And the probem is? Media...

I have been wondering why we are all being bombarded by such dire news all the time, and to be honest, the only reason I can come up with is that the truth would be rather less newsworthy.

Normally I ignore the media, apart from BBC news, because it tends to be biased and sensational. The Daily Mail for example is no longer a newspaper at all - though it is a fine example of how to manipulate people through disinformation - in wartime, their staff would be greatly sought after...

The problem we have with media is that OUR media write in English. That is OK, except that English is read by people throughout the world, which means our media and their sensationalised reporting is read throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

So when an article comes out that for example says that unemployment might rise by 600000, everyone thinks the UK is really going to suffer. The problem is that there is no corresponding information about Germany, France and so on, because most of the world cannot read German or French newpapers (and their media are a lot more balanced than ours anyway).

As a consequence, facts, such as that unemployment in France and Germany is ALREADY higher than it is predicted to go in the UK by end 2009, nobody notices. Similarly, the fact that 20% of the German economy depends on car production, and car sales are going to be 20% or more down in 2009, passes the world by, though it is going to hammer Germany.

End result is the pound gets slammed by the Euro.

Still, that has a lot of good things about it.

Firstly, it improves our balance of trade - which will help our exporters.

Secondly, it reduces imports, which helps local producers and manufacturers

Thirdly, it means we will get a lot more Euro tourists, and also UK people will holiday in the UK, which will boost our hotels, holiday resorts and so on.

Fourthly, it puts US into the same position relative to Europe that the USA has been relative to us for ages - THE CHEAPER SHOP.

A lot of us have probably bought items from the USA because they are cheaper than from the UK. Well, that was partly because the pound was strong compared to the dollar.

The same is now true for Europeans - they can buy bargains from us.

This has already been seen across the border between Northern Ireland and South.

So, as we are a nation of shopkeepers, lets become European shopkeepers!