Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship
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Spin,
not face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's
chosen method of communication. Ordinary people are dangerous. Ordinary
people might ask a question which throws a politician 'off message';
the Cabinet member might reveal himself or herself to be a human being
like us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she might
tell the truth.
Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004
Blair wants to leave his
mark on history - looks more like a stain to me.
Peter Thorndyke, Diss,
Norfolk - Daily Mail, May 23, 2005
I know I'm me - why do I
need an ID card?
"Sorry, officers, I
don't have an ID card. I never applied for one. It seemed a bit steep
at 300 quid. I do have my free passport, my driving licence and my
London freedom travel pass, each with my photograph. I have my NHS
medical card, with its lengthy number, given me at birth, my RAF
service book with my Armed Forces number, and a chit authorising me to
wear a few gongs -including a General Service Medal with Malaya bar,
for fighting communist terrorists on behalf of my country, or so they
told me.
"I've also got various credit
cards and store cards, all with my signature on the back, generally
good for buying the everyday requrements for life as well as the odd
luxury. If you decide to arrest me, I suppose I'll have to be
photographed and given another number, besides my PINs.
"I'm afraid I haven't got a
pension book; it was taken away."
"By thieves, sir?"
"No ... well, not exactly. By the
Government. By the way, may I see your warrant cards please, gentlemen?"
Oh dear, they've disappeared. E.
Harry Gumer, Romford, ESSEX - Daily Mail, June 1, 2005
NO means NO
When does NO mean MAYBE?
When it's not the answer the EU wants.
With the
courageous French NON resounding in their ears, shabby, undemocratic
self-interested leaders of Europe propose ignoring the part of their
precious constitution that requires ratification by all members and
continuing without one of the biggest founder members to prevent
derailing the gravy train.
As in Ireland,
they refuse to accept any NO votes, ignoring the will of the people,
and re-stage votes until they can engineer the 'correct' answer. Sadly,
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw dances to their tune like a puppet on a
string. With tactics such as these, how can anyone really believe the
EU has our interests at heart. Letter from Steve Penny, Kingsnorth, Kent - Daily
Mail, June1, 2005
Surely
the French result makes the £1million the EU recently spent on a
treaty signing ceremony seem a trifle premature and extravagant. Letter from Keith Wiseman, Bury, Lancs. - Daily Mail,
June1, 2005
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May 31, 2005 (761 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,657 US - 89 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300 civilians - 25 media
June 3 , 2005 (765 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,670 US - 89 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300 civilians - 25 media
June 17, 2005 (779 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,716 US - 89 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300? civilians - 25 media
June 26, 2005 (788 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,737 US - 89 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300? civilians - 25 media
July 6, 2005 (798 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,751 US - 90 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300? civilians - 25 media
August 24, 2005 (847 days since
war ended)
Death Toll: 1,869 US - 93 UK -
>>6,164? Iraqi - >>17,300? civilians - 25 media
September
29, 2005 (883 days since war ended)
Death Toll: 1,928 US - 96 UK - >>6,164?
Iraqi - >>17,300? civilians - 25 medi
Britain has
traditionally been one of the biggest net contributors to the EU
because we do not get as much money back from Brussels in farm and
regional subsidies as our rivals.
According to
Treasury figures, between 1995-2002, Britain's average contribution
taking the rebate into account, was £2.6billion, or £43.55
per head of population.
The French -
the biggest recipient of farm subsidies - contributed £1billion a
year or £16.08 per head of their population.
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Welcome
to BlairWorld
Maestro
of self-delusion
Ignore
education decline, tax rises, the collapse of his European dream,
the immigration scandal and mounting social problems, Mr Blair
seems to have obtained divorce from ordinary cares and real people
to occupy
a world of his own, into which only the Almighty, Cherie, George
Bush and a handful of apostles may intrude ...
by
Max Hastings - Daily Mail, September 28, 2005
Consider
a historical cameo of Blairism. In 1802, a European ambassador
in St Petersburg described a mass baptism beside a hole in the
ice of the frozen river Neva. The bearded Russian patriarch conducting
the ceremony dropped an infant whose body plunged into the depths,
never to be seen again. 'Davoi drugoi,' intoned the archbishop
impassively. 'Pass me another.'
