PROFESSOR NUTT LOCKS ANTLERS WITH GORDON BROWN

The row between Professor Nutt the chair of the Brown Governments Drugs Advisory Committee intensified on BBC radio four this morning and i make no secret of my support for the Professor. I do however differ over one point he made about the government. He said that Browns Government was the first to ignore scienfic advice of its own appointed experts. In their conclusions the York Revew noted a dearth of detailed and reliable studies in the past and could not categorically recommend an expansion of water fluoridation in the UK and said much needed to be done to establish safety and efficacy.

Despite this the Tony Blair Government decided to push new legislation through parliament to make it possible to force water providers to add fluoride to water supplies. The York Review had not recommended this. Therefore the Brown Governement was at least the second government to think it knew better than its experts.

The issues of assorted drugs most notably cannabis have been studied closely but never the less the government has ignored the science or medical advice except where it was convenient to do so and has thus politicised what should have been a science bassed decision in law making. Drug use and health issues should not be enshrined in law by politicians who are for the most part rather stupid on such matters. The Governments record on disasterous IT decisions is a glaring example and untill Brown intellectually challenged and scientificall illiterate bunch of plonkers learns to discriminated between science and politics, we wil all be at the mercy of blinkered and vested intrests who will continue to tell us what we can and cannot ingest and worst of all, will continue to force us to take substances which we never wanted and certainly never voted for. Fluoride being the most toxic example to date.

So professor Nutt, you are correct in practically every detail except one. Browns Government really is not the first to talk through its arse and then formulate law from its own flatulence.

FAREWELL PROFESSOR NUTT

It seems like only yesterday and in fact it was only yesterday that I posted about another outburst of common sense from Professor David Nutt, the chair of the Governments drug advisory panel. He was yet again desperately trying to hammer home the message that the Government had got it all wrong yet again. They had completely failed to get the drug problem in perspective by first reducing the classification of cannabis and then only months later re-classifying it. He had simply reminded them that the real enemies were alcohol and tobacco which were killing of tens of thousands of people every year. He dared to go further and famously said that horse riding was more dangerous than taking LSD.

Of course the government knew better. It didnt care for mind expanding substances because its minds, or what passed for them in the cabinet, were as usual, closed to all except more expenses claims and sucking up to big business because of the tax benefits this yielded. For example, It had only recently relaxed alcohol licensing laws to allow 24 hour drinking and did nothing to stem the endless supply of cheap plonk available in the supermarkets. It then began a long process of hand wringing about "binge drinking" which a cursory glance at real life policing in our towns would convince anyone that we now had a plonk pandemic. True it may be that the tax proceeds from the sale of alcohol were huge, but they were soon whittled down when the real costs of police and courts man hours, the overflowing A and E units of hospitals at weekends, the carnage on the roads and crimes of violence were taken into consideration.

Quite obviously David Nutt was a real thorn in their side. A government that believes it knows everything and is never wrong, hates to be reminded publicly that it frequently is. A good first step would be for the Government to simply stop referring to "Drink and Drugs" as though there was some kind of difference when any fuel doth know that there is none, Alcohol and tobacco are drugs, and very clearly some of the most dangerous and injurious to health and o f course very addictive. An artist friend of mine developed a heroine addiction, living and working with it for more than fifteen years. At last tired of the expense, the poor quality of the drug which was frequently cut by all kinds of dangerous white powders and his consequent physical and mental decline, decided to go Cold Turkey. He stopped literally overnight and never looked back. When i next saw him i congratulated him on his resolve and strength of character to be able to do this when so many were unable to do so. He grinned and shook his head and said, if was as you say such a strong character i would also be able to give up cigarettes. Not only have i not managed to stop smoking, I am a chain smoker and cannot even cut down let alone stop. Tobacco, he said was much worse than heroine.


So today Professor Nutt was given the bums rush. This will prove to be a pyrrhic victory however and as one pundit on TV only a couple of hours ago yet again pointed out, this will come back and bite them in the lower cheeks. However did we manage to elect idiots like Home Sec, Alan Brown and Health Minister (sic) Andy Burnham whose collective intellectual stature does not even come up to the shoulders of a garden gnome?? Saddest of all is the worrying fact that waiting in the wings is yet another bunch of intellectual dwarves and self-seekers. As the Hippies used to say apparently with some justification, "whoever you vote for, the Government gets in !"

