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English Free Press
The Witanagemot Club (Est. August 14th, 2005) is now The English Free Press and is hosted by englishparliament.net.



Toque would like to thank you all, members and visitors, for your support and hopes that you will bookmark and make use of the new site.

Headlines

  CEP News   Iain Dale
  Wonko's World   A View From Middle England
  Politicians Outed   Cllr. Gavin Ayling
  An Englishman's Castle   Paul Linford
  The Last Ditch   The England Project
  The Flagman   Aprosexic
  Paul Rogan   Brentwood
  Cyberevolution   Waking Hereward
  CEP Shropshire   Dodgeblogium
  Gavin Corder   Gallimaufry & Chips
  Blunt   Tony Sharp
  Not Proud of Britain   L'Ombre de l'Olivier
  Shooting Parrots   The Green Ribbon
  Drinking From Home   The Blog of Kev
  The Anglo Saxon Chronicle   Archbishop Cranmer
  Cardiff Blogger   Resistance is Useless!
  Man in the Shed   Yellow Swordfish
  Blue Witch   Why England Needs A Parliament
  IanPJ on Politics   Terrible Tory Girl
  Ranting Stan   Devil's Kitchen
  Andrew Allison   West Brom Blog
  Womble on Tour   Raised by Chaffinches
  Armchair Activist   Xinomorph
  Sabretache   The Monarchist
  Observations from the Hillside   Daily Referendum
  Tommy English   England the Land Equal Rights Forgot
  ContraTory   Eurealist
  Real England   The Daily Pundit
  Nigel Hastilow   English Democrats
  English Nation   An Englishman Abroad
  Owsblog   Looking for a Voice
  The Difference Magazine   Cobbett Rides Again!
  The Thunder Dragon   Socialist Unity
  Miss Wagstaff Presents   Another Pyrrhic Victory
  Cynical Chatter From The Underworld   Wardman Wire
  The Remittance Man   The Secret Person
  Britology Watch   The Red Rag
  The Final Redoubt   Nourishing Obscurity
  LFB UK   Shooting Parrots
  Daily Referendum   CEP Oxfordshire
  CEP Surrey & Middx   Sinclair's Musings
  Views From the Asylum   English Tribe
  Conservative Mind   Anthem4England
  Norfolk Blogger   Rebellion Sucks!
  Somethingfishy   Over the Water
  Sepoy Agent   Life in the Paddock
  Shades of Grey   The Broadsheet Rag
  Prodicus   Know Your Place
  For England   A Very British Dude
  CEP West Midlands   John Trenchard
  Adam Smith Institute   Letters from a Tory
  A National Conversation for England   The anger of a Quiet Man
  Englisc Fyrd   Grendel
  Is there more to life than shoes?   CEP Bucks
  CEP Wiltshire   CEP Lincs
  The English Question   England is Cool
  English Parliament online   A Libertarian's Perspective
  Another Brilliant Blog   Ana the Imp
  Anglo Future   Real Politics
  Grumpy Old Twat   They Call Me a Little Englander
  don't set fire to your jacket   MARA'S (UNA)MUSINGS
  Plato Says   How Did We Come To This?
  Henry North London   Tory Totty
  Man of Kent   Wynfrid Wynn
  Views from the Tap Room   Toque

Recent Headlines
Choo Choo Stupidity Gallimaufry & Chips
168 wheels good, two wings bad. The morons who run the transport policy in this corner of Euroland (and that includes the Useless Tories and UnLibDems) have just published this abortion on toast of ahigh speed rail linkfor Scotch MPs from London to their second, third or fourthhames. One of the "benefits" of splurging £20 billion to compete with the recently upgraded (for a mere £9 billion) West Coast Mainline is that journey times from Birmingham to London in ideal conditions will be cut by 30 minutes to 49 minutes. Whoopidoo! What the fuckwits don't say is whether the last train on the new line will depart later than 11:30pm to enable Midlanders to enjoy the overpriced London Theatres without an Olympic race to Euston once the curtain falls. The funniest thing is the route section south of Coventry. Under Prescottian diktat Warwick District Council and Coventry City Council are required to build x-zillion houses. Very sensibly they plonked the new estate right on the border of Coventry and Warwickshire. Next to the proposed railway route.Trains are a nineteenth century technology. Aircraft are more economic and more flexible. One final point: thanks to the same anti-carbon religion preached by the trainophiles, UK electricity generating capacity is decreasing and there will be a gap. Hey, let's run the new trains on electricity. Madness.
