December 8, 2012Dear Sir,The leaked Markham report may not have been written at the behest of the Progressive Labour Party, but much of it is certainly about the PLP. It details a long list of propaganda tactics that it alleges were and are being used by the PLP in its fight to stay in power. Playing to people’s fears, using race, telling “the big lie”, demonising the opposition, using disinformation and using forged documents are all among the techniques that are discussed in the document, sometimes with familiar-sounding examples of how they have been used here.I am writing you today because I think Markham missed a trick. It is one that is being used in St George’s next week on election day, and I would hate to think that East End voters are going to be fooled by it for the second time in a decade. I’m talking about what is commonly referred to in politics as “a stalking horse”, a candidate who is being run simply and solely in order to split the vote.Remember St George’s North in 2003? Dame Jennifer beat Kenny Bascome by eight votes. Dame Jennifer’s cousin, Gavin Smith of the Gombey Liberation Party, got 16 votes. Do you think he was a serious candidate? Or do you think that he ran in order to take votes away from Kenny Bascome? This time, Gavin Smith presumably having moved on to better things, Cornell Fubler is running. He’s an accountant with no previous political experience whatever. Do you think he’s a serious candidate? Or do you think he’s in there to take votes away from Kenny Bascome? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.UNFOOLEDSt George’s