WHAT IS THE PRICE OF DEMOCRACY?WE ARE NOT AS DEMOCRATIC AS YOU MIGHT THINK.

A COLLEAGUE attempted to use the HM Government petitions facility that is supposed to allow the public to petition the Government over issues that displease them and that affect all of us in some way. It is meant to provide the means to influence changes to anything we do not agree or find distasteful over the way our country is run. 

Surely, I would have thought this would be a logical and appropriate way to lobby the Government to let them know that we, the public, are largely not happy by the imprisonment of a long serving member of the SAS, Sgt DANNY NIGHTINGALE? 

But we thought wrong. Having approached the Government agency via the correct and appropriate channels ... this is their response. 

THIS IS NOTHING SHORT OF A COP OUT THAT EFFECTIVELY STIFLES PUBLICPROTECTS OF THIS KIND.

Your e-petition "Release Sgt Danny Nightingale" hasn't been accepted.

E-petitions will not be accepted if they:

• contain information which may be protected by an injunction or court order

• contain material that is potentially confidential, commercially sensitive or which may cause personal distress or loss

• include the names of individuals if they have been accused of a crime or information that may identify them

• include the names of individual officials who work for public bodies, unless they are part of the senior management of those organisations

• include the names of family members of elected representatives, eg MPs, or officials who work for public bodies

If you'd like to submit a new e-petition, please read the site's terms and conditions which explain the rules in detail.
Thanks,
HM Government e-petitions http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/

A WARNING TO DRIVERS

This is another of these concerning emails I have received that apparently has been publihsed by the Metropolitan Police. It should be taken seriously.

While driving on a rural end of the roadway on Thursday morning, I saw an infant car seat on the side of the road with a blanket draped over it. For whatever reason, I did not stop, even though I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head. But when I got to my destination, I called the Police and they were going to check it out. But, this is what the Police advised even before they went out there to check.

"There are several things to be aware of. Gangs and thieves are now plotting different ways to get a person (mostly women) to stop their vehicle and get out of the car".

"There is a gang initiation reported by the local Police where gangs are placing a car seat by the road, with a fake baby in it, waiting for a woman, of course, to stop and check on the abandoned baby. Note that the location of this car seat is usually beside a wooded or grassy (field) area and the person -- woman -- will be dragged into the woods, beaten, raped and usually left for dead. If it's a man, they're usually beaten and robbed and maybe left for dead, too".
DO NOT STOP FOR ANY REASON. DIAL 9-9-9 AND REPORT WHAT YOU SAW BUT DON'T EVEN SLOW DOWN.

IF YOU ARE DRIVING AT NIGHT AND EGGS ARE THROWN AT YOUR WINDSCREEN, DO NOT STOP TO CHECK THE CAR, DO NOT OPERATE THE WIPER AND DO NOT SPRAY ANY WATER BECAUSE EGGS MIXED WITH WATER BECOME MILKY AND BLOCK YOUR VISION UP TO 92.5% AND YOU ARE THEN FORCED TO STOP BESIDE THE ROAD AND BECOME A VICTIM OF THESE CRIMINALS.

THIS IS A NEW TECHNIQUE USED BY GANGS, SO PLEASE INFORM YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES. THESE ARE DESPERATE TIMES AND THESE ARE UNSAVOURY INDIVIDUALS WHO WILL TAKE DESPERATE MEASURES TO GET WHAT THEY WANT.
This is a new tactic being used. Please be safe.

THE BANKS CONTINUE TO RUN ROUGH-SHOD OVER CUSTOMERS RECLAIMING PPI

To say that I am sick and tired of the attitude of banks, particularly over their appalling treatment of customers trying to reclaim wrongly sold PPI, would be a gross understatement. 

I speak from experience but I know tens of thousands of others are probably being subjected to a similar lack of respect. In my case, the finger is being firmly pointed at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).  

When they opened a branch in my neck of the woods many years ago I was one of the first to open an account with them. Compared to my experiences with Barclays, the RBS were like a breath of fresh air, and they continued to be until this whole issue of irregularities occurred over the selling of PPI. Until then, my experiences with RBS had been extremely good. I found the staff to be friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. I had no complaints. And then, under the leadership of Fred Goodwin things started to go wrong ... very wrong. Staff came and went and the levels of service fell. I hardly ever visited the bank without a member of staff trying to sell me a new 'product'. When I extended my meagre business overdraft at my manager's suggestion to something more substantial I was informed that PPI was a compulsory part of the agreement. I didn't argue; after all I trusted and got on exceptionally well with the business advisor assigned to my account. Little did I know then that  when I later needed to claim on the payment protection insurance, I was promptly told by RBS that as a self-employed person I did not qualify. Up until then, with the bank never being in any doubt about my self-employed status, they had continued taking hundreds of pounds from me in premium payments over a period of several years.

