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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June
27, 2007 (1488 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 3567 US - 153 UK - >1,000,000? civilians - 25 media
June
30, 2007 (1491 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 3577 US - 156 UK - >1,000,000? civilians - 25 media
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site has had 
visitors
£2bn
bill to pay for Scottish students' university places
By
Kirsty Walker - Political Correspondent - Daily Mail, June 11,
2007
Taxpayers
across the country will have to foot a £2billion bill for
students in Scotland to enjoy free university education under
plans being announced this week. While students in England and
Wales must still pay up to £3,000 a year for their studies,
Scottish students will not have to pay a penny from 2009.
The
move will fuel mounting anger that people in Scotland enjoy more
generous public services, largely funded by English taxpayers.
The plans by the ruling Scottish National Party to scrap tuition
fees will be unveiled on Wednesday and are expected to pass through
the Edinburgh parliament with the support of the Greens and Liberal
Democrats. From 2011, student loans will also be wiped out and
maintenance grants reintroduced.
In
addition, students from the European Union will also get free
university places in Scotland. But English , Welsh and Northern
Irish students will still have to pay for the privilege.
Last
year the SNP pledged that any move to scrap tuition fees would
also cover English students in Scotland. But Scottish Education
secretary Fiona Hyslop is expected to abandon that committment
because of fears it would create a rush of English students north
of the border.
There
are 15,000 English undergraduates in Scotland paying £1,700
a year for a four year degree. On top of an average loan of £11,000,
it means they leave with a typical debt of £17,800.
Students
in England must pay top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year -
and universities are expected to be allowed to raise their charges
fro 2010.
Ironically,
Tony Blair had to rely on the votes of Scottish MPs to push through
the introduction of tuition fees at English universities.
In
the decade since devolution, Scotland has used the extra £1,500
a head it receives from Westminster to subsidize care homes for
the elderly and authorise the use of a wide range of cancer drugs
denied to patients south of the border.
Recent
surveys suggest that English voters are increasingly concerned
that Scottish MPs can vote on issues that affect on England, but
English MPs are unable to vote on the same issues in Scotland.
This constitutional dilemma, knows as the West Lothian Question,
has become more topical as Scot Gordon Brown prepares to take
over as Prime Minister in two weeks.
David
Cameron has sought to exploit Mr Brown's difficulties by announcing
plans to block Scottish MPs from voting on legislation that applies
only to England if the Tories win power. Shadow Education spokesman
David Willetts said the SNP's plans for university fees highlighted
the problem.
He
said: "Brown is trapped. He can hardly extol the virtues
of university fees in England when his own constituents in Scotland
will not be paying them."
Senior
lawyers have warned that the plans could face a legal challenge
from English students. Jack Rabinowicz, a partner in the London
law firm of Teacher Stern Selby said: "It further highlights
the imbalance between the system in disparate parts of the United
Kingdom. It's a discriminatory regime."
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