DUBIOUS TACTICS

Leicester Mercury - 09 July 2004

Familiarity in election build-ups can prove counter-productive

Even allowing for the enthusiasm of any competitive spectacle such as a Parliamentary by-election, I found it offensive to receive an election mailing from the Labour candidate addressing me by my first name, enclosing a Labour window-poster and referring to his two main opponents in a derisory manner (as "Mr 2 Jobs" and "Mr Cuts").

Admittedly, I am not a Labour Party supporter, but I consider such presumptuousness to be quite unqualifiable.

As to the other enclosure - a sheet headed "How to Vote" - on which only the Labour candidate's name appears alongside a cross, there is surely a risk of misinterpretation by voters with poor command of English that this is an order to vote Labour.

I cannot see any true honour in such tactics.

David E Gillman, Leicester.