Saturday, 25 April 2009

A Rising In The East?

Are you in Essex or the East End of London?

Are you an economically social democratic, morally and socially conservative British and Commonwealth patriot?

Could you be the Independent candidate for Erith and Thamesmead?

No toddlers need apply.

That seat is on course to be won by the BNP if the spitting in the electorate's face goes ahead after all.

Mind you, I have now been told half a dozen times that if the ballot-rigging doesn't work there, then Little Miss Parliament will be imposed on North-West Durham, where we are, after all, used to the idea of a safe Labour seat as a princess's plaything. At least Philip Gould is not the retiring MP.

But I don't know who is supposed to campaign for her, or even to sign her nomination papers. Will the last abolished councillor, or other stalwart, to leave the Labour Party in these parts please turn out the lights.
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14 comments:

  1. Crayford27 April 2009 at 12:56

    Erith and Thamesmead isn't in the East End of London. It's in South-East London, which is a distinct community in its own right, separated from the East End by the Thames (and, until relatively recently, rather inaccessible from it because of the lack of river crossings so far East - indeed, even now one of the area's real problems is relatively poor public transport links to the rest of London).

    It's not in Essex, either. It's in Greater London, technically, but you could make a case for counting it as Kent. Essex is on the North side of the Thames Estuary, and Kent on the South side.

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  2. David Lindsay27 April 2009 at 14:13

    I stand corrected.

    Of course, it is really in whichever county it is deemed to be in by the only body competent in these matters, the Test and County Cricket Board. So Kent, presumably.

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  3. Prome27 April 2009 at 15:10

    It's the English Cricket Board. The TCCB hasn't existed for some time.

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  4. David Lindsay27 April 2009 at 15:37

    Next you'll be saying that Erith and Thamesmead are no longer in Kent.

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  5. Mark27 April 2009 at 15:57

    They won't discuss the main point, then?

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  6. David Lindsay27 April 2009 at 15:58

    Oh, no, of course not. Far too close to home.

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  7. Anonymous27 April 2009 at 16:00

    You were 21 when you were first a Parish Councillor.

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  8. David Lindsay27 April 2009 at 16:02

    One more non-student election that she's ever contested, never mind won.

    It's hardly comparable in all sorts of ways. Including the fact that there were then, as there are now, 15 members of Lanchester Parish Council. And the rest of them certainly weren't 21, let me assure you.

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  9. Anonymous27 April 2009 at 16:05

    So?

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  10. David Lindsay27 April 2009 at 16:06

    There is only one MP for Erith and Thamesmead.

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  11. Perbo27 April 2009 at 16:11

    You don't need to be "an economically social democratic, morally and socially conservative British and Commonwealth patriot" to be the Independent candidate for Erith and Thamesmead. You could have absolutely any political views at all. Or none. That's the point of being an Independent candidate.

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  12. David Lindsay27 April 2009 at 16:14

    You do to be the one that a traditional Labour seat needs.

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  13. Anonymous29 April 2009 at 11:18

    David, I'm a former editor of a top national newspaper and I urge you to challenge her for Durham. You'll walk it.

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  14. David Lindsay29 April 2009 at 17:29

    Challenge whom? If you mean Hilary Armstrong, she's retiring.

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