Cornwall Life: August 2019 3G
ood news sells. People
want to hear about
cures for cancer
and miracle babies,
100-year-old birthdays and
achievements made against the
odds, extraordinary sporting
prowess and the diet to end all
diets. People want to be uplifted,
they don’t want to buy a product
that depresses them. Or at
least that’s what my journalism
training taught me.You wouldn’t know it. The
news seems to have taken
a somewhat vitriolic turn.
Expressing a point of view has
become a risky business: a major
problem for a columnist who has
nothing but their opinions to fill
a page.
As I write this I can hear the
annoyance of readers build as
they take it one way or the other,afterall I must be talking the ‘B’
word. So is she a Remoaner who
thinks she knows better than the
17 million people who voted to
leave, who thinks that still leaves
about 40 million who didn’t and
believes we are going to have the
most frightening Halloween ever
seen? Or is she a Brexiteer furious
that politicians continue to ignore
the will of the aforementioned 52
per cent who said yes?
But whatever my views, and
yours, we share a common
complaint. We are apparently
fatigued by it all. A daily glance
at the national newspaper front
pages is about all I can manage.
Capitalised headlines have long
been nicknamed screamers and
they continue to shout loud about
the disappointments and delays.
Personally, I preach calm and
patience, afterall the average
divorce can take anything up
to three years - and that’s just
separating two people and their
possessions, not 28 countries.
My 13-year-old beginning his
history GCSE is learning some
of the not so grand moments in
human history, of which thisWelcome
may turn out to be one. His
overarching view is simple (and
better than any other I’ve heard):
why not begin with negotiation?
Because whether we are talking
war, political divisions or divorce,
it always ends in negotiations.
So why not skip the bloody and
heart-wrenching middle bit.
Of course, he may need to
expand somewhat on that one if
he wants the coveted grade A*. CAROL BURNS,
Editor, Cornwall Life
01803 860916
[email protected]
You can follow Carol on Twitter
@CornwallLifeEd‘The news seems to have taken a
somewhat vitriolic turn. Expressing
a point of view has become a
risky business: a major problem
for a columnist who has nothing
but their opinions to fill a page’
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