Thank you for your impartial coverage of the general election which focussed on the important parts rather than frivolous nonsense.

This was exemplified by your coverage of the two high-profile Liberal Democrat losses, Dr Evan Harris and Lembit Opik. While large photos of each outgoing MP were on the screen, you rightly ignored Dr Harris’ place on the Science and Technology Subcommittee. You rightly paid no heed to his campaigning against religious interference in abortion law. You wisely didn’t mention his campaigning against NHS spending on unproven and disproven forms of alternative medicine. His work on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was surely dismissed, as was his outspoken opposition to the sacking of Professor Nutt. I thought you might have been taken in by his campaigning to reform our absurdly draconian libel laws, but no. Not you. With your superhuman wit and journalistic integrity you cut straight through all that tedious bullshit and reported the far more important fact that Mr Opik might have had sex with a minor pop star.

Twice.

Sirs, I salute you.

The Conservative Manifesto says:

[Our] economic vision… is a vision of a truly modern economy… where Britain leads in science, technology and innovation.

and

We will make sure that… commissioning decisions [are made] according to evidence-based quality standards

But then,

[The] Minority Report on abortion [is] a rollercoaster ride of pseudoscience and dubious data, signed by one Tory MP with the support of one other… If you want a good example of how spectacularly weak the evidence behind this “Minority Report” is, then you need look no further than the bit where they talk about, er, well, me, bafflingly:

We were greatly concerned to read… detailed information… which could only have been passed on to the journalist concerned by a member of the Select Committee. There should be an enquiry about how this information got into the public domain…

All the facts came from the written evidence published openly and in full during the select committee hearing. … I totally downloaded the PDF.

The Conservative Manifesto says:

[Our] economic vision … is founded on a determination that wealth and opportunity must be more fairly distributed.

and

We proposed legislation so that anyone wanting to be a member of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords will need to be treated as a full UK taxpayer.

But then,

[Former Conservative Party Leader] William Hague was said to be aware 10 years ago of a deal struck by senior Tories that eventually resulted in [Conservative Deputy Chairman and billionaire] Lord Ashcroft secretly remaining a [non-tax payer] after obtaining his peerage

The Conservative Manifesto says:

We will review and reform libel laws to protect freedom of speech, reduce costs and discourage libel tourism.

But then,

The BBC has shelved a Panorama documentary about the business affairs of the Tory billionaire Lord Ashcroft, because of a threat of legal action.

The Corporation has received what one insider described as “several very heavy letters” from Lord Ashcroft’s lawyers. There is now little or no prospect of the investigation being broadcast before the general election, if it goes out at all.

And the Conservative Manifesto says:

A Conservative government will ensure every vote will have equal value…

But then,

[They] support the first-past-the-post system for Westminster elections, “because it gives voters the chance to kick out a government they are fed up with”.

In fact, that quote is also from their manifesto. Which says:

Government has been far too profligate for far too long. … The explosion of unaccountable quangos, public sector ‘nonjobs’ and costly bureaucracy is an indictment of Labour’s reckless approach to spending other people’s money. …

A Conservative government will bring in new measures to enable the public to scrutinise the government’s accounts to see whether it is providing value for money. All data will be published in an open and standardised format.

But then,

Senior Conservative MP… Derek Conway, a former government whip and an MP for 23 years, paid his son, Freddie, a third year geography student at Newcastle university, £981 a month for unspecified work. …

The disclosure comes as the Tory private member’s bill to exempt MPs from requests under the Freedom of Information Act makes its way through parliament.

The Conservative Manifesto also says:

Wherever possible, we believe that personal data should be controlled by individual citizens themselves. We will strengthen the powers of the Information Commissioner to penalise any public body found guilty of mismanaging data. We will take further steps to protect people from unwarranted intrusion by the state

But then,

I couldn’t see any of this in the Conservative Party [iPhone] app. And in fact, it’s not [the user's] details being submitted – it’s [a friend's]. Who doesn’t get a say in it at all. …

It’s possible that personal data is being stored or processed by the Conservative Party, without them having any contact with the person whose data is being processed. There is no verification that the data is provided with the consent of the person that data refers to. The app doesn’t give a clear indication of what the data will be used for. Neither the app nor its supporting web sites contain a privacy notice describing how the data may be stored and used.

The Conservative Party, as an entity, is saying all the right things, but the actual people who comprise it are not yet showing any apparent willing to live by these lofty ideals. And these aren’t backbenchers, councillors and researchers. This is a former leader, a former whip, the Deputy Chairman, their manifesto, Select Committee members and their official iPhone application.

I agree that we should lead in science and technology, base NHS policy on evidence, distribute wealth fairly, exclude non-taxpayers from the Lords, reform libel law, ensure everyone has a fair say in elections and increase openness and accountability in public spending. And if I thought for one second that the Conservatives would actually do any of those things, then maybe I would vote for them, but it looks to me like the Conservatives are the people we need these reforms to protect us from.

Asking them to “fix our broken politics” would be like asking a bull to glue together all our broken china.

Thank you for your letter dated 16 March. I agree with you that laws of such sensitivity ought not to be rushed through Parliament. I have taken up these issues with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and assure you that I shall remain alert on this issue.

On April 7th, the Digital Economy Bill was voted into law and if Gerald Kaufman MP bothered to turn up, he didn’t vote.

That is not “remaining alert” and on May 6th I will not be voting for Gerald Kaufman.