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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October
4, 2006 (1257 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2736 US - 119 UK - >300,000? civilians - 25 media
October
9, 2006 (1262 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2744 US - 119 UK - >300,000? civilians - 25 media
1,600
dentists quit NHS in protest at Labour reforms
By
Jenny Hope - Medical Correspondent - Daily Mail, Oct. 10, 2006
More
than 1,600 dentists have quit the NHS rather than sign new contracts,
according to the first official figures. Almost one in ten has
rejected Labour's reforms - leaving at least one million patients
without an NHS dentist. Another one in ten dentists are still
'in dispute' over the charges.
If
their grievances are not resolved, they will be free t leave the
Health Service and switch to private practice. The latest figures
from the Health and Social Care Information Centre are the first
to be published since the controversial contract was introduced
in April.
They show the number of NHS dentists fell from 21,111 on March
31, to 19,642 on June 30 - a drop of 1,649.
The
reforms replaced 400 separate payments with three pay bands, ranging
from a checkup costing £15 to more complex work costing
£190. They were supposed to improve access to NHS dentistry
and were combined with a recruiting campaign which brought more
overseas dentists here than ever before. At the time of the contract,
Health Minister Rosie Winterton admitted that hundreds had left
the NHS but denied it was a mass exodus.
But
the Dental Practitioners' Association said the figures showed
8% of NHS dentists had left in just 3 months. Chief executive
Derek Watson said: "In addition to the fact that the number
of dentists has fallen by 1,649, each dentist will be doing less
work on the NHS, making the access problem worse." He said
there were 'high levels of dissatisfaction' over the new NHS contract.
Many
dentists have signed the contract 'in dispute' over the terms
and conditions. Lester Ellman, chairman of the British Dental
Association's General Dental Practice Committee, said 1,373 of
the new contracts signed by dentists 'in dispute' are yet to be
resolved out of 2,773 originally signed under protest.
"At
the current rate, it will be 2007 before all of these disputes
are resolved. Dentists are frustrated by the target-driven approach
of the new contract which fails to allow a more preventive approach
to care."
Rosie
Winterton said: "NHS dentistry is expanding, with Primary
Care Trusts now commissioning more services than under the old
contract. There is no shortage of dentists willing to come forward
to expand their services or establish new practices. Many of the
dentists who chose not to take up the new contract in April were
not providing significant levels of NHS dentistry. What matters
is not so much the number of dentists, but the level of NHS service
they provide."
Shadow
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "The Government has
imposed a contract that is unworkable. The results are high costs
and reduced access."
Liberal
Democrat health spokesman Sandra Gidley MP said: "We are
witnessing a major crisis in access to dental treatment."
Official
figures released last month also show dentists are earning up
to £150,000 a year as they now get more pay from private
work than from the Health Service. Around one in ten dentists
ears more than £100,000, according to figures collected
before the contract came in.
Last
year, 48% of gross income came from NHS work compared with 5$%
the year before.
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