To what extent do you think that it is your duty as a citizen to be 'informed'? Are you informed? How do you get to be informed about serious issues? To what extent do you think that you should leave the complicated decisions up to others?

As citizens of Britain we have a duty to know about our own country and how the country is run. Being informed we are able to make our own informed decisions about our own lives, who are elected to represent us, our own ‘sustainability’ or lack thereof, and even whether we would like to act in a sustainable way. All we know is the information we hear and seek. I think that we should be informed about both sides of the sustainability argument not just preached at by a biased media, members of parliament or celebrities. Since the media rely on dramatic, scaremongering headlines to sell papers or promote programmes; MPs feel they need to sound concerned about the general worries of the public to be elected; and celebrities tend to be uneducated bandwagon travellers! I don’t have to believe them after all I’m not the son of a preacher man. If we are not informed how can we be expected to make decisions such as who to vote for in parliamentary elections, since we would not know the policies of the respective parties or candidates? For example, when you were young the news was too complicated and did not seem an interesting programme for children, so current affairs are not at the forefront of children’s minds and they would not be able to make sensible decisions, hence a minimum voting age.

I believe that I am informed in many issues of my own interest, but there are obviously issues that do not attract my attention or I hear very little about. The issues I am informed about are those that are most important to me and those I have stronger opinions in. However someday I may learn more about the other issues. I try not to be misled by things you hear on the television and I wouldn’t believe the things you hear on the radio. I’m a believer in the public knowing the truth but as we don’t actually know the truth with Global warming yet I see this isn’t possible, so why do we have the media telling us that humans are the sole cause of global warming and therefore we must live sustainably? They tell us to turn out the lights since mainstream thinking believes that global warming is man made, but I hope I think I know that the only way we can get to the truth is through un-biased private research rather than listen to the original prankster Al Gore and misguided academics as half the lies you tell ain’t true, and its not like its the end of the world as we know it.

Certain decisions of national importance should be left to others as the very nature of a democracy is to elect representatives who will make decisions on our behalf. The prime minister himself does not make all these decisions but has a cabinet and advisors to assist him on certain issues such as that of sustainability. If anyone did want to make all the decisions themselves they would be wannabe dictators which from the past experiences are never good, also the volume of decisions to be made every day would provide a bonkers workload for one person. However I think that we should be able to choose our government based on their policies as we do in this country. If you have an interest in a certain policy you should be able to vote based on that if you so chose. I still haven’t found what I am looking for as to which government I want to vote for, since I think I need to research more into parties economic and social policies. Whenever, wherever this happens will depend on my own research and investigation.