Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#21
The older generation should not be thinking of itself. We fought two wars to have a better Britain for all, not just for the affluent few. What the older generation won should be for the future of our Britain and those young who are here now, and those yet to be born. I feel Britain has become a tool of the politicians, a money making machine for the banks, and a country which seems addicted to money laundering, the privatisation of publicly owned assets, and the domain of greedy landlords. The young need to have a choice of careers just as I did when I was a young man... Trade apprenticeships. Honest business practices taught at school, and not useless subjects, which will not mean anything when they leave school. Also a trust in their elders, which is sadly now lacking. The skills of the older generation are being wasted, when they die their skills are gone forever with no young mind growing up to learn the short cuts and to take their places. It cannot be too hard to give a youngster a decent life to look forward to can it? They are the future... Their future not ours. What we have is the means to give it to them.
Democracy must be worked for through the ballot box. To do that the voting system needs to change where one vote is not wasted. At this time and in the recent past, issues which affect us all have been put to a time just before general elections, so promises can be made to con the voters and then broken when the liars are voted in. Recent politics is littered with broken promises. It is about time the political corps in this country was brought to task by the people. I do not see any politician suffering Austerity. Some even have houses to rent. Belong to All-Party lobbying groups. Own consulting companies. And hold non-executive directorships in major firms. Some even playing a major role as middle-men in selling off publicly owned properties to the highest bidder... All to make extra cash for themselves. You only have to look at programs like Dispatches and Panorama to see this WHY? We need to know the truth. There is not enough transparency and that is not good enough. The people are suffering, people who pay most of the taxes, which bail the parasites out. Things need to change or the Britain my generation knew and who the older members of it fought for will suffer fragmentation.
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#22
I have been reading about the fracking war. Why is the secretary of the environment on a collision course with the County Councils and democracy? What does she hope to achieve by flying in the face of public anger. Surely, if we proceed we will pollute the water table and in the end, poison ourselves.
Don't politicians know yet who it is who employs them? Who it is that lets them enjoy a generous wage and expense system, while they, their employer lives in austerity because of greedy bank bail-outs. Wages and perks, which gives them the wherewithal to buy expensive houses so that one in four of them can charge rents as an extra income. We are an employer that has allowed the two main political parties to merge in principle so there is no difference noticeable between the Conservative and New Labour camps... Don't they know yet it is the Taxpayer to whom they owe their extravagant lifestyles. That their working lives must be subsidised with generous salaries and expenses so that they can get on with their important jobs. Don't they know yet that the County Councils do a much better job for the people than they do? The British and European politicians are on a 'Gravy Train' to wealth subsidised by people who live in perpetual austerity. People who are struggling to live decent lives.
When you look below the surface, which is always murky, you cannot see the Swiss bank accounts, or the tax haven and off-shore investments of those we pay to govern in our interests. You cannot see the creative accounting that goes on where the bottom feeders dwell. You cannot see the nepotism where whole families of our politicians are now sharing power with them. Either in consulting firms, or worse as MPs and non-elected Lords and Ladies
I would like a little more transparency from central government MPs as to their real interest in fracking and other endeavours, which are proving lucrative. I would also like to know just who will hold the share options, should fracking go ahead. We never seem to get to the real truth of the matter in any political investment when publicly owned utilities are sold. Even though Channel Four programs like Dispatches and others like Panorama investigate, nothing ever seems to come of it. Why not? Who owns the shares in the utilities, the railways, and the Royal Mail, all of which should be in public hands so the profits can be invested into other public properties like libraries, welfare, and a significant reduction in council taxes? Indeed, why do we need a central government at all when the County Councils are there at local level? County Councils that can work together throughout Britain to make a better Britain for all. There is never any honour among thieves whether they be corporate or political.
Why is the investigation into the Iraq War taking so long? Why is the man in charge receiving nearly £800 a day for his services? Services that have dragged on for years? Why the delay in justice for those who lost soldiers killed in a war that was waged against the wishes of the British people. If Saddam and Gadhafi had been left alone there would not have been an Isis crisis today and millions of refugees moving into Europe from Africa. A Europe living in perpetual austerity, while its politicians and foreign services live in relative luxury. Why are our politicians prone to deception and misdirection? Why are so many millionaires?
