European Campaign

I’ve been feeling a wee bit more disillusioned than usual recently. This wasn’t helped this morn when I stepped into a newsagent to buy some milk to ensure I had a constant stream of coffee keeping me awake till noon. The front page of the Express had one of their poor hacks "occupying" the garden of one of those protestors down in the Smoke.

Well, I say "poor" hack, but if you take a job with Richard Desmond, then you lose all rights to dignity, self-respect and being able to hold your head up in public.

Although I, and countless others, raised this point, it struck me that the narrative was well and truly set. These people are lazy bums. Although some are actually quite wealthy, as it turns out they bugger off and sleep in hotels every night. Apparently. Oh, and they like drinking coffee and using laptops, so they’re all a bunch of massive hypocrites anyways.

Not that it matters, I suppose, as the story has now moved on to whether we should have a referendum on being in the EU. I felt a bit dirty for agreeing with William Hauge when he said it was "the wrong question at the wrong time". If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was an attempt to move matters on from the economy being screwed, or at least a shot at the "it’s not our fault! It’s their fault!" angle.

But as I say, disillusionment. I think that seed was planted back in 2003, when I happened to be on that march against war in Iraq. To be honest, I was there because I was in London that weekend, visiting a friend and checking out the fantastic Robert Newman’s show. But the day itself was a hell of a sight – I doubt I’ll ever see as many people in one place as I did in Hyde Park that day. I missed Tony Benn’s speech, which pissed me off, as he’s a personal hero of mine.

As history shows, it was all for jack shit, setting in motion a series of thoughts that led to my current belief that we all essentially do as we’re told and accept whatever shite is shovelled into our faces by the press. This means if we did have a vote on the EU, a lot of the thought process of the electorate would be taken wholesale from whatever the Sun or Daily Mail says.

In much the same way, I’m of the belief that the planned strike action by public sector workers is doomed due to how people see them: i.e. lazy, overpaid and in need of sorting out. Whatever the actual issues are about is moot, minds have been made up in the editorial meetings and it trickles down to the street. Which makes the idea of allowing us all a vote on something as complicated and critical as EU membership seem a bit absurd – and I’m including myself in this, as I know jack about the fine points of the matter.

Which means it becomes a question of not just making a decision, but also where you get impartial data to make any kind of informed choice. Answers on a postcard…