I’ve been working very hard trying to get some good stuff together for a post.
Firstly, I went to my classmates, who are studying the European Union to find out some of their thoughts. They all seemed to feel positive, but picked up on the age old questions, and ultimately were all left asking, ‘who’s actually standing in the EU Elections?’ And we’re studying it! So what can everyone else think?
I then went to the North West Liberal Democrat Conference and was lucky enough to have been able to interview an MEP, Chris Davies. Although the video came back edited, my questions were taken out, and even changed a little, he said some interesting stuff. Apologies for the cheesy music!
He didn’t think much of my question about the youth vote, which I was surprised by, with classmates eager to vote if only someone would inform them of who they could vote for.
Our guest blogger won’t be surprised about Chris’s views about UKIP, and other fringe parties. But I have to say I agree with them. I grilled Gawain Towler at the conference, and wasn’t surprised by the compelling arguments. And then I remembered myself. But if mainstream parties aren’t bothering to target a new set of voters, and disillusioned ones who will be taken in by the “basic instinct” arguments of anti-European parties and media, whose fault is it? Or, whose responsibility is it to make sure that doesn’t happen?
Finally, for a presentation I was doing for my degree, I went to the streets, or rather, Facebook to collect some very scientific evidence about European citizenship. I asked the following question to about thirty of my friends on Facebook: Do you feel European, British or both? Here are a few of their responses:
“I always feel Scottish but unlike most of my fellow country men and women, i also feel kinship with the English, Irish and welsh, we have so much culturally in common, and i like the regional differences in food, language, etc. So i also feel British, and at times European. Nationalism is flexible, and at the core of racism if you let it. ”
“British? predominantly yes. European? yes when i want to be classy and i usually call it “all continental” I would call myself European on a worldwide scale if it was a commonly used term, but not on a smaller scale because within Europe I’m British and within Britain I’m English .”
“English! I’m not Scottish, Welsh or Irish. So how am i British?”
“British… but I think as a country we are more American than European.”
I even compiled a little table of responses:
| Boys | Girls | |
|---|---|---|
| British | 5 | 3 |
| EUROPEAN | 0 | 0 |
| BOTH | 0 | 3 |
| OTHER | 2 | 2 |
Although girls seemed more open to the idea of citizenship, the figures are telling. So, we’ve heard from the academics, the politicians and the people. Will the political strategy, that leaves much of the electorate uniformed and therefore not turning out to vote work?
(14 votes, average: 3.71 out of 5)
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This is great, Kristy! Well done on your use of audio and video!
I’d love it if more TH!NK bloggers were able to interview MEPs and members of the public.
How did you go about getting your interview? Did you have to call a press officer? Were you already at a conference with Chris Davies and you approached him? Did you have your own camera? Or did they supply a camera?
And then you say they took the film from you at the end and sent you an edited version? Very “new media”-savvy of them, but a bit disappointing. I guess there isn’t really a level of trust with bloggers, yet.
To other TH!NK bloggers: see if you can get interviews with your local MEPs as well! Tell them you’re writing for the European Journalism Centre’s TH!NK ABOUT IT competition. I’m sure at least some of them would relish the chance, and I’d love to see more on here!
Hey Josef,
Cheers for the feedback!
I was at a Lib Dem Conference (checking them out, I think they’re the best of a… questionable lot!). I had met a couple of the Councillors at a ‘poppadoms and politics’ evening the night before, so had travelled up with them (yes, I am a geek).
I’m a journalism student so I thought, perfect chance, and Chris Davies (I also interviewed Graham Watson who is going for President of the Parliament but haven’t received the video yet) was more than happy to do it (bit of media coverage). But I didn’t bring a camera
One of the Councillors I was with works in a production studio, so he got his professional equipment. I thought great but he chopped my little interview in to a piece of propaganda
So I entered the competition for the Flip and won it on those grounds 
Every cloud has a silver lining!
But MEPs love talking to people, they don’t get much attention! I got more cards at that conference than I’ve ever had in my life (I was the youngest woman there by about thirty years!)
Thanks
Kirsty