Silent
Majority Speaks
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 answeer 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
11, 2005 (741 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 1,610 US - 88 UK - >6,164? Iraqi - >17,300 civilians
- 25 media
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
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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Back
to the old drawing board . . .
Keith
Waterhouse - Daily Mail, June 6, 2005
The
poet Elizabeth Smart, who gave us 'By Grand Central Station I
sat down and wept', was also responsible for the almost equally
memorable lines:'.... Yourself, in fact, drinking, amidst the
alien corn, and explaining the amazing joke of being born.'
The
amazing joke of the European Union, or Common Market as the mewling,
puking infant super-state was originally, and modestly, called
(to disguise what it was really up to), is one that certainly
needs explaining.
Meanwhile,
that Elizabeth Smart poem will serve to stand in for portentous
Ode to Joy until they come up with a more suitable number.
As Frankie Howerd used to say, it's a shame to mock the afflicted,
but no one can deny that the eurocrats have brought it upon themselves.
I don't think I know anybody who doesn't see the Non-Nee fiasco
as the funniest thing since custard pies.
An
even funnier thing is, the more pompous the victims get, the sillier
they sound. The Dutch Economics Minister blustered that Holland
was being allowed to vote on issues they knew nothing about. Neil
Kinnock claimed that the French and the Dutch rejected the EU
treaty because they did not understand it. (Neil does, of course.)
As
for President Chirac, he insisted airily that France's emphatic
Non was not a rejection of the European dream but, er - what:
A misprint? And he immediately bunged in an unelected intellectual
as his new prime minister. Back to the grassroots, eh?
All
this, and the single currency wobbling like an overstacked house
of cards. So when do we British get the chance to blow our own
homegrown raspberry? Never, if the likes of Jack Straw have their
way. The referendum issue goes back in the freezer as of today.
But
why? Because our NO, added to France's Non and Holland's Nee,
would simply put the tin lid on it. There would be no more demands
for 'a period of sober reflection'. What is there to reflect on
anyway? It is time to go back to the old drawing board and chop
it down to size. The European ideal has begun to sound like the
Eurovision Song Contest. It has long ago outstretched itself,
over-reached itself. Its principal use is as a labour-exchange
for Peter Mandelson & Co.
Added
to which, we've not had a chance to put in our two-pennyworth
about the Euro-dream for 30 years. Can't understand it, I suppose.
Certainly, we are all Europeans now - up to a point, Lord Kinnock.
We take our holidays there, unless we're heading to Florida for
a change. We find the euro no more and no less confusing than
the old Belgian franc - just so long as they don't try to infiltrate
it into our wallets. We like their foreign food.
What
we don't like is eye-glazing jargon like convergence and ratification
process. We don't like over -regulation (most of it eagerly seized
upon by English jobsworths, while ignored by the easier-going
Dutch and French). We don't like over-expansion. We don't like
the criminal waste that goes with Europeanisation. We don't like
jobs for the boys.
Quite
like home, really. In short, we can live with Europe, but we won't
have it shoved down our throats. And if the euro-aristos don't
like it, they know what they can do. They do by now, anyway.
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