The European Referendum - the perfect time to try and work on an informed opinion about something. Do research, test my views and find my Authentic Voice (not just going along with other people). Attempting this was my first mistake. My second was to assume it would a relatively straightforward subject to research. Imagine opening a Jack in the Box but instead of the cute/terrifying clown popping out up comes both Nigel Farage and David Cameron to slap you round the face. Talk about nightmares. You would soon lock that box, put it in a dark place never to be opened again. This is what it was like researching the EU.
As I waded amongst the sludge of information about the EU itself (Schengen Area, the single market, the 7 institutions) and dodged the shit being flung from side to side of the #brexit campaign I discovered two independent organisations who were doing a much better job of making sense of it all. Please follow, subscribe and check them out:
Fullfact.org (Facebook, Twitter) are an independent fact checking service which checks claims by politicians and the media. The have a some great articles on the EU including Immigration, EU and UK law, and Norway, Switzerland and EU law. They also have a section for you to ask questions and are running a Kickstarter to fund more EU referendum fact checking stuff. I would suggest that fullfact.org is the best place to get unbiased information on the EU referendum and they are doing a grand job.
The Electoral Reform Society (Facebook, Twitter) review and provide reports on improving elections and referendums. They are kickstarting a tool to encourage people to hold local discussions about the EU referendum.
They are also trailing Citizens' Assemblies: