Archive for Letters

Global warming alarmism from 89 years ago

September 15, 2011 Climate Change, Letters 2 comments

There was an excellent letter in the Shropshire Star (£) last night about the global warming scam …

The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen, Norway.

Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone.

Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.

Soundings to a depth of 3,100 metres showed the gulf stream still very warm.

Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.

Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.

Within a few years it is predicted that, due to the ice melt, the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.

This report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post 89 years ago.

A J Astley
Ellesmere

The “experts” knew 89 years ago that this was happening.  35 years ago they knew that we were heading for another ice age.  Now they know what they knew 89 years ago.  Except NASA and some other American state scientific department whose name I can’t recall at the moment recently warned we are about to enter a cooling period because of a decline in the output of the sun.  Not to mention that the hockey stick graph has been shown to be a complete fiction and that global temperatures have been declining, not increasing.

The “scientists” didn’t have a clue what was happening to the climate 89 years ago, didn’t have a clue 35 years ago and haven’t got a clue today.  When “science” fails you should turn to history – the climate has changed naturally for millennia and will continue to do so until the sun goes supernova and swallows the whole planet.

Letters in the Shropshire Star

July 30, 2011 Letters, UKIP 7 comments

Here are some letters I’ve had printed in the Shropshire Star recently (italics are bits they edited out before printing) …

English are not to blame for turbines

For the last few weeks there have been a couple of letters a week complaining about the proposed new wind turbines to be erected in Wales “for the English”. The suggestion is that windmills shouldn’t be built in Wales for the benefit of “the English” and that “the English” shouldn’t have any input in planning decisions concerning them.

Not long ago, we had public consultations on the proposed reconfiguring of services at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital. Of the seven consultations held, three were in Wales and the Shropshire Star letters page was full of letters from “the Welsh” complaining about how the proposed changes would be to their detriment.

Talk about double standards. I agree that wind turbines are a blight on the landscape and certainly wouldn’t want them in my back yard. It’s a shame so many of them blight the Welsh landscape as well but if “the Welsh” want someone to blame, it’s not “the English”, it’s their own government.

The Welsh Assembly is committed to onshore wind farms and it is the Welsh Assembly that makes strategic planning decisions in Wales. It’s not “the English” they should be complaining to, it’s “the Welsh”.

Wind turbines are the most inefficient and expensive form of renewable electricity, requiring vast amounts of taxpayers money to make them financially viable for the operators. Windmills are so expensive and ineffectual that operators can’t make back the cost of building and running them before they reach the end of their life.

We should all oppose the construction of windmills not for their unsightliness or because they’re being built to power another country but because they are a gross waste of taxpayers money and the justification for building them – global warming – is nothing more than a scam. Even NASA is predicting a period of global cooling because of a decline in sunspot activity (something the “scientists” who make millions from the global warming scam claim has no significant impact on the climate).

Councillor Stuart Parr
UKIP
Brookside

We must not deny the right to protest

I read with disbelief that Councillor Mike Ion is calling for the Home Secretary to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League in Wellington on the day of AFC Telford United’s first match of the season.

Here is a man who apparently cares so deeply about democracy that he went to the effort and expense of standing for election to the council but then starts a campaign to deny EDL members their right to peaceful protest – one of the cornerstones of modern democracy!

The 19th century author, Evelyn Hall, wrote “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. We may not agree with the EDL but that is not an excuse to deny them their rights.

Mike Ion and the other Labour councillors that are supporting his fascist campaign should hang their heads in shame. I believe in free speech and democracy and that sometimes means having to hear and accept things that you don’t agree with. Banning people from expressing contrary views is something you associate with repressive regimes in places like China or Burma, not England.

The EDL should be allowed to hold a peaceful protest in Wellington and if Unite Against Fascism wish to hold a peaceful counter-protest then of course they should be free to do the same. Personally, I despise the UAF thugs that drag these protest marches into violence but I certainly wouldn’t want them to be banned from protesting.

If Councillor Ion is successful in banning the EDL from marching in Telford not because of a risk of serious public disorder but because he disagrees with them, this will set a dangerous precedent. Who would be next? Would I be banned from criticising the EU because my views are contrary to those of the LibLabCon?

