One of the reasons citizen media has evolved in to such a formidable (but very likeable) beast is that it recognises that the corporate media leave stuff out they don’t like or agree with. This results in bias and confusion amongst the public. This won’t go away but it can be partially redeemed by becoming empowered to find out for ourselves and to find sources that focus solely upon the facts and their analysis. With this in mind Dorset Eye has utilised a wonderful charity that does just this.
Some of the highlights this week:
“The General Medical Council have said it [the strike] may well lead to doctors being potentially struck off if patients were to die as a result of their actions.”—Liam Fox MP
The General Medical Council told us it would not take action against a doctor for exercising their legal right to strike.
Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, spoke on the Today programme this morning about why he believes we should leave the EU. Here’s what we made of some of the claims made in the broadcast.
“We can take back the £350 million we give to the EU every week”
We don’t give the EU this much. The discount, or rebate, that the UK gets reduces what we would otherwise be liable to pay.
In 2015, we paid the EU an estimated £13 billion, or £250 million a week.
But some of that money came back in EU payments funnelled through the government, so the government’s ‘net contribution’ was around £8.5 billion, or £160 million a week. The EU also spends money directly, for instance, in research grants.
Leaving would give us control over the money spent by the EU in the UK, but not guarantee that it would be spent on other things.
You can join the discussion/debate on these issues and many others at https://www.facebook.com/dorset.eye and/or
https://www.facebook.com/groups/280126085520259/
AND on Twitter at @dorset_eye.
