New Northumbria

A great blog is tabloid watch which keeps a close eye on the scaremongering, half-truths, sensationaism and downright lies peddled by the UK newspaper industry.
The quality of journalism in this country isn't great.
Read between the lines and find the truth here tabloid watch .

The Tory MP'S are notorious for having a lot of extra jobs on the side.
These jobs don't involve voluntary work at the local hospital, however, funnily enough they seem to mainly involve being overpaid and underworked company directors.
Don't worry "citizen" David Cameron has said they should give up these additional jobs - but only until after the next election.
Cynical ? Well it is slippery Dave we are talking about.

The Tories second jobs

It seems so according to this article

Top Tories in revolt

A major step forward has been taken to promote electric cars in this region.
A consortium, including Nissan, in Sunderland, and Smith Electric Vehicles, part of the North-East based Tanfield Group, have been given government support to put a fleet of electic cars on the road next year.
Another opportunity for our region to get a foot on the ladder of a new industry.
Funding Electric cars

I have had 30,000 hits since creating this blog, in the grand scheme of the internet his might be pretty small beer, but I do appreciate everyone who has taken the time to pay a visit.
(even those who only wanted to give me a bit of abuse )
Hopefully some people may have even learned a little bit about this region they didn't know before.
And one day a new autonomous Northumbria may arise to take our rightful place as a respected part of the British Isles.
I live in hope.

The first UK National Armed Forces Day has been launched and will be held on the 27/06/2009.
Not before time.
To find out more visit the website and click to show your support UK Armed Forces Day

The new museum incorporates collections from the Hancock Museum and Newcastle University’s Museum of Antiquities, Shefton Museum and Hatton Gallery, bringing together the North East’s premier collections of archaeology, natural history and geology under one roof.
The project has been led by Newcastle University in partnership with Tyne & Wear Museums, Newcastle City Council, the Natural History Society of Northumbria and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Great North Museum will also serve as the gateway to the environment and landscape of the Northumbrian region. The Hadrian’s Wall Gallery displays exhibits from the entire length of the wall in the single greatest collection of artefacts from the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site. Visitors can discover the fascinating history of Rome’s North Western frontier, including an inscription stone which proves that the wall was built on the orders of Emperor Hadrian.
See it here The Great North Museum

3 years ago the famous and historic Swan Hunter shipyard was closed down for the last time and people felt that this was the end of the Tyne as a major working river.
Not likely.
The people of this region might get a kicking now and again but they never keep us down for long.
The Swan Hunter yard is being sold to North Tyneside Council for development.
We already have a cluster of world class firms in the offshore industry and engineering giant SLP revealed plans to bring 2,000 jobs to the Tyne over the next three years, with around 450 being created at the former Amec-Hadrian yard in the short-term.
The government is investing more than £500m to help get offshore wind farm projects off the ground, Tyneside is already leading the way.
Marine company Shepherd Offshore is to build a wind turbine factory starting in May at the old Neptune yard, in Walker, in Newcastle’s East End, with thousands more jobs set to follow.
The Tyne will rise again.

The Renewable Energy Park, Newcastle, The centre for the UK's wind energy industry

Another Tyne shipyard has been reborn by winning a multi-million-pound contract which will create 200 jobs relating to the offshore electricty industry.
Mcnulty shipyard South Shields wins major order

An organisation exists here in our region to promote interest in traditional seagoing activities in the region and restore classic boats The North East Maritime Trust

An excellent website which portrays in all its gory details the in-built bias of the media based in London towards the North.
We Northerners really shouldn't attempt to get above ourselves.
Light hearted in places but accurate as well.
The North South Media Divide

Northumbria Larder promotes food and drink from Northumbria, from the Scottish border through Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, to the Tees Valley.
Good quality produce made here which can be promoted to a UK and international audience.
If you feel like feeding yourself and those close to you find out more here Northumbria Larder .

Some people are advocating an "English Parliament".

I think this would be bad for the Northeast.

The population of London and the Southeast is far greater than that of the Northeast therefore it follows that the interests of the South would dominate such a body.

And London already has an assembly to represent its interests.

The last thing we need is another gravy train for politicians and massive London bureaucracy to go with it.

In elections and opinion polls Labour & the Liberal Democrats have done better in the North while the Tories have done well down south therefore it follows that an English parliament would be full of southern representatives while we would be marginalised.

And such a body would be divisive for other reasons.

For a start it could be a dangerous step on the road to the death of Great Britain. And because different regions within England have different voting patterns an "English Parliament" could lead to the existing North South divide becoming a permanent break.

Not one of the three main political parties are interested in creating such a parliament for very good reasons.

An English parliament could at best be an irrelevance to the Northeast region and at worst would prove to be very detrimental to our interests.

There are plans to build a major offshore wind farm off the North East coast which could supply as much energy for this region as a nuclear power station.
I hope that the plans for the wind turbines come to fruition, and this region can benefit from the developments.
We already have seen investment in the offshore industry with the wind farm at Blyth(the first in the UK) and the new and renewable energy centre, also at Blyth.
And we also have an in-built advantage with a succesful oil and gas offshore industry and ship building heritage, one site which is already being earmarked is next to the Walker Offshore Technology park in Newcastle.
The plans are in an advanced stage to create a new industrial revolution for the North East Wind Power revolution
It is up the appropriate goverment agencies and the companies concerned to take advantage of the possibilities for the future.

The Tories complained bitterly that too much parliamentary time taken up when Labour stopped fox-hunting with dogs.
So what is going to be one of their priorites if they were to win the next election ?
Thats right they are going make sure that those sections of society who want to set dogs on foxes for no apparent reason should be allowed to do so, using up that parliamentary time in the process.
I have no objection if people like to dress up in silly fancy dress and ride around the countryside if they want to.
But lets be honest the only reason to go fox hunting is bloodlust.
David Cameron is a fraud who does his best to try and disguise his wealthy, upper class background, but every now and then the mask slips and we can see the leader of the nasty Tories as he - and they - really are.
Tories to reintroduce fox hunting

There is an argument about inheritance tax although very few people will ever even pay it.
A mere 6% of families pays inheritance tax. The tax is 40% on the balance of inheritances above a £300,000 tax-free threshold. Most of the 6% are to be found in London and the south east of England. Inherited wealth should be taxed and the money used to improve public services, thats fair.
The Tories want to raise the threshold from £300,000 to £1 million.
That means they would share one billion pounds between the richest 9,000 families in the country.
And we know that essential public services would wind up being cut to support the Tories' wealthy pals in London and the South East.
There are 19 millionaires on the Tory front bench alone !
Unfairness is built into the Tory attitude and nothing much changes.

The British Library in London has decided that the Lindisfarne Gospels can come back to our region.
But unbelievably they have decided that they can only come back to the Northumbria that created them once every 7 years for a mere 3 months at a time.
Probably to Durham Cathedral.
This is disgraceful and unethical but typical of London- centric domination in this country.
We do not want anything which rightfully belongs to London so why the hell should something that was created here and historically and culturally belongs to us be kept there?
Thankfully the Northumbrian Association has already said the campaign to have the Lindisfarne Gospels returned to their rightful home permanently will continue.

THE CROSS OF ST CUTHBERT