Electioneering for Dummies

I support the LibDems - and they were the only party out canvassing in Chichester this lunchtime - but their election leaflets this time round contains a prime examples of why people have lost faith with politicians.

The LibDems' only chance round here is to convince Labour voters to vote tactically by switching their votes. Fair enough. But look at the bar chart on this leaflet - at the last election the Tories had a 20 point lead over the LibDems who in turn had a 10 point lead over Labour. By manipulating the axes, and demoting Labour to the Losers' step, the leaflet makes the gap between the first two parties seem much smaller than it is. This blatent spin is insulting to the voters' intelligence, and doesn't bode well for how the LibDems would spin the truth in power.

OK, rant over. I just note wryly in passing that due to an unfortunate cut-and-paste error, our candidate for Chichester has published a Contract With Chichester, promising he will do his best to represent the interests of the people of our next-but-one constituency of Worthing West, half an hour's drive away to the east.

Truth is, this is a safe seat for the Tories and my vote is wasted. It's one of our many modern rotten boroughs.