Rescuing
Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship
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You will
notice that, since New Labour came to power, not a single
leading Cabinet member or party 'heavy hitter' has appeared
on the programme (BBC's Question Time). 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
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Michael Howard's speech challenges the “distorted”
culture of political correctness - dropping the Human Rights Act
in a blitz on compensation
"Political
correctness gone mad. It’s a phrase almost all of us have
used at one time or another. In fact, it’s a cliché.
But like all clichés, there is more than an element of
truth behind it. In Britain today, political correctness has gone
mad. And it is driving people crazy.
"There
are so many examples of political correctness, it’s hard
to know where to start. But here are just a few, to get us going.
"Staff warned by their local council not to drape England
flags from office windows during the last World Cup - in case
it offended those supporting other teams.
"A
father of four who chased a gang of vandals with a rolling pin
for his own protection because they had just smashed his shop
window was bound over to keep the peace and charged with carrying
an offensive weapon.
"A
magistrate who, when considering a publican’s request for
an extra hour’s drinking, ruled that St George’s Day
was not ‘a special occasion’ - even though the publican
had not encountered any such problem with a similar request for
the Chinese Year of the Goat.
"It
would be easy to go on and on, because the examples are countless.
The Effects of Political Correctness
"In
some cases, the exercise of political correctness is relatively
harmless. It provides good knocking copy for fulminating commentators,
or for late night radio chat shows. But in many other cases it
is not. We cannot simply dismiss every example as an isolated
case of stupidity or zeal or plain barminess.
"The
systematic spread of political correctness has a corrosive effect
on our society. It makes people believe that there is something
odd about what would otherwise be considered normal behaviour.
It provides officials with an excuse to meddle and interfere in
people’s lives, where they have no business to. It leads
to expensive, time-consuming and pointless litigation. It plays
into the hands of extremists. And it undermines people’s
respect for the institutions of our country.
Principles we support
"Of
course, political correctness did not emerge from nowhere. Like
many of the problems in our society, it arises from the corruption
of a noble ideal. In many ways, Britain is a much kinder, gentler
and more tolerant nation than it was fifty years ago. We have
made great strides in terms of opportunities for every one in
our society, whatever their background.
"We
will always support measures that deal head on with the cancer
of discrimination. That is why I have supported and will always
support sensible measures to combat race, disability and sex discrimination.
And it is why, for example, I support civil partnerships. Over
the last forty years or so, measures like these have made a real
difference to millions of men, women and children in Britain.
"But
such measures do not constitute political correctness. They are,
in fact, about plain common sense, decency, humanity. These are
all the characteristics of a civilised society. Decent people
don’t want to go around harming or causing gratuitous offence
to others. And it is right that the law is there to stop the indecent
minority that do.
Political Correctness: Lack of Balance and Common
Sense
"But
this kind of intervention is no excuse for the wholesale assault
on common sense and individual responsibility that we see today.
We have lost any sense of balance and proportion. Consider what
is happening in our schools today.
"In
2000, a Government-backed booklet warned nursery teachers that
playing ‘musical chairs’ encouraged aggressive behaviour.
"One school banned pupils from making daisy chains in case
they picked up germs.
"I understand some schools do not allow teachers to apply
sun block to young children before playtime with the absurd result
that the children have to apply it to themselves. By the time
they’ve cleaned up the mess, playtime is over.
"A Pancake Day race for 40 primary school children in Devon
was almost cancelled this year after the school was told it would
cost £280 to insure, and required a detailed risk assessment
and 25 marshals.
"In 2002, the Government advised schools to replace traditional
sports days with group `problem-solving’ exercises.
"In April this year, some Scottish schools were apparently
told that football matches with a five nil score or above should
re-start at zero after half time, to prevent the losing team being
humiliated.
"And one young people’s football league tried to censor
local press match reports for the same reason.
"Everyone
recognises the need not to put undue pressure on our children.
But the examples I have quoted above take molly-coddling to the
nth degree. Our children still need to understand, at home and
at school, that life is not always fair and that it will, from
time to time, deal them hard blows. That is how they learn to
deal with them and overcome them.
"Everyone
also recognises the need to protect children from harm. But you
will recall the recent case of the primary school teacher accused
of sellotaping over a child’s mouth even though the children
had regarded it as fun. The case actually reached court where
the Judge described it as `clearly no more than a bit of light-hearted
fun in the classroom'. He dismissed the charge, saying the case
should never have been brought. He criticised the `indignity'
of the police arresting the teacher and said that, in forcing
a nine-year-old to come to court and give evidence, the prosecution
had 'not reflected the girl's interests'.
"So
why was that case brought? Why isn’t there much greater realism
in such cases, with more caution exercised about bringing them
to court when it is clearly not in the public interest to do so?