I would urge anyone who opposes the EDL to simply ignore them on the day rather than support an undemocratic, unconstitutional ban on their right to peaceful protest.

Councillor Stuart Parr
UKIP
Brookside

Dismayed by figures on child poverty

Like Councillor Davies (21/06), I am dismayed by the child poverty figures produced by the “End Child Poverty” campaign.

In my ward (Brookside) the figures show that 38% of children are living in poverty.

I disagree to some extent with the methodology the group uses. Poverty is defined by the group as a household income of 60% less than UK middle income of almost £26,000 but an average middle income in Telford is around £19,000.  Rent/mortgage payments are taken off household income even though most households with an income of just £10,000 would receive housing benefit.  The figures are also “adjusted” in an unspecified way as the only available data is 3 years old.

That doesn’t mean the figures don’t have any value – they may not be an accurate measure of poverty in Telford & Wrekin but they are a useful indicator of relative poverty in the borough and the fact that Brookside is in the top 5 most deprived wards in Telford & Wrekin only makes the borough council’s refusal to press ahead with much-needed generation on our estate all the more indefinsible.

The best way to tackle poverty is not with handouts but with jobs and support.  Brookside desperately needs some serious investment to create jobs and provide support to people who want to get off benefits and start working.

With the latest announcement of funding from the borough council, Woodside will have had £70m spent on regeneration whilst Brookside has had nothing – in fact, £2m of the £4m set aside for regeneration for Brookside was pillaged by the previous administration to pay for regeneration in Sutton Hill!

The owners of the businesses in the Brookside local centre have done their best to make the precinct more appealing to residents but with an open-ended promise of regeneration they aren’t going to make any serious investment when the whole thing could be knocked down within a couple of years.  We need a commitment to regeneration from the borough council with timelines so the residents of Brookside can hold the council to account if it doesn’t happen and so that those people that want to invest in Brookside can make plans for the future.

Cllr Stuart Parr (UKIP)
Brookside

Electorate following habits of parents

David Burton is incorrect in his response to Simon Rogers’ letter claiming last year’s general election was a referendum on our membership of the EU.

The general election was no more a referendum on the EU or UKIP than it was on foreign policy, the environment, devolution or any other subject that motivates the electorate at any other time.

Generations of voters have put their cross next to one of the europhile parties for no other reason than their parents voted for Labour, the Lib Dems or the Conservatives and last year they did exactly the same thing.

The vast majority of people want to free our country from the tyranny of the European Empire but the British government won’t listen.

The electorate are lied to, conned and stolen from by politicians from the LibLabcon but most people still vote for them.

Why would they listen if they know they can rely on the votes of people they cheat and deceive?  Kick them in the ballot box and they might start listening.

And while I’m on the subject of elections, can I remind the Shropshire Star that the Lib Dem, Liz Lynne, is not “the MEP for Shropshire” as she is routinely described?

She is just one of six MEPs – three Conservative, two UKIP and one Lib Dem – elected in the West Midlands euroregion in 2009.  None of the West Midlands MEPs (including Liz Lynee who is based in Stratford-upon-Avon) is based in the county which shows what a farce the EU’s regionalisation of England is.

Councillor Stuart Parr
(UKIP)
Brookside

Letters in Shropshire Star

October 7, 2009 Health, Letters One comment

I had a letter published in the Shropshire Star the other day:

Easy way of saving NHS cash in England

With all the talk of cutting services at the Princess Royal Hospital, it is worth bearing in mind a few things.  Firstly, the English NHS has been underspending for the last few years by a considerable amount.

Spending on the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish NHS has increased considerably.  Secondly, the Welsh government refuses to pay the going rate to English hospitals for treating Welsh patients – something that costs the NHS in Shropshire approximately £2m per year.

Thirdly, the Welsh are terrible payers – Oswestry hospital threatened to refuse to treate patients from Powys earlier this year because they wouldn’t pay their bills.  A hospital in Bristol actually went as far as cancelling surgery for Welsh patients this year for the same reason.

