THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

In December 2008, the Government published another so-called consultation document in its series: Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power (does anyone know what an unreal person is?).  This one is about local authority publicity and, as it turns out, what real people do not want is for their council-tax monies to be used just to provide services.  Apparently, we have some sort of Freudian desire to shell out shedloads of our hard-earned to encourage ourselves to participate in local-authority democracy through bombarding ourselves with publicity designed to ‘reinvigorate and rehabilitate politics at the local level’.

Perhaps those of us who would just like to get our bins emptied and not get mugged walking down the street are the unreal people.  Since I suspect we’re in the majority, where does that leave democracy?  Our elected representatives haven’t responded to SODPC’s comments on the ‘consultation’ but at least Dr Julian Lewis (MP for New Forest East) is angry about bogus consultations, flagrant attempts to manipulate those consultations and spending ‘shedloads of public money producing and distributing one-sided propaganda’.  I wonder whether he would like to move to Cheshire?

In the above context, the Daily Telegraph (so it must be right) of 17 January 2009 estimated that government quangos and similar bodies spend £1,000,000,000 a year (of our money) on publicity.  Obviously, real people recognize that this is unfair and understand that local authorities need more of our dosh so that they can get in on the bean-feast.  Do I have a feeling of unreality coming on?