New Northumbria

People in the UK have great respect for our armed forces, both past and present.
One of the ways to acknowledge the sacrifice made both in the past and equally in the present is to buy and wear a poppy.
Remembrance Sunday is one of the most long standing and dignified occasions in this country.
Buy a poppy and support the British Legion .

At its height the Kingdom of Northumbria was the most powerful nation in the British Isles, before England or Scotland even existed.
At its peak it stretched from Humberside in the South to the river Forth in the North.
The Scottish capital city of Edinburgh is named after one of the great Northumbrian Kings, Edwin (Edwin-burgh)

While London was an underdeveloped, backward city in the middle of a marsh, Northumbria was recognised as a major centre of learning and culture throughout Europe.
Later there was the Earldom of Northumbria, which corresponds, with that part of Britain, which consists of Teesside, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.Northumbria had its own language, laws, system of government, capital (Bamburgh) Monarchs and flag.
We had (and still have) our own patron saint, St Cuthbert ,Cuthbert has his own saints day, which is on the 20th of March.And unlike the fake St George (who was from the Middle East and never even set foot on British soil) Cuthbert was a verifiable historical figure.
Cuthbert lived and worked on Lindisfarne the Holy Island and is laid to rest in Durham Cathedral , which was built in his honour.

He carried on the work started by St Aiden who was an Irish-Scottish monk and the Celtic influence is strong in Northumbria.One of the greatest Northumbrian achievements was the creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels , also in honour of Cuthbert,there has been an ongoing campaign to have the Gospels returned from London after they were stolen from us.

Northumbrians should rise up and reclaim our heritage.
Much is made of the influence of the Romans, Vikings and Normans had on this part of the world, but Northumbria and the legacy it left us is not celebrated nearly enough in my opinion.
And I think that is a great shame.

NORTHUMBRIA, UK.

ST CUTHBERTS CROSS

NORTHUMBRIAN FLAG

Is the BBC still worth the licence fee tax ?
Sadly, over recent years I believe that the BBC has slowly lost the ability to provide wide ranging and good quality TV and Radio programmes which have wide appeal.
Take comedy for example, at one time the corporation could say with justifiable pride that their comedy output was both high in quality and was watched by a large cross section of the British public.
But when was the last time a BBC sitcom was produced which had appeal to a wide section of people across all age groups and backgrounds ?
The comedy programmes which create most affection in the memory were made a long time ago.
Now all the BBC produces in comedy is “topical” comedy quiz shows, with the same half dozen people seemingly doing and endless round of guest appearances. That’s the way is seems.
Have I got news for you was probably the first and best of this type of programme, and now all we get is endless rehashed versions of this format.
Not everyone likes this kind of snide, sneering humour.
But the people at the BBC love it, so that’s all they are interested in commissioning.
The drama output focuses on wife beating alcoholic drug addicts on council estates, want something uplifting or thought provoking ? Best avoid the Beeb at all costs.
Its got to be “gritty” and make people feel bad about themselves, god knows why.
As for news and current affairs the BBC is the place to go to be depressed, take one example, Afghanistan, the BBC will only report the most negative aspect possible of any situation.
Want to hear about the sense of duty, courage and sacrifice of British forces, the BBC aren’t interested in saying anything about that.
It might suggest something is going right, not nearly dreary enough for them.
Even Andrew Marr, the leading BBC political correspondent has admitted that the BBC is biased.
In defence of the BBC people will put forward David Attenborough and the still excellent documentaries he has a major role in producing, but Attenborough isn’t getting any younger and when he is no longer around there will be precious little to defend the BBC with.
Maybe David Attenborough represents the an older generation of BBC types who had a genuine commitment to quality entertainment.
The current lot seem to be smug, self important over-age student types who are more interested in their own agenda than the needs or interests of the people who are forced by law to pay the over-priced licence fee tax to keep them in their very well paid and comfortable lifestyles.
The only positive thing they seem to think of Britain as a country and the British public,is as an endless cash machine.
While whole sections of that same British public have been marginalised and are ignored.

Should the BBC licence fee tax continue ?
On balance, the answer has to be no.

So there we have it, good old David "man of the people" Cameron and the Tories (or is that the new Tories?) prove they are on the side of all the working people by guzzling bottles of champagne at a mere £140 a bottle.
Mind, the bloke is worth £30 million.
Of course we all do it ... don't we
David Cameron seen drinking champagne as Tories reveal wage freezes and pension cuts

So what has Labour ever done for the British people?
Well since they were elected in 1997 quite a lot.
Lets look at some facts.
Shall we start with the minimum wage ? The minimum wage which the Tories opposed.
The same minimum wage which ensures that the lowest-paid are no longer abused and have protection under the law.
What about health ?
The NHS has changed substantially for the better since 1997. Waiting lists are down by 600,000 with the normal wait for treatment just four weeks.
99% of suspected cancer patients are seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred.
A&E waits are now four hours at the most.
There are over 40,000 more doctors and an extra 83,000 nurses since Labour came to power. There now are 100 new hospitals, 90 new NHS walk-in centres and over 650 one-stop primary care centres.
Look at education, there have been substantial improvements in primary and secondary school standards. More teachers. And billions spent on school buildings.
Now up to 89% of pupils achieve five GCSEs at grades A-C.
In some areas there are schools which are still not up to standard. But secondary education across the UK has improved because of policies like the National Challenge Initiative, which means that every school must have at least 30% of pupils achieving five C grades at GCSE by 2011.
Recently, Schools Secretary Ed Balls announced that the number of schools below that minimum standard has dropped by nearly 40%.
Labour’s new deal with doctors means that over three quarters of GP practices are open at least one evening a week or for weekend surgery.
Cancer mortality rates in under-75s have decreased by 18.2 per cent since 1996 and all prescriptions for people being treated for cancer are free.
Although you won’t read about these achievements in most of our press and media who for the most part are mere propagandists for the Tories.

