The Church is so self-destructive it's laughable.

It's the 21st Century and they still see homosexuality as a choice - how anyone wants to even be in the presence of, let alone be in any way associated with bigots such as Sally Crowther is beyond me.

That's not true though is it? By who? When? Where? If there is any truth in that, the staff probably did it out of a worry or courtesy that offence might be caused, they just forgot to apply logic and realise that no-one would be offended by that.

And as far as Wedding day requests go, I'm sure registry offices have a lot worse stories to tell than that...

How terrifying these times must appear to you.

With the introduction of same-sex marriage and the gradual decline of the influence of 'the Church', I believe society will become a more tolerant, equal and just place to live for everyone, so there is hope Penelope.

As for people wondering if Church's will be forced to conduct same-sex marriages - they won't, similar to how no-one is forced to conduct civil partnerships. The Equal Love campaign that is getting discussed in parliament soon (and that has the backing of every major political party) is calling for civil marriages to become available to all couples, and for civil partnerships to become available to all couples. Fab, everyone's happy.

Same-sex marriage is already present in around a dozen countries, including several states of America(!), so there is really nothing to be afraid of.

Why is that you think the whole 'place' has gone to ****?

Of course 'yes'.

There is no argument against it. And equal marriage is happening anyway so those that voted 'no', educate yourself for your sakes.

Twitter says nothing yet. Rumours are rumours are rumours...

1) I was talking about Bartholomew Street.
2) A violent crime could be anything from a shove to a murder. I repeat, attacks like this almost never happen.

Wow, way to read between the lines. I said that people taking drugs and people getting beaten up are two very different things and it was unclear to me as to why you had linked the two, except maybe to make a case for the destruction of our high street... Using your 'evidence', people take and deal drugs "everyday... all the time" on Bartholomew Street, but attacks like this almsot never happen, so I fail to see any correlation.
I don't know any drug dealers so I couldn't claim that they're all gentle souls, no.

What does this specific incident currently have to do with drugs anyway?

Hardly. There's a league of difference between some people taking drugs, and a man getting severely beaten by a group of lads.
The latter being something I have never seen on Bartholomew Street before.

A man got beaten up by a group of lads outside Debenhams at around 6.30pm.
No idea on the motive though.

Thousands of people having a great night watching (albeit terrible) music >>> A few children going to bed a couple of hours later

I'd love the idea of the Racecourse becoming a more regular stand-alone music venue.

I think you have got 'Pastors' muddled up with 'Vigilantes' there.
They will be "offering them a prayer and someone to talk to", and although it mentions them dealing with anti-social behaviour, I wouldn't take that too literally.
If this does become official as opposed to the few that I have previously seen around, then I expect they will be given some kind of contact bridge with the Police.
But I still don't see why anyone should be against it. If that's what they want to do with their time, then so be it.

I'm sure Newbury has something like this anyway. It was only last winter that I was offered Hot Chocolate from some Christians in the Market Place, and I've seen them wandering around every so often since.
A pretty depressing way to spend your free-time I'd imagine, but if that's what they want to do, then I don't see why anyone would be against it.

At voluntary chemical castration? I think their work went a fair bit further than that.

Why were you surprised? It is called a FUNfair afterall.

Like every year then.

I can almost guarantee that that is counter-acted by the massive drain smoke-related ilnesses cause the NHS. Not to mention cleaning up your cigarette butts as well...
But you're right about the dying early bit, I really appreciate it!

But what is the point? wah wah wah.

Anyone that is so apathetic they won't even try anymore, can't complain.
In the same way that if you don't vote, you can't complain about the Government, if you don't report a problem, you can't complain that it is still there.

Now I do fully apreciate that people do have bad experiences when reporting problems such as this, but if that small cry for help turns to silence, then the Police are never going to give a crap and so can't be scapegoated.

Having worked in retail, you sound like the worst customer ever.
Is that really the only bike rack they have???

Three caravans and accompanying 5,000 children have parked up in the green opposite where the old Hospital was on Andover Road.
It's been a while since I've seen any. What's the usual time before they get moved along to the next undeserved town?

Newbury Cinema is showing Four Lions from Friday 14th.

That's one of my major qualms with the cinema, it's missed quite a few good films now.
But as with everything, it comes down to money - it has only got 7 screens after all - and Four Lions isn't really a sure sell, at least not compared to other w/c 7th May releases they have got, Hot Tub Time Machine and A Nightmare On Elm Street.
Not been to The Corn Exchange for a film yet but I'll have a look into this.

Not quite sure.
NWN week runs Thurs-Wed but VUE week runs Fri-Thurs so it could be something to do with that.
You're more likely to get an answer if you ask the NWN themselves - cinema listings, advertising links and such will all be orchestrated from Head Office who may never have even heard of the Newbury Weekly News.

Failing that, you could always make a specific comment on the customer feedback section of the VUE website: http://myvue.com/feedback/index.asp?SessionID=

You just need to take the full stop off of the end of the URL.
http://twitter.com/TVP_Newbury

Oh no, sounds like there are too many elitist old guys standing in the shadows complaining about how things have changed.
Hope they move on soon.