Friday, 14 May 2010

Dodgy emails

OK, someone is having a laugh.... Not only have I been trying for months to stop Conservative campaign HQ sending me 'personal' and to be frank, rather over-friendly, emails from David Cameron, George Osborne and Eric Pickles, to both my own email account and to my parliamentary email address.... Latest example, from the man we must now learn to call the Prime Minister:

"Dear Kerry,

From the bottom of my heart - thank you.

Thank you for voting Conservative on Thursday. Every vote counts and you helped Britain vote for change.

More than that, I want to thank you for fighting and campaigning so hard for the past few weeks. I know how hard every supporter, member and activist worked during this campaign. I know how tough and gruelling it was. I know how tired you all feel now. You'll have blisters from all the pavements you've pounded; paper-cuts from the envelopes you've stuffed; bruised knuckles from the doors you've knocked on."

Etc, etc. I have been trying to compose bitingly sarcastic replies, but got stuck for inspiration and ended up just saying "Dear Dave. I am a Labour MP. Ergo..."

Anyway, if it were not bad enough that I've been unwittingly and completely involuntarily been conscripted into the Tory ranks, I also received last week:

- an email thanking me for signing up to receive news from the Liberal Democrats
- an email regarding my request to subscribe to the UKIP mailing list
- an email thanking me for signing up to Julia Goldsworthy's website and ticking the following options "I will display a poster at election time/ I can help with general campaigning/ I would like to join the Liberal Democrats/ I would like to recieve [sic] regular updates about Julia's Parliamentary work"

The last of those was received three days after she'd already lost the seat... if only I'd signed up sooner. She'd have been in the Cabinet now.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Is that all? I have had countless emails from people in exotic continents who have discovered I am related to them and can share in their zillions of pounds inheritance if I send them my bank details. Not forgetting the medical establishments of whom I am a valued customer offering me huge discounts on things which also contain the word huge. What about the emails from 'cute Kerry' begging me to join their webcam site?

Maybe I should get into politics and get more sensible emails from Dave, Nick and Nigel.

Leroy said...

You've been hacked/spammed! That's some pretty offensive junk mail; change all your passwords quick!

Tyler Durden said...

To be fair, you are a great reason to vote Tory....

dreamingspire said...

I'm sorry that you have been a victim, but this all goes to show that we should make a serious attempt to secure internet transactions. Not by means of the current ID card technology, which is crude and designed only to help (sic) some people in power, but by means of true secure eID. At a conference 20 months ago, Meg Hillier (then a Home Office Minister in charge of ID cards and similar things) was asked why in this country we do not "do eID" when numerous other European countries do or are going to do. Her answer, after only a very brief pause, was "we have to walk before we can run". So why doesn't our civil service run?

dreamingspire said...

Kerry, your web site still says "Labour candidate...". I'm very glad you got back into Parliament (but I'm not one of your constituents), so be bold about it.

Richard Fontaine said...

It is probably people thinking that it would be the largest barrel of laughs in the world to add your address to this kind of thing :P