Lies, Damn Lies and No to AV Campaign Leaflets

Front Cover of No to AV
campaign leaflet

Today in the post, my household received a No to AV campaign leaflet (right) for the May 5th referendum on voting reforms. It contained 24 lies, misleading truths and scaremongering statements. 


Here are my picks of the errors and lies:

First double page spread featuring 6 issues

(Apologies for the incorrect numbering order, there were so many errors I missed a few)

The first double page (left) has 6 issues:

1. The claim that AV will cost £250 million pounds. LIE

2. £130 million pounds will need to spent on electronic voting machines LIE

3. The "£26 million" on explaining the new system is included in the cost of the referendum and is from an unspecified source MISLEADING

4. Describes it as a "politicians fix" without saying what is being fixed SCAREMONGERING

5. They strongly imply that you must number all candidates when in fact you do not have to  MISLEADING

6. Refer to the person coming third wining, no, the definition of wining is being changed. Also say that the least popular candidate can hold the balance of power both MISLEADING and SCAREMONGERING

Now for the second double page (right) where I have 5 issues, but there is a truth!

7. Another incorrect claim regarding coming first MISLEADING

8. "AV is unpopular" LIE

9. "AV is not fair" unsubstantiated, no definition of fair and AV is considerably fairer than first past the post LIE

10. A popularity claim about AV from Australia is used despite no source being specified and yet another Papua New Guinea reference MISLEADING

11. The claim that the only major support for AV comes from the Lib Dems MISLEADING

but they did get one thing right:

"The vote will take place on Thursday 5 May - between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m." TRUTH!

The next page is a beauty in scaremongering:

12. Another strong suggestion that you must rank all candidates MISLEADING

13. Another claim regarding coming first and not wining MISLEADING

14. "AV will mean the end to equal votes" LIE

15. A deliberately long winded and complicated explanation of AV to make it seem far more complex MISLEADING

16. A claim that AV means some people get more than one vote LIE

17. A claim that it gives power to the BNP SCAREMONGERING

And finally...my favourite and the by far and away the worst page, the back cover:

The outrageously bad back cover.
This is why politics needs changing

18. "AV leads to broken promises LIE

19. It suggests Nick Clegg promised to make job cuts, increased VAT & tuition fees and cut public spending, when he tried to avoid all of the opposites MISLEADING

20. A lack of source of a quote from an MP MISLEADING

21. It would mean more hung parliaments LIE

22. More back room deals would be done LIE

23. AV is only for Nick Clegg LIE

24. Entirely negative campaigning 

SCAREMONGERING 

There are 24 reasons why politics needs changing, 24 reasons why the No to AV campaign should not be listened to and 24 reasons to Vote Yes on May 5!

So Much Time Needed, So Little Time Available

The title of this entry may suggest that this is a moan about the amount work I currently have to do and you would, in part be right; however, school work only exacerbates the problems, rather than causing them.

Right now, my head needs a break, more so than at any time in the last 16 months of being ill, but yet, it simply isn't an option. Yes, there are AS-levels to pass, and yes that is an awful lot of work, and yes, I am struggling, but that is not the main problem here. The main issue is the fact that whenever I do try to stop and rest; my mind doesn't stop, and right now, I have no way of stopping it.

Anxiety attacks have gone from something which TV soap writers turn to when they've run out of plot lines to a worryingly large part of my life, in an even more worryingly short space of time. I need time to stand and stare but I currently find myself running to stand still. There could not have been a worse time for me to feel worse but yet, every time I consider throwing it all in something keeps pulling me back to life and I do everything possible to keep me on the straight and narrow, even this is supposed to help in some way.

Life could not be worse; but yet at the same time, it couldn't be better either. My mind is broken but maybe it's all my fault. I refer you something I've said several times since my diagnosis but it could also be my problem:

"Maybe I’m trying to rationalise the irrational. Maybe I’m trying to quantify in unquantifiable. Maybe my core belief that everything is rational and quantifiable is wrong."

