Brilliant first poster design here from Brynmor. It needs a little tweaking – I wouldn’t call myself a politician, as I have spent a very large amount on civil liberties campaigning and not made a penny out of it. But it is going to be very strong.
We are going to need volunteers. The election will be in July or September , with July looking more likely. Either way we need to start now. Stevie has volunteered to coordinate.
We need office workers, canvassers, leafletters, drivers, media handlers, IT campaign organisers, graphic artists, printers, fundraisers, volunteer coordinators, diary keepers, candidate cheerer uppers, accommodation providers. There is something everybody can do, of whatever age, however mobile, wherever they are.
If you would like to help, please start by sending an initial email to
giving full contact details, stating what time or resource you might make available, if you live in Norwich or if you can come when you might come, any relevant experience (not that this is required) and anything else that might help. We will work out shortly how to make donations – the offers are greatly appreciated. Accommodation will be available in Norwich for volunteers.
A modified strap line for the student’s bar poster
“Truth is like a dog’s bollocks ?” pretty obvious if you care to look ?” but most MPs prefer to avert our gaze, many have had them removed.
Vote Craig Murray, man with cojones”
c/o http://slimpickens.wordpress.com
Let’s try again…….
A modified strap line for the student’s bar poster
“Truth is like a dog’s bollocks ?” pretty obvious if you care to look ?” but most MPs prefer to avert their gaze, many have had them removed.
Vote Craig Murray, man with integrity and cojones”
c/o http://slimpickens.wordpress.com
Craig,
Personally ?” I hope that you win a seat.
However, I say this:-
“Craig’s ascendancy, his election to Parliament, the reaction to his policies as articulated before his successful election and after it – makes it clear that very few people in this country are interested in changing anything of substance.”
And I trust that subsequent events do not give special meaning to what I have just written.
An advertisement should depict where you want to be, what you want to achieve. The poster is intended to be negative in order to highlight the positive. To me the poster reminds me of ‘This little piggy had roast beef. This little piggy had none.’
The central point about Craig’s campaign against torture is that the West has not matched its rhetoric and its international legislation not to differentiate between people like us who musn’t ever be tortured or harmed in any way and people like them with possibly darker skins who can be tortured and manipulated in every way for the purpose of pinching their highly valuable natural resources.
I agree with Shafiur that pigs are not going to offend all Muslims or Jews unless you’re making the comparison with one of them. But there’s a banana skin of racism in the use of pigs if you wanted to persuade a Muslim New Labour supporter to back Craig’s ethical campaign against this government’s foreign policy. They would quickly tell the Muslim community that Craig was attacking Muslim support for New Labour by comparing them with pigs. It wouldn’t be true, but it’s precisely how the advert would be interpreted after what Craig has said about the rottenness of the borough of Bradford.
Offence can be taken where no offence was intended. That’s why it’s best to stick to positive advertising in my opinion.
Global warming. The best reason for reducing carbon emissions that I can think of is so that nations stop killing other nations for oil. It’s so unimaginative and self-destructive to create an apartheid policy as Tony Blair did, in which the UK denies the destruction it has wrought on Iraq and is now wreaking on Afghanistan, in order to obtain cheap oil, when we know that alternatives are available. Craig is Green, because the fundamental basis of Greenness is to conserve our precious energy resources and stop the growth-mad politicians from grabbing them and wasting them.
shafiur
Do me a favour, don’t volunteer to be Craigs spin doctor, please!
Interesting points made above but lets be realistic.
The muslim/black/ethnic minority vote in North Norfolk is almost zero. Forget a rascist agenda and forget this suddenly popular anti-BNP approach. Its irrelavent here and wont work.
Dr Ian Gibson was a popular MP. To be successful in North Norfolk a candidate will have to emulate the characteristics which he portrayed to his constituents. He was ‘local’ despite the accent. He appeared to care for the constituency and its people. He was not seen to his constituents as a grandee or a ‘trougher’.
Peoples votes will be won only by a simple and positive campaign. Voters are rejecting the main parties due to numerous reasons, most of which arise from having a single party in power for too long with too great a majority.
This bi-election has arisen due to Gibsons reaction to the Labour Partys action against him and not from voters anger. Any candidate therefore needs to be local, care about the local people and matters and be prepared to fight for them. This is what any campaign must get across.
