The Thick Society

There we are, it’s official now: The Yes and No to AV campaigns have declared the British electorate to be as thick as a brick. Although I’m sure even the brick would be offended by the insults thrown at its intelligence by various leaflets and broadcasts on electoral reform. But, whatever else can be said about them (a lot), at least they have thought of a whole variety of ways to treat everyone like a complete moron.

It starts with simply patronising – the best example probably being this NO2AV video, starring a bunch of confused students getting a lesson on AV by an equally clueless teacher. To give them at least some credit, they must either be quite tolerable actors or the No-campaign is right and there are indeed people out there who are too thick to rank a few options in order of preference.

The Blame Game

Last May, back in the Brokeback Mountain phase of the coalition, when the new prime minister and his deputy told the assembled press in the No 10 rose garden how the last government had left them a ‘terrible economic inheritance’, there were three groups of people: those who agreed, those who disagreed and those who didn’t care. Nine month later at the Conservative party spring forum much had changed, but not the constant reminder that ‘we inherited a dreadful mess’ from Labour. Only now, the field has been reduced to two groups: those who still can’t hear it often enough and those who can’t hear it anymore. I’m pretty sure there won’t be much objection when I boldly suggest that the former group is rather small. I don’t know about you but I can almost feel even the most loyal Tory backbenchers cringe inside when David Cameron begins at least every second answer at PMQs with a reminder of the horrible inheritance the previous government left him with. Yes, they may be cheering on the outside – though slightly less enthusiastically with every week that goes by -, but make no mistake: deep down they think the same as everyone else. Which is: ‘How stupid do we look to you if you seem to think we don’t get a simple message unless you repeat it like some endless mantra?’

No News is Bad News

Have you got news for me? Yes, indeed. And not just any news. Breaking News! Really? When you watch the news nowadays, ‘they seem to be in constant crisis –  everything is a disaster’ as Charlie Brooker put it so concisely in this week’s Ten o’Clock Live. Gone are the times when Breaking News actually meant something big – today’s Breaking News pop up and vanish from headlines and memory with the frequency of X Factor winners.

For the media, the calculation is simple enough. Times have changed. In addition to the traditional morning paper and the daily news broadcast, they have to keep up 24/7 online coverage, iPhone apps and co. There is a lot more space and time to fill – but not necessarily more news to fill it with. Similarly, though the need to keep up to date is undoubtedly rising, the media need to sustain it, they need to make people feel it is vital to check their websites every couple of hours in order not to miss anything big. And make no mistake, everything is big, regarless of its acual news value.