PS..... SORRY ABOUT THE LACK OF PARAGRAPHS BUT BLOGGER SEEMS TO HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO DO THEM.

HOW STUPID IS THE UK GOVERNMENT ?

The words associated with stupidity in the Thesaurus include absurdity, apathy, asininity, battiness, brainlessness, doltishness, fatuity, fatuousness, feeble-mindedness, idiocy, ignorance, imbecility, imprudence, incapacity, ineptitude, injudiciousness, insensibility, lunacy, nitwittedness, nonsense, obtuseness, puerility, shallowness, silliness, simplicity, slowness. It is of course difficult to quantify stupidity as such a definition would depend on the time and the place. At an early stage of human development when humans first climbed down from the trees, stupidity would be obvious to the humans of today due to the accidents caused by trial and error ending in disappointment, today and here in the technical and scientific vastness of the future it is less easy to determine. It can be disguised by various forms of artifice to appear as wisdom when in fact its a load of bollocks.

This reaches a pinnacle when it becomes enshrined in orthodoxy and appears as dogma. The Governments attitude to water fluoridation exhibits this very clearly and can therefore be seen for the stupidity it really is. But this is nothing new and today's news from the Governments own chief drug advisor demonstrates all of the above rather well.

Professor David Nutt (Nutt by name but clearly not by nature) today again condemned the Governments re-classification of Cannabis as a class B drug when it had originally determined that it was in fact a class C substance and therefore comparatively innocuous when compared with the evils of alcohol, tobacco, LSD Heroine and crack cocaine. Professor Nutt, chairman of the Governments Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and his colleagues, must be getting pretty sick and tired of being ignored and rubbished by Government front benchers who appear to know little about anything of importance.

The Brown Gov sets up the Advisory Council to look at drug classification then of course because it does not like the councils findings, first implements them then at the behest of the hyenas and snakes in the Tabloids, decides to do a U turn, creating confusion amongst the minds of young users and of course making it more desirable. It behaved in a similar cavalier fashion over its York Review on Fluoride which recommended no further expansion of water fluoridation because research was poor and their were too many dangerous unknowns. The Government even rewrote the conclusion to make it appear that the York panel were in favour when of course they were not. When Governments behave in such a dishonest way, is it any wonder that no one trusts them any more about anything.

To emphasis this lets briefly look at the MP expenses. Not only have they been milking the system en masse for many years, they behave as though they are amazed that anyone else is amazed let alone annoyed. Now they are wondering why they are being forced to pay it all back and why the British public have no sympathy for their plight. Perhaps they have merely demonstrated publicly that the crap always floats to the top as a quick listing of the current cabinet seems to prove. Both New Labour and the Conservatives should remember that opposition parties DO NOT WIN ELECTIONS but GOVERNMENTS DO LOSE THEM.

As a child of the 60's I am not unacquainted with drugs of various kinds. Alcohol made me sick and made me think i was brilliant as i fell on my face in public. Intelligent and sophisticated friends and colleagues turned into slobbering animals in front of me and when cannabis came on the scene i found it a blessed relief to remain coherent whilst intoxicated. I used it regularly and even passed two driving tests whilst under its influence. This was at a time when the Police broke down doors, wrecked homes and stole property whilst searching for only a roach. Looking back on it dope smokers or eaters were seemingly treated with the same hatred as we today save for paedophiles.

For the Love Generation this was Tough Love indeed. Even today when Pot smoking or growing a plant for personal use should elicit only a caution from the Bill, we find a local Plod breaking down doors to do just this. Ignorance seems to start at the top and work its way down until it manifests as arrogant assumptions based on little other than personal bias and ignorance.

Fluorine is undoubtedly a very dangerous and toxic substance and cannabis comparatively harmless but when you have a government and ministers of the appalling standard currently in power and who think exactly the opposite, its little wonder that many of my friends ask when why I even bother to try to explain the true facts on fluoride. Clearly There are none so blind as those who will not see. I recall what the late great and sadly missed DJ John Peel said to me when i was campaigning to stop the damage being done to the BBC by the John Birt media terrorists. He read out my letters on his program and then wrote back to me privately wishing me well with my campaigns and i clearly remember his parting shot. "The best of luck with your campaigns but don't ever forget that you are battling dickheads." We still are John, we still are.

