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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December
28, 2005 (959 days since Iraq war ended)
Death Toll: 2,172 US - 98UK - >>30,000?
Iraqi - 25 media
January
16, 2006 (978 days since Iraq war ended)
Death Toll: 2,219 US - 98UK - >>30,000?
Iraqi - 25 media
March 18, 2006 (1043 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2317US - 103UK - >>6,164? Iraqi - >>17,300?
civilians - 25 media
| 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 |
Dentists
to ditch millions of NHS patients
Seven
in ten dentists are poised to leave the NHS
By
Graeme Wilson and Emily Cook - Daily Mail, March 20, 2006
Millions
will be left without a Health Service dentist in less than two
weeks' time. Controversial reforms which will see NHS dentists
paid on a points system threaten to plunge the service into meltdown.
Thousands of them have still not signed new Government contracts
- even though the system starts on April 1.
Some
areas will be left with no NHS dental service at all, while around
half a million children will no longer be offered free state care.
And there is no guarantee that former NHS patients will be able
to go private - even if they can afford it - because private practices
can choose not to take them.
Ministers
claim the new contracts will improve dental care and allow dentists
to concentrate more on preventing tooth decay. But there is widespread
fear among dentists that they will be left worse off, with nine
in ten having problems with their contracts, according to the
Tories.
Many
practices plan to stop treating NHS patients altogether, forcing
them to pay them for private treatment instead or search for another
state dentist. In some parts of the country every single dentist
has refused to sign up to the new system. And because dentists
will no longer be able to offer free state care to under-18s if
they treat their parents as private patients, children will be
hit particularly hard.
There
are also concerns that the reforms will lead to patients paying
fewer visits to the dentist because charges will rocket - the
price of a basic check-up, for instance, will treble to £15.50.
At present, nearly half of British adults and almost two-thirds
of children are registered with one of the country's 19,300 NHS
dentists. However, a Daily Mail survey
estimated that seven in ten dentists are considering leaving the
NHS in protest at the new contracts.
Another
survey yesterday estimated that at least 1.4million patients will
be dropped by their dentist at the start of next month unless
they are prepared to go private. Critics
said the looming chaos is in start contrast to Tony Blair's pledge
seven years ago to deliver NHS dentists for all.
In
his speech to the Labour conference in 1999, he declared: "Working
with the British Dental Association, everyone within the next
two years will be able once again to see a NHS dentist just by
phoning NHS direct."
Despite
his promise, millions are still unable to find an NHS dentist
and there is growing alarm that Labour's reforms will make a bad
problem much worse. There is evidence that some areas are near
going private completely. In Middleton, Manchester, every single
dentist has refused to sign the contracts, while in Birmingham
only one in four dentists is understood to have signed.
A
damning report my MPs last year found that two million patients
unable to find an NHS dentist. The report, by the influential
Commons Public Accounts Committee, also warned that the latest
reforms could trigger an exodus of dentists from the Health Service.
The
Committee's Tory chairman Edward Leigh said last night: "It
looks increasingly likely these reforms will simply make it more
difficult to find an NHS dentist. We warned last year about the
difficulties the new contracts could throw up and it now appears
there is a real danger of more and more dentists leaving the Health
Service."
LibDem
Health spokesman Steve Webb, said: "The position of children
is particularly worrying. Only two out of three are registered
with an NHS dentist at the moment, but that figure will almost
certainly fall. There will be thousands more children who never
see a dentist unless there's a crisis."
One
of the dentists poised to leave the NHS is John Renshaw, who stood
down as chairman of the British Dental Association this year.
"I have been committed to the NHS for 37 years but the new
contract has forced me to make this decision," he said. "There
will be some patients who will not pay. I expect the number of
children who are not getting dental care will increase."
Under
the new contracts, dentists will be paid by their local primary
care trust, the bodies which run GP surgeries and health clinics.
There will also be a simpler system of charging for treatment.
At present there are different charges for hundreds of different
sorts of treatment. Under reforms, all treatments will cost either
£15.50, £42.40 or £189.
The
cost of a check-up, for instance, will rise from £5.54 to
£15.50, while a check-up and a small filling will cost £42.40
- four times more than at present. A gold crown will cost £189,
more than twice the current charge. Under the new contracts, dentists
will be paid according to a point system based on how much work
they carry out.
However,
many dentists feel the system is flawed and will see them losing
money. Some dentists have estimated they will have to work up
to 13 hours a day to meet the targets in their contracts.
Health
Minister Rosie Winterton insisted there was no crisis and said
an extra 1,400 NHS dentists had been recruited over the last two
years. "The public have every reason to be confident in the
future of NHS dentistry," she said. "The early sings
are that the vast majority of dentists will sign up to the new
contracts. If dentists choose not to sign up, the local NHS will
use that funding to buy services from other dentists. The new
contracts offer dentists with a reasonable commitment to the NHS
an average income of £80,000 (after expenses are taken into
account). This income is guaranteed for three years. All this
for at least 5% less work than under the old contract. This is
a good and fair offer to dentists."
But
the British Dental Association said: "The BDA has warned
that this contract fails to address the issues facing NHS dentistry
and we have warned it looks like it could be bad for patients
and dentists alike. Dentists are unhappy with this target-driven
contract as well as the shambolic way it has been introduced."
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