I'm American, not British, but every single item mentioned that public perception is wrong about sounds like it skews toward what would be rightwing propaganda here. If the British right is anything like the American right, then appealing to the politicians misrepresenting the numbers to do a better job stating the facts is a fool's errand. The misinformation is on purpose.
this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2025
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British here. You're right. It's the culmination of decades of intentional misinformation and stoking the fears of the racist and stupid. Appealing to the politicians spreading this (e.g. Farage) is useless. Appealing to the public is useless.
I heard a story about a friend of a friend who thought that one million immigrants entered Britain every day. As in, the population would literally double in two months if this was true. But not only did he not realise that, he repeated the "fact" to other people.
Obviously a lot of us are fine. But Reform is leading in the polls and people believe shit like that so the reality is most of us are not.
Yank here as well, it's just propaganda period. Misinformation raigebait keeps people glued to their screens, keeps people arguing, and keeps them scrolling past tue advertising. I saw some survey not long ago that said a non insignificant number of people were reporting that their primary source of news was Facebook, and yeah that tracks with this.
At which point disinformation might be a better word for it.
Which country are you from?
This is incorrect. I'm British and us Brits have been wrong about everything for decades now. It started around the time that Murdoch bought his way into the British press and maggie thatcher thatcher (fucking milk snatcher) took control of the government.
You're wrong.
No, I'm...no, wait. Yes, I a...no. oh, oh no!!
Note that this survey was pre-COVID and pre-Trump. The public are now probably wrong about absolutely everything.
This was published in 2013. It'd be interesting if they'd redo the the survey and compare current perceptions against current stats.
UK voted for Brexit in 2016.
Not just the British. Many Americans have no idea what percent of the budget is for forgien aid, wjat the crime rate is doing, etc etc
Imagine how insufferable we'd be if we were right about nearly everything
Official estimates are that just 70 pence in every £100 is fraudulent
Can someone explain this in International English, please?
Official estimates are that just ~~70 pence~~ £0.70 in every £100 is fraudulent.
The British government estimates that Less than 1% of every 100 British pounds is fraudulent.
Wdym Fraudulent?
Fraudulently claimed, as in "people who aren't supposed to get it".
Fugazy, bogus, phony.
Counterfeit?
over 5% in USA.
it's 16 and 21/724th thruppence, Sterling. On Wednesday, of course. It's an easy system once you get used to it, drinking helps.
This is from the newspaper owned by a Russian oligarch, right? Or am I thinking of a different 'Independent'?
OK, they did a brilliant own-goal with Brexit, but to be fair, most of the country is drunk at any given time.
Wrong or right the government should work for the people, so the government should do their job which is the will of the people. If the people are truly wrong maybe the media or something is misinforming them and the authorities should prove the culprit is lying to them. But gaslighting seems like mission of the day.
I wasn't old enough to drink when this survey was conducted