Rescuing
Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship
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You will
notice that, since New Labour came to power, not a single
leading Cabinet member or party 'heavy hitter' has appeared
on the programme (BBC's Question Time). 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
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Now they're having to queue
to register with private dentists
by
Chris Brooke - Daily Mail, September 9, 2004
The
queue snaked out of the surgery and along the street. Hundreds
waited for hours to register with a dentist. But these patients
weren't competing for the services of a Health Service practitioner.
They were desperately hoping to sign up with a private practice.
Such is the shortage of dental care in certain areas of the country
that patients are even having to battle for the chance to pay
for care.
In
this case it was the market town of Driffield in East Yorkshire,
where an NHS practice announced it was halving its numbers and
going private. The dentists say they took action because state
funding was insufficient for the number of patients they were
having to deal with. Waiting times were as long as five months.
Their patients were told there were limited places available and
all of them had to re-register for an insurance scheme.
While
some decided to look elsewhere - most likely in vain - hundreds
descended on the surgery from early on Monday. "I have been
at this surgery for more than 30 years and was not very happy
to have to change to this private insurance," Noreen Rowley,
68, said yesterday. "I went down at about 11am and couldn't
believe the size of the queue. It was huge. I waited for almost
an hour and a friend of mine who went in the afternoon waited
for more than two hours. there were hundreds of people."
The
Smith and Quarmby practice is one of two in a town with a population
of around 10,000. Although children would be able to continue
to receive NHS care, adults were told they would have to convert
to a Denplan scheme to continue treatment. The practice is also
reducing its patient list from 5,400 to around 2,700, to cut waiting
times for appointments. In a letter to patients, owners Ramsey
Smith and Robert Quarmby said they were 'caring for too many patients.'
The
dentists said they had taken the action because they were not
willing to compromise on the level of care. Mr Quarmby said: "What
we need to give our patients is time and care. Within the NHS
there isn't the funding to be able to do that because of the number
of patients we have." Under the Denplan scheme patients pay
a fixed monthly sum based on a dental assessment. About 85% of
patients pay £17 a month.
A
spokesman for North and East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire
Strategic Health Authority tried to play down what many believe
is a crisis in dental provision in the area. She said the authority
was 'disappointed' the practice had gone private. There would
be a 20% increase in dental funding in the area next year 'giving
dentists the potential to expand their practices,' she said. "There
is no need for patients in Driffield to go private at this time,"
she added.
Across
the country NHS dental places are few and far between, but it
appears that in rural East Yorkshire, so are places with private
surgeries. Sean Spencer, 41, discovered his place at an NHS surgery
had lapsed when he needed treatment for toothache three months
ago. "I look after my teeth and I hadn't been to a dentist
for 18 months so I lost my place," he said.
But
finding a private practice to take him on proved impossible. Mr
Spencer, a photographer, lives in a village ten miles from Driffield
and was willing to travel across two counties for treatment. He
said: "I went through two Yellow Pages books and must have
tried 40 dentists. I was willing to pay, but every time I was
told, 'No, we're full'. It was unbelievable." Eventually
he went to a walk-in NHS Dental Access Centre, which is intended
primarily for urgent treatment, to ave his filling.
In
July, the Government pledged to recruit an extra 1000 NHS dentist
and said an additional £368million would be injected in
dentistry amid sweeping changes designed to stop the exodus of
practitioners into the private sector.
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.
