Sutton’s census: the Jedi mind trick

A press release from the London Borough of Sutton appeared in my inbox today via a colleague. As many of you know, ‘census day’ takes place on 27 March when we’re all expected to be good citizens and provide the authorities with a snapshot of our lives.

Sutton has taken things one step further and attempted to evoke the unifying power of the Force in order to get those pesky forms filled in.

Teenagers took to the streets this week dressed as Jedi Knights and no doubt employed the odd ‘Jedi mind trick’ to get people to complete their census forms.

The council took its inspiration from the 2001 census when 400,000 people claimed Jedi was their religion - 0.8% of the population - resulting in it being the fourth largest 'faith' in the UK.

Local florist Anne Marie-Jones, 39, said: 'To be honest I’d never even heard of the census until I got accosted by Darth Vadar. I’m now going to have to check that I’ve received mine and make sure I fill it in.'

The Jedi impersonators are members of Sutton Council’s Young Advisors Network – a group of young people who meet with the council on a regular basis to feed back on youth issues.

One presumes the conversations went something like this…

Jedi: ‘You don’t need to see my identification.’ (wave of hand)

Citizen: ‘I don’t need to see your identification.’

Jedi: ‘Fill in you census form on Sunday.’

Citizen: ‘I will fill in my census form on Sunday.’

Jedi: ‘Separate your recyclables.’

Citizen: ‘ I will separate my recyclables’

Jedi: ‘You can move along.’

(With apologies to George Lucas)