Tuesday, May 24, 2005

A fleeced electorate

Labour knew no bounds when it came to winning the recent General Election, that is certainly how it feels having watched Dispatches last night. Astroturfing - faking "real" letters to regional newspapers, nationally approved letters that can be localised, "spontaneous" organised protests at Liberal Democrat or Conservative walkabouts, fake "genuine people" endorsing their posters. Whilst accepting that all parties want to put a positive spin on their parties and attack the opposition, it does appear that Labour reached dizzying new heights of manipulation that even Goebbels would have been proud of. Labour's pursuit of election victory was all consuming. The electorate were treated with total contempt.

Channel 4 and the BBC were clearly aware this was happening, to it's credit Channel 4 made this programme whilst Andrew Marr, the BBC Political correspondent, was filmed complaining that Tony Blair being hidden from the cameras in one shot. Why was such manipulation not highlighted for what it was
during the election? Did other elements of the media connive with Labour to get the "right" result?

Claims over "Weapons of Mass Destruction" no longer appears an aberration, it's how New Labour operates.

PS Channel 4 are yet to update their site with last night's episode.

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