The heavy lobbying by McDonalds to get the word 'McJob' removed from the Oxford English Dictionary seems to have flown under the radar recently.
A multinational corporation pushing to have an English word removed from English dictionaries? Seems like a real-life version of Big Brother.
Swindon Centric Says ; Will McDonald buy a pallet of dictionaries and burn them if the word isn't removed?
The remote possibility that a pub may be haunted, backed up by some 'evidence' in the form of dubious camera phone footage, has taken the place of any real news today.
No-one is particularly surprised. But what is inexcusable is the lack of coverage of those stories that really matter to the town as proper local news. As Komadori rightly pointed out, the Council is to discuss tonight the proposed replacement to the Tented Market at the corner of Commercial Road and Farnsby Street. The replacement is another faceless, 'could be anywhere' set of retail units. When did the word 'building' get replaced by the sterile, uninspiring word 'unit' in planning parlance?
Lets hope planning officers take on board the definition 'landmark' and tell the designers to try harder. Same for the town's news coverage. Start by looking up the word 'news'.
Swindon Centric Says ; If the proposed design is approved then the impact of residents sense on that area will be unchanged. Its sure to be the case that people will give directions to drivers as "where the tented market used to be". What stands out about the 'units' design?
Write in and tell us and you could win a free copy of artist's impressions.
Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.
10 . Oh, I'm sorry.
9 . Depends how you define speaking English.
8 . He didn't say anything, not a word of it.
7 . She has more jeans than Levi.
6 . I got a reservation, how's that for service?
5 . In times of crisis, I turn to cottage pie.
4 . No, they're not my gloves.
3 . I can confirm, you really are an idiot.
2 . They've put mistletoe above the queue in the bank, I got away sadly unmolested.
And the number one overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is ...
1 . He said it had probably been lost in the post, everyone's using that excuse these days.
Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.
Get on the bus and get listening!
Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.
10 . What exactly is a figgie pudding?
9 . There's Mat, stick your finger up at him.
8 . People keep giving me sideways glances.
7 . There's a special place in hell for those people who play 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day'.
6 . Everyone's buying LED fairy lights, they're energy saving, you could just not put up any lights and save the planet that way.
5 . It's my record of the week.
4 . That kid needs a bloody good hiding for Christmas.
3 . People seem to forget about Sven, he was foreign.
2 . She said she had a festive bra, we all held back from asking if she had any puddings to put in it.
And the number one overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is...
1 . They've already got Easter eggs set up, I nearly fainted into the chocolate coins.
Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.
Get on the bus and get listening!
We all know that news can sometimes be rather thin on the ground in Swindon, but if we had to make up a list of headlines of fake news for the town, we needed only look at the front page of the local paper.
As of 10pm Wednesday, the top stories were,
1 . Teenagers handing out mince pies to show people they aren't the roving evil, vandalising hoodies some stupidly think they are.
2 . The top Google search in Swindon is 'police'.
3 . A charity run of 80 santas.
4 . A Spanish school show.
5 . A couple decorating their wheelie bin.
Swindon Centric Says ; With a town of 155,432 and a Borough population of 184,000, we'd hoped to bring you some news, but there just isn't any today.
LATE EDITION
We're working on a story for tomorrow involving a Santa Claus dressed Spanish speaking teenage Community Support Officer handing out mince pies from a brightly painted wheelie bin. More details as we get them.
Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.
10 . Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
9 . No, they're still out on strike.
8 . One day they're getting told off for sending offensive emails, then they're getting praised for giving to charity.
7 . You can get cream for that now, I tried the pills, they are huge.
6 . We're a savvy breed, us last-minute shoppers.
5 . I learned a lot from the course, whoever thought hot stone massage could be so in depth.
4 . There's a right way and a wrong way to bake scones and her way is not just wrong, it's 'blindfolded and wrong'.
3 . How do I finish it off, I want to make it sound believable.
2 . That clock's usually slow, apart from the rare occasions it's fast.
And the top ten overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is...
1 . No, I don't claim child benefit, so I'm laughing.
Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.
Get on the bus and get listening!
Following the demands from the University Of Bath that it simply had to build on land at Coate Water, which was rejected, it is now leaving the town entirely.
