SIR – I recently received a free newspaper entitled the St Albans Mail. The newspaper was actually a negative, nasty Liberal Democrat leaflet, although it tried to hide that it was a Liberal Democrat leaflet. I had to look for a tiny bit of small print to

SIR - I recently received a free newspaper entitled the St Albans Mail.

The newspaper was actually a negative, nasty Liberal Democrat leaflet, although it tried to hide that it was a Liberal Democrat leaflet. I had to look for a tiny bit of small print to see who was responsible for it.

I was deeply disappointed that the whole point of the newspaper seemed to be smearing our current MP, rather than telling me anything about why I should vote for Sandy Walkington, the LibDem candidate. Is he standing just as the anti-Anne Main candidate?

This is gutter politics. I want to know what the candidates stand for, what they have done for people in St Albans, what they are going to do for them in the future. I don't want to see candidates making nasty personal attacks hiding behind nameless leaflets.

The Liberal Democrats should be ashamed of themselves, I have lived for many years in St Albans and I have never seen something so nasty during election time.

A lot of people turn off when they hear about politics and dont vote because of things like this.

We need to hear about the issues affecting St Albans, not some innuendo and out of date press cuttings.

I have seen Nick Clegg talk about cleaning up politics, a very positive message indeed. Maybe the local Liberal Democrat candidate Sandy Walkington should heed his leader's advice and start campaigning positively on the issues?

RAFAT KHAN

Address supplied

SIR - The issue with Sandy Walkington and the LibDems is actually more what they don't say, rather than what they do say.

Sandy Walkington's very own fake newspaper screams "Beaconsfield is our real home" and refers sneeringly to our MP as "Beaconsfield-based", yet surprisingly fails to mention that he and his family live in Welwyn!

He was clearly too embarrassed to brand the leaflets as coming from the LibDems when making all sorts of innuendo, as he wants people to believe in the fallacy that the LibDems are somehow "above politics" - yet with all his years of training at LibDem Party HQ at keeping this hidden, the mask has finally slipped and slipped in a spectacular way.

He has now shown himself to be truly down in the gutter with his dirty style of politics.

He is on a constant mission to gain an ounce of electoral credibility and appears never to let fact get in the way.

He consistently claims St Albans is a "two-horse race". He claims the fight to be St Albans' MP is between Conservative and LibDem.

Yet in reality the LibDems are far, far behind Labour in third place in St Albans.

Similarly, he ran to be the St Albans MP in the 1980s and claims he had "more votes than Margaret Thatcher" but then, of course, omits to mention the reality of the situation.

He actually attracted thousands upon thousands fewer votes than Peter Lilley or even Labour during their "loony-left" phase and as a result came a miserable third place, and was twice sent packing with a bloody nose.

Amusingly, about a year ago he was ridiculed all over the national blogosphere for posing with a dry paintbrush whilst pretending - for yet another staged photoshoot - to paint a post box. The gimmick, again, spectacularly back-fired.

I hope someone out there can tell me what the problem is with Sandy Walkington, the LibDems and full facts.

Why does he have to present half a story? Surely he must know from all his day trips here, when swanning in for a few hours to have his photos taken before heading home to Welwyn, that the people of St Albans are not stupid.

Sandy Walkington really must take us for fools if he thinks we will ever fall for his style of gutter politics. After all the years of New Labour spin we are heartily sick and tired of it.

St Albans told Sandy Walkington where to go twice when rejecting him and his style of politics in the 1980s - maybe the third time around he'll finally get the message loud and clear: St Albans wants, and deserves an MP far better than him.

JAMES JENNINGS

Alma Road, St Albans

SIR - I had to smile at the somewhat "manufactured" outrage over the LibDems putting out a leaflet under the heading of St Albans Mail, particularly as the first resident quoted is a certain Jean McCann.

Is this the same "Angry local pensioner, Jean McCann" quoted in every copy of the last Conser-vative leaflet claiming, completely incorrectly, that district councillors have just voted themselves a big pay increase. Perhaps we should be told?

The LibDems may have been a bit sneaky (some would call it good marketing) but at least what they said was accurate and perhaps most tellingly not challenged by Anne Main or Mr & Mrs Angry of St Albans.

DAVID PARRY

Park Street Lane, Park Street