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

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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.

February 16, 2006 (1011 days since war ended)

Death Toll: 2273 US - 101UK - >>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

STOP PRESS

Pensions shortfall could be £160bn, economists warn

By Ruth Sunderland - Deputy City Editor, Daily Mail, February 23, 2006

The crisis in Britain's final salary pension schemes is much worse than previously thought, a report claims. The analysis by two leading economists says that the shortfall in retirement savings has risen to as much as £160billion.

This could have a 'devastating effect' on business investment and damage the nation's economic prospects, they say. Firms will have to plough between £10billion and £40billion a year into their pension plans for the next decade in order to plug the gap.

That will curb the amount British companies can afford to invest in new equipment, plants and machinery, harming their ability t9 compete on the international stage. It will also limit the amount companies can pay out in share dividends.

The report, by Roger Bootle and Jonathan Loynes from Capital Economics, puts the pensions black hole for the corporate sector as a whole at between £100billion and £160billion, if it is calculated according to normal accounting standards. These assume the costs of paying pensions are spread out over time.

But the report warned that the figure could be three times as high if it was worked out assuming funds had to pay off their obligations to members all at once. "The upshot is that corporate pension fund deficits represent a whole new threat to investment," the report said. "As such there is a real danger that both the Treasury and the Bank of England's expectations of a recovery in business investment could be disappointed. What is more, the black hole in corporate pension funds could continue to drag down investment for many years after that."

Previous estimates have put the gap in pensions savings at a lower figure. Accountants Deloitte & Touche estimated the black hole among FTSE 100 firms was £75billion in a report in December, although that is still £10billion more than a year ago. The pensions crisis leaves staff at many blue-chip companies facing the prospect of retiring on less than they had hoped.

Several firms, including Lloyds TSB, HSBC, BAE, BP and Unilever have deficits in their funds in excess of £2billion. In recent months, a number of leading firms, including Rentokil and the Co-op, have announced they are to close their final salary schemes to existing members.

Until recently, companies such as these have tended to shut final salary plans to new employees but allowed those already in the fund to carry on. Pension schemes have been plunged into the red because of falling returns on investments and an increase in life expectancy.

The plight of pension schemes has also been exacerbated by Chancellor Gordon Brown's decision to take away tax relief on dividends, which has added £5billion a year to the Treasury's coffers.

A recent report by Lord Turner recommended touch action to ease the crisis, including individuals working for longer. Lord Turner's Pensions Commission also called for a national savings scheme which would force companies to pay 3% of employee's wages into a fund.

Earlier this month Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton said that the state pension age was bound to rise. Last month The Co-Op - one of the UK's biggest employers - announced plans to axe its scheme and replace it with a less generous one. By contrast, generous state-funded public sector retirement schemes are regarded as sacrosanct.

In October, Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson abandoned attempts to push up retirement age from 60 to 65 for 3 million civil servants, teachers and NHS workers. In December, ministers announced that hundreds of thousands of local government workers would also be allowed to continue retiring early.

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