I’m not sure why it has taken this long, but I recently started getting about one email per week that was intended for a well-named member of the UK’s Parliament: Dan Norris. After communicating with Mr. Norris’ office, I found that we both found one another via Google Alerts that we’ve apparently both set up to notify us when Google finds our name somewhere on the intertubes.
The person that responded to my email was a staff member from Mr. Norris’ office who acknowledged that while they hadn’t received any emails intended for me, they were aware of my website and domain name registrations.
So, for clarification, Dan Norris is (also) the name of a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons in the UK. I am not him. In fact, I haven’t even been to the UK (yet) and have no interest in becoming a politician. Mr. Norris’ office offered that when I do finally make it to the UK, Mr. Norris would be willing to meet with me, so that’s exciting and something I’ll look forward to.
If you should wish to contact Dan Norris MP in the UK, he’s got a lot of contact options posted on his contact page. I find it very interesting that he offers a number to send him text messages–another (of the many) refreshing change from politicians in the US.
I’m still not exactly sure what surgeries are, but I can only presume that they’re something like office hours and there are no doctors involved.
Best of luck to Mr. Norris and his staff. While I haven’t made a habit of reading the emails that come to me, I read enough to determine that it isn’t intended for me and based on that sampling, I’m glad that I don’t have his job!
>> Iโm still not exactly sure what surgeries are, but I can only presume that theyโre something like office hours and there are no doctors involved.
That's spot on. Although MPs spend the bulk of their time down in London, in the House of Commons (or bars!), they (or at least all of my previous MPs) also have set hours when their constituents can visit them to raise problems and look for assistance. I've had at least one MP who was usually ridiculed by the media and other MPs, but was a trusted voice in and advocate for our community. Rare, perhaps, but it left an impression on me.
I do take issue with the title of this post, though ๐
yarp… “surgeries” means “office hours” in the UK:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/surgeries
for some reason, its only used for doctors, dentists, vets, and members of parliament…
It got you to read and comment, so it worked! ๐ Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see Dan and you and the other UK Oracle friends for UKOUG 2009 (I hope).
Oh, dictionary, right. Guess I could have checked that, but my personal law of laziness required me to do as little as possible. Thanks for the reference!
why bother, when you can rely on the teeming millions who read your blog ๐
It was indeed something of a test to see if a) anyone reads here and b) those that start reading actually make it to the end of a relatively short post. You passed both tests, congratulations! You win…my gratitude, better luck next time.
Hi Dan,
It could be worse. There is a tory politician called Steve Norris who has the fantastic nickname of “shagger” norris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Norris
jason.
That's hilarious. Steve Norris is my uncle–lives in Chicagoland ;). I doubt he'd get the reference if I started calling him “Shagger”.
Reminded me of Google Me the Movie over on YouTube, interesting stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrq-xOJgSB0
Jake,
You're right. It is interesting – from a simple idea turning into business.
http://www.youtube.com/user/googlemethemovie
http://www.googlemethemovie.com/
LOL…the title is interesting “I am not Dan Norris” ๐
A surgery is when a member of the public can talk to their parliamentary representative about an issue. British MPs often put aside a day where people can books a time and have face to face talks with their representative about a national/local or personal grievance. Good site btw!
Thanks, Peter.
A surgery is when a member of the public can talk to their parliamentary representative about an issue. British MPs often put aside a day where people can books a time and have face to face talks with their representative about a national/local or personal grievance. Good site btw!