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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June
16 , 2006 (1133 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2500 US - 113 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
On
borrowed time
The
Fears of Frank Field
Ex-Labour
minister's warning over Britain's immigration timebomb
By
James Chapman - Deputy Political Editor - Daily Mail, June 29,
2006
A
former Labour minister yesterday warned Tony Blair he was ignoring
the problems of mass immigration at his peril. Frank Field said
Britain was suffering from the unprecedented influx of migrant
workers and that MPs were living on borrowed time on the issue.
Anyone
who questioned mass immigration was accused of 'playing the race
card', said Mr Field, a former welfare reform minister. But this
was just 'another way of closing down debate', he said.
Immigration
and a brave politician
Comment
- Daily Mail, June 29, 2006
Over
the centuries, immigration has brought enormous benefits
to Britain, both cultural and economic. Nobody who has
given the matter serious thought would begin to dispute
that. No serious thinker would deny, either, that mass
immigration of the last ten years is unprecedented and
raises serious questions as to whether the public services
can cope with such an influx. Or whether British society
can absorb such numbers.
The
unpleasant fact is that anybody who dares make that second
point risks being branded a racist - with the BBC leading
the attack. To avoid that ugly charge, politicians tend
to keep their honest worries to themselves. Which means
shutting their eyes to what is actually going on.
Former
Labour minister Frank Field is an heroic exception. Without
a racist bone in his body, he has uttered truths unsaid
by mainstream MPs for far too long. Britain, he says,
is undergoing 'the most massive transformation of our
population'. Can this be sustained, he wonders, without
'dramatic' changes to the country's character or hitting
poorer areas that have to absorb immigrants? The evidence
to support his concerns is everywhere.
According
to the latest official figures, no fewer than 582,000
foreign nationals settled in the UK during 2004. And those
were only the legally registered arrivals. Illegal immigrants?
We haven't the faintest idea. But clearly there are many
hundreds of thousands.
For
a frightening snapshot of the effects of this, look at
Slough. There, 9000 new National Insurance numbers have
been dished out over the past 18 months. But according
to the Government, whose figures dictate local budgets,
only 300 migrants settled in Slough in 2004.
For
Headmistress Julia Shepard, the inflow has meant admitting
50 migrant pupils in the past year, without the resources
to cope. Understandably, she predicts 'turbulence'.
And
what of the demands on housing, public transport, healthcare
and jobs? The main political parties, too concerned with
touchy-feeling posturing to face reality, haven't begun
to wake up to the timebomb ticking beneath us all.
Mass
immigration is all very felicitous when the economy is
doing well. But when the downturn comes - as it surely
will - terrible problems are likely to ensue. As ever,
it will be people of all races, at the bottom of the ladder,
who suffer most.
A
vigorous debate on immigration is urgently needed. Mr
Field has performed a national service by trying to start
one. The tragedy - indeed the disgrace - is that the Tories
have sold the pass.
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He
believes politicians must address the problem before the far-Right
BNP exploits voters' concerns. The strength of his remarks is
unprecedented for a senior Labour politician. The nearest example
came from Employment Minister Margaret Hodge earlier this y ear
before the local elections. She was criticised by colleagues after
claiming eight out of ten voters in her seat of Barking were ready
to back the BNP as the government had failed to address their
concerns about race and immigration.
The
Liberal Democrats quickly accused Mr Field of 'downright scaremongering',
while the BNP said he sounded as though he was ready to join the
party.
The
Birkenhead MP said: "There will be economic gains but I am
just raising whether any country can sustain rates of immigration
we are now suffering. If we're not careful, we'll be transformed
into a global traffic station and that is not what most people
mean by being part of the country."
He
added: "It is only because the BNP are so inept that the
debate has not taken off." He said mainstream parties had
to address the immigration issue 'before the BNP stumbles on somebody
with talent'. "We're living on borrowed time," he added.
"We can't continue on the assumption that the BNP will present
leaders which turn off most voters, even if what they are saying
is important."
Britain
is experiencing the biggest wave of immigration in its history
with huge numbers coming from new EU member states. Only three
EU countries - Britain, Ireland and Sweden - unreservedly accept
workers from the eight new Eastern European members.
When
they joined, the government predicted 13,000 workers a year from
the new member countries would move to the UK for work, the actual
figure is more than 400,000 since May 2004. Since Labour came
to power, record levels of immigration have added 1.2million to
Britain's population, which topped 60million last year.
Ministers
say migrants have boosted the UK economy and filled jobs, with
no rise in unemployment. But Mr Field, who, as welfare reform
minister was asked by the Prime Minister to 'think the unthinkable',
said current levels of immigration appeared unsustainable without
dramatic changes to the character of the country.
"The
impact would be greatest on poor areas which have to absorb migrants,"
he said. "This is the most massive transformation of our
population. Do we just merely accept this as another form of globalisation?
That it doesn't matter where you are or that you belong to a country
and have roots? That we are all just following the jobs?"
Mr Field told the BBC.
He
said Tony Blair had promised a debate on immigration after last
year's General Election but failed to deliver one. The Conservatives
had stopped talking about the issue as they were trying to improve
their image, he added. He later told Radio 4's World at One that
official figures showed 580,000 people came to Britain in 2004,
while 360,000 left.
"I
don't think a country's sustainable with that level of migration."
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the think-tank MigrationWatch UK,
said Mr Field had been 'astonishingly brave' to raise the issue
in the terms he had. "This rate of migration cannot be maintained
without the most profound changes occurring in our society,"
he said. "We have for too long ducked a serious debate on
the scale of immigration."
Liberal
Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said; "There is
a fine line between political candour on the sensitive issue of
immigration, and scaremongering. In making his remarks in this
way, Frank Field failed this test and risks exacerbating precisely
those public concerns he is urgng politicians to confront."
Tory
immigration spokesman Damian Green rejected claims the party had
stopped challenging the government on immigration, saying 'we
have never flinched' from dealing with the issue on a 'basis of
national interest, not party political interest'.
Local
Government minister Phil Woolas told Radio 4: "I do think
that what Frank Field says is right, but I think it is unfair
to say that the Government hasn't acknowledged the need to discuss
immigration and race relations. We have a workers' registration
programme to help our economy and this is necessary. We have to
base this debate on the facts and not to do so, I believe, is
irresponsible."
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