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
Power
cut, please
Labour's
pollsters have Tony Blair running scared, because they have
informed him that if turnout at the next election is below
50%, the result will be a hung parliament. This would be
good news for those of us who, viewing the damage inflicted
by recent governments, would like nothing better than a
Parliament powerless to do anything. Letter from Ron
Phillips, London W14 - Daily Mail 17/2/05
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After
a clear vote against them, we still got eight non-elected
Regional Assemblies. When we vote against the EU Constitution,
we'll get them anyway. Letter from P.Cove, Aylesbury,
BUCKS.- Daily Mail, January 31, 2005
THE
TIMES slavish support for the Government worries some
members of the paper's staff, not to mention any perspicacious
readers who are left. Political editor Philip Webster
was questioned about this when he addressed colleagues
as part of an in-house 'masterclass' exercise. Small wonder.
One of his Blair-worshipping subordinates wrote a news
story yesterday poo-pooing the row over Labours anti-semitic
poster mocking Michael Howard, saying it was merely £5million
worth of 'free publicity' for the party. Ephraim Hardcastle
- Daily Mail, Febrauary 2, 2005
Hold
the front page
Further
to BBC bias (Mail), very often on BBC Breakfast and Breakfast
With Frost, coverage of the morning papers is censored.
If the front page of the Daily Mail is critical of Tony
Blair and his Soviet-style Government, it is not shown,
although the front pages of all the other newspapers are
shown. A supposedly independent broadcasting body is acting
as censor for this Government - an absolute disgrace.
Letter from Peter Fish, Chippenham, Wilts. .- Daily Mail,
February 17, 2005
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The
Rise and Rise of the World Health Service
The
Mail's Sue Reid has repeatedly documented how rampant immigration
has hit our hard-pressed NHS with the return of TB, an increase
in Aids and the exploitation of our hospitals. Now a few brave
doctors are speaking out - Daily Mail, February 17, 2005.
A
few streets away from the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green
there is a sign on a brick wall voicing a warning. It is printed
in a dozen different languages of the Asian, African and Eastern
European nations. It states that spitting in the street, or coughing
and sneezing without a handkerchief spreads the deadly lung disease
tuberculosis, once known as 'white plague', because of the ghostly
pallor of victims.
The
sign was put up in the heart of the East End by London's health
authorities a little over 12 months ago - a disturbing indication
that Britain's inner cities are facing a dramatic increase in
a potentially fatal infection that 20 years ago had largely been
eradicated from this country.
Yet
last year TB claimed the lives of 400 of the 7,200 new sufferers
in Britain. Incredibly, while levels of TB are falling in every
other Western European nation it is spreading here as quickly
as in the blackspots of Russia, Romania, Kazakhstan the Ukraine.
According to Government Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson,
seven of every ten of these new TB patients come from ethnic minority
committee, with almost two thirds of them born overseas.
The
incidence of the disease - which destroys lung tissue - is 20
times higher among ethnic minority children than among white youngsters.
However, in the politically correct world of the NHS, open debate
about what is causing the scourge of TB is actively discouraged.
Again
and again, during the last two years as I investigated this problem
I have met dedicated nurses and doctors who are prepared to admit
it is getting worse, but who have begged me not to reveal their
identities. In the McCarthyite atmosphere of politically correct
Britain, even to talk about such things is deemed racist. Only
a rare few are courageous enough to speak out. Notably Dr David
Shubhaker, a GP born in India, who is one of the country's most
experience inner-city doctors.
Yesterday,
he told the Mail from his surgery at Gants Hill, not far from
the East End: "There's no doubt that TB is a disease that
is being imported into Britain by immigrants coming here to visit,
to live, to study and to work It is not racist to say such a thing.
Everyone hoping to come to this country, whether a refugee or
even an incoming Britain holidaymaker from parts of the world
where TB is virulent, should be screened before they are permitted
to get on a plane to travel here.
"In
fact , I would go further. Every would-be immigrant should
arrange at their own expense to have a chest X-ray which must
be presented to the British High Commission in their own country
when they apply for a visa. If they are ill, they must not be
allowed entry. A man, woman or child suffering from TB only has
to be in this country for an hour and cough or sneeze over others
to spread the infection. That is why stopping the sufferers ever
coming here in the first place is the only way to fight this disease.
