Rescuing
Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected
Dictatorship
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Come
back Gilligan, all is forgiven. Penny Young, Diss, Norfolk,
to The Guardian, February 24, 2005
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
Power
cut, please
Labour's
pollsters have Tony Blair running scared, because they have
informed him that if turnout at the next election is below
50%, the result will be a hung parliament. This would be
good news for those of us who, viewing the damage inflicted
by recent governments, would like nothing better than a
Parliament powerless to do anything. Letter from Ron
Phillips, London W14 - Daily Mail 17/2/05
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Tony
Blair's pledge cards made no mention of pensioners. Perhaps
they're the jokers.
Letter
to the Daily Mail from Brian Green, Daventry, Northants
- February 22, 2005
The
Guardian's Polly Toynbee says 'a profoundly nasty streak'
among voters worried about poverty, crime and immigration
might cause them to vote against the Government. Isn't
it time we replaced the present electorate with one more
to Polly's liking? Ephraim Hardcastle, Daily Mail,
February 24, 2005
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Keep
wards small 'to stop the spread of MRSA' - Julie
Wheldon - Science Corespondent, Daily Mail, March 5, 2005
Patients
and doctors must be prevented from moving around hospitals if
the NHS is to half spiralling rates of MRSA, experts said yesterday.
New
Nightingale needed
Letter
to Daily Mail by Simon Prentis, London NW3 March 9, 2005
Statistics
might show decreases in MRSA infections, but the crackdown
on hygiene has clearly not yet reached our local hospital.
I
recently accompanied my wife in an emergency admission
to the Royal Free Hospital in Nth London and was stunned
by the widespread evidence of poor hygiene control.
It
wasn't so much the grubby, uncleaned floors and grimy
walls as the dirty, blood-flecked curtains being used
to close off the cubicles, the blood left to dry on the
floor and nursing staff not bothering to wash hands between
patients.
Not
to mention medical records being mixed up, blood samples
lost, X-rays mislaid and, at one point, even a baby going
missing. The vast sums the Government claims to be investing
in the NHS obviously are not having an effect where they
are most needed. Bring back Matron? What we need is a
Florence Nightingale.
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Twenty-four
of the country's most senior microbiologists said that cleaning
wards and reminding staff to wash their hands will not be enough
to solve the superbug crisis in hospitals. Instead, they suggested
patients should stay in single wards of no more than six people
from the day of their admission until they are discharged.
A
medical or surgical team should have virtually all the patients
under their care in one male and one female ward to avoid doctors
having to move around the hospital. The microbiologists also called
for the establishment of isolation units in every hospital so
that people infected with MRSA can be treated in single rooms.
Deaths
from MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) have doubled
in four years, according to official figures. It is already known
that hospital bugs claim 5,000 lives a year, but campaigners fear
this may be the tip of the iceberg. The Government has set out
minimum hygiene standards and introduced a handwashing campaign
ta try to halve MRSA rates by 2008.
But
the group of retired microbiology professors and consultants have
warned that this alone will not solve the problem. Spokesman Dr
Norman Simmons, an emeritus consultant microbiologist at Guy's
and St Thomas' Hospital in London,said: "We are not saying
handwashing and clean hospitals aren't important, but they are
not the silver bullet. The key is isolation
isolation, isolation.
"Nobody
is going to turn back the tide of bacterial evolution with a mop
and bucket. It is more complicated than that."
Dr
Simmons admitted that stopping the movement of patients and doctors
around hospitals would be a significant culture change for the
NHS. "Managers will not like it because they will not be
able to get as many patients through but people have to realise
that the more you push through patients the greater the risk of
spreading bacterial infection."
He
also said it was vital that laundries adopt recommendations made
30 years ago, that linen from infected patients should be separated
from normal washing and cleaned at higher temperatures.
Patients
could be helping to spread infection by not washing before surgery,
nurses have claimed.
Since
1995, nurses are not allowed to tell patients that they must have
a shower or bath beforehand, as this is seen as infringing on
patient's rights. Karen Miles, a theatre sister at Norfolk and
Norwich University Hospital NHS told Nursing Times magazine: "Patients
are elderly and they are often filthy - that might be because
they are disabled or they might be of the generation where they
only have a bath or shower once a week. In the past it was part
of the care plan and checklist - 'have you had a bath?'. Now it
is omitted because it is a patient's right, you cannot force them
to be clean."
The
nurses said the Government should look at the issue as part of
the efforts to halt infection spread.
The
REAL NASTY PARTY- How
Labour is the true home of spite, bigotry and contempt for the
public
For
the health of our democracy, we, the people of the United Kingdom,
must find a way to force Mr Blair to resign
Such
defiance of the democratic process and the will of the majority
of we people of the UK, must be exposed by voters as a matter
or urgency, and not just in the two by-elections we have had this
July and the European elections in June 2004. But how can this
be done?
The
most effective way of getting our deceitful PM to resign would
be to mobilise the army of Labour MPs currently in the House of
Commons and get them to demand it, the loss of their seat to be
a penalty if they did not. All voters in Labour-held constituencies
need to write a letter along these lines to their local Labour
MPs:
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Dear
Despite
his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year
of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's
'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair
has admitted, that the threat was non-existent. For that
critical error of judgement and for his gross incompetence
in handling this very important issue, I ask you to take
immediate steps to ensure that Tony Blair does the honourable
thing and resign without delay..
I
would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and
help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in
Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave
the PM with no option but to resign.
If
I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue
to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances
I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election.
Signed:
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Simple,
non-violent, protest letters along these lines on a variety of
issues could be the basis for re-vitalising our democracy and
increasing voters' interest and participation in politics. Download
a printable copy of the above letter here.
There
is another way for the voice of the silent majority to be heard,
a voice that made sure broken promises would not only be revealed,
but punished in subsequent elections.
In
the year available before the General Election expected in 2005,
many topics are available as ammunition, each one asking questions.
A weapon for our purpose will be the results of Opinion Polls
in individual constituencies using ICM, NOP, Gallop, Mori
or YouGov.
Questions
suggested for this purpose are listed here.
CAST
YOUR VOTE ON A VARIETY OF OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES HERE.
Current
and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running
for election could share a platform at public forums in every
constituency. They would be presented with the results of
polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that
constituency.
The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their
Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they
intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.
Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged
and the results published on this web site.
Here
is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in
the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective
MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote.
This example deals with the proposed
EU Constitutional Treaty.
Your
letters would end: "If you do not answer
this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government
line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election.
Or
why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates
in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions
of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).
Download
a printable example of the questionnaire.
It
is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing
themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives
in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in
their own constituency, even if this means going against their
personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their
case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency,
they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view
of those who elect them.
It
will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters
don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important
subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy.
We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters
do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form
an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of
Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.
Most
important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their
latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that
the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance
with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be
the result.
Contact
your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public
forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant
topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005.
You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of
your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject
being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected
by your representative in that assembly.
