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
29, 2006 (1146 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2529 US - 113 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
July
15, 2006 (1162 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2545 US - 114 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
Our
borders WILL close, but not for another 8 years
By
James Slack - Home Affairs Editor - Daily Mail, July 26,2006
Britain
will not have secure borders for at least another eight years,
the Government admitted last night. Home Secretary John Reid said
embarkation controls - which check all foreigners in and out of
the country - would only be fully reinstated in 2014.
The
date is 16 years after they were abolished by the Labour Government
in 1998. It will also mark ten years since then Home Secretary
David Blunkett first promised to reinstate them in 2004.
'No
room' to hold captured illegal immigrants
By
Home Affairs Editor - Daily Mail, July 26, 2006
Illegal
immigrants trapped by the authorities are being allowed
to walk free again on Government orders because there
is no room to lock them up.
Senior
immigration officers have had instructions to detain only
failed asylum seekers or released foreign prisoners. Illegals
who do not fall into this category are instead being granted
'temporary release' if they are caught in raids, a Government
memo reveals.
They
are supposed to report back to officials at a fixed time
and date - but are effectively free to vanish for a second
time. The Home Office does not know how many simply disappear
into the black economy. The memo
lays bare the crisis in the asylum and immigration detention
estate.
The
Government has provided immigration staff with only 2,527
bed spaces, as they attempt to round up as many as 450,000
failed asylum seekers. Detention centres are also full
with criminals involved in the recent foreign prisoner
scandal, which cost former Home Secretary Charles Clarke
his job.
David
McDougall, a senior immigration officer, wrote:
"As many of you will be aware the detention estate
is currently under enormous pressure, and in effect there
are very few available bed spaces. In these circumstances
you will not be surprised to learn that it was decided
that non-failed asylum seeker cases, unless they are a
threat to public safety, will be given the lowest priority
for a detention bed. In effect what this means is that
you will not detain any more non-failed asylum seeker
and non-foreign national prisoners unless they are a threat
to public safety."
The
Tories described the memo as an 'utter disgrace'. But
it is only the latest in a long line of orders to staff
that they should not detain illegals. The new police was
discussed at a meeting of up to 150 immigration and police
officers last November.
After
investigators expressed concerns, Dave Roberts, the now
infamous head of Enforcement and Removals in the Immigration
Service said: "I pay your wages. Do as you are told."
Immigration
insiders insist the real reason for the memos is that
bosses do not want the illegals to claim asylum. The Government
is working to a target of removing more failed claimants
each month than there are new arrivals. By letting illegals
go, it reduces the chances they will claim asylum - making
it easier to hit the target.
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Until
they are in place, the Government has no idea how many people
come into the country each year on short-term visas or to claim
asylum but do not bother to go home. The date was made public
as Mr Reid unveiled his action plan for 'rebuilding confidence
in our immigration system'.
It
came amid dire warnings there are not enough detention places
to lock up failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. It has
led to illegals who should be detained being allowed to walk free.
Mr Reid also conceded asylum seekers can expect at least a six-month
stay in Britain at taxpayers expense. Even after the shambolic
asylum and immigration system is overhauled, the target for processing
asylum claims will be 26 weeks. At this point, they will either
be booted out or allowed to stay indefinitely.
Mr
Reid expects even this lax target to be achieved only in nine
out of ten cases by the end of 2011. Thousands more bogus refugees
will stay longer. For each week they are here, an asylum seeker
costs the public purse around £40 a week in benefits, plus
housing and healthcare.
Currently
officials have no goal for processing asylum claims, only to make
an initial decision in two months. The Home Office has no figures
on how long failed claimants are currently staying in the UK.
They number up to 450,000.
Ministers
said their action plan would seek to 'inspire a culture of pubic
service, passion and pride' in the chaotic Immigration and Nationality
Directorate. Other ideas included asking the public to shop businesses
employing illegal immigrants using the Crimestoppers line.
Mr
Reid said border checks would in future take place on people before
they travel to the UK. Those from the 'highest risk countries'
will be allowed to travel only if they have biometric ID documents
from 2008. By 2011, all non-EU citizens will have to have secure
IDs before they are allowed to travel to Britain.
Mr
Reid repeated his promise to clear the backlog of unresolved asylum
cases within five years or less, saying he would bring in private
firms to help if needed. He said there was currently a 'vicious
circle', where failed claimants remain in the country for so long
they can argue it would be a breach of their right to a family
life to deport them. This is allowing thousands of failed claimants
to go through the system a second time.
Mr
Reid promised to double the asylum and immigration enforcement
budget to £280 million by 2010. Foreign criminals will face
automatic deportation and a special envoy will be appointed to
strike deals to return convicts to countries where they could
face torture. Immigration staff will be given uniforms to make
them more visible, but not for another two years.
Campaign
groups poured scorn on Mr Reid's suggestion that he could remove
all failed asylum seekers within 5 years. The cost, based on an
estimate of £11,000 per person, would be up to £5billion.
Habib Rahman, the chief executive of the Joint Council for the
Welfare of Immigrants, said the increase in the enforcement budget
'is nowhere near the amount of money that he would need to spend
to deport the entire irregular migrant population in this country'.
He added: "The Home Secretary is telling the British public
a fair story on enforcement."
Shadow
home secretary David Davis also mocked the plans. He said: "This
is nothing new - we have been here before. I've listened time
after time to talk of crackdowns, consultations, initiatives,
action plans on areas from bogus language schools to sham marriages
and still we're faced with the current shambles. The serious problems
faced by the IND aren't going to be solved by yet another shuffling
of the deck."
LibDem
spokesman Nick Clegg said ministers' pledge to clear the backlog
of asylum cases would be just 'paper shuffling' unless failed
claimants were deported.
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