REFERENDA ON FLUORIDE ARE NOT THE ANSWER

I strongly agree with Elizabeth McDonagh's comments about Referenda and i know that i am not alone. Its ok to make a statement and generate publicity by demonstrating the strength of public opinon against fluoridation but this has already been done countless times across the UK. A referendum fails to tackle the central fact that mass medication is the imposition of medication on a group or even an individual without their consent. This would be the case even if it was "safe and effective" and actually worked. The idea of fluoridation ignores and punishes those who in a democracy should not only have a right to refuse and vote against an idea but also to refuse medical treatment.except possibly in a case where an individual becomes a danger to others. As far as i am aware, tooth decay is not contagious.

Compulsory Fluoridation is a betrayal of democracy for which our parents and grand parents fought in world wars to uphold. Flawed it may be but its probably the best of the options currently available and it should therefore be strengthened rather than weakened. . Even now our sons and daughters are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to uphold and protect the principles and freedoms of democracy yet seemingly our own government does not see fit to allow its own citizens here in the UK to experience the benefits.

Not one single person should be forced to take fluoride without their individual consent, not even by a doctor and very certainly not by an elected MP or Government Minister with absolutely no medical qualifications and in many cases, little evidence of common sense or self preservation as recent events have demonstrated.. If i want to purchase a house i go to an estate agent not a politician, if i want to go on Holiday i visit a travel agent not an MP and if i want a medical examination or a prescription i visit a doctor and certainly not a government minister who one would expect to be busy with affairs of state or indeed a personal expenses claim. Even then I reserve the right to consider a doctors opinion and if i wish, refuse to accept the proffered medidation. A referendum on fluoride would give credibility to fluoride when we all know there is none and this would merely act as a distraction from the central issue.

The judicial review is a useful and important way of highlighting the illegality, and the lack of democracy and genuine consultation processes of fluoridation, but this should not even be necessary in a democracy just as unsafe and ineffective or uneconomic practices should not be used by a Government agency or public water supplier. It is high time that our elected representatives and their agents, realised that they are spending and in many cases, wasting OUR time and OUR money and that we as a nation can no longer afford this. Politicians are elected by all of us who vote, to carry our our wishes and they constantly must be reminded that they are not ordained by God. If you have a toothache and I am forced to take a painkiller, it not only sets a precedent for even more tampering with what should be pure and unadulterated water, it will not help your toothache and may even make me ill. Therefore we must be prepared to say NO to fluoride at the local and National level, not only online but also in the media, the courts of law, and the ballot box.

THE ELECTION SEASON BEGINS -- SOME CAUTIONARY WORDS

THE ELECTION SEASON BEGINS -- SOME CAUTIONARY WORDS

For at least the next six months and probably longer, we will be bombarded by various kinds of election propaganda from all the expected and usual sources and of course from some less likely ones who have somthing to gain. It is therefore very important that we lobby ALL candidates whether for local elections or for the looming General Election and remind them that the majority of the public in this country and across Europe are opposed to water Fluoridation and will not be voting for or recommending those who say they are in favour of this redundant, wasteful and dangerous practice.


Friends of the Earth are not affilliated with any political party although there are undoubted sympathies with some of the aims of The Green Party and some LIb Dems at the Local Level from some of our members. We cannot as an organisation therfore be seen to be be publicly recommending any political party lest the Government use it as another excuse to saddle charitable groups and organisations with even more draconian controls which limit groups powers to actually be useful. This does not mean that when we see environmental stupidity we should not name and shame the offenders, whosoever they may be. If we did not we would be failing in our aims and duties.

This method was referred to by the late and certainly great Andrew Lees as the "the carrot and stick approach." ie. If someone wishes to or better still actually does, something environmentally usefull like for example standing up against fluoridation we get out the carrots and distribute them, on the other hand of course if we encounter those who seek to defend and continue this barbaric and outmoded practice its clearly stick time.