I believe Jeremy Corbyn would be good for the Labour Party. If those who criticise him don't like it, at least give him a chance to show the people what he can do or cannot do. If they don't like it then deflect to the party in power...if they will have you. No one likes a traitor. Only a rat deserts a sinking ship... Look into your mirror and ask yourself: "Am I being honourable or am I a disloyal rat?" Only you can answer that question. Corbyn is a duly elected MP elected by the people. He has the right to his leadership without elected and non-elected politicians, trying to scupper his chances. Some of them with noble titles, which mean nothing to the common people. Dishonour, mud and dirt, are the main food of bottom feeders no matter how powerful they think they are. Honour among the powerful is everything for it generates a love and respect in the people.
***
There are other cleaner sources of power in this world and we have the technology to free them. That is unless the patents are held by those only interested in developing fossil fuels, which are proving to be money spinners. It is an easy process to extract Hydrogen from water, all you have to do is split it by passing an electric current through it, use it then condense what is left back into clean water. The clean technology is there why are we not making use of it? Seven tenths of our planet is water. Admitted the gas is explosive, so is petroleum and other products made from polluting oil.
Then we have the Sun to generate Solar-power fields. The tides are another source of cheap power. The wind too. We are not far off developing Nuclear Fusion, which I believe is a cleaner form of atomic power. Why must we always go down the greedy route to riches for the few to the exploitation of the many?
The world is fast becoming overcrowded. Land is at a premium. The working man cannot afford to buy a house for his family, and yet, there are people in this world who own half the planet. When will it sink in? "We are all in this together." Where have I heard that? People have called me a Communist, but then, most people only have the American version of the word. To me Communism means Community not Dictatorship. It is about time the word had its true meaning and people got on with developing the word to its full potential. It is a pity recent history has seen the word badly used by those who did abuse it.
I am an old man now so I should not have to worry about the future, but I do because I have children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Children who have to live in this world after I am gone. In my long life I have seen many things, and yet, things are getting worse not better. I am not a religious man because I have seen what religion can do to a world. What religion is doing to our world now? Why do people put such a value on Paradise, or even Heaven for that matter? No one can prove they exist. Is it not better to live a good Earthly life than worry about what comes after? Especially as no one knows the truth of the matter. The here and now matters, what comes after does not. Is our Earth Hell then? Are our innocent children living in Hell?
I read a story once of a man who rose from humble beginnings in Scotland to become one of the richest men of his time. He did not covet his wealth but did many great things with it. He was an honourable man and gave away billions to good causes. Some say three-quarters of his personal fortune... His name, Andrew Carnegie. Today there are billionaires who could do so much more for the world in a positive way. Schools, hospitals, youth programs, universities, food production, new modern towns. All worthwhile projects. They would not even miss the wealth they give. Leave a memory of yourself after you have gone so the future can wonder at your name and who you really were.
Why has this world become such a greedy place? Why does wealth mean more to some people than to others? Why has Greed become the First horseman, with War, Famine, Disease, and Death following close behind...? Is that our future, or can we make this a better place for all?
The future of this world is always in the hands of those who hold great power. Maybe it is time for people power and not for those who want to take our world for themselves? Either way the abuse of power will bring the end for all... Rich and poor alike. History will keep on repeating itself. We humans are the only species who can stop that.
***
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Reginald Barrington
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,261
#23
Arte et Marte
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#24
How can I reply to an image shaking its head. If you have no comment, don't waste my time.
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#25
How rude.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#26
Sometimes you have to be straight out to wake people up to what is really going on in politics.
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Guest 1103- Registered: 3 Nov 2013
- Posts: 759
#27
I got this from a chap on fb... Sorry about the swearing just ignore that part. but the list on the bottom is endless and makes you wonder ....
Ben Finn
For anyone who has the ******* nerve to tell me that we need to pay for water have a read
At first I thought this was funny....Then I realised the awful truth of it. Be sure to read all the way to the end! Think bin charges need to be added in too.