Email To My MP Ref: Remembran... The Blog of Kev
I have just written to my MP asking him to support Patrick Cormack's bill about Remembrance Sunday (Closure of Shops) which I have just blogged about earlier.
Remembrance Sunday (Closure O... The Blog of Kev
I believe that th bill being brought in by Patrick Cormack should become law the bill in called Remembrance Sunday (Closure of Shops) which he introduced yesterday in Parliament.
Trust has to be earned The anger of a Quiet Man
I got a letter today from Medway NHS about the Summary Care Record which is a secure electronic summary of crucial health information which could make a major difference to my care if I'm unable to tell NHS staff the details myself.I suspect they will fool a lot of people into opting into it by default, as opting out requires downloading a form and taking it along to your local GP (by June 10th 2010)  telling them not to bother putting you on it.Personally I'll be opting out for the simple reason I don't trust the government and by proxy the NHS with my personal data either from abuse or simply just leaving it for anyone to find on a bus, train, taxi or landfill site.Telegraph. 2007 figuresA record 37 million items of personal data went missing last year, new research reveals.Most of the data was lost by government officials but councils, NHS trusts, banks, insurance companies and chain stores also mislaid or published personal information about staff or members of the public.Many losses were caused through CDs going missing in the post, laptop thefts, and inadequate security systems that failed to stop hackers reading information stored on computers.The details lost included those of names, addresses, passports, bank and mortgage accounts, credit cards, hospital records, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, driving licences and telephone numbers.Data Loss Examples in 2008:NHS: The NHS lost a lot of data in 2008, with a selection of examples below:9 NHS trust admit losing millions of records.4 out of 5 NHS trusts lose medical recordsList of NHS losses produced by the Freedom of Information Act (its a long article!)45,000 medical records lost21,000 medical records lostThe NHS also moved a lot of records out to other company  with 300 million medical records moved out of the NHS and the patients data being shared with council Sooner or later you'll all get a letter like this, it's up to you as to whether or not you trust them, personally I don't and I'd reccomend you don't give them the data either.And what's with the having to download the opt out form? Some people don't have internet access still. Sounds like a con to make sure we all sign up regardless.Trust has to be earned, quite frankly they can't be trusted if past efforts are anything to go on.
It is not the voters who are ... ContraTory
?Mr Brown's act of hypnosis is to make us ignore the facts about what will become of Britain should he be left in charge for much longer: economically relegated, permanently crippled with debt, addicted to public spending and big state interference, reliant on ever higher taxes and ruled by the trade unions.?
 
Gordon Brown has voters in a trance - it's time for a wake-up call ? Benedict Brogan
 
Nick Clegg Looks Both Ways on... Iain Dale
Nick Clegg has said some things on Afghanistan in his interview with The Economist today which appear to be at odds with things he said in his interview with The Times in November 2009 ?? We hope that the cross party consensus remains on this issue. (13th November 2009, The Times)? I have become increasingly frustrated by this tongue-tied consensus for a conflict (11 March 2010, The Economist)? Our first priority should be to stabilise the Afghan Government and build up Afghan security forces, not to pull out before that is done. (13th November 2009, The Times)? I just came to a very stark feeling that we either do this differently, and do it properly, or we do not do it at all (11 March 2010, The Economist)Some meat for Brown and Cameron to get their teeth into during the TV debates?
