'our own Nick Robinson has recently confessed that he's stopped reading the comments on his blog'. Could one say that Nick has also gone into the same bunker as I think Gordon Brown has.
As soon as you stop listening to the people then you are finished. The trouble is that the one thing which Brown has power over is the agenda. He really does not like the people setting the agenda.
The Iraq war and occupation is a case in point. It was not the main news media which has forced our eventual retreat from Iraq in the way which the media destroyed America and Vietnam, it was the internet. The government lost the battle, the Iraq occupation was destroyed by the internet, the bloggers.
It will be the same with Afghanistan, and the same with Swine Flu. The government cannot control the newspapers and their internet sites. They cannot cope with the fact that the MoD has whole departments of people who monitor the letters and the postings to repudiate and denigrate the contributors. The box has been opened and can never be closed.
Your moderators allowed me to post on your site some time ago now with regard to Swine Flu. Of course there must be restrictions on travel. There must be controls placed on the movement of people, on the ways in which they congregate, football matches must be held behind closed doors, as must all sporting events. Down here in the westcountry the holiday hordes will soon be coming down to experience a holiday. Well if they come down here and start infecting us with their flu then our hospitals and GPs will not be able to cope with the influx. They too will be on holiday!
Brown does not have a clue, if Swine flu is going to be the problem which many of us think it will be then actions must be explained now. I say to all departments, but in particular the department for culture, media and sports, that cultural and sporting events must be held behind closed doors. The media must be forced to keep to the message, that there are dire consequences if we don't use the modern technology so that people do not have to gather in their masses, we have video conferencing, we the tv, the internet, there is no longer any reason why people should gather in the way that they have. We can even order all our goods and services, eg the supermarkets can deliver to our doors, we can order goods and services via modern communications. Older people and the infirmed can have a computer literate buddy to help them.
So, must we wait until we are visited by this upcoming disaster before the government acts. Can't they see the train hitting the buffers, or do they want to use the Swine Flu epidemic to say that we must cancel the elections, just like they did with the elections which were due to be held during the Foot and Mouth disaster.
Finally, I wonder if the government will find somebody who will rubbish and repudiate my comments, after all Andrew we all know how well your comments are received, I don't think that you and your moderators have given up like that Robinson fellow.
There must be an announcement from the government, in particular the department responsible for Culture, Media and Sport as to what they propose to do, what are the contingency plans, what are the risks of people getting together. It will be the winter when the Swine Flu will be at it's worst, just when people actually get together the most. There must be restrictions on travel, committees set up to monitor the movement of people, committees capable of restricting access to parts of the country where there are hot spots, entry to and from these areas must be restricted. This is an emergency, there must be times when parliament must be recalled, there is not only Afghanistan, there is Swine flu. How dare they go on holiday for so long, disgraceful.
Swine Flu
'our own Nick Robinson has recently confessed that he's stopped reading the comments on his blog'. Could one say that Nick has also gone into the same bunker as I think Gordon Brown has.
As soon as you stop listening to the people then you are finished. The trouble is that the one thing which Brown has power over is the agenda. He really does not like the people setting the agenda.
The Iraq war and occupation is a case in point. It was not the main news media which has forced our eventual retreat from Iraq in the way which the media destroyed America and Vietnam, it was the internet. The government lost the battle, the Iraq occupation was destroyed by the internet, the bloggers.
It will be the same with Afghanistan, and the same with Swine Flu. The government cannot control the newspapers and their internet sites. They cannot cope with the fact that the MoD has whole departments of people who monitor the letters and the postings to repudiate and denigrate the contributors. The box has been opened and can never be closed.
Your moderators allowed me to post on your site some time ago now with regard to Swine Flu. Of course there must be restrictions on travel. There must be controls placed on the movement of people, on the ways in which they congregate, football matches must be held behind closed doors, as must all sporting events. Down here in the westcountry the holiday hordes will soon be coming down to experience a holiday. Well if they come down here and start infecting us with their flu then our hospitals and GPs will not be able to cope with the influx. They too will be on holiday!
Brown does not have a clue, if Swine flu is going to be the problem which many of us think it will be then actions must be explained now. I say to all departments, but in particular the department for culture, media and sports, that cultural and sporting events must be held behind closed doors. The media must be forced to keep to the message, that there are dire consequences if we don't use the modern technology so that people do not have to gather in their masses, we have video conferencing, we the tv, the internet, there is no longer any reason why people should gather in the way that they have. We can even order all our goods and services, eg the supermarkets can deliver to our doors, we can order goods and services via modern communications. Older people and the infirmed can have a computer literate buddy to help them.
So, must we wait until we are visited by this upcoming disaster before the government acts. Can't they see the train hitting the buffers, or do they want to use the Swine Flu epidemic to say that we must cancel the elections, just like they did with the elections which were due to be held during the Foot and Mouth disaster.
Finally, I wonder if the government will find somebody who will rubbish and repudiate my comments, after all Andrew we all know how well your comments are received, I don't think that you and your moderators have given up like that Robinson fellow.
There must be an announcement from the government, in particular the department responsible for Culture, Media and Sport as to what they propose to do, what are the contingency plans, what are the risks of people getting together. It will be the winter when the Swine Flu will be at it's worst, just when people actually get together the most. There must be restrictions on travel, committees set up to monitor the movement of people, committees capable of restricting access to parts of the country where there are hot spots, entry to and from these areas must be restricted. This is an emergency, there must be times when parliament must be recalled, there is not only Afghanistan, there is Swine flu. How dare they go on holiday for so long, disgraceful.