They look very similar.
Less than two months before the local elections, and now Croydon Council – which is supposed to be neutral in the political bickering – is issuing official literature, all paid for by your Council Tax, that is barely any different from election propaganda from the local Conservative Party.
Can you tell the difference?
This is from the March 2014 edition of Your Croydon, the official Town Hall Pravda issued from Katharine Street, including the illustration of how all prices have soared under the current Conservative-led government.
And then there is this, used in election campaign leaflets issued in Addiscombe and in this case Waddon wards by the local Tories:
Here on official Tory party election leaflets, with the name and address of the party agent dutifully stamped on them, is the tell-tale, identical image of the 25-quid bribe cheque, as plastered all over the cover of the council’s official Your Croydon magazine and which also appears on the annual Council Tax leaflet sent to all households.
And then there’s the very same graphic, showing the rising cost of living for all households under the Tory-led Government.
For the avoidance of any doubt, it is worth stating that official, publicly funded council literature is supposed to be non-political. Croydon Council has a full-time, publicly funded media department which costs Council Tax-payers hundreds of thousands of pounds each year, and they also run several contracts with outside PR agencies. Croydon Council has been under the political control of the Conservatives since 2006.
We reckon that there are only four ways that official council literature could have ended up using similar graphic files to that of the local Conservative party…
- A supposedly politically neutral council official has given a political party the graphic
- An individual acting on behalf of a political party, perhaps a senior councillor, has given the graphic to the council to use.
- One of the publishers has copied the other without permission. Or,
- The two parties involved came up with identical graphics entirely co-incidentally.
What does our loyal reader think is the most likely?
Perhaps florid-faced Mike Fisher, the leader of Croydon’s Tories, can offer an explanation for this: is it all a remarkable coincidence, or is it really an outrageous abuse of public funds?
Coming to Croydon
- David Lean Cinema: Basically Johnny Moped, Mar 27-28
- Crystal Palace Question Time, Mar 27
- Croydon Half-marathon, Mar 30
- David Lean Cinema: 12 Years a Slave, Apr 3
- Cane Hill and Lion Green Road public meeting, Apr 4
- David Lean Cinema: The Great Beauty, Apr 10
- Norwood Society Talk: Crystal Palace, Apr 17
- David Lean Cinema: Inside Llewyn Davis, Apr 17
- Opening of Marlpit Lane bowling and putting greens, Apr 17
- Lives Not Knives Music at the Unit, Apr 19
- Arts and Crafts Market, Exchange Square, Apr 19
- David Lean Cinema: Short Term, Apr 24
- Norwood Society Talk: West Norwood – a place of change, May 15
- Croydon RFC charity memorial day, May 17
- Norwood Society Talk: The Concrete Church, June 19
- Crystal Palace Overground Festival, June 26-29
- Norwood Society Talk: War Memorials, Sep 18
- Norwood Society Talk: From Fire Station to Theatre, Oct 16
- Norwood Society Talk: Lambeth’s Archives, Nov 20
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I have written for Pravda on occasions and I have always understood that the subject matter of my pieces should reflect favourably on the council, regardless of which party is in power at the time.
I have never been asked to ignore certain facts or bend others to make the situation seem better than it was. And I have never found it difficult to find positive stories to tell about the council, just as it is easy to find negative ones, as this website constantly proves.
Croydon and other local authorities began to publish their own magazines because they found it impossible to get ‘good’ news into local newspapers; whatever the tale the local rag would either ignore it or put a negative spin on it.
When council Pravdas became popular with residents, proprietors of local papers began to bleat to the government that ‘unfair’ competition was damaging their circulation and reducing advertising revenue.
Big Eric Pickles rode to their rescue with a lot of ill-informed twaddle about level playing fields.
Like any sensible elector I expect council publications to reflect a council point of view, just as I expect opposition ones to do the opposite. My job is to weigh the two arguments and make my decision; that’s democracy.
The fact that a Tory council and the local Tory party have used the same graphic is probably not right, but does it really matter? Will I make my voting decision on that basis? Will anyone else? Of course not.
So you’re comfortable with blatant and repeated abuse of public cash then, David?
I have more important things to worry about.
Are you not familiar with the work of Edmund Burke, David? “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”