Speaking with one voice? Is there more to life than shoes?
Did anyone listen to London MEP Charles Tannock, bravely defending the national sovereignty of this country on the Today programme yesterday?If you didn't I can summarise for you by saying that when talking about the first appearance of the highest paid woman in world politics he 'wished her the best of British' as we all had to speak in one voice.Addressing the Parliament for the first time in the 100 days since she's been appointed the job of EU Foreign Minister, she spoke about the need to, well, remove any concept of nation states within the European Union.She's the highest paid female politician in the world. I like the way she earns that money with her little school ground impression at the end of the speech.Later on in the day, UKIP MEP William Dartmouth was escorted from the chamber during a debate on EU Arctic Policy yesterday when he said"But an EU Arctic policy is perhaps not so bizarre as the appointment of the supremely unqualified Baroness Ashton, the Sarah Palin of the ex-student left.Chair of the 'debate' was Lib Dem MEP Diana Wallis, no fan of democracy or debate.. I don't wish to be rude, but maybe ugly women stick up for each other?This is now a situation where an organisation which costs you £45 million a day can remove elected MEPs because they don't like what they say. I don't like what most MEPs say and, given that the Liberal Democrats came fourth in the European Elections last year, it would appear that most people in the country do not like what Liberal Democrats say. If you think that elected politicians should be allowed to speak their, and those of their supporters, beliefs, perhaps you should write to Diana and let her know what you think.diana.wallis@europarl.europa.eu
Snatched Iain Dale
The Prime Minister constantly tells us he has given the military all the equipment they have ever needed or requested. How he can say this without his nose growing a few inches longer is anyone's guess. Let's just take the case of Snatch Land Rovers, whose use has caused to many unnecessary deaths at the hands of IEDs in Afghanistan. Parliamentarians have been asking about these vehicles for some time. These Hansard quotes illustrate that it is not a new issue.(June 2006)Lord Astor of Hever: My Lords, we on these Benches, too, extend our condolences to the family of the soldier killed in Afghanistan yesterday. Our thoughts at this time are also with the two soldiers who were seriously injured yesterday, and we wish them a speedy recovery. I thank the Minister for his reply and understand completely that any answer that he gives must not prejudice troop protection, but the Snatch Land Rover is not remotely adequate for patrolling areas where insurgents use landmines. Can the Minister assure the House that the Government will provide our soldiers with equipment that is fit for this role? What assessment have the Government made of the RG-31 which, with its V-shaped undercarriage, has a greater resilience to IEDs and which the Americans have bought in large numbers just for this role?Lord Drayson: My Lords, I do not accept that Snatch Land Rovers are not appropriate for the role.(26 June 2006)Mr. Ruffley: Nearly a quarter of the British soldiers lost in hostile action in Iraq were in Snatch Land Rovers at the time. Those vehicles are widely recognised to be inadequately armoured to withstand roadside bombs, and are consequently seen as a soft target for insurgents. In the interests of preventing unnecessary deaths, will the Secretary of State tell us which specific vehicles he is considering deploying as replacements for Snatch Land Rovers in Iraq?Des Browne: The hon. Gentleman has made a good point. The Snatch Land Rover was a popular option earlier in the campaign in Afghanistan, because it was mobile and a good all-rounder, and had the right profile to help our troops to engage with the people of Basra in Multi- National Division (South-East). I think Members will appreciate that a vision of our troops thundering down narrow streets with battle tanks was not exactly what we wanted to convey to the people of Basra and other parts of south-east Iraq. Things are changing. As I have said, the level of violence in Basra has increased. I will not go into detail for obvious reasons, but the weapons that the terrorists are using have changed radically, as I have seen for myself on visits. I have seen that that is a serious issue, and have asked for a review.Dr. Fox: Clearly, there is an increased risk. Lord Drayson told the other place recently that in Iraq, the Snatch Land Rover ?provides the mobility and level of protection that we need.?? [ Official Report, House of Lords, 12 June 2006; Vol. 12, c. 2.] Fusilier Gordon Gentle was killed by a road-side bomb way back in June 2004, and since then other soldiers have been killed who would have survived if they had been in properly armed vehicles. Snatch Land Rovers do not offer the level of protection that our troops need in Iraq, yet we continue to use them. Why are our troops not given the level of protection that they need, and which American troops already enjoy? Commanders cannot deploy vehicles that they do not have.Des Browne: As I have already said to the House, it is open to commanders to deploy vehicles that have heavier protection than the Snatch Land Rover and they have to make? [Interruption.] Other vehicles are available to them; there is a choice.(16 Oct 2007)Ann Winterton: ...The fact is that those at the top of the military seem to have become obsessed with high-tech, high-priced, overcomplicated new equipment. Let us take the case of the FRES vehicles; they were originally expected to be on stream by about 2010, but we will be lucky if it is 2020. It may even be later than that.Mr. Kevan Jones: Rubbish.Ann Winterton: The hon. Gentleman says ?rubbish?, but I think that the point was even admitted at the Dispatch Box in debate last week. In the meantime, there is a great hole; we have insufficient numbers of the right vehicles.Mr. Jones: I wish that the hon. Lady would do her research, and that she understood what she was talking about when making statements such as the one that she just made. I have pressed the Defence Committee hard on the subject that she raises; I am the one who has been pressing for an in-service date. Lord Drayson, the Minister with responsibility for defence procurement, has made it clear to the Committee on numerous occasions that 2012 is the in-service date. Having seen the rapid progress that he is making with that programme, I now have more faith that it will be in service by 2012. To say that may not happen until 2020 is absolute rubbish.Ann Winterton: The hon. Gentleman expresses his opinion. We will have to wait and see who is right. I hope that we are both in the House in 2012, and that we will recall this conversation on the Floor of the House. In the meantime, the real needs of the present have been overlooked, and the hard-learned lessons of the past appear to have been forgotten. So many people thought that Iraq would be another Northern Ireland, where the use of Snatch Land Rovers was appropriate, but they were completely wrong, and many people have lost their lives or been maimed as a result. I have always given the Government credit for the provision of, and improvements to, equipment such as helmets and body armour, and surveillance equipment and electronic countermeasures that use the latest technology. That is in addition to armoury for the infantry. It is in the provision of larger equipment that things have gone horribly wrong.(wikipedia, today)FRES: Programme restructuring:After General Dynamics had its preferred bidder status withdrawn in December 2008, the Ministry of Defence decided to restructure the programme. The utility vehicle programme has been scheduled to restart towards the end of 2010.[15] The UK MoD's Defence Equipment and Support agency has focused its attention on the tracked variants of the FRES programme; most notably the Specialist Vehicle. The FRES Integrated Project Team (based at MoD Abbey Wood) has disbanded. The UV element has been put on hold; its future hangs in the balance of the Strategic Defence Review, scheduled for early 2010. The SV element has joined with the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP) to form a new Medium Armoured Tracks Team (MATT). The two programmes share the Common Cannon and Ammunition Programme; whereby a new 40mm Cannon will be the main armament to both the upgraded Warriors and the new Specialist Vehicle.This week the Prime Minister said 200 new vehicles would be provided to replace the Snatch Land Rovers, which are so vulnerable to IEDs. He was told that 400 were needed.
Quote of the day Letters from a Tory
“I find it quite unusual for people to criticise me for doing what I consider to be my duty. …This was nothing to do with partisan politics.”
- Gordon Brown, who said today that the criticism he received for visiting Afghanistan a day after giving evidence to the Iraq war inquiry was “incredibly unfair”. During his Chilcot inquiry [...]
FRAIL ECONOMY NEEDS ANOTHER S... Socialist Unity
The Conservative party’s calls for immediate cuts to the economy have been met by a growing chorus of criticism, warning that this risks sending the economy back into recession (Report, 8 March). The government was right to stimulate the economy with a variety of measures last year and so offset some of the worst effects [...]
