Your letters to the Herts Ad...

What might Anne Main concern herself with as my Member of Parliament?

When she appears on television and shares her opinions on local radio, how does she represent the historic city of St Albans?

By commenting on the war-torn tragedy that is Syria? By sharing insights on Brexit? By adding intelligent comment to the comedy routine Budget fiasco engineered by her own Conservative Party? By rallying charitable support for the humanitarian crisis in East Africa? By attempting to explain the serious matter of an ongoing police investigation into unprecedented election overspending by the Tories? By making mention of the growing number of pot-holes on the highways of the town she represents, perhaps?

No. My MP prefers to embarrass her constituents by majoring on the distribution of dog poo as her specialist subject.

Were this not some distance beyond cringe worthy, it might possibly be amusing. Except, it isn’t.

To see my city brought down to gutter level (literally) by Anne Main’s fascination with dog waste is some way beyond laughter. With a range of serious, grown-up topics to choose from on behalf of those who voted her into office, she chooses to major on plastic bags of plop, even offering patronising instructions in “sticking and flicking”.

If the best my MP can do with her time in Westminster is to compose limericks to share with her colleagues, then all I can say is, I am so glad I voted Labour. At least no-one can hold me responsible for creating the Anne Main Pooch Patrol.

Come the next General Election, I can but hope the voting population of St Albans has the good sense to stick a cross next to the name of the Labour candidate on their ballot paper, and flick this embarrassing representative of the Tory Party into political oblivion.

STEPHEN POXON Wetherall Mews, St Albans

We have 650 members of parliament for a very good reason - it enables them to address lots of issues simultaneously. If these 650 worked on the same few big issues all the time we’d quickly be in a bit of a pickle.

It’s for this reason that I think the recent criticism of Anne Main for her dog poo campaign is highly unfair. Maybe the littering of the countryside with dog poo bags isn’t an important issue to you, but it is to someone (witness the size of Anne’s mailbag on the subject). If one MP - in this case ours - spends some of her time lobbying against it then all power to her.

Personally, I think the effects of the “little” issues, like dog poo or potholes, on our quality of life are generally underestimated by national politicians. I’m glad that there are people like Anne willing to devote time to these lower profile problems.

I see the usual moany-chops are up in arms about this, but these are almost certainly people who didn’t like Anne in the first place. It can’t all be about Brexit you know.

NICK CHIVERS

Jerome Drive, St Albans

My name is Mr Pitkin

I’m a Cockapoo by breed,

I love a walk and cannot talk

But certainly love a good read.

I saw in last week’s paper

The saga of Mrs Main

Of dogggie doo-doo’s left to rot

And how it is a pain.

I have a thesis on this

Or faeces if you please,

That Anne is right and owners should

Just flick it it in the trees.

My poo is biodegradable

And my favourite place is the grass

I don’t know any better

Cos some owners have no class.

I think there should be more bins

And wardens on the prowl,

The ducks can do whatever they please

But no one checks on wildfowl.

Us poor old dogs get lambasted

Whenever we go for a cack

And MPs like our own Ms Main

Come under public attack.

Our poo’s an important issue

And whilst it may make some retch

If you see some, simply grab a stick

And toss it in the hedge.

Our owners may be careless

And some be conscience free

Most will at least bag the warm stuff up

And hang it from the trees.

Now if all this talk is unsavoury

And you want it all to stop

Bugger off from the parks they belong to us

GO CLOG UP A NICE COFFEE SHOP!!!!

I thank you! BARRY CASHIN Green Lane, St Albans

Dear Mrs Main,

I am not surprised to find that I have received no reply to my letter concerning the Lords’ amendments to the Article 50 bill, as I see that you have been incredibly busy flicking dog mess this week. Is this really why you went into politics?

Many of your constituents are spending spare time working hard to publicise and prepare for the March for Europe, writing to Lords and MPs, engaging with campaign groups and keeping up to date with the complex and ever-changing political climate.

We are deeply concerned for the future of the United Kingdom as a whole, and a considerable number of your constituents are grappling with various dwindling public services such as St Albans hospital, social care, social housing and homeless provision, to name but a few.

Meanwhile, our one and only representative in Parliament is out making a total and utter fool of herself in the national press talking about dog mess!

As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough for us all, you appear to be on the wrong side of this argument as well. I am not a dog owner, but common sense tells me that merely flicking dog mess to the side is not a good solution to the problem anyway.

Surely the reason that the countryside is being ‘blighted by bags’ is that there are some incredibly selfish dog owners who consider that to be acceptable behaviour. I have first hand experience of this attitude as I have to steer my two young children around dog mess on the way to school on a daily basis.

Obviously I can see that a lack of deterrents and dog bins, poor signage and reduced street cleaning are to blame, caused largely by Tory council budget cuts.

But surely dog owners should bag up their poo and take it to a bin, whether they are in the street or woodland

Our woodlands and countryside should be a place where children can be free to explore without running the risk of touching disease spreading excrement

Grounds workers should be able to strim areas of park and woodland, as is often necessary, without the risk of dog mess spraying into their face and eyes. You might see this as an easy way out for lazy dog owners such as yourself, but the many residents with young children may not see it that way.

In the last issue of the Herts Ad, I read that you claim this issue to be “one of the top concerns of people in St Albans writing letters”.

I would be very interested to hear what the top concern is, as I strongly suspect that it would be your misguided and irresponsible attitude towards Brexit - ignoring the experts and ploughing us towards self-destruction - Brexit at any cost. That’s why you voted to ignore the Lords’ amendment to secure the future of all your constituents who are EU citizens. That’s why you voted to ignore the Lords’ amendment guaranteeing a meaningful vote at the end of negotiations - a critical safety net against an unknown future.

St Albans deserves a proper MP, who will stand up for their constituents in Parliament on a range of high profile issues. Unfortunately, for the time being, we are stuck with you - an out-dated back-bench Tory, clogging up the system with their own self-serving, petty concerns. I would like to end this letter with a short poem I’ve adapted:

If your current MP is a flop,

Campaign hard and make her stop,

Just ditch Anne Main and flick her wide, Into the undergrowth at the side.

LOUISE MCELHINNEY

Therfield Road, St Albans

It would appear from driving around St.Albans there ‘s an outbreak of silly smiley roadsigns matched only by the outbreak of dangerous potholes.

Surely it would be better to spend our taxes on repairing the roads rather than erecting silly signs which smile at us or heaven forbid scowl at us if we happen to zoom along at over 30mph in a modern car with good brakes, lights, steering, suspension & tyres etc.

In the event of actually being able to get out of second gear and go speeding along you invariably end up at the next set of traffic lights waiting for non-existent pedestrians to cross. We don’t need the silly signs but we do need the potholes sorted!

MIKE SMITH New Greens Avenue, St Albans