Quantcast
Channel: Martin Land – Liberal Democrat Voice
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 33

Opinion: America – a sense of proportion?

$
0
0

The American Primaries are in full swing, and the race is on for the next President of the United States who will be, as the journos will constantly remind us, the most powerful person in the world. Assuming of course the Chinese Government doesn’t call in the mortgage!

As soon as a few middle-class, middle-aged Americans attend a few meetings somewhere out in the plains, in a state few of us have heard of and even fewer have visited, our press are fascinated. As are our chatting classes and the webocracy.

But where is the sense of proportion? Last year, France, our closest neighbour, elected a new President. France, where millions of us take our holidays every year. Where tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of us have second homes. And how was the presidential election campaign in France reported, last year? Superficially to say the least.

35 years after what we joined what is now the European Union, we continue to remain unaware of it’s importance in our lives. Millions of our citizens live there. The greater part of our trade is with our European partners. But our Media pay scant attention to what goes on.

I’m pleading for a sense of proportion. Of course, I accept the pre-occupation with the US Elections until November. But I would like to see some attention devoted to the possible change of government in Spain, to developments in Eastern Europe and to the problems being faced by Sarkozy in France.

My suspicion remains that the main reason behind the poor coverage of Europe is the lack of journalists who understand anything other than English (and then…).

Next year sees elections to the European Parliament; a body which represents many of our interests and those of close to 500,000,000 Europeans. As Liberal Democrats we should be working hard (after November) to bring European issues to the forefront and to try to ensure that our media is giving proper attention to Europe and our role in the European Union.

For it or against it, Europe remains the most important factor in our lives, both culturally and economically. Hence my plea for a sense of proportion.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 33

Trending Articles