Believe in book and you'll fear for our country
A new book by Dr Eammon Butler makes disturbing reading. It also demonstrates how priorities in this country have become very muddled.
We are now a nation of snooped-upon form-fillers, while our healthcare system struggles.
Dr Butler is a director of the Adam Smith Institute, a leading think tank. Entitled The Rotten State of Britain, he claims his book is the first 'deeply researched factual account' of New Labour.
A page-turner for reasons grim rather than gripping, this tome suggests national debt is running at 175,000 per household – five times more than previously thought.
The government has passed 3,500 pages of regulations, along with more than 100,000 pages of rules and explanation.
Apparently Britain is home to a quarter of the world's CCTV cameras. Think about that. Of all the CCTV cameras in the world, we have 25 per cent of them. Does that scare you? It does me. Other details included in this ten-year audit pertain to the 1,400 litter wardens and dogcatchers with the power to levy on-the-spot fines.
However much you detest litter louts and stray dogs, when you compare this with the statistic I found most disturbing, you, too, will understand why I believe the current administration has got its priorities wrong:
Dr Butler states 30,000 of the 200,000 people who die of cancer and strokes every year would survive 'if they lived anywhere else in northern Europe'. To me this is the biggest blow of all.
Of course it is entirely possible Dr Eammon Butler has an agenda, or is possibly a fruitcake. But he represents an organisation that administrations of all political persuasions take notice of.
Publishing such a book cannot be done without substantial evidence. Dr Butler is on record saying his book was turned down by two publishers given the 'unconventional' nature of its content.
Two final revelations state: one in nine hospital patients pick up an infection, resulting in more than 9bn in claims against the NHS.
In the year 2006-07, half the 700,000 DNA samples collected by the police came from children, including a seven-month-old baby.
If Dr Butler's claims are true, New Labour has reduced our freedom and civil liberties at the expense of saving lives. How can that possibly be right?
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Wednesday 30 May 2012
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