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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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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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
Nine
years ago the British people were sold a fantasy of clean
and competent government of principle and honesty. Its shiny
wrappings stripped away, the product now reveals its true
nature: Personal greed, arrogance, incompetence, shamelessness,
rash warmongering and an inability to accept - as is clear
to almost everyone else - that it is time to go. Editorial
- The Mail on Sunday, May 28, 2006
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May
23, 2007 (1453 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 3432 US - 149 UK - >1,000,000? civilians - 25 media
June
24, 2007 (1485 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 3557 US - 153 UK - >1,000,000? civilians - 25 media
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site has had 
visitors
Failure,
failure, failure
Schools
standards plummet despite Blair's grand pledge
By
Laura Clark, Education Reporter, Daily Mail, June 22, 2007
Tony
Blair's famous pledge that his priority would be 'education, education,
education' is exposed as hollow today by a withering report. It
shows that England's children have plummeted in the international
league tables of school achievement during his ten years in power.
They are now behind South Korea, Lichtenstein and the Czech Republic
in key subjects and the gap between the
private sector and state schools is more pronounced than in any
other country.
An
iPod in class! What are teachers thinking?
From
Jacaueline Hindley, Norton St. Philip, Bath - Daily Mail,
June 22, 2007
Can
it be right that children are allowed to use iPods and
mobile phones during lessons? My grand-daughter complained
to her mother that she was finding it difficult to concentrate
in maths lessons because other pupils were allowed to
use these in classes. It started in art lessons and has
spread to English and maths.
My
daughter expressed concerns to the school and received
a letter from the head of maths saying: "Very little
teaching is happening at the current time because of revision
for end of year exams. The executive principal has recently
changed the guide-lines associated with the use of such
equipment within the classroom. It is now permitted in
lessons, at the discretion of the individual member of
staff.
My
grand-daughter is 13. She want to work and needs to concentrate
but finds it hard with the constant noise coming from
this equipment. Surely this isn't fair? My daughter was
told by a teacher that they can't control the use of this
equipment; they aren't allowed to take items from pupils
as no physical contact is allowed. And they can't isolate
a child by sending him or her out of the class for defying
the rules.
The
school tried to ban the use of mobile phones, but some
parents complained and said their children needed them.
Comprehensive schools these
days seem to have great difficulty enforcing any rules
when children flout them and their parents don't support
the school. They don't have teachers strong enough to
stand up to these parents so they simply 'go with the
times'.
The
school even claims it has been proved that listening to
music helps people study - it's certainly not helping
my grand-daughter. My daughter and other parents think
the school is being weak in this situation - but what
can we do? Their complaints seem to get nowhere.
How
can this be good for my grand-daughter's education when
she actually wants to learn is lessons?
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The
findings brought accusations Mr Blair has presided over 'a wasted
decade' for education and showed Labour's claims that standards
have been continually rising to be false. The report, published
by the independent think tank Sutton Trust, claims England's performance
in 12 independent international tests fails to bear out Mr Blair's
claims of rising exam standards.
Published
results in national curriculum tests, GCSE and A-levels are unreliable
because the exam system is susceptible to political meddling,
it argues. Rising exam scores owe as much to 'teaching to the
test', manipulation of exam entries and gradual grade inflation
as they do real gains in pupil performance, says the report.
In
fact, England has tumbled down a world league of teenagers' performance
because schools are failing to keep pace with other countries,
claims the report by education expert Professor Alan Smithers.
After demolishing the value of official exam results, he declares:
"Has education in England got better under Tony Blair? The
short answer is that it is much harder to tell than it should
be.'
The
main study to which he refers was carried out by the Programme
for International Student Assessment (PISA) and involved testing
thousands of 15-year-olds in countries around the world in similar
tests.
In
only three years, England has fallen from ninth in one table of
pupils' achievement in maths to 19th - below Liechtenstein and
Iceland. Fee-paying schools cemented their advantage during Mr
Blair's time in office with a 12% rise in pupil numbers while
truancy in state schools has worsened to record levels.
The
report claims that Mr Blair's cherished education targets, on
which he pinned his reputation, have driven schools to drill pupils
to pass tests rather than instilling real knowledge and providing
a broad education.
The
analysis is seen as a damning indictment of Mr Blair's decade
in power as he prepares to leave Downing Street on Wednesday.
Determined to make good on his education promise, he ratcheted
up the budget from £29billion in 1997 to £60billion
this year.
Ministers
launched a furious counterattack last night, insisting the testing
system was 'vigorous' and that the watchdog Ofsted ensures standards
of teaching are maintained. However, in primary schools, research
has already shown that official results dramatically overstated
gains in pupils performance, particularly in English, prompting
a rebuff to ministers from the number-crunching watchdog, the
Statistics Commission.
The
study uncovered a 'slackness in statistical procedures' which
meant the qualifying marks for national curriculum grades had
been gradually relaxed.
In
his report, Professor Smithers of Birmingham University, adds:
"It is open to question whether pressure from the centre
through targets and the associated numeracy and literacy strategies
under the Labour government has added anything."
Sir
Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: "School
statistics have become so politicised that it is time to consider
an independent watchdog which among other thins would assess the
educational performance of schools."
Tory
schools spokesman Nick Gibb said: "This has been a wasted
opportunity, a wasted decade. Labour had a real chance and a lot
of goodwill to tackle some of the deep-seated causes of educational
underperformance. But they have kow-towed to the educational establishment
throughout these ten years."
Schools
Minister Jim Knight said Professor Smithers - a prominent critic
of the Government' - had pointed to improvements in some areas.
But he added: "Professor Smithers underestimates the genuine
transformation that there has been in our schools in the last
ten years. There are now 95,000 more 11-year-olds achieving the
target level for their age in English and 83,000 more in mathematics
compared with 1997."
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