Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Thatcher snatchers
Things are getting fairly intense in the Welsh Assembly as the election approaches. So much so that political rivalries are degenerating into the removal of partisan posters and pictures from the office doors of rival party AMs. This is an e-mail that was circulated yesterday from the office of Conservative AM, Andrew R.T. Davies:
It may be slightly naïve of me, so I apologise in advance if I overestimated my expectations of behavioural standards in the workplace…
It seems to me that there is a healthy culture of decorating political offices with pictures. (We work in a tribal environment, and yet our office doors all look exactly the same, so it is to be expected that we’d want to personalise our workspace…)
I also thought that it was pretty mature and decent that there appeared to be an unwritten agreement that you didn’t deface or steal pictures from other office doors…
…Because for every one of “Gordon Brown’s porky pies”, there would be a “57 varieties of Lib-Dem hypocrite” etc etc
But it seems that someone has suddenly decided that they can no longer stand idly by and allow this to happen. They must hate Margaret Thatcher so much if they have to take our picture down every single day.
…And I let it go at first. Laughed it off.
And then I decided to increase the number of pictures to show that we are not going to be bullied. I won’t concede my right to freedom of expression.
…And then it happened again. And again.
I’m willing to make a deal now…
We’ll go back to just one picture of Margaret Thatcher on the door. One COLOUR picture of Mrs Thatcher.
BUT
If she is stolen again then we will add more pictures.
And They will increase also increase in size.
What do you say? Let’s not make it a matter for the authorities. Because then it’s out of my hands!
Only 6 weeks to go before we recess for the election itself. Can things remain civil for that long?
It may be slightly naïve of me, so I apologise in advance if I overestimated my expectations of behavioural standards in the workplace…
It seems to me that there is a healthy culture of decorating political offices with pictures. (We work in a tribal environment, and yet our office doors all look exactly the same, so it is to be expected that we’d want to personalise our workspace…)
I also thought that it was pretty mature and decent that there appeared to be an unwritten agreement that you didn’t deface or steal pictures from other office doors…
…Because for every one of “Gordon Brown’s porky pies”, there would be a “57 varieties of Lib-Dem hypocrite” etc etc
But it seems that someone has suddenly decided that they can no longer stand idly by and allow this to happen. They must hate Margaret Thatcher so much if they have to take our picture down every single day.
…And I let it go at first. Laughed it off.
And then I decided to increase the number of pictures to show that we are not going to be bullied. I won’t concede my right to freedom of expression.
…And then it happened again. And again.
I’m willing to make a deal now…
We’ll go back to just one picture of Margaret Thatcher on the door. One COLOUR picture of Mrs Thatcher.
BUT
If she is stolen again then we will add more pictures.
And They will increase also increase in size.
What do you say? Let’s not make it a matter for the authorities. Because then it’s out of my hands!
Only 6 weeks to go before we recess for the election itself. Can things remain civil for that long?
