Tuesday, February 26, 2008

St Georges Day Concert

Despite the borough ignoring St Georges Day, Hadley Parish Council are holding a St Georges Day concert.

Details are as follows:

Hadley Methodist Church, 7.30pm, Saturday, 26th April.

Featuring:
Shropshire Male Chorus,(formerly GKN Sankey MVC)
Wrekin & Telford Choral Society
Brass Roots
Michael Davey (Organ)

Among the dignatories will be
The Mayor of Telford & Wrekin (Councillor Miles Hoskins)
The Mayor of Wellington (Councillor Denis Allen)
Mr. Mark Pritchard M.P. who will give a very short talk on St. George
A representative of Hadley & Leegomery Parish Council

The evening will open with the National Anthem and conclude at approx. 9.30pm with Jerusalem.

Tickets £4.00, or 3 for £10.00
Free Programme

This event is growing in popularity and tickets will be available on the door. Pre-booking can be arranged by telephoning Pat Smart on 01952 254809

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Telford won't be marking St Georges Day

Telford & Wrekin have confirmed that they will not be marking St Georges Day again this year.

I spoke to them today to find out what they were planning after hearing a couple of councillors at the recent Telford & Wrekin Question Time event saying how pleased they were to be marking Chinese New Year and Holocaust Day assuming, somewhat naïvely, that they would be extending the same courtesy to the 95 or so percent of the population of the borough that's English.

But no, there will be no borough-wide events. The only event they know of is Hadley Parish Council's annual St Georges Day dinner which will be attended by the mayor. Which isn't really good enough is it?

I was told that because Telford is a multi-national town they would have to celebrate every patron saint to keep everybody happy but as I pointed out, there are only four patron saints in the UK and as we're in England there's only one that matters. I also pointed out that regardless of whether they are white, black or asian, most people living in Telford will consider themselves English.

I've asked for my comments to be passed on to the Leader, Andrew Eade, but I may pre-empt it with a phone call this evening. It's a little disappointing after Andrew got off to such a good start by taking down the EU flag and replacing it with the Cross of St George when he took over as leader last year.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

English children to get unique ID number

The British government plans to allocate every 14 year old child in England a unique ID number which could be tied to the national ID database and will be used to provide access to school records for potential employers and the state.

The Education & Skills Bill - which only applies to England, not the whole of the UK as the press are reporting - will introduce the “Learning Number” which will be the key to a national database of state CVs for every child in England. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills - one of No Mandate Brown’s made up government departments - said “It is just a way of making life easier for learners and employers. It is something we think will help people looking for work”. What a load of rubbish. It is a way of introducing 14 year old children to the concept of being numbered and monitored for the rest of their lives and the state taking control of their identity.

The same spokesman also said the database will be “cast-iron in terms of integrity” whilst the Information Commissioner said “We have provided advice and assistance to help ensure that this system is watertight and secure - but no system is immune to human error and breaches can and do occur”.

Just like HMRC losing the details of 25 million recipients, just like the MOD officer losing a laptop containing secret data, just like all the other recent admissions of data loss by British government departments - the data will be vulnerable to inaccuracy, loss and fraud. Your identity isn’t like a bank account - it can’t be changed if it falls into the wrong hands - your identity is unique and identity theft will cause you problems for the rest of your life in Liebour’s database state.

The state stealing the identity of our children has surely got to be a breach of their Human Rights.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Monday, February 11, 2008

Press Release: England outraged by Scottish attempt to grab English territory

http://www.politics.co.uk/press-releases/cep-england-outraged-by-scottish-attempt-grab-english-territory-$1200908.htm

CEP: England outraged by Scottish attempt to grab English territory
Monday, 11 Feb 2008 08:33

The members of the Campaign for an English Parliament will resist with might and main the attempt being made by the Scottish Nationalist Party to grab Berwick on Tweed which has been part of England since the 13th century - over 700 years- and make it part of Scotland.

Scottish Nationalist Member of the Scottish Parliament Chrstine Grahame supported by fellow SNP members is lodging a vote in the Scottish Parliament in support of this land-grab.

Already the Scottish Parliament has claimed rights over all English rivers such as the River Till in Northumberland which flow into the River Tweed, even though the Tweed is the boundary river between the two nations of England and Scotland and belongs to neither. And the Scottish Parliament has been able to move southwards the boundary between England and Scotland which till devolution has always run along the very centre of the Solway Firth. To date the United Kingdom Government with its Scottish Prime Minister and Scottish Chancellor of the Exchequer has done nothing to stop these successive land grabs.

"The Scots are stirring up a hornets' nest of real trouble within the United Kingdom with these policies. And we will take them on," stated Scilla Cullen, Chairman of the Campaign. "The people of England will not put up with any more of it. Already Wales has been given the English county of Monmouthshire and even a part of the city of Chester in what is the county of Cheshire. It is already intolerable that devolution for Scotland has granted it huge benefits denied to England such as free university education, free personal care for the elderly, free prescriptions, as much as £1500 more spent on each Scot per annum than on any person in England and access to cancer drugs not obtainable in England. What the Scots are doing is sowing the seeds of real anger and dissension within the Union. They are sowing the wind. If they try to grab Berwick, it will be the Union that will reap the whirwind'

End of press release.

Ahern & Brown push NI to take on more devolution

No Mandate Brown and Bertie Ahern have urged the Stormont Assembly to complete the devolution process in Northern Ireland by taking on police and justice even though the DUP isn't keen on taking on those powers.

Talk about taking the piss! Northern Ireland is being pushed into accepting more devolution that it doesn't want while England is being refused any form of devolution that doesn't involve abolishing our country and replacing it with regional pseudo-parliaments.

I just sent this to the Taoiseach Press Office:
To whom it may concern,

Mr Ahern has issued a joint statement with the British Prime Minister,
Gordon Brown, urging the Northern Ireland Assembly to take on more devolved
powers in the areas of policing and justice despite the DUP and others being
reluctant to take on those powers.

As Mr Ahern is taking such a keen interest in devolution in the UK, could
he please encourage Mr Brown when next they meet to extend devolution to England
as well? We are 85% of the population of the UK yet we have no form of
devolved government in England. MPs elected in Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland – such as Mr Brown – vote on issues that are devolved in their
own constituencies yet MPs elected in England cannot vote on those same issues
in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Does Mr Ahern think this situation is fair on the people of England and
does he think it appropriate to press the Northern Irish government to "complete
the devolution process" in Northern Ireland whilst England remains the only
nation in Europe that doesn’t have direct political representation?

Kind Regards,

Stuart Parr
Campaign for an English Parliament