I banged off a letter to the EDP about their ridiculous editorial yesterday. I honestly despair of them sometimes. Why is it that they sneer at anything a political party proposes, calling it "opportunistic" or horror of horrors "populist". Far be it from a politician to propose something popular which also happens to be right. They were slagging off our new proposals to give local people and councils proper powers over the siting of mobile phone masts. Funny that the EDP itself has campaigned for this. It's at times like this that I really do think the media are just as much to blame for our political malaise as politicians. They forster a culture of cynicism. The end. Well almost. Here's the letter...
Your editorial today (18 August) displays what is wrong with journalism today. You sneer at new Conservative policies on phone masts and transport as "populist" and "opportunistic vote-seeking". I assume this means you think we've hit on policies which might be popular with voters. What a mistake for a political party to make! We believe that local decisions are best taken by local people and their representatives so the slogan (You decide where they go) on Phone Masts is not misleading at all. Local councillors will be given greater powers to decide the siting of phone masts. I thought this was something the EDP had been campaigning for. Strange. You properly record the fact that West Suffolk MP Richard Spring has been leading the campaign against phone masts in rural areas so for us to take this up as an issue can hardly be called opportunistic.
