This entry was posted on
Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 at
4:24 pm and is filed
under Rupert ‘The Evil One’ Murdoch.

I’ve been invited to do some guest-blogging on the BBC website as part of the Today programme ‘Who runs Britain?’ event.

The other contributors are Oliver and Judy.

I really should begin by congratulating Judy for ‘spoiling’ any mention of Murdoch in this earlier post (mirrored here).

If you’re in an enclosed space that’s packed with pachyderm, the best way to counter any complaint about the lack of elbow-room is to proclaim loudly; “I bet someone mentions the elephant!”

Anyway, here’s the mirror of my entry:

EU MUST BE JOKING

If the question is ‘Who runs Britain?’, then today’s candidate – the European Union – shouldn’t even be considered for the top spot.

We are voluntary participants in that union. Even if you hold the view that an unelected bureaucracy with a mind of its own drives/cripples/threatens our economy, laws and rights, you have to acknowledge that we helped to create this animal…. and that the primary weapon used to beat this mythical creature is a rolled-up newspaper.

We can say goodbye to the union or seek to change or re-shape it at any time we please. We have that power. But the terms under which we the people get to have a say about this have been shaped not by the elected government of the day, but by media owner Rupert Murdoch.

As a candidate, the European Union serves primarily as a clear example that allows us to put the following alternative candidates in their correct order:

1. The Media
2. The Government
3. The People

OK, that’s the question addressed… a short and clearly biased rant follows:

The EU is a foreign and largely unelected body that drains our economy and interferes with our affairs… so say the newspapers owned by the unelected tax-dodging foreigner who continually meddles in our affairs.

(Feel free to ignore this information… it’s all part of a nutty conspiracy theory.)