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.
|
February
9, 2006 (1002 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2264 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 |
100,000
more work on past retirement age
Brown
knew his pension fund raid would rob employees of £12billion
By
Alex Brummer, City Editor, Daily Mail, February 15, 2006
Gordon
Brown was warned he would rob pension funds of nearly £12billion
when he decided to bring in a tax on private pensions in 1997.
The Chancellor's raid on funds is widely blamed for creating the
crisis which has left huge shortfalls in pension pots and forced
hundreds of firms to wind up their final salary schemes.
Tony
Blair is now considering raising retirement age to 67 or 68 to
plug the gap left by Mr Brown's decision - which abolished tax
relief on income from share dividends, key source of cash for
pension funds.
But
Treasury documents, released following a Freedom of Information
request by the Daily Mail, show Mr Brown was well aware of the
devastating financial consequences this would have on those saving
for their retirement. Documents in the Treasury archive show the
tax, introduced in the Chancellor's first Budget, could cut the
income of private pension schemes by up to 10%.
It
calculated that Mr Brown would be able to increase his own coffers,
at the expense of savers, by at least £6.2billion in the
first 20 months and £11.6billion over the first two and
a half years. Treasury officials were banking on a rise in the
stock market to plug the gap left.
Instead,
share prices plummeted in 2001 and 2002, leaving millions of workers
facing the prospect of working longer to earn a decent retirement
fund. Experts believe the Treasury decision to target private
pensions helped create a £75billion black hold in the private
pensions schemes of Britain's top 100 companies.
Experts
say that if the missing cash had been invested to earn income
in the normal way, private pensions would be up to £100billion
better off than they are today. The Treasury refused to release
the full background documents, memos and assessments behind the
decision to tax pension funds on the grounds that there are obvious
sensitivities about the release of this particular information.
But
it did provide computer links directly to the Treasury archive
of the data behind Labour's first budget. The information, which
has never been released, shows that in the period from July 1997
to April 1998 the elimination of the tax advantage enjoyed by
pension funds would immediately hand Mr Brown £2.5billion.
Over the first full year, up to April 1999, his officials estimated
he would be able to pocket a further £3.9billion that would
have gone towards pensions, rising to £5.4billion the following
year.
In
the event, Mr Brown has earned even more than he expected. The
dividend tax has created more income for Labour than almost any
measure the Treasury has taken in the eight and a half years that
it has been in office.
The
Treasury noted in advance of the 1997 budget that removal of the
tax benefit for pension funds would 'raise around £3,500million
in a full year', according to a Treasury background document.
'This is the equivalent to between 5% and 10% of pension schemes
total income,' the paper adds.
What
is clear from the Treasury archive is that the Government was
clearly gambling on a sharp rise in the stock market to plug the
chasm opened in pension funds by the tax raid. 'Pension schemes
will benefit from the better climate for investment by companies',
according to an Inland Revenue document in the Treasury archive.
The
documents suggest that no thought was given to the combined impact
of the new tax and a collapse in the stock market, which occurred
in 2001 and 2002. In the event, the Government reaped the worst
of both worlds. Pension funds were starved of income at a time
when they most needed it because of a bear market in shares.
In
December, the Pensions commission headed by Lord Turner warned
that 'voluntary private pension provision is not growing: rather
it is in serious and irreversible decline. Employees' willingness
voluntarily to provide pensions is failing and initiatives to
stimulate personal pensions saving have not worked,' the Commission
reported.
Philip
Hammond, Tory spokesman for work and pensions, said: "While
the Government are posturing about solving the pensions crisis,
this information exposes Gordon Brown as the author of the pensions
crisis."
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