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.
When he's gone,
Do not relax,
It's time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Airline surcharge tax
Airline Fuel Tax
Airport Maintenance Tax
Building Permit Tax
Cigarette Tax
Cooking Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Goods and Services Tax (GST)
Death Tax
Driving Permit Tax
Environmental Tax (Fee)
Excise Taxes
Income Tax
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Petrol Tax (too much per litre)
Gross Receipts Tax
Health Tax
Heating Tax
Inheritance Tax
Interest Tax
Lighting Tax
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Mortgage Tax
Pension Tax
Personal Income Tax
Property Tax
Poverty Tax
Prescription Drug Tax
Real Estate Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Retail Sales Tax
Service Charge Tax
School Tax
Telephone Tax
Value Added Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Water Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Tax (VAT) on Tax.
And Now they want a blooming Carbon Tax!
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was one of the most prosperous in the world... We had absolutely no national debt, had a large middle class,a huge manufacturing base, and Mum stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the Hell happened? Could it be the lying parasitic politicians wasting our money?
Oh, and don't forget the relatively new bank charges....
And we all know what we think of Bankers.
I hope this goes around the UK at least 1,000,000,000 times!!!
Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. Maya Angelou ☺🌈🌄🌌🌏🌍🌎
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#28
It is time for a change,but you need the people to do that. A new voting system and a sense of right and wrong. When we get that then we are getting somewhere. People are becoming complacent and when that happens the politicians have won, unless a leader emerges who can pull them together. I hope Jeremy Corbyn is that man, but he will not be able to do it alone...He will need strong support from those who want a better life than continuous austerity.The politicians need to suffer first to feel what the people are suffering.
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#29
Reginald and Howard want me to blog on politics so I will. The more the merrier. I too believe that those who write in this forum should add their name.
I do not know how old my fellow bloggers are, but I was born before the Second World War; however, too young to fight in it. I have grown up with seeing the political scene change from post war elation to a feeling of anticipation for the future, to abject austerity for the masses, to opulent living for the rich and powerful. To a point where the utilities and British assets have been sold to powerful investors probably politicians and foreign buyers. After all there seems to be little knowledge as to who is buying our assets. However plenty of knowledge on who is selling them and who is not benefiting from them.
Why does society have to put up with people who can get away without paying their fair share of taxes? Surely, the government can change the law so that these tax havens can be closed and 122 billion in lost taxes will not be lost again. All it needs is a change in the law. Illegal and legal have become words the government plays with as the situation arises. Why should most of the people be expected to pay their taxes while others have mechanisms in place, like creative accounting, which most working taxpayers cannot afford, that help them to avoid paying their taxes...unless the politicians are in it also? In a fair society everyone should pay their fair share including those who are abusing the system...no matter who they are. This is not Communistic in any way. Not if it benefits the Community.
Reginald says the County Council idea is not viable. I say it could work as the people in their respective Counties do know who they are voting for. It is costing us billions in politicians who never seem to get anything done, but still get paid huge amounts in salaries. Expenses too, and what they can make out of the all-party lobbying systems we have in place. The system of non-executive directorships is rife. Share options are rife. And fees for services rendered as to Consultancies are rife, even nepotism of close family members is rife. There needs to be more transparency as far as politicians are concerned. It is only because the people as a whole suffer from reluctance to vote. Mainly because of an inadequate 'First past the post' voting system, which splits the vote that we do not get the true result of the vote in our General elections
If we go on as we are then argument will follow argument and nothing will come to fruition. I do not believe our MP is up to the job. He has too many distractions as a Whip in the House of Commons. We need someone who is totally committed to his or her constituency.
It would be better if each head of a County was an MP working closely with other County MPs, all duly elected. This system would give us 92 counties in England, 33 in Scotland, 13 in Wales, and 6 or 7 in Northern Ireland, all voting in proportion to each other. All Counties with a duly elected second-in-command who could sit in the House of Commons while the Main MP could sit in the House of Lords. Both could be of differing political parties.
