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.

May 15, 2006 (1101 days since war ended)

Death Toll: 2443 US - 111 UK - >60,000? 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 The Chancellor's single greatest act of vandalism in almost nine years in office has been his wanton destruction of Britain's private retirement industry. By slapping a massive tax on pension funds, now worth £7.3billion a year, he has helped to turn the best private retirement industry in Europe into a basket-case in perpetual crisis. Together with the adoption of European accounting rules - which make it much riskier to operate a company pension scheme - hundreds of firms have shut their final salary plans to new employees and slashed benefits to existing staff. From Allister Heath: "I've seen the future and its grey" in THE SPECTATOR - April 15, 2006

STOP PRESS

The untouchables

Human rights law 'means unruly pupils cannot be frogmarched out of class'

By Laura Clark - Education Reporter - Daily Mail, May 16, 2006

Teachers may be prevented from frog-marching unruly children out of class because it might contravene their human rights. Staff were also warned yesterday that they risk breaching human rights laws if they confiscate drugs, weapons or mobile phones. A committee of MPs and peers has concluded that 'escorting troublemakers out of lessons by the arm could flout their right to 'privacy, dignity and physical integrity'.

Seizing belongings could violate the right to 'peaceful enjoyment of possessions', they added.

The threat was highlighted in the first Parliamentary scrutiny of the curbs placed on schools by the Human Rights Act. Union leaders said children and teachers would suffer if discipline became impossible to enforce. Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Teachers should have the right to take a disruptive child out of the classroom or to remove from a child equipment or instruments that they are using to disrupt, damage or threaten the well-being of other children'.

The report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights comes as a blow to Tony Blair, whose schools Bill aims to make the powers of teachers explicit in law. The Prime Minister may be forced to amend the legislation to stop it being challenged in the courts. The Joint Committee comprises members of the Commons and the Lords and scrutinises legislation to check it complies with human rights laws. The all-party committee, chaired by Labour MP Andrew Dismore, lists a series of other possible conflicts with human rights laws.

Powers in the Education and Inspections Bill to force parents to take time off work to supervise children who are suspended from school could breach their right to 'respect for private and family life'. And the Bill could flout the United Nations convention on children's rights by failing to ask pupils their opinions on their education.

The committee goes on to warn that the reforms could allow teachers to use 'disproportionate' force against children - contrary to articles in human rights legislation guaranteeing respect for 'private life and ... dignity and physical integrity'.

The Bill aims to grant teachers explicit legal rights to use 'reasonable' force to stop a pupil disrupting lessons, including leading troublemakers out of class by the arm. But the committee warned that the power was too broadly defined and 'might give rise in practice to a disproportionate use of force'. Power to lead misbehaving pupils by the arm 'only serves to confirm our concerns'.

The Bill also gives teachers protection from legal challenges by parents if they are forced to 'seize, retain or dispose of any item belonging to a pupil'. The crackdown is designed to help teachers root out items ranging from knives, drugs and cigarettes to iPods, mobile phones and sweets.

But the committee said it had 'human rights compatibility concerns' about the power. The committee has written to Education Secretary Alan Johnson demanding to know how it can be reconciled with the 'right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions.'

Any watering down of powers in the Bill to comply with human rights legislation will bitterly disappoint teachers and embarrass Mr Blair, who in 1998 enshrined the European Convention on Human Rights into British law. A growing backlash against the law forced him at the weekend to consider a 'rebalancing' of the debate on civil liberties.

Tory education spokesman David Willetts said: "This report suggests that a school is interfering with a pupil's human rights if it takes away his marbles, but it is the law that has lost its marbles. It's not good Tony Blair bemoaning the effect of human rights legislation when he introduced it, and a Labour-dominated committee is using it to get in the way of sensible education policies and good schooling."

The Department for Education insisted the Bill complied with the Human Rights Act and said it would respond to the report shortly.

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.