MFI's demise is no loss

I'm not surprised that MFI has gone to the wall.
When I was a kid, it was the store of choice for my mum and dad when it came to kitting out my bedroom.
I know the 80s was the decade that style forgot, but the furniture from MFI (or MI5 as we called it) wasn't pretty. And within months it was usually leaning alarmingly to the left, or to the right. Then the handles would fall off.
Of late, the chain has gone more upmarket, no doubt forced out of the lower end of the game by Ikea, which manages to offer stylish furniture that's built to last - and it looks good too (well, most of it does).
Yet I bet the middle classes have once again found quality lacking at MFI, despite pretty hefty price tags. And if my recent trip to MFI at Basford, near Newcastle, Staffordshire, is anything to go by, the company could have done with brushing up on its customer service too.
So I won't be sorry to see MFI disappear, if that's what happens once the administrators have finished with it.
Of course it's a bitter blow for the staff, just weeks before Christmas. But there's no place for overpriced, poor-quality furniture from a company which has apparently never heard of 'service with a smile'.
On the other hand, I hope there's a future of some kind in store for Woolworths. The company has branches all over my neck of the woods. And there have been some serious bargains to be had when I've been shopping in Newcastle, Hanley, Stone and Stafford.
Woolies is an institution and would be sorely missed. I've been following the story on the website of my local paper, The Sentinel, and people seem pretty sad about the chain's demise.
One bloke from Hanley reckons that other high street 'W', Wilkinsons, is to blame. It is, he reckons, the new Woolworths.
I'm not so sure. And I hope the administrators, Deloitte, can pull something out of the bag.
In the meantime, I'll be popping in for some pick n mix this weekend.

Bungling burglar story's a real steal

You get a better class of plonker in Stoke-on-Trent.
And the evidence for this outrageous claim? Step forward, Mr Barry Munro.
Good old Bazza's a bit of a serial crim. He'd already done time for some unknown crime and when released on licence decided to go on another crime spree.
He popped into a North Staffordshire hairdresser's salon and half-inched some hair straighteners. Not exactly a bumper haul, but he probably thought they'd go for a few quid down the pub.
Anyway, poor old Bazza obviously hadn't read up on the latest forensic science tips, for the dozy burglar went and left a trace of his DNA... and promptly got nicked by Staffordshire Police.
Munro, from Smallthorne Crescent, in Bradwell, Newcastle, is now back behind bars. It's probably a blow to him, but it's cheered me up, and readers of my local paper, The Sentinel, have probably been having a titter too. It's just what the doctor ordered in these dismal, doom-laden times.

Robbie Williams: Grade A success story?

I remember those dark days of school when the teachers would have you believe that failing your GCSEs spelled the end of the world.

Being a bit of a swot, I fell for their scare-stories hook, line and sinker. But looking back (it's incredible how much a recent birthday ending in -0 can make you contemplate your life thus far), I wish I'd rebelled.

I wish I'd fallen in with the wrong crowd, got trolleyed on cider and popped a few pills in an act of adolescent rebellion.

After all, it didn't do popstar Robbie Williams any harm.

For the Stoke-on-Trent born songman has revealed much about his teenage years in the Potteries. Granted multi-millionaire Robert will make you pay £30 to listen in full on his website, but my local paper, The Sentinel, has done its bit for the credit crunch and spilled some of the beans for free on http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/

Yep, the Robster has relived the moment his disappointing GCSE results were revealed to his mum Jan at their home in Tunstall.

Yet just hours later, this young Stokie was jumping for joy after bagging himself a place in Take That.

The rest, as they say, is history. And didn't he do well for himself?

OK, so he appears to have gone a bit bonkers of late, doing BBC radio documentaries about aliens and sporting a haircut to be ashamed of.

But he's rolling in it, living a life of luxury in LA, indulging his passion for all things Port Vale - and all after flunking his exams.

His Robcast, as his confessional podcast has been called, also includes details of him taking LSD at Shelley's nightclub in Longton; trying to summon spirits with a Ouija board at Chuch Lawton Hall; and buying his first pair of Versace jeans in Hanley.

Now all he needs to do is get himself back to Stoke-on-Trent, settle down with a good Potteries woman, and launch his own Fame Academy to put the city on the map.

That way he can really prove to others growing up in his neck of the woods that there is hope after all...

The lucky Livesleys are quids in

Well lucky old Jackie and John Livesley from Longton in Stoke-on-Trent.
They probably won't be worrying too much tonight about their credit being crunched.
Nope, the lucky couple of die-hard Stoke City fans have scooped £2.6million on the National Lottery.
They bought their ticket at Morrisons supermarket in Leek, though they nearly didn't because Jackie apparently wanted to avoid the bad weather and stay in, rather than going shopping.
She's doubtless pleased that she pulled on her waterproof now.
I could sit here getting all jealous. But I'm chuffed for this pair of Stokies, whom I've never met.
So too are the general public, if The Sentinel's website is anything to go by.
Why, you might ask? Well I'm no sociologist, but I reckon it's great to see some good news for a change.
Rising bills, job losses, downturn this, slump that. It's almost too grim to get out of bed these days.
So it's nice to know that somebody in Stoke-on-Trent is enjoying some good luck for a change.
I hope they have a fun time splashing all that cash!