Why do we have to put up with over 800 unelected Lords and Ladies, and 650 Commons MPs, plus the County Councils and town councils to boot? All with excellent salaries, expenses, and debit cards...plus a huge army of public servants. This, not counting the hundreds of MEPs and Commissioners we have in the European Union...We as a nation and a European Union are being grossly over governed and it is becoming worse as more are jumping on the Bandwagon...or is it the Gravy Train?
All we have for their 'Hard work' since Thatcher's time is Austerity more Austerity, and the constant bailing out of the banks by those who pay the taxes. I believe it is the bank's debt the taxpayer is paying off and not the peoples'. Iceland did not stand for it neither should we. When it comes to selling the banks off again plus selected publicly owned companies like the Royal Mail, the taxpayer is asked to accept huge losses, well over a billion, without any recourse to the law. As I mentioned before we may as well be ruled by a Dictator.
Those who fought in the Second World War for our freedom from tyranny are now in their late eighties and nineties and rapidly dying off. Why did millions of British Commonwealth, British, American, and Russian citizens have to die? Why? Because they were made of sterner stuff and would not stand for defeat by Hitler...It was lucky we had a politician who would not lie down. If we were invaded today, I believe our politicians would negotiate Britain to the invader for profit... They have the power and it seems the greed. The people have had nothing but austerity year after year. They do not even have a voting system that works.
It might seem harsh to some to criticise our politicians of today, but nothing has changed for the better for decades. The young still cannot afford to buy a family home at a reasonable price. The education system is in tatters. The NHS, I believe is being deliberately run down to planned privatisation. And in the end the working people will be the rent payers of those developers, big and small, who will exploit them. Britain has become nothing more than a giant game of Monopoly. It must be a game won by the people or the future will be bleak.
***
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#30
Reginald and Howard want me to blog on politics so I will. The more the merrier. I too believe that those who write in this forum should add their name.
I do not know how old my fellow bloggers are, but I was born before the Second World War; however, too young to fight in it. I have grown up with seeing the political scene change from post war elation to a feeling of anticipation for the future, to abject austerity for the masses, to opulent living for the rich and powerful. To a point where the utilities and British assets have been sold to powerful investors probably politicians and foreign buyers. After all there seems to be little knowledge as to who is buying our assets. However plenty of knowledge on who is selling them and who is not benefiting from them.
Why does society have to put up with people who can get away without paying their fair share of taxes? Surely, the government can change the law so that these tax havens can be closed and 122 billion in lost taxes will not be lost again. All it needs is a change in the law. Illegal and legal have become words the government plays with as the situation arises. Why should most of the people be expected to pay their taxes while others have mechanisms in place, like creative accounting, which most working taxpayers cannot afford, that help them to avoid paying their taxes...unless the politicians are in it also? In a fair society everyone should pay their fair share including those who are abusing the system...no matter who they are. This is not Communistic in any way. Not if it benefits the Community.
Reginald says the County Council idea is not viable. I say it could work as the people in their respective Counties do know who they are voting for. It is costing us billions in politicians who never seem to get anything done, but still get paid huge amounts in salaries. Expenses too, and what they can make out of the all-party lobbying systems we have in place. The system of non-executive directorships is rife. Share options are rife. And fees for services rendered as to Consultancies are rife, even nepotism of close family members is rife. There needs to be more transparency as far as politicians are concerned. It is only because the people as a whole suffer from reluctance to vote. Mainly because of an inadequate 'First past the post' voting system, which splits the vote that we do not get the true result of the vote in our General elections.
If we go on as we are then argument will follow argument and nothing will come to fruition. I do not believe our MP is up to the job. He has too many distractions as a Whip in the House of Commons. We need someone who is totally committed to his or her constituency.
It would be better if each head of a County was an MP working closely with other County MPs, all duly elected. This system would give us 92 counties in England, 33 in Scotland, 13 in Wales, and 6 or 7 in Northern Ireland, all voting in proportion to each other. All Counties with a duly elected second-in-command who could sit in the House of Commons while the Main MP could sit in the House of Lords. Both could be of differing political parties.