In the Thatcher era its true that the Tories did pass some useful legislation on water quality for rivers and drinking water etc but usually only after much local and national pressure from a wide range of green groups and also leaving large holes which smart lawyers and polluters could drive a coach and horses through. New Labour made many large promises in the run up to 1997 most notably to be "the Greenest Government ever" but other than joining in the clamour about Global Warming and CO2 emissions has done even less than the Tories did. If the Conservatives "rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic," New Labour "repainted them." Sadly, i dont seem to get many canvassers knocking on my door nowadays, do you think it could have been something that I said?

I will leave you with some wise words in a quotation by Noah Webster of American dictionary fame, sent to me by a campaigner in the USA. "If the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.": Noah Webster - (1758-1843) American patriot and scholar, author of the 1806 edition of the dictionary that bears his name, the first dictionary of American English usage."

SLAYING THE DRAGON THAT IS FLUORIDE

If fluoride were indeed a Dragon, killing it would be comparatively easy, assuming that there were only one of course. But how would St George have faired if the Dragon had turned up with some mates, all of them itching for a fight.? At this point the analogy of fluoride as a Dragon begins to fail. It is in fact more like a Hydra.

According to legend, the Hydra possessed at least 9 heads and the poets go even further saying there were more heads than the vase-painters could paint. The Local Campaigner and Hero at the time was a guy called Hercules, noted for taking on very difficult tasks. Smoking the Hydra out of the cave was the easy bit, the trouble started when he began cutting off its heads. Each time he managed to remove one, two more grew back in its place. If this was not bad enough, he must have realised that one of the heads was also immortal. Although he probably began to wish he had stayed in bed that morning, our over muscled hero was not entirely devoid of brains and About this time he must have realised that he needed reinforcements and called on his nephew Lolaus for help.

Lolaus appears to have been something of a smart cookie who quickly realised that bravery and muscles were indeed not everything. He came up with the idea of using a burning firebrand to scorch the neck stumps after each decapitation. So, Hercules cut off each head and Iolaus cauterized the open stumps thus preventing them from growing back. In one fell swoop, Hercules and his Nephew had not only rid the populace of a deadly menace but had also invented division of labour which put the Greek Clock forwards thousands of years.

There is an alternative version that talks about dipping his sword in the venomous blood to burn each head but this doesnt really make much sense and is probably the work of his publicists or agents.

Although the Dragons may have gone, the Hydra that is Fluoride which can take on many shapes and forms, is still rampaging through our western society. poisoning not just our bodies and the environment but even the minds of those one would have thought had more intelligence.

To defeat the evil menace that is fluoride will take much more than one over muscled hero and a smart nephew, it will take many of both. Not only this but they will have to work in tandem, together, regardless of all other differences and cut off all the Hydras heads. We must defeat the poisonous pseudo-science used to promote fluoride and denounce the poisonous pseudo-scientists who try to excuse and promote it. We must expose and cut off the heads of publicists and apologists in business and industry and of course Government and its PR machine which spread this discredited and dangerous nonesense. We will need to use the very tools which the Fluoridistas use to defeat them and yet remain uncontaminated by they poison which we confront which underlies fluoride, ie; financial gain. We will need to work together and share our knowledge and skills.

Negaativity is not enough though, we will not just need to campaign AGAINST fluoride but also FOR a clean environment, pure drinking water and an unpolluted food chain. The campaign to end fluoridation is a moral, ethical and spiritual campaign and only by recognising this can we inspire and win the support and the supporters to defeat fluoride. Together individually and collectively, we can defeat fluoride and its supporters not just for our own vanity but for the Planet and the People.

MUSICIANS AND GROUPS, HELP NEEDED TO ARRANGE FLUORIDE PROTEST SONG

Dear All

I've written an anti-fluoride protest song (lyrics and tune) with a really strong marching chorus and some pithy verses. Although I used to be able to play the guitar and sing folk songs in my youth, this, I feel, is beyond me now. I'd like to have the song arranged and recorded/videoed and put on a blog for free distribution so that all anti-fluoride groups worldwide could take it up as their anthem.

Do any of you have any contacts in the music world who would be willing to take on this project? I can put it on a sound file a capella for onward transmission to any interested musician.

With best wishes

Joy

West Midlands Against Fluoridation
www.wmaf.org.uk (website due to go live 4th October)