British National Party Public Services News Bulletin w/c April 2, 2007
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1. FIREFIGHTERS LEARNING POLISH

This is another example of the burden imposed on the public sector by mass immigration.

http://www.thisischeshire.co.uk/display.var.1309930.0.firefighting_polish_style.php

Firefighters in Crewe are the first of the emergency services to receive Polish language and culture lessons in a new scheme to bridge gaps with migrant communities. With over 3000 Polish workers having arrived in Crewe since Poland joined the EU in 2004, it is hoped that the classes, which aim to improve communication between firefighters and Polish people at the scene of a fire or a road traffic collision, could help to save lives. The classes, held at Crewe Fire Station over a three-week period, were also attended by Polish people living in Crewe to teach them the role of the fire service. A Polish interpretator taught firefighters useful Polish phrases whilst Poles learned the English equivalent to enable both sides to discover crucial information such as the cause or location of a fire.

The course was set up by Fire Brigades Union lifelong learning co-ordinator Garry Harney aided by unionlearn project worker Ged Bretherton and Ron Evans of the Communication Workers Union. Mr Harney feels there is a definite need to increase the level of communication between the growing Polish community and firefighters. He said: "The Polish community in Crewe is large and helping them learn English will benefit all of us. "If we are called to a fire at the home of a Polish person it will help enormously if we can understand each other. "I thought the classes were a great success in breaking down barriers and making Polish people aware that the fire service is there to protect them." Over 120 people took part in the three classes which each lasted for an hour and a half and encouraged an informal atmosphere with the last session indulging in a celebration of each country's traditional cakes. With Polish communities growing across the whole of Cheshire it is hoped that the project will be adopted in other parts of the county as well as amongst other emergency services. Mr Harney added: "I've been approached by other stations interested in holding similar courses."

2. ABOVE-INFLATION WATER RATES RISE DRAINS HOMES

We always believed that privatisation of water utilities was a mistake, especially because it created a private monopolist and this fact confirms we were right.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/31/nwater31.xml

Millions of homes will face an inflation-busting rise in their water rates tomorrow with some bills rising by more than 10 per cent. The new rates will see the average water bill in England and Wales rise by seven per cent, or £20 per year. For many homes the increase will be much higher. Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, is currently 2.7 per cent. The rise comes as household budgets are being squeezed by soaring council tax bills, rising mortgage repayments and spiralling transport costs. The Consumer Council for Water warned that people on low and fixed incomes will find it difficult to cope with higher water rates. The seven per cent increase masks regional variations. South West Water customers will see their bills go up by an average of 10.1 per cent, while Severn Trent customers will face a 5.7 per cent rise. According to figures from the regulator Ofwat, the average water and sewerage bill for 2007-08 will be £312 in England and £363 in Wales. Dame Yve Buckland, chairman of the Consumer Council for Water, said: "Although water costs each household less than a pound a day on average, many consumers on low and fixed incomes will struggle to keep up with these bill rises.

" The increases come after a year of record profits for water companies and severe drought restrictions for many homes in the south-east of England. Although the amount of water lost by supplies in leaks has fallen over the past decade, critics say the industry is too careless. Last year, 3.6 billion litres of drinking water seeped out of cracking pipes and water mains into the ground every day. That is enough to fill nearly 1,500 Olympic sized swimming pools every day. Some of the companies with the steepest price rises have the worst leakage records. Thames Water, which is increasing its rates by an average of six per cent, wastes 244 litres of water per customer every day - mostly through its ailing network of Victorian pipes under London.That is the equivalent of every home supplied by Thames flushing a lavatory 40 times every day for no reason. Dwr Cymru, which is imposing a 7.4 per cent rise, loses 167 litres per customer every day. This weekend's price increases were determined in December 2004 when the regulator Ofwat set prices from 2005 to 2010. The industry argues that it needs above-inflation increases to cover the cost of reducing waste, making environmental improvements and creating new reservoirs. Water companies say they are spending more than ever on tackling leaks - a decade ago around five billion litres were lost every day. Despite the improvements, four suppliers managed to miss their leakage targets last year - Thames Water, Severn Trent, United Utilities and Southern Water. Southern Water, remained within its three-year rolling average target. The Consumer Council for Water says people paying water rates should consider installing a water meter - particularly if they live on their own or do not have a large family. Dame Yve added: "If you are already on a meter you should try to minimise wasting water in the garden, kitchen and bathroom, which will save you money as well as helping with conserving water resources."

3. END FERTILITY TREATMENT ON THE NHS, SAY DOCTORS

We find this decision totally unacceptable, especially when the NHS wastes huge amount of money by offering free health care to immigrants and asylum seekers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/31/nhs31.xml

Three quarters of British doctors say they do not believe that couples should be able to get free fertility treatment on the NHS, according to research published today. A survey of more than 1,000 GPs and hospital doctors showed that 70 per cent said that the NHS should not pay for every type of operation but there was no consensus on what the NHS should fund. When asked if patients should pay for treating accidents or illnesses caused by lifestyle choice, 38 per cent were unsure, 33 per cent said the NHS should pay and 28 per cent said patients should pay.

The online survey by Doctors.net.uk for The Daily Telegraph, shows that doctors continue to support the health service, but are increasingly concerned about how it can be afforded. There was support for asking patients to pay for all or part of their treatment as a means of deterring time-wasters, with 70 per cent agreeing this would be an effective measure. But when the doctors were asked if they thought paying for treatment would reduce the number of diseases or accidents caused by drinking, 42 per cent thought that it would while, 45 per cent thought that it would not. Eighty per cent did not believe that the NHS should pay for vasectomy reversal and 84 per cent said the NHS should not pay for gender reassignment surgery. About a third thought that the NHS should not pay for elective caesarean operations. But other operations which some doctors argue should not be done on the NHS or have unproven merit - varicose veins, grommet insertion, hernia repair and tonsil and adenoid removal met with more approval. Between 70 and 80 per cent thought these operations should be free. With some cancer treatments costing thousands of pounds a year and the NHS drugs bill rising, the doctors were asked if the NHS should pay for all drugs that had been approved by licensing authorities. They were spilt, with 55 per cent saying it should and 45 per cent saying it should not. Forty-six per cent thought that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) which rules on drugs for the NHS, got its decisions wrong. Only 28 per cent though that Nice got it right and 27 per cent did not know. Dr Jonathan Fielden, the chairman of the NHS consultants' committee, said the time was right for a debate on how the health service should be funded.

"There would probably be agreement on providing core services and agreement on not providing services such as cosmetic surgery or fertility treatment, but there would be grey areas. I believe these would need to be decided democratically at a local level, but this would have the effect of increasing the post code lottery," he said. Commenting on the 76 per cent of doctors who were against the NHS funding fertility treatments Dr Allan Pacey, the secretary of the British Fertility Society, said: "This a surprising finding. A survey of 70,000 hospital doctors last June found that around 60 per cent believed the NHS should support assisted conception. "Another poll in November found that a majority of the public thought the NHS funding guidelines were about right, with this number rising if the woman was under 40. Therefore the respondents in the current survey seem to be out of step with what the public thinks. "It is worth remembering that 1 in 7 couples experience infertility and, after pregnancy itself, it is the commonest reason for women aged 20-45 to see their GP." Dr Tim Ringrose, the director of professional relations at Doctors.net.uk, said the large number of respondents "illustrated that the profession has widely differing opinions about how far the NHS can go to provide "cradle to the grave" care. "The vast majority of doctors still believe that the NHS should fund the majority of care for surgical procedures, but only a minority think that fertility treatment, gender reassignment and illnesses related to lifestyle should be fully funded by the public purse."

4. BRITAIN HAS HIGHEST RAIL FARES IN EUROPE

Privatisation of railways has been a failure and we believe it's time to bring them back under state control.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/31/nrail131.xml

Rail passengers in Britain face the highest unregulated walk-on fares in Europe, according to figures released yesterday. Detailed research carried out by the Liberal Democrats supports long-held complaints by consumer groups that fares are too high. Calculating how far passengers could travel for £10, the research found that UK passengers could travel only 35 miles, while their French counterparts could go 102 miles for the same price. Someone travelling in Latvia would be able to go 663 miles for £10. "The biggest rise in complaints over the last year has been about fares and refunds, which is not surprising given that rail fares continue to be the most expensive in Europe," said Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman. "Given the amount of public money spent on the railways, the travelling public need to get a much better deal. "Our railways should be reliable and accessible for everyone, not just those who can afford it." Barry Doe, a specialist on the current complex rail fare system, said passengers received less ticket subsidy in Britain than abroad. In addition, the capping arrangements that apply to 40 per cent of fares left train operators making as much money as they could from the other remaining tickets on sale. While a small number are also offered at bargain basement rates by train operators to stimulate demand, millions of passengers still have to pay the full cost of a ticket if they turn up on the day.

They can only avoid doing so by buying an off peak "saver ticket," but these fares are often subject to restrictions. Consumer groups believe even these saver tickets, whose prices are currently capped by the Government, are under threat with train operators calling for greater freedom to set fares. The way that fares are calculated are an additional factor. Charging according to the distance travelled was scrapped by British Rail in 1968. Mr Doe said: "But then it was just a case of tweaking. Now different operators are free to come up with their own regime." While British unregulated fares are purely dictated by commercial demand, the formula across the European Union is more complicated. Some countries rely purely on distance-based charging, while others use both market forces and the length of the journey to dictate what the ticket costs. A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies defended the current arrangements faced by passengers. "There are market-led fares. Some are very cheap, but others will be dictated by levels of demand and geography. "It looks at what the airlines would charge, what it would cost to drive and what the market will sustain, which is why some prime routes such as London to Manchester can seem expensive at certain times of day. "The charges in some parts of Europe are partly a reflection on general price and wage levels in that country. "People are voting with their feet and using the rail network in ever greater numbers - up 10 per cent over the last six months alone - and many of these are on key long distance leisure and business routes like London to Manchester where the train is grabbing market share off the airlines."

