Silent Majority Speaks

Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship

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

WWW silentmajorityspeaks.com

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.

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

March 28, 2007 (1398 days since war ended)

Death Toll: 3243 US - 134 UK - >650,000? civilians - 25 media

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STOP PRESS

Dentists sent on holiday by hard-up NHS

By Jenny Hope - Medical Correspondent - Daily Mail, March 29, 2007

Dentists are being forced to take holidays because some health trusts have run out of cash for treatments. Critics say the revelation is proof that a Government shake-up of the payments system has failed. It is already £120 million over budget.

Around 5,000 Health Service practices - one in four - are treating too many patients too quickly and are being told by primary care trusts to delay treatments until more money is available.

NHS Dentist, a practice in West London that treats only state patients, has sent nine of its 11 dentists on holiday because of the cash crisis. Lead dentist Henrik Overgaard Nielson said the practice was a victim of the new contract which came in last April.

He said: "The Government used what was happening a few years ago to work out the budget, but since then we have expanded and now we are being penalised. It is very depressing, we have built up the practice over eight years. From Monday we are booked for three weeks solid because it is the start of the new financial year so we're allowed to see patients again."

Nine out of ten dentists claim the payments system is on the point of collapse, according to a survey by the British Dental Association. Around 85% said they believe patients have no better access to NHS treatment and 93% say the system does not encourage a more preventative approach to care.

In the first six months of the new contract, calls to NHS Direct about dental problems rose 43%, it emerged yesterday. The Citizens Advice Bureau survey also found that some parts of the country are 'dentistry deserts' in terms of Health Service care.

Government figures show that the number of adults seen by an NHS dentist fell 69,000 last year, with 11,000 fewer children now receiving state care. In an attempt to promote a more preventative approach, the new contract ended the practice of charging for each procedure.

Many dentists were outraged and 2,000 are thought to have responded by quitting the Health Service. Susie Sanderson, chairman of the dental association's executive board, said the contract - which applies in England and Wales - needed radical revision.

"Dentists who have been committed all their working life to NHS dentistry, go private because they feel they'll be compromising their patients' care if they don't."

The association said the reforms were 'a hasty and ill-judged process' which created a 'horrible target driven system'.

Tory spokesman Andrew Lansley said: "Once again, the Government's abject failure to estimate the cost of a new contract has punched a black hole in NHS finances of tens of millions."

Health Minister Rosie Winterton defended the system, saying it was not acceptable that practices that got through their lists quickly could demand more cash. "It really isn't fair on the thousands of other dentists who have planned their work properly so that they can carry out their work throughout the year," she added.

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