We are now getting established in Norwich North. Our first leaflet is being printed. meeting rooms have been booked, an office and accommodation have been rented. Priority today is to sort out the internet and other communications.
There is still no definite date set for the by-election yet. I have been trying to hire empty shops to use as campaign centres, but the Conservative Party has in some cases got there first and been hiring them for two months – so they obviously expect an early election. But ii is the government which calls the date in this case. I still think July 23rd is most likely – New Labour are going to lose and it would be best to get the bad news out of the way before the summer. But Brown’s instinct is generally to procrastinate.
By law a minimum of only seventeen days notice has to be given for a by-election, so it could be sprung upon us any moment.
There is a genuine disgust at the political parties among the electors of Norwich North. There seems to be a public understanding that the expenses scandal is only a symptom of a party political system that is not functioning and not helping people.
I think we have a genuine opportunity to give the political establishment a real shock here. But I very much need help. We already have plenty of tasks for volunteers to campaign, we can accommodate people and it’s time now to come to Norwich and launch a radical assault on our rotten political system!
If you can come and help, call me on 07979 691085
“There seems to be a public understanding that the expenses scandal is only a symptom of a party political system that is not functioning and not helping people. ” – That’s surprising but encouraging.
P.S. Craig. Not heard about your funding campaign yet. But I advise you to get donations from personal donations and individual that are prepared to go on record (publishable if necessary) as having donated to you, with a declaration the money comes from their own pocket.
I fear some ‘spook’ will lob some money at you and strangely, it will be “exposed” later. Also only accept money from up-front legit businesses and organisations. Ask your team to research these companies before accepting their money if necessary.
They’ll most certainly be out for you.
Dear Craig,
Very best of wishes for the campaign! I hope people will be able to gain access to your website. I was in a hotel in the Netherlands and tried to access your site via one of the hotel computers. However, the site was inaccessible, purely because the words “naked women” (or it might have been “nude women”) appear somewhere on the site and their software identified this as possible porn and blocked the contents. I say this as you will need to be as visible as possible and a website free of blocking triggers might be a plus.
I live in Cambridge – not too far. So will be very happy to come up. When does it all kick off? Or has it?
Sex filtration in the Netherlands? Crikey
Dear Craig
I hope the Campaign is going well and remember you have to fight hard every single minute of every single day to the close of polling.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
“I have been trying to hire empty shops to use as campaign centres, but the Conservative Party has in some cases got there first and been hiring them for two months – so they obviously expect an early election.”
Who told them?.How did they know?.
Good luck.
Will inform the people I know in Norwich, and good luck seconded.
No empty shops in Norwich?
Does that imply there are green shoots of recovery?
Craig,
I think your first poster is great. I’ve been thinking about how to get your message across as quickly and cheaply as possible.
One thing to consider is all large gatherings in the Norwich area – like Festivals
http://www.visitnorwich.co.uk/norwich-festivals.aspx
e.g
Lord Mayor’s Celebration
Norwich
Gather your friends and family and hit the city, we are having a hot festival bonanza. The Lord Mayor’s Celebration is the city’s biggest community celebration and is set in the heart of the city on the streets of Norwich. Celebration events include a carnival, fireworks, two-day music festival, funfair, street entertainers, dancers, comedy, outdoor cinema and lots more.
9 – 12th July 2009 more details
It should be possible even at short notice to set up a stall – and even if not just leaflet everyone.
Just go round sticking small flyers in peoples hands and on their windscreens.
You could do thousands in hours with a few volunteers. Most will get binned – but the message will still get across even if subliminally, very efficiently.
Tony
Accomodations is sorted out. Those who come to Norwich should give Craig a call.
Some spectacular events are planned that cannot ignore Craigs campaing, because the local Archant media, rumoured to have a Tory party member on the examining board for their higher jobs, will do its utmost to ignore anyone, bar the usual rabble that it now keeps company with in Europe.
If the Tory party is now hobnobbing with the Flamish fascists and polish homophobes, they are standing side by side with the UKIP and the BNP as well.
They have made their own bed, now they are discovering that in the light of day, these new allures, do not look as pretty as they thought.
Norfolk county council now has a Tory majority, some 54 out of 80 councillors are also District councillors. By running for cover to find a job at the County level, they are now subverting a futile unitary process in Norfolk.
And they are taking two expence allowances since they are elected,the Tory’s are playing games with taxpayers money in Norfolk and we will say so.
Come on up/down to beautifull Norfolk, Norwich is a ‘fine city’, just as the university of East Anglia’s motto, ‘do different’ it is intended to raise the issues of sleaze and self centred politicians.
The media has already abandoned electoral law, not one candidate is called propsective anymore. Norwich is ‘swamped’ with party politicians opening their pockets, ‘flooding’ the voters heads with their most aspirational promises and wishfull thinking, but generally not saying very much at all. We will.
Those who’d like to come and love the outdoors, can bring a tent and gear to camp should they so wish, there is ample space to pitch it for that Glastonbury feeling without the mud.
I see the Green Party have selected their candidate: Dr Rupert Read, a university lecturer.
Seeing as I live right over the other side of the country there’s little point in my offering any help, but please accept my very best wishes with this – I really hope you give the establishment a shock! 🙂
How do we make a financial contribution?
Here’s Rupert: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/24-06-2009-rupert-read-norwich-north.html
Seems like a nice boy!
Can I come up and campaign for both of you?
Strategist, you can get one better, you can choose.
Between a dogmatic Green party campaign, run with target to win strategy taken from the Lib Dems. and strictly along party lines, with Roo bursting a vessel now and then.