"And
this is not just my view, but one shared by many GPs and hospital
specialists who know that our NHS is being overburdened by the
number of TB victims who often deliberately come here as health
tourists."
Dr
Shubhaker is one of the first doctors to highlight the startling
rise in not only TB, but in HIV, Aids and hepatitis cases among
the immigrant communities in Britain. Hetersexually-acquired HIV,
for example, has increased five times from about 700 cases in
1994 to 3,600 in 2003. The increase has been particularly sharp
since 1999, much of it due to infections brought by those coming
from abroad.
In
2003, about 90% of newly diagnosed heterosexual infections were
thought to have been acquired overseas, mostly in Africa. Indeed
people from three countries, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe accounted
for about 1,500 cases in the UK in each of the last two years.
This was about a quarter of all new cases.
According
to the Chief Executive of the Health Protection Agency, 'each
HIV infection prevented can save between £500,000 and £1,000,000
kin treatment and lost productivity. Taking even the lower figure,
this is an astonishing £750 million a year for the people
arriving here from these three countries alone. It surely defies
reason that this situation should be allowed to continue unchecked.
Dr
Shubhaker serves on a British Medical Association committee for
London which is represented by GPs from every part of the capital
and is, therefore, in a unique position to see how the NHS is
abused by foreigners.
Yesterday,
he welcomed the declaration that, under a Tory government, migrants
coming here for more than six months would undergo stringent health
checks. But will such steps be enough to stop the rise of TB cases
- up by 20% in England and Wales in less than a decade? could
they halt the rising number of new HIV cases, which now top 5,500
each year, double the number 10 years ago?
One
nurse of 20 years experience who works in half-a-dozen London
teaching hospitals, says the Tory plan is well-meaning but may
be next to useless.
"Allowing
those entering the country for less than six months to completely
escape the health checks means that gaping holes in the system
will remain. I Have seen the huge escalation in cases over the
past few years. Immigrants often come here - legally or illegally
- specifically to get care on the NHS. Those with TB are particularly
keen to come to Britain because it is a notifiable disease and
must be treated freely and immediately. These patients often have
only the faintest grasp of English. I and many of the nurses I
work with have grown cynical"
What
is happening in London is being replicated in other cities. TB
'hotspots' have been found in Birmingham, Bradford, Wolverhampton,
Blackburn, Leicester and Bolton. The NHS is also routinely exploited
by the growing phenomenon of health tourism - whereby foreigners
get free treatment here at a cost to the state of more than £200
million a year.
One
professor in gynecology at a London hospital told me that the
beds of two-thirds of his labour ward were filled by mothers with
no discernible link to Britain. They had come here to stay with
relatives on a visitor's visa, but with one thing in mind: to
have their baby in an NHS ward. "To be found speaking about
it, to make any kind of complaint, would mean that I would lose
everything I have worked for," he told me.
Another
doctor, from a prestigious hospital in Birmingham, recalled how
a Nigerian patient had turned up on Saturday afternoon in his
casualty department."This middle-aged man cam by taxi straight
from the airport and said he had pains in his back. It turned
out he had a very serious kidney disease and had to have dialysis
three times a week. This man, who did have family here but no
British passport, more or less admitted that he had come here,
via Rome, in order to try and get free treatment for the rest
of his natural life."
For
too many people in this Labour government any attempt to show
a link between immigrants to Britain and the rise in infectious
diseases is racist. The Institute of Public Policy research
a think tank that has the ear of those in power at 10 Downing
Street, has even declared that compulsory chest X-rays and other
health tests on all immigrrants would be 'morally wrong'.
A
few brave voices are speaking out. "We have to overcome this
taboo about race and look at the facts. If we don't act quickly,
we dould find the disease of TB for example becomes as potentially
deadly as it was back in the Thirties," says Mr Peter Davies,
a consultant chest physician at the Cardio-Thoracic Centre in
Liverpool.
