Canvassing has it's dangers

It has occurred to me that following the last two weeks of canvassing residents of Christchurch Central we are missing a vital element in the whole political cocktail.Simply put it is the media that is running this campaign. Whilst we labour with local issues it is he who is calling the tune and there is nothing we can do about it. Day by day the problem of traffic gridlock in Christchurch diminishes as the fact that some Parliamentary non entity has paid an accountant £350 to handle his/her tax affairs hits the hoardings. The whole subject is approaching 'Yes Minister' proportions. What concerns me is that that if voters use their franchise to protest by either not voting or fringe voting then we have to live with the consequences for the next four years.Christchurch Central desperately needs a much stronger representation at County to stand up for the residents and bring tangible benefits to the town. To risk this at the reaction to a headline in The Daily Telegraph would in my opinion be disastrous. This pattern of thought came to me yesterday when I with three colleagues got stuck in a lift at a block of flats, not very nice and proves that canvassing has it's dangers!