The prime minister has called for
"people's panels" to help push through key public service reforms.
The questions will just keep flowing, and the answers will beg more questions. But just be aware that the answers you get may not be the ones you were looking for.
How will these panels will be made up, who
will chose them, how can we ensure impartiality, who will listen to them, will
they be used to endorse some of the most controversial policies (i.e. Smoking
Ban, etc), will they be paid, will they be made up of all ethnic groups, all
political persuasions, colours, creeds and genders, and represent all the
regions in the UK.
Will they truly represent the views of the general public at large, from boiler suits to city suits, the unemployed, the retired, students, those on benefits, professionals, public bodies and civil servants, house owners, tenants, those reliant on social care, those giving social care and so on.
If it is to be truly representative, then
100 people is such a small number, thousands will be required to give a fully
balanced view, but my own feelings are that this Government doesn’t really want
a balanced view, otherwise we would be seeing referendums set up for those
difficult policies.
One of Mr Blair's aides said the "major extension" in public engagement would go some way to providing a "crucial route map to the future". "This engagement process will identify in more detail the areas which the public want us to focus on and develop a series of radical and progressive solutions," he added.
Sorry Mr Blair, but we already have constitutional mechanisms for this, called Elections and Referendums, and would you really call a 100 person panel a ‘major’ extension.
If I look at all the other ‘dots’ on the
big plan, and I see this scheme as another dot, as outlined in my earlier blog
‘Winning
the right to be called Citizens rather than Subjects now seems insignificant’
this tactic, this scheme, appears to be nothing more than another of the
building blocks for the Brave New World in Britain.
In
Remember what the Aide said "This engagement
process will identify in more detail the areas which the public want us to
focus on and develop a series of radical and progressive solutions,".
Is this what these groups will be doing?. Radical and Progressive solutions.!
Didn’t Mr Hitler and Mr Stalin have some of those…..?
The newspapers, TV and Internet News channels tell us that these ‘panels’ according to Mr Blair will be to look at government plans to influence lifestyles and healthy living.
Mr Hitler and Mr Stalin had some of those
too.
I for one do not want anymore of my rights and freedom of choice curtailed, and certainly not by 100 unelected people.
I guarantee that the names and the make up
of these panels will be secret, and over a short space of time the panel
members will quietly change to only include supporters of the bigger agenda.
Always remember that the language and rhetoric of the extreme left and the extreme right are exactly the same, so there will only ever be muted criticism from the Official Opposition in Parliament.
Ever wondered where the Labour Left disappeared to?. Did you really think that they would just fade away when New Labour came to power, or are they beavering away in the background working on the committee’s and planning forums that put the details to the grey laws already passed.
Take a look at the Left’s agenda at the
time of Jim Callaghan and the similarities to the legislation already passed by
New Labour. Frightening. As they say, check the small print.
So lets look at what the press is telling us will be on the agenda for these ‘panels’.
In February, regional meetings of the
panels will be held where members will read versions of
The key word here is ‘Versions’. Not briefing papers or extracts of briefing papers but versions of.
So these panels will be told what version the government wants them to know. Slight of Hand number 1.
The panels will discuss what "support
and encouragement" the state can give to help to improve people's
"life chances and well-being" - in particular such as
"behavioural factors" as smoking and poor diet.
Well, we already know that the state is not in the business of giving help over behavioural factors, it just bans it. Dictate rather than negotiate. Slight of hand number 2.
The panels will look at how retailers, such
as supermarket giant Tesco, use loyalty cards to create databases of their
clients and tailor-make services for them based on the information gathered.
Tesco is quietly building a profile of you, along with every individual in the country - a map of personality, travel habits, shopping preferences and even how charitable and eco-friendly you are. A subsidiary of the supermarket chain has set up a database, called Crucible, that is collating detailed information on every household in the UK, from sources such as DVLA, Voting Registers and commercial sources, whether they choose to shop at the retailer or not.
The company refuses to reveal the
information it holds, even when challenged under the Data Protection Act, yet
Tesco is selling access to this database to other big consumer groups, such as
Sky,
THIS IS
The panels will also look at how contracts can be extended between members of the public and the state - similar to the way youngsters receive allowances if they stay in education.
OK, this is where the real people control begins. You enter into a contract for instance, that in return for your training to be a teacher, you will have to agree to work in a certain area for 10 years.
If subsequently you want to move out of the area, change jobs or travel, you will need permission, if you want your brother or aunt who lives in a different district to come live with you, because you are in a state subsidised house, and in a contracted job, you will need permission, and so it goes on… just like it did in East Germany and Russia. The Internal Passport or ID Card ensures compliance, and the local ‘workers soviet’ or ‘people’s panel’ applies the rules.
Slight of hand number 4.
One of the reasons that we write, read and
teach history is so that, as people, both Government and Citizen we don’t make
the same mistakes twice. We know what happened
in Hitler’s
