EU Referendum: The propaganda game

How do you fabricate a headline like: "Most Europeans 'very concerned' by climate change"? – this one delivered courtesy of the news agency AFP yesterday.

Well, it's easier than you think. Firstly, you throw a tidy sum of money at some perfectly respectable and professional opinion pollsters and you set them to work interviewing 30,170 citizens in the 27 Member States of the European Union – in this case between 25 March and 4 May 2008.

For each of the selected responders, you tell the interviewer to present them with a printed card (illustrated top left) listing a global problems which you have selected, with "global warming" as the top item, conveniently numbered #1. Crucially, do do not include choices such as "energy security" or any variation of that theme.

Then, you have each respondent, while they gaze at the card so conveniently provided, answer the question: "In your opinion, which