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 answeer 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
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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Surgeon
says 'I've had enough'
Penpushers
who infect our NHS
The
truth about the NHS . . . by a surgeon who can bear it no longer
Leaked
resignation attacks 'grossly over-managed' service
Report
by Charlotte Gill, Daily Mail, June 17, 2005
An
experienced surgeon is quitting the Health Service in disgust
after launching a scathing attack on the way it is run. Mike Lavelle
said that while there were 'scandalous' waits for operations,
pen-pushers and middle managers had increased by an 'almost
unbelievable' number. He said the NHS was 'grossly over-managed
and described working for it as 'demoralising and demotivating'.
Doctors
back surgeon who spoke out
Daily
Mail, June 24, 2005
Senior
doctors and consultants have backed a distinguished surgeon
who quit the Health Service after attacking 'demotivating
and demoralising' conditions.
Consultant
general surgeon Mike Lavelle resigned in protest at 'gross
overmanagement' and launched a scathing attack on the
health service. Now 23 colleagues have joined him by writing
an open letter in support and saying they have 'grave
concerns' for health provision.
In
his resignation letter, leaked last week, Mr Lavelle said
he was leaving after 21 years with the Brighton and Sussex
University Hospitals Trust because he had 'lost the fight
to be able to do y job to the best of my ability'.
He
added that years of mismanagement had created 'scandalous'
waiting lists and criticised the numbers of pen-pushers
employed by the health service while vital medical units
at his hospital remained ill-equipped.
At
the centre of his concerns was the decision to move emergency
surgery 20 mile from his hospital - the Princess Royal
in Haywards Heath - to the Royal Sussex County Hospital
in Brighton. Colleagues - consultant physicians, surgeons,
pathologists, radiologists and six consultant anaesthetists
- have now backed Mr Lavelle.
They
wrote: 'We have been saddened by the resignation of our
valued colleague. Mr Lavelle has been committed to the
NHS since his appointment to the Cuckfield Hospital 21
years ago. We would like it to be known that we fully
support the sentiments expressed in his resignation letter
and have grave concerns about the future of health provision
for Mid-Sussex.'
Peter
Coles, chief executive of the Trust, said last night:
"The Trust is saddened to hear that a group of clinical
staff at the Princess Royal Hospital do not feel they
were adequately consulted and do not like the changes
which are being introduced following public consultation.
The changes will not represent any down-grading of services
for people living in Mid-Sussex In fact they will see
patients treated more efficiently, receiving a high standard
of care in the most appropriate location."
Why
are we still waiting?
Letter
from R. J. Stanfield, Romford, Essex - Daily Mail June
24, 2005
My
experience confirms the view of consultant Mike Lavelle
on how lack of NHS facilities causes operation cancellations.
I'm awaiting major surgery at Oldchurch Hospital in Romford.
My consultant and his team have been ready 3 times, only
to find that due to a lack of resources they couldn't
proceed.
Each
time this has happened, my consultant and his team were
unable to do the work for which they're paid - and so
the waiting list gets longer. If less money were spent
on bureaucracy and more on essential resources, consultants
would be able to do their jobs.
Better
utilisation of their time would result in savings which
could be used for essential equipment and nursing staff.
If ITU nurses were paid more, there would not be a shortage
of them and - most importantly - patients would receive
the care and treatment they need.
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The
58-year-old said he had no choice but to resign because he 'finally
lost the fight to be allowed to do my job to the best of my ability'.
Mr Lavelle, a consultant general surgeon who specialises in bowel
cancer, qualified as a doctor in 1971 from Oxford University.
For
the past 21 years the divorced father-of-two has worked for the
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust. He is leaving
next month. His anger was unleashed in a resignation letter to
Trust chief executive Peter Coles, which was leaked to a local
newspaper.
In
it, he criticised the numbers of non-medical staff employed by
the Health Service while vital medical units in the hospital remained
poorly equipped. Mr Lavelle, who is based at The Princess Royal
Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, wrote: "I
have no doubt the service is grossly over-managed now. There has
been an almost unbelievable increase in NHS employees who contribute
nothing to the treatment of patients. For years now I have been
stopped from doing my job in the NHS by the lack of facilities
but in public the politicians (in particular Alan Milburn and
John Reid) have blamed consultants for the waiting lists. This
is extremely demotivating and demoralising.
"It
seems that the Government thinks that if only they could get the
consultants in the NHS to work harder, then waiting lists would
be a thing of the past. You may not believe this, but I have found
in the past ten years or so that the harder I work in the NHS
the gloomier managers become because I am spending the limited
resources. The delays in the operating theatre are quite frankly
scandalous. I have complained abot this for years, and yet nothing
has been done
"In
the end, the taxpayer is paying twice for the patient's operation;
once when I am sitting around doing nothing either because of
delays in getting the patient to theatres or because of lack of
beds and then again when the operation is farmed out to the private
sector."
Mr
Lavelle, from Haywards Heath, criticised employment of a 'Service
Improvement Facilitator' who visited the endoscopy unit to inquire
about the numbers of endoscopes - an instrument which carries
out internal examinations - that were available.
"We
are expected to provide a service using inadequate numbers of
time-expired endoscopes in cramped conditions. Everybody knows
that to improve the service we need a second room up and running
and some new endoscopes. Instead of that we employ these people
to go around interfering and collecting inaccurate data.
"A
year's salary for this person would probably buy a new colonoscope
and we could have a new scope every year for the next five years!
It is my impression at the moment that there always seems to be
money available to appoint new managers, but if you go on to my
ward the nurses are struggling to look after patients because
the establishment is inadequate.
"I
have been proud to be a consultant surgeon, first at Cuckfield
Hospital and then at The Princess Royal. It is a matter of great
sadness to me that I am leaving under these circumstances, but
I feel that I have been worn down over the past few years, and
have finally lost the fight to be allowed to do my job to the
best of my ability."
Also
leaked was a copy of chief executive Mr Coles's reply to Mr Lavelle.
He wrote: "It is indeed the case that the hospital service
generally faces a period of uncertainty and change. At the same
time, I'm confident that with the people we have and opportunities
before us, the services we provide for our whole population do
have a secure future. Management
presence is not just a local phenomena. It is driven by central
determination to performance manage the service so as to get best
value for money in this very expensive and high-profile public
service. I am determined to built systems that encourage more
collaborative patterns of working between clinician and management."
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