So far, I’ve been studiously ignoring electioneering material. It goes from the letterbox to the bin, unopened and unread. This morning, though what appeared to be a handwritten note came through the door and I had started reading out of curiosity before I realised what was. It was a facsimile letter written by Kelley Woodruff on behalf of sitting MP Chris Skidmore. Kelly is the sister of Ross Simons. I recall, of course, the tragic accident that cost Ross and his wife Clare their lives, not least given its proximity to where I live. Hence, Chris Skidmore. According to the letter, he has been of help to the family, so they are campaigning for his re-election
Frankly, he did what I would expect any constituency MP to do and I fully expect that his predecessor, Roger Berry would have done likewise (he was a good constituency MP despite his politics). Had he retained the seat in 2010, would we have received a letter from Kelly asking us to vote Labour? One wonders…
Anyway, the whole thing leaves a bad taste – because, frankly, it is in bad taste and that much should have been obvious to those planning and proposing this little stunt. Using the dead victims of a tragic accident as campaign material is pretty low, frankly.
So, no, Chris, you don’t get my vote. Neither though, will any of your competitors. I’ve had it with the lot of you. Of the line-up, Skidmore is probably the least worst of the bunch. Yeah, sure, I could pinch my nose and do what Old Geezer suggested here a few days ago. But we should be voting for those we want to represent us, not someone who is simply the best of a bad bunch. I don’t want any of them to represent me.
Whoever wins this election – and I am sick to the back teeth with it – the government will still get in and will continue to piss my money away on fake charities, quangos, foreign aid and unnecessary government departments, as well as voting away my precious freedoms.
A plague on all their houses.
I also got two ‘hand-written’ letters today. One from the Tory and one from the Lib Dem. Our current (Lib Dem) is stepping down this election and so we have a battle for the constituency and I have been keeping the paperwork that has arrived and there has been piles of it. Mostly Tory and Lib Dem. (I think there was one, small A5 leaflet from the kippers and another couple from ‘independents’) but if they want me to get enthused it would have been nice to see a candidate in the flesh, knocking on doors, standing on a soap-box, anything to get involved with the electorate. There was some hustings thing at a local (private) school and they had the gall to charge admittance for it! WTF? I didn’t go and so I have not heard any the voice of any of the candidates. I am asking why should I vote for them? (I will, for the usual ‘no say if you don’t vote’ reasons – but I still hate them all for ignoring us…….)
We had Willie Hague come round our street. I was working on the R80 and heard them talking across the road and recognised his voice. They didn’t come over to talk to me, though.
As for not voting, I am reminded of the rotten fish analogy. If you go into a restaurant and every item on the menu is a variation of rotten fish, do you choose rotten fish or do you leave the restaurant? I am sick of the whole charade, not just the candidates.
All there is on the menu may be rotten fish but there are no other restaurants open and you don’t get much sympathy from not eating there and complaining to the chef from outside.
The problem, unfortunately is that whether you complain form the inside or out, the result is the same…
Well put. It’s interesting what Voyager said too, we live in a much sought after marginal yet I’ve not seen a single canvasser from any party during the whole campaign, neither have the neighbours. Hev they decided that the public despises them so much it’s not worth their while any more?
I can remember going to see David Owen give a speech for the SDP, he was heckled and argued back at the protagonists. At the same election the long-standing Tory candidate was booed as he was driven around town standing in the back of a Land Rover using a megaphone to say ‘vote for me’. Even in the last election I saw Farage speaking to a handful of old men at a ‘rally’ in the centre of town (albeit probably ‘stage managed’) and saw the Tory who lost handing out leaflets a few times during the campaign. Nothing this time at all. I could have blinked and missed it, but suspect not. What has happened to this sort of direct campaigning? I have barely know the names of the people standing here for the major parties. It is dire, the reason the electorate is feeling disenfranchised is because they feel they are being ignored.
We had only one personal visit – from some constituency nonentity – and not much paper. Said CN seemed to presume that because I had emailed Caroline Flint – on some subject I’d forgotten – that I was going to vote for her. She seemed surprised when I said that I didn’t think any of the politicos on offer were worth a damn.
Only our Labour candidate has bothered to knock our door, once months ago and once during the campaign itself. The incumbent Tory has sent a few leaflets and nothing from UKIP. Ours is a constituency that could easily swap from Tory to Labour but it doesn’t seem that UKIP or Conservatives want my vote enough to actually ask for it. Despite their efforts however, I’m not daft enough to vote for the Labour candidate; my vote will be based on the ‘best of a very bad lot’ approach.