Why do we have to put up with over 800 unelected Lords and Ladies, and 650 Commons MPs, plus the County Councils and town councils to boot? All with excellent salaries, expenses, and debit cards...plus a huge army of public servants. This, not counting the hundreds of MEPs and Commissioners we have in the European Union...We as a nation and a European Union are being grossly over governed and it is becoming worse as more are jumping on the Bandwagon...or is it the Gravy Train?
All we have for their 'Hard work' since Thatcher's time is Austerity more Austerity, and the constant bailing out of the banks by those who pay the taxes. I believe it is the bank's debt the taxpayer is paying off and not the peoples'. Iceland did not stand for it neither should we. When it comes to selling the banks off again plus selected publicly owned companies like the Royal Mail, the taxpayer is asked to accept huge losses, well over a billion, without any recourse to the law. As I mentioned before we may as well be ruled by a Dictator.
Those who fought in the Second World War for our freedom from tyranny are now in their late eighties and nineties and rapidly dying off. Why did millions of British Commonwealth, British, American, and Russian citizens have to die? Why? Because they were made of sterner stuff and would not stand for defeat by Hitler...It was lucky we had a politician who would not lie down. If we were invaded today, I believe our politicians would negotiate Britain to the invader for profit... They have the power and it seems the greed. The people have had nothing but austerity year after year. They do not even have a voting system that works.
It might seem harsh to some to criticise our politicians of today, but nothing has changed for the better for decades. The young still cannot afford to buy a family home at a reasonable price. The education system is in tatters. The NHS, I believe is being deliberately run down to planned privatisation. And in the end the working people will be the rent payers of those developers, big and small, who will exploit them. Britain has become nothing more than a giant game of Monopoly. It must be a game won by the people or the future will be bleak.
***
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#31
Why do we need political parties? They lead to a system where government policy is decided by a cabal of insiders, hardly democratic! The House of Lords is necessary as a revising chamber (I would rather call it the Senate or something similar) and should have no more than 100 full time members. Each member should be elected by a non- geographical constituency. Examples would be: farm workers, lawyers, truck drivers, doctors, policemen, etc. People who had been MPs or ever been members of a political party would be disqualified.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#32
I agree with you Peter. Things must change. I see Brown is now having a go at Jeremy Corbyn, just as Blair did. In a democratic society I thought everyone had a chance to show what they can do politically...Maybe I'm wrong? Labour needs to be for the working people, as long as it is not militant, not too conservative either, I'm all for it.
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#33
All parties should be for the working people. But there's an inconvenient truth that the harder people work, the richer they get. Nowadays there are very few rich people who didn't get where they are by their own efforts.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#34
You are again right Peter. When bankers and investors can get, I will not say earn, £5.000.000 upwards a year as a salary, not including bonuses, there is something radically wrong and smelly with the political system. The economy should revolve around the consumer, which includes affordable housing and fair wages for all. I have been watching the Labour leadership election. When there is so much criticism and mud-slinging going on towards a left-wing Labour MP who has been an MP for some time, and who has every right to try for the leadership. It makes me think. Why? What are these people afraid of? I think politics has become a big money earner for those at the top of the two main parties. Most are now millionaires through lobbying, the all-party groups, and the fees they can charge for their services, either as share options, non-executive directorships, consultancies, and other lucrative offers.
There are honourable MPs out there but they seem to be kept in the background. If any of the new crop of Labour MPs get in I will not be voting for Labour. With the old voting system my vote would be lost on the Greens, on UKIP, as in the last election, or the Liberals, which is a pity. I do not like militants or Unions that are militant either, but I believe Jeremy Corbyn, who is not a militant, but for the ordinary person, no matter what the tabloids say about him, should be given a chance to prove himself. Another group like Milliband in Labour and we will be back to the Blair and Brown days, two of Corbyn's biggest critics. Let the people vote democratically, without the back-biting interference from those who did very well out of politics in their time as leaders of the government, and we will have what the people really want. An end to austerity and a fairer system where all the money is not at the top, and that includes the top politicians.
