Leaflets? No thanks

ONE thing you can be sure of is that nobody likes junk mail and political leaflets are greeted with as much wild excitement as a circular from Pizza Hut. Nevertheless the Tories are being urged to deliver a bright yellow flyer, promoting Theresa May’s Chequers agreement. You may not get one though because it’s been described as “utterly moronic” by Brexiteers who are refusing to stuff it through letterboxes.

As a nation we take a dim view of propaganda. Nothing has us reaching for the remote control faster than the dread phrase, “There now follows a party political broadcast on behalf of the….”.

During the Cold War the Ministry of Defence’s Protect and Survive leaflet in 1980 was received with scorn. Any fool could see that you had a very slim chance of surviving a thermo-nuclear blast by taping up your windows. But there was even less comfort for anyone living in a caravan. “Your local authority will be able to advise you on what to do,” says the leaflet lamely, about as useful as one of Pippa Middleton’s party planning guides.

More recently the government’s pro EU leaflet delivered to homes in the run-up to the Referendum clearly was not a runaway success. Mine went straight from doormat to the paper recycling pile.

Contempt for authority, propaganda and politically motivated information: it’s one of our nation’s redeeming features.