Silent Majority Speaks
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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May 31, 2005 (761 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,657 US - 89 UK - >6,164?
Iraqi - >17,300 civilians - 25 media
June 17, 2005 (779 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,716 US - 89 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300? civilians - 25 media
June 26, 2005 (788 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,737 US - 89 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300? civilians - 25 media
July 6, 2005 (798 days since war
ended)
Death Toll: 1,751 US - 90 UK -
>6,164? Iraqi - >17,300? civilians - 25 media
August 24, 2005 (847 days since
war ended)
Death Toll: 1,869 US - 93 UK - >>6,164?
Iraqi - >>17,300? civilians - 25 media
September
29, 2005 (883 days since war ended)
Death Toll: 1,928 US - 96 UK - >>6,164?
Iraqi - >>17,300? civilians - 25 media
October
11, 2005 (895 days since war ended)
Death Toll: 1,956 US - 96UK - >>6,164?
Iraqi - >>17,300? civilians - 25 media
October
20, 2005 (904 days since war ended)
Death Toll: 1,986 US - 97UK - >>6,164?
Iraqi - >>17,300? civilians - 25 media
October
25, 2005 (909 days since war ended)
Death Toll: 2,001 US - 97UK - >>6,164?
Iraqi - >>17,300? civilians - 25 media
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
14, 2005 (959 days since Iraq war ended)
Death Toll: 2,150 US - 98UK - >>30,000?
Iraqi - 25 media
Prescott
wants to make sure if one kid can't have it, nobody else will
get it
Prescott
wages class war over Tony Blair's school reforms
Can't
they see we've moved on
Commentary
by Stephen Pollard - Daily Mail, December 19, 2005
John
Prescott chose yesterday to give the Labour Party rank and file
an early Christmas present. In an interview for a Sunday newspaper,
he railed against education reform proposals in government's controversial
white Paper.
The
proposals are controversial not because they are especially bold.
In reality, they offer only a modest improvement - giving schools
a little bit more independence and freedom. But to most of the
Labour Party, wedded blindly to the old system of comprehensives,
even that is a step too far.
So
by revealing that he is against the reforms, Mr Prescott was declaring
that he places his loyalty to party ideology far above any loyalty
he may still feel towards the Prime Minister, who has thus been
made to look as isolated from his own Deputy over education policy
as he is from his Chancellor over management of the economy.
The
fundamental split between Mr Blair's New Labour philosophy and
views of many Labour MPs represented by the Deputy Prime Minister
are now glaringly apparent. In fact, calling it a split is inaccurate.
Speaking on the radio, Lord Hattersley - a passionate defender
of the educational status quo - said that only two people ever
believed in the reforms - Blair and Lord (Andrew) Adonis, the
Schools Minister. He is right.
It
is not that Labour is split. Rather, it is that the weakness of
Mr Blair's position is now exposed. Even when he was riding high
as Prime Minister, Mr Blair was unable to get through major school
reform. Now that he is 'in office but not in power' (to borrow
a phrase once used of John Major's last days at Number 10) his
position is hopeless. He is at the mercy of what may be termed
'real Labour'.
The
irony is that in giving his reasons for opposing reforms, Mr Prescott
has made all too clear his own lack of understanding about the
matter. In his inevitably convoluted style Mr Prescott said: "Middle-class
parents are concerned, rightly so, about the quality of education
for their children, which sadly is not the same for working-class
parents. If you set up a school and it becomes a good school,
the great danger is that's the place they (the middle classes)
want to go to."
In
other words, middle-class parents are right to worry about their
children's education, but if they help improve standards, they
must not be able to reap the rewards. This twisted ideology is,
sadly, still alive and kicking right through the Labour Party.
When
Labour took office in 1997, Andrew Adonis and I wrote a book which
argued that the flight of the middle-classes from the state system
was depriving it of those very people who could make a real difference
in helping to lift standards across the board. To help redress
this, we argued for reforms which would give parents more control,
and schools more independence.
The
response of Mr Prescott - and most of his party - has instead
been to attack parents who are able to lift standards because
they are, in his words, middle class. Turning education policy
into the front-line of class war in this way is not only wrong,
it is deeply counter-productive. It is not just the middle-classes
who are failed by the state system. It is, even more, the less
well off. The difference is that the better off have an escape
route: private schools. The rest are stuck with what they're given.
Such
understanding, alas, has been swamped beneath a resurgence of
class hatred among Labour benches. It has been fuelled in part
by the revival of the Tory party under David Cameron, whose own
privileged background has been seized upon as an easy target.
As Mr Prescott went on to say yesterday:
"We
(Labour) are always better against class. When it's a class issue
- I always feel better fighting class anyway - bring the spirit
back into the Labour Party."
Once
again, he could not be more wrong. The great selling point of
New Labour, for public at large, was that it rose above old class-based
politics. While declaring his true prejudices may have earned
Mr Prescott the affection of the party faithful, it will only
serve to fuel further disenchantment for Labour among the electorate.
The country has moved on from such spiteful ideology. There is
no appetite for new class war, only an interest in which political
party is able to improve life for every-one, whatever their background.
And
here, there is another surprise for Mr Prescott. A poll published
yesterday showed that the Tories, under David Cameron, are now
nine points ahead of Labour. Despite the Labour Party machine's
best efforts to stoke up resentment of Cameron's 'toff' credentials,
it is now clear they matter not a jot to the voting public.
What
does matter is that we have a party in power that is now so paralysed
by internecine rivalries and ancient prejudices that it is incapable
of effective Government for the modern age.
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