The Cross of StGeorge Blog

BBC [and Labour Government] bias against the English

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:17:44 +0100

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Letter in Scotland onSunday

BBC bias against the English

THE BBC's response to Professor Anthony King's criticism that its journalists pass off English stories as 'British' was to point out, correctly, that the Government, led by Gordon Brown, does exactly the same thing ('Tartan enforcers target BBC bias', July 13).

Brown and other members of his Government use the term 'this country' to describe policies that only apply to England. One would not know, for example, that an item about the NHS applies only to England. It is not just that the BBC does not give enough attention to the devolved nations but also that both the BBC and the Government try to avoid reminding the English that they are, well, English. They are worried that the English might realise they too are a nation and a nation without its own government.

Viewers and listeners in England will be only too pleased if as a result of Professor King's report both the Government and the BBC start to come clean about what applies to England and what doesn't. Some people in England have been complaining about the BBC's institutional anti-Englishness and its British bias for years. It takes the Scottish mafia to get something done.

Ian Campbell, West Horsley, Surrey

BBC bias against the English

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The Labour Government more concerned with the dying than the living in England!

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:19:06 +0100

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With the best will in the world, one cannot but help unfavourably contrast the Labour Government's treatment of the people of England with that of people in Scotland and Wales! In Scotland, (for example) patients receive prescribed drugs and the infirm free Personal Care. In Wales, prescription charges (for example) have been abolished.

In England, patients in England are refused treatment for Macular Degeneration until the sight in one eye has been lost. This callous policy takes no account of the possibility that the second eye might not eventually respond to medical treatment resulting in total blindness.

Also in England, the infirm are required to pay for the Personal Care freely provided in Scotland. This inequitable policy only benefits those with little or no assets and low incomes; it does nothing to reduce the stress of those who feel they are already a burden on their family.

The policy runs counter to the fundamental principles of the Health Service for removing the burden of care which can result in the beggary of those afflicted. It can also be argued that the cost of Personal Care and the stress it causes will tend to impair, even more, the health of the infirm, and even hasten death. No matter! Even though the Government refuses to provide free care for the infirm, it will assist them to die in their own homes!

Now, the England Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, has just announced plans to assist English people to die in their own homes. Ironically, Mr Johnson is reported as intending to say that "how we care for the dying is the hallmark of how we care for ill and vulnerable people". Well, it clearly is not Mr Johnson! Indeed, Mr Johnson's words amount to gross hypocrisy. On this basis, the British Government cares more for the dying than the infirm living.

How shameful that it is not free Personal Care for ill and vulnerable English people which is not the hallmark of fair and equitable government policy in England!

More people will be helped to die at home [in England] under new Government plans

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The English Democrats win third place in a Parliamentary By-election.

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:19:11 +0100

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The English Democrats Party (EDP) and its local candidate, Joanne Robinson, are to be congratulated on achieving a fine result in this week's by-election in the Haltemprice & Howden Constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Against a background of very disappointing recent results in the GLA elections and by-elections in Crewe and Henley, the Party had both the wisdom and the courage to put up a candidate so soon again! The result vindicates that decision.

1st David Michael Davis - Conservative Party 17,113 votes

2nd Shan Oakes - Green Party 1,758 votes

3rd Joanne Robinson - English Democrats 1,714 votes

The Party was also fortunate to have a credible female candidate, and again, the wisdom to select her. Unusually for an English Democrat parliamentary candidate, Joanne retains her deposit!

The result in Haltemprice will have given significantly more prominence to the EDP than might ordinarily be the case given the propensity of broadcasters and the national newspapers to minimise, if not actually to suppress, the Party's presence! The Cause of an England Parliament will also have been given an immeasurable boost.

Whatever their shortcomings, both the Campaign for an English Parliament and the English Democrats Party have placed the England Question firmly on the political agenda. There is increasing evidence of the huge concern and dissatisfaction in England about its anomalous constitutional position and the disadvantages heaped upon its people in consequence.

The people of England have lost confidence in either the willingness or the ability of the major British political parties to remedy the unfair treatment of the English. As a result, they are frustrated and cast around for some kind of suitable leadership and direction. The English Democrats struggle to provide that leadership and direction against the almost insuperable obstacles of 'British' opposition and anti-Englishness!

This by-election result will have given a much needed boost to the EDP, its members and supporters and, most importantly of all, to the goal of a separate Parliament & Executive for England affording its people no less self-determination than that currently enjoyed by the 15% of the UK's population in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

It is a disgrace that one of the oldest and most distinguished of the EU's nations, comprising some 85% of the UK's population, should remain alone amongst those nations without its own parliament!

ENGLAND AWAKE! AWAKE!

Haltemprice and Howden: Result in full

Brown, the plea bargainer!

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:58:20 +0100

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When Gordon Brown entered into the infamous Granita Restaurant agreement with Tony Brown back in 1994, he accepted the moral position of the 'plea bargainer'.

The logic of Brown's position is that he did not truly believe that he could attract more votes than Blair in the forthcoming leadership election, which had been occasioned by John Smith's untimely and unexpected death. Who would accept that Brown had stepped aside thinking he would win that election if he stood?

Brown could not win, and he knew he could not win, and so, shamelessly sought to extract what he could for himself in that situation.

In effect, Brown had copped a plea of 'guilty' - here, it was of not wanting to create divisions - in order to avoid the harsher penalty of becoming a backbencher which might be imposed by unsuccessfully challenging Blair! For him to turn around subsequently, and try to act 'innocent' is further evidence of moral decrepitude!

Such is the irony of life, in particular political life, that Mr Brown found himself in a similar situation in August & September 2007 when he failed to dispel speculation that he was considering calling an early general election. That episode not only exposed a moral deficiency but a significant inadequacy in analytical ability. Eventually, oor Gordie concluded that he was unlikely to win such a general election, and so, sought to persuade us that he had decided against calling a general election even though he professed to hold the view that he would win then!

That we should be saddled with such a man! A person 'pledged', as a signatory of the Scottish Claim of Right in 1989, to 'make the interests of the Scottish people paramount' which, logically, includes his own!

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Breach of faith with English voters

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:33:20 +0100

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One of the disturbing features of Westminster government in recent decades is the insouciance with which constitutional proprieties are regarded or, more accurately, disregarded!

The rot probably started in the early 1970s with special arrangements for the Northern Irish. Despite the claims of successive British governments of Northern Ireland allegedly being a part of the UK, separate ballots were held there time and time again, whilst voters in the rest of the UK were expected to passively accept the outcomes of such ballots.

This approach was reinforced in 1979 with separate referendums in Scotland and Wales from which 85% of the UK's voters in England were excluded. The practice of excluding voters in England became even more entrenched in 1997 with further separate referendums which resulted in separate parliaments being created in Scotland and Wales.

Another exclusive referendum was held in Northern Ireland in 1998 which, after a period of suspension, much political controversy and a bribe of some £53 billion being given, the Northern Ireland Assembly re-convened in 2007. The bribe amounted to "the equivalent of over £50,000 per household"!
See: Chancellor sets out St Andrews agreement funding package for Northern Ireland

Evidence of the contempt with which voters in England are held was provided by the Blair Government's repudiation of the express commitment the Labour Party had given in its manifesto for the 1997 General Election NOT to introduce university top up fees. Not only did it dishonour its promise and thereby the long standing compact with voters that governments would honour undertakings given in general election manifestos, it compounded its misconduct by singling out England and her voters upon which to inflict that slight. Yes, MPs elected to represent their constituents in England stood idly by whilst MPs representing Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales [which are exempt] in combination with disloyal and unrepresentative England MPs introduced discriminatory top up tuition fees in England.

Another breach, of the understanding under which political parties campaign for election, occurred in the wake of the 2005 General Election, in which all three British political parties gave commitments to support the holding of a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution/Lisbon Treaty. Both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats ratted out of that undertaking.

The lack of honour was further demonstrated by the Prime Minister's insistence upon using the Government's large majority (assisted in the event by shameful Liberal Democrat MPs abstaining from the Divisions) to push through Parliament the necessary legislation, even though the whole exercise had been embarked upon with the clear understanding that the Lisbon Treaty needed to be ratified by ALL EU member states and that voters in Ireland had voted against any such ratification.