The Welsh get free prescriptions and free hospital car parking yet we in England still subsidise their health service thanks to the Barnett Formula.

Why do our MPs allow £20bn a year flow over the border to subsidise spending in the rest of the UK?  Shropshire’s hospitals could raise well over £2m a year by charging Welsh health boards the amount for treating their patients and penalising for overdue payments.

Stuart Parr
Telford

Tonight they printed a reply from another reader …

Rules for English are unfair

I agree with Stuart Parr’s letter (Shropshire Star, October 2).  We English are very unfairly treated under the Barnett formula to the advantage of the other countries in the so-called United Kingdom.

Over the last few years this has become the “dis-united kingdom”.  He asks why our MPs allow this disparity and all I can do is point out again that our Government is heavily Scottish-dominated.  The other countries in the UK all have their own assemblies, but not the English.

The Scottish-dominated government will not even stop the Scottish, Welsh and Ulster MPs from voting on English-only matters in Westminster.

All this is very unfair to the English and even Barnett has stated so, but with the majority of English MPs being Conservative our current government is not going to change anything,

We can only hope to achieve parity after the next election and have our own parliament, or better still get rid of the other money-wasting and expense claiming assemblies.

Graham Burns
Newport

Agree with every word right up until the second half of the last sentence.

Shropshire Star: It’s not too late to hear out English nationalists

September 18, 2009 Letters No comments

It’s been a while since I wrote a letter to the Shropshire Star. This one was published in tonight’s Shropshire Star …

It’s not too late to hear out English nationalists

It’s a little late for John Denham to be worrying about the emergence of white supremacists in England when he has served in a British government that has deliberately ignored moderate English nationalists for the last decade.

The effect of which has been the emergence of groups like the English and Welsh Defence League.

I have no interest in ethnic nationalism. But I really must point out that independent observers have said that the violence at the English and Welsh Defence League protests in Birmingham has been largely instigated by the thugs from Unite Against Fascism.

If the Government had spent the decade listening to the reasonable demands of ordinary people who want equal rights for English people instead of marginalising them, there would be no reason for white supremacist groups to exist.

We would have an English Parliament and English politicians elected by English people defending English interests, instead of anglophobic British nationalists at Westminster treating us like serfs.

John Denham and his colleagues have only themselves to blame for the emergence of racists like the English and Welsh Defence League because they are a product of their anti-English policies.

It’s not too late for the Government to engage with moderate English nationalists like the Campaign for an English Parliament and promote an inclusive English civic nationalism, but I suspect they will be too busy navel gazing to realise it.

Stuart Parr
Telford

Shropshire Star: Equality for men?

May 3, 2009 Letters 5 comments

I had this letter in the Shropshire Star the other night …

Equality for men?

David Wright MP has endorsed Harriet Harman’s proposed new equalities bill (Shropshire Star, April 28).

His endorsement would be more convincing if half of it hadn’t been copied word for word from Harriet Harman’s own speech on the bill.

Equality is obviously very important to David Wright so I’m sure he will be calling on Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women & Equality, to explain why there is no Minister for Men and why the three Ministers for Equality are all women.

Stuart Parr
Brookside

Do you know what, something tells me he won’t.

I can’t find his letter – the paper it was in was collected with the recycling in the week – but the press release it was copied from is on his website.  Here’s David Wright’s comment …

I believe in equality for people in Telford. I have supported the Government’s action such as challenging disability discrimination and outlawing age discrimination at work.

“It is a scandal that decades after the Equal Pay Act, women still get paid less than men for doing the same job. Industry has had long enough to sort this out and doesn’t have a leg to stand on complaining about the Government forcing companies to treat women fairly.

“This Bill is about fairness. It is about all people in our community getting fair treatment. So in Telford it might mean making sure there are extra park benches in local parks so older people can enjoy public spaces and providing play areas for younger people so that they can make the most of our parks. I welcome this and I will support it.”

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, said:
“The Equality Bill is part of building a strong fair future for Britain out of the downturn. That means fairness and opportunity. Especially in tougher economic times, we need to face the problems fairly and we need to look for a fairer future.

