BCB Radio Interview

Appeared on BCB Radio (106.6fm) today as No2ID coordinator.

11:45pm - 12 noon

Talked about:

• Loss of data in Bradford NHS
  Loss of 5,600 patients records, USB stick lost in library?!
  
• Manchester trial of ID cards
  Yes the things are aren't supposed to be compulsory, unless you live in Manchester of course!
  
• Government snooping legislation
  Logging of every persons e-mail, phone calls and web visits for a year (legislation passed on 6th April)
  Proposed legislation to log details of social net
  working sites such as Facebook and Ebay
  
  

Such woolly thinking

Telegraph & Argus

8:47am Tuesday 28th April 2009

SIR – Last November a multi-signatory letter was published in the T&A warning of the impact the Government’s nasty “ID cards for foreigners” spin would have on our cultural and economic life.

We told the Government some people would decide Britain had become too unfriendly, that they would be put off from coming here, and the loss of their skilled labour would damage the economy.

Only months into the scheme, the Wool Marketing Board is warning of a crisis facing sheep farmers unable to find the skilled labour to shear their sheep during the hot summer months.

This means wool goes unsold and, if we have hot weather, livestock across the country will suffer.

The reason farmers can’t attract the labour required is the Australian and New Zealand gangs of shearers who come here annually have decided this year the cost, hassle, and intrusive bureaucratic process necessary to obtain a biometric ID card means it’s no longer worth their effort.

Who can blame them for not wanting to be guinea pigs for a scheme that could soon be unleashed on the rest of us?

If this scheme continues, it will not be just sheep feeling the heat this summer.

Jason Smith, Bradford No2ID co-ordinator, Bradford Resource Centre, Chapel Street, Bradford

Meeting: Bradford Civic Society

Monday 27th April, 7:30pm

Attended the Bradford Civic Society meeting (AGM) regarding Bradford's 'degeneration'.

The BCS took names for the Regeneration Committee, names including Emma Fieldhouse and myself.

Things we need to do to as a society to get Bradford moving:

• Publicity
• Attack Councillors (physically is quite appealing!)
  
• Propose our own Grassroutes Plan
• Alliances with difference groups and organisations
  

Emma Fieldhouse's Facebook group:
Bradford Metropolitan District Council PULL YOUR FINGER OUT

Speaking engagement: UKIP 'Bin the (smoking) Bin'

Saturday 25th April, 2pm

I spoke at the Painters Arms, Drighlington regaring the UKIP Bradford 'Bin the Bin' campaign.

"First they came for the people who wanted to smoke in pubs, I did not speak out as I do not smoke. They then came for the people who refused to sign up for an ID card; I did not care as I had an ID card. They came for the people who could not afford to pay their pay-as-they go road tax; I did not speak out as I always pay my taxes. Then they came for me, and there was nobody left to speak out for me!"

Quote: Jason Smith

So far the campaign has hit the followng pubs and has also extended further than the Bradford & District borders.

New Furnace	Buttershaw	Bradford South
Beehive	Buttershaw	Bradford South
Waggoners	Buttershaw	Bradford South
Cap & Bells	Buttershaw	Bradford South
Kingshead	Low Moor	Bradford South
Drop kick	Low Moor	Bradford South
Royal	Low Moor	Bradford South
Mail Coach	Low Moor	Bradford South
Northern	Low Moor	Bradford South
The George	Low Moor	Bradford South
Nags Head	Queensbury	Bradford South
Stags Head	Queensbury	Bradford South
New Dolphin Inn	Queensbury	Bradford South
Halfway House	Queensbury	Bradford South
George III	Queensbury	Bradford South
Old Dolphin	Queensbury	Bradford South
Junction	Wyke	Bradford South
The Crown	Wyke	Bradford South
Oddfellows Hall	Wyke	Bradford South
Oddfellows	Wyke	Bradford South
Brown Cow	Wyke	Bradford South
Prince of Orange	Halifax	Halifax
The Swan	Lockwood	Huddersfield
The Lockwood	Lockwood	Huddersfield
Lockwood Con Club	Lockwood	Huddersfield
Lockwood Lib Club	Lockwood	Huddersfield
The Fountain	Newsome	Huddersfield
The Fleece	Cullingworth	Shipley
The George	Cullingworth	Shipley
The Guide Inn	Harden	Shipley
The Golden Fleece	Harden	Shipley
The Station	Harecroft	Shipley
The Ling Bob	Wilsden	Shipley

14 pubs have so far returned petitions, totally 546 signatures. We expect that figure to grow quickly as petitions continue to flood in!

