James O'Brien's Proof It's Not Politicians To Blame For Hatred Of EU

29 March 2019, 11:28 | Updated: 29 March 2019, 12:08

James O'Brien figured out why people have a hatred of the European Union - it's not the Brexit-backing politicians, it's the media.

On the day that was supposed to be Brexit Day, James looked into how some of his friends and family ended up voting to leave a political institution that he believes is clearly better to be in than out.

And he discovered years and years of inaccurate headlines in the right-wing press about how the EU was trying to ban everything we love.

James O'Brien in the LBC studio
James O'Brien in the LBC studio. Picture: LBC

Among the headlines he found were:

EC regulations to ban playgrounds – Daily Express
Rolling acres outlawed by Brussels – The Telegraph
EU to scrap British exams – Sunday Express
Obscure EU law halting the sale of English oak seeds – Mail on Sunday
EU may try to ban sweet and toy ads – The Times
EU to tell British farmers what they can grow – Daily Mail

Other headlines include the prohibition of church bells, blowing up balloons and barmaids showing cleavage.

You can see a full and very long list of them here.

Speaking about the headlines, he said: "It's my profession that is responsible. It's not the popinjay politicians, it's not the self-promoters and the sociopaths in politics. The media is to blame. And I'm afraid the BBC is part of the problem.

"What we have seen in the last 30 years in this country is a complete corruption of the free media.

"The only way an outsider is to understand what happened in June 2016 is by looking through this catalogue of calumnies, this cavalcade of cons."

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