5. 800 FACE SACK IN BECKETT FARM PAYMENT FIASCO

British farmers are paying a heavy price for the incompetence of the Labour Government.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=445919&in_page_id=1770

More than 800 civil servants are to be sacked in savage new cuts imposed by Gordon Brown after the farm payments scandal. A secret email shows the Chancellor has ordered a crackdown on the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, run by his leadership rival David Miliband, after the EU threatened to fine Britain up to £500million over the bungle. A Commons report said last week that Mr Miliband's predecessor Margaret Beckett - who is now Foreign Secretary - should have been fired for failing to pay billions of pounds of subsidies to British farmers. Now Whitehall officials claim Mr Brown is punishing staff for the blunder and say he has coined a new term for redundancies 'exemplification'. The email, leaked to The Mail on Sunday, was sent on March 12 by Defra Permanent Secretary Helen Ghosh and warns that the Treasury is insisting on major job cuts. "As a result of difficulties in the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) we have been unable to meet the timetable to deliver our original target to reduce our workforce,' says Ms Ghosh. "We have another 500 reductions to find by March 2008 even to meet that target - and the Treasury is seeking further reductions in the CSR (Comprehensive Spending Review) for 2007. We will face a further five per cent year-on-year reduction in our budget."

A Government insider said Defra had to shed 800 civil servants. "Because of the RPA shambles the job cuts went by the board while they sorted out the mess,' said a source. "Now there is a panic on to find even bigger cuts elsewhere. "If the Government wants to make an example of someone for what went wrong it should start at the top, not the bottom. Margaret Beckett walked out of Defra into a more senior job at the Foreign Office. "Meanwhile large numbers of civil servants are thrown out of their jobs to claw back the money we will have to pay to the EU in fines. Some parts of Defra will lose up to one in two staff." Brussels has fined Britain £300million for the delays in money owed to farmers and is expected to impose another £200million penalty. A report by the Commons environment select committee criticised the farms fiasco. Its chairman, Tory Michael Jack, said: "If Defra was a public company, the members of the main board would have tendered their resignations." Mrs Beckett 'should not be rewarded with promotion but its reverse'. A Defra spokesman said: "We are working to meet our target of reducing the number of civil service posts. "To ensure the RPA delivers a stable and reliable payment system to farmers, the reductions in its staffing will not start until the end of 2008. "To deliver a smaller and more flexible department, we will continue to explore the potential for further workforce reductions."

6. ACADEMICS CALL TIME ON 'ILLITERATE' STUDENTS

The drop in standards is really disturbing, the negative consequences on British economy will last for years to come. Unfortunately there is no will to solve this problem, illiterate students are needed to force mass immigration on a sceptical native population, on the ground that immigrants are better qualified and more literate.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/30/nedu30.xml

Lecturers at some of the new universities are calling for a public debate on standards because they say functionally illiterate students are being passed so they do not drop out of courses. The lack of writing skills and sloppy punctuation and spelling will render students unemployable in graduate jobs despite their degrees, they say. Among the written howlers cited from students at both new and old universities are the cringe-making "language is a mean's of self expresun"; the dreadful "garunteed" for "guaranteed"; and the utterly impenetrable "case in point to me alone but not all". Lecturers at Bournemouth and Teesside universities have complained that their fail grades were reversed to enable students to stay on. At the University of Hertfordshire, Prof Tony Marcel described the English and essay-writing skills of some of his psychology students as "appallingly bad". "It comes down to the failure of secondary education to teach the importance of clear and accurate written communication," said Prof Marcel, formerly of the Medical Research Council. "Spelling and punctuation is only part of the problem. Their vocabulary is poor and mistaken; they have little idea of syntax, cannot punctuate and seem to have no idea of what constitutes a sentence. "When I am reproached for being an old fuddy duddy I tell students that if they can't write a report then employers won't want them."

The Times Higher Education Supplement highlighted other complaints yesterday and said the time was right "for an honest and open debate on the qualities we expect from those entering university". A media history lecturer left Teesside university after being told his decision to fail students who cited only web sources contravened the university's regulations. Leo Enticknap, now at Leeds university, said students were being let down if they were allowed to pass without demonstrating serious research and good written English. Some of the new universities, the former polytechnics given university status after 1992, feared that criticising students might lead them to drop out but they needed to crack down on errors so all their students achieved the same skills as those from the traditional ones, he added. Teesside University said Dr Enticknap's decision had failed to comply with procedures.