Freedom 2 Choose

Saturday attended a Freedom 2 Choose meeting in Drighlington

11-04-2009





Campaign meeting to be held in Drighlington

SPEAKERS including MEPS will be attending a campaign meeting in Drighlington this weekend.

Members of Northern England Freedom2Choose - who are campaigning to amend the smoking ban - will be meeting this Saturday (April 11) at The Painters Arms, Bradford Road.

MEP Godfrey Bloom (UKIP Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire) will be among the speakers attending the meeting, which starts at 2pm, along with Jason Smith (UKIP Bradford) and Nick Hogan (UKIP Chorley) to offer support for the Freedom2Choose national campaign to amend the smoking ban.

Morley Observer 08/04/09

Campaigners outside the pub in Drighlington
Marsha Singh - You're barred!!


Jason with Tim of Freedom2Choose


Jason with Godfrey Bloom MEP (UKIP)

The return of fluoride!

Health put second

Sir – The European Food Standards Authority (EFSA), the EU body that controls food standards, has approved fluoride as a food product.

This is very bizarre. Firstly, the classification of fluoride as a food is very dubious as it does not have any nutritional benefits.

We are told that fluoride prevents tooth decay; a claim I would not accept, but its classification as a medicine would make more sense.

If fluoride had been classified as a medicine then it would have had to undergo rigorous trials to prove its safety, which I believe it would have failed. Could this be why it has been ‘wrongly’ classified?

Anybody who has read the warnings on their fluoride toothpaste will discover “caution: do not swallow”. Hardly the stuff we should be adding to food supplements.

Not only has the EFSA approved this dangerous substance but they have proposed to ban hundreds of natural vitamin and mineral supplements in 2010. These are supplements that have been used for hundreds of years without any adverse effects.

It seems the EFSA is once again putting the wishes of the multi-national pharmaceutical companies before the health of the people.

Jason Smith, UKIP Bradford chairman, Woodlands Avenue, Queensbury, Bradford

Tuesday 7th April 2009
Telegraph & Argus

The Freedom Pledge

Today I launched the Freedom Pledge!


This group, pledge is not affiliated with any political party or group.

By signing the Freedom Pledge you agree to the below:

• I shall not vote for any politician, either local or national that supports any policy or law that infringes on my individual freedom.

I think everyone can define for themselves what policies and laws work against their freedom.

The aim of this group is to define which politicians work for us (Libertarians) and which work for themselves (Authoritarians).

There is no left or right today in politics, it is an illusion.
There are only libertarians or authoritarians.

This group is not intended to be party political. Any party political ‘broadcasts’ and negative comments directed at any specific party will be removed. We accept that there are good people in all parties. Our aim is to support any libertarian politicians and appose any authoritarian ones.

I would encourage everyone to post details of any impending freedom eroding legislation or any such legislation that has already been passed along with details of how MP’s voted.

Please also feel free to post names of any libertarian or authoritarian politicians and your reasons for their characterisation. These can be debated on the group and we can then compile a database of true libertarians and authoritarians and share this information widely.


MOST IMPORTANTLY
PLEASE FORWARD THIS GROUP TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS

The intention is for this group to grow as large as possible and spread these basic principles
“Vote politician before party”
“Support libertarian, appose authoritarian”.

The only way we can turn back the eroding of our freedoms is to ensure we will not accept any politicians that refuse to protect our freedoms.

Join Facebook group
or place comments here

Civil Enforcement Officers

'Cut price' coppers are of course undesirable, but not necessarily a threat in themselves.

Do the government feel they might need more civil enforcement on the streets very soon?

Civil Enforcement Officers enforcing the Civil Contingencies Act?

Police in all but name?

SIR – I have to agree with R J Lacey’s letter ‘parking penalties’ (T&A, March 11), 61 parking offences does seem rather excessive.

The other thing that concerns me is the evolution of traffic wardens, now known as civil enforcement officers.

As well as having a new name and outfit, they have also been afforded new powers. As well as enforcing the multitudes of parking offences, they can now also assist with preventing anti-social behaviour.

