Intro: Lord Beestonia
The election is still in the phony war stage, whereby a lack of manifesto means no candidate can truly be sure what they represent (apart from Brexit Party candidates, who are representing ‘OMG it was a all a big con to rinse us of cash’ angle).
Saturday saw a quiet day in Beeston for political campaigning: the only street stall was that of some young self-identifying socialists who we can assume tacitly campaign for Greg; and, looking a bit bemused, Dave Bishop, aka Lord Biro, aka Radical Elvis. He was pacing the streets considering if he should set a pitch, but ‘It’s not fun without the others’. Instead he donned his Elvis top, and posed for a few photos while doing the ‘Thankyewverrehmuch’ Elvis pose. Then went to the pub.
We will be continuing our interview series later this week with Darren Henry, Conservative Councillor whose selection has already caused a fair bit of controversy, before we get into the final three weeks of campaigning where things should get a bit more fierce. Keep your news, gossip and info coming in -email mattgoold23@hotmail.com if you wish to keep it confidential, otherwise leave a comment. And if you are enjoying our insights and want to help us continue providing the angle on the local battle that you simply won’t get elsewhere, please consider putting a few quid our way – and thank you to those who already have. Takes a minute, simply by clicking here: https://www.paypal.me/BEESTONIA.
Now, over to our scrutineer of all things leaflet-like, Chris Tregenza:
POLITICS BY DESIGN | GREG MARSHALL, LABOUR
Overall: Dull and predictable using an HQ approved template with the name and constituency changed.
Colour Use: Red. Everything is official Labour red. The strong colour use is definitely the hand of a professional designer and almost certainly straight from Labour HQ’s talented design team.
Typography: The headline text and all the other elements from the template are clear and readable. Though there are some little oddities suggesting that new text has been pasted over the officially supplied text. The typography of the local text such as Greg’s personal message is weaker. The thin script font (Pine Nuts Light Expanded: https://www.whatfontis.com/NMY_Pine-Nuts-Light-Expanded.font ) requires a little more effort to read than it should. Add in the text being at a slight angle which in turn is a little off from the surrounding, jauntily angled boxes, plus there is a little too much text, and the impact and readability of the message is diminished.
Images: Dominating one side is a good photo of Greg looking dad-like in an open-collar shirt and jumper standing in front somewhere clearly identifiable as being in the constituency. The muted blue colour range of the photo nicely offsets the bold red of the rest of the leaflet. On the back is a group picture of supporters holding signs. The psychology of the picture is good – “I’ve got lots of enthusiastic supporters. They trust me, so you should to” – but the actual photo is a bit of a mess. Greg isn’t even the most prominent figure and the crowd looks embarrassed to be doing the left-wing, fist in the air, salutes.
Message: Where’s Jeremy Corbyn? Is he such an election liability Greg daren’t mention party’s leader despite Corbyn having visited the constituency repeatedly. Brexit gets mentioned twice but without any detail as Greg desperately hopes people forget he is a remainer who for the last three years has been parroting the Corbyn line of “respecting the result”. What the leaflet repeatedly draws attention to is Greg’s local status both a councilor and resident which is good, but it’s a pretty weak selling point.
Summary: It’s OK. Like the candidate it is HQ approved and predictable. Nothing about the leaflet suggests Greg Marshall will be anything other than lobby-fodder for the party machine should he find his way into parliament.
Beestonia 
A factual correction is needed on this point: “Like the candidate it is HQ approved”. In fact Greg Marshall was approved by 99% of local Labour members in an open competition. In other words, one of your key points is misleading. It is a pity you didn’t interview Greg to tell us something about his plans for Broxtowe. I now can’t wait for you to say something about Darren Henry and the colour blue.
Well that was an awful take. If that’s the amount of effort you’ll put when it comes to ‘criticisms’ then no one should be heeding your word. Go beyond Beeston for opinion (the other northern half of Broxtowe exists, you know) and stop pretending to be some Broxtowe election guru lol
Your commentary is an attempt to sound clever and above-it-all, but is actually rather inaccurate and very mean-spirited. Greg was selected by the local membership, who voted overwhelmingly for him in an open selection process. The fact that he is local is important, given the current MO’s lack of transparency on the issue of where she lives, and the carpet-bagging Tory’s Wiltshire roots. Your carping about font-sizes is extremely petty.
Beestonia used to be better than this.
I thought the aim was to compare the candidates and their policies and credentials, not to critique the layout and font type of their leaflets? I was clearly wrong and feel you’re short-changing your readers – so far. Let’s hope you change tack very soon. People want to be informed and so far you’re not helping.
I can also tell you that leaflet was designed and completed by of two of our talented team. It wasn’t a template handed down to us from HQ and then ammended. It was designed from scratch.
Greg was selected by local members and wasn’t HQ approved as you put it.