Media Savvy

Sazzl, what you have just said is the kind of incorrect misinformation put up by the popular press, most of whom support Brexit, I do hope you did your research and did not base your vote on this? The bent bananas story was invented by.......Boris Johnson. It was written as a 'spoof' ( allegedly) when he was writing for The Spectator.

MaisieD. Far be it that I would deem it more important that the geographical position of our green and pleasant land is more important than the status it has earned itself over the centuries that so many wish to be part of.

Schools, hospitals and social housing are 'stretched to the limit' because of the -unnecessary-- tory cutbacks.

Hospital beds have been cut drastically since 2010.

This report is just about 2016:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-hospital-beds-cuts-nhs-money-saving-governmet-health-department-stps-a7590831.html

EU migrant workers tend to be young and healthy and not need to access the NHS, by the way.

It's a matter of opinion as to whether the status we earned ourselves by conquering, looting and enslaving other countries and peoples deserves the epithet 'Great'.

Undoubtedly searching the media for independent non-biased information can be a skilled process especially when it comes to the internet.

If I can give an example to the above, in many instances, my company advises employers involved in disciplinary procedures with there employees. In that, the Assignment Controller may write up a report for the employer advising on the possible outcomes of various actions the company is considering against the employee.

When any report is finalised, it is then passed to a Legal Secretary whose job it is to search online to find law court rulings that will support the advice in the report (or not as the case may be). The foregoing searches involve knowledge of where to access such information as industrial court judgements that are relative to the employers situation and the advise we are forwarding.

Obviously, the information accessed has to be very accurate and independent such as that of an Industrial Tribunal Chairmans judgment and summing up of a case.
Where to find such information is very much a skill in its own right, but to then to write up a non-biased summery for the appendix of any report of that information is genuinely highly skilled work requiring great knowledge only acquired by education in the subject and experience.

In the above, I feel that for an average person to gain accurate independent reports from the media especially online is a difficult situation to achieve. Best advise I find is to be extremely sceptical of all anyone reads and verify that with a second reference if practical.

I think actually we are less 'brainwashed than we were years ago.
I'm inclined to agree with anitamp1 - there are so many different sources of information available to us these days that we can check and double-check facts if we wish.

People have always been swayed by popular opinion and I don't think they are more now than they were over hundreds - or thousands - of years.

Why do so many posts have to turn into a discussion about brexit, and why do so so many remainers believe that they know the reasons why others voted leave? Arrogant or what?

Same reason so many leavers think they know why remainers want to stay in - we all have opinions and are free to express them, and Brexit is one of the issues that will have a huge impact on our lives in the next fifty years (at least)

The other issue is climate change, which is approaching tipping point and affects the whole globe, far more universally than Brexit, but is ignored.

The report issued Monday by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says the planet will reach the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by as early as 2030, precipitating the risk of extreme drought, wildfires, floods and food shortages for hundreds of millions of people.

The date, which falls well within the lifetime of many people alive today, is based on current levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

The planet is already two-thirds of the way there, with global temperatures having warmed about 1 degree C. Avoiding going even higher will require significant action in the next few years.

"This is concerning because we know there are so many more problems if we exceed 1.5 degrees C global warming, including more heatwaves and hot summers, greater sea level rise, and, for many parts of the world, worse droughts and rainfall extremes," Andrew King, a lecturer in climate science at the University of Melbourne, said in a statement.

Global net emissions of carbon dioxide would need to fall by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach "net zero" around 2050 in order to keep the warming around 1.5 degrees C.

Lowering emissions to this degree, while technically possible, would require widespread changes in energy, industry, buildings, transportation and cities, the report says.

"The window on keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees C is closing rapidly and the current emissions pledges made by signatories to the Paris Agreement do not add up to us achieving that goal," added King.

This climate change report www.ipcc.ch/ is not just a sensation-seeker by the media.

The IPPC -
"is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change.
^ Currently 195 countries are Members of the IPCC.^
Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information. IPCC aims to reflect a range of views and expertise.