BAD NEWS THEN MORE BAD NEWS

Andy Burnham replaces Alan Johnson

Now we have all vented our fury at the greed of our MPs we should be grateful that we have disposed of so many of them. A pity that some good Councillors have suffered for no good reason of course but i suppose being in any way related to this nasty allegedly Labour government is good enough reason for most. And lets not forget that this was all made possible by Thatcherism and Reagonomics. The Big Bang in the City of London and deregulation made the Credit Crunch not just possible but probably inevitable. And as Thatcher froze MPs salaries she also freed up the expenses system for MPs; ( a pay rise in disguise as many MPs clearly seemed to think)

And as the end of the Thatcher and Major regimes, drew near, it was blindingly obvious that no one was going to re-elect the Tories for a very long time. So what did the Thatcherite Neocons do to get elected. I would suggest that they simply joined the Labour Party, gained the majority position, elected a new Thatcherite leader, Tony B Liar and the rest is history. Tony was not the Bambi they thought but rather Tonasaurus Rex whose gleaming teeth were soon sunk into the soft underbelly of the Welfare State. Single parents, the sick, the disabled, the elderly the unemployed and small brown people with oil were all sitting ducks.

As the end of days for New Labour draws nearer, Brown in desperate straights has retrenched and brought together his most loyal (at least for now) henchmen. Chief Fluoridista and Health Minister Alan Johnson is now elevated to Home Secretary. No, please don't laugh, its not funny, its actually all rather tragic and dangerous. Now he can lock us up for opposing fluoridation if he wishes. He already has more than enough laws to use against democracy and New Labour are always ready to pass some more at a moments notice.

But surely, Johnson, who appeared to believe that fluoride was actually safe or even helpful, has been replaced by a safe pair of hands in the Department of Health? Sadly no. Step forward Andy Burnham, Minister for Dirty Jobs and original Pusher of Fluoride for Blair in 2003 and since then, such popular and useless measures as ID Cards and DNA databases. Here I will pause till the sobbing dies down and sick bags have been handed out...... OK time's up!

Johnson and Burnham are probably the Ant and Dec of the Labour government, a pair of buffoons for sure but not as funny or clever. Even more horrifying is the distinct possibility that Johnson could be the next Prime Minister if Brown finally agrees to go and this may be sooner than we think. Brown may desperately wish to stay in the Job he preyed for so long but Events may yet get the better of him.

Labour is now the lowest in the polls that it has ever been and may yet fall lower. The Local Elections have just been disastrous for Brown with the Labour candidates being pushed into third and fourth place. And on this coming Sunday, the omens are not good for them as the results of the European elections are pretty sure to rubbish Labour yet again. Calls for Brown to go will probably increase and some more resignations and defections are probable.

Which ever Government assumes power after the next election which could be as soon as this October and certainly no later than next year. They will not have any money to throw around. Rail spending has been cut and eduction and health will also soon come under pressure. Its possible that Fluoride will be dumped as an unnecessary and expensive waste of time. Unfortunately we cannot depend on this so the best thing we can do is step up the pressure. We have to kick the Government whilst it is down, after all this is what they always do to us. The Council Tax comes to mind but i digress.

At the same time we have to renew the pressure on prospective candidates for the future Government of whatever party. If candidates do not categorically state they are opposed to fluoride and especially water fluoridation then tell them to their face that you will not vote for them and will recommend to your friends that they do the same. Friends of the Earth have always steered clear of Politics with a capital P and have never recommended that we should vote for anyone, not even the Greens who we are often associated with, but we have never hesitated to Not Recommend those who pollute or exploit the environment. It is bad enough that many of our MPs have been on the make but surely when they desire to pollute and poison us as well, its time for them to go. Say No To Fluoride and those who promote or push it.