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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I've
had enough
After
33 years dedication to the NHS a leading surgeon explains how
pen pushers and paper shufflers have driven him out
By
Mike Lavelle, Consultant General Surgeon, Brighton and Sussex
University Hospitals Trust - Daily Mail, June 28, 2005
The
NHS has changed drastically since I joined as a junior doctor
in 1972. It was then a remarkable efficient organisation, where
doctors enjoyed high levels of authority and respect. But today
I see a creaking structure swamped by bureaucracy, waste and top-heavy
management, where patient care is suffering because of misguided
priorities.
NHS's
caring army
Much
current criticism of NHS managers is unfair. Although
I sympathise with the position surgeon Mike Lavelle found
him-self in, non-medical staff aren't the reason for the
deterioration of the NHS.
The
service is top-heavy. I've watched the situation at very
close quarters for many years and can see that it's Government
which increases administration.
It
implements directives, only to change them within months.
These directives have to be adhered to by conscientious,
caring, and, in many cases, grossly underpaid people,
many of whom, like non-executive members of NHS trusts,
give their time and expertise for little financial reward.
This army of men and women care as much, if not more,
than anyone about the NHS.
From
Ms Sally Fletcher, Duffield, Belper, Detbyshire - Daily
Mail, June 28, 2005
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That
is why, after more than 30 years of service, I decided to resign
as an NHS surgeon specialising in the treatment of cancer. I simply
cannot put up any longer with the way resources are being squandered.
On my ward, at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath,
West Sussex, nurses are engaged in a constant struggle to look
after patients because of inadequate facilities. Yet the local
NHS Trust seems to have limitless resources for more bureaucrats.
I'm
not alone in feeling this way. Since my resignation became public
this month, 23 cx-colleagues, including senior doctors and consultants,
have written an open letter in support of my concerns. It's courageous
of them to speak out. The bureaucratic nature of the NHS ensures
that open criticism is frowned upon. But it's time we did speak
up. For years I've been effectively prevented from doing my job
by constant interference from managers who know everything about
procedures but nothing about medical treatment. Above all, I am
sick of being lectured by a government which lives in an Alice-in-Wonderland
world of fiddled figures and twisted targets.
Thanks
to Government's fixation with targets, an epidemic of managerialism
has gripped the NHS. An army of employees contributing nothing
directly to patient care has grown at an unbelievable rate; indeed,
administrative staff now almost outnumber medical staff. Many
of these new recruits seem to indulge in paper-shuffling to justify
their own existences. I have lost count of the number of pointless
meetings I have been asked to attend. I'm also continually asked
to provide irrelevant information, read unwanted reports, fill
in unnecessary questionnaires, comment on superfluous reports.
All
this spurious activity has helped undermine the authority of the
doctor who should be in charge of patient care. When I first worked
in the NHS, many GPs had a close relationship with certain doctors,
and would refer their patients to these consultants. But that
kind of referral system has broken down. I find that, increasingly,
referral letters from GPs are hijacked by managers, who pass them
on to other consultants.
The
theoretical aim is to ensure an even distribution of cases among
senior doctors, but this interference weakens continuity of care,
as well as damaging trust between GPs and consultants. The field
in which I work, the treatment of bowel cancer, is a complex,
often difficult one. A major operation can require pulling together
a large team of doctors, nurses, anaesthetists, porters and ancillary
staff. Senior surgeons used to be able to organise this as they
saw fit, but no longer.
Logistics
of operations have been taken out of their hands, and left under
the auspices of managers. In effect, the surgeon's become a supplicant,
continually having to ask the bureaucrat for the right resources.
Such a process of negotiation is both exhausting and demoralising.
Spending
on bureaucracy also affects patient care in a very direct way,
by diverting funds away from front-line services. I saw an example
of this in the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust.
For years, I have been expected to provide a service in cramped
conditions with poor equipment. For instance, our endoscopes -
the instruments we used to conduct internal examinations - are
now outdated.
Yet,
in its wisdom, the Trust decided to employ a Service
Improvement Facilitator, whose work included a visit
to our unit to inquire about the number of endoscopes we have
available. Money spent on this administrator's salary would have
bought a new endoscope every year for the next 5 years. That incident
is so typical of what has happened in the NHS.
The
Government seems obsessed with organisational tinkering and restructuring,
while quality of patient care declines. Given the amount of money
presently going into the service, the delays in operations are
nothing short of a scandal. In this absurd world, the taxpayer
is paying twice for the same operation.
First,
they pay when the NHS operation has to be cancelled because of
lack of beds or delays, and, second, when the operation is handed
over to the private sector to keep the waiting lists down. I believe
the rot started when the Tory government constantly implied that
levels of productivity from staff were too low.
Hence
the drive to appoint managerial overseers and the creation of
the internal market, which did little except push up costs and
demoralise staff. But, if anything, the Blair government has made
the problem worse. Admittedly, it has abolished the internal market,
but has replaced it with an even more labyrinthine structure,
requiring yet more bureaucrats.
The
entire premise of Labour's health policy is based on the belief
that doctors should be working harder. Alan Milburn, the self-satisfied
former Health Secretary, once came out with some guff about consultant
surgeons in the NHS not working as hard as they could to enable
them to maintain long waiting lists, which helped boost their
private practices. I had just given up a large part of my weekend
and gone into work on a sunny Saturday afternoon to carry out
a complex emergency operation, so I was profoundly insulted by
Milburn's remarks. Indeed, I wrote to him expressing my disgust.
With
the kind of arrogance that was his hallmark, he did not deem my
letter worthy of a reply. But thankfully, I don't have to endure
this kind of contempt much longer. Yes, I shall miss the patients.
But I shall not miss the paper-shufflers or the condescending
ministers.
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