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 answeer 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
11, 2005 (741 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 1,610 US - 88 UK - >6,164? Iraqi - >17,300 civilians
- 25 media
May
31, 2005 (761 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 1,657 US - 89 UK - >6,164? Iraqi - >17,300 civilians
- 25 media
June
3 , 2005 (765 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 1,670 US - 89 UK - >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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Prescott
overturns 111 Travellers' site rulings
By
James Slack, Home Affairs Correspondent - Daily Mail, June 11,
2005
John
Prescott's department has overruled councils a startling 111 times
to force through plans for traveller camps, it was revealed last
night. It is allowing one in every three planning appeals lodged
by travellers, reversing the verdicts of locally elected politicians.
Councils
affected
Ashford,
Aylesbury Vale, Barnet, Basildon, Blaby, Brackness Forest,
Bromley, Broxbourne, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chester, Chichester,
Dartford, East Cambridgeshire, East Hampshire, East Lindsey,
Epping Forest, Fenland, Gravesham, Havering, Herefordshire,
Hertsmere, Kettering, King's Lynn And West Norfolk, Lancaster,
Leeds, Maidstone, Mendip, Mid-Sussex,, Mole Valley, New
Forest, Newark and Sherwood, North Lincolneshire, North
Norfolk, North Wiltshire, Purbeck, Rochford, Rugby, Sedgemoor,
Selby, Sevenoaks, South Buckinghamshire, South Cambridgeshire,
South Derbyshire, South Gloucestershire, South Somerset,
South Staffordshire, St Albans, Stroud, Sutton, Swale,
Taunton Deane, Teignbridge, Test Valley, Tewkesbury, The
Medway Towns, Thurrock, Tonbridge And Malling, Tunbridge
Wells, Warrington, West Oxfordshire, Winchester, Wokingham,
Wolverhampton, Wychavon
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Most
appeals were allowed by planning inspectors, but the Deputy Prime
Minister personally inter-vened in 14 cases to order local authorities
to find space for new encampments. All but one involved Tory or
Liberal Democrat Councils.
A
typical case was Waldens Farm, 70 acres of greenbelt land near
pretty Kent village of Crockenhill. Bromley Council refused to
allow eight caravans there in 2003, but Mr Prescott overruled
them. The area became a magnet for travellers camping illegally,
and the once-beautiful area has become an eyesore, covered in
litter and junk.
Last
Tuesday, 30 police and 25 council workers evicted 11 travellers
from the site. Stephen Carr, leader of the Tory-controlled council,
said: "We will not walk away from the challenge of protecting
green belt across the borough."
Figures
on appeals show that, since 2001, 111 of 230 have been approved,
many for land travellers have bought, often cheaply, because nobody
else could expect to win planning permission. But the department
was accused by Tory spokesman Caroline Spelman of helping travellers
ride roughshod over the wishes of local communities.
She
said: "The British people have an inherent sense of fair
play and find it difficult to understand why there should be one
rule for some, and another for everyone else. Labour's human rights
laws and planning regulations have allowed a minority of travellers
to ride roughshod over planning legislation, leaving local councils
powerless to enforce the law as they should be able to. One in
three decisions made locally is being overturned by Mr Prescott's
distant Whitehall department - completely undermining local authorities
in the face of some groups of travllers who have, some-times,
knowingly broken the law."
Councils
overruled by Mr Prescott face the choce of a costly appeal court
battle or giving in. There is concern that Mr Prescott's department,
desperate to solve the problem of illegal trveller sites, is strong-arming
councils into making them legal.
Earlier
this year, Mr Precott told local authorities to find land for
at least 300 more encampments, housing 4,500 pitches. His office
also announced new powers to let him force local authorities to
set space aside. The department has also told town halls to go
easy on travellers who set up home in defiance of planning rules.
They should avoid evicting them from public land, official guidance
said Police have been given powers to evict ilegal travellers
more quickly but only if there is a suitable local council site
to move them to.
At
the last published count, England had 15,000 caravans. Of these,
5,964 were authorised council camps, 4,813 on legal private sites
and 4,232 parked illegally. A spokesman for the Office of Deputy
Prime Minister said: "The planning process applies equally
to everyone, there are no special cases. The right to appeal against
a decision is a long-established part of our democratic system.
"In
2004/5, an average of 66% of all planning appeals were dismissed
and 34% were allowed. for gypsy and traveller cases, between January
2001 and April 2005, 67% of appeals were dismissed and 33% allowed."
South
Cambridgshire
Council has decided not to go ahead straight awy with evicting
a group of travellers from the notorious Smithy Fen site at Cottenham
after they lost a planning appeal earlier this year. Instead,
councillors have decided to go to the courts to get an injuction
on illegal pitches, so those who continue to live there could
be sent to jail.
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