Feeling fed up?

Labour bad. Labour desperate. Labour no listen to clever Vince. Tories can't win.

That's the Lib Dem message as I've seen repeated about a squillion times now and it's starting to annoy me.

Verdict

The letter begins, "Feeling fed up?" Answer: Yes.

Lynne's record of action

After their last few bitchy mailings, the Lib Dems needed something a bit more positive. They seemed to have managed it with this letter and insert about Lynne's record of ACTION.

It's another example of the typographical inflation that I noticed earlier this week - at this rate they're going to have to start printing on A2.

But more to the point it does tell us some things about Lynne and the stuff she's done before it moves on to banging the tactical voting drum again.

It describes her more than once as "a saint", a quote from the Daily Telegraph which has been taken rather out of context. For the record she is not literally a saint, unless she has died and been canonised since her last Twitter update.

Verdict

Much better than their other recent stuff. Some actual reasons to vote. Hurrah!

It's time for change in Haringey

More post from the Tories (would've thunk) and this time they're declaring that "it's time for change in Haringey". This contrasts sharply with Lib Dem councillor Robert Gorrie's view, expressed in a letter I got from him this week, that "it's time for a change in Haringey".

The choice between Tory and Lib Dem apparently boils down to an indefinite article. Sigh.

Anyway, how bitchy are these mailings? Well the Tory one, like their last offering, is actually quite positive, listing lots of reasons to vote Conservative, only some of which involve the dastardliness of Labour.

The Lib Dem one disappointingly, kicks off with Labour-bashing, and finishes on tactical voting.

Verdict

Tories 1, Lib Dems 0 (Labour, prepare to be beaten up in the pub after the game).

Localness

Lynne Featherstone has been making quite a bit in her campaign of being a 'local girl' (check out this video). I wondered whether this was her taking a veiled pop at other candidates who aren't. So I asked Richard Merrin and Karen Jennings via Twitter how local they were, and whether it mattered.

Richard said:

"mother clinical nurse at whittington, family live in muswell hill but I am not making an issue of it"

and Karen said:

"I have lived in HWG for over a decade, imp to live in area but this election is about big issues jobs, economy, public services"

You heard it here first.

More from the Haringey Lib Dems

This one's about 50-50 Lynne-worship and Labour-bashing.

"Haringey officially worst council in London" the headline yells. Looks like they're getting frustrated at the limits of typography. It's bold and underlined, and I'm sure if their desktop publishing package had offered a 'flashing red' option, they'd have done that too.

Verdict

Not stellar.

Introducing Rohen Kapur

Until this week I'd only had election post from the three main parties, but they have now been joined by independent candidate Rohen Kapur.

Rohen's postcard says: "The three main parties want only three things: your vote, your TAX money and your unswerving obedience. Why not try real change instead?"

Since there wasn't room for much on his postcard I proceeded to Rohen's blog to find out a little more. Here's how he introduced his candidacy:

"I am not asking for your vote. I am here to give you a real choice. Let me make that very clear from the outset. The thought of being an MP scares the bejesus out of me but I am prepared to see the truth delivered on the television and radio and internet rather than the state sponsored lies, sponsored with your hard earned money. For that I am prepared to stand up and say I will help to bring that change about"

Not asking for my vote? Interesting campaign tactic. 

Verdict

So Rohen is a protest candidate. Which I suppose is, by definition, negative campaigning, except I forgive him, because he's only doing it to make a point, which, I have decided, makes it OK. And his blog is pretty funny too.

Dear oh dear oh dear

Dear oh dear oh double dear. The latest mailing from the Lib Dems is a fairly depressing read.

"Who is standing up for Hornsey and Wood Green?" it asks me in big letters. "Not Gordon Brown's Labour Party", it answers. Then there's a whole bunch of Labour-bashing, about how they backed Bush on the Iraq war (bang up-to-date, guys!) and how we shouldn't be "conned by desperate Labour".

Most of this nasty piece of campaign 'literature', though, is about tactical voting. The only reason that the Lib Dems seem to be able to come up with for voting Lib Dem is that... some other people are.

Verdict

Yes, you've had a surge in support. Yes, you might get some votes. But what have you got to say for yourselves? Full marks for elucidating what the other parties are up to, zero for telling us anything positive about yourselves. Boooo.