AM I TALKING CRAP?
My letters to the local paper have put me under venomous attack from many quarters. I must be saying something right, in that they have also brought me many new friends.
Brian Blatchwood implies that I am a government propagandist, and my letters worthy only as toilet paper. Such puerile and negative language is a waste of an opportunity to say something positive and useful. Why do so many letter writers attempt to denigrate those they disagree with? What happened to good manners? Democracy is about discussion and debate, the exchange of ideas, not insults. I write about a wide range of subjects, eg. motherhood, religion, vandalism, binge drinking, architecture, Prince Charles's wedding, public transport, the Asian tsunami, not just politics. My most recent political letters have been purely factual, in that I am amazed to discover that I am actually better off since I retired than when I was working (Details available), and I posed a question, could anyone inform me of a better budget package for pensioners than the recent one. Nobody has sent me any examples as yet. Incidentally, I have only voted Labour once in my life, on the basis that this far from perfect government is greatly preferable to all the alternatives on offer.
Most gratifying is the series of anonymous letters (all in a single week) from an extreme sect, which I call the Bloody Nutters Party. Apart from the hair-curling obscenities, they accuse me of hiding my address, and enclose very detailed files of Asian Rapists in the UK, Refugees and the spread of HIV and disease in the UK, Dodgy foreign doctors in the UK. The list goes on and on. Another file lists the sexual offences of Tory, Labour, and Liberal councillors over the years. I will not comment on the files, but far from hiding my identity, several prospective candidates of this party have more than once enjoyed the hospitality of my home to discuss their ideas. Strangely, I have not even mentioned the party in many months, so why now?
Someday I will bore readers with my motivation for writing to the paper. Perhaps I just like the sound of my own voice or am trying to make a name for myself. Perhaps not.
Dave
