I presume the real reasons for this are:
- To show solidarity with the US (presumably the NSA and GCHQ are as thick as thieves)
- So he doesn't give anyone at GCHQ ideas
I'm going to write to my MP about this:
Yes, and it is also consistent with the proposition that the UK's decision to extradite Assange was made at the political level in order to suck up to the USA.
Do not rant. Outline your concerns clearly and directly, request that they take some form of action, and ask them to reply to you giving their views and what action they took. Remember that the MP will expect requests to be something actionable: ask them to consider writing to the Home Secretary and/or Prime Minister, speak if the matter comes up for debate, sign an early day motion, etc.
It's important to ask them to reply to you - and be prepared to follow-up if they don't. I've read that there is a lot of variation among MPs in how they deal with this kind of contact. My MP, a young-ish fairly enthusiastic Lib-Dem, is pretty good in this respect. More 'traditional' MPs may be not so good. Give them time, though. Despite the popular view, they are busy people.
Also remember that MPs as individuals have essentially no power in issues relating to day-to-day foreign relations and state security. Don't expect too much.
bad signs - all caps, more than a page long, written on a typewriter, hand written in illegible writing, etc.
There seems nothing particularly suspicious about handwriting either, though as a practical matter, legibility might be a problem...
I once wrote to David Milliband (when he was foreign secretary) on the urging of Amnesty International about the upcoming international vote on the banning of cluster bombs.
I wrote it on a 1920s typewriter, sealed it with wax etc, as befitting a letter to one of the holders of the four highest offices, and never got a reply (although they did succeed in banning the use of cluster munitions - good!)
Later, when my partner was working for an MP, I mentioned the letter to her - and she laughed at me and said it would have been "one of those letters," because of the presentation - and that that's why I wouldn't have got a reply etc. ( I also made the mistake of writing directly to Milliband himself, and not to my MP asking him to pass it on, which is another reason I may not have got a reply.)
I fear this story makes me out to be all three of hipster, lefty and (worst of all) impressed-by-authority, so I predict all the downvotes in this forum, but it explains my earlier comment, so it's probably worth it for completeness.
But did she mention why they think that way? On the face of it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense...
So if you want them to read your letter, you'd better write it in Microsoft word, using Arial, at medium size, without any formatting, and print it out on an inkjet printer on A4 paper?
[And sorry for the snarky/argumentative tone, it's obviously not your fault and you can't do anything about it, but it really is disturbing...]
They do read all the letters (at least, the researcher does.) It is only the first signal.
A handwritten letter isn't in itself an indicator - someone may simply have not had much time - if the writing is difficult to read, or if it's several pages long, then we're into danger territory.
Generally the MPs first see their mail alongside their researchers' draft responses to them. They do need to know what they wrote back to everyone so that if they meet the constituent at a Surgery they will know what they're talking about.
Keep in mind, representatives are public people, and they get wacky things. Marriage proposals, insane ramblings, dog droppings, manifestos, abusive letters, frequent fliers who write multiple letters per day, etc.
The UK government simply doesn't want a repeat of the diplomatic mess that was Julian Assange's asylum claim.
You would expect the UK to have enough going for it that it can stand up to the USA, yet here they seem to be so scared of some diplomatic conflict with the US that they preemptively ban someone who is not at all a criminal (under UK/EU law). It's not something you would expect a proud nation to do.