downsmail.co.uk
Keep election clean, please MailMarks
JUST in case it missed your attention
there is a general election in little more than six months – and already the local press is on its guard for the dirty tricks brigade. The Downs Mail welcomes tough and honest political campaigning on significant issues that will fill the party manifestos – but warns readers to be very aware of personal attacks on candidates. They have started already – with
renewed attempts 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 all was in order.With recent attempted smears I delved even more deeply. The Kent Messenger has investigated as well. Newspapers, in considering letters 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
Communication problems
Dear Sir – I agree with Dennis Fowle (Mail Marks) about the superb facilities at TunbridgeWells Hospital, in Pembury, but they have a serious communication problem caused by the facilities. My wife spent three weeks in Pembury
in 2012 in an en-suite room with helpful friendly staff who responded promptly to calls for help – but unfortunately I was unable to find what was wrong with her. Nursing staff were busy dealing with patients in their rooms so no one was available to talk to. I was reduced to standing in the corridor and grabbing a passing nurse or doctor to ask questions – which they usually could not answer as they were in a hurry dealing with a patient. I only once talked to a doctor after admission, who too was in a hurry dealing with another patient. My wife was discharged after three
weeks but I still had no idea of her problem, except that it involved a stomach operation, nor of the possibility of a pulmonary embolism from which she died suddenly three days later. It was a traumatic, unexpected experience for us. I did report the problem via PALS, who admitted the problem, but I have never had a further response. In Maidstone Hospital there is always someone to talk
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Stephen Eighteen Editor
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Diane Nicholls
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diane@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 232
Jane Shotliff Journalist
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Dawn Kingsford
Journalist
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Maidstone South November 2014 33
DENNISFOWLE President
dfowle2011@aol.com
party of “decency”. I am sure local Lib Dem leader Cllr FranWilson will echo that.
Power point I HAVE done battle 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 I was comfortably in credit.We have not seen a meter reader for years and we worked on a system of estimations and occasional phone calls with precise readings. Recently I was 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 call was 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
to on the wards. Nelson Bowker, Kingswood
Don’t ignore Lib Dems
Dear Sir – Aempts by the Downs Mail to downplay the Liberal Democrat challenge to Helen Grant would be comical if they were not so misleading. So Jasper Gerard, objectively the only candidate who can beat MP Helen Grant, is presented in your coverage almost as an afterthought. Meanwhile fringe candidates unlikely to muster more than a handful of votes are given huge
prominence.At the last general election the Lib Dems received 36% of the vote in the constituency, coming a close second. Next was Labour in third on just under 10%. Ukip hardly even registered and still don't have a single councillor in the constituency. In Maidstone and theWeald the party
which came out on top by a clear 10% in May’s local electionswas the Lib Dems. Since then they have beaten the Conservatives in the previously safe Tory council seat of Staplehurst. With Jasper Gerard working full time in
the constituency for two and a half years it would be refreshing if the Downs Mail recognised his commitment and chances. The Downs Mail enjoyed a hard-fought reputation for thoroughness and fairness. It
first result was they said the figure should be £138. I continued the query. Now I am told the figure is £116. The company also gave me a long list
of dates when meter readers were supposed to have called. There is usually someone at home and we could not accept their claim. I asked why cards were not left for us to fill in the reading and return by post. I am told this is the instruction to their readers. I have now suggested it investigates the system in this area. It all leaves me with a rather unpleasant taste.
Weather overloads CAN anyone explain why BBC TV
South East invests time and money in a local weather 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. He was told to sort himself out and
catch the next train an hour later. Good on them.
would be a great shame if it were to sacrifice public trust purely because of an inexplicable admiration for Mrs Grant. BWGodding, East Farleigh
Mr Godding, the article you are referring to appeared in October (Election candidates announced) as information on the candidates for next May’s vote whom we had not previously covered. Because we had been informing our readers
about Jasper Gerard’s candidacy almost on a monthly basis since February last year, when he was chosen to represent the Lib Dems for Maidstone and TheWeald, it was deemed unnecessary to go into too much depth about his policies in this article. The same is true of Helen Grant, the Conservative incumbent. Once we are on the eve of the election, we will
invite the main candidates to outline their policies across an even spread of space for each of them. I try to ensure that all of our stories are politically balanced, so I am not sure which news article(s) you believe highlights an “inexplicable admiration” for Mrs Grant any more than any other politician. It is also worth noting that current national opinion polls suggest Ukip and Labour could be just as dangerous as the Lib Dems in challenging the 5,889 majority Mrs Grant achieved when she first contested the seat in 2010.
Comment
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