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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May
15, 2006 (1101 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2443 US - 111 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
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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
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Civil
servant who didn't have a clue
What
he was asked ... and how he replied
David
Winnick, committee vice-chair: "What is the illegal
population of the United Kingdom?"
Dave
Roberts: I haven't the faintest idea, though I am aware
of research which suggests the figure of 400,000.
Mr
Winnick: Do you have a figure for the number of people
released after questioning at ports without any reporting
requirements (to check they do not simply vanish)?
Mr
Roberts: I can't give you those details. I do apologise.
I was given notice, but within the time available I was
not able to find the answers.
Mr
Winnick: Will you be in a position to write to us within
a very short period?
Mr
Roberts: If that information is available, I will make
sure.
Mr
Winnick: Are you in a position today to tell us the number
of asylum and failed asylum seekers who do not comply
with reporting restrictions, who after being asked to
do so, simply ignore the instructions?
Mr
Roberts: Compliance issues around reporting is a serious
issue for us. (He then fails to answer, giving only figures
for a small pilot scheme)
John
Denham, committee chairman: Do you not know, generally,
how many are not complied with?
Mr
Roberts: I can't answer that question in the direct way
you ask it. I can answer only in relation to the pilot.
John
Denham: Why do you not compile and monitor these figures?
Mr
Roberts: I didn't say we didn't. I said I couldn't answer.
If I could again ask to give you a note on that.
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Civil
servant in charge of deportations is asked how many illegal migrants
there are in the UK. And his reply?
"Haven't
got the faintest!"
By
James Slack - Home Affairs Editor, Daily Mail, May 17, 2006
The
Home Office has abandoned hope of finding hundreds of thousands
of failed asylum seekers, its most senior enforcement officer
admitted yesterday. In a shockingly frank series of answers to
MPs, Dave Roberts said he didn't have the 'faintest idea' how
many were at large.
Mr
Roberts is director of enforcement and removals at Immigration
and Nationality Directorate, which polices migration into Britain
on behalf of the Home Office. Coming from such an authoritative
source, the comments exposed more starkly than ever the hopeless
inadequacy of the asylum system.
The
civil servant had been called before the Commons Home Affairs
Committee to update MPs on efforts to clear the backlog of illegal
migrants, including an estimated 285,000 failed asylum seekers.
He was given advance notice of some of the questions he would
face to enable him to prepare detailed responses. But on crucial
points, he was unable to meet the challenge. Unanswered questions
included:
*
HOW MANY FAILED ASYLUM SEEKERS HAVE BEEN TOLD TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY?
*
HOW MANY ARE ABIDING BY RULES WHICH SAY THEY MUST REPORT REGULARLY
TO THE AUTHORITIES?
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HOW MANY ILLEGALS ARE IN THE UK?
Wide
open Britain: the shaming truth
Comment
- Daily Mail, May 17, 2006
Not
a clue. Not the foggiest. Not the faintest idea. From
the top Whitehall official in charge of deportations comes
a devastating admission of ignorance over how many illegal
migrants are in Britain.
Remember
those Government boasts about how it is getting on top
of the asylum and immigration shambles? The excruciating
appearance of Dave Roberts before the Commons Home Affairs
Committee yesterday exposes the self-serving dishonesty
of such claims.
Step
by step, Mr Roberts was forced to reveal the chaos in
a Home Office immigration and nationality directorate
that no longer bothers to track down foreigners who shouldn't
be here, unless they are suspected terrorists or criminals.
No wonder MPs describe the situation as a 'mockery' of
immigration controls.
Another
top official, James Quinault - whose title, ludicrously,
is 'director of managed migration strategy' - had to admit
that National Insurance numbers are handed out like Smarties,
without even a cursory check on the applicant's legality.
Some
300,000 unchecked numbers are issued each year, a black
farce that almost guarantees cheating. Managed migration?
In the saga of mind-blowing incompetence the words are
positively surreal.
But
doesn't real responsibility lie much higher up the pay
scale? For nine years, Tony Blair has encouraged immigration
on the quiet, without a word of consultation. He has lost
all control over Britain's borders, but tries to conceal
it through spin and deception. Is it surprising that the
Home Office - already shell-shocked by the scandal of
the freed foreign prisoners - now seems to be in melt-down?
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When
the last question was put to him, Mr Roberts replied that he did
not 'have the faintest idea', although he was aware of estimates
suggesting it was about 400,000. He added: "In
terms of the number of letters sent to people who have been refused
permission to say here, I simply wasn't able to get that information."
He
astonished MPs with the revelation that officials are no longer
seeking to track down these 'individuals', unless they are suspected
terrorists or criminals. Instead, the strategy now is to target
larger numbers of failed asylum seekers working for the same employer.
Labour
committee members accused the official of making a 'mockery of
the immigration control system'. The IND is already reeling from
the foreign prisoner release scandal. And last night it also emerged
that up to 300,000 National Insurance numbers are being handed
out each year without even cursory immigration checks.
Committee
members demanded a 'serious effort' to track down people who had
no legal right to live in Britain, wither because their asylum
claim had failed or they had outdated visas. But Mr Roberts said
the IND did not have the manpower to target individual illegal
immigrants unless they were wanted on grounds of 'national security'.
He
claimed resources were better targeted on raiding firms which
employed illegal workers. "We are making huge efforts to
remove them, but not on the basis of tracing individuals,"
he said.
He
conceded it would be difficult to sell the tactics to the public.
"Not having public confidence and allowing perceptions of
a lack of enforcement, I think is a huge challenge for us that
we need to address."
On
what will go down as another calamitous day for the Home Office,
a second top civil servant was also mauled by the committee.
James Quinault, director of managed migration strategy, was forced
to admit that National Insurance numbers are being handed out
without checks on a person's immigration status.
Shadow
Home Secretary David Davis said: "There is no excuse for
not tracking every one of these individuals until they are sure
they are out of the country. As for limiting their actions to
those they consider a security risk, it is hard to believe that
the Home Office is in a position to assess the threat to the public
safety of every single one of 250,000 failed asylum seekers currently
still at large in this country. It beggars belief that we also
manage to hand out National Insurance numbers without checking
a person's immigration status."
Sir
Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said: "It sounds
very much as though the Home Office has given up on enforcing
any effective control of foreigners who come to Britain, illegal
or otherwise."
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