A Message from Charlie...
- 19 May 2010 07:4152525The following has been sent around by email. I dont know how big and extensive his email database is and this same mesasage may well be conveyed via the press. But for any of you who have not received it I copy it here...
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Thank you so much to the 22,000 people who supported me at the General Election. I was stunned, shocked, delighted and honoured in equal measure to be elected to serve the people of Dover & Deal with a majority of nearly 5,300.
In my acceptance speech, I pledged to talk the book of the people of Dover & Deal. And I mean to follow through on my promises. Already I have been putting our case to stop the port sale and for a proper hospital. Already we have a new Government, a Government we all hope will bring our nation the stability and fiscal continence it needs to steam ahead in the years to come.
Things will not be easy for our nation over the next two years as the public finances and the economy are repaired. At times it will likely be very difficult for us all. Yet after then I hope we will break out into the sunlit uplands of shared economic success. And I hope serious progress can be made on the priorities I set out in the recent election campaign.
While I was elected as a Conservative, I serve all the people of our great community. I believe in the principle of public service and I take the view that I now have 72,000 bosses whose servant I am. So if I can help on anything or if you'd just like to tell me what you think on a particular subject, please email me at charlie@elphicke.com, or telephone 01304 379669 or write to Charlie Elphicke MP, House of Commons, LONDON SW1A 0AA.
Best wishes
Charlie Elphicke MP
Member of Parliament for Dover & Deal - 19 May 2010 07:5952527Barry,
'I pledged to talk the book of the people of Dover & Deal'.
Now I am reasonably well read and educated but what the heck is meant by 'talk the book'? I don't think I've ever come across the phrase before! Is it a typo?
And I always thought you should not start a sentence with a conjunction? - 19 May 2010 08:1152531Must admit the talk the book comment puzzled me as well.
- 19 May 2010 08:4252533Charlie has used the prase a few times before. 'The Book' refers to the issues that he has identified as those important and specific to Dover and Deal, He identified two of them as Port privatisation (or not..) and a hospital... A collective term for constituency specific matters.
- 19 May 2010 09:0652536Well done BarryW for getting that up, always good to hear from Charlie. I wasnt on that particular mailing so we must remind him to get his message over to us on here.
email: dover7@msn.com - 19 May 2010 09:3752545Yes , good to have some communication on here from Charlie, keeps us in the loop
- 19 May 2010 09:5752551my understanding is that starting a sentence with a conjunction is acceptable nowadays.
- 19 May 2010 10:1552556As are Oxford commas, Howard. I was taught they were unacceptable; apparently they are acceptable nowadays - we bear witness to the evolution of the English language before our very eyes!True friends stab you in the front.
- 19 May 2010 11:1652558Thanks for the explanation Barry,though it still seems an odd turn of phrase to me!
Let us hope that the Book of the people of Dover and Deal is a 'Book of Revelations' rather than lamentations as in the 'Book of Job'. - 19 May 2010 13:3752564Lets' us not suggest that members of this forum have nothing better to do than pick on the little thing's when i'ts plain that there a better thing's to be getting on with.
Thank you Dover Grammer for helping me anglisise the langwich.
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Amazing since current sales of my books over the past 28 years are grossing the current owners many millions and yet the spelling mistakes dont seem to be noticed. But then again Shakespear couldnt even spell his name right. and language is no more than a medium of communication. Sometimes misuse adds emphasis - DON'T IT! - 19 May 2010 14:0152569That wasn't bottled water you were drinking, David - was it?True friends stab you in the front.
- 19 May 2010 14:2252575David, Dover Grammar? All is explained! Now if only you had been a Manwood's boy you might not be having these problems (says he, writing from a school in Sandwich)......
- 19 May 2010 16:1552589You're absolutely right, Howard. Conjunctions are common currency at the start of sentences these days, particularly in journalism under certain style guidelines. Simply speaking, they often make sentences read better, imbuing them with a more modern, conversational tone - so long as they're not overused, I find. It's all about communication, innit?!
And I went to Dover Grammar - so there!
Andy