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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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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December
28, 2005 (959 days since Iraq war ended)
Death Toll: 2,172 US - 98UK - >>30,000?
Iraqi - 25 media
Janyary
10, 2006 (972 days since Iraq war ended)
Death Toll: 2,209 US - 98UK - >>30,000?
Iraqi - 25 media
RESPECT?
This only deserves contempt
ALL
CARROT - NO STICK
It's
not yet more gimmicks that'll improve our lives, says a despairing
resident of an inner city estate, but an end to the moral vacuum
that betrays our young
by
Shaun Bailey - Daily Mail, January 11, 2006
Go
into the heart of any British city and you will quickly be aware
of the need to reinvigorate a real grasp of social responsibility.
In large swathes of urban Britain, a sense of threatening anarchy
now prevails, where fatherless boys grow up without job prospects,
their future confined to crime or dependency. That is why a drive
for respect in our communities is so badly needed. Without a huge
change in our civic culture, we will continue to endure rising
crime, drug-taking, family collapse, teenage pregnancy and anti-social
behaviour.
So
Tony Blair is absolutely right to put these issues at the centre
of his agenda for his final spell in ofice. But there are two
big difficulties at the heart of the Government's approach.
The
first is that they are acting far too late. Crisis in the inner
cities has been around for decades; indeed, Labour made much political
capital out of it in the Nineties when the Tories were failing
in office. Before Christmas, I wrote a report for the Centre for
Policy Studies think-tank about the reality of life on the inner-city
estate where I grew up in London. I said that crime was everywhere,
drugs were endemic and family life had broken down.
Yet
Blair and his ministers still only talk about tackling these problems.
If the Prime Minister really were serious - rather than merely
indulging in empty rhetoric to win over voters - then surely he
would have acted much sooner.
But
the second difficulty is more serious. It is that Labour's approach
is still inhibited by political correctness. The spirit of appeasement,
that terror of giving offence or facing up to hard choices, runs
throughout the 'Respect Action Plan' - the 40-page document to
tackle anti-social behaviour that Tony Blair launched yesterday.
Meaningless
This,
of course, renders meaningless many of Blair's pledges of tough
measures It is all carrot and no stick. Thus the Government trumpets
its plans to kick out anti-social tenants from council homes,
but then sheepishly admits that no family will lose the right
to a council home.
So
those who make life hell for their neighbours have nothing to
fear in the future. Throughout my life in inner-city Britain,
I have learnt that if government and local authority initiatives
are to have any effect, they have to be seen through with conviction
and courage. It's no use making draconian threats, especailly
with teenagers, if there is not the willingness to carry them
out - and to teach people the consequences of their actions.
Where
residents see no that no real action is taken against trouble-makers,
when miscreants realise that they will always escape unpunished,
then the integrity of authority and the rule of law are destroyed.
Today,
most young offenders regard the plethora of new sanctions - such
as Asbos, action plan orders and curfews - as nothing more than
a joke. Indeed, in many areas Asbos are now openly worn as a badge
of honour, as a symbol of tough masculinity, because they are
dished out like confetti but rarely enforced.
As
youth worker on the West London housing estate I grew up on, I
have seen at first hand how the institutions of civic authority
have been so badly undermined by failure to teach offenders any
real lessons about their criminal activity. Because of the destructive
mix of institutional incompetence, bureaucratic confusion and
judicial feebleness, too many youngsters are stuck in a revolving
door of court appearances and inappropriate sentences. This
teaches them nothing but contempt for the people who should be
giving them moral guidance. But
this is the spirit that now infests Britain. What we have lost
in recent years is the willingness to challenge the behaviour
of our young people, no matter how dangerous or anti-social.
Throughout
all public services, such as schools, probation and the youth
service, there is now a determination never to appear judgmental.
In so many areas, whether it be sex, pornography, drugs or employment,
we tell ourselves that public policy should be dictated by young
people's wishes, not what might be in their best longer-term interests.
Breakdown
We
give them the rights of adults without demanding that they show
any awareness of adult responsibilities. So in the field of sexual
behaviour, there is no attempt to introduce teenagers to moral
values. Instead, they are told that whatever they want to do is
fine at any age, as long as they take a pill or wear a condom.
The
result: we have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases in Europe. This leads to youngsters unsuited
to parenthood creating disordered families believing - perfectly
justifiably, as it happens, - that the state will look after their
welfare.
The
breakdown of family units therefore becomes the norm, yet Blair's
Respect Action Plan makes no attempt to address this problem beyond
a call for more parenting classes. They are not a bad thing in
themselves, but the information is really needed before teenagers
become parents in the first place.
Similarly,
adolescent boys in the inner cities are growing up in a culture
which aggressively celebrates raw, misogynistic sexual attitudes.
Their pop music, computer games and DVDs are full of imagery of
submissive women. Mainstream magazines such as Loaded are stuffed
with the kind of nudity which only a decade ago would have been
kept on the top shelf.
Respect
should involve an understanding of the needs of others. But in
our modern, masculine youth culture it means the exact opposite:
an intimidating demand for subservience and obedience from others.
Confused
Again,
in the fashionable mood of deference to the young, there is no
sign in the Government's plan of any willingness to tell teenagers
about what is appropriate. As a result they continue to grow up
in a world without any moral boundaries.
But
the messages are also confused: Teenagers under the age of 16
are allowed to have abortions without parental consent, yet parents
are still expected to be responsible for them when it comes to
school truancy. The Government talks about tackling the problem
of drug-taking among the young, but they they go softly-softly
on cannabis.
Nor
surprisingly, at least 25% of young people across the country
regularly take drugs, knowing they will not be in any trouble
with the law over their habit. The vast, soulless structures of
the inner city only make the breakdown in respect worse, whether
it be in the sprawling concrete housing estates that are devoid
of any sense of community, or in the massive comprehensive schools,
which are too large and impersonal to give any individual attention.
The
Government may have made a start with the Respect agenda set out
yesterday. But they will have to go much futher than mere talk
and tinkering if they are to achieve real results. If we are to
foster a genuine culture of respect in modern Britain, we must
have a transformation in the climate of our urban communities.
And
that means imposing a moral message, not allowing the continuation
of this anarchic free-for-all.
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