Omitting
only the black beard, here was a performance immediately identifiable
with our Prime Minister. Yesterday, Tony Blair was perhaps the
one person in Labour's conference hall at Brighton apparently
oblivious that he has presided over a national disaster, the war
in Iraq, together with a host of lesser failures. "We
have been change-makers," he proclaimed proudly,
"and that is what we must stay.
It is a privilege to be Prime Minister of such a country."
From
far, far away - from some mountain infinitely more remote than
the stage on which he stood - he delivered the gospel to us common
mortals. Accept we must stick out his war. Ignore the decline
of our education system, the looming tax rises, the collapse of
his European dream, the chaos of the immigration system, budget-starved
Armed Forces, ever-mounting social problems, disappointed hopes
and broken promises.
"Davoi
drugoi," demands Tony Blair. Pass him another infant.
He
is determined to go on and on not merely because his wife has
so much more shopping to do, but because he believes that triumphant
vindication of his premiership lies just over the horizon. Like
some 15th century flat-earth navigator who sailed ever onward,
confident that eventually he would reach the edge of the world,
Blair thinks another year or two, or three, will secure his legacy.
The
British people will perceive that our schools and hospitals are
getting better. Europe will start looking good again. Democracy
will take root in Iraq. Tony Blair's status will be confirmed
as one of the foremost statesmen of our time.
And,
of course, he keeps for that much longer the delicious sweetmeats
of power, the outriders and helicopters, deferential aides and
secret reports, obsequious colleagues and splendid residences.
"Why should he give up?" a Tory veteran, who himself
came tantalisingly close to the premiership, said to me recently.
"He's got the best job there is."
For
all Gordon Brown's relentless public pacing of the steps of No
10, Downing Street, the Chancellor seems to have no clue how to
evict the sitting tenant. That tenant yesterday served notice
that no offer of compensation will induce him to pack his bags
before he chooses. A year ago, many of us asserted that the last
phase of the Blair era had begun, that it was hard to see how
the British people, or even the Labour Party, could profit from
the Prime Minister's continance in office much past the General
Election.
Yet
here we all are, approaching the end of 2005, and not one minister
or commentator in Brighton is willing to wager that Blair will
be gone next year, never mind this year. He addressed conference
yesterday as a man convinced that only he can continue the visionary
struggle to make Britain safe for Blairism. "Nothing good
comes easy," he said. "You just have to persevere."
He spoke with the fervour of a leader auditioning to fight his
first General Election, rather than just past his last one.
It
is extraordinary, is it not? The polls show public respect for
Blair once more waning after a brief upsurge following the London
bombings, yet his self-belief remains impregnable. "Government
is not just a state of office, it is a state of mind," he
said dreamily.
We
may suspect President Bush's compact with God is at least partly
cynical. The Prime Minister's equivalent arrangement is not. He
is sincerely convinced that he represents the forces of virtue
and that only heretics do no recognise this.
He
spoke of how Labour missed a great opportunity to lead the resurrection
of Britain in the 1980's because the party was not ready for change,
of how the middle ground of British politics was lost to the Tories.
"Today, we've got it back, and we'll never yield it to them
again." For 'we', read 'I'.
In
one sense, he is right. Blair is a consummate politician, probably
the most formidable of modern times. Margaret Thatcher was an
infinitely more important prime minister, whose achievement in
changing Britain and restoring its prosperity dwarfs anything
Blair has done. But she lacked Blair's skill in managing power.
She was removed from office by her own party in 1990, having lost
the support of her ministers as well as much of the electorate.
In
recent years, we have heard so much about Labour's successful
management of Britain's economy that it is easy to forget that
Blair and Brown owe almost everything to what Thatcher did 20
years ago. At the end of the 70's, this country seemed doomed
to perpetual decline. Thatcher's reforms laid the foundation for
a new world, of riches almost unimaginable in those days.
