Sunday 7 December 2008

Dirty tactics from the 'No' campaign

I've got a horrible feeling that the No vote is going to win the TIF referendum, and we're going to lose out on billions in investment, and a great opportunity to cut cars and their pollution. And I've got a nasty feeling that that is partly because the 'Yes' campaign has largely been shackled by its ethics and by the need of local authorities to behave in a respectable, local-government-ish sort of way.
In the meantime, the MEN (yes, even they have managed to say something vaguely negative about the No campaign, despite their embarrassingly ill-informed and outdated views on climate change and related matters) have been reporting on some of the extremely unpleasant tactics of the No lobby:

"....Meanwhile a firm has had its membership of the anti-charge Greater Manchester Momentum Group suspended after posting on the internet a film depicting a young girl apparently being assaulted because her father is unable to pay the charge.
The movie, shot as a spoof of hit American drama 24, was billed `repugnant' and `beyond belief' by critics.
Shot at the Trafford Centre with the permission of owners Peel Holdings, the film shows a young girl ringing her dad after being followed by a menacing figure in a hood.
He refuses to come to pick her up, claiming he `can't afford' the charge, and instead urges her to make for the motorway, outside the proposed charging zone.

Screaming
The footage ends with the sound of the girl screaming as the screen fades to black with the message `Stop this madness! Vote no'.
The company that posted it on YouTube, Manchester-based Sonassi Media, has had its membership of the anti-charge Greater Manchester Momentum Group suspended.
Lis Phelan, chairman of the `yes' campaign, said: "For members of the `no' campaign to use images of violence against women to promote their campaign is beyond belief."......

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