The latest provisions for imposing retrospective penalties in the form of Vehicle Excise Duties are but another example of a morally decrepit government punishing citizens for decisions they made in earlier years. Worse, by destroying at a stroke the second hand market for the vehicles it was desired to remove from our roads and highways, this inept government has forced those with fewer financial resources to continue operating, at higher cost, the gas guzzling vehicles for longer than might otherwise be the case, quite simply because the means of trading down to more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles has been removed!

HM Government has not only acted improperly, but exceedingly stupidly and inefficiently. So much for all its 'clever' ministers and advisers!

Our so called 'representative democracy' is simply not working or, if it is, not for the vast majority of citizens in England! Just what is the point of voting for these people?

There must be a wholesale clearout of the current crop of morally inadequate and greedy MPs which infests what is essentially the English Parliament. Voters in England must look long and hard at the contemptible candidates being offered up for election after being carefully selected by the Brownite and Cameronite cabals running the Labour and Conservative parties!

The hard reality is that, with few exceptions, none of them will truly represent England and the English and, if voters cannot find candidates they really wish to elect, they ensure that they avoid voting for any candidate from the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dems parties! Once the message is received that the English have had enough, a radical change in policy will be seen in each of those parties! Then the question will be: do we want any of them back?

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England not properly represented in Westminster!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:21:53 +0100

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The CEP's Mike Knowles has reacted to the latest manifestation of the Government's discrimination against England and the English by imposing measures not being applied elsewhere in Britain! Here is his Press Release:

CEP: Brown's restrictions on planning democracy in England carried with the votes of Scottish MPs

Friday, 27 Jun 2008 08:57

On Wednesday June 25th harsh restrictions on democracy in the treatment of planning applications in England, personally endorsed and promoted by Gordon Brown UK Prime Minister, were carried with the help of votes of Scotland 50 MPs of which he is one. Mr Brown is MP for Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath in Fifeshire. His government's new proposals, which he calls 'a reform of the planning laws' were carried by a majority of only 43 votes.They were opposed not just by rebel Labour English MPs, the Conservative Party and the Lib-Dem Party but also such organisations as the Friends of the Earth (FoE) and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE).

'This vote is yet another searing example of the way the 1998 devolution legislation devised and spearheaded by Gordon Brown treats England with flagrant injustice,' stated Michael Knowles National Council member and Head of the CEP Media Unit in a message circulated to all CEP members in England. 'That legislation provided a parliament for Mr Brown's own country and an assembly for Wales but nothing at all for England. That legislation enables Scotland's MPs to vote on every single measure which affects England while it denies to England's MPs any say at all in the legislation that the Scottish Parliament passes for Scotland. Scotland by virtue of the 1998 devolution measures is now 75% independent of the rest of the UK. England's MP's have no say at all in Scotland's planning matters. Yet Scotland's MPs were able yesterday to help vote through the most restrictive and anti-democratic planning legislation affecting England only in the whole of the post-war period.'

The CEP endorses the opposition to the new proposals made by the FoE and the CPRE. 'This planning bill is undemocratic, marginalises community voices and does nothing to tackle climate change,' has stated Hugh Ellis FoE planning campaigner. 'The new system removes the public's right and safeguards'' Mr Ellis stated. 'Instead unaccuntable commissioners will decide whether anyone can cross-examine, which witnesses are heard and whether there will be a public hearing for each planning decision.'

'Unlike Scotland with its own parliament and Wales with its assembly,' Michael Knowles wrote to the CEP membership, 'England has no voice of its own to defend its environment. For this government, and Mr Brown in particular, England is just a market place, a building site, an employment park, a trading estate, a huge shopping mall, a monumental car park. Nothing else. By means of the 1998 devolution which he drove through the UK parliament he got for his own Scotland a parliament which can fully protect its great and glorious enviironment about which all Scots can be justly proud and enjoy to the full, himself included. He does not treat his country as a mere trading estate like he treats England. The time has definitely come for England to have the same means of protection, its own parliament.'