Staffordshire University frisbee team ruling is plain mental

When, oh when, will the PC brigade get it? When will they realise that by being so damn right-on and over-sensitive they might as well reach for a rifle and blast themselves in the foot?
No, I've not spent the morning on the BNP website, devouring the Daily Mail and having my head shaved.
But even a leftie like me can't quite believe that a Staffordshire University frisbee team called Mental Discs has been ordered to change its name, because it could "potentially" offend people with mental health problems.
I know who's mental here. The hard-left loons at the Students' Union, that's who.
According to The Sentinel, my local paper in Stoke-on-Trent, the name Mental Discs has been used by the team since it was founded in 2002.
Only now, six years on, the union is calling for the name to be changed to "avoid distress" to other students with mental health problems.
Students' Union president Fiona Wood reckons "mental is a derogatory word in many contexts". And what's behind this over-reaction? Good old "equal opportunities".
"As a union we have equal opportunities, a number of students do have issues in this area and it only takes one complaint and it would be out of hand," she says. "When the nickname went on the team's official papers this year alarm bells rang and we agreed the name was not suitable."
Give me a break. The word mental is no more offensive than "Discs".
These days it can mean anything... off-the-wall... really enjoyable... fantastic. Just ask your average 14-year-old to stop texting for a minute and they'll tell you.
You'll note there have been no complaints from anybody unfortunate enough to be afflicted with mental ill-health. And it'd be nonsense for them to complain anyway.
Staffordshire University are playing into the hands of the idiots who may think it funny to have a laugh about the mentally-ill.
And they also play straight into the hands of those with more extreme views. "What's the world coming to?", they'll declare. And who could blame them?
That the university could over-react in such a way is enough to leave any right-thinking person feeling depressed. They should agree an about-turn immediately.

Anthea Turner's foreign pots gig? Just smashing!

It looks like the fragrant Anthea Turner - she of 'Yeah, I'll promote a chocolate bar on my wedding day' fame - has been rumbled by an eagle-eyed resident of Stoke-on-Trent.
For the former Blue Peter beauty, who is said to be fiercely proud of her Potteries roots, has been busy earning some dosh... promoting pottery from nowhere near Stoke-on-Trent. Allegedly.
According to a correspondent who wrote to my local paper, The Sentinel, it seems "our" Anth has been plugging ceramics made abroad for Matalan.
Which is a cracking way of showing loyalty to your home city in these credit-crunched times. Spode? Remember them? Well they've gone under after hundreds of years at the heart of life in Stoke.
Wedgwood, one of the region's other big names, are making more people redundant. And Royal Doulton... Royal who? Yep, they're just a distant memory in the town of Burslem, which they once so proudly called home.
So I imagine there might be plenty of former potbank workers who'd like to throw more than a pot in Anthea's direction, given her Matalan gig.
And who could blame them?

JCB redundancies mean more doom and gloom

When, oh when, will the doom and gloom of the credit crunch end?
It just seems to be one round of redundancies after the other, and my neck of the woods is feeling it as much as anywhere.
JCB has announced tonight that it is making even more redundancies - another 398 to be precise. It's a bitter blow for the company's staff, after a deal struck between management and union members seemed to have limited the number of job losses.
However, it seems sales continue to slide and things just get worse and worse. You have to feel for these people and their families, who have been commenting furiously on the website of my local paper, The Sentinel in Stoke-on-Trent.
As one woman put it: "There are mortgages to pay and children to feed."
Mind you, there has at least been some relief with the Government's decision to again award the Post Office Card Account(POCA) contract to the post office.
Many post office workers in Staffordshire feared it'd be the end of their businesses if the contract went to a private firm. At least Whitehall has seen sense, hopefully meaning that the post offices which provide such a vital service in many communities will stay open - for now.
It's good (in a way) to see that some people can find humour in these desperate times, though. The Sentinel has found a cracking credit crunch song, which was posted on YouTube. It's definitely worth a look if you need cheering up.

Whining Wenger's talking a load of balls

What a whinger that Arsene Wenger is.
I'll admit I know nowt about football, but I know that if a team like Stoke City wins fair and square, they win fair and square - even if it means defeating a 'superior' team like Arsenal in the process.
But it seems Arsenal manager Wenger knows better. He's moaning tonight that when his team lost 2-1 to Stoke at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, it was far from fair and square.
City's Rory Delap and Ryan Shawcross deliberately injured his players Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Adebayor, he reckons.
What a load of old balls. It all smacks of sour grapes, if you ask me. What's his problem? Perhaps he doesn't like to see a side like Stoke climbing their way up the Premier League.
Well the people of Stoke-on-Trent certainly do. And the fans are going mad at Wenger's whining.
On the website of The Sentinel, my local paper, they're kicking off big time.
So balls to you Arsene. And according to some of Stoke City's fans, it's about time you changed your name to Ars.....