House of Lords
It is time to end this crisis, and rescue the Lords, by insisting on a fully elected chamber, in which all peers are chosen by the same method, and yet without the same democratic mandate as the commons.
Elect the Lords – and stop our gongs going for a song
I was stuck at a traffic light yesterday when a brand new red Toyota 4X4 drew abreast, containing three extraordinary women. Their cheeks were flushed, their lips were red, they wore sexy little cream pant suits and matching cream hats, and identical pink shirts to go with the flowers in the brim.
They were in that state of innocent euphoria that causes human beings to hail complete strangers. “Oi Boris,” they shouted through the window, “we’ve just been to see the Queen!” And then the Beverley sisters (for that was how they introduced themselves) waved the square blue leather case containing the three identical ribbons and medals they had earned for a lifetime of belting out hits (I think they said there was one called Sisters) that have no doubt brought pleasure to millions, if not to you or me.
Boris Johnson MP: Community Hospital Rally a Triumph – Time Now for Hewitt to Act
Commenting on the success of yesterday’s CHANT (Community Hospitals Acting Nationally Together) Rally, at which upwards of 1,000 people attended, Boris Johnson MP said:
‘I was thrilled so many people were able to make it and would like to thank each and every one of those who turned up for taking the time and trouble to do so. It was a huge demonstration of support by local people for these community hospitals.
The whole day went exceedingly well, everybody behaved with incredible politeness and good humour, but this should not mask just how strongly people feel about this and how important the issue at stake really is.
We must continue to keep up the pressure until we get a firm commitment from Patricia Hewitt that she will match the rhetoric of the Health White Paper with action. She must accept real responsibility for the current mess and finally step in to save all those community hospitals, including Townlands, that remain under imminent threat of closure’.
Ends
More local news and campaigns on the local Oxfordshire website
Note to Editors
Video feedback of the event available, courtesy of Felixstowe TV, at:
http://www.felixstowetv.co.uk/06/mar/hoc1.html
Boris Johnson MP: Lets Make CHANT (Community Hospitals) Rally a Success
Supporters of community hospitals from around the country are today attending the first National Community Hospitals Rally in London. Despite welcome recognition of the importance of the services provided by community hospitals in the recent Health White Paper, cuts and closures are continuing.
Over 300,000 people have already signed local petitions supporting their community hospitals and delegations from across England will be in attendance. The rally will be addressed by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of CHANT, Graham Stuart and Boris Johnson MP, by Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, and by Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat Health spokesman. Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health, has also been invited to speak.
Commenting on the Rally, Boris Johnson MP said:
‘I am delighted so many people seem prepared to travel from all around the country to come to this event. Despite recent reassurances in the Health White Paper, many communities are seeing their local hospitals being wound down or closed – this Rally is proof that this is not what people want.
I only hope that when Patricia Hewitt glances out her window in the Commons and catches sight of the assembled throng that she take to heart their message, that these community hospitals are an absolutely vital and valued local resource and must not be closed merely in response to some end of year budgetary crunch. I will in addition keep my fingers firmly crossed the sun continues to shine!’
ENS
Notes to Editors:
CHANT is holding a national rally outside Parliament on March 28th from 1pm to 2pm to highlight the continued threat to more than 80 community hospitals and demand that action is taken by the Government.
CHANT is a cross-party group campaigning for community hospitals. It has Labour, Liberal Democrat, Independent and Conservative MPs and Peers as Patrons. Further information about CHANT, including details of the national rally to be held in London on March 28th, can be found on the CHANT website:
www.chantonline.com
email [Email address: email #AT# chantonline.com - replace #AT# with @ ]
Dress in Educational Establishments
All around us, in our courts, in the oppressive liberty-destroying Bills being rushed through Parliament, we see the disasters of multiculturalism, the system by which too many Muslims have been allowed to grow up in this country with no sense of loyalty to its institutions, and with a sense of complete apartness.
The Shabina Begum case never had anything to do with modesty
I don’t know whether you caught young Shabina Begum talking on the television yesterday, but, as I studied the pictures of this exceedingly good-looking and confident young woman, I was suddenly conscious of a paradox.
Here she is, at the centre of a national media storm, and one that has been very largely whipped up by her own supporters. There goes our Shabina, batting her (rather beautiful) eyes through her visor, and thereby exciting the interest of millions of otherwise apathetic viewers, who are not only infidels but very possibly male infidels at that.
Boris in bicycle fall
Boris fell off his bicycle on his way to the House of Commons yesterday afternoon and was taken to hospital to have his injured arm checked out.
His bicycle is in a bad state of repair but Boris himself is much better now and surprised at all the attention this minor injury is receiving. “Lord help us all!” he said, upon news that his fall had made it to national radio news this morning.
