Silent Majority Speaks
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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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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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Tony
Blair should know that respect comes by example - from the
top. If a country's leader has no respect for the rule of
international law and no respect for the truth, how can
he expect anyone to have respect. Letter
from P.J.Atkinson, Ashford, Kent - Daily Mail, January 12,
2006
The
Chancellor's single greatest act of vandalism in almost
nine years in office has been his wanton destruction of
Britain's private retirement industry. By slapping a massive
tax on pension funds, now worth
£7.3billion a year, he has helped to turn
the best private retirement industry in Europe into a basket-case
in perpetual crisis. Together with the adoption of European
accounting rules - which make it much riskier to operate
a company pension scheme - hundreds of firms have shut their
final salary plans to new employees and slashed benefits
to existing staff. From
Allister Heath: "I've seen the future and its grey"
in THE SPECTATOR - April 15, 2006
Nine
years ago the British people were sold a fantasy of clean
and competent government of principle and honesty. Its shiny
wrappings stripped away, the product now reveals its true
nature: Personal greed, arrogance, incompetence, shamelessness,
rash warmongering and an inability to accept - as is clear
to almost everyone else - that it is time to go. Editorial
- The Mail on Sunday, May 28, 2006
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March
3, 2008 (1707) days since war ended)
This
site has had 
visitors
Our
PM has been Mr Bean and a Runner Bean.May he soon be a
Has-Bean .. please!
'Straight
to the point' - from Harry Dodd, Bath - Daily Mail, December
18, 2007
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Suspects
freed on bail carry out two murders every week
BY
James Slack, Home Affairs Editor, Daily Mail, March 24, 2008
Two
murders are committed every week by criminals freed on bail,
figures reveal yesterday. It means that more than one in five
killings is carried out by a suspect released by the courts.
The
revelations led to demands last night for tighter restrictions
on the use of bail. Courts are under pressure because of chronic
prison overcrowding.
But
critics said lives would have been saved if the suspects had
been remanded to custody instead. Nick Herbert, the Tory justice
spokesman, said: "These shocking figures underline the
need for tighter bail laws. Too many defendants are receiving
an automatic presumption in favour of bail, when their previous
crimes mean that they should expect to be held in custody. Public
safety must come first."
The
figures emerged from a series of Freedom of Information requests
to the 51 police forces. Only 34 managed to produce figures,
but these revealed suspects on bail were responsible for 79
out of 462 murder cases.
If,
as expected, the figures are replicated for the remaining forces,
it would give a total of more than 100 killings by suspects
who could have been behind bars In Avon and Somerset, almost
half of those charged with murder in 2007 - eight out of 17
- were on bail. In West Midlands, six of the 40 suspects were
on bail.
Police
are furious that criminals they have already caught are being
freed so regularly to strike again. Those killed by suspects
on bail include father-of-three Garry Newlove, who was kicked
t death outside his home in Warrington by drunken thugs.
His
killer Adam Swellings, 19, had been freed from custody earlier
the same day. Last week, a court heard how pub landlord Steven
Galsworthy, 41, was stabbed to death in Bournemouth by a thug
on bail.
Alan
Gordon, vice chairman of the Police Federation, said: "There
are systemic failures in the judicial and sentencing process
that need to be urgently addressed. The Government must not
allow a lack of prison places to dictate safety on our streets."
The
figures will add to the controversy over the use of bail for
dangerous suspects. Last month, it emerged 60 murder suspects
are walking the streets after being granted bail by the courts.
They represent one in eight - or 13% - of those currently charged
with crime.
The
numbers spared jail on remand for manslaughter cases are even
more dramatic. The 35 suspects on bail represent 85% of those
currently charged. Only six were in custody.
The
figures also follow alarm over the decision to grant bail to
the policeman Gary Weddell, suspected of murdering his wife.
The decision left the 47-year-old free to kill his mother-in-law
before turning the gun on himself.
Courts
have been urged to make the greatest possible use of bail. One
option available to them is to allow suspects to go free wearing
an electronic tag. Officials are desperate to find ways of reducing
the prison population, which stands at just under 82,000 with
only a few hundred spaces remaining.
Last
month the Government officially ran out of cells for the first
time before the situation improved. The Ministry of Justice
said there were were 82,068 inmates - 96 over the Prison Service's
'usable operational capacity' which includes police and court
cells.
A
Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We do not comment
on individual cases. Whether or not to grant bail is an independent
judicial decision. However, we are looking at the implications
of recent cases on bail law and procedure, and if any changes
in the law are necessary, we will make them."
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