“Though we have ensured new rights and opportunities for people with disabilities, for women, black and Asian people and older people – there is still unfairness and discrimination to tackle. And this Bill will take the action necessary to tackle it.

Isn’t he a good little socialist?  Those nasty big businesses making money and paying their taxes (apart from the Liebour-supporting socialist rag, the Guardian which gets a tax rebate on it’s multi-million pound profits) so that we can pay his £63k salary and £155k expenses.  Come the revolution, Comrade Wright will be rewarded generously for his loyalty to the party.

Technorati Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Shropshire Star: England is denied EU aid benefit by Labour

February 8, 2009 Federal Europe, Letters No comments

This excellent letter appeared in the Shropshire Star on Saturday:

England is denied EU aid benefit by Labour

The Labour Government is denying England a windfall from the European Union yet it is making sure that Wales, Scotland and Ulster benefit.

The fall in the value of the pound has increased the value of euro-denominated EU grants by a fifth and the European Commission has offered a six-month extension to its December 2008 deadline to all countries for unused funds as part of a 200 billion euro (£178 billion) economic stimulus package.

Labour took up the option for Scotland, Wales and Ulster, but rejected it for England. Only recently Brown and his ministers held their cabinet meeting in Liverpool to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Merseyside in the midst of the recession.

However, in 1989 he signed the Scottish Claim of Right, in which he pledged “to make the interests of Scotland paramount” in everything he said and did.

As Prime Minister we rightly expect him to show and even-handed attitude towards all the nations of the UK.

Anyone who feels angry at this anti-English action might consider joining the Campaign for an English Parliament. Our number is 07071 220234, which is not a mobile number. Our website address is http://www.thecep.org.uk/wordpress/

While Wales and Ulster have their own assemblies and Scotland has its own parliament, England has no such parliament or assembly. Labour cares for the UK’s Celtic nations, while treating England with contempt.

Derek Armstrong
CEP Member
Shropshire Branch

Derek has set the bar high – not only did he get across a very valid point on the blatant discrimination the English suffer at the hands of the British government, he also got the CEP phone number and website address in the letter as well!

Technorati Technorati Tags: , ,

Three different letters, three different papers!

October 17, 2008 Economy, England, Funny, Letters, Scotland 26 comments

Well, what a bumper day this has been for letters.

First of all there’s this one in the Shropshire Star, in response to the council announcing that they’re going to put in average speed cameras on one of the safest roads, relatively speaking, in the borough:

Average speed trap not fair for motorists

Councillor Bentley wants average speed cameras for the A442 in Telford because they’re “fairer for motorists”? Fairer than what? There’s aren’t any speed cameras on the A442 in Telford and these new ones aren’t designed to be fair, they’re designed to catch more motorists than traditional speed cameras.

Will these speed cameras catch drivers that crawl down the outside lane at 40mph causing tailbacks and preventing other drivers from safely moving between lanes? Will it catch the drivers who undertake on cross-hatches?

Will it catch drivers who veer across from the outside lane at the last minute to exit the road? Will it catch drink drivers, erratic drivers, people weaving between lanes and cutting people up?

Like most drivers I sometimes break the speed limit and like most drivers I manage to do it without mowing down pedestrians or driving into other cars. The fact is, Telford & Wrekin Council changed the layout and speed limit of the A442 and made it more dangerous.

The number of accidents is down but the number of casualties is up which means that since they “improved” the road, the average accident is more serious and involves more people. Yet despite the best efforts of Telford & Wrekin Council, the A442 is still one of the safest roads of its type in the country.

Rather than install speed cameras at great expense to Telford taxpayers, the council should accept the fact that they made the A442 more dangerous by changing the lanes and reducing the speed limit and put it back to how it was a couple of years ago, complete with the 70mph speed limit.

Stuart Parr
Telford

Then there was this deliberately provocative letter in the Scotsman, in response to all the whinging letters about “Scottish banks being given to the English”:

If RBS and HBOS are Scottish banks and your average man on the street in Edinburgh is furious at losing “oor banks” to the English, can I respectfully suggest Scotland bails its own banks out?

It seems that when Scottish banks fail, the English end up paying to bail them out. It started with Darien and now the lion’s share of the £37 billion has gone to two Scottish banks.

