Gavin’s Gaily Gigest

13 responses so far ↓

• 1 Paul Walter // May 16, 2008 at 2:52 pm

  And your problem is?

• 2 Neil Fawcett // May 16, 2008 at 4:55 pm

  Thank you for your constructive criticism Gavin, it’s always welcome.

  I kind of assumed that as the people receiving the letter were all paid up members of the Liberal Democrats they might have a reasonable guess at which party the letter was from!

  Alternatively it might have been a cunning plot to garner more publicity for the by-election effort via your highly read blog

• 3 Gavin Whenman // May 16, 2008 at 5:22 pm

  Hi Paul: Haven’t really got a problem, just thought it was of interest that it was only the imprint at the bottom of the letter actually said it was from the Lib Dems.

  Thanks for commenting Neil, I’ll be up to beautiful Henley very soon

• 4 Sam // May 16, 2008 at 5:32 pm

  Why are we diverting people to Henley when Crewe and Nantwich is next week?

• 5 Jock // May 16, 2008 at 6:28 pm

  There are some of us delivering in Henley who would not be travelling up to Crewe if the month were all Sundays!

• 6 Paul Walter // May 16, 2008 at 7:35 pm

  It’s only a blinking letter to supporters! Surely many supporters know who Neil Tap is anyway?

• 7 Paul Walter // May 16, 2008 at 8:27 pm

  Sorry Gavin, I should have written “the problem” rather than “your problem” - hence my first comment came over as overly aggressive. Sorry.

  You have a point and I would have expected at least one mention of the words “Liberal Democrat” above the imprint. Having said that, I think the style comes over as nice and personal. And, after all, are you expecting a letter from the Conservatives’ By-election HQ in Henley? I am certainly not, and I doubt whether any of our supporters are. I can usually tell from the envelope that something is from the Liberal Democrats. My wife is a less active LibDem and she can usually tell as well.

  My point is that blowing this up into a major fascimile thing with little pointers etc is OTT. Fair enough - it’s a free country and if you want to do it - great. It just seems disproportionate to me as does, more importantly, the reference to “dare not write their name”. Neil Fawcett comes across to me as a very bluff, honest and open chap and I really suspect this is much more likely to be a case of an intention to make the letter more personal and perhaps a bit of “cock up” - rather than conspiracy. So “dare not write their name” really is over-dramaticising it. But then I over-dramaticised my response by saying “your problem” rather than “the problem” so I am guilty as well and as I say, it is a free country and I respect your write to blog about this. And thanks for your intention to help in Henley!

  Again, apologies for the terse first one or two comments.

  Best wishes
  Paul

• 8 Will // May 16, 2008 at 10:31 pm

  If it’s any consolation, I’ve seen the most recent tabloid they’re putting out in Crewe and it’s got Nick Clegg and orange diamonds on the front page!

• 9 theChristophe // May 17, 2008 at 12:11 pm

  hmmm I just got mine this morning and although different to yours, it did have the Lib Dem logo and Chris Rennard in lovely big letters at the top

• 10 Duncan Borrowman // May 17, 2008 at 3:25 pm

  I got both Neil’s and Chris’s letters this morning.

• 11 Susan // May 17, 2008 at 5:52 pm

  I too got both in the post this morning…

• 12 Peter Wardle // May 18, 2008 at 1:07 pm

  Peter Wardle South Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats here.

  Liberal Democrats people are not being diverted from Crewe.

  However there are many Liberal Democrats who have helped us already by sparing us a couple of hours of their valuable time.

  I am not sure I had the exact letter that has been posted here. The Liberal Democrat mailings that I have been sent in the last couple of days has logos and the words Liberal Democrats mentioned several times.

  Peter Wardle
  Henley Constituency Liberal Democrats

• 13 Paul Walter // May 18, 2008 at 9:35 pm

  I have now received the Neil Fawcett letter. And the Chris Rennard letter. The Chris Rennard one has all theusual LibDemmery/Libby bird and was presumably sent to all members, because my daughter and wife got it as well. The Neil Fawcett one was only sent to me, suggesting it was sent to known by-election helpers who would be familiar with Neil’s name and/or Miranda Roberts name etc. I would also say that it was accompanied by a yellow half A4 map which said “Henley LibDems” very prominently and “www.henleylibdems.org.uk” in very large type.
  It is actually a clever ruse to ring the changes with lay out/type face on supporters letters. If they are all the same they are less likely to be read.

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