Britain is motivated by greed at the top. As I write this government is planning to sell off the government's share, which means the public's share, of the King's Cross railway system. What next The NHS. Already huge portions of publicly owned facilities have been sold to foreign interests, including the London Docks, Scotland Yard as we knew it, and the London Fire stations for well below their true worth, with politicians acting as intermediaries. Is it any wonder that Scotland wants its independence, with Wales and maybe Northern Ireland following closely behind? As a British citizen I am glad the SNP now has a voice in Parliament... I only wished I could have voted for them in the last Election. I only hope the next five years will prove crucial for British politics, when the people have a say in who they want to govern them. I am an old man now, but I would like to leave Britain as I found it... A country with a Commonwealth, a country I can be proud of again. I hope the young wake up to what is really going on before it is too late. As for me. I will always be a thorn in the side of those who would rule us without honour. I still have fond memories of the good days and what my grandfather, my father and my older British brothers and sisters did for us in two terrible world wars.
When the political employees of the people are living like Kings and their employers the real taxpayers are living in Austerity, something is radically wrong with the nation..
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Guest 1555- Registered: 23 Jul 2015
- Posts: 29
#35
I have been looking at the blog totals of some of the bloggers. One has over 48.000 most have 8 to 10.000, but none of you seems to be saying anything of importance that will change the political landscape. There are people reading these blogs who do have the power to change things for the better; therefore, they must contain constructive ideas for the future.
Isn't it about time we began to see the real picture of what is really going on in Britain? We have Jeremy Corbyn, who has been a Labour politician for some time. He is a man I admire for his lack of criticism of his opponents; those who say the Labour movement with him as leader would be dead in the water. His main critics including one who handled taking Britain into the Iraq war have a lot to answer for. All did very well out of their time as leaders of the government, and I assume are doing very well now? What I cannot stand is the way allegedly honourable MPs are trying to scupper the chances of a man who has the working people at heart and not afraid to say what he thinks. A man who wants to give back to the people the publicly owned assets that were privatised over the last three decades by the politicians who must have benefited from those robber-baron decisions. To this day, the British public do not know who has profited from the sale of publicly owned utilities...who had the first preferences to the sale of the shares? I believe Jeremy Corbyn could change Britain, as far as the working man is concerned, by giving back power to the people, as long as the militants do not gain the upper hand in his government. What is needed is another Oliver Cromwell, a man strong enough to give the people a fairer government where the rich do not prosper from the sale of publicly owned facilities. Facilities where the profits are given back to the people to help fund health care and other public needs. They must not be sold to greedy individuals who would profit from them. Especially so as the owners are never known.
I am the first to agree that there are those in our society who should not be earning welfare benefits that far outstrip the wages of most of the ordinary hard working tax paying people. However, there are also those at the top whose salaries far outstrip the working wage by hundreds of thousands of pounds...sometimes even millions. Most of the latter do not even pay the taxes they should, instead accumulate vast fortunes in offshore and tax haven accounts, which are lost to the country of origin forever. I must include the politicians in the latter as they do not seem to be suffering austerity as those in the middle and lower income brackets who do pay most, if not all, of the taxes.
If these people want more than one child, they should be prepared to pay for the second child upwards themselves. Why should the taxpayer shoulder the burden of those who use their children as an extra income?
I believe a little hardship in life goes a long way to people finding work. However, I also believe it is up to the government to provide the necessary trade apprenticeships and education opportunities for the young to develop their skills for the future workplace. The last two years of school should be given over to teaching the young, who are between sixteen and eighteen, the life skills they will need when they do leave school. The old who are retired can be valuable in this enterprise as most have had the experience of living fruitful lives in a time where greed only hard work ruled the roost. Too many retired people are being thrown onto the scrap heap and forgotten...or worse, resented for what they have worked hard for. The old have a knowledge base that should be tapped to give the young the benefit of their experience. People keep moaning about the ageing population and yet among those retired are skills and experience that are being wasted. Skills where all the shortcuts of various trades and businesses reside. When these experienced people die, there is no recourse to their life expertise, as it is lost forever. The mark of a healthy society is one, which works together from the bottom up... Young and old together.