It'll be rate

Spotify Shoots the Music Industry in the Foot

In a blog post music streaming service Spotify announced that it is limiting its free users listening time to 10 hours per month and a maximum of 5 listens of a particular track in each month however, the free service will still contain adverts.


When Spotify launched it, and other similar services, was heralded as the saviour of the music industry, a way to maintain massive audiences and the artists still get paid and just last month they reported their millionth paying user and the business is being given ever increasing valuations, but with this announcement, Spotify may be about to shoot the music industry in the foot.


However, with this time limit being imposed from 1st May, many of the 5 million free users may return to piracy, the thing which is killing the music industry. So, not only are Spotify at risk of collapsing their own business (because when user-ship drop, so will ad revenues) they may also end up putting another death knell in the music industries coffin.


The music industries problems may run deep, but Spotify had a genuine opportunity to reverse the decline in the non-mainstream, however that opportunity may just have been squandered by yet another money grabbing business that surrounds music.

The Prevention and Cure of Immigration

In David Cameron's speech today, he will talk about an why the UK needs an immigration cap. However, like most politicians, he may be missing the point; and the only true way to cut immigration is by leaving the EU. The debate on the EU is a long and draw out one, and so I will say nothing more than that leaving the EU isn't an option and most people realise this.

As a member of the EU, we have no right to stop workers from other EU states from working here, in the same way that they have no right to stop British workers working in their states, and as the majority of UK immigrants are from within the EU; we can't stop the majority of immigration. This leaves the government's immigration cap looking like a policy which merely exists to keep the right of the Tory party happy, the focus needs to be on the effects that immigration has on the UK, and solving the problems caused by it. Prevention may be better than the cure, but when you can't prevent something, you need to put your efforts into curing it.

If government (and lets face it, the tory half of the collation) want to stop immigration then the only way to do so appears to be making the UK an unattractive place to come and live and work. However, as racism has, rightly, become unacceptable, this would mean making the UK unattractive to all workers, including British workers, and that won't win you an election.

So governments (and I stress the plural as it has been a problem for many administrations) find them selves stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to immigration. It may be an easy vote winner, however putting words into action is not so easy and this debate will rumble on until someone takes over the world so we all become one country. (I wonder what Ban Ki Moon gets up to in his spare time?)

NHS Reforms: Close to my Heart?

The coalition government, and in particular heath secretary Andrew Lansley, are attempting, and that may be the key word here, to force through massive reforms to the way that the NHS is run and being someone who regularly meets with the NHS coal face, there are few issues which are closer to my heart, but do we really care?


This may seam like an odd statement from a person who relies so much on the NHS (to the point whereby if if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here to type this) but my point is that as an NHS 'consumer' the only I really care about it is the experience I have when I go to hospital  or visit my GP, who runs it all doesn't bother me, just as long as it is run well. However, my grave concerns lie with where the power is being put. 


Many millions of pounds have been put into making GPs more accessible to the public during the previous government by increasing surgery hours. However, now the GPs will have to spend their time working out what to do with the money instead of treating patients, completely undoing the good work and reducing contact time with patients.


This is why I am so vehemently against the reforms, because they will make the patients' experience worse, not because I'm ideologically opposed to reform. It's not "Hands of my NHS." It's "Don't ruin my NHS" however these two statements are not so easily separated in this case, so I'll stand by both claims for now:


"Hands of my NHS so you don't ruin my NHS"

Anybody Out There?

If you are reading this you are either a bored friend or you've got lost (If you are the later the back button on your browser should help) to any bored friends, welcome!

I would first like to say that this blog will mainly be my views on politics, and as I believe that politics should be about doing the right thing for the country, any solid political allegiance may be hard to find. It will also be dotted occasional with my musings on life in general, my life with a broken mind.

I have no idea how long this will last, or how regularly I will post, but whilst I'm here, I hope to provide some food for thought along with the outspoken opinions for which I find myself associated with.

If you really care, you can always follow me on Twitter: @AndrewJ_Hill

Andrew