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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November
29, 2006 (1294 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2885 US - 126 UK - >650,000? civilians - 25 media
December
15 2006 (1297 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2938 US - 126 UK - >650,000? civilians - 25 media
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The
empty promise
Four
years on, Blunkett's pledge that Sangatte immigrants would be
helped to find jobs and pay taxes has been broken
By
Matthew Hickley, Home Affairs Correspondent, Daily Mail, December
11, 2006
Most
of the 1,000 migrants allowed into Britain four years ago under
a deal to close the Sangatte refugee camp are still not officially
working, it emerged yesterday.
Eight
out of ten have claimed unemployment benefit since coming here
in December 2002, while a third have never worked at all. Former
Home Secretary David Blunkett agreed to accept hundreds of immigrants
from the Calais camp, which had acted as a magnet for thousands
of UK-bound refugees, in return for its closure.
He
promised MPs that the immigrants would be helped to find jobs
and pay taxes and 'will not be subject to continuing support from
the British taxpayer.' Four years on, figures from the Department
of Work and Pensions reveal that his pledge has been broken.
An
investigation found that only 42% of the newcomers were known
to be in work. Around 25% were on benefits, while the rest had
disappeared. According to the findings around a third of the immigrants
have never had a job in Britain. A few may have left the country,
but many are thought to have vanished into the black economy,
joining countless numbers who work without paying tax.
Failure
of the new arrivals to settle into work despite their special
treatment is an embarrassment for the Government, which faced
fierce criticism over the Sangatte deal. After lengthy bargaining
with his French counterpart, Mr Blunkett agreed to take in up
to 1,00 young Iraqis and some 200 Afghan men - representing the
bulk of the 1,500 immigrants living in the Sangatte camp at the
time - regardless of whether they were genuine refugees or not.
Those
allowed into Britain were given four-year work permits - which
expire this week, and are likely to be extended - along with a
favourable package of accommodation and training designed to help
them find work, as well as access to benefits denied to ordinary
asylum seekers.
Most
Iraqis passing through Sangatte at the time reached the UK and
lodged asylum claims, 80% of which were judged to be bogus. All
genuine refugees are meant to claim asylum in the first safe country
they reach and therefore should have sought refuge in France or
elsewhere.
Mr
Blunkett tried to present the deal as a triumph for Britain, but
was met with shouts of 'disgrace' from MPs in the House of Commons.
He claimed at the time that the closure of Sangatte would curb
the flow of asylum seekers into the UK via the Channel ports.
Numbers
did tail off, helped by improved security scanners at the ports,
but now another makeshift camp has sprung up outside Calais, where
hundreds of illegal immigrants make nightly attempts to smuggle
themselves into Britain.
Yesterday
Shadow Immigration Minister Damien Green said: "This is yet
another broken promise from a Labour Home Secretary. It illustrates
the Government's continuing failure to get any kind of grip on
the immigration system - a failure which (Home Secretary) John
Reid has so far completely failed to address."
The
Home Office said the closure of Sangatte in 2002 had helped to
'significantly reduce pressure on our borders', with the number
of illegal immigrants arriving in Kent from Calais falling by
88%. A spokesman said the jobless figures among the 2002 influx
should be seen 'in their proper context', adding: 'The fact that
someone who came from Sangatte in 2002 is not currently in work
does not mean that they never have been.'
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