Since
1997, the Prime Minister and his Chancellor were able to spend
staggering sums of money on our public services and on doing the
Good Works so dear to their hearts, only thanks to the forces
of enterprise mobilsed by the Iron Lady.
One
of the chief reasons it has been so hard for the Conservative
Party to make any headway against Labour since 1997 is that the
Government has been able to spend a huge amount of taxpayers cash
without voters noticing too much damage to their pockets. More
than that, for all their public homage to enterprise, they have
imposed upon British business a deadweight of bureaucracy, taxation
and employee rights that exposes their woeful ignorance of global
competitiveness about which Blair said so much yesterday.
The
moment is obviously close when Labour's largesse starts to hurt
people, and to be seen to hurt. It has not come yet. Until it
does, Tony Blair can continue to defy gravity. He spoke yesterday
as leader not of the Labour Party, but of the Not-The-Tory-Party
(NTTP). For a decade, Blair's NTTP has been the most formidable
force in British politics. It convoyed a host of Labour MPs to
the joys of office, but many still bitterly resent it.
In
Blair's tribute to Robin Cook and Mo Mowlam on Sunday, he observed
fervently: "We must never lose what they stood for."
Yet every delegate at Brighton knew that Blair's electoral success
has been founded not upon 'losing what Cook's and Mowlam's Old
Labour stood for, but upon digging a grave and burying it. Many
hated him for this, while recognising that they needed his extraordinary
gifts as a vote winner.
Now,
that game is over. Blair has acknowledged that he will fight no
more General Elections. His political usefulness is thus at an
end. Labour no longer has to pretend to like him, and yesterday
it did not really pretend to do so. Applause from the floor seemed
mechanical. Most of his audience, and especially the trade unionists,
are thinking only of how, and how soon, they can supplant him
without a blood-letting.
What
does Blair himself think, as he hears endless talk of 'Brown,
Brown, Brown', of the future not the past? If we were privy to
the Prime Minister's thoughts, we might be surprised how small
a part in them the Chancellor plays. But then the extraordinary
thing about Blair is that he seems to have obtained a divorce
from ordinary cares, real people. He holds the keys of office,
while occupying a world of his own, into which only the Almighty,
Cherie, George Bush and a handful of apostles are permitted to
intrude. It was striking that he did not dare to mention the American
President by name in his speech. Yet he offered his audience the
same litany of nonsense about the war that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld
spout.
He
identified events on the battlefield with the 'worldwide struggle
against terrorism, which is at its fiercest in Iraq', as if Osama
bin Laden was pulling the strings of the power struggle between
Sunni and Shia, rather than merely relishing the spectacle. Yet
any prime minister who has so far defied every precedent of politics
by retaining office after presiding over disaster and deceit on
the scale of Iraq might be forgiven for assuming that wingless
flight is easy.
Any
man who could yesterday pay homage to Ken Livingstone as 'a great
London mayor', when 5 years ago he strove might and main to destroy
him, is beyond embarrassment or self-knowledge. It is Blair's
good fortune to be our Prime Minister in the age of the mindless
celebrity culture when the British have aband0ned serious debate
on the fate of their nation - whether temporarily or permanently
remains to be seen.
Voters
have opinions of a kind about the war, education, health, family
life and crime on the streets. But they seem to have forsworn
passion or serious thinking about big issues. They are content
to sail through life untroubled unless some serious misfortune
befalls them, such as their dishwasher breaking down, or their
video recorder failing to tape the football on TV. There was probably
more genuine anger towards Blair among Labour's delegates in Brighton
yesterday than among the public who think all politicians are
pretty much alike, and that the Tories would be no better than
this lot.
Here
is Blair's most conspicuous achievement. He presides over a stupefied
society more intent on Apple's new iPod than upon the scandalous
failure of our school system. Not one delegate dared to boo when
he yesterday boasted the progress of education reform. God help
us, perhaps he himself believed the last GCSE results.