We pay for your free prescriptions, your cancer treatments, and your free school meals and we pay to care for your elderly when they can’t look after themselves – all the things we supposedly can’t afford for ourselves. And what do we get in return? Anti-English bile and insulting, spurious claims that the Scottish oil industry, which English taxes paid for, even comes close to plugging the funding gap north of the Border.

If you want Scottish banks to remain Scottish then bail them out yourselves. If you don’t like the idea of relying on English money all the time, don’t take it. It’s not rocket science.

Stuart Parr
Telford, Shropshire

Finally, there’s this cheeky one in the First Post in response to some muppet who thinks the deputy editor of Prospect Magazine will be responsible for the Scots leaving the union because he upset them with an article about RBS:

Either Dave Bowen (above) has been on a really long holiday without access to news for the last decade or so or there is another country called Scotland that I was hitherto unaware of.

He says that if Scotland leaves the union then it will be because of “opinionated bigots” like Jonathan Ford. I wasn’t aware that Mr Ford had had such a long and illustrious career writing magazine articles dating back to 1934 when the seperatist Scottish National Party was launched.

I think that perhaps a generic dislike of the English and never buying into the whole “British” thing might have more to do with the Scots’ desire to leave the union. That and the belief that a few thousand barrels of oil will make Scotland the richest country this side of Saudi Arabia despite the gaping budget deficit the English plug every year.

And I did have a litle chuckle to myself when Mr Bowen said he wasn’t aware that being Scottish meant that you were automatically unsuitable for running anything more important than a chippy. If Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and the chief execs of HBOS and RBS are anything to go by then a chippy is probably asking a bit too much of them!

Stuart Parr

They should get a few people worked up. 🙂

Technorati Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Shropshire Star: Kind of PM to think of England

October 1, 2008 Health, Letters No comments

The following letter was published in tonight’s Shropshire Star. Unfortunately, whilst editing it they took out “in England” from the end of the first line which makes the whole letter ambiguous.

Kind of PM to think of England

How kind of Gordon Brown, the MP for Kikcaldy and Cowdenbeath in Scotland, to find some loose change down the back of the sofa to pay for free prescriptions for cancer patients.

I remember when my own mother was recovering from cancer the last thing she needed was the worry of how to pay for prescriptions when she was unable to work.

However, when considering Mr Brown’s generosity, it should be remembered that in Wales nobody has paid for a prescription for nearly two years now.

And any of Gordon Brown’s constituents in Scotland suffering from long-term of permanent illnesses haven’t paid for prescriptions for some time. Already 92 per cent of prescriptions dispensed in Scotland are free of charge.

Stuart Parr
Telford

Shropshire Star: New flag pointless

September 12, 2008 Letters No comments

This was published in the Shropshire Star last night, rather amateurishly edited:

New flag pointless

It’s a shame readers have been unable to see John Yates’s [sic] proposed new British flag. Mr Yates has spent 30 years agonising over the exclusion from Wales that he hasn’t noticed most Welsh people don’t consider themselves British any more.

Redesigning the flag when the union is unlikely to see out the next decade is a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Technorati Technorati Tags: , ,

Shropshire Star: Why can’t we all just be Brits?

August 14, 2008 Letters, Sport 6 comments

This letter was in the Shropshire Star last night.  The title wasn’t my idea …

Why can’t we all just be Brits

Great Britain won its first gold medal of the Olympics on Sunday.  The BBC were beside themselves and delighted in telling the world that the medal winner was Welsh and it was the first Welsh Olympic medal since 1972.

Fast forward one day and two more medals have been won … by “Britons”.  These “Britons” were English but there was no mention of this on the BBC – on the BBC, English means British.

The BBC may be the worst culprit but it’s not just them that do this – on the back page of the Shropshire Star on Monday the Olympic coverage refers to the two English medal winners and British and Andy Murray as a Scot.

Is it too much to ask for some consistency?