When the miss-selling of PPI made the headlines I realised that I was entitled to a refund, now amounting to several thousands of pounds. At the start of this year I instigated a claim and by the start of May I received an offer as a 'goodwill gesture'. I completed the documentation accepting the offer and posted the form back to RBS same day. Even though I was angered by their reference to a legitimate refund of money I was entitled to get back being referred to as a 'goodwill gesture' I was, at that time, prepared to ignore it. When the refund hadn't arrived a month or so later I phoned the RBS helpline and was told very quickly by some disinterested individual in the Manchester call centre that my acceptance documents had been lost in the post. There was not even a hint of 'may have' been lost in the post but a definitive pronouncement that appeared to be uttered as a well-rehearsed line he had used a thousand times before to other hapless victims. 

WHY I CAN NEVER TRUST THE BANKS!

The latest issues regarding certain banks rigging the Libor rate should not come as a shock to most people particularly in view of previous wrong-doing that has shaken our trust in the banking institutions. 

I know from personal experience of the type of things they get up to. At the time of my divorce from my first wife during the 1980s, amidst the turmoil that usually accompanies a marriage breakup there was however just one thing my ex-wife and myself did agree about. 

At that time I had an unsecured overdraft for my business account with Barclays that, as far as I was concerned had never been an issue either for the bank or myself. Suddenly, out of the blue I received a High Court writ from the bank demanding immediate repayment of the overdraft. There had been no previous discussion, no letter from the bank - just this unannounced writ. I telephoned Barclays London office to demand a reason for what I considered to be grossly underhanded tactics and was merely told that they wanted their money back. I won't repeat my reaction but let's just say I was more than a little angry by their attitude and their proposed court action. 

Subsequently my former wife and me were called to a meeting with a business manager at our local Barclays business centre whereupon we were pressured in an attempt to force us to agree to a second charge being placed on our matrimonial home. My ex-wife and I both refused to sign the charge papers that Barclays had already prepared because neither of deemed it necessary and, as it was, the overdraft was not for an overly large sum. However, under duress I agreed to convert this to a loan on a normal monthly repayment basis.

When it came to selling the matrimonial home following our divorce, we were confronted with a second charge on the property in favour of Barclays Bank. We both knew full well that we had never signed the second charge documents that Barclays had produced and advised our respective solicitors accordingly. My solicitor immediately wrote to Barclays with an allegation of fraud. This is exactly what it was because my former wife concurred with me that the signatures that appeared on the Barclays document were certainly not ours but had been copied from other documents by somebody in an attempt to make them look like ours. They weren't even very convincing forgeries!

When Barclays received the communication from my lawyers they responded by telephoning me. I was told by the caller, who refused to give his name, that he was speaking from the bank's head office. I was told in no uncertain terms that if I refused to withdraw the fraud allegation 'I would never work again'. I responded by asking whether I should take this threat as an indication that 'some personal harm would be done to me, or whether they intended somehow to put me out of business?'  The man responded by stating 'That will be for you to find out, if you refuse to withdraw your allegation'. I was left feeling totally stunned and from that day on I have never trusted the banks.

THE SILENT MAJORITY

I received this email today that has been written by a 72-year old citizen of Great Britain. I make no apologies for publishing on this blog because I believe the contents are extremely poignant and whta this gentleman has stated reflects the views of so many people. I have edited the layout from the original to fit the layout more appropriately in order to make it easier to read.

To David Cameron (Prime Minister) & Ed Milliband (Leader of the Opposition) ...

You BOTH worry me! (In fact both of your Political parties worry the hell out of me!!

Over the last three years I find myself becoming more and more fearful of the pair of you and between you are turning this country into a place that I no longer feel at home in, or feel a part of! I watch you in parliament and no not just the two of you but every politician that I see stands up in parliament sneering at each other rand acting like children!!! (..And if you were my children I would be ashamed of you all ... What an example to set!)

Although you would like us all to believe that you are putting the needs of this country at the forefront NEITHER of you are doing that you seem more interested in "one-upmanship "in scoring off each other & denigrating each other to the detriment of this country & its people!!! 

It seems to be all about YOU as individuals and not about what you can DO for this country!

It is fast becoming a place that I do not recognize as the place I always thought was the best place in the world to be!!!

But no longer!!!

You are not listening to the people of this country!!!

And here in Great Britain your counterparts are afflicted with the same disease - is it endemic in all politicians?

I am watching the deterioration of living standards in this country (and according to you on a world stage we are doing better than most countries ... REALLY???)... And yet the gap is widening between the "haves" and the "have-nots”. I see our homeless on the streets our hospitals under-funded and understaffed our health system is an absolute mess and a disgrace ... And yet I see multi-millions of dollars being sent off shore in aid to other countries before attending to this country's needs!

I see the "selling off of water rights to foreign interests WHY...?

Especially when you go to great lengths to tell us that water is a finite resource & supposedly we must ALL be careful with how we use it so that we ensure we have it for the future

A Carbon Tax (which you KNOW is just another tax) which will make NO appreciable difference to carbon emissions AT ALL!

A tax which in spite of all your arguments FOR it you are doing alone when other major countries will NOT & DO NOT embrace it or believe in it ! 

