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.

December 28, 2005 (959 days since Iraq war ended)

Death Toll: 2,172 US - 98UK - >>30,000? Iraqi - 25 media

Janyary 16, 2006 (978 days since Iraq war ended)

Death Toll: 2,219 US - 98UK - >>30,000? Iraqi - 25 media

January 24, 2006 (986 days since war ended)

Death Toll: 2236 US - 98 UK - >>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 nternational 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

Schools lose £1bn a year to town hall bureaucrats
EDDIE BARNES PoliticaL Editor- The Scotsman - Sunday - January29, 2006

COUNCILS are holding back more than £1bn a year from school headteachers to pay for their own education bureaucracy, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Since 2002, nearly £4.5bn of cash allocated to teach Scotland's 800,000 pupils has been retained by local authorities, much of it for administration, an investigation by this newspaper has established.

The figures mean that while taxpayers spend £5,160 on the average child's education annually, £1,700 is swallowed up by local government. Headteachers have alleged that millions of pounds are being siphoned off each year to pay for services other than education, a claim admitted by one council leader last night. School heads also warn that their reduced share of education cash has restricted their ability to improve schooling for pupils.

Executive funding for schools has massively increased in recent years. But the share of the cash spent by councils centrally is growing faster than that given directly to schools. Headteachers have seen a 20% increase in funding since 2002, but the amount of money spent by town halls on education bureaucracy over the same period has soared by 31%.

Councils this year are on track to devolve just 67% of their education budgets to heads. This figure is even less than the sums from previous years, when education chiefs handed over 70% of their cash. In one council area, Aberdeenshire, just 38% of the education budget is under the control of its headteachers.

This week education minister Peter Peacock will unveil plans to force councils to devolve as much as 90% of the cash they receive straight to schools. Bill McGregor, general secretary of Headteachers Association of Scotland, suggested councils were siphoning off education money and said it was time for the iron grip of councils on Scottish education to be weakened.

"If more money was devolved to heads and they were given the freedom to spend it, there would be a far better chance of matching resources to the needs of pupils," he said. "They could be able to look at ways of enhancing IT provision to buy more computers. They could look at ways of specialisation in schools, such as sports academies and language specialisation."

Former education minister Sam Galbraith said: "We do need to look at devolving more powers away from local authorities and to give more of the budget to headteachers."

But Keir Bloomer, chief executive of Clackmananshire council, said: "It is not clear to me that devolving more money to schools, which traditionally have been the most conservative part of the education system, is going to get the change that we want. I would start by querying the assumption that we should be devolving more and more."

Peacock will unveil the details of his plans later this week. A spokesman said: "We have given a commitment to increase the budget which is given to headteachers and we will be issuing guidance to authorities to increase the budget under the control of headteachers."

The row comes as local authorities warn they are being squeezed financially by costly new Executive spending pledges and demands by ministers to cut back on costs.

B A C K

If you have suggestions for additional subjects, or material to include in the pages linked to the subjects listed, please contact the webmaster.