In the current electoral context, I guess what I would be more interested in seeing in a newsletter of this sort is what the Conservatives would do if they win the mayoral race on May 1. And as I mention I think your survey questions are a touch on the loaded side. Of course I do have some affiliation so I guess you wouldn’t have lost my vote either way, but I suspect I am not the only one who thought the same thing.

Firstly in relation to the congestion charge. While from what I gather it is true that the increased charge will impact some models that one wouldn’t actually expect without delving into it, I am not sure the newsletter really sheds much light on this, besides raising the £25 figure as a means of scaring people about it. I dare say most families will not be impacted. Including a direct link to a website where residents could find out if they would have to pay the extra charge, for example, would have been excellent.

The item about Heathrow is probably a fair cop – I had taken the newsletter as a straight out mayoral race election mail out and assumed you were taking a sideways dig at Labour. I suppose you were in a convoluted way, but I’m happy to give you the benefit of the doubt there.

If you are talking authoritarian policies, a better policy for testing the waters with in a survey might be the Brown Government’s draconian detention legislation, which for my money is a step too far. The question on microchips in bins I thought was a bit cheeky, as was the council tax inspectors one. I am sure there are some conditions that need to be satisfied before council tax inspectors can just barge into someone’s home, but you haven’t of course mentioned those.

Anyhow, kudos to you for dropping in and defending yourself. Good luck in the election.

P.S. Get a blog – an excellent way for you to interact with your constituents and discuss issues with them.

The piece about the £25 charge is designed to alert people to two things 1. that Ken has said he will bring in this charge, which he has and 2. that it doesn’t just cover 4×4’s as you seem to think. Many people with ordinary family cars will fall foul of the charge and I felt they ought to know.

The item about Heathrow doesn’t mention Ken at all – it is an appeal to people to respond to the government consultation on expansion of the airport with the addition of the third runway – something which will have a profound effect on West London.

The survey question you object to was specifically designed to test people’s appetite for the increasingly authoritarian regime under which we live. I guess I was trying to highlight this too, and for that I make no apology.

Overall though you seem to think that despite me being a Conservative candidate, I shouldn’t have an agenda – which seems a rather odd stance from someone who in his own biog confesses to being a member of the Australian Labor Party.