There's something strange happening on Facebook.
Nearly every day I find a new question from a certain David Cameron telling me that he would like to know my views on a range of issues from the NHS to Immigration.
I find this strange for a number of reasons.
First, because David Cameron is not someone that I have befriended on Facebook.
Second, because neither have I befriended the Tory Party on whose behalf the questioner claims to be inviting my views.
Third, because no matter how I continue to ignore the request the next day and the day after come further requests to hear my views.
I haven't bothered to respond to these 'surveys' but suspect that they will be written in such a way that the outcome will support the con-den policy.
A distorted version of what Americans call Mom and Apple Pie.
Take the survey on Immigration for example:
Labour, it states, don't agree with our policies on immigration, the five questions which follow are in fact heavily loaded to encourage agreement.
Unsurprisingly they also perpetuate unproven assertions which verge on the status of Urban Myths.
Hardworking taxpayers? (What's not to like? Except that the majority of immigrants are in fact hardworking tax payers)
Benefits tourism? (Where's the evidence that this exists?)
Bogus Colleges? (Again where is the evidence? Of course if a college is bogus? Wasn't Eton founded to educate poor children and is it not in fact still a Charity?)
Deport foreign criminals? (Duh?)
Immigrants should speak better English? (Try that one on the Costa Geriatrica, where everyone, except the Spanish, speak better English!)
Well Mr Cameron if you really want to know my views on Immigration, or anything else, for that matter, I would prefer it if you didn't pretend to be my friend on Facebook (Facebook please note that I am being stalked and take appropriate action!).
But my views on Immigration are as follows:
I enjoy living in and experiencing the richness of a multi-cultural society.
Most of the evidence that I see is that those who come to this country to improve their circumstances contribute significantly to the economic flourishing of British Society.
I find the anti immigration rhetoric of your con-dem colleagues and the new Tory Lite party led by Mr Farage to be as offensive to me personally as it is to people that I am proud to count as real friends, both on Facebook and in real life.
The greatness of the British Isles has been built on the fact that it was a big enough society to welcome not only my forebears (from Ireland) but countless numbers of people from across the world who have made their homes here and in doing so have helped not only our language develop and change but have enriched our fashion, our cuisine, our social fabric and our sense of ourselves and our self worth as a global nation.
That generosity of spirit and a Biblical commitment to welcoming the 'stranger in our midst' is part of our DNA as a nation.
Your questionnaires demonstrate to me that you were as serious about the 'big society' as you were about voting blue to turn green, and underscore why I was right not to vote for you in 2010 and why I won't be voting for you in 2015.
Nearly every day I find a new question from a certain David Cameron telling me that he would like to know my views on a range of issues from the NHS to Immigration.
I find this strange for a number of reasons.
First, because David Cameron is not someone that I have befriended on Facebook.
Second, because neither have I befriended the Tory Party on whose behalf the questioner claims to be inviting my views.
Third, because no matter how I continue to ignore the request the next day and the day after come further requests to hear my views.
I haven't bothered to respond to these 'surveys' but suspect that they will be written in such a way that the outcome will support the con-den policy.
A distorted version of what Americans call Mom and Apple Pie.
Take the survey on Immigration for example:
Labour, it states, don't agree with our policies on immigration, the five questions which follow are in fact heavily loaded to encourage agreement.
Unsurprisingly they also perpetuate unproven assertions which verge on the status of Urban Myths.
Hardworking taxpayers? (What's not to like? Except that the majority of immigrants are in fact hardworking tax payers)
Benefits tourism? (Where's the evidence that this exists?)
Bogus Colleges? (Again where is the evidence? Of course if a college is bogus? Wasn't Eton founded to educate poor children and is it not in fact still a Charity?)
Deport foreign criminals? (Duh?)
Immigrants should speak better English? (Try that one on the Costa Geriatrica, where everyone, except the Spanish, speak better English!)
Well Mr Cameron if you really want to know my views on Immigration, or anything else, for that matter, I would prefer it if you didn't pretend to be my friend on Facebook (Facebook please note that I am being stalked and take appropriate action!).
But my views on Immigration are as follows:
I enjoy living in and experiencing the richness of a multi-cultural society.
Most of the evidence that I see is that those who come to this country to improve their circumstances contribute significantly to the economic flourishing of British Society.
I find the anti immigration rhetoric of your con-dem colleagues and the new Tory Lite party led by Mr Farage to be as offensive to me personally as it is to people that I am proud to count as real friends, both on Facebook and in real life.
The greatness of the British Isles has been built on the fact that it was a big enough society to welcome not only my forebears (from Ireland) but countless numbers of people from across the world who have made their homes here and in doing so have helped not only our language develop and change but have enriched our fashion, our cuisine, our social fabric and our sense of ourselves and our self worth as a global nation.
That generosity of spirit and a Biblical commitment to welcoming the 'stranger in our midst' is part of our DNA as a nation.
Your questionnaires demonstrate to me that you were as serious about the 'big society' as you were about voting blue to turn green, and underscore why I was right not to vote for you in 2010 and why I won't be voting for you in 2015.
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