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Keep election clean, please MailMarks


JUST in case it missed your aention


there is a general election in lile more than six months – and already the local press is on its guard for the dirty tricks brigade. The Downs Mailwelcomes tough and


honest political campaigning on significant issues that will fill the party manifestos – but warns readers to be very aware of personal aacks on candidates. They have started already – with


renewed aempts to smear Maidstone andWeald Tory MP Helen Grant over her parliamentary expenses linked to her residential and office accommodation 18 or so months ago. I investigated these at the time and reported allwas in order.With recent aempted smears I delved even more deeply. The Kent Messenger has investigated aswell. Newspapers, in considering leers to


the editor, have to guard both themselves and their correspondents against charges of libel. That is just one reason why journalists need to be in the know. I think most local parties will play fair.


The Lib Dems’ record is not so pure and I welcome leader Nick Clegg’s conference statement that they are the party of


Real facts of the maer


Dear Sir – Barbara Long’s leer (Impact of Immigration, Issue 209 September 2014), while generously stating that Dennis Fowle is entitled to his opinion, then claims that it is not supported by the facts. In my opinion her comments are not supported by the facts. She says that part of the housing need in Maidstone is becausewe are living longer – but the developers are not building one-bedroom bungalows for older people, they are constructing three and four-bedroom family homes. Older people are part of the 320,000


British people who left the UK last year, usually for sunnier climes and not to take someone else’s job. Barbara Long also claims that four fifths


of the people moving into Maidstone come from within the UK. She makes this claim in the knowledge


that it would be difficult for immigrants to be granted a mortgage on a Maidstone property while living abroad and, therefore, they have to rent in the UK before applying to create a good credit history. These people are then classified by the Government as coming from within the UK.


Why does she feel the need to defend “non-UK residents” (immigrants to you and me) if they are not the cause of the housing shortage? These comments and


Contact our team ...


Stephen Eighteen Editor stephen@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 231


34 Maidstone Town November 2014 Diane Nicholls


Assistant editor diane@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 232


Jane Shotliff Journalist


jane@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 233


Dawn Kingsford


Journalist dawn@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 233


DENNISFOWLE President dfowle2011@aol.com


“decency”. I amsure local Lib Dem Leader Cllr FranWilson will echo that.


Power point I HAVE done bale with my supplier





Southern Electric. It is another worrying power company story. For years I had a monthly bank direct


debit of £100 and usually Iwas comfortably in credit.We have not seen a meter reader for years andwe worked on a system of estimations and occasional phone calls with precise readings. Recently Iwas notified my direct debit


was increasing to £149. I complained that this figure was reached on estimations and, because there had been no recent increase in charges, meant our consumption had jumped by 49%. My first phone callwas very tough and difficult as Southern Electric tried to put me down. But I gave it the current reading – and a very tough time. The first


her aempt to smear Dennis Fowle as a racist are a sign of theweakness of her argument (“If you disagree with me you are a racist”). The EU immigration policy that Barbara


Long supports is itself racist, since it only allows the free movement of people from the predominantly white European countries while denying automatic access to Asian and African people. We should only accept people who have


skills that this crowded country needs, regardless of their ethnicity. MikeWardle, by email


Thoughts on immigration


Dear Sir – I am writing with regard to Barbara Long's leer in the September issue. It is rare to find such a kind and thoughtful opinion on immigration. Your responsewas in line with what is more frequently said. I ama Spanish citizen who moved to England in 2006 to live with my English partner. I would like to ask that any British person who takes part in a debate on immigration considers the following points:  Imagine yourself in a foreign country, with customs you do not know and a language that is not your own, surrounded by people who misinterpret you, even consider you inferior, away from the





resultwas they said the figure should be £138. I continued the query. Now I am told the figure is £116. The company also gaveme a long list of


dates when meter readerswere supposed to have called. There is usually someone at home andwe could not accept their claim. I asked why cardswere not left for us to fill in the reading and return by post. I amtold this is the instruction to their readers. I have now suggested it investigates the system in this area. It all leaves a rather unpleasant taste.


Weather overloads CAN anyone explain why BBC TV


South East invests time and money in a localweather forecast to be followed immediately by a very full national forecast? There is so much news and sport to report.





Lout lesson I LOVE the story of a couple of chaps


on a train to Maidstone who removed at Barming one evening a drunken lout who was annoying passengers. Hewas told to sort himself out and


catch the next train an hour later. Good on them.


people you love. It is not easy. Whatever an immigrant’s reason, it is a good reason for that person. Because it is not easy.  I hear British people speak with pride about Victorian times. Less frequently they realise that at that time, the Britishwere emigrating to other countries, and the citizens from those countries are now coming to Britain.A strong part of Britain's immigration is linked to the history of the Empire. I understand that another part of Britain's immigration is linked to the EU, and I wish British citizens could be given the opportunity to vote on their membership.  UK is not only a country of immigrants, it is also a country of emigrants. Spain receives quite a few of them along its Mediterranean coast, with a detrimental effect on the local population. Developers know the British can afford more expensive houses, so prices go up and Spanish people can no longer afford to buy homes in areas favoured by British citizens. There is also great pressure onwater resources. But when our environment is destroyed, British citizens just have to find another sunny country.  I never understood people who complain about immigrants taking local jobs and then buy foreign products. Anybody whowants to favour local jobs should start by buying local products – I do. Ana Fernandez, by email


Comment


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