A response from my MP!

I had a reply from my MP in response to my letter on equal marriage:

Dear Kathy

Thank you for your letter expressing your support for same sex marriage. I am afraid we will have to agree to disagree.

Along with 174 other MPs I voted against the Second Reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill. I had a huge postbag on the issue and the vast majority of constituents who wrote to me were against the Bill.

As the vote showed, I am in a minority and I have no doubt that it will become law.

Yours Sincerely,

Should I write back to him and explain the problems with his data selection method? The contents of a postbag do not necessarily represent the views of a constituency. By limiting communications to a postbag, you've excluded those who have neither the ability or inclination to write. I would hazard that his postbag contains opinions of a greater proportion of elderly (more accustomed to letter-writing than the electronic generation),* retired (have enough free time to spend on this), affluent (can afford to spend time engaging with their MP), literate (probably not dyslexic or poorly-educated) people than the current population. And that's before even considering whether people who object to a change are more inclined to be vocal about it than those who don't. I don't know if any research has been done on this in general, but the impression I got in this case was lots of small lobby groups who opposed the change in the law encouraging supporters to be very vocal, whereas those who supported the change didn't feel the need to do or say anything because they assumed that the change would go ahead regardless. 

*When I told a  cow-orker that I had written to my MP, he laughed and said "You wrote to an MP? How old are you? Seventy?!?"

A genuine conversation in the office

"Oh, I saw you and your husband on your tandem last night."

"Oh yes?" (in a vague non-committal manner. People seem to like to tell me when they've seen me on the tandem. I'm not sure why, or what response is expected, but it seems to make them happy.)

"Yes, I was just behind you at the lights. Just one thing," (mock scolding) "Where was your helmet?!"

"With my mountain bike, for the next time I need it."

"Well, it meant I took extra care not to knock you off as I went past because of it!"

And that's why I don't wear a helmet on the road, folks!

A Modest Proposal

The other week, a friend pointed out the hashtag #CreepingSharia, which had been started by a member of the EDL who was objecting to the Islamification of everyday life, namely a picture of a mosque on Twitter. Fortunately the majority of Twitter users were roundly mocking the EDL, pointing out that the picture in question was actually the Taj Mahal. However, what struck me most was the illiteracy of the EDL’s posts.

Initially I thought there was something delightfully ironic about the English Defence League’s poor grasp of the English language. Then I decided it was actually quite sad. There seemed to be a strong correlation between ignorance and hatred.

Similarly, with Ched Evans’ recent conviction for rape, it is noticeable how few of the people abusing and insulting the victim online understand the difference between “your” and “you’re”: https://twitter.com/#!/search/freechedevans

This leads me to my suggestion: there should be a compulsory internet proficiency test. The internet should be divided into two parts. The main part is only accessible after passing a test on the difference between “there”, “their” and “they’re”, the use of the apostrophe, and whether or not homeopathy has any basis in science. The other part will be strongly filtered, so that "U da stoopid hoe!" becomes “I say old chap, I fear that you have angered me somewhat.”

Then I realised a flaw in this plan. Although I can tell my stationery cupboard from a stationary object, and can usually remember the difference between complementary and complimentary, I’m buggered if I know whether it’s practice or practise which makes perfect. I may end up condemning myself to the shallow end of the internet forever. On the plus side, at least I’d have all the people who believe that “cologne” is spelled without the silent “g” or the “e” to amuse (not bemuse) me:

It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “the bottom half of the internet”!