"UK must be wary of EU exit, says Norway minister", headlines The Irish Times, highlighting the start of a two-day visit to Ireland of Espen Barth Eide, Norwegian foreign minister.

This is the second time in weeks we have heard from this gentleman on the theme of the UK leaving the EU, and he is quite obviously a man who finds it easy to access the media, including the BBC. But what none of these informative media sources tells us is that Mr Eide is a fully paid-up europhile.

Crucially, during the 1994 referendum on Norwegian EU membership, he worked in the European Movement for the "yes" campaign, holding a senior position as project manager and acting Secretary General. He favoured EU entry then and he favours it now, even though nearly 80 percent of the population want to stay outside the Evil Empire.

View full article here

Anything a French industry minister says on trade surely has to be taken with a skip-load of salt.

The internet will make a big difference? I do hope so.

But I'm not so sure for some people, judging by the way my friends and acquaintances seem to use it. I'm mainly talking about the 60+ age group here however, so I hope it's different with younger people.

Blogs are never discussed, and if mentioned (usually only by me) are unspokenly regarded as some kind of low-grade activity for weirdos or people with nothing better to do, not important sociable individuals such as themselves. It's for the riff-raff walking wounded. There's a snobbishness to it. The Times and The Telegraph still have their cachet. But I no longer waste any time disabusing my circle of their ill-conceived notions about what they're being fed by the media. ("You read the tabloids*? Really! I'm afraid you'll not find anything worthwhile in those on X. You need to read the specialist blogs. They're written by people who know their subject, not some stuck-in-the-bubble hack or overweening, pompous opinionater such as <suspected name of their favourite columnist>, or worse.... The media only tell you what they want you to think. You need to take advantage of the technology that's knocked these jokers into a cocked hat. They're circulation is plummeting. It's a dying industry.")**

It's hard to encapsulate this attitude because the individuals vary so much. But there's one thing they generally have in common, the ones that bother to have an opinion, that is. I think it's essentially a fear of being seen as not very well informed, of being inadequate in some way, combined with (and this is important) a general ineptitude at using home computers. In respect of the latter characteristic, any (what might laughably be called) expertise is haughtily waved off as something that lesser people, children in particular, acquire. That or a feigned lack of interest. They might have got away with that in the days when computers were confined to large, air-conditioned premisses but those are long gone.

In short, they still go for brand, just like teenagers do with their trainers and shirts or whatever. I think they read enough (or hear enough on al beeb) to form a general impression of what the received wisdom is supposed to be, as they perceive it anyway, and stop there. Job done. Off to the golf club or to see the grandchildren.

I have no doubt that ALL of them will vote for one of the main parties come the next general election. Mostly tory. All very respectable. All very dumb. Too bad.


* The Times

** I'm past the stage of trying to persuade anyone, so if they display any kind of haughty resistance I'm just rude to them instead. Ultimately they are the ones responsible for the predicament we find ourselves in.

You've got to love their logic, false as it is. Get a guy from a Country not in the EU and he should be Eurosceptic right? "Well this guy is pro-EU so what does that tell you about the EU?"

This could be off topic but could be interesting.

Yesterday evening I watched Arte (a Franco-German TV Channel) which showed a documentary "L'Europe, non merci!" It was nearly 51 mins long and was showed quite late in the evening.

Most of the usual suspects were there but no EURef representation.

A bit strange, however, to devote so much programming time and effort to a possible GB exit and give some of the arguments on French TV.

Can be viewed here

Europe no way

PS Sorry it's in foren.

Edited by user 09 January 2013 10:34:54(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Good point.