What happened to democracy?

Thie piece in today's Eastern Daily Press is wholly unfair. - http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED17%20Nov%202009%2017%3A54%3A10%3A823 I agree entirely with the comments laid out here by Peter Smith. "I always read the Inside Politics column with interest. For the most part the analysis is both perceptive and balanced. Today's piece, though, is worrying in its assertion that 'Elizabeth Truss will go on to win the seat very comfortably in the general election'. This is, I believe, an assertion based, not on current evidence, but on past outcomes. The selection controversy which engulfed the SW Norfolk conservatives reflected tha anger of local people fed up with being taken for granted, resentful of what they perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a metropolitan elite deciding what was right for country bumpkins. The old certainties about elections and their outcomes have changed dramatically, even since the last general election. The techniques employed so effectively by Obama in the USA are now with us. It is very foolish indeed to assume that because a particular constituency has been one colour for many years, that this will never change. It is equally foolish to assume that national politics will always be reflected in the way people in a particular community will vote. A constituency is made up of many smaller communities and interest groups. I believe that, more than ever before, localism will matter at the next general election. I agree with Terence Blacker when he writes, 'communities are different from one another, whether they are in towns or the country. The local connection that you have to those who live and work in your neighbourhood or region matters more than ever in a changing, impersonal world'. (Independent 18/11/09) I believe my local connection will play a significant part in the coming election. But other factors in SW Norfolk will challenge the cosy, and deeply anti-democratic media-reinforced consensus on the inevitable outcome in SW Norfolk: Major boundary changes, which have seen Attleborough and Watton transfered to Mid-Norfolk and reduced the notional majority to around 6000. Significant demographic changes, including a major influx of population, especially in Thetford and Downham Market. The role that UKIP will play in taking predominantly Tory votes. The strong Labour base. The choice of yet another outsider as Tory candidate. Mr.Fraser's trees. Major questions about the financial behaviour of Breckland District Council. The latest Tory selection rumpus. The electorate may well vote the way that Chris Fisher says they will. But it is a much more competitive contest this time round and I believe strongly that the huge media coverage of the antics of one political party in SW Norfolk, without any attempt by the EDP, or indeed any other newspaper, to engage in a balanced political debate, treats the electorate with contempt and further re-inforces the view that there is no point in voting because the outcome is a foregone conclusion. And that's even before the election campaign, which will, I hope, focus on issues and policies, has even begun in earnest. Yours faithfully" Peter Smith Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, SW Norfolk