I HAD a run-in with the porter of a block of flats while I was out leafleting.

He stopped me as I was leaving, saying it was ‘against the rules’ to post my election literature through his residents’ doors.

“Jobsworth” or much loved defender of his building?

I said ‘what rules?’ and he cast doubt on my fitness to be a representative of the people, to which I answered that opposing petty bureaucracy was one of my selling points (or words to that effect).

I was not so lucky in another block – I was nabbed on the way in and must trust the integrity of the doorman (who said he was a socialist) not to bin the 137 leaflets I left for his residents.

Are our leaflets to be equated with pizza adverts?

To those who have notes on their doors saying “no junk mail” please don’t be offended when you still get a leaflet from me – your democracy, that others in this world don’t have, must be worth a little inconvenience.

DAVID ROSS

Parliamentary Candidate (Independent) and leader of Bournemouth Independent Alliance, Bournemouth East