High speed off the rails Nigel Hastilow
RED ROAD SUICIDES EXPOSE A BR... Socialist Unity
C4 News Video - Gordon Brown ... Daily Referendum
Spend! Spend! Spend! Iain Dale
Gordon's Lies Exposed - again Plato Says
ASK YOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDID... Socialist Unity
How Brown Has Cut Defence Spe... Iain Dale
Liam Fox: Pleased Chilcot has... Daily Referendum
How are you? Blue Witch
A Response From the Electoral... Iain Dale
Another Balls Up The Final Redoubt
A response too the Lib Dem bl... Man in the Shed
Come meet me & other Cardiff-... Cardiff Blogger
RADICAL FAITH IN THE AGE OF F... Socialist Unity
GORDON RISKS BLOWING IT Socialist Unity
Jack Straw on Gerrymandering Toque
Where's the liberal outrage? Ranting Stan
General Election Poster: Gord... Daily Referendum
Brown is to arrogant to engag... Man in the Shed
Welcome to the national lotte... Nigel Hastilow
Do the BNP member rules discr... The Thunder Dragon
Quote Of The Day Looking for a Voice
Why I won?t be celebrating Ni... Letters from a Tory
Pirates A-hoy! Is there more to life than shoes?
A balanced-budget rule Adam Smith Institute
American healthcare: It is no... Adam Smith Institute
The IPCC review An Englishman's Castle
The creatures outside looked ... An Englishman's Castle
You Be The Judge An Englishman's Castle
Gone to the dogs Adam Smith Institute
Irrelevant Chatter on Minimum... An Englishman's Castle
Police To Probe Another MP Ov... The Blog of Kev
Doctor/Patient confidentialit... IanPJ on Politics
What have the Romans ever don... Ana the Imp
Hurting Ana the Imp
The Path to Hell Ana the Imp
Another Reason For An English... The Blog of Kev
William Hague: Britain at ris... Daily Referendum
First Class posts on Wednesda... Letters from a Tory
Jokes The Thunder Dragon
Nick Hogan Back Behind Bars +... Grumpy Old Twat
Commonwealth Day Toque
.xxx The Blog of Kev
It Shouldn't Happen to a LibD... Iain Dale
MPs Wanted For Crimes Against... The Blog of Kev
Cameron should take heed Ranting Stan
Take a long hard look at the ... Daily Referendum
Eamonn's book launch Adam Smith Institute
Nick Hogan Released -Official Looking for a Voice
Quote of the day Letters from a Tory
DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH - SOUTH ... Socialist Unity
PROPOSAL FOR ISRAELI CAMPAIGN... Socialist Unity
A Matter for Regret? Iain Dale
England betrayed The anger of a Quiet Man
My Election Night Gig on LBC ... Iain Dale
PMQs: All Brown Can Shout is ... Iain Dale
The Church of England Calls o... Toque
Well said, sir ContraTory
Scotland Against Crooked Lawy... The Final Redoubt
PEACE ACTIVISTS RALLY FOR ANT... Socialist Unity
Tony McNulty in the Power2010... Toque
Gordon Steals Darling's Thund... Iain Dale
Daft and dangerous Ranting Stan
Life Reflecting Art Reflectin... Looking for a Voice
Is fear the Conservatives? be... Letters from a Tory
What will Gordon's biggest li... Man in the Shed
National No Smoking Day Grumpy Old Twat
The government, property and ... Adam Smith Institute
Freedom for Scottish Schools ... An Englishman's Castle
IPCC - Move along now, the ex... An Englishman's Castle
British horseracing ? The goi... Adam Smith Institute
The Glasgow Commonwealth Game... An Englishman's Castle
Dr Helen Evans on NHS reforms Adam Smith Institute
Political Correctness is kil... The Final Redoubt
UK Trade Deficit soars to £8b... The Final Redoubt
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