Daily Bulletins

13/06/2004 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY.Now that it is clear that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, the USA and UK invasion of Iraq is being justified because the Tyranny of Saddam Hussein is being replaced by western-style Democracy, as practiced in those two countries. To a Christian, Democracy is not necessarily a morally more acceptable form of government than is, say, Dictatorship. Under Democracy, a minority may be consistently oppressed by a majority (or even vice-versa, if the “democracy” is carefully managed) while, historically, there have been golden ages under what can only be described as (benign) Dictatorships. Worse still, our own (representative) Democracy can result in government by an undisclosed oligarchy – there are various business interests which give financial support to both Presidential candidates in the USA. In the UK, we have reached the state where none of the three major parties has any clear philosophy so that the electorate despairs of meaningful elections. Control of the leader(s) of the majority party in Parliament, means effective control of the Country.It is worth recalling that Magna Carta and the first Parliaments were for the purpose of curbing the king’s power to raise taxes for fighting foreign wars; now a Prime Minister can take the country to war with no restraint whatsoever – one might ask; “Where was the Head of State – and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces – when the Invasion took place: in the Tower?” Thus Democracy, the word, may fall well short of Democracy, the meaning – namely Government by the people. For a Christian, honesty should be paramount, not lip-service or expediency. So how could we have a truly Democratic form of government? Well, as a suggestion for debate I propose that our present House of Lords be dissolved and given back its original name, the House of Peers. This would be filled with a sort of Grand Jury of randomly elected citizens, to serve for, say 2 years, after which they would still be capable of returning to their normal places in society. Everything Proposed by the Commons would require Ratification by the Peers. Sadly, the only way to bring this about – short of revolution – would be through the present House of Commons. Can you see the Commons giving away their power – even to the people? Incidentally, there is a precedent for the proposal outlined above; when it was decided to appoint a replacement for Judas Escariot, a name (Matthias) was drawn at random from those considered eligible. Although there were only 2 in that particular case, the principle is established. Anyway, wouldn’t you agree that selecting at random, from the UK eligible population, is unlikely to produce a worse collection of representatives than we get from a General Election. At least, it would be representative; 50% women, appropriate numbers of Christians, Moslems, Jews, etc. This principle could be applied at every level of Government. What do you think?JIM
12/06/2004 MEP ELECTIONS (JUNE 2004) – ENGLAND (EASTERN REGION).LIST OF COMPLAINTS.
PRESENTED TO REGIONAL RETURNING OFFICER ON 09/06/04.

  1. Local Authorities were not INSTRUCTED to supply to Registered Candidates copies of the Electoral Register. There is no need for any paranoia on the part of local officials – Candidates may simply be informed that they are subject to the Law applying to (European) Elections. I cite particularly obstructive behaviour by Peter Cox at Waveney District Council; I still have not received their Register! It will yet be required in connection with the efficacy of the Royal Mail delivery of my Election Address (see below).
  2. I was not sent a SPECIMEN copy of the Ballot Form. A neighbour, who has a postal vote, showed the Form to me and I was horrified to see that there was no mention of the fact that SEVEN Candidates were to be elected; we are merely informed that we have only ONE VOTE (ie put just one “X”)! THIS FORM (already sent out to Postal Voters) MUST NOT BE USED IN THIS ELECTION as it seriously DIMINISHES the HUMAN RIGHTS of all voters (including myself). I have carried out an informal survey (which included one Polling Station official); NONE could explain to me how ONE “X” can elect SEVEN candidates – from the total list of 62! I propose that the (A3 size) form, listing all candidates, be modified to allow voters to select (up to) SEVEN candidates; seven stickers could be attached to the Form – one could be identified as the first choice which could enable a comparison to be made with the presently proposed (d’Hondt) method of Evaluation (for Research purposes ONLY). Surely voters can be credited with enough common sense to place seven stickers on their choice of Candidates? By chance, I have come across the Election Notices for Broadlands (Norfolk) District Council; in one Ward, it is written that THREE candidates will be elected. Presumably the Ballot papers will show all (3 Lab and 3 Con) candidates and Voter will place THREE “X’s. If it’s good enough for Broadlands, it should be good enough for the whole of Anglia (where is WEST Anglia, by the way?). Information on the application of the d’Hondt calculation MUST be given to all voters BEFORE voting, training MUST be given to Polling Station (and other Election staff) and displays MUST be shown at all Polling Stations.
  3. This Election is part of the whole which takes place throughout the whole (recently enlarged) European Union. NO VOTES MAY BE COUNTED before the closure of the last Polling Station which will probably be in Portugal. All Europe (except UK) VOTES ON SUNDAY! Portugal is the most westerly Time-Zone. This injunction applies to every Polling Station throughout Europe but, as UK will vote three days BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE (can this be legal?), we must keep our completed Ballot Papers totally secure until counting can begin on Sunday night. The vaults at Huntingdon District Council may not be BIG enough, let alone SECURE enough.
  4. It appears that the ROYAL MAIL delivery of my address has been “patchy”, at best. I therefore register my grievance on this score and claim that the Eastern Region Election may be INVALID. This point is subject to negotiation, involving – but not limited to – the 3 points made above.

