Politics, lulz

I can has EU Referendum?

I derived big lulz from the story on the BBC running under the headline “Poll says 88% (of Britons) want EU Referendum”. Now this has to be one of the most contrived scenarios I’ve seen.

It was organised by, wait for it, The “I Want A Referendum” (IWAR) campaign. They targeted 10 marginal Lib Dem and Labour seats on the basis that both Lib Dems and Labour had failed to live up to their promises on holding a referendum. The 88% represented the percent of returned polls in favour of a referendum.

When considering the outcome against this pointed backdrop I realised it gave me the opportunity to roll out my favourite meme again…

Thanks to these guys for the image.

Now this is just stupid. If I get something in the post that says if you like Free stuff respond to us, if you don’t like Free stuff respond to us saying that you don’t want Free stuff. I have gone for an obvious example here to fortify my point. The fact is, that a rationale political actor who understands that the status quo is for no EU referendum receives said poll, they are likely to bin it as it’s a waste of their time.

PS. Fact is that if 1 of the 27 EU countries doesn’t agree the Lisbon Treaty, then it can’t come into force ergo, using both normal distribution and the bleedin’ obvious (i.e. the French and Dutch having already said (although noting that it has been amended since 2005) they aren’t totally onside) we should be alright to do what we do well, sweet FA.

On issues like this, I really don’t understand how the electorate are supposed to de-code all this treaty shenanigans, where are our MEPs? Where is our information? Where are the facts or even some semblance of a drift would be good! I can guarantee you if I went up to 20 people tomorrow, more than 88% wouldn’t have a clue what the impacts of the Lisbon Treaty are. Why is that, because our politicians are failing to keep us abreast of developments.

Opacity prevails over transparency once again.

have your say