MADAM,

A snap general election has been called (for 8th June this year) so, once all the parties have worked out what they actually stand for, we can all expect to be bombarded with grand manifesto promises, statistical claims and counter claims, attention grabbing headlines and (meaningless) slogans, and a general onslaught of misinformation, hooray!

With that in mind, it feels prudent to go into this phase with our collective eyes wide-open for some of the most predictable (and concerning) ‘tricks of the trade’, in the hope that awareness of these will enable us all to better filter the information thrown at us.

The first watch out is over-simplification. A useful analogy when considering this is the humble zip mechanism. Now apply that analogy to the health service, to education, to foreign policy, you get the idea that whilst we’re familiar with these topics, they are extraordinarily complex areas with myriad trade-offs, compromises and competing demands. With that in mind, we should all be massively wary of sweeping manifesto claims to ‘transform education’ or ‘fix the NHS,’ but should probe to ensure that there’s credible expertise and substance behind such claims.

The second watch out is victimhood and scape-goating. A devastatingly effective tactic used in recent political campaigns across the UK (eg Brexit), Europe (eg Front National in French elections) and the US (eg Trump campaign) has been based on stoking anger about ‘the masses’ being victims of abuses by ‘the few’ (aka the ‘elite’). Whilst there remain inequalities and injustices in western societies that must be addressed, it’s too tempting for many to peddle messages like ‘British people have been robbed of their jobs and their dignity, ’and it’s too tempting for many to latch on to these, as it disowns our failings and disappointments.

On a related topic to victimhood, parties also often set up ‘scape-goats’ for particular issues that lack substance (or are just downright misleading).

The third watch out is politician’s (and the public’s) use of rose-tinted glasses. There’s also a concerning movement that appears to be based on ‘winding back the clock’ to a bygone era. These might include policies based on reinstating the ‘good, honest labour’ of heavy industries (that, by the way, killed thousands via workplace accidents or exposure to toxins, all on an equivalent of the minimum wage, and choked our air and rivers with pollutants in the process!) or legislating to restore ‘jobs for life,’ making it hard to for organisations to change a workforce to suit changing demand. These policies are based on a doomed expectation

These are just a few watch outs for when political propaganda starts landing on your door mat (or in your email inbox/ social media account) and will require your vigilance. Clearly, many will still base their decisions on good old ‘personality politics,’ but it’s worth a try to encourage as many of us as possible to act more like citizens with a stake in our country than frivolous reality-TV voters!

Stuart Nash

(Shirenewton)