Blair
said much yesterday about hard choices. Yet these are just what
he has always flinched from - about commercial competitiveness,
pensions, health, schools and energy policy. For more than eight
years, he has merely massaged the British people with fur mittens.
If there is any justice about the way today's history is written,
the Blair Legacy will be perceived as a confidence trick. There
was never a Third Way; only a moment of time at which political
and economic circumstances let a government get away with talking
very big and delivering very little.
Oh,
yes, and launching Britain into a war whose consequences are likely
to be with us for decades.
Blair's
performance yesterday was not one of his best. Sweating profusely,
at times he looked less like a third-term prime minister than
an auctioneer talking up a newly-renovated house suspected of
subsidence. One half-expected him to ask: "And what am I
bid for this great country?", after extolling the vitues
of Britain, his Britain, in
such feverishly extravagant terms.
Yet
he left no doubt that he was inviting support for his own continuance
in power, rather than preparing to abandon it. Gordon Brown's
grin, as he joined the applause, was that of a Spartan with a
fox gnawing at his vitals. Yesterday's message is that anyone
who wants Tony Blair's job in a hurry will have to fight him for
it. The big question for British politics in the year ahead is
whether the Labour Party is willing to do this.
Meanwhile,
'davoi drugoi'.
Welcome
to BlairWorld
Comment
- Daily Mail, September 28, 2005
Like
the ultimate actor-manager taking to the boards for yet
another season, Tony Blair -rhetorician supreme - can
still do the business. His speech yesterday contained
the usual soaring litanies, the oh-so-sincere evangeligcal
passion, the moist-eyed humility contrasting with the
messianic fervour (some might say megalomania). But then
after his `12th conference speech as leader, his ninth
as Prime Minister, Mr Blair will forgive us if we say
we've seen and heard it all before.
The
speech did, however, have a simple, if implicit, message
- he is going nowhere fast. It was left to his wife Cherie
to spell things out explicitly when she told the world
the Blair retirement plan 'is a long way in the future'.
Really? What a way to run a country ... a Chancellor who
is already assuming power and a lame-duck Premier who
increasingly seems to live in a world of his own, in which
truth is defined by how many times he says something.
In
the real world the truth is that here is a Prime Minister
with little new to offer. After just four months, this
third-term Labour Government already looks becalmed, incapable
of dealing with the major issues of our time. Even by
his own standards, Mr Blair's capacity for humbug yesterday
seemed limitless.
Educational
privilege was an affront, he opined - this from a man
who sent his children to selective schools and presided
over fewer state pupils going to top universities, truancy
at an all-time high and a devalued exam system.
He
lamented the break-up of traditional families - this from
a Government that has systematically undermined the family
- while his plans for 'affordable wrap-arond chldcare
from 8am to 6pm' would warm the hearts of Stalin's commissars.
He
showered nauseaous praise on the 'great' Ken Livingstone
- this from the very same Blair who hounded the London
Mayor out of the Labour Party. And he deprecated binge
drinking - this from a government which has unleashed
round-the-clock boozing.
Indeed,
when he finally got round to mentioning the issue which
will forever shame him - Iraq - Mr Blair simply patronised
his audience by claiming it was all about fighting terrorism.
But - surprise, suprise - Iraq will not be debated at
any point this week.
Nor
will the looming tax rises, the European Constitution
debacle, the growing pensions crisis, the scandalous chaos
of our immigration system and the MRSA rampaging through
our hospitals.
Shining
though the entire speech was the assertion (take heed
Gordon Brown) that only Mr Blair can deliver New Labour's
reforming agenda. If Tony says things are fine, then they
must be so.
Mr
Blair is a brilliant politician. His speech yesterday
- the lack of substance apart - was a brilliant conference
speech. Mr Blair genius, indeed his very raison d'etre
for the past eight years, has been about power and staying
in power - and jigger Britain. On yesterday's showing
he got more than a bit of life left in him yet.
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