So
what can be done to halt the spread of TB? Perhaps we should look
to America. A few years ago the U.S. discovered that TB had returned
after being eradicated in the Sixties and that half of the victims
were born overseas. U.S. officials immediately introduced portside
health screening as a priority and took skin swabs among the immigrant
communites to expose latent TB, which does not show up on a port
of entry X-ray.
"The
only reasonable way to halt the importing of TB is to look for
those who have it and treat it," said a common sense report
from the National Tuberculosis Centre in New Jersey. "People
who come to the U.S. legally are required to have chest X-rays
showing they have no active TB. If they do, they cannot be admitted."
The
figures speak for themselves. In America today, five people in
every 100,000 become ill with TB, three times fewer than in Britain.
But proportionately - and shockingly - 50 times more Africans
and 20 times more Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis living
here now have TB than those of the same ethnic groups who live
in the United States.
Perhaps
it is not surprising. Only recently, I spoke to a young doctor
in the casualty department at a West London hospital. He is in
his 30s, dedicated to the Health Service and wants to spend his
career caring for those who actually live in Britain and who cannot
afford to pay for private treatment.
"The
truth is we are being conned here in Britain by foreigners,"
he said. "Even here 17 milles from Heathrow Airport I have
seen overseas visitors turn up at the A&E and ask for treatment.
They still have the tickets tied on their suitcases showing they
have come from Nairobi or Lagos or the like. theu arrive here
straight from the airport in a taxi. They cough and splutter.
We have to take their ailment seriously because we fear they have
TB.
"Before
long they are upstairs in a hospital bed and expecting the NHS
to care for them forever," he explained shaking his head
sadly. "And too often we do so without asking any questions
at all."
The
REAL NASTY PARTY- How
Labour is the true home of spite, bigotry and contempt for the
public
For
the health of our democracy, we, the people of the United Kingdom,
must find a way to force Mr Blair to resign
Such
defiance of the democratic process and the will of the majority
of we people of the UK, must be exposed by voters as a matter
or urgency, and not just in the two by-elections we have had this
July and the European elections in June 2004. But how can this
be done?
The
most effective way of getting our deceitful PM to resign would
be to mobilise the army of Labour MPs currently in the House of
Commons and get them to demand it, the loss of their seat to be
a penalty if they did not. All voters in Labour-held constituencies
need to write a letter along these lines to their local Labour
MPs:
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Dear
Despite
his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year
of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's
'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair
has admitted, that the threat was non-existent. For that
critical error of judgement and for his gross incompetence
in handling this very important issue, I ask you to take
immediate steps to ensure that Tony Blair does the honourable
thing and resign without delay..
I
would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and
help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in
Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave
the PM with no option but to resign.
If
I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue
to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances
I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election.
Signed:
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Simple,
non-violent, protest letters along these lines on a variety of
issues could be the basis for re-vitalising our democracy and
increasing voters' interest and participation in politics. Download
a printable copy of the above letter here.
There
is another way for the voice of the silent majority to be heard,
a voice that made sure broken promises would not only be revealed,
but punished in subsequent elections.
In
the year available before the General Election expected in 2005,
many topics are available as ammunition, each one asking questions.
A weapon for our purpose will be the results of Opinion Polls
in individual constituencies using ICM, NOP, Gallop, Mori
or YouGov.
Questions
suggested for this purpose are listed here.
CAST
YOUR VOTE ON A VARIETY OF OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES HERE.
Current
and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running
for election could share a platform at public forums in every
constituency. They would be presented with the results of
polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that
constituency.
The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their
Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they
intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.
Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged
and the results published on this web site.
Here
is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in
the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective
MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote.
This example deals with the proposed
EU Constitutional Treaty.
Your
letters would end: "If you do not answer
this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government
line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election.
Or
why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates
in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions
of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).
Download
a printable example of the questionnaire.
It
is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing
themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives
in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in
their own constituency, even if this means going against their
personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their
case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency,
they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view
of those who elect them.
It
will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters
don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important
subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy.
We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters
do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form
an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of
Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.
Most
important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their
latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that
the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance
with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be
the result.
Contact
your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public
forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant
topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005.
You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of
your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject
being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected
by your representative in that assembly.