Furthermore, the Traffic Management Act, which ushered in the new officers, also makes provision for the appropriate national authority to confer further “special powers” on traffic officers. These special powers would be the same powers granted to police officers.

The Government might deny that these special powers will ever by activated, but I think the name Civil Enforcement Officers gives the game away.

It looks like we have more ‘cut price coppers’ on the way.

Jason Smith, UKIP Bradford chairman, Woodlands Avenue, Queensbury, Bradford

Telegraph & Argus, 27/03/09

THE ID CARD CUP

Bradford No2ID vs Identity & Passport Service


17th March 2009, the T & A Stadium - first leg
Bradford No2ID 2 - 0 Identity and Passport Service
Goals: James Hall, 2 (og), 4 (og)

Match Summary:
A bit of a disaster in defence for the IPS, both own goals coming from IPS captain James Hall early in the game after significant pressure from No2ID. After 4 minutes the game was effetivly over with No2ID having 90% of possession. IPS looked frustrated.


23rd March 2009, the T & A Stadium - second leg
Bradford No2ID 4 - 0 Identity & Passport Service
Goals: Jason Smith 2, 5, 30, 85

Match Summary:
Just when the IPS didn't think it could get any worse. No2ID captain Jason Smith scoring a quad-trick in this disection of the IPS, No2ID looked in total command after 5 minutes and 2 goals, Smith added a 3rd before halftime then finishing in style with a freekick which caught IPS defender and captain James Hall napping. Hall was lucky not to be sent off after he gave the referee some verbal, but the referee refused to show his card?

More in depth action:

Not much protection
SIR – I would like to counter the flimsy arguments for ID cards from James Hall, the chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service (Letters, February 27).
Mr Hall claims the alleged benefits are: Protecting us against identity fraud? Let’s just imagine all our personal information was on one database rather than spread across many as it is today. Having ‘a one-stop shop’ for all our data would be an open invitation to identity thieves, as the IT giant Microsoft has warned. If somebody stole your identity including biometric data, what then? Do you get a new eye and thumb?
Protecting us from criminals? Sorry, but I don’t see how carrying an ID card is going to make a criminal any less of a criminal, and what if that criminal had fake ID, or your ID?
Protecting us from terrorists? If someone wants to blow themselves up, how is carrying a card going to deter them from doing that?
Stopping illegal immigration? If someone is in the country illegally, then the Government is not aware they are here, so they are unlikely to be able to issue them an ID card, are they?
Jason Smith, Bradford NO2ID co-ordinator, Bradford Resource Centre, Chapel Street, Bradford
Telegraph and Argus, 23/03/08

Strange turnaround
SIR – I would like to respond to the letter from James Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, entitled “ID card advantage” (T & A, February 27).
Mr Hall claims that plans to introduce ID cards are widely supported by unions. Is that why the Trade Union Congress passed a motion on September 10, 2008, against ID cards, where they pledged to resist the identity scheme “with all means at its disposal”?
He goes on to say that airport union officials are very supportive of the scheme, which is a little bit strange as the union that proposed the motion to the TUC was the airline pilots’ union, BALPA.
Surely you can do better than this Mr Hall, or maybe you can’t, as after all there are no good reasons for ID cards.
Jason Smith, Bradford NO2ID co-ordinator, Bradford Resource Centre, 17-21 Chapel Street, Bradford BD1
Telegraph and Argus, 17/03/08

Bradford Civic Society Meeting - Saturday 21st March

Attended the Bradford Civic Society meeting today at the Impressions Gallery Bradford.

Check it out, curtesy of BORG (Bradford Odeon Rescue Group) wesbite:

Shot of me being interviewed by BCB Radio re Bradford's regeneration - what regeneration?

Diary: BCB Radio - Friday 27th February 11:45am

Tune in to see me in action on BCB Radio Friday 27th February

I'll be talking about the 57th anniversary of the abolition of wartime identity cards and other No2ID business

No need for retention

Looks like our government got themselves in to another sticky situation as the European Court has ruled that DNA should not be kept if the individuals aren't charged. The government is not sure what the decision means exactly, so they are going to ponder on it - it's clear - NO CHARGE, NO DNA! If the European Court had ruled in favour of some criminal then I'm sure the government will have been falling over themselves to accept the judgement.

Have a read of my letter in Friday's T&A: No need for retention