Or, a totally retro anarchic campaign, with some expertise, which with your help, could only improve.
There is a large interest by very young voters, honesty being an issue, expense scandals, nationally as much as in Norfolk, there are issues galore.
Come on in, strategist, the choice is yours.
We have a very relaxing space for those who come for work and help.
Rupert could pick up a lot of votes that might otherwise go to Craig. I suppose it is too much to hope he might have been a member of the Bullingdon Club 🙂
Thanks Ingo, I really will try to come up soon.
Please don’t waste energy attacking the Greens though (“totally dogmatic” etc), tiresome though LibDem-style “target to win” no doubt is when in your face.
We become what we despise – it happened to the LibDems, could well happen to the Greens, but hasn’t happened yet, in my view.
You must have a great chance now that Nadal is out.
Orrabest.
There is now a facebook events page set up by my son last night. It is set up as an open event so anybody wanting to come can leave supporting messages, there is also a contact email address.
I hear what you are saying Strategist, one mustn’t fall into the trap of negative campaigning, already in full swing. Should you want to trawl the news items of the EDP you will find the first spats are already developing.
After 34 years of Green party membership, having done many activities and volunteering within the party, I had not even a thank you, how would you feel about such touchy feely greeny rejection?
They are lucky I have not started a blog up highlighting their parties hairy backside.
When you come up I shall elaborate, or hand you a beer, whatever is more appropriate at the time.
why werent you at a single dundee graduation this week? you are the rector and neither you nor your assesor could be bothered to turn up, so much for your outlandish pledges to make regular visits and get involved with students, i think you’ve made it up twice this year…
This is the price of having an increasingly successful independent international statesman as your Rector. You should be proud!
I’m sure Craig would be up at Dundee as often as he possibly could, were he not in Ghana or fighting by-elections!
Are you Dundee folks coming down to Norwich to help campaign? You should – it will be a fantastic experience, better than any summer work experience placement!
we should be proud? the rectors job is to represent students and listen to their concerns and i’ve been told he hasn’t beeen to a single SRC for over a year, hasn’t attended a single graduation for 2 years and we’re lucky if he’s met a single student out with two or three stop the war meetings since he was elected
as it says on this site he pledged to do more than Lorraine Kelly to represent students and has actually done less.
Have you graduated Dundee student? If you have, why do you question that Craig is prioritising an election campaign and not your graduation?
I have many times said that I would do stuff, but could not always keep up with it, because of some circumstances that crept up.
I did not expect anybody to come to my graduation, cause I worked for it, not my lecturers, but then I’m a mature student. Why should I bother to drape myself in traditional robes and mortarboard in an act of academic poncification? no need what so ever, unless you like pomp and circumstance.
Come on down and enjoy some time out with some real work, you can talk to him in the flesh.
i have indeed graduated and in fact am already doing ‘real work’
the point i was making is that students at Dundee have had an absentee rector for 2 years now. If Craig is too busy to get involved then he should simply step down and let students elect someone who has more time.
had he lived up to his promises and then not turned up at graduations then i wouldnt care less, what bothers me is that he has spent 2 years doing nothing, hasn’t met a single student who is not part of a left wing fringe group, as i said he has not been to an SRC meeting all year, a single graduation ceremony since he was elected, a single summer school graduation ceremony, his court attendence has been hit and miss and he hasn’t organised a single surgery.
this is not a one off blunder, this is a consistent record of failure and broken promises, we elected him because we wanted a figure head who would spend time with students, instead we have someone who has failed on every level
Congratulations to both, your grades and your job, mature students struggle on the latter believe me.
Would you have felt much better with Craig being there? His wife just gave birth to their first son and he had to re-adjust to life as a father at an age when your eager self will probably yearn for retirement, give the man a break.
Further more, why don’t you have a a break yourself, Norwich is such a fine City.
dundee student
How strange that you turn up on this blog at this time?.Saying things like…”this is a consistent record of failure and broken promises, we elected him because we wanted a figure head who would spend time with students, instead we have someone who has failed on every level”.
Me thinks like others that you are trying to tell the voters of Norwich North that Craig will not make a good MP. It won’t work dundee student you are so transparent.
If you were a regular reader of Craig’s blog you would know that Craig does work to help people in far off places and was doing that just last week and on many other occasions, as Craig has just blog on here…”June 21, 2009, I am finally back in the UK!”.
Very strange that you say…”i have indeed graduated”…Hmmmm,yet you come on here calling yourself “dundee student” as I said you are so “transparent”.
i think that is very naughty of u 2 suggest such a thing mr dutton
ok george i have obvously wound you up, are you suggesting i’m not a student? check the dundee papers or the alike, graduations took place today, also if i werent a student then how would i knoe that he hasn’t attended a single SRC meeting in over a year?
to repond to your conspiracy, the reason i posted today was because it was the last day of graduations for the year, had the last day been last Friday i would have posted then and if it were next Friday i would have posted next Friday (persuming he failed to turn up)
you are right though, i dont think he would make a good MP and that is in a large part because he’s been such an anonymous rector. However that is a decision for the people of Norwich to make, personally i would vote Green
i do not intend to camp or spam though and that is why my comments are limited to this thread and this thread only. i will not post about this on another thread as i dont wish to spam and i have more important things to care about than how Craigs election goes…
i notice not one person who has defended Craig has actually taken on the points i made about his record of attendence. to repeat, this is not about is attendence at this weeks graduation, it’s about the fact this is one example from two years of failing to turn up to ANYTHING, no SRC’s, surgeries, meet and greets, summer school visits or anything.
as someone who voted for Craig i am actually a regular reader of this blog