Has there been guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service to
stop cases like this reoccurring? And if not, why not? Why have
we heard nothing from the Director of Public Prosecutions or the
Attorney General about this?
"As
well as the threat of pointless prosecution, teachers are also
subject more and more to frivolous faddism. I gather that the
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority now wants teachers to
carry out 117 assessments on each five year old that they teach.
Apparently they want to know whether an individual five year old
- a five year old - and now I quote “understands that [she
or he] can expect others to treat her or his needs, views, cultures
and beliefs with respect”.
"This
is meaningless waffle. It is, I suspect, almost impossible to
assess. Rather, it is a self-conscious and inappropriate nod to
multiculturalism by the QCA which ends up increasing teachers’
workload, under-mining respect for the organisation, and diverting
resources away from the basi need to teach children.
"This
is an example of losing any sense of proportion.
"There
is another example of political correctness gone mad. I refer
to the police stopping trouble-makers - as opposed to `stop and
search’.
"I
accept that in the case of `stop and search’, there should
be a record kept by the police. But it is now proposed that the
police keep a record of every stop they make - and that anyone
stopped by the police should be able to see a record of that paperwork.
"Now,
it takes about seven minutes to do the paperwork for each stop.
For half a dozen stops, that’s the best part of an hour.
Is that really how we want our police officers to be spending
their time? Filling in forms when they could be helping to make
our streets safe?
"It’s
a nonsense. And that’s why a Conservative Government would
not implement that recommendation.
"This
is the sort of thing that leads to distorted priorities, and wasted
time, money and effort. Like health experts spending time and
money banning sponge cakes baked by the Women’s Institute.
In our health service, we should all be rather more worried about
the MRSA bug than sponge cakes.
"We urgently need to restore a sense of balance.
"The balance which will protect children but not to wrap
them in cotton wool.
"The balance that will let teachers teach, and pupils learn.
"The balance which will protect minorities but ensure that
the Police can continue to do their job effectively.
"The balance that will deliver clean hospitals but allow
patients to eat sponge cake.
"The balance which recognises that most people are unlikely
to be offended by seeing a national flag being displayed during
a football tournament.
"So why has that sense of balance and of perspective been
lost?
"First,
even good legislation can be applied in the wrong way. Legislation
that is meant to help can instead be used by government to interfere
where it should not.
"The
principle underlying the Children Act 1989 - that the child’s
welfare is paramount - is universally accepted. And the legislation
itself has achieved much. But we need to guard against the possibility
of even that legislation being applied in perverse ways, ways
which produce an imbalance between the rights of children and
the legitimate rights of parents.
"We
need to make sure it doesn’t lead to parents being denied
vital and important information about their child. Or a child
being allowed to make a decision that is not in his or her best
interests. Or the State interfering in the family unit in ways
which do more harm than good.
"I
have therefore asked Theresa May, as Shadow Secretary of State
for the Family, to conduct a wide-ranging consultation on the
Children Act, and how it is actually working in practice.
Centralisation and Big Government
"Political
correctness has also been used as an excuse to increase centralisation
and the power and size of Whitehall. The Government is currently
recruiting new officials at the rate of 511 a week.
"Political
correctness is, in essence, about power. It is someone telling
someone else what to do, how to behave, how to speak, how to think.
"That
is why the politically correct brigade needs bureaucrats who churn
out paperwork, telling us what to say, what to do, what not to
do. More instructions, more regulations, more red tape - too often
stopping people from exercising their judgment, from using their
common sense and from drawing on their experience. Instead, they
are tied up in centrally imposed political correctness and bureaucracy
that actually stops them from doing what they want to do, and
what the public wants them to do.
"On
day one of a Conservative government, we will freeze civil service
recruitment. Fewer bureaucrats will mean fewer regulations. And
we will introduce “sunset clauses” to ensure that only
regulations that are truly necessary will survive.
Compensation Culture
"Political
correctness is also expensive. The growing compensation culture
is partly the result of political correctness. It is often a misplaced
fear of injury and legal action - referred to last week by David
Davis as `the cancer of litigation’ - which leads to a cutting
back of playground activities, or daisy chains, or pancake day
races. It has even led to the removal of hanging baskets.
"Even
the judges have recognised how the balance has swung the wrong
way. Speaking recently, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips,
said that “people should have a balanced approach and not
expect that if they have an accident someone else should automatically
carry the can”. As he said: “…if you take it to
its end, you stop children playing rugger, or canoeing, or climbing
trees”. He’s right. We don’t want that kind of
society.
"It’s
important, in my view, to protect our public servants from the
culture of compensation. As Lord Phillips pointed out in his interview,
the institutions can help themselves. The NHS, for example, could
be more open in how it investigates medical mishaps and, where
appropriate, could from the outset make an apology. Very often
that’s what patients want, rather than money - together with
an assurance that it won’t happen again.
