When the facts aren’t the whole story

Or "A biased, misleading, selection of facts supplied with the intention
 of persuading you to vote against staying in the EU, whilst
 deliberately attempting to look like a neutral document by
 making it hard to figure out who supplied it".
 Not as catchy, obviously.
Yes, those are my slippers.

Do you know what makes my blood pump fast? My heart, yes... but what else? Leaflet-based Referendum subterfuge. Obviously.

Once upon a time, our letterbox used to get lovely things shoved through it. Like postcards, letters from a favourite Auntie, and newspapers.

Now it seems to be predominantly leaflets. Leaflets telling me what fabulous 2 for 1 offers are available at my local convenience store. Leaflets for double glazing. Leaflets for miracle garden fences that don’t need treating for 25 year (I did read that one). And charity collection bags.

Mostly, the leaflet are an irrelevant irritation, and, if I filled every charity bag, I’d be ripping up the carpets by now, so most of those remain bereft of contents.

In a decidedly digital age, the North West Evening Mail dropping onto the dishevelled doormat is a welcome link to a time before staring at screens was all we knew, but other than online orders arriving (I remember shops. I think. They were in big buildings in towns, right?) and a selection of bills, nothing much gets my attention if it arrives via the deliberately-hewn hole in my front door.

That changed yesterday. An innocuous A5, folded, leaflet appeared. On the front it said “Information about the Referendum on 23 June 2016. The UK and the European Union: THE FACTS”. Underneath was a little clipart drawing of on X on a piece of paper, going into a slot in a box, just in case I was unsure what the process of voting might entail.

Inside are 2 pages of the promised facts – all 7 of them, and a website link (which repeats the same) or a number you can text FACTS to, which will presumably give you even more of the same facts.

Strangely, there’s no mention of who is supplying these facts for you, until you read the very-small-print which (should you have your magnifying glass handy) reveals it has been sent by Vote Leave Ltd.

Ah. So, the facts, in case who sent it hasn’t set off any alarm bells, are very specific ones which subtly point out the emotive topics you might not like very much about our membership of the EU, whilst avoiding mentioning any of the stuff you may consider positive.

OK, then. We’ll try that method here: Mr X always does the ironing, sorts out the household bills, showers every morning and wears nicely tailored shirts and polishes his shoes. Sounds like a nice chap, eh?

Meanwhile, Mr Y hasn’t cleaned the bathroom in years, has been caught licking the plate after dinner, bites his nails and wears clothes even his own Mum once described as “gaudy”. Boo! Slob!

Guess what? They’re both me! (Apologies if the plate licking thing has shattered your illusions about me.) So it’s possible to supply facts that make something look both good and bad – no particular problem there.

What is a problem is supplying selective facts supporting one viewpoint, making it look like an unbiased document provided to help you decide, and presenting it so it’s nearly impossible to discover that it has been sent by an organisation with a decidedly Brexit-y purpose.

And it isn’t the side on the fence they’ve hidden themselves behind either, in case you were wondering why I’m irked. I’d be just an annoyed at this underhand, sneaky, subterfuge if it was from one of the “Let’s stay in the EU – it’s smashing!” groups, or about any other political subject.

Adding a paragraph pointing out that “there are risks in voting either way” doesn’t let them off the hook either. This would appear to be a deliberate attempt to influence your decision on how to vote by providing information that gives you the impression of being neutral.

It’s a long way away from that. Which is coincidentally what you should aim for with this leaflet by putting it in your recycling bin.

Go on the internet. Read information about both sides of the argument. Watch the news. Get lots and lots of facts, then decide for yourself.

This post first appeared as my "Thank grumpy it's Friday" column, in the North West Evening Mail, on the 8th of April 2016. Kind of.

Whilst the NWEM retitled it as "'Facts' are not the whole story", the version printed was the final edit I submitted. The version above is a tidied-up take on the original rant I typed up, which was 35% longer than the target 500 words. 

Apart from having to drop a couple of sections altogether (the two version of me got the chop), some other parts were cut down substantially too. In this case, I was pretty happy with the full version, so reducing the word count before submission was tricky.

In a lovely twist, as I submitted it, the UK government announced it was sending a leaflet out to everyone in the country explaining why they think we should stay in the EU, at a costs of many millions of pounds, paid for by us.

Criticise that if you like, but at least they've made it clear it's them sending it out, not like Vote Leave Ltd's reprehensible piece of trickery...

(CD A-Z: Bit of Eminem this afternoon, namely The Slim Shady LP. Yo. Innit.)