Surf spectacular
National championship at Druridge Bay

A Dog's life
We have the best dog beaches - it's official!

Affordable housing
Dreaming of your own house?

Deer Ambler
Spring surprise

Everybody's talking
Community forum promotes our interests

Hedging bets
Doing what comes naturally

Saving wildlife
Making a river change its mind

RNLI station shop
Spend money and save lives

Amble slimmers
Get thin and save lives

Editorial
Supermarket snags and what's in this "life saving" issue.

Have your say
Letters and email, including photos

Improving Queen Street
Grants can give you an uplift

National 'Elf
Dress up as an elf and save lives

Veggie basket scheme
Disadvantaged people help community

Neighbourhood watch
Keeping an eye on your neighbours

Coquet High School Partnership
Expected drop in pupil numbers

Women's house building project
The house that Jill built

Artograffi
Easter fun

David's Diary
News from Amble Development Trust

Town council report
News update from the Town Council

Confessions of an addict
Harry gives up the weed

Age Concern Northumberland
...need people who are concerned

Chinese freeze affects Welfare
Snow stops take-away

Child Trust Fund
Invest in your child's future

Penny
New year Resolutions

Amble Churches Together
Thoughts for New Year

County Councillors report
Future developments

A tale of two thefts
You have been warned

The Peer Mentors
Students help each other

Residents get the hump over bumps
Calming the traffic?

Dirty wellies in a wine bar
Rural romance

Small skinny latte
Toddlers make their own coffee shop

Poetry corner
Safe to shore

Paddlers Paradise
New look play area

Snippets...
Local food, recycling, school numbers, welfare update

What's On
Including live music, Easter services, volunteering at Warkworth Castle and more.

Greetings from Aglaia
Message from a tall ship

Ray King column
Kevin Keegan takes over. "We all eagerly await"

PENNY ... A passing thought

We seem to be obsessed with the idea that a government can cure all evils with laws. Sadly the last few years have not produced any evidence that all these laws have improved the society we live in.

Perhaps a different mindset is needed by us all? Consider obesity – the latest indulgence to fall under the legislation hammer. Isn’t obesity just a symptom of a society that wants everything in excess?

We have moved from what used to be ‘Sunday treats’ to a ‘must have every day’ – and as much as I like.

Prohibition has moved to open all hours and binge drinking.

A surreptitious drag at the weed is now a wholesale market in drugs of the ecstasy variety. What a pity ecstasy has lost its meaning.

Sex has moved from ‘mortal sin’ to an after dinner must (sorry mint). Whatever became of ‘making love’ ? Shouldn’t we be telling our young people about this? It was so much more meaningful.

And then there is the subject of culling badgers! Just a few, we are told, for the good of the cows. And we are culling our own next generation at the rate of 200,000 a year, for whose good? - no wonder the government tells us that we are becoming a society of old people with no means of maintaining it economically.

And now we are moving into the season of Christmas when we must have bigger and better garden displays every year and bigger and more expensive presents and more and more feasting….. It’s not laws we need. It’s a whole change of heart and mind.

Penny wishes you a happy Christmas and moderation in all things.