The Super Soaraway Currant Bun was not backward in coming
forward to blow its own trumpet yesterday, as its editorial told “Ed Miliband says he’ll briefly freeze energy
bills if he wins power. So what? The Sun has already cut them for 20,000
readers”. Yes, a freeze lasting years is “brief”, while what the Sun
is talking about is a deal for just 12 months.
So, just to distract the easily distracted, out comes the
smearing brush: “When the Labour leader said high prices could simply be banned, we said the more sensible and realistic
answer was switching suppliers”. Hello Trevor Kavanagh! Hello Tom Newton
Dunn! Hello Steve Hawkes! Exactly when did he say that? What’s that? He didn’t
actually say that? Well, knock me down with a feather!
But here’s the real sleight of hand: “Now we have harnessed the buying power of thousands of Sun fans to negotiate
a stonking tariff from Extra Energy, cheaper than any on a price comparison
site ... Indeed, we got involved when we found those sites hiding the best
deals if they didn’t pay commission ... We don’t make any money on ours. Our
readers get the savings instead”.
Yes folks, Rupe’s downmarket troops have got their readers
not just a good deal, or even a very good deal, but a STONKING one. I mean, Phwoarr! But, as Captain Blackadder
might have observed, there was only one thing wrong with this idea – it was
bollocks. For starters, one does not have to go anywhere near the Sun to discover that Extra Energy are
offering a good deal.
Nor does one have to band together with Sun readers, or indeed anyone else, to secure that deal. We know
this because there are other ways of getting information on comparing energy
price deals than price comparison sites, and they are just as widely read as
the Sun. You think I jest? I give you
This Is Money (available on Mail Online) and ITV This Morning.
This Is Money said
back in August that “The cheapest
one-year fix currently up for grabs is Extra Energy’s ValuePlus Fixed Price
September 2015 v1 deal, costing an average of £990 a year”. It cited –
guess what – price comparison site MoneySupermarket.com! The following month, ITV
This Morning pitched
the same figures to its viewers and readers.
There is nothing exclusive about the Sun’s deal – anyone can get it. And, despite the suggestion that it
can’t be found on price comparison sites – it can. So the Sun doesn’t make any money on it? Fine – ignore the Murdoch doggies
and go direct, so they still don’t make any money, and you don’t have to lower
yourself to reading the Super Soaraway Currant Bun.
The Murdoch Sun:
celebrating 45 years’ lying to the masses on
Monday next week.
2 comments:
Tim
Love the blog, and your forensic dissections are excellent. You don't though, with great respect, need to continue with the 'as Captain Blackadder said', 'see how that works Rupe?' etc tropes. Rather than create a familiar and welcome style, it just, to me, creates a 'oh god, when is he going to drop that one?' dread. I hope it doesn't appear condescending to say that your writing doesn't need them.
Very best wishes, John.
The Sun's statement that Ed Milliband will "briefly freeze energy bills" is misleading, but then it is The Sun, so it's to be expected.
I believe the plan is an immediate freeze on bills, followed by a reorganisation of the market that is intended to bring lower bills long term.
But that wouldn't fit the Sun's narrative, I suppose.
Post a Comment