The Language of Politics

I wouldn't want Jeremy Paxman to dress up like Ali G to be down with the kids, but Charlie Brooker of the Guardian has a point:

One of the most terrifying lessons I have learned is that, by and large, grown-ups don't really know what they are doing. I'm 36, and if there is one thing I do know, it's that I still don't know that much. No one does. Everybody's winging it. Everything is improvised.

I don't understand the news. Not entirely. Let me explain: I watch and read the news, not obsessively, but probably often enough to be doing my bit as a concerned citizen. But I can't keep up with it. I follow it, but it's like trying to follow the plot of the most complicated and detailed soap opera ever made, one that was running for centuries before you started tuning in. Maybe the rest of you understand everything and I'm alone in my ignorance. But I doubt it. I think the vast majority of us are winging it, at least 18 chapters behind in the textbook and secretly praying no one else will notice.

If we all knew more, we would do more to lend a hand, instead of shrugging and hoping the news might some day go away or submerging ourselves in comforting trivia. Don't just tell us what is important. We might not have paid attention earlier. Toss us a bone. Tell us why.