The Oakfield campus, currently occupied by the UOB, is to close. It's claimed the site is simply not viable financially and Bath will therefore move out.
Swindon Centric Says ; This gives the University Of Bath's marketing department a chance to come up with a new brand. It's got location, location, location written all over it.
The University Of Bath, In Bath.
They can have it for free. We won't charge them for it. Call it a leaving present.
It sounds like a bit of PR and it may well be.
People in Stratton, Covingham and Nythe pay an additional parish council tax on top of their Council Tax to Swindon Borough Council. But do not fear, local councillors are to look into exactly what the extra money is for. There are two worrying aspects to this.
Firstly, why is this investigation even needed? Surely a glance at the accounts book of the parish council will tell you how much is being spent where. Not really rocket science.
Secondly, there's a nagging feeling that after a couple of months of investigation, involving meetings, consultations, maybe even a 'task force', the parish council will say that there are no savings to be made. Because any excess has been spent, on the investigation to find surpluses.
Swindon Centric Says ; So what exactly are residents getting for their £20 to £70 a year in the parish? Gold plated wheelie bins? Plugholes that get water to spin the opposite way? If you're a local to the parish, please leave a comment or email us at swindoncentric@mac.com and let us know what the extra is that you get!
The North Wiltshire MP (like the gift that keeps on giving) has promised to stand again for his seat in the next general election.
Despite the actions of the North Wiltshire Conservative Association to oust him, it looks like it will be up to the residents of that area to have their own go. Mr Gray did say he would mend any "bridges".
Considering members of the association wanted him off the bridge entirely, it'll be up to the voters to push him over the edge and into the water.
Swindon Centric Says ; Well, good luck Mr Gray. If you want to go green, go gray? Doesn't have the nicest of rings to it.
Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.
10 . But can he afford that kind of expense?
9 . Leeks are hugely underrated.
8 . It was a long dark tunnel, what can I say?
7 . Californication is the new Desperate Housewives.
6 . He just wants to help the police.
5 . Who goes hang gliding these days, not me.
4 . I knew he was going to trip up, like when something falls off a checkout belt, you can see it happening.
3 . A fanta and a packet of wotsits is not the way to start the day.
2 . When it's sunny, it still feels mild.
And the top ten overheard phrase on Swindon's buses from last week is.
1 . I've spent all my money on lead paint covered toys for Christmas, ho ho ho.
Overheard something we've missed? Then let us know.
Get on the bus and get listening!
MP for North Wiltshire, James Gray, survived a deselection bid by the local Conservative Association last night. 181 voted in his favour and 104 against.
This is the same MP who recently refused to say how many staff he employed in his office. Indeed, he didn't say "no comment", he said "it's none of your business".
We did debate whether or not to run this story since we didn't get any verbal confirmation from Mr Gray that he approved.
Swindon Centric Says ; But we don't really mind what he says, it's none of his business what we cover anyway.
Wiltshire Police have urged residents to be on their guard after a dramatic increase in the number of metal thefts across Swindon.
"Clearly, these people know who they are and we urge anyone who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously, carrying lead sheeting on board buses, for example, to get in touch." That comment from Matthew Picket, Medium Level Inspector for Precious Metals and Counterfeit Confectionery.
There are early signs that the crackdown has begun, three men were arrested on Friday afternoon. They aroused attention as they tried to carry a seventeen foot long steel ingot along Princes Street.
Swindon Centric Says ; Lead inside school pencils is to be removed and stored in a secure, undisclosed location until World metal prices begin to fall. Rumours that the Borough Council is to use the recovered lead to line a nuclear bunker underneath the Civic Offices have not been dismissed this hour.
A public forum at the Link Centre recently was parents 'last chance' to voice objections to the cutting of funding for bussing pupils from West Swindon to Ridgeway and Bradon Forest Secondary Schools.
The Borough Council is claiming surplus places at Greendown School, in West Swindon, will mean spending £500,000 for no reason on transport to schools out of the area.
However, as Bradon Forest headteacher Len Spiers said, the council is advocating breaking one of the fundamental commandments of modern education, choice in where to send your child. "Transport has been provided for the last 45 years. The consultation document is misleading as it indicates the transport was only provided because there has been a lack of secondary places in the area."
