Member of Parliament

As this seems to be the only thing on my mind at the moment, I thought I would update you with this week’s progress.

Yesterday, I posted the 10-page (5 pages, double sided) form back to the DVLA. This consisted of various medical information about myself, and also full details about my hospital consultant and family doctor.

One page was for me to give permission for the DVLA to approach the hospital consultant, and my own doctor. I had to give also permission for the DVLA to have access to my medical records if both doctors agreed. Just as well there is nothing too embarrasing on there!

Once this goes before their own ‘Driver’s Medical Committee’, the DVLA will then decide whether or not they want to send me for that threatened ‘Independent Eye Test’. One small encouraging paragraph stated, ‘This may not be necessary if your doctors are happy for you to continue to drive with your condition’.
(That condition is Glaucoma, by the way. Almost 500,000 people in the UK have that.)

Now I have to play the waiting game, which could take weeks.

This morning, I received an email reply from my Member of Parliament. This informed me that the DVLA would be sending me out paperwork to complete.

A bit late, but at least he tried…

Given that it seems we are days away from some sort of military intervention in Syria, I thought I would use this blog to urge everyone to protest about this. I am not asking you to camp outside Parliament, or to stand on the corner of your street with a placard. Just send your MP an e mail, stating that as a constituent, you do not support this action. The details are easily found on the Internet, and those of you in the UK can easily discover not only who your MP is, but also their contact details.

Here is the e mail I sent to my MP just now. feel free to use it as a template. Let us try to avoid another Afghanistan, and further attacks on our citizens, at home and abroad. We have to stop believing the lies, and behaving like sheep. Enough is enough.

‘Dear Mr Freeman,

As one of your constituents, I am urging you to vote against any military intervention by the UK in Syria. I include in this any bombing, arming of rebels, and use of UK armed forces in any way whatsoever. After the shameful lies that took us into war with Iraq, and the ongoing debacle in Afghanistan, I find it inconceivable that we are even considering attacks on Syria, based on the spurious ‘evidence’ we have available.

I hope that you do not want to be a part of a government that would use these tactics, purely to secure rights to oil, or to further de-stabilise the already delicate situation in this area. It is not our business to intervene in this civil conflict, irrespective of whether we prefer one side, or the other. We must learn the lessons of Vietnam and other conflicts where this happened.’

Thank You.

Pete Johnson, Beetley, Norfolk.