I agree with the previous comment. I live in Norwich and I am familiar with local politics here. It would be a mistake to attack Ian Gibson. Many people here feel that Ian Gibson has been singled out by the Labour leadership because he is more honest and outspoken than most of the rest of the Labour MPs. I think it is reasonable to attack the mainstream parties over the expenses scandal, provided this is recognised. I think it would be more appropriate for Craig Murray to raise the issue of the wider corruption in the parliamentary system. Many people feel that MPs do not represent them, cannot hold the government to account, and have to act as apologists for the policies of the permanent state. This is especially true in the area of foreign policy. I know, from talking to Ian Gibson, that he would agree with much of this (even though he is a Labour loyalist). So please don’t turn this into a campaign against Ian Gibson. He has been forced by his (internally authoritarian) party to stand down, anyway.
Clive, stu
I can promise you that I am not in the least planning to campaign against Ian Gibson. He was very unfairly singled out. I have already said that if he stands as an Independent, I will not stand against him.
The draft poster is one item in a large number of items that will form the campaign. I don’t see it as a attack on Ian Gibson anyway; but the overall balance of the campaign is what is important.
I also think this poster is sub-par. The design quality is poor for a start, and the message is ambigious (I wasn’t sure initially if this was a smear poster against yourself?!). Also I don’t think a hotmail email address is a great looking means of communicating with the public (adverts in every email?!). They are usually considered the realm of MSN using teenagers and not public candidates.
Of course this is just my personal opinion and I really wish you all the best in the by-election!
Replace one of the pigs with a picture of Ian Gibson, problem solved.
Breaking news!
Hazel Blears regrets… being Hazel Blears.
😐
Dave,
The Hotmail address is just one for volunteers to help to leave their details. It’s not communicating with everybody.
I stongly suggest that, as everybody else knows far better how to campaign, you all stand for election!
I work for an advertising agency, a very big one.
Don’t design by committee.
Keep it simple
URL (if allowed)
Emphasize the benefit for the voter.
Have a call to action. (Buy this politician now while he is still cheap !)
You don’t need all that text, the visual is strong enough. You could use real pigs if you want more impact. If people are interested they will access the website.
Here is a suggested simplified version with “Honesty, if you see it, vote for it” for the slogan, and “Put trust back into Parliament” for the subtext
http://homepage.mac.com/john01/.Pictures/honestpol2.jpg
Hey, I didn’t say I know better about anything! I’m only offering moral support. I don’t think that, ethically, I can even send a donation.
I see that you have been well attacked by those who would seek to suborn your agenda.
Well done!
Just go for it!
mrjohn, your version of the poster is bang on message! It radiates positivity and is much more subtle about the troughing MPs.
Craig (and all) don’t worry about all this. Yes this was just one thing, but it was the first and it was to address the whole electorate. It was always likely that this is where the people would let express their own personal ideas addressing a whole election campaign as the excitement of trying to help you get into Westmonster is so fresh.
Have you thought about the level of management for this campaign/ i.e. do you want every decision to pass through you, or will you brief someone as to what you want and then trust them to carry out your wishes e.g. publications managers, events managers, or do you trust someone a lot – someone with a talent for a particular role and then delegate responsibility to him without clearing through you.
You may like to structure things. I think it will enhance your efficiency. You may also like to write a reasonably comprehensive set of views and how you can represent the good people of the constituency and the country as a whole. e.g. a 2 column table with a ‘Local policy’ and a ‘National policy’ and also pen an ‘elastic’ brief as to how you want various aspects of your campaign to be done, and if you want constructive comments, set up a post and attach a deadline for such comments. It will discourage future sillyness. Overall, doing these things will give more focus. Forgive my redundant text if you have already done this. And I’d just like to say, I think it is easy to hugely overestimate the use of this blog as a means for helping your campaign. I think it would be better to deal primarily with people in realtime, who after 30s of talking to them can get to work doing what you said. This will not be the first constituency won by way of the blog.
And people: start to get a sense of perspective. This could be a long campaign. We’ve got too hung up about something that was said to be for students! Students posters are hardly representative for the general public, and Craig has already said he likes the poster.
I will put my personal dilemma to the side for now and support you as best as I can.
Best Wishes.