Swindon Centric Says ; It was 'dropped in' that there are currently 200 surplus places at Greendown, then why is discussion of this only taking place now? How can the Council say that sending all West Swindon pupils to Greendown will give parents and pupils choice in education. Plus, what will Bradon Forest and Ridgeway do with the vast school facilities they now have once all the West Swindon pupils go to Greendown?
This 'consultation' sounds ominiously like that which happened in West Swindon a few years ago, we all know how the Council didn't listen and indeed misled local residents and parents then.
But in the other council area, the Education Department, Swindon can't be too pleased with the amount of money it has to spend.
Swindon has been allocated £300 less per pupil to spend on education provision than the national average. Although the amount of money is going up each year until 2010, it still means we are in the twenty worst funded councils in the nation.
Swindon Centric Says ; Does the Council still have the money it promised to parents was available for school rebuilding several years ago?
Swindon Borough Council is to cut 200 jobs from it's workforce because it's become so efficent.
That's one of the reasons. Our council has become so efficent, it is run so smoothly and meets all it's targets, it has to shed people because they are just wasteful to employ.
And the other reason?
As a part of any well run organisation, they said they have a responsibility to "challenge costs".
Swindon Centric Says ; So when those 200 get their P45s, they can say they were not made redundant, they have had their employment 'reassigned', because, not of cost cutting, but of a 'cost challenge'.
Isn't the age of spin, post-Blair meant to be over? Seems it hasn't reached the Civic Offices yet.
The results of our latest user interactive interface are in and have been counted via the office casio calculator.
By a majority of 60%, voters want the next important subject of the local Swindon Beaver Herald's letters page to be the alarming rising cost of custard.
Other options on the vote were discussion of the town's nuclear defence shield and the major fault line, which scored 20% of the vote each.
Swindon Centric Says ; We'll have a week long 'cut the cost of custard' campaign launching tomorrow, unless some more exciting news breaks before we can publish it, such as a nuclear strike, or the big earthquake central Swindon is predicted to suffer before the end of the year.
After just a short period of quiet, the University Of The West Of England has signed an agreement with the Council to draw up detailed plans for a campus at North Star.
The site will cater for up to 3000 students, with strong ties to local, Swindon based businesses.
Swindon Centric Says ; Some have said this campus wouldn't be 'big university' sized, compared to other places. Perhaps Swindon could set a new trend, with a half a dozen universities with small campuses in the town?
Swindon ; Striving to be different?
In the latest exciting user interactive interface (a poll to those who can use less words), Swindon has spoken with a mighty voice.
Shouting "read all about it" , 80% of those polled have said a second daily newspaper for Swindon would improve the coverage of the town's news.
Swindon Centric Says ; Can a fast-growing newspaper market in this provincial town attract eager, fresh journalistic talent? Anyone about to be put on part-time at the Bath Chronicle reading this?
Click here for the original and still the best at this brilliant idea, here's our own version for Swindon's buses from last week.
10. That helicopter was hovering all night.
9. I have fascinating thigh muscles.
8. He only just had the chance to wear his summer stuff on Saturday.
7. She reckons I have no taste, what a cheek.
6. They keep doing tests but they still don't know what's wrong with her.
5. He told me it was her birthday today, never mind.
4. I'd had one too many lemonade shandys to know what happened.
3. Just concentrate on the sound of my voice, now lend me a tenner.
2. We didn't even get her a leaving present.
And the top rated phrase overheard on Swindon's buses last week is...
1. If I wear it in Westlea its a skirt, if I wear it in Old Town it gets called a belt.
Anyone out there with a few million pounds spare?
Bored of bland news in small provincial towns?
Banish that dusty problem cash and column inch misery by investing in a second Swindon daily newspaper!
Today the Swindon Centric Blog launches a campaign (it'll probably just last a week) to get someone, anyone to give the town competition in the form of a second daily town-wide newspaper.
Competition can only lead to better reporting, varied content and quality writing.
Swindon Centric Says ; Does Perry White need a change of scene?
