hospital, not so much as a new ward. The sole achievement to date of private finance in the Suffolk Health Trust area is a small annexe to Ipswich General, providing an outpatients’ service in prosthetics and orthotics. I am not quite sure whether posing with a wooden leg is exactly the publicity that is going to get me on to the shortlist for ministerial office, but I am past caring. I have fixed up to visit the new facility, with Geoff Howard of the Crier in tow again (plus a photographer) on 19 April.
Tonight – you, me, beer?
Richard.
Richard Slater (Labour)
Member of Parliament for Ipswich
House of Commons London SW1A 0AA
11 April 2005
Dear Ms Hayton,
Thank you for your letter of 2 April, raising an issue of concern. May I suggest that you attend at my monthly constituency surgery, which will be held this Saturday, 16 April, in the Crawford & Phillips Memorial Hall, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, between 9.30 a.m. and 12 noon. I hope that a 10.30 a.m. appointment will be convenient for you; if not, please phone the hall that morning on Ipswich 253440, and my secretary will fix an alternative time for you.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Slater, MP.
From: Richard Slater [[email protected]]
Sent: 11/4/05 15:52
To: Michael Carragan [[email protected]]
Hi Michael,
Oh, God, against all reason and judgement I have just agreed to meet one of my constituency stalkers on Saturday! It’s that recent acquisition, Margaret, she of the canine faecal obsession. She meets none of the usual criteria to get through my screening process. Different issue every time, from the global to the trivial, all put with equal vehemence and with no apparent discrimination, and not one of them the least bit promising publicity-wise. (And I had been hoping to have a peaceful and potentially image-enhancing morning, too. I’d found a gem: the new landlord of a formerly rowdy drinkers’ pub in the town centre – average age of punter sixteen and a half – who’s had his application for an all-day licence turned down by the borough council. He’s invested in a stack of high chairs and an imported Italian coffee machine the size of a Nissan Micra, and wants to create a family atmosphere and turn the place over to continental-style drinking. Now, there’s one that presses all the right buttons – an absolute gift!)
But the trouble is, this Margaret person has got me running scared, actually threatening to tell the Rottweiler that I don’t take constituents’ letters seriously. I could do without that as things stand just now – I was just edging my way back to the door of the prime ministerial kennel and preparing to knock. So it sounds like she’s not just an old biddy but a stroppy old biddy to boot. Or even possibly (since it appears that she’s involved in that WITCH mob) a stroppy man-hating old biddy. Now trying to decide what to wear on Saturday: full body armour, or trainers for a quick getaway?
Richard.
Richard Slater (Labour)
Member of Parliament for Ipswich
From: Rebecca Prichard [[email protected]]
Sent: 15/4/05 22:44
To: Margaret Hayton [[email protected]]
Hi, Margaret. So: latest instalment in my abecedarian love life. That night with Paula I did meet someone, but his name was Andrew and I’ve done A. He was pretty hot, though, and also fairly insistent, so I let him see me home in the taxi, but he didn’t come in. I think he may have been put off when I kept asking if I could call him Drew.
But then I found him, right on my doorstep. Well, waiting outside my classroom at 3 p.m. every day, actually. Declan. He’s the father of Zoe in my class – and before you say anything, yes, he is a single parent. (And the nearest thing I have to an ABIE.) Tall, with mussy dark hair that makes me want to fluffle it with my fingers, and to-die-for brown eyes. He’s about the only dad that does the home-time pick-up, which is odd when he’s one of the few who appear to
Tonight – you, me, beer?
Richard.
Richard Slater (Labour)
Member of Parliament for Ipswich
House of Commons London SW1A 0AA
11 April 2005
Dear Ms Hayton,
Thank you for your letter of 2 April, raising an issue of concern. May I suggest that you attend at my monthly constituency surgery, which will be held this Saturday, 16 April, in the Crawford & Phillips Memorial Hall, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, between 9.30 a.m. and 12 noon. I hope that a 10.30 a.m. appointment will be convenient for you; if not, please phone the hall that morning on Ipswich 253440, and my secretary will fix an alternative time for you.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Slater, MP.
From: Richard Slater [[email protected]]
Sent: 11/4/05 15:52
To: Michael Carragan [[email protected]]
Hi Michael,
Oh, God, against all reason and judgement I have just agreed to meet one of my constituency stalkers on Saturday! It’s that recent acquisition, Margaret, she of the canine faecal obsession. She meets none of the usual criteria to get through my screening process. Different issue every time, from the global to the trivial, all put with equal vehemence and with no apparent discrimination, and not one of them the least bit promising publicity-wise. (And I had been hoping to have a peaceful and potentially image-enhancing morning, too. I’d found a gem: the new landlord of a formerly rowdy drinkers’ pub in the town centre – average age of punter sixteen and a half – who’s had his application for an all-day licence turned down by the borough council. He’s invested in a stack of high chairs and an imported Italian coffee machine the size of a Nissan Micra, and wants to create a family atmosphere and turn the place over to continental-style drinking. Now, there’s one that presses all the right buttons – an absolute gift!)
But the trouble is, this Margaret person has got me running scared, actually threatening to tell the Rottweiler that I don’t take constituents’ letters seriously. I could do without that as things stand just now – I was just edging my way back to the door of the prime ministerial kennel and preparing to knock. So it sounds like she’s not just an old biddy but a stroppy old biddy to boot. Or even possibly (since it appears that she’s involved in that WITCH mob) a stroppy man-hating old biddy. Now trying to decide what to wear on Saturday: full body armour, or trainers for a quick getaway?
Richard.
Richard Slater (Labour)
Member of Parliament for Ipswich
From: Rebecca Prichard [[email protected]]
Sent: 15/4/05 22:44
To: Margaret Hayton [[email protected]]
Hi, Margaret. So: latest instalment in my abecedarian love life. That night with Paula I did meet someone, but his name was Andrew and I’ve done A. He was pretty hot, though, and also fairly insistent, so I let him see me home in the taxi, but he didn’t come in. I think he may have been put off when I kept asking if I could call him Drew.
But then I found him, right on my doorstep. Well, waiting outside my classroom at 3 p.m. every day, actually. Declan. He’s the father of Zoe in my class – and before you say anything, yes, he is a single parent. (And the nearest thing I have to an ABIE.) Tall, with mussy dark hair that makes me want to fluffle it with my fingers, and to-die-for brown eyes. He’s about the only dad that does the home-time pick-up, which is odd when he’s one of the few who appear to
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