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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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
June
17, 2005 (779 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 1,716 US - 89 UK - >6,164? Iraqi - >17,300? civilians
- 25 media
June
26, 2005 (788 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 1,737 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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One
in 100 (of total population) is here illegally
Are
Home Office migrant figures still
an underestimate
By
James Slack - Home Affairs Correspondent - Daily Mail, July 1,
2005
Just
before the General Election, Tony Blair insisted it was impossible
to estimate how many illegal immigrants are in the UK. But yesterday
a figure miraculously appeared. The Home Office admitted that
up to 570,000 foreign nationals were here without permission -
1 in each 100 of the population.
What
Mr Blair didn't tell us
Comment
- Daily Mail, July 1, 2005
So
now we know. The Prime Minister was utterly (and very
conveniently) wrong before the election, when having being
challenged 20 times he repeatedly insisted it wasn't possible
to calculate the number of illegal immigrants into this
country.
Now
the Home Office makes nonsense of his every word, with
the admission that 570,000 illegals may be here. And even
that figure - one in every 100 people in Britain - could
be a gross underestimate.
To
begin with, it doesn't include 772,000 asylum seekers
who were being processed in 2001, the year on which these
calculations are based. Nor does it allow for illegal
entrants since then.
This
paper has long been in favour of managed economic migration.
But these figures make in ineluctably clear that this
Government has lost control over our borders - a fact
new Labour cynically kept from the electorate before polling
day. Downing Street's claim that Mr Blair simply didn't
know the numbers when he was reduced to near incoherence
by Jeremy Paxman strains credulity.
After
all, the latest estimate was based on fairly simple calculations
from the 2001 census. It should have been available in
Whitehall for months. Moreover, as long ago as last November,
the Government's own expert, Professor John Salt, estimated
that 500,000 illegals were living here. Ministers tried
to suppress his report and then smeared him by claiming
his figures were 'unreliable'.
If
Mr Blair didn't know the truth about the election's most
contentious issue, he should have. Given his record on
Iraq and other matters, we suspect an awful lot of people
find it increasingly difficult to give him the benefit
of the doubt.
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Critics
say this could well be an underestimate since it involves calculations
based on the census four years ago. The Tories voiced concern
about the timing of the announcement - conveniently several weeks
after the poll on May 5.
In
an interview on April 20, in the middle of the election campaign,
the Prime Minister was asked no fewer than 18 times by Newsnight's
Jeremy Paxman to give a figure on illegal immigrants but he refused.
Had he responded with yesterday's Home Office estimate it would
have been political dynamite. It had just emerged that Kamel Burgass,
the Al Qaeda terrorist who murdered Detective Constable Stephen
Oake during a police raid, was a failed asylum seeker.
Mr
Blair repeatedly insisted he 'could not be sure'. Under pressure
from Paxman, he added: "You cannot determine specifically
how many people are here illegally." Now , only nine weeks
later, the Home Office has managed to produce an estimated figure.
It
involved deducting the number of foreign nationals that Government
officials know are here legally from the total number who stated
in the 2001 census that they were born overseas. Despite scepticism,
the Home Office insists that many illegal immigrants DO declare
themselves on census forms. But it claims to have factored in
an estimated number of those who do not.
It
gives the total number of foreigners in the UK of 3,685,400 -
six percent (6%) of the population - and it says it has produced
three estimates for the illegal population, ranging from 310,000
to 570,000. The 'central estimate' is 430,000, or 0.7% of the
population.
But
critics said that even the highest figure for illegals appeared
on the 'low side'. They pointed out that many of the estimated
715,700 to 772,400 asylum seekers going through the system at
the time of the April 2001 census could have stayed on illegally
once their claims were rejected.
Sir
Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch UK, said: "Having
denied it vigorously before the election, the Government now admit
that the number of illegal immigrants is half a million, or half
the population of Birmingham. Even this looks like a considerable
underestimate with little allowance made for illegal entrants
and those who overstay their visas."
Shadow
Home Secretary David Davis said: "This report shows unequivocally
that the Prime Minister was wrong when he claimed it was impossible
to know how many failed illegal immigrants there are in Britain."
Patrick
Mercer, Conservative spokesman on homeland security, added: "I
suggested strongly that the Prime Minister has misled us for political
gain in the lead-up to the election. It does strike me as a particularly
cynical move that once the election is out of the way, once the
Government is safely ensconced with a reduced but nonetheless
respectable majority then they cough to these sorts of numbers
at this stage. I suspect that because the figures are out of date,
they are therefore lower than they should be."
Downing
Street said the Prime Minister did not know the results of the
study at the time of his interview with Paxman. Mr Blair's official
spokesman said it was still not possible to give a precise figure.
"This is still a guesstimate using one possible methodology,"
he said. "It can't be seen as an accurate of definitive figure."
Immigration
Minister Tony McNulty added: "No government has ever been
able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who
may be in the country illegally." The Home Office last night
insisted it had been working on the figures since November, when
it was handed a report by professor John Salt, an authority on
immigration, into a number of possible ways of assessing the illegal
population.
Professor
Salt himself came up with a figure of 500,000 illegals, based
on an amnesty method used in Spain, but this was rejected by the
Government as unreliable. Senior officials said after studying
Professor Salt's report that they had instead decided to start
work on using the 2001 census to produce a figure, a technique
previously used in the US.
This
work was completed only at the 'end of May/beginning of June'
this year, they insisted. It then had to be 'quality checked'
and yesterday was the first opportunity for publication.
Almost
£400,000 was spent on free flights and handouts to persuade
failed asylum seekers to return home to the Czech Republic, it
emerged yesterday. Only months later, minister threw open the
UK's borders to allow anybody from the country to live and work
her legally. Critics said some of those given the flights and
money to go home would have returned when it was legal to do so.
Shadow
Home Office Minister Humfrey Malin said the revelation was the
'latest in a long line' of asylum shambles under Labour.
What
they said
September
2003, former Home secretary David Blunkett is asked how
many illegal immigrants remain in the country and replies
he 'hasn't a clue'.
April
20, 2005, Tony Blair: "I can't
be sure of the numbers of people who are illegals in this
country."
April
21, 2005, ex-Immigration Minister Des Browne dismisses
Professor John Salt's estimate of 500,000 illegals: "In
my view it doesn't apply to the circumstances of the UK."
June
30, 2005: Home Office admits there are up to 570,000 illegal
immigrants in the UK - one per cent of the entire population.
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