VOTE UKIP IN THE NORWICH NORTH BY ELECTION
Eleven hour gap in comments between dreoilin at June 12, 2009 3:14 PM and MerkinOnParis at June 13, 2009 2:28 AM; anyone know what happened? I know I didn’t try to post between these times.
I should imagine Craig is having a break from all the nonsense of conflicting advice. I hope he abandons this advice by committee and does his own thing.
Like version 2, Craig.
But what about having the pigs’ eyes looking away in horror from the honest candidate?
Or staring at him in disgust if you want to direct the viewers’ eyes at you?
There’s too much in the poster 1. Craig Murray is standing; 2. There’s corruption in parliament; 3. Craig Murray isn’t corrupt; 4. If you see corruption report it; 5. Pictures of pigs; 6. Picture of Craig Murray. I would be extremely wary of negative campaigning in any election campaign. God knows you have persoanl experience of what it is like to be negative campaigned against and of how ultimately it didn’t do the FCO any good in doing so. If I were you I would count on the election being next May. Plan accordingly. Then create literature to suit that timetable. All you need initially is a canvass leaflet. Plan for contingency of early election, but don’t put too much into such a contingency plan. Your literature should be very snappy with simple concepts and no confused messages. First you will want to introduce yourself to your putative electorate. Second, you will want to give people positive reasons (say, no mor ethan three – they are the themes of your entire campaign and if they are well thought out you will not need to waver from them as they will incorporate your reaction to everything that might happen between now and next May 2010) to vote for you. You should begin knocking doors asap in areas which you and your advisors have worked out it is possible for you to win over voters. Don’t bother with working class areas, or areas which ALWAYS vote for other parties. Don’tfall into the I-can-persuade-nonvoters-to vote-and-to-vote-for-me approach – all neophytes fall for it and it (almost) never ever works. You need to win existing voters. IN fact if I were you I’d join the lib dems. Get stuff in the local newspapers demonstrating local knowledge, engagement and your interest in issues which aren’t human rights related (e.g. you could help local chinese gang master workers, but a. they don’t vote and b. no one who actually votes in N Norwich will actually vote for you because of it). Finally, act as if you don’t have a famous name and you wish to get elected. If you do that the bits of name recognition you get will be a bonus. But you must out gun other putative candidates on the strenth of your awareness of local issues and not your knowledge of human rights abuses and perfidious albion. Sad to say very few people will vote for someone who has your enviable track record abroad in an election to send a local representative to Westminster. Good luck.
Moran’s website is down apparently and Rantzen is standing in Luton South.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090615/tuk-esther-rantzen-to-stand-as-mp-for-lu-45dbed5.html
“Don’t bother with working class areas”
I thought this post had some good ideas, but that piece of advice is pretty rotten, whichever way you look at it.
Is this a fair biography on UK Polling? A bit smeary to my mind.
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/norwichnorth
Craig Murray (Independent) born 1958, West Runton. Educated at Paston School and Dundee University. Former civil servant, he served as British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004. He was recalled in 2003 over disciplinary charges including exchanging visas for sex, but was later cleared of all charged. He was later quoted by the press as saying that MI6 utilised Uzbek intelligence data that had been gained by torture. It was claimed that Murray had lost the confidence of his colleages, and he resigned from the civil service. He has subsequently campaigned against torture and written several books. Contested Blackburn as an independent 2005.
Ladbrokes were offering odds of 100/1 for Craig to win the Norwich North By Election – attractive odds I think you will agree. Apparently they’ve closed all new bets on Craig for the moment in fear of taking a big hit on a suprise victory for an honest man…
Don’t forget to email the address Craig gave at the start of this posting with details of how you can volunteer for the campaign.
I can’t wait for Craig to enter the Augean Stables with his shovel.
Harperson was giving ‘evidence’ to the Committee on Standards in Public Life today. Such hypocrisy. How grateful the MPs are for the work the Committee is doing and other such blather.
Broon was speaking to a GMB meeting and trying to rouse support but dismally failing I would say. He was telling that they have to fight aqainst any cuts in the public services and kept quoting from Dear Prime Minister What a Wonderful Government You Are letters he has received. He is the one who has led the country into bankruptcy and he is the most likely candidate to do the cutting. Chutzpah.
Craig had an earlier piece about Devine who has now been given the chop.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8104140.stm
Here a floor, there a floor, everywhere a floor floor. Just Devine.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8107603.stm