Why it's "switch the lights on" rather than "switch the lights off" in the sentence?
This was from the following sentence: "It's hard to dress up a negative as anything other than the rejection of someone else's argument and those voting no must have felt like the grown-ups coming in to switch the lights on and whisper it's time to go to bed."
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/21/scottish-referendum-massive-voter-turnout-means-politics-changed-for-ever

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That sounds wrong to me as well.

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It sounds wrong to me too.Maybe they printed a mistake! This sentence seems to be talking about the referendum in Scotland.

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I thought the same thing as everyone else at first but I think the idea is that the lights are already off and the kids are supposed to be going to sleep but instead they are still talking and maybe even pillow-fighting.  The grown-up comes into the room and turns the light on to say "Hey, pipe down and go to sleep already!".  My major complaint with the sentence (besides the fact that it's way too darn long) is that it's more likely that the grown-up will be barking "Go to sleep!" rather than whispering.  Well, OK, at least that's how I would deal with the situation.  I'm not often accused of being too gentle.

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It's just a mistake that the writer made! It would be correct to say "switch the lights off" in the sentence. :)