[arethuza]

As a UK citizen I feel that he certainly hasn't done me any harm and probably has done quite a lot of good so I find it bizarre that the government would make such a statement, especially as he would be mad to consider coming here!

I presume the real reasons for this are:

- To show solidarity with the US (presumably the NSA and GCHQ are as thick as thieves)

- So he doesn't give anyone at GCHQ ideas

I'm going to write to my MP about this:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

[cabalamat]

> To show solidarity with the US (presumably the NSA and GCHQ are as thick as thieves)

Yes, and it is also consistent with the proposition that the UK's decision to extradite Assange was made at the political level in order to suck up to the USA.

[Svip]

Sweden is not the same as the UK. Sweden's extradition laws are bit less vague than the British ones. The risk of the US asking Sweden to extradite Assange is pretty much nil at this point. At least, if the US has any sense of PR and not trying to adopt the German diplomacy of the First World War.

[megablast]

Maybe it is a warning for him. Don't come here, or we may be forced to hand you over. We are too weak to protect anyone, so just stay away? Can I be that optimistic?

[arethuza]

Possibly, but I doubt if the warning is intended for his benefit - I would suspect it is meant more along the lines of "Don't you dare come here and cause an embarrassing political mess".

[andyhmltn]

Great link, I will write to mine now. Any ideas what kind of thing to write and how to structure it? I've never done this kind of thing before so any help would be great :-)

[andyjohnson0]

If you want to be taken seriously then keep it respectful. MPs regard themselves as representatives who use their own judgement, not delegates who have to do what their constituents tell them.

Do not rant. Outline your concerns clearly and directly, request that they take some form of action, and ask them to reply to you giving their views and what action they took. Remember that the MP will expect requests to be something actionable: ask them to consider writing to the Home Secretary and/or Prime Minister, speak if the matter comes up for debate, sign an early day motion, etc.

It's important to ask them to reply to you - and be prepared to follow-up if they don't. I've read that there is a lot of variation among MPs in how they deal with this kind of contact. My MP, a young-ish fairly enthusiastic Lib-Dem, is pretty good in this respect. More 'traditional' MPs may be not so good. Give them time, though. Despite the popular view, they are busy people.

Also remember that MPs as individuals have essentially no power in issues relating to day-to-day foreign relations and state security. Don't expect too much.

(Also, http://www.theyworkforyou.com/houserules)

[tehwalrus]

I emphasise, do not rant - my partner worked in an MPs office answering the mail, you don't want to fall into that category, which is still read and responded to, but which is almost never actioned/considered seriously/even read (by the MP themselves) in any way.

bad signs - all caps, more than a page long, written on a typewriter, hand written in illegible writing, etc.

[snogglethorpe]

Wait, why is "written on a typewriter" a bad sign?

There seems nothing particularly suspicious about handwriting either, though as a practical matter, legibility might be a problem...

[tehwalrus]

Well, there's a story behind this one.

I once wrote to David Milliband (when he was foreign secretary) on the urging of Amnesty International about the upcoming international vote on the banning of cluster bombs.

I wrote it on a 1920s typewriter, sealed it with wax etc, as befitting a letter to one of the holders of the four highest offices, and never got a reply (although they did succeed in banning the use of cluster munitions - good!)

Later, when my partner was working for an MP, I mentioned the letter to her - and she laughed at me and said it would have been "one of those letters," because of the presentation - and that that's why I wouldn't have got a reply etc. ( I also made the mistake of writing directly to Milliband himself, and not to my MP asking him to pass it on, which is another reason I may not have got a reply.)

I fear this story makes me out to be all three of hipster, lefty and (worst of all) impressed-by-authority, so I predict all the downvotes in this forum, but it explains my earlier comment, so it's probably worth it for completeness.

[snogglethorpe]

> she laughed at me and said it would have been "one of those letters," because of the presentation

But did she mention why they think that way? On the face of it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense...

[tehwalrus]

Because eccentric presentation implies eccentric ideas, I think. They certainly do get a lot of letters from a lot of very vocal, very extreme people (who want homosexuality banned, hanging brought back, etc.)

[Spooky23]

I have a friend who at one point had to wade through letters to a state legislator. The staff have to sludge through these letters every day, and they end up categorizing quickly. They correlate things like typewritten letters or weird things to the crazy stuff that they get.

Keep in mind, representatives are public people, and they get wacky things. Marriage proposals, insane ramblings, dog droppings, manifestos, abusive letters, frequent fliers who write multiple letters per day, etc.

[andyhmltn]

Thank you! In regards to them not replying: My local MP seems to take issues very seriously when written to. We had an issue a few months ago regarding my sister not being able to get to school and getting fined and she was in constant contact and helped solve the situation.

[arethuza]

Excellent advice - particularly about making a request that is actionable and asking for a reply.

[threeseed]

Why is it bizarre ?

The UK government simply doesn't want a repeat of the diplomatic mess that was Julian Assange's asylum claim.

[arethuza]

I find it bizarre that they feel the need to make the statement - it's not like there is any chance he would be considering coming here.

[jacquesm]

It's signaling.

[DigitalTurk]

Speaking as European (non-UK), I do find this bizarre because it makes the UK look weak. It loses face.

You would expect the UK to have enough going for it that it can stand up to the USA, yet here they seem to be so scared of some diplomatic conflict with the US that they preemptively ban someone who is not at all a criminal (under UK/EU law). It's not something you would expect a proud nation to do.

[witek]

When it comes to UK/US relations, that ship has long sailed.