Silent Majority Speaks

Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship

 

WWW silentmajorityspeaks.com

Time to get tough with the violent, racist yobs who shame Britain

by Anil Dawar, Daily Mail - July 22, 2004

Britain's soft approach to dealing with crime has allowed youngsters to grow out of control, a police chief said yesterday. Steve green, Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, launched an unprecedented attack on a legal system that, he says, protects young criminals rather than punishing them.

In an open letter to his local paper, the former Army officer said the country's police service was 'stretched to its absolute limits', the criminal justice system was 'creaking at the seams' and the public were 'sickened'.

Mr Green, 48, whose force has the highest caseload per officer in the country, made his comments as figures revealed that violent crime has risen 12% in the last year. His officers are facing a surge in drug-related gun crime in Nottingham, the worst rate of car crime outside London and a series of murders that has tied up police in lengthy investigations. He hit out at the 'disproportionate focus' on the rights of out-of-control young offenders. "It is one of life's great ironies that the tolerant, understanding and empathetic approach which has marked post war society has not bred tolerant children," he said.

"The evidence is there every day: youths scream obscenties om tje faces of police .... they yell at pensioners to get off the f****** pavcment .. they intimidate shopkeepers and chant racial abuse .... they threaten violence to anyone who challenges their aggressive behaviour. The gentle touch has created many monsters whose only interest is that their needs are met. If they can't afford to buy it, they'll steal it; if they want your mobile phone they'll punch you to get it; if they're drunk and pass a shop window they'll smash it; if they don't want to pay their bus fare the driver gets it; if they're bored they'll lay obstacles acoss the railway track or drop bricks on car drivers from motorway bridges."

Mr Green said society's response to crime should reflect the anger communities feel towards 'those teenage tyrants who have bullied their way through childhood, certain of their rights, confident of the disinclination of the system to punish them in any way that really hurts. Our legacy of disinclination to stop them in their tracks at a very young age has allowed them to arrive in adolescence uneducated, bad-mannered, foul-mouthed and violently disposed - yet unashamedly demanding credit for their troubled start in life as the system has taught them to do.'

He went on: 'I hear the sorry stories offered by defence solicitors in mitigation. I know that society has tried, for decades, to show that understanding and tolerance and rehabilitation improves behaviour in a way that pure enforcement of the law cannot. I'm sorry, but as a social experiment it has failed.'

The outspoken Mr Green has headed for force since 2000 and is seen as a moderniser with a hard line on policing crime. He has successfully blocked an increase in licensed bars in Nottingham as a way of bringing down levels of violent crime and has pushed for tougher sentencing on firearms offences.

Public concern at the way gangs were seen to be controlling parts of Nottingham led to a high-profile consultation programme. Mr Green took to the streets and personally addressed public meetings in an effort to show residents he wanted to deal with the county's crime problems. Yesterday's letter is the latest in a series of moves designed to reassure his public that unruly and criminal youth will not be allowed to carry on in their lawless ways.

Mr Green wrote: "Surely the measure of a civilised society is how well we protect those who are vulnerable - our elderly, our children, those with disabilities - and how well we protect rules which benefit communities. Surely it is proper to put the right of individuals to live a peaceful and considerate life above the rights of those who choose to shatter the peace. If we are to regain any of the lost ground we need to show less com-passion for the criminal and more for the victim.

"We must be brave enough to be tough. We must be tough enough to make people understand that the world is not built to revolve around a single person - and that we do not exist to indulge the whims of the selfish and the destructive. How many of us look back on our schooldays with admiration for the 'soft' teachers? The truth is that the people we remember with admiration are often those who curbed our rebellious instincts with rigid enforcement of the rules. Today teachers struggle to manage classes of unruly children, unable to restrain or effectively punish their worst excesses, and regularly become the targets of vicious complaints. The injustice is driving good teachers out. Yet teachers are the lifeblood of our nation and our future depends on their expertise and commitment."

Mr Green, who is married with a son, was born in South Yorkshire, went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1975. He joined North Yorkshire Police in 1978.

Nottinghamshire has recently seen a string of high-profile crimes including the murder of jewellery shop-owner Marian Bates, 64, who was shot dead as she shielded her daughter from armed robbers in September last year. Mr Green's force has also suffered from slow response times, poor emergency call handling, and was severely criticised by a Government inspector last year.

********************************

"We must be brave enough to be tough. We must be tough enough to make people understand that the world is not built to revolve around a single person - and that we do not exist to indulge the whims of the selfish and the destructive," says Mr Green. Do you agree with him?

After you vote please read Michael Howard's challenge to Tony Blair in the House of Commons on the day the Butler report was published, and the latest news on John Scarlett. A devastating report by hugely respected BBC Panorama journalist, John Ware, raises new questions about No. 10 and the 'truth', which are even more disturbing. Also read Rifkind on Blair and a letter from one of the normally silent majority in the United Kingdom.

The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.  Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged and the results published on this web site.

Here is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote. This example deals with the proposed EU Constitutional Treaty.

Your letters would end: "If you do not answer this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election."

Blair's defiance of the will of the majority of we, the people of the UK, over the invasion of Iraq must be exposed by voters as a matter or urgency, and not just in the two by-elections we have had this July and the European elections in June 2004. But how can this be done?

The most effective way of getting our deceitful PM to resign would be to mobilise the army of Labour MPs currently in the House of Commons and get them to demand it, the loss of their seat to be a penalty if they did not. All voters in Labour-held constituencies need to write a letter along these lines to their local Labour MPs:

Here's one to get Tony Blair to resign:

Dear Despite his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair has admitted, that the threat was non-existent. For that critical error of judgement and for his gross incompetence in handling this very important issue, I ask you to take immediate steps to ensure that Tony Blair does the honourable thing and resign without delay.. I would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave the PM with no option but to resign. If I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election. Signed:

Simple, non-violent, protest letters along these lines on a variety of issues could be the basis for re-vitalising our democracy and increasing voters' interest and participation in politics. Download a printable copy of the above letter here.

Or why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).

Download a printable example of the questionnaire.

It is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in their own constituency, even if this means going against their personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency, they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view of those who elect them. 

It will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy. We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.

Most important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be the result.

Contact your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005. You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected by your representative in that assembly.

 

If you have suggestions for additional subjects, or material to include in the pages linked to the subjects listed, please contact the webmaster.