MP RESPONDS TO CALL TO RELEASE NHS RISKS REGISTER

Having signed the online petition instigated by 38 Degrees that is automatically passed to local MPs to add pressure to the campaign to release the so-called 'secret' Risks Register report on the proposed NHS changes; my local MP, Mark Lancaster (Con) has taken the time and trouble to respond. In fairness to Mark, I am publishing his reasons that I feel are self-explanatory.

How do you feel about this?
Do you feel the public should have the right to view the contents of this document or are you confident that our politicians should decide what we can or cannot see?

Dear Mr. Bluffield,

Thank you for contacting me about the debate concerning the Department of Health's risk register.

I do appreciate your interest in this information and with such good healthcare provision in Milton Keynes I do understand the worry that is being caused by the upcoming changes.

The Department of Health has already published risks relating to the Health and Social Care Bill in the Combined Impact Assessment, updated on 8 September 2011, which can be found at the following address http://www.dh.gov.uk by searching for "combined impact assessments."

It is important to note that risk registers detail the worst-case scenarios-both actual and theoretical. For this reason, it would not be in the public interest to release risk registers as they would place a misleading emphasis on the negative aspects of policy which could cause public debate to be focused on these worst-case scenario risks however unlikely they may be. Additionally, releasing these risks could increase the likelihood of their occurrence.

The decision would have significant implications and set a precedent for all departments and future governments. It is for these reasons that during the course of the last Government requests to see risk registers were declined in July 2008, in September 2008, and in September 2009.

I assure you that the government is committed to departmental transparency. Since the Coalition has come to power, the Department of Health has published more information on how it runs, including salaries above £150,000, departmental spending data, all new government ICT contracts, all new central government tender documents for contracts over £10,000, new items of central departmental spending over £25,000, Government Procurement Card transactions over £500 and all new central departmental contracts are to be published in full.

The Department has sought to expedite the process of appeal, and as a result, the Tribunal has been moved forward from 5 April to 6 March.

I hope this information is useful and thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Kind Regards

Mark

WHO IS TO BLAME FOR A FRACTURED BRITAIN?

The National Statistics Office has revealed that one in eight people now living in Britain has been born elsewhere and in some areas this is causing strain on essential services such as schools and health. It is also causing long established communities to fragment particularly in areas such as Luton, Bradford and Leicester where large influxes of immigrants have congregated that do not speak English and will not readily integrate into British society. It has also created ghettos in some parts where white British feel ostracised.

In an excellent article in the Daily Telegraph Ruth Dudley Foster examines the issues confronting multi-culture Britain. She argues a case for citizens who feel their communities have been changed by too many immigrants arriving at the same time that have no intention of speaking English or by integrating into our society.

This is a common problem that I can associate with. When one of my neighbours temporarily moved to Canada they rented their house to a family from Lithuania. Outwardly these people seem to be perfectly reasonable, especially since they cause no problems for anyone, but they have isolated themselves from others living around them. They do not speak English and therefore live on the outside of our society unable to communicate with others that cannot speak their language. While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this, there is a feeling that the ethos of what was once a close-knit community this has been eradicated.

Click here to read the full text of Ruth Dudley Edwards's article.

CORRUPT COP JAILED AGAIN

One of the worst cases of a police officer abusing the powers vested in him occurred in February 2010 when a Commander of the Metropolitan Police, Ali Dizaei was sentenced to four years at Southwark Crown Court for ‘misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice.’ Two of the years of his sentence were to be spent in prison; the other two on licence.

This might appear to be a mild sentence for Britain’s most senior Asian police officer, who had formerly been president of the Metropolitan Black Police Association. This is relevant because Dizaei had consistently criticised senior colleagues for presiding over and encouraging racism within the Met. (BBC News 8/2/2010). Ironically his transfer to the Metropolitan Police and promotion to superintendant came in the same year that the Force was accused of institutional racism after the murder of Stephen Lawrence. After arriving in his new post, Dizaei accused the force of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and by using ‘cultural biased tests to pick white officers for senior ranks.’ Under the title of Operation Helios, Dizaei was suspected of perverting the course of justice, misconduct in a public office and making false expenses claims, as far back as 2000 in an investigation costing £2.2m that was unrelated to the case for which he was jailed. After being suspended from duty for two years on full pay, he was brought to trial at the Old Bailey but cleared of all charges in the previous case. Other serving police officers had claimed that Ali Dizaei It has been a permanent thorn in their side and the Met came under criticism when they reportedly paid him £80,000 in damages after he had threatened to sue them for discrimination. He had also threatened to bring a similar unrelated action in December 2008. The former Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair apologised after the case and said the inquiry had caused “considerable damage” to the force. Dizaei claimed there had been a campaign to: “destroy my life and my career” and accused very senior colleagues of spreading a “cancer of racism.” In 2006, after two Muslim brothers were questioned after an anti-terrorism raid, he questioned the need for ethnic profiling of airline passengers and said: “What you are suggesting is that we should have a new offence in this country called ‘travelling whilst Asian’.”