Gazza, access to the scene of the stand-off and have dismissed the idea that he is a close friend of Moat.
During an interview with Metro Radio, a barely coherent Gascoigne claimed: "He is willing to give in now. I just want to give him some therapy and say 'come on Moatie, it's Gazza'."
I'd like to step in with some defence for the North East here - as per, they've only interviewed the biggest mouth breathers they can find, with "comic" accents like Jimmy Nail in the proper series of Auf Weidesehen Pet.
Rothbury is a lovely, lovely placec. Better yet, the roads round there and cragside are brilliant.
I suggest you all try them, then stop and have a meal at the nice place on the corner in Rothbury - one of my favourite ways to enjoy a sunday. If you don't love it, I'll eat my hat / admit "all northerers are idiots", whichever is appropriate.
Rothbury is a lovely, lovely placec. Better yet, the roads round there and cragside are brilliant.
I suggest you all try them, then stop and have a meal at the nice place on the corner in Rothbury - one of my favourite ways to enjoy a sunday. If you don't love it, I'll eat my hat / admit "all northerers are idiots", whichever is appropriate.
Atomic Gibbon said:
I'd like to step in with some defence for the North East here - as per, they've only interviewed the biggest mouth breathers they can find, with "comic" accents like Jimmy Nail in the proper series of Auf Weidesehen Pet.
Rothbury is a lovely, lovely placec. Better yet, the roads round there and cragside are brilliant.
I suggest you all try them, then stop and have a meal at the nice place on the corner in Rothbury - one of my favourite ways to enjoy a sunday. If you don't love it, I'll eat my hat / admit "all northerers are idiots", whichever is appropriate.
here, here!Rothbury is a lovely, lovely placec. Better yet, the roads round there and cragside are brilliant.
I suggest you all try them, then stop and have a meal at the nice place on the corner in Rothbury - one of my favourite ways to enjoy a sunday. If you don't love it, I'll eat my hat / admit "all northerers are idiots", whichever is appropriate.
I actually had a sunday morning blat over to rothbury at the weekend!
couldn't believe all this unfolding the day after...
utgjon said:
what a bastion of intelligence for the north-east...
what a plum.
It was funny how the local mayor was claiming the town was tough and resilient, all the while this woman is having a break down over the idea the police have asked her mum to stay indoor behind a brick wall instead of wandering into the middle of an armed stand off and potential shoot out, stupid cow.what a plum.
scenario8 said:
(From those members of the great unwashed who've featured on the telly the North East hasn't shown itself in its best light this last few weeks, though, has it?)
The trouble is, any light you shine on the north east tends to show it in a bad way, and not by misfortune. And not without precedent either. Remember the Meadowell Riots? Or Albert Dryden? (the guy who shot a planning officer) Or the 12 year old rat boy burglar? Geordies like villains who stick it to "authority" in one form or another. I suppose everyone does, especially when the chips are down, and the north east's chips are a long way down.I grew up near Rothbury, and yes it has great roads, some lovely countryside and a couple of decent pubs. But it is dead, like the whole region, and rotten like the nasty cabal of Labour politicans that the region has produced. The north east is Labour's greatest success story. And by circumstance Rothbury is a microcosm of it.
About 100 years ago Rothbury was a thriving little market town, covering a big area of productive farmland. It had a railway, a school built by local philanthropist Dr Thomlinson, a hospital built by subscription and many houses built by Lord Armstrong of Cragside estate (The man who was to mechanised killing what Henry Ford was to car ownership) to house his retired employees. It had a market and a cattle mart, and about 5 butchers according to old people who live there.
Like the whole region, and most of what was industrial and rural England it was completely nationalised by Atlee's postwar communist government then closed down by subsequent governments and the people left behind are the most uneducated, unambitious and literally (as opposed to insultingly) ignorant people you will meet. I read a couple of years ago that the north east economy is more dependent on government spending than was Yugoslavia under communism.
Now kids are bussed off to Morpeth 15 miles away, Dr Thomlinsons is a leaky old 60s middle school. The hospital became an old people's home a few years ago, the railway was torn up by Beeching, Cragside is owned by the national trust and hence preserved in a sterile biscuit tin fashion, and new houses are of the crumby estate variety that would be no more or less out of place in Singapore or Melbourne, while lovely old stone farm houses like Pike Cottage, that would sell for a million plus if they were in the south, sit empty.
The people that live there are split about 50/50 between true locals who do mostly unskilled jobs and commuters who mostly work in the public sector because that's all there is in the north east. And seemingly sensible, rational, middle class people will argue that the answer to this is more government spending. More nationalisation. More redistribution. They're the ones who still blame Thatcher for everything. And they moved out of Newcastle when they got sick of rat boy distributing their own wealth.
The miner's strikes made the news but that was only one, fairly small segment of the economy that was ruined by nationalisation. But they don't see that, because for 50 years or more the whole area has been bred to believe that money, wealth and power are handed down from central government and the only way to better yourself and your situation is to grab a bigger slice of the pie. Wealth creation might as well be some sort of voodoo magic. Money must be campaigned and complained for. Jobs in the private sector are treated with suspicion by many of these Guardian reading people, and true success would be to work in the public sector because it has more opportunities and better pay. At least Hackney council has corrupt ethnic minorities to bring some fresh ideas to the party.
Whether or not the nationalisation was well intentioned we will never know, but it's effect was to keep alive industries that should have withered away over the years, until they became too expensive to maintain and were suddenly axed. My personal suspicion is that this was just a by product, and nationalisation was only ever a power grab which succeeded most spectacularly in Tyneside and the surrounding area.
Yes it ruined the economy, but what it's done morally and socially is even worse. This is a region where most people lack the ambition to get on the Jeremy Kyle show, so yes of course Raoul Moat will be seen as a hero by some. Even if only because he got the neglected, forgotten, downtrodden s
t hole on TV. But the fact that he did it in quite a cool, Rambo sort of way is even better. And he even got the approval of Lord Gazza. From what I've seen of the pro Raoul comments from the north east it's an us-against-them mentality, and Raoul Moat was one of "us." A sort of Ned Kelly with a toon shirt on. Not because he did anything worth while or praise worthy, but because he was against "them" who ever they are.
It may seem like a tenuous link but until the north east stands on it's own feet and gets in the habit of creating wealth again it's doomed to being a backwards region best known for it's worst elements.
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