I do keep up with the news. Every day. Two or three times a day sometimes. I get it from the BBC News app on my phone, and LBC on my radio. Two respected sources.
I know the BBC is in disfavour in some people's minds. Apparently they have sucked up the notion that it's hopelessly biased, and suppresses things that the public should know about. Ditto, LBC. I would say that any broadcasting outfit that is run by human beings is going to make editorial decisions that are sometimes wrong. The BBC and LBC do however have to adhere to certain stringent standards, and they know what happens when errors or misjudgements occur and they seem to stumble. So it isn't surprising that both steer away from any story that relies on unchecked or unsubstantiated reports, or dodgy statistics.
Not so newspapers, whether paper or online. They need to generate income for their owners and are much more likely to chase a lurid and passion-provoking story that their readership might enjoy. I have never in my whole adult life taken a daily newspaper. I perceived how truly biased they were long ago when I could study the selection available in my school library in the late 1960s. I read, at sixteen and seventeen, what appeared in their editorials - the insinuations, the venom even - and was forewarned that all such publications had a political point of view - sometimes a prejudice - and wanted you to be persuaded to it.
What surprised me then, and still does now, is how easily ordinary people who should know better will swallow some ludicrous idea that an obviously partisan figure is banging on about. Currently, things like immigration. Or the energy crisis.
Well, I like to think for myself, and form my own view. It isn't hard if you stand back and apply general knowledge, geography, a degree of common sense, and make proper allowance for human nature and motivation. I don't rely on what I'm told. I don't accept statistics unless the source is impeccable. I certainly expect all kinds of stuff to be hidden and kept out of discussion.
Even in 'open' societies not everything is revealed. Here in Britain we have a history and social organisation that is both permissive and restrictive, with those at the top traditionally secretive. I think it is still status-driven, full of snobbery and one-upmanship, loaded with taboos and pride and prejudice.
At the same time, I think that most British people (indigenous or otherwise) see themselves as living in the best country, however much they may moan. And unless some special reason draws you away, or you have succumbed to the lure of big money overseas, nobody wants to leave. Indeed, half the world wants to come here.
In a way the 'news' pushed at us day by day is just a catalogue of what British Life is all about. It's a mirror, and much of it is mere opinion and analysis, the reporters tut-tutting over a stream of standard stuff that sometimes seems very worrying, but doesn't get fixed, nor does it fundamentally affect the everyday lives of anyone. For instance, the price of car fuel may go up, but I don't notice empty roads as a result. Even the International news has come through a sieve, so that we hear about appalling matters there, but not here, that simply reinforce the notion that Britain is a very safe place. Which it mostly is.
But two much bigger things are creeping up on us that I find concerning.
One is of course global warming. It's now unstoppable, and nobody really knows how it will pan out. I suspect that in the next twenty years there will be much mass-migration to cooler land around the world. So watch out, Scandinavia and Canada. And watch out, Russia: you particularly. An irresistible tide is coming your way.
Beyond human population movements - or mass die-offs, if attempts to travel are left too late or become impossible - will be unpredictable climate alteration. Think of jet streams and ocean currents altering their courses. I'd been thinking about heading north to escape the summer heat in the south-east of England. But what if the Gulf Stream weakens, and Britain becomes a cold country? Should I best stay where I am?
Hand in hand with mass-migration will be a serious hardening of attitudes on who can be let in. I'm not surprised at all that parties like Reform beat their tin drum on this topic, although I think they currently oppose immigration for crude reasons based on hateful prejudice. But looking ahead, I think there will be an 'overcrowded low-in-the-water lifeboat' scenario, where only so many people can be allowed to come on board and join the huddled survivors. The unlucky ones will be pushed away with oars. Fortress Britannia in fact. Not a pleasant thought.
I sound like a doom-monger, but short-sighted greedy money men at the top in every country have brought the world to its knees, and are still doing so. We'll just have to find ways to get rid of them and cope with the disaster that is looming.