I was born in a time where I could choose my apprenticeship and after three to five years I would have a trade. I learned the shortcuts, which made me more efficient, from those who were older than me. We need to go back to that time, but without the militancy of the Unions which, brought about the downfall of Labour, by men seeking power for their own ends. I want to believe Jeremy Corbyn is not one of these, and the only way to know that is to give him a democratic chance to lead a party of the people...a Labour party with credibility. The New-Labour party under Blair and Brown, major critics of Corbyn, was only another way of saying Conservative...it became obvious after a short time they were in it for themselves. All it did was to give the politicians a merry-go-round of power. The power that gave a lot of them enormous wealth, with a false nobility at the end more lucrative than any pension except the bank. There is a deep division in a society which needs to be healed. It will not be healed if people are content to write blog after blog without getting anywhere. One constructive blog is worth thousands of mediocre ones, which say nothing, do nothing, and go nowhere. Blogs are meant to make people think constructively. To risk a cliché, some bloggers manufacture bullets for others to fire, and in the end achieve nothing.
The working voters need to back the only man who has proved time and again he has them at heart. Politics in Britain today has become a massive money spinner for those politicians who are skilled in the art of lobbying and counter-lobbying. Politicians can literally make millions in one term of office, and accumulate a massive pension to boot. When politicians are caught with their hands in the till, they should be heavily fined and expelled from politics. Not just reprimanded, then allowed to return to politics as though nothing happened...sometimes with an honourable title that has lost its meaning.
You must not believe everything the media prints either. It is like the Bible, full of truths and untruths, fairy tales, and fables manufactured by men who sought power over the minds of others, usually the most vulnerable. This blog may be controversial to some people, but the fact remains, Britain needs to find a new direction or this land of ours will have no assets to speak of and people living in perpetual austerity. What with the banks and austerity, which is not the fault of the people but of the monetary policies of the banks, we as a once great Britain is now continually in debt. We, unlike Iceland, have a future of continual austere trauma. Greece is already contemplating selling its airports to the highest bidder, what next its beautiful tourist islands? Is the European Union going to the highest bidder in Greece's downfall too? When will people realise it is not the Greek people's fault but that of the banks. The European Union is not working because it is being manipulated by corrupt people who have been allowed to gain great power.
America and Britain are to blame for the rise of Isis. Does America control European policy? It seems to have a heavy hand in Ukraine politics, NATO too? Where is the world going? Are we now in a tailspin to oblivion? It is about time we the ordinary people considered these questions...of who is to blame? The weather is in worldwide decline. The ice is melting. It is about time we pulled the plug on fossil fuels and went over to the cleaner options like solar power, hydrogen, and many other cleaner options. We cannot have a ruling elite and poverty stricken masses... Past history tells us so. This world is for all who live on it. Not everyone can be a captain of industry. Some of us need to be consumers for the world to work as a team. If greed is eliminated, this world can become a better place for all. I do not need religion to want a better world for I am not religious. It is religion, and political greed, which is at the bottom of all this trouble. Without religion and corrupt politics, people would focus more on what needs to be done. It's a pity so many of us cannot see that, for what we believe today is taught to us as small children. Something, which is making us blind to what is needed to live in a better caring world.
You do not need a Prophet to see into the future, for nothing could be plainer. We the human species have become a predator on our own kind. There is only one credible, provable power on this Earth of ours and one we will never overcome. We are planting the seeds of our own destruction. When we are gone, Nature will plant some more and continue on in another direction. The rich cannot live without the consumer and the consumer cannot live without the rich. All that is needed is a sharing caring world and that must start from the top as those on the bottom are always vulnerable to those who hold the power to change things.
