This is funny – I’ve played it several times for the chuckle it brings to my lips.
Play it, have a laugh and then email the Chancellor so that he might wake up to the importance of wildlife in our lives.
I’d be interested to know whether you get a respsonse from your MP like I did from mine. I grudgingly admit I was quite impressed by the speed and tone of this response from Louise Mensch (for whom I will probably never vote in my life, ever, ever):
Thank you for including Louise in your email to the Chancellor and Transport Secretary, she hopes that you receive a response in due course and has asked me to pass on the following comments.
Louise will be paying close attention to the economic measures announced in the Budget later this month. She agrees that a focus on economic growth does not mean that we cannot care for the environment. The growing strength of the UK’s green industry shows that it can in fact be a part of economic growth and the Budget next month should provide some detailed information on how the Chancellor intends to promote green technology even more.
A decision on the future of UK airport capacity will have to be taken sooner rather than later. Louise trusts that the environmental impact of any option will weigh heavily on decision makers’ minds.
Thank you again for raising your views.
Ms Mensch’s response has dramatically increased the chance that I might vote for her in the next general election from 2% to 4% – that is a big leap forward.
Although maybe I should take notice of the warning which accompanied her message ‘This message looks very suspicious to our SmartScreen filters’ – you might be right!
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Mentioning in your blog that you will never vote for Louise Mensch does not help your cause in any way. Chances are that next time you write to her you may not get such a prompt reply if any.
David H – then I obviously think more highly of Ms Mensch than you do. She is there to represent and work for all her constituents not just those who have or will vote for her. And I think that she will live up to that. And I did say that my probability of voting for her had doubled – and it’s a long time to the general election.
Hi Mark,a typical light hearted response but with a serious side.
Think I e-mailed the same thing when Martin Harper put it on his blog and I unfairly said that it meant a equal type of response from himself of a assault on Chrissies e-petition which to give enormous credit to him replied that seemed a fair bargain,found that unbelievably nice.
Got a reply from M P just acknowledging receipt.
I agree with Mark – and I think it’s fundamental to our democracy and in fact our way of life that we are able to respect people with whom we may disagree fairly fundamentally (although there are, of course, limits). It sometimes comes as a shock to voters that there are MPs who seem to be genuine friends despite being from opposing parties.
I had some very, very interesting exchanges with a number of MPs for whom, like mark, I’d be unlikely to vote but with whom I found myself in total agreement on the Forest Sales issue. Its worth raising that particular issue at this point because the thing that alarmed the political establishment (for the 2nd time – it was the same in 1993) was that opposition to sales came from right across the political spectrum – the pollsters hwo drive politics really, really don’t like that sort of thing. There is great, and justifiable, concern in ‘green’ circles that the environment gets labelled ‘left’ and expelled into political outer darkness. The NGOs who misjudged the forestry sales issue have been as slow to really think about the implications – and opportunities – as they have been fast in self justification. Noone is perfect and although its not the fashion, saying ‘I got it wrong’, learning and changing could work as well for the conservation sector as we all hope it might for politicians.