It Pays To Advertise?

Bang on its 400-word limit, this was sent to The Northern Echo’s Consett and Stanley Advertiser, which is not shy of publishing contentious letters for the benefit of every household, free through the door. But as we await the full fanzine treatment for Trigger as soon as the General Election is called (and for Kevan Jones, but he is not my concern), this has not been printed:

I am the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North West Durham. My Campaign Patrons are Councillor Alex Watson OBE, who led Derwentside District Council for many years, and Davey Ayre, a legendary local trade unionist. I was born in 1977, and I have lived in North West Durham since 1982. I was an elected member of Lanchester Parish Council from 1999 to 2013, a governor of Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School from 1999 to 2007, and a governor of Saint Bede’s from 2000 to 2008. I am one of Derwentside’s elected public governors of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. I was elected unopposed. I first appeared on television in defence of Shotley Bridge Hospital in 1997.

There is going to be another hung Parliament. The price of my support for any Government would be the necessary support for a number of projects in each of the former District Wards equal to the former number of District Councillors, together with justice for the 472 Teaching Assistants whose pay Durham County Council had cut by 23 per cent, together with not less than the level of hospital provision in Consett in July 2019, and together with the implementation of the plan for the rail service that had been advanced by The Northern Echo in June 2018.

The Conservative candidate won 34.5 per cent in 2017. Labour holds fewer than half of the County Council seats in North West Durham. The Liberal Democrats cut the Labour majority in half in 2010. An Independent kept his deposit both in 2005 and in 2010. Therefore, I would appoint an Independent, a Labourite, a Conservative and a Liberal Democrat in each of the County Wards, ideally including at least one person in each of the former District Wards, to work with me and with local people. I would also appoint a Political Advisor from within each of the Independent, Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat blocs.

There is nothing left-wing about Laura Pidcock. She is not a supporter of Brexit, Modern Monetary Theory, the Universal Basic Income, Julian Assange, Chris Williamson, the County Durham Teaching Assistants, the revival of the British coal and steel industries, or putting Tony Blair on trial for Iraq. Nor is she an opponent of Trident, NATO, Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, gender self-identification, or the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism. I am all of those things. I can be contacted on davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.

Oh, well. The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here.