"But
other measures will be needed to ensure that our public servants
are not unduly harmed by litigation, and their career prospects
blighted, even when they have done no wrong.
"Last
week Tim Collins set out a series of measures to protect those
in education from the damaging effects of this trend, and to give
teachers back control of the classroom.
"Experienced,
valued and trusted teachers can too often have their careers and
reputations ruined on the word of a single child, all too often
acting unthinkingly or maliciously, who chooses to allege abuse.
"It
is time for a comprehensive review of the way in which legal changes,
often introduced with the best of motives, have made teaching
much more difficult and affected the education of our children
in a harmful and detrimental way.
Fuelling Extremism
"All the consequences of political correctness I have mentioned
so far are serious enough. But sometimes they can be still more
profound. The great danger of political correctness is that it
becomes counter-productive: it can provoke ridicule and backlash,
and it can sometimes play into the hands of extremists. Good,
decent initiatives are undermined by steps that go to far - and
then they are tarred with the same brush.
"Attacking
the St George’s flag means that it can all too easily become
the emblem of the far right, thuggish minority, who use it to
give themselves the veneer of legitimacy.
"Meaningless
rules and regulations mean that extremists can ridicule all genuine
and well-directed efforts to combat discrimination in our society.
"So
political correctness can also mean that we begin to lose the
very values which we want to protect - the values of common sense,
decency, the distinction between right and wrong. As a society,
we have begun to be intolerant of things we should tolerate, and
tolerant of things we should not tolerate. We have become illiberal
in our desire to curb what was once normal behaviour. And we have
become too liberal when it comes to tolerating and excusing behaviour
which undermines society itself.
"All
around us we see a lack of respect, discipline and decent values
- but we just put up with it. We put up with the rowdy teenagers
on the bus. We accept that people are afraid to venture out for
a meal or a quiet drink in their town centre on a Friday or Saturday
night. We tolerate the intolerable because we are frightened to
put our heads above the parapet. And because we do not want to
offend the politically
correct brigade.
"The
time has come to remember the rights of the law-abiding majority.
Sometimes there comes a limit to seeing the other person’s
point of view.
"It
was the burglar, wounded by Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, who was
given leave to use legal aid to sue for compensation.
"It
was convicted mass murderer Dennis Nilsen who was able to argue
that his ‘right to information and freedom of expression’
entitled him to receive hard-core pornography in prison.
"Those
last two examples were pursued under the Human Rights Act.
"We
announced earlier this week a review of the operation of that
Act. Decisions are being taken and judgements made in the name
of human rights which go far beyond what most people would understand
by that term.
"Of
course everyone should be treated fairly and equally before the
law. But a culture which fails to distinguish between right and
wrong, in the name of equal `rights’ for all, is a distorted
culture.
Conclusion
"Political
correctness is a culture that offends our nation’s sense
of tolerance, our sense of honesty, our sense of balance. Whenever
there is a conflict between political correctness and common sense,
let me tell you where I stand. I stand firmly on the side of common
sense.
"Common
sense, decency, humanity are qualities which the British people
have in abundance. These are the qualities we need to cherish.
Not all the answers to the problems posed by political correctness
lie in the hands of politicians.
"But
there are specific measures that we can and will take to challenge
it. Our review of the Human Rights Act will rein in a piece of
legislation that is being roundly abused. Our consultation on
how the Children Act is working in practice will restore the balance
of power between parents and bureaucrats. Our freeze on day one
of the recruitment of civil servants will mean that there are
fewer bureaucrats to push out regulations.
"Our
proposals for sunset clauses for many regulations will ensure
only those that are clearly necessary will survive. Our measures
to protect teachers and return to them control of the classroom
will make a difference.
"But
of course those specific measures alone can only do so much.
"What
we need is a change of culture. We will say, loudly and clearly,
to the people of this country, we are on your side. We will support
doctors, teachers, nurses, policemen and the ordinary man and
woman on the street. We will say to them, we agree with you. Enough
is enough.
"You
should be free to lead your lives as you see fit. We will only
intervene when the need to do so is clear and necessary. We will
end the culture of regulation, interference and centralisation
which is destroying our sense of community.
"Once
again, government will serve the people. It will no longer be
its master.
"That theme will permeate the conduct of the next Conservative
Government. This is a promise which I make to you today. It is
a promise which I will keep. It is a promise on which I shall
invite you to hold us to account."
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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
a letter which will force Tony Blair to resign:
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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:
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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.
If
you have suggestions for additional subjects, or material to include
in the pages linked to the subjects listed, please contact
the webmaster.