There are ongoing plans to bring life back to the old Swan Hunter shipyard on the Tyne.
Shipbuilding has now gone from the North East, although thankfully new life is coming to the Tyne and the Tees with major work linked to the renewable energy industry and offshore oil and gas projects.
One of the iconic industrial names in regional history is Swan Hunter.
The Swan Hunter site has been earmarked for future development and one suggestion is to bring home a ship which was built here.
In the near future two existing Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal are due to be decommisioned and replaced.
Both of the vessels were built on the Tyne.
I believe one of these famous ships should be brought home to the Tyne as a centre piece for the new developments.
These ships have served the country in war, they could now be used to serve Tyneside and the wider region in peace.
Swan Hunter shipyard

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne has launched a gloves off atttack on David Cameron and the Tories.

Home Office statistics showing a 81% rise in recorded crime between 1979 and 1997, the last period of Conservative rule.

"The Tory party is snuggling up to with a bunch of people in Europe who frankly are shameful. Their Czech allies deny that climate change is man-made at all ...

"The Polish party is homophobic and the Latvian party actually celebrates Adolf Hitler's Waffen SS."

Tories the party of crime

One of the best photo collections from around our region is this one, reflecting a wide range of the character of the North East, jevys' photostream.

There are plans to build a biomass energy plant by the banks of the Tyne, following the building of a similar plant on Teesside, which is due to come on line in 2012.
Along with the work which is ongoing to further develop other areas of renewable energy, particularly wind power, and the substantial oil and gas offshore industry which already exists here the future for this region is in energy.

It has been disclosed that Dave "green" Cameron has taken 24000 miles of free flights from his rich pals.
Should he be accepting feebies from people who will want favours returned if he gets into power.
And how is this supposed to fit in with his green credentials ?
I'm Dave. Fly me: Private flights revelations are latest blow

It looks like they may do, but then so many Tories have the wealth to buy private health treatment so they don't need a service which so many rely on.
Also, there is something unpleasant about this tory going abroad to slate an institution based in the UK.
Tory MEP slags off the health service

And Tories planning health service cuts. Worrying.

Right across the North East there are a wealth of names relating to the people and the history of where they are from.

Geordies.
Geordie people and the dialect are pretty well known around the UK these days. The name comes from the railway pioneer and engineer George Stephenson, who in 1815 invented a miners' safety lamp before Sir Humphrey Davy.
The Northumberland and Durham miners stayed loyal to the George Stephenson lamp in preference to the one invented by Sir Humphrey Davy which was adopted by miners elsewhere in Britain at around same time, and the lamp, and eventually the miners themselves became known as Geordies.
These days the term Geordie is usually reserved for the people of Tyneside and Newcastle.

The term also used to be used to loosely describe the people living in the areas of Wearside and Teesside but this has been dropped by most of the people in these parts of the region who now are referred to Mackems or Smoggies respectively.

Mackems.
The main theory about the term Mackem is that it was a term used by Wear shipyard workers in the 19th century. The Mackems would make the ship and the shipping companies would take it. Hence “mackem and tackem"
'Mackem' refers to both the people of Sunderland and their accent.
To people from outside the region the differences between Mackem and Geordie accents often seem marginal. But those from within this region can usually tell the difference with no problem.

Smoggies.
The nickname Smogmonster (Smoggie) is more recent and relates to a person originating from Teesside particularly Middlesbrough and Stockton, and so called because of the Smog produced by the chemical plants and other industry on the Tees.

Monkey Hangers.
Monkey Hangers are what people from the town of Hartlepool get called.
According to local legend a French ship was wrecked off the Hartlepool coast during the Napoleonic Wars . The only survivor was a monkey, wearing a French uniform for some unknown reason. The people didn’t know what a Frenchman looked like.
Some of the locals decided to hold a trial there and then and when the monkey - naturally enough - couldn’t answer questions put to it some of the locals decided that it was a French spy and hanged it from the mast of a fishing boat on the Hartlepool headland. Hartlepudlians have embraced the term with good humour, and very few find the term 'Monkey Hanger' offensive.

Sand Dancers.
A person from South Shields is quite often called a Geordie or more locally known as a Sand Dancer. There were a lot of Yemeni born Arabs living in South Shields, many serving in the British Merchant Navy.
That fact combined with the location of South Shields which is known for long sandy beaches is where the name Sand Dancer comes from.

Pit Yakkers.
Pit Yakkers was the nickname given to the miners and people from the pit villages which were once prevalent across the North East region. “Yakker” may have been a local word for hewer - i.e. a man who worked at the coal face.

Northumbrians.
Northumbrian can relate to anyone from the Northumbrian region, that part of the world between the Tees and the Tweed.

Legend is a word used freely.
In this case no other word will suffice.

The Tories are the party of the rich, and there is one particularly rich individual who currently subsidises them to a greater extent than just about anyone else, that man is Lord Ashcroft.
But don't ask where he gets his money from or if he pays UK taxes on his vast fortune.
Apparently the British public don't deserve to know about the financial affairs of someone who bankrolls a major UK political party.
Thats wrong.
Tory donor under pressure

A great blog is tabloid watch which keeps a close eye on the scaremongering, half-truths, sensationalism 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 .