SE23 Forum

Lets not have another one.

2010–2012: Life peer[edit]

In the dissolution Honours List, John Maples, on 24 July 2010, was created Lord Maples of Stratford-upon-Avon in the County of Warwickshire.[11]

During a Lords debate on voting reform in November 2010, Lord Maples compared Lewisham West unfavourably with his other former constituency, Stratford-upon-Avon, stating that they "could not be more different". He claimed that Lewisham West was "three square miles of concrete", did not have an "identity", and that many of its constituents "did not know which borough they lived in". He added that Stratford-upon-Avon had a "very articulate" electorate and Lewisham West had "immigration and housing problems".[12] Lord Maples was working on the Financial Services bill from the joint Parliamentary Finance Committee.[13

Yes......

If you judge the future by the past then you may as well give up and just wait for the end.

My personal opinion of our former Tory MP is considerably worse than his was of his former constituency and constituents!

Sadly he was a good example of a professional politician with no particular interest in his constituency.

Moral of the story is vote for a candidate who actually lives in the area.

I don't really care about 'Lewisham West'. It's an artificial boundary and has nothing to do with what I identify with. If someone asked where I lived or went out, I wouldn't say 'Lewisham West' or 'Lewisham' at all if I'm honest. It means nothing to me. It's the name of the local council. Not where I live.

So in that regard about identity, I believe he's right. Forest Hill has an identity, Sydenham does. Lewisham West? Meh! I had to look up where it covered.

I'm not sure our current MP seems to do much judging from his record in the commons. It's a shame our local Labour Party didn't select a fresh candidate, but it's a safe seat who why should they bother selecting the best candidate to represent their party and the borough?

Which sort of sums things up.

I'm not sure I really care about what a former MP, who lost an election here over 20 years ago and died in 2012 said when comparing his local constituency to his last one or what that has to do with the current election.

And no, I'm not a Tory supporter at all. Infact, no-one has really said anything as a local candidate to float my boat, the closest would be Alex Freaks, who I thought was really good as a cllr and the Green candidate, Tom (time after time I get Green as the party that policy selection websites say I have the most in tune with).

I wish we had PR to get my actual feelings across.

To be fair, they all smear each other, especially Labour and the Tory parties and their respective press.

The Lib Dems have been especially demonised by all sides.

I'm inclined to agree: http://www.se23.com/forum/showthread.php...0#pid68060
and http://www.se23.com/forum/showthread.php...3#pid68023