It pays to advertise

Well, I'm having a busy weekend leafletting. Just as if proof were needed about the value of putting ourselves about - as I was going into a cafe to fuel myself up for a day of climbing stairs, a bloke came up to me and started telling me how he remembred seeing me at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park: five years ago!

Well, I used it as an excuse to give him a leaflet, and to go and get my food.

So, there you go, minor celebrity status abounds.

Meetings and meetings

This morning I braved the cold and the wet to speak at Hyde Park - this time armed with a bundle of our freshly printed election leaflets to hand out. Not many people hung around in the rain to listen, but I did get interviewed by someone saying they were from the French media covering the Euro Elections over here. International stardom here I come.

This evening we had our "formal launch" meeting, or, rather, two of our candidates, Pat Deutz and Trsitan Miller standing up and speaking for an hour or so, followed by coffee and cakes (still going on downstairs here in Clapham).

That is, throughout the day, our candidates and speakers have been putting the simple case for common and democratic ownership. Hopefully, some of the work will see light in other forms.

Just to return to the leaflets, they do look good, nice and clear with a simple message and legible writing (well above the standards many other parties put into their literature). Should be going through letter boxes in our Royal Mail mailout sometime this week.

We've had a fewe invites to hustings/meetings, more details on when where shortly, no doubt.

Tommorrow, I'll start shoving leaflets through letrter boxes myself - you can find my thoughts on that joy passim on this blog.

Sunday in the Park

Most Sundays during the summer, some party members go to Speakers' Corner at Hyde Park to try and put the message out. During the election campaign, you've a fair chance of running into two or three of our candidates up there, myself included.

Yesterday, was nearly murdered by the pollen from the trees, which didn't help me speak for an hour and a half, but I soldiered on. An odd incident occurred, someone got up as an Italian politician (with translator, poster board and film crew) started speaking. He claimed to be a member of Berlusconi's party, but was more probably a spoofer - his policies were to cut taxes, build on parks, British only public transport and more breasts on the BBC. Come to think of it, that list is just as mad as any serious politicians.

The interesting thing was how the regulars to the bearpit responded. Although Speaker's Corner can reach sublime heights of argument, it is also capable of reaching the sublime idiocy of carnival, tearing down pomp and pose with purposely nonsensical questions. Serious politicians don't go there, for that reason. There is a chance, however, that my mention of myself as a genuine European parliamentary candidate might now appear on an Italian satirical programme...