Terrorism

I hope that Mrs J Broom when she writes that 'you will never break the spirit of the people in the jewel in the west' in her letter under the heading City won't bow to terrorist threat Echo May 30 could be speaking for every village, town, city, County or Country throughout the world.
I hope she understands that when our soldiers walked down the streets of Basra that we were the terrorists. That we brought terror with our American allies to Iraq. I hope that now as more and more is published about the lies, the deceits, the crimes committed by us are no different to what happened in Exeter. That is why Bush, Blair and Brown are guilty. They did this. In our name the 'leaders' of the free world have taken all of the moral authority we may have had. We, and I say we rather than you, have allowed these crimes. Some people spoke out, some refused to participate in this abomination, but it has happened. We now know about the illegal acts perpetrated by soldiers of Britain and America, that is why there must be no forces day.
We are guilty of the crime of waging an illegal war, just as Hitler was guilty, however, the German people were just as guilty because the plea of 'I was just following orders' was proven in International Courts as not valid. Do not deceive yourselves that we didn't know what was going on. Just because Bush, Blair and now Brown, have not yet been brought to justice the day will come when they will face trial for their crimes.
Finally, if any minister dares to go before the House of Commons and gives the terrorist attack in Exeter as a reason for extending the length of time for detaining terrorists to 42 days, then none of us will be able to sleep soundly in our beds. Remember, my son now has an injunction against him by the Ministry of Defence preventing him from speaking his truth in public, what sort of country do we live in?

Parking

I remember with interest the campaign which the Echo participated in with respect to the illegal signs of the 30 mph speed limit on a Devon road. This resulted in substantial sums of money being returned to drivers who had paid speeding fines.
May I take the opportunity to point out the current situation in Exeter with regard to the issuing of tickets for contravention of parking restrictions. Now I may be wrong, but I don't think I am, but I think that all parking tickets issued in Exeter after early May are in fact not legitimate. My reasoning is that I have heard through my very good grapevine that Parliament has not passed the correct legislation to enable the correct implementation of Civil Parking Enforcement. Maybe if MPs worried more about getting legislation correct rather than worrying about their expenses the world would be a better place.
Accordingly, may I suggest that all Exeter residents appeal against any tickets issued. May I finish by saying that Exeter officers and councillors should immediately stop the wasteful excercise of setting up committees to continue the Unitary status bid. This is not good enough.

Pensions

there is an issue, as usual, which is below most peoples radar and that is over the question of the annual increases to pensions.
Currently these are linked to the Retail Prices Index, a good measure because people see the increases which are taking place when they shop. Furthermore, any sane person can see for themselves the effect which the oil price increase is having on prices.
My problem is that there are proposals to break the link with prices and link increases to wages. This is again a very stupid idea. For one thing I rely on the statisticians to give me the information on by how much peoples wages are rising, I cannot see for myself. Can I trust the figures?
Anybody who does not understand that we are heading for a severe depression is living in cloud cuckoo land. The effect on wages will be that they will be depressed, just as some idiot decides that it would be a good idea to link pensions to incomes after years being linked to the R.P.I.
My private pension is linked to the R.P.I. and I want it to remain so. Also, my State Pension, to which I am entitled to in just over five years, should stay linked to the R.P.I. Get rid of means tested benefits and just give a decent rise to pensioners.

Politicians

The main error made by most of the elected politicians and wider society is to allow our continued occupation of Iraq. Does nobody else see the detrimental effect that this has had on society. It seems alright to kill Moslems in Iraq, it seems alright to kill people of a different colour in Iraq, yet on the streets of Britain! We are a force of occupation in a foreign sovereign country, we should leave now.
As for the actual politicians does nobody else see that although MPs are spending taxpayers money within 'the rules' that this sets an unacceptable example to younger members of our society.
We have been let down by politicians. Even though some of them voted against the war they still sit in Parliament taking their money. Let them ask a question of the PM and then when he fails to answer, they should just walk out. Leave him to lie to empty spaces. Gordon Brown supported the war as Chancellor because he paid for it, we are paying our taxes supporting this act of Imperialism. They, the MPs and civil servants are a disgrace, they should get us out of Iraq, now! We are still the problem and never will be the solution and we cannot afford it.

Forces Day

I really do not want to upset any serving servicemen or women but the idea that there should be some sort of armed forces day is totally unacceptable. The reason why we remembered the dead of WWI was the inescapable fact that for the first time ever in the history of Britain we had conscription. It was when men were forced to fight and die for their country that the rubicon was crossed. We should never force people to kill other fellow human beings. You have to believe in wghat you are fighting for which is why yet again I have to continue to argue for the withdrawal from Iraq.
The way the upper echelons of the military have allowed the soldiers to be involved in what many others now agree was an illegal war is disgraceful. I have said before about Gen Sir Mike Jackson and the way he has made his money from book royalties and being involved with the private military contractors and this should never have been allowed. How many other books are waiting to be published?
I do not believe that soldiers want parades, they are for the politicians and the arm chair generals, not for the squaddies who are the ones who really risk their lives every day, and for what. Tony Blair has done alright out of the war as has Gordon Brown and the rest of them, but the people? Well I think you all know the answer to that question.

Gordon Brown Hypocrite

now that Gordon Brown has started to listen may I shout that the only way in which he can really redeem himself is to announce the immediate withdrawal of our soldiers from Iraq. He says that he listens and that he feels our pain, well may I suggest that he share the pain of those who inhabitated a country which is now occupied by foreigners and where unknown thousands have been killed, either through sectarian violence or in a bid to free their country from the occupiers who are only there because of the access to oil.
As for listening he seems to want to hear only that which he wants to. As readers will know my son Ben Griffin has been served with an injunction by the Ministry of Defence preventing him from speaking in public about the war and continuing occupation by British and American troops. Furthermore, I think you will find that dead soldiers cannot speak and the injured ones are told that if they speak out against the war then they will lose the meagre compensation they are entitled to. So, Gordon, listen to this 'Get out of Iraq' now! The whole exercise has been a disaster and so many lives have been lost and for what? Nothing! There really is no point in continuing, because apart from anything else we cannot afford it. This is turning into another War of Jenkins Ear when by the end of it nobody could remember why we went to war in the first place.
Finally, may I suggest that with our continuing desire to fight and kill foreigners under the guise of national security, or fighting terrorism, may I suggest that we rename the Ministry of Defence the Ministry of War, which is what it was named when we were the Imperialists and not the Americans. Hey, as an alternative we could rename it the Ministry of the Defence of America, which is what we seem to be doing.

Benefits

The only fair solution to me would be to get rid of all means tested benefits, just get rid of them. Then increase the basic state pension to a level which enables all to live a life without fear of not being able to have a good quality of life. However, there is a sting in this because there should also be an increase in the tax free allowance to £15,000, there should be a merger between the tax and national insurance, there should be two tax rates for earnings above £15,000 the second for those earning in excess of £100,000 and there should be no tax credits at all. There can be a huge reduction in staff at the benefits agency and tax offices. However, the few remaining should be well trained and qualified because my final proposal will be that for anybody evading their contribution to the welfare of this country must face massive fines and requisitioning of property. Oh, and we should get rid of the United Kingdom and give us English our freedom.