Contacts:

Michael Knowles CEP Media Unit. Tel: 01260 271139. Email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk
Scilla Cullen CEP Chairman. Tel: 01438 833155. Email: scilla.cullen@thecep.org.

Brown's restrictions on planning democracy in England carried with the votes of Scottish MPs

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Haltemprice and Howden.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:30:44 +0100

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PRESS RELEASE - Haltemprice & Howden By-election - English Democrats' candidate

Re: Haltemprice & Howden By-election

The English Democrats are pleased to announce that Joanne Robinson has been nominated for the forthcoming by-election in Haltemprice and Howden, under the slogan "Putting England First!".

Joanne was born on 2^nd February 1957 in Hull. She has been married since 1977 to the same man! She has 6 ‘O’ Levels and 1 CSE. She has a HNC in Canine Behaviour and Training at Bishop Burton in 2004. After a variety of jobs, including Civil Servant, Joanne went into book-keeping specializing in petrol stations and was a sole proprietor from 1992 to 1998 at the Forth Service Station on Spring Bank. Since then Joanne has worked as a legal cashier, service station manager and for the last 3 years part-time Office Manager for an Event Management Company.

Politically, Joanne had been a Conservative voter but she became active in the Referendum Party. Joanne was the UKIP Parliamentary candidate in the General Election in 2001, when she got 945 votes. In 2003 Joanne was a UKIP local candidate but she became increasingly disappointed by UKIP’s leadership failure to capitalize on their momentum. Joanne now thinks that UKIP is “dead but not yet buried”, and that it is also insufficiently concerned about England, so she joined the English Democrats. Joanne stood for the English Democrats in 2007 in Tranby Ward in the local elections within this constituency and got 544 votes (18.82%) easily beating Labour and close to the Conservatives. Also this year, although there were no local elections within the constituency, the English Democrats stood in 4 adjoining wards, in Hull, and beat the Conservative candidates 3 out of 4 times.

Joanne says: “The English Democrats are offering a fresh start and reject the clich? ridden and spin politics of the past. We offer the politics of a common national identity and common values. Our politics are riddled with spin and political correctness, a vote for the English Democrats is a vote for honest and plain speaking”.

“There should be an immediate referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty. It is wholly wrong for Labour to try to impose this Treaty on us, contrary to their own specific manifesto commitment that there should be a referendum. The people of the Republic of Ireland have said NO ? WE WANT OUR SAY”.

“There should be free residential care for the elderly, as is available in Scotland. It is wrong that pensioners’ homes in England are being seized to pay for this”.

“We also demand access to all NHS drugs ? not a “postcode lottery”, which means that English patients cannot receive some expensive drugs which are freely available in Scotland.”

"There should be an end to the unjustified subsidies to other parts of the UK ? We want a fair system for all.”

“England can no longer sustain uncontrolled mass immigration. It should be stopped. It places an unacceptable strain on all our services. All previous governments have allowed this situation to get out of control”.

“The Government should seek to protect society and not the criminals”.

“There should be an English Parliament, with an English Prime Minister and Government with at least the same powers as the Scottish ones”.

Joanne also says: “The voters of Haltemprice and Howden have the chance to send a clear message to the government and the rest of the stale political Establishment that the people of England are no longer prepared to be treated as second class citizens within the UK. Let us put England’s interests first”.

Robin Tilbrook, Chairman of the English Democrats, said: “I am delighted to welcome Joanne’s nomination. It is a clear sign of the speed with which the English Democrats are growing. Even Labour’s Derek Wyatt MP a few days ago said, at Westminster, (on the 18^th June) “..I am convinced that standing still is not an option. The present arrangements are producing growing resentment all over the United Kingdom, particularly in England..”.

Robin Tilbrook also said that: “A vote for Joanne and the English Democrats is a positive vote for the people of Haltemprice and Howden. It is a vote for ENGLAND and for an English Parliament, First Minister and Government for England”.

