Thursday 4 July 2013

The Bounty Mutiny- The Say No Campaign Makes National Press

Yes, you read that right readers!

Our (and I say our as there are some fantastic ladies who are fighting against the big boys of Mumsnet and the NCT) campaign has reached the eyes and ears of not just those we disagree with, but Bounty themselves (who are absolutely lovely and shocked at the sudden bad feeling being directed at them), and The Daily Telegraph newspaper too.


It's also great to see that 86 people have now signed the petition, and some of the reasons they give are amazing. Stories which far outweigh the negatives. People who argue that you can say no, no one makes you sign anything.

The thing is, and I've held back on saying this until now, but I studied Government and Politics for A'Level. I found it a bit boring, but I take my hat off to one of my tutors who taught us something which immediately springs to mind regards this campaign.

Have you noticed how the Tory party is on the back foot? Its not likely that they'll get back in at the next election. They made some big promises in the run up to landing joint power with the Lib Dems. 

Promises you don't need me to tell you they have barely kept. The country is still in crisis. There are still British Service people in foreign climes fighting the same wars they classed as "phoney" when arguing with the previous government.

The NHS, that they promised to protect, has gotten worse. As I've said before, Queens has a ridiculous history of child birth related deaths, Stafford, Medway (my own local hospital for many years) and 6 others are being investigated due to their unexplained high death rates. The CQC is being investigated for covering up the deaths of children, and we all saw the shocking footage of patients being abused by staff at Winterbourne View.

I know of bloggers and their families where the treatment they receive is appalling. Some have even had their much needed help revoked. As a family, we have been let down time and time again, and are now simply left to fend for ourselves when it comes to Littlest's illnesses.

So, what does that matter?

A smokescreen.

If you watch old footage of Maggie Thatcher, when times got tough she would bring up the victory in the Falklands. When President Obama had some tough questions from Mitt Romney during his campaign, he mentioned Osama Bin Laden's death.

It's what politicians do. When something gets a bit tough, when they may have to answer to their failures, they bring up things to create a smokescreen, to take attention away.

In the case of the Bounty Mutiny, and the knee jerk Early Day Motion, these Mumsnetters and supporters have played an own goal. 

Both the NHS and the Government are desperate to hide the mistakes, the broken promises. By jumping in with this Mutiny, by agreeing with it and helping it get publicity, they get to skirt the real issue, hide the appalling stats on patient care and move on to something which has been ramped to a major issue, when it clearly boils down to a few women being a bit pissed off they were disturbed.

Has anyone asked Bounty what changes it's willing to make? 

Bounty has admitted, freely, that some times, yes, their representatives do go a bit OTT on the sales angle. However, they have never said that they don't and wont deal with those who do. They are willing to follow whatever the NHS directs. They want to continue to provide a valuable service to the NHS, to new Mums and to the HMRC. 

Who wants to go to their local Jobcentre Plus or Post Office for Child Benefit forms with a new born in a push chair? The Mutineers say they should be left alone to enjoy their baby- can't really do that if having to trundle back and forth to the High Street for forms. Its easier to have them in the packs.

Do we really want to say that, after a baby, we are suddenly too dumbstruck to say no? To suddenly decide to stick with the brands in our packs rather than use the freebies, spend the vouchers and then find a cheaper brand? To not be able to read a form before we fill it out?

This campaign is a joke. The mutineers don't even know what the hell they are fighting for anymore.

First, it was to ban Bounty from hospital wards, their packs, the whole lot. The only time the NHS was mentioned was to badger them via Twitter to remove Bounty. It was all about the negative experiences of a few Mumsnetters.

Next, when a few of us start suggesting that, actually, Bounty is the least of the NHS' problems, suddenly, they did want NHS change as part of a wider part of the Bounty Mutiny. It was about the data protection too. 

Now, it's not a Mumsnet campaign (even though the majority of tweets are from Mumsnetters and Mumsnet HQ), and they first said Bounty should be in a side room for those who want it, the bags on the bed when we book in.

Make your minds up ladies and gents, please!

It's like half of them have read a different brief from the rest!

Unlike our campaign which simply says Bounty give funds which are needed to hospitals. They deserve the chance to make changes to something which has been as much a part of giving birth as booties and stitches where we don't want them. The governments time should not be taken up by a Mumsnet vanity project and an NCT attempt to usurp Bounty in hospitals. Our voices should be used to force change where change is needed, not make a group of people, doing a job which the majority of women appreciate redundant.

The message is clear- we don't go changing it.

Want to help give the government and the NHS trusts something to hide behind? Support the Mutiny.

Want to bring a voice to the silent majority who are sick of the poor treatment when they need it most? Sign the petition.

Thanks for reading.


2 comments:

  1. I find it odd that you think there has to be a "brief" - everyone can agree to take an action (get rid of direct sales staff on maternity wards) and have different motivations. That's why you are hearing so many arguments.

    By far the biggest issue with you argument is that you have created a false dichotomy. There aren't two options:

    1. Campaign to get rid of direct sales staff on wards.

    2. Campaign to improve the NHS

    You can do both. You can do many more things.

    Using an appeal to worse problems is a fairly empty argument. Why are you writing reviews of baby meals when the NHS is in such a state? Shouldn't you be campaigning to improve the NHS?

    If you think that the power of Mumsnet should be harnessed to improve the NHS, then why not campaign for that?

    The Bounty mutiny petition is clear. People's motivations behind signing it will differ. You need to learn to deal with that. As discussed on twitter, your petition isn't clear, there are several parts of it that don't make sense without further detail.

    Lastly, I did maths at A-level, and you are going to need 100 times more signatures to even approach the other petition's backing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I find it odd that you think there has to be a "brief" - everyone can agree to take an action (get rid of direct sales staff on maternity wards) and have different motivations. That's why you are hearing so many arguments.

    By far the biggest issue with you argument is that you have created a false dichotomy. There aren't two options:

    1. Campaign to get rid of direct sales staff on wards.

    2. Campaign to improve the NHS

    You can do both. You can do many more things.

    Using an appeal to worse problems is a fairly empty argument. Why are you writing reviews of baby meals when the NHS is in such a state? Shouldn't you be campaigning to improve the NHS?

    If you think that the power of Mumsnet should be harnessed to improve the NHS, then why not campaign for that?

    The Bounty mutiny petition is clear. People's motivations behind signing it will differ. You need to learn to deal with that. As discussed on twitter, your petition isn't clear, there are several parts of it that don't make sense without further detail.

    Lastly, I did maths at A-level, and you are going to need 100 times more signatures to even approach the other petition's backing.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for Commenting!