Stuart Parr
Telford

Technorati Technorati Tags: ,

Shropshire Star: Labour is still not listening

August 2, 2008 Labour, Letters No comments

This is in tonight’s Shropshire Star …

Labour is still not listening

So, Labour has lost yet another election – Glasgow East, next to Gordon Brown’s constituency.  Just like after losing the election in Crewe and Nantwich, ministers trotted out the “we need to listen to the people” line and claimed they were just victims of circumstance – the price of fuel, the credit crunch, etc.

Now where have I heard that before?  Oh yes, after they lost the London mayoral elections.  Labour does not listen to “the people”.

I hear more from Bob Spink (UKIP, Castle Point) and Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham) than I do from David Wright, my own Labour MP.

Labour MPs thought they could rely on Scottish votes to keep them in power in England, now they’ve lost control of the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and come the next election they will lose control of Westminster.  I won’t be sad to see the back of the most anti-English government we’ve ever seen.

Stuart Parr
Telford

Technorati Technorati Tags: , , ,

Shropshire Star: Claims on climate an excuse for tax rises

May 31, 2008 Climate Change, Letters, Propaganda No comments

Looks like the green lobby haven’t managed to bully the Shropshire Star into closing down the climate change debate yet …

Every week there seems to be another report by a scientist of some description which is proclaimed as “further evidence” of climate change.

There is no doubt that climate change is happening, it’s been happening for millions of years and will continue to happen long after the human race has bombed itself to extinction.

In March Dr David Vaughan, the lead author of the IPPC report on climate change, told the worlds media that the Wilkins Ice Shelf “hangs by a thread” and was about to collapse.  The Wilkins Ice Shelf had, in fact, already collapsed 10 years ago.

This is used as “evidence” that human activity is causing climate change and calling for increased taxation. [1]

In April scientists from Lancaster University claimed that there is no link between solar activity and climate change.  The BBC described this as “further compelling evidence” despite there being an abundance of data showing a clear link between the two.

Lancaster University used 20 years worth of data to “prove” that there is no link between solar activity and climate change events that take place over millions of years. [2]

In May, German scientists announced that we wouldn’t see any global warming for the next decade.  In fact, they have concluded that we will see global colling followed by a period of warming caused by what they called “natural climate cycles”. [3]

I am old enough to remember the doom-laden prophecies of an impending ice age right up until about 15 years ago.  Now the same data has apparently convinced todays scientists that the opposite is going to happen.

Climate change is nothing more to the British government than an excuse to increase taxes.  If it was anything but an excuse to put up taxes then it would be DEFRA commissioning reports and forming climate policy, not the Treasury!

It’s time to apply some common sense to the climate change debate (not that much debate is allowed any more) before the economy is fatally damaged on a false premise.

Stuart Parr

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7313264.stm (Antarctic shelf ‘hangs by a thread’)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/24/ice_shelf_collapse/ (Global warming cleared on ice shelf collapse rap)

[2] http://media.kusi.clickability.com/images/gwimage3.jpg
http://www.realclimate.org/images/SW2006b.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/~sstaff/images/craytemp.jpg
http://www.news2wkrn.com/jeff/Droughtlook-dr2-FMA-06.GIF

[3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7376301.stm (Next decade ‘may see no warming’)

Technorati Technorati Tags: , , ,

Shropshire Star: Pensioners in England missing out

April 17, 2008 Letters No comments

This was in tonight’s Shropshire Star …

Pensioners in England missing out

On April 1 a new scheme came into force to allow pensioners to have free off-peak travel around England. Previously they were entitled to only off-peak travel within their local authority.

Pensioners in Scotland and Wales have been entitled to free public transport at any time in their own country for years. In Northern Ireland they get free transport in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

English pensioners don’t have the same rights as Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish pensioners because there is no English government for English people.

Technorati Technorati Tags: ,

Letter: Shropshire Star

April 5, 2008 Britishness, England, Letters 7 comments

This has been printed in the Shropshire Star …

Who does Gordon Brown think he is trying to make public buildings in England fly the British flag?

Which flag flies from public buildings in his constituency in Scotland?  Certainly not the “butchers apron”.

The Prime Minister is currently in his own country supporting the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (there’s isn’t an English Labour Party of course) at their spring gathering.  She intends to lead Labour to victory in the Scottish Parliament – the Parliament that Gordon Brown helped to create in 1997 and the English equivalent of which he actively conspires to deny us.

