Sunday 20 August 2017

"What did the EU ever do for us?"


Yesterday the editor of the Guardian's   "letters page" published an article explaining the characteristics of  those readers' letters most likely to be published.  Since it seems to me that   I follow most of the rules (be short and to the point, relevant, accurate, avoiding abuse, and referring to the Guardian article to which you are responding) I can't think why more of mine aren't printed, but there you are.

To illustrate what constitutes a "good " letter the editor reprints one from a Dr Simon Sweeney of York University in 2013.  Here it is, using the Monty Python lead-in (see title)

Not much, apart from:  providing 57% of our trade; structural funding  to areas hit by industrial decline; clean beaches and rivers; cleaner air; lead-free petrol; restrictions on landfill dumping; a recycling culture; cheaper mobile charges; cheaper air travel; improved  consumer protection and food labelling; a ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives; better product safety; single market competition bringing  quality improvements and better  industrial performance. . ."etc.

I'm not sure whether the "etc" was part of the original letter  or whether there was actually more.

Be that as it may, we Europhiles could well  print the letter off  (perhaps as bullet points)  and learn to recite it to the doubters - surely a dwindling species..

3 comments:

  1. What has the EU ever done for us? The bullet points can be distributed on twitter add-infinitum . It depends on how long the letter is. Off course both ideas could be used.

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    Replies
    1. I've tried to print the "bullet point" version here but, alas, it doesn't seem to copy. I've sent it to some of my fellow campaigners and hope we may be able to print it on a postcard.

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