Lord Dholakia identifies the fact that some of the correspondence we receive can leave one scratching one’s head. We receive some serious and sometimes heart-rending letters. However, some letters do leave you wondering what you are expected to do with them. Some of the stranger variety have a religious element, often without a return address. One letter I received was along the lines of: ‘I am the voice of God on earth. So are my two daughters. I have a problem with my local council.’ That was by no means untypical of some of the things we receive.
What is also surprising is the number of organisations that still mail every parliamentarian with their latest newsletter or views on a particular issue. The more savvy organisations target members, writing to MPs and peers with a known interest in the subject. Wastepaper baskets in Westminster are overflowing with material that is of no interest to the recipient. Admittedly, some of the material that falls outside my areas of interest can be interesting, but some leaves me wondering. Among the publications I receive is the magazine of the hair styling industry. I assume it is sent to all parliamentarians. If not, I append my picture if they want something for the front cover of the next issue.
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Dear Lord Norton, as someone who occasionally sends mailings to parliamentarians, sometimes it does no harm to send something to everyone. Provided one’s employer has a stuffing and folding machine then it involves very little additional effort or particular expense, and sometimes a previously undetected friends will pop up in a debate and make supportive comments. Voila! A new friendly peer or MP.
If some (indeed, most) of the mailings end up in the recycling then very little is lost.
All that stated, the vast majority of things I send out are very targeted, so it’s only an occasional temptation to whack it out to all & sundry.
Do you also find (as I did when I worked at Westminster) that often the strange letters are copied to the Duke of Edinburgh, the First Sea Lord, and the head of MI5?
Stuart: sometimes mass mailings can be counter-productive, possibly more so in the Lords than the Commons. MPs’ mail is mostly filtered by staff, so the irrelevant gets binned without the MP seeing it. Peers are more likely to open their mail and therefore notice which organisations are sending material that is no relevance to them. It may not do a great deal of harm but it may not help generate a positive view of the organisation that sends it.
What is more likely to get noticed is when organisations send flashy publications with little substantive content. A well-argued letter carries far more weight than a glossy, expensively-produced brochure.
Lord Norton, there’s no reason for you not to be on a hair stlying magazine front cover – your hairstyle is the future for a lot of us men!
Matt: that’s certainly true in the Lords!
Stuart: Yes, you are quite right: the stranger the letter the more likely it is to be copied to the Queen, the PM, various Cabinet ministers and the like. On the one hand, it ia a bit bizarre. On the other hand, it does at least enable people to let off steam. It is said that when Harry S Truman was US President, he sometimes went to the correspondence section in the White House, where they had a special section for crank letters, and for light relief replied to some of the letters.
Dear Lord Norton. Thanks for the response. On the rare occasions that I will send it out to everyone, it is always a well-argued letter (if I do say so myself) for, say, an upcoming debate or vote, usually one that is highly charged (e.g. on the establishment of foundation trusts a few years ago); hopefully I am forgiven when I do it! I’d never send out a newsletter or annual report; when I worked for an MP I would always wonder why anyone did that.
So Stuart, I can’t help intervening here. Where are you on Foundation Trusts now?
Hi Lord Norton et al.,
I agree, Parlimentarians get a lot of spam through the post and much of it goes in the bin…
What do you think of Ken Clarke’s answer to West Lothian:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/2094103/David-Cameron-backs-Tory-plan-to-block-Scottish-MPs-from-voting-on-English-laws.html
I would also be interested to read of Lord Norton’s view on Ken Clarke’s proposals – Is this not just a way of hastening Scottish Independence. Tony Blair never had a majority among English MP’s -I believe any move along the lines being proposed will only hasten Scottish Independence.
Hi Baroness Murphy. I shall not reveal the organisation for which I work as I am submitting comments on a personal basis, but we supported the establishment of foundation trusts, and still do. We were pushing for (and achieved) greater minimum requirements for staff representation on the boards of governors. My employer if an organisation that represents a certain staff group, and I am pleased to say that having encouraged our members to stand for election to the boards, we got a large number elected.
Speaking totally personally, I think that foundation trusts were actually rather a tame innovation, especially compared with recent proposals to hand over the management of failing trusts to private companies.
Alexbpls and NHackett: When I chaired the Conservative Party’s Commission to Strengthen Parliament, which reported in 2000, we looked at the issue of how English MPs could vote on English issues. The report is available online at:
http://www.conservatives.com/pdf/norton.pdf
I do hope that all redundant materials are placed in the recycling bin and not the bin per se.
My understanding is that all the discarded paperwork (which is massive in volume) is recycled.
Now that the furore over the ’42 day’ issue has passed in the Commons, when does the Upper House start to debate it? Is there a timetable for this yet?
Wcobbet: No, not yet. We do not yet know the date for Second Reading. Committee stage, when we get down to the detailed discussion, will be usually two weeks after that.
Lord Norton,
I think it best to submit an updated picture for the cover of the magazine of the hair styling industry once you have followed my advice re- the style that would suit you better and I am sure improve your rating on the most fanciable Lords list….