There are only a handful of buildings in Scotland that Gordon Brown can force to fly the British flag because most public buildings are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.  However, in England he can – and will – force public buildings to fly whatever flag he chooses to drape himself in to try and cover up the fact he has no mandate in England.

I live in England and I fly the English flag all year round.  I no longer consider myself British at all – the British nationalist Labour Party have demonstrated quite clearly that it is only the Celts that matter in this union, not the English.

When the Conservatives took control of Telford & Wrekin Council they replaced the flag of the EU with the English flag.  I hope the take advantage of the new relaxed flag flying rules to remove the British flag and replace it with our own national flag, the Cross of St George.

Stuart Parr
Shropshire Branch
Campaign for an English Parliament

Technorati Technorati Tags: , ,

Shropshire Star: English lose out in funding of health

March 31, 2008 England, Health, Letters One comment

English lose out in funding of health

Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust, has confirmed what the Shropshire branch of the Campaign for an English Parliament has been saying for the last couple of years: Treating Welsh patients in Shropshire hospitals is costing millions of pounds that could be spent on the treatment of English patients.

Mr Taylor says that treating Welsh patients in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford is costing the trust £2 million per year because of differences in funding and targets.

The Campaign for an English Parliament doesn’t have a problem with Welsh patients being treated in English hospitals, but the NHS trusts involved have a responsibility to ensure that in treating patients from another country they don’t compromise the treatment of patients living in England.

It isn’t unreasonable to expect the Welsh government to pay the going rate for medical treatment in England, especially when in some cases they are entitled to medication in English hospitals that English patients aren’t allowed.

Mr Taylor said that it would be much easier for the trust if the “English Parliament” made Wales pay the going rate.

The fact that Mr Taylor believes there is an “English Parliament” or a “Government in England” to represent English interests when England hasn’t had a government for more than 300 years shows a disturbing lack of understanding.

Stuart Parr, Shropshire Branch Campaign for an English Parliament

Technorati Technorati Tags: , , ,

Shropshire Star: MPs ought to pay for EU treaty treachery

March 20, 2008 Federal Europe, Letters, Traitors No comments

The following letter appeared (very belatedly) in the Shropshire Star last night:

MPs ought to pay for EU treaty treachery

MPs vote not to give us a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty by 311 to 248, this is despite all three main parties promising a referendum.

Labour and the Lib Dems both claim that the EU Reform Treaty and EU constitution are different enough not to warrant a referendum – this is an outright lie.

The EU Reform Treaty produces the same end result as the constitution except references to the flag and anthem of the EU are moved to an appendix which is voluntary.

The constitution replaced existing treaties, the EU Reform Treaty amends them. The payload is the same, it is the method of delivery that is different.

A private referendum by iwar.png showed that 88 per cent of the electorate wants a referendum on the treaty. David Wright and all the other (mostly Labour) MPs who voted against a referendum did so in the full knowledge they were going against the wishes of their constitutents.

I will do everything I can to ensure that David Wright loses his seat at the next election for his treachery.

Stuart Parr
Telford

Technorati Technorati Tags: , ,

Shropshire Star: MPs didn’t have long to prepare for EU vote

February 6, 2008 Federal Europe, Letters, Traitors No comments

From last night’s Shropshire Star … 

MPs didn’t have long to prepare for EU vote 

MPs voted to give the EU not-a-constitution a second reading in a vote on Monday evening.  As sad as I may sound, I sat up and watched the debate and the vote on BBC Parliament.

MPs received the consolidated version of the bill they were voting on 4 hours before the debate started – not long enough to digest the hundreds of pages of text or understand the impact of what they were voting on.

However, rather than spend the next couple of hours in Parliament debating the bill with their colleagues, all but around 20 MPs decided they had something better to do with their time and the debating chamber was virtually empty.

Shortly before 10pm, MPs trickled in for the vote and in the end 586 MPs voted to give the EU not-a-constitution a second reading despite the fact that none of them had time to read what they were voting on and most of them didn’t bother to turn up to hear the arguments for or against.

