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 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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December
26, 2006 (1308 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2978 US - 126 UK - >650,000? civilians - 25 media
January
15, 2007 (1326 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 3020 US - 129 UK - >650,000? civilians - 25 media
This
site has had 
visitors
Warning
we can't ignore
Commentary
by Dr Emanuel Moran - consultant psychiatrist and special adviser
on gambling - Daily Mail, January 15, 2007
Thanks
in good part to the policies of Tony Blair's government, Britain
has, in recent years, developed an unenviable international reputation
as a nation of yobbish binge drinkers. Now we are in danger of
becoming a nation of gambling addicts as well, and once again
Ministers must bear much of the blame.
Clearly,
the BMA in a major report due out this week, is concerned about
this. Alarmingly, the number of 'problem gamblers' - at the moment
around 300,000 - is expected to rise sharply as controls on gaming,
from bingo halls to out first super casino - are relaxed this
year.
In
addition, the growth of 'remote gambling' on the internet, via
mobile phones and interactive television, has made a bad situation
even worse because it means you can now sit alone, gambling continuously
24 hours a day. The valuable social restraints imposed by gambling
in company, at the bingo hall or the casino can now be by-passed,
drawing in women and children.
So
I am convinced that the BMA concerns are right, and I should know.
As a psychiatrist, now retired, I devoted much of my professional
life to dealing with addictive behaviours, concentrating on gambling,
which is as dangerously addictive as drugs, booze or cigarettes
I
was the specialist who drew up the WHO guidelines on 'pathological
gambling' and I remain adviser on gambling to the Royal College
of Psychiatrists. In addition, since I retired, I have run a telephone
helpline for those whose gambling addiction has spiralled out
of control. So I feel an obligation to speak out.
Some
of the helpline cases I have come across are truly horrific. Take
the teenager - I'll call him George - who played the fruit machines
persistently and, surprise surprise, lost every penny he had.
He then took to petty theft to feed his habit. Next he took up
that fashionable activity, Internet gambling, after he had gained
access to his father's credit card.
When
he phone me he was waiting for his father's wrath. He knew that
when he opened his monthly statement from the bank, his father
would be astonished to discover that he was thousands of pounds
in debt. There will be many more such Georges in the years to
come, as a direct result of government policy. Remember, the crucial
thing about George and those like him is that they are genuinely
addicted, and it will cost a great deal of time and money - two
things in short supply in the NHS - to wean them from their addiction.
No wonder the BMA is ringing alarm bells.
That
is why I find the attitude of the Government so appallingly irresponsible.
It is hard to believe, but it is official policy to try to turn
this country into the gaming capital of the world. Ministers have
said so.
Tessa
Jowell, who is responsible for the Gambling Act, actually wrote
in 2004 that 'gambling is a massive, global industry and is entitled
to a regulatory framework that ensures continued growth'.
Continued
growth!! So there you have it. To Miss Jowell and her Cabinet
colleagues, gaming is simply another industry. Growth is good;
we want out share of the action (and the tax revenues) and to
heck with the social consequences. But gambling is not like ordinary
industries. Instead it should be compared to those supplying alcohol
or tobacco. Both are increasingly tightly regulated, and rightly
so.
One
thing is certain. No Minister, even in this Government, would
be foolish enough to boast that the aim was to turn this country
in the booze and fags capital of the world. So why are we touting
so shamelessly for the attention of the distinctly dodgy, psychologically
harmful and socially disruptive gaming industry? Why does the
Government seem particularly attracted to American operators,
when - however unfairly - the American gaming industry has a deeply
dubious reputation?
Of
course the British industry talks of 'responsible gaming' and
advises us 'only to spend money we can afford to lose'. This is
mere window dressing. If Ministers wish to know the mood the industry
really wants to generate, they need only look at the 'Win, Win,
Win' advertisements you can find everywhere.
The
harsh truth is that a major expansion of the gambling industry
will inevitably mean a major expansion in addiction. We have been
warned.
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