Hat’s off to Janet Street-Porter on the Alan Titchmarsh show for questioning the purpose and cost of the census and the people tasked with compiling the information. Arms dealers! She is some Gal.
One has to ask why the government wants to know who was staying at your house on March 27th and how that information is going to help improve services in the future.
If you are out of the country on that date does it make you exempt from filling in the extremely long form?
The respected journalist Rosemary Bennett who is Social Affairs Correspondent for the Sunday Times wrote...
“Almost £500 million will be spent on the biggest and most expensive census in an attempt to measure Britain's true immigrant population.
Questions have been added to try to establish how long people have been living here, what passports they hold and their nationality.
Ministers have been forced to admit that they have no idea how many immigrants are in Britain, which means that public services in areas of high migrant populations are often stretched because spending decisions are made using inaccurate data.
For the 2011 Census, millions of pounds will be spent on a new mailing list to make sure that every property is included”.
It is a farce. If the government think illegal immigrants or those who can’t read or write are going to fill in the forms they are deluded to the point of utter stupidity. And as far as I know the government don’t build places of worship so why do you have to state your religion?
If the “powers that be” (and let’s face it they are shadows and puppet master’s in the background) cared a fig for the future and our welfare they would ask pertinent questions such as how good is your health service? Have you street lights and are you linked to a sewer system? We don’t and aren’t yet we paid nearly £2000 pounds in rates last year. I dread to think what it is going to be this year.
People in rural areas are really struggling. The elderly can’t afford to heat their homes. Friends I have met through Facebook are tuned into what is happening in the world and they have knowledge of oil moguls hoarding supplies so they can make a bigger profit.
No matter who is in power they are taxing us to the point where people can no longer have hope for a better future. Income tax, Vehicle Excise Duty, tax on fuel, value added tax (whether you get value for money or not), National Insurance, tax on the pittance of interest on your savings, tax on a wee glass of wine … it goes on and on. If they could tax the air we breathe they would, and probably will. Janet and I would make one formidable pair.
Back to Rosemary’s article.
“James Hulme, a spokesman for the New Local Government Network (NLGN), an independent think-tank, said: “We calculated that the Government could save about £250 million by drawing on records from existing public services, such as GP surgery lists and the electoral roll which is updated each year, rather than every ten years. At a time when the public finances are stretched, this is an ideal way of saving money.”
Councils said that they did not want spending decisions to be made on the basis of the census. They were furious at being short-changed because resources were allocated on the basis of the 2001 Census. The Local Government Association said that improving alternative sources of information such as national insurance numbers would give a much clearer picture.”
When are we going to get smart and caring people into government? People who aren’t out for what they can get for themselves
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