The four Conservative MPs in Shropshire voted against the bill and David Wright, the only Labour MP left in the county, voted in favour of it.  Only Daniel Kawczynski bothered to turn up to the debate.

The EU not-a-constitution will be a disaster for England and as one MP commented, “this is the last treaty we will see before Parliament because this treaty is self-amending”.  The EU not-a-constitution represents a massive and irreversible transfer of sovereignty to Brussels and no MP with the interests of their country at heart would ever vote for such a thing.

Stuart Parr
Brookside

Technorati Technorati Tags: , ,

Jerusalem is anthem the English want

January 16, 2008 Letters 3 comments

Edited to within an inch of its life but published in the Southern Daily Echo … 

I DISAGREE with Teresa Rumsey and Proud Englishman over adopting Land of Hope and Glory as an unofficial English national anthem (Letters, December 20 and January 5). Land of Hope and Glory is a British royal anthem.

I wonder how many are aware that British flags are handed out at the proms to ensure that more British flags can be seen than English, Scottish and Welsh flags? Even the Britishness is artificially created.

Out of 1,256 visitors who voted in a poll on the website anthem4england.co.uk, 36 per cent voted for Jerusalem. Only 20 per cent voted for Land of Hope and Glory and a mere eight per cent for God Save the Queen.

The England cricket team have adopted Jerusalem as their anthem and it is played before most England international rugby and football matches.

STUART PARR, Telford, Shropshire

Technorati Technorati Tags: ,

Shropshire Star: The root of the problem should be addressed

January 8, 2008 Letters No comments

This was in tonight’s Shropshire Star … 

The root of the problem should be addressed

Daniel Kawczynski is right to be concerned about the funding of schools in Shropshire but fails to address the root cause of the problem.

On the 11th December in Parliament he said “Coleham primary school in Shrewsbury receives, on average, £711 less per pupil than the national average”.  Is this £711 less than the English national average or the UK national average?

English schools are already at a disadvantage because the British government doesn’t spend as much on education in England as the Scottish Parliament does north of the border.  The Scottish Parliament can afford to spend more because of the £11.3bn annual subsidy it gets from the English taxpayer under the Barnett Formula.

What the Scottish Parliament has done for Scotland in the last few years has shown the indisputable benefit of having a devolved national government – something a succession of Scottish ministers (including Gordon Brown) have continued to deny to the English.

Gordon Brown promised to make health and education his priority when he was appointed as Prime Minister.  Not only is he doing a terrible job of it but he has nothing to do with health and education in Scotland where he was elected because it’s the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

If Mr Kawczynski wants to solve the problem of poor education funding he should first address the cause of this and many other problems in England – the lack of an English Parliament.

Stuart Parr
Campaign for an English Parliament

Technorati Technorati Tags:

Evesham Observer: Debate over WW2 continues

November 1, 2007 Federal Europe, Letters One comment

This was in the Evesham Observer last night (thanks to Dunc for the heads up) …

[quote]DAVID Bridgewater should check his facts (Observer letters last week).
The “generous support” from the Americans following the Second World War came in the form of a loan which the English taxpayer finally finished paying at the end of last year.

If the billions it was costing us to stay part of the United States of Europe was in the form of an interest bearing loan we would be looking forward to hundreds of millions of pounds a year in interest and loan repayments. We certainly wouldn’t have to worry about the £4bn deficit in the NHS bricks and mortar budget that’s just been announced – a couple of years worth of repayments would pay for that!

Mr Bridgewater might be happy to hand over billions of pounds to prop up the bankrupt economies of our masters on the continent but he is the exception, not the rule. The claim that the EU has brought peace to the continent is proven by recent history to be completely inaccurate. How many millions were killed in the Balkans? How many millions are still being killed in Georgia which is in the middle of the world’s quietist civil war? It wasn’t all that long ago that the UK had to send warships into the North Sea to protect our fishermen from Iceland.

The EU is a sham and we are better off out of it.

Stuart Parr (no relation to Stan!)
Brookside
Telford[/quote]

Technorati Technorati Tags: ,

« Older Entries