It’s a conversation that been heard in most households I guess.
Child: I can’t wait until Christmas [even though it’s still only June]
Parent: don’t wish your life away there’s so much to enjoy before Christmas
Well, I really can’t wait until the 25th June, and the EU referendum is over and the votes have been counted. Yes I am bored of the wall to wall coverage on radio and television; I am certainly a little bit scared of the way it has brought out many of the worst traits in people from both sides whose ill-informed rantings demean democracy but it is the uncertainty I find most unsettling. Initially this seems a bit odd as I don’t feel like this before an election, but thinking about it this isn’t a vote for a five year government term where we can change things next time around, this is a potentially life changing & permanent decision.
With the decision likely to come down to the 10-20% of the electorate who are currently undecided I think that despite all of the media coverage, there is going to be a lack or probable absence of independent, evidence based and properly reasoned analysis (largely through fear on the mainstream media’s part of being seen as biased one way or the other). But without this how are the undecided going to decide, other than relying on gut feeling, emotion or fear?
We are being treated like grown-ups having been given the vote in the first place, but there seems to be a fear, on both sides, that we can’t be trusted to make an informed decision and see the evidence for what it is.
The best source of information I have found is http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35603388
Written by John Finey