Macro-opinions are offered daily within the social networks we inhabit, by politicians, journalists and people we once knew or by those with whom we work.

On the one hand, expression of opinion is the essential ingredient in any democracy, but on the other, expression without comprehension or relevant detail contributes exactly what?

I have watched opinions vary from the ‘we are under attack from migrants’ brigade (ironic when you consider that many Britons are themselves the result of migration), to those who simply equate the UK’s membership of the EU as only being about the rising cost of your shopping basket. I have watched people I once knew demonstrate an intolerance to the world around them or indeed to a contrary opinion, simply repeating a less than rational stuck needle response to the debate.

I currently think that the way in which this debate is being managed, will lead to this country voting to leave the EU, albeit by a small majority. If I turn out to be right, then it raises important questions about the information we have all consumed and how we came to our final decision. It may also raise the question of how we have allowed Westminster politicians, the very same who want powers restored in the name of Sovereignty, to organise this vote; will it be down to their failure to set sensible minimums in voting, so securing the legitimacy of the Referendum vote that will raise yet another 'moral panic' moment?

The staggering scale of ignorance, offered by UK Citizens and politicians, is often provided without proper enquiry or questioning. The other morning whilst I was driving, I found myself, not for the first time, shouting at the Radio 4 Today Programme!

I was listening to the Rt Hon Ms Priti Patel MP (at 1.47 into the broadcast), driving home her opinion that we have no control over EU Laws, that “we have no say” over the ‘meddlesome’ Regulations and ‘red tape’. Whilst her position was apparently directed at small business, she spoke about the range of Regulations that affect food, consumer and design; was this her thin end of the wedge moment – did she unwittingly reveal her ‘Britannia Unchained’ purpose? She argued that the EU was not listening to the UK or small business opinion; it was the power of big business lobbying that helped to distort the law making process! She determined that EU Law had a disproportionate impact on UK business; laws were imposed on the UK which were ‘gold-plated’, without the UK of having a say - ‘our voice is not heard’. Despite being challenged several times, she could not or would not define, apart from packaging issues, where EU Law was going wrong for business. Can you see the contradictions?

What was troubling about this broadcast was the fact that at no stage was she challenged as to how EU Law is made. The Minister had been allowed to present a somewhat rabid opinion about the process of EU Law, without any attachment to reality. The interviewer did not ask about her experience on visits to The Council of the European Union (EU Council of Ministers) and how she and her fellow EU Ministers made law. She was not asked for examples of where the UK had not been listened to; she was also not asked for an example of a law that she had agreed to, that was eventually passed into the law of each Member State. Further, she was not asked about the process of ‘co-decision’ and how that contributes to opinion-forming law. What about further democratisation of the EU law-making process? Was this a failure of the interviewer or a failure of the Minister to fully describe the law-making process to Radio 4 listeners? Perhaps it is our own expectations that have dictated this failure; have we caused the creation of the conditions resulting in the dumbing down of important information to the level of the pop-culture we live in?

Is it any wonder then that the opinions we see expressed on social forums, offer such a wild variance that do not attach to fact? Is this how we manage every aspect of our live's, reacting to half-truths and poor information? At the half-way stage of this Campaign, there is a need for everyone to stand back and ask themselves some important questions; are you being manipulated, and if so, by whom, what is the agenda and for what purpose?

© Frank Brehany 2016 - All Rights Reserved (First Published on 2/5/16)