History and Politics

I have a theory that you are better informed reading history than following current affairs.

There’s a saying that journalism is the first draft of history. There’s another saying that the first draft of anything is a bit rubbish. But in all fairness to journalists, the daily output of news stories more or less guarantees that they don’t have the chance to fully assess the significance of something. Brian Eno pointed out that there has to be a front page every day, and inevitably most of those front pages are giving massive prominence to something that will soon be forgotten – possibly only a few days later.

“What’s going to be most valuable for you over the next half hour? Writing a thoughtful analysis of where you are, where you want to be and how you are going to get there? Or scrolling through social media looking for something sensational? I know which one I’m doing. I’ll pass on anything juicy.”