For further information, or a photograph of Joanne, contact

Robin Tilbrook

Chairman

English Democrats

Quires Green, Willingale, Ongar, Essex, CM5 0QP

Tel: 01277 896000

Fax: 01277 896050

Mobile: 07778 553395

www.englishdemocrats.org.uk

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HALF OF POLES IN THE UK DON'T WORK

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:30:52 +0100

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DAILY STAR

HALF OF POLES IN THE UK DON'T WORK

26th June 2008

By TOM HUTCHISON

MORE than half of the 800,000 Polish immigrants in Britain [ie England] do not work or pay taxes.

Half a million Poles living here [in England] are dependants, such as children, wives and grandparents, who are being kept, often on state handouts. Many are using British [England's] services like schools and doctors’ surgeries without paying into the system. And the huge number of Poles bringing their whole families into Britain [ie England] to start a new life is rising at its fastest ever rate, according to a survey in Poland.

Polish dependents.

As they get used to our way of life [in England] they are becoming more aware of the benefits on offer like maternity grants, child benefit, child tax credits and education grants. “We’ve noted a marked change in the nature of Polish emigration to Britain,” said Professor Krystyna Iglicka of Warsaw’s Centre for International Relations. “Before it was mostly adults ? now whole families are leaving. “A lot of families sent one parent out first, normally the father, to test the ground. These people now feel established and able to support their families.”

Migrant parents are claiming £33million a year in child benefits to look after their kids in Britain. [in England, very few go elsewhere!]

EU rules mean citizens of other member states who work here can cash in on our child welfare system for their dependants. A Polish father with three children can claim nearly £45 a week, sometimes without the youngsters ever even entering Britain. [England]

Handouts have soared 72% in the last year alone and the bulk of the claims are made by Poles. Nearly 36,000 Polish youngsters receive the UK allowance.

So many people have left the Eastern European country that government leaders have pleaded with them to return home to solve a growing labour shortage, but with limited success.

Poland’s embassy in London [England] confirmed that 300,000 Poles are listed on Britain’s Worker’s Registration Scheme. The embassy itself believes there are around 800,000 Poles living in Britain.[Predominantly in England!]

HALF OF POLES IN THE UK DON'T WORK

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English Democrats pick up the gauntlet in Haltemprice!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:18:41 +0100

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HALTEMPRICE & HOWDEN

Press Release

The English Democrats have formally selected Joanne Robinson for the forthcoming by-election in Haltemprice and Howden.

The English Democrats are offering a fresh start and reject the clich? ridden and spin politics of the past. We offer the politics of a common national identity and common values. There should be an immediate referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty. It is wholly wrong for Labour to try and impose this treaty on us, contrary to their own specific manifesto commitment to hold areferendum. The people of the Republic of Ireland have said NO ? WE WANT OUR SAY.

There should be free residential care for the elderly, as is available in Scotland. It is wrong that pensioners’ homes in England are being seized to pay for this. Free access to all NHS drugs ? not a postcode lottery. The unjustified subsidies to other parts of the UK ? We want a fair system for all.

Our politics are riddled with spin and political correctness, a vote for the English Democrats is a vote for honest and plain speaking. We should protect society and not the criminals.

There should be an English Parliament, with an English Prime Minister to put England on an equal footing with Scotland and Wales. We believe in an English Parliament within a federal UK working alongside the parliaments and assemblies of the other UK countries.

The country can no longer sustain uncontrolled mass immigration. It should be stopped. It places an unacceptable strain on all our services. All previous governments have allowed this to happen.

The voters of Haltemprice and Howden have a wonderful opportunity and the chance to send a clear message to the government and the rest of the stale political establishment that the people of England are no longer prepared to be treated as second class citizens within the UK.

Let us put England’s interests first. A vote for Joanne and the English Democrats is a positive vote for the people of Haltemprice and Howden. It is a vote for ENGLAND and an English Parliament.

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EU Parliament in denial

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:25:45 +0100

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Here is additional evidence that the EU juggernaut will roll over the Irish people's verdict and, in denial of the deceptive notion that all member states must ratify the Lisbon Treaty, will impose it by weight of numbers not of the EU citizens voting in favour but that of their unrepresentative parliamentarians!

EU in denial about the Irish 'No'!