JIM Naisbitt.
(John James Naisbitt – INDEPENDENT Candidate).
28/05/2004 THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT. PROTO-TYPE (P1)

  1. I am not, and never have been, a member of any political party, nor of any secret society, including specifically the Freemasons. However, can I refer you to the web-site of the Movement for Christian Democracy: www.mcdpolitics.org. There you will find the Westminster Declaration with which I totally agree. The Declaration is concerned with the Sanctity of Life and one of the founder members of the Movement was David Alton, now a LibDem Peer, I believe.
  2. Concerning the proposed European Constitution, did you ever join any organisation without finding out how you could get out of it? That goes for Europe too. The “period” of application of the (original) Treaty of Rome is, in the French text “interminable”! We could sign up for some clauses for 5 years, others for 10 and so on, up to say 25 years maximum (the “Jubilee” of the Old Testament, I believe). Of course there would be a penalty for withdrawing before the agreed period but it would nevertheless be possible. Many of us are familiar with penalties for cashing in Life Assurance policies before the Maturity date.
  3. Concerning the recent enlargement of the European Union, you will be aware that the new entrants are generally smaller (and poorer) than the previously existing members. This reminds me of a recent meeting of Churches Together in St. Albans. Many new small single-community Churches were applying to join but the organisation (in my opinion) now risks fracture if the principle of “one church – one vote” is not revised. Sadly, although the small new groups were obviously fulfilling the second of Christ’s commands (”Love your neighbour as yourself”) their theology – required by Christ’s first commandment (”Fear God”) – has yet to be tested. So it is with the new European States. The Older Members are understandably reluctant to give up their veto on matters they consider important.
  4. One problem particular to the UK Eastern Region is the employment of casual agricultural labour – from Eastern Europe. It will be interesting to see if there is a move to employ people from even further East as the present labour force now falls under EU/UK labour legislation. A few days ago, I saw tractor cutting grass on the central reservation of the A414 near Hatfield. Two girls were following up, with dramatic enthusiasm, with strimmers. I fear it was only a matter of time before the strimmer head would catch their long flowing hair. New-comers must learn the ways of our Health and Safety Executive.
  5. I hope to have the opportunity to ask my rival Candidates whether UK Independence would be only from mainland Europe or also from the United States of America. My Fair-Play genes are always irritated by the mid-morning BBC Radio 4 chat programmes which include the obligatory North-American but NEVER a European. Now, these days, even the French speak English. It is no excuse to say that the BBC do this to encourage the sale of their programmes to North-America; the BBC is supposed to be a British (Public Service) Broadcasting (service) Corporation.
  6. If you have seen my Election Address (also posted on this web-site) you will be aware that I am not at all happy with the “carve up” of the 7 Euro-Seats (now reduced from 8 due to the new Member States). I have now concluded that I must start in the County Court and that my writ against this method of selecting winning candidates will be directed at a) the Regional Returning Officer and b) the Minister for Constitutional Affairs. It seems I shall have to get in the queue, as other “parties” have their own axes to grind.

TTFN; JIM