I ask the question having seen the video below. It raises two questions - not just the question as to whether West Sussex County Council thinks their population is completely stupid, but also the more important question of why they are spending council tax payers'money on this inanity.
And if that isn't enough you can learn HOW TO READ A MAP or HOW TO WASH YOUR HANDS. You can learn to apply soap to your hands, work up a lather and wash between your fingers. And through the round window...
The West Sussex County Council Youtube channel has a massive 7 subscribers. Only one of their videos has had more than 200 views.
Should we be surprised? Clearly the people of West Sussex are more discerning than their County Council thinks!
How much money have these videos cost?
37 comments:
Well, they keep re-electing Fatty Soames, so they can't be that discerning.
This has got to be a wind up. Surely no one would talk down to the electorate in such a patronising manner.
Isn't West Sussex a Tory controlled council? Seems we should be coming up with some instructions on how to select Tory candidates; or at least teach them how to stop wasting tax payers money.
So that's how they work. No wonder I've never been able to get an appointment at the dentist, and there I was blaming the Labour government
No we aren't.
I seriously doubt W.Sussex holds the monopoly on councils pissing money away on stupid useless shit.
Ironically, this post will probably multiply the number of views the channel gets and make it even easier for its creators to justify its existence.
There has to be a Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle joke there somewhere...
lol - the view rates have gone from 20 to hundreds in just a 30 minutes!
I was about to complain that the video discriminated against right-handed people.
Then I realised: it's clearly aimed at a minority audience. Clearly there must have been some grant to be spent.
"It's not our money - it's external funding", goes the mantra.
"I've been shopping, i'm tired..."
He's so tired he's actually forgotten his shopping.
Likely to be an adult education video for those with Learning Disabilities.
It's quite good. Sorry to disappoint all you clever types.
As a former Westerner and now an Easterner, I know the CC is stupid. Locals have not forgotten the bizarre spectacle of the Tory Chichester DC and Tory West Sussex fighting each other in court at council tax payers' expense a few years ago. Memories are long, but voters stupidly keep returning the same idiots.
That is the most patronising useless waste of time and money that I have come across in a very long time. Maybe after taking the mobile phone course people should ring them up and tell them what a bunch of idiots they really are.
08456 010161
If West Sussex council is going to produce videos, why doesn't it produce a video that tells taxpayers something they need to know, like how to eat chicken wings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRcOY-PvOC8
It is worse than I thought, even the Yanks are at it.
http://www.cdc.gov/CDCTV/HandsTogether/
This is the sort of thing we teach our children before they are even of school age.
Good spot, Iain, this sort of thing just beggars belief. I often think this when I see government advertisements on tv - lavish productions with actors, music, fancy graphics and animations, etc.
We used to receive government information via "public service announcements " , just a simple written script with a voiceover - effective and cheap. Perhaps you could campaign to bring them back !
Iain, is this a f*****g piss take?
At this rate we'll be getting reminders through the letterbox that 'breathing' is essential to continued existence.
It's quite pathetic.
No wonder the UK is effectively broke.
The thing I hate most about visiting the UK is the plethora of pointless signs such as 'hot water can burn'.
To think that people are paid salaries to produce this drivel is symptomatic of everything wrong with the UK.
Wow! It's brilliant in so many ways.
First and foremost it is posted on Youtube for all of those technophobes who cannot operate a mobile, but are handy with their computers.
Secondly, the flashing message "phones may vary" - really? May vary? Glad we're getting advice from the experts here.
Finally, the telephone number at the end if you need to take a course on using a mobile phone: "Hello, operator, please put me through to 0845...."
Yes Iain, I'm stupid for still living in West Sussex. trouble is, relocation costs would be higher than whatever this rubbish costs.
Alan Douglas
Sentient WV : billexcl, I kid you not.
As a WSCC Council Tax payer I am almost speechless. As I watched i kept wondering whether it was a wind up. Even if it were for someone with learning difficulties if they can't use a mobile they are hardly likely to find these epics online.
Is this one of those front line services that they will fight to protect.
Despair, total despair!
For real dyed in the wool, hard core mediocrity, take a look at KCC's TV operations in Kent, too - http://www.kenttv.com/
Unbelievable bollocks. Why is the ratepayer's money being spent on this kind of crap? I'll bet this stupidity is mirrored across the nation, so who is cleaning up? It's a brilliant scam.
It's not just West Sussex Iain you should know our very own Tory Kent County Council has a nice little waste of £2million Kent TV too, as well as the bus company, travel agent, landscape gardening, employment agency and building regulations consultancy that they "own" on our behalf.