Another law, which needs changing is the law of Euthanasia. The Dutch and the Swiss have it, so why not the British. There are old people suffering the worst humiliation at the hands of the so-called caring industry. I am one of the elderly and I would not like to think I have become a burden to my loved ones. My Will shall state my final wish, that if I become a non-person. Unable to think or do for myself I would wish my loved ones to make the same decision they would make for a beloved pet. I would not wish them to be in a financial constraint because of my inability to function as a healthy fully mentally capable human being. I do not want to become a vegetable if I have left instructions as to the method of my demise when I was in full command of my facilities. I reserve the right to die with dignity without politicians keeping me alive because people who are in the lucrative business of caring for the old have lobbied them to the contrary. Therefore, my Will shall be made to that effect. If my loved ones cannot make that decision, as they would for a beloved pet, then I could never forgive them for going against my wishes when my brain was intact. The law of Euthanasia must be in place as soon as possible as a great majority of people believe in it.
Recently a trained nurse Gill Pharaoh made the decision to end her life at Seventy-five after a lifetime caring for people she knew were suffering from not being their selves and worse. People who had become non-persons through a stroke or worse, the loss of their personality. She did not make this decision lightly and had the full cooperation of her loving family. What the people want in law should be made a personal choice in the country in which they live. It is not for the politicians or the doctors, who follow the Hippocratic Oath to the letter, to decide who shall live or who shall die...that life belongs to the sufferer and to those who love them, because of the prior permission given. The vets have no problem with a decision when much-loved pets are brought to them to end their misery. The doctors find it in their hearts to do the same for human animals. Animals as we are with a language, who have the capacity to make their own decisions when in full possession of their mental facilities. Religious thinking cannot enter into it because religion is a manufactured thing and a misguided belief in the Supernatural...no matter of what faith. The decision must be one of Natural selection made because a loved one does not wish to become a burden to their family should their quality of life become unbearable through a greatly diminished sense of self-consciousness...When all that is left is a live body of flesh without a functioning mind. If I have shocked people, I intended to. It is about time people faced the facts of life instead of living in a dream world...
***
I have been in Dover since coming over from India in 1947 when all the British nationals had to leave. I went to St Mary's School in Queen Steet Dover, which no longer exists. I do not like the changes being done to the Dover seafront by people who do not really have the town's people at heart. I used to play in the rock pools with my twin brother under the prince of Wales Pier and had my first job in Dover painting the wrought iron legs, which are now filled in with concrete.
I feel a sense of loss at what The Dover Harbour board is contemplating. If the Yacht Marina is moved out of the inner harbour and into the bay it will become just another rubbish dump. It is obvious that big business is moving in against the wishes of the Dover people.
I worked at the Dover Harbour Board for thirteen years on the small boats before I retired in 2003 as a survey and environmental cox'n. The last ten yearssurveying the bottom of the harbour and its approaches. I know the tides and the bottom better than my own hand...and a lot of silt moving out there. If they fill the Granville Docks in, where I used to help unload fruit boats in the good old days. It will just become another huge lorry park in the future.
I also think the small boats are open to abuse by the swarms of immigrants coming over from France and further afield. With fewer customs, once the immigrants twig there is another way in they will take it. I have been to sea in three Merchant Navies since 1959 and have always believed Britain, being an island should have had a container fleet Merchant Navy manned by british sailors, the best in the world, trading with its Commonwealth. The Greek fiasco has proved the politicians cannot be trusted,nor the big Banks, to have any intrest in the working people of Britain, only in themselves... Who owns the town, is it business interests in Europe, the Harbour Board, or is there a hidden agenda. What is the plan for the Western approaches from Shakespeare Cliff to the Admiralty pier. QUESTIONS have to be asked and honest ANSWERS given. Already European countries have huge interests in our utilities and other, used to be publicily owned, businesses. We may as well not had a war, not when we are being slowly taken over by foreign interests. Britain was once a country to be proud of and brave people defended its honour and died for it. I am seventy-seven years old now and retired. I still remember the gaps left in the high street by German bombers, and those Dover people whomust have lost their lives there. Just what did my father and those brave people fight for? I had the honour of sailing with two or three merchant seamen in the fifties and sixties, who had actually been in the water a number of times after being torpedoed. Over fifty thousand seamen died and thousands of our Navy, Airmen, and Army died for our freedom. Will the young remember them when those left are gone. I no longer free free any more, only a sense of foreboding for our younger generation.
Arte et Marte