No wonder that Tory Maidstone Borough Council have started charging business rates on office parking spaces. Got to pay for it all some how and can't have those nasty free market private businesses competing with our socialist set up can we .
@Stepney
You're a socialist right? You think this good right? You said
"Likely to be an adult education video for those with Learning Disabilities.
It's quite good. Sorry to disappoint all you clever types."
Genuis,
A movie to tell people who CAN'T use a mobile phone how to do it, posted on an internet TV channel.
Couldn't the person who showed them how to log onto the internet and search for the TV channel cut out the middle man and show them how to use the phone?
The thing about socialism is it always fails as eventually they run out of other peoples money
@pienomics
Sorry, wrong . You will soon get official letters telling you it is now an OFFENCE to breath. The EPA has officially declared CO2 a toxic pollutant.
Start holding your breath if you don't want to be fined.
PIENOMICS said...
"Iain, is this a f*****g piss take?
At this rate we'll be getting reminders through the letterbox that 'breathing' is essential to continued existence."
No no - breathing is now illegal - its been outlawed by the EPA as CO2 is dangerous to your health!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/07/the-epa-co2-regulation-dec-7th-2009-a-day-we-will-not-soon-forget/
You may scoff but think of the job creation aspect.
Will they be doing predictive texting by any chance?
@Libertarian.
No. I'm not a socialist, anymore than you are probably.
I am a filmmaker though and I think this is probably a good value-for-money way of getting people with learning disabilities to learn about mobile phones. A 1-1 tutor would no doubt cost a lot more.
Just because you have a learning disability doesn't mean you can't use the internet or a phone - it's quite an unpleasant prejudice you have there. If one of your loved ones is in a car crash and suffers a brain injury you may understand that.
If the film turns out to be anything other than that which I have assumed, then I'm sure I'll be fully behind the invective displayed in these comments.
Don't write off people with disabilities. Allow them some dignity. It may be you one day.
any moment you expect to see John Cleese - and now for something completely different
Did I miss something here, if Sarah is his ICE number how the feck is anybody going to know. I clearly state ICE as a separate number.
Anyway I know a bird called Sarah so if i put the number as shown in the video 01453986332 will it work for her mobile as well?/
Purps is moving to West Sussex
I will never be able to look at 'The Cross' in the centre of Chichester (the location for this twaddle) in the same way again...
I agree with Stepney that this video is probably intended for the use of adults with learning disabilities. As such, it could be a useful tool, in the context of broader support. A personal tutor is expensive (though would sometimes be necessary) whereas these videos can be watched again and again, reinforcing the learning. It therefore might represent an overall efficiency saving to the taxpayer, which I'm sure Iain would approve of.
Whether it IS an efficiency saving is another question, but I think it would be better if Iain discussed the video in context of what it is trying to achieve for a specific audience, rather than the general population.
Nasty Torys, that's you lot.
This isn't aimed at you, it's aimed at people that need this style of instruction to pick things up, or realise that something they're scared of is actually quite easy to use.
You might be able to quickly adapt to something new, but there are people who can't.
It was Peter Hordern when I lived there...can't imagine him ever doing something like this.
Having said which...
I have a touch screen and it doesn't work when I follow the instructions...is this because I am not currently in a 'busy city centre'?
In fact I am so ignorant as to the workings of my phone that I have been unconsciously 'tweeting' for over a year as Stephen Fry.
Hooray, I have learned how to put a contact into my 'phone. Something I have always asked the grandchildren to do for me!
Someone commented that this is likely to be aimed at people with learning disabilities. It could well be, but as someone who works teaching people with learning disabilities, I don't really see how this video would be particularly useful as a learning aid. It would be much easier to just demonstrate with a mobile phone.
And incidentally, no, we socialists do not think this kind of spending is a good idea. We like government spending on things which actually make a difference to people's lives.
Is there any evidence that this video was produced for any reason at all? Or was it dreamed up by some junior loony working in WSCC who had a budget to blow?
Well the ratepayers deserve a full explanation, don't they? Where's the money going - and why? Who signed these videos off?
Next, a video on 'How to Cover Your Arse'.
Nanny State? You bet!
Don't forget the Costa Geriatrica is in Sussex - people born when the wheel was in its early stages of development.
It reminds me of the judge in a Monty Python sketch who exclaimed, "A digital watch?"
How much did it cost? Looks like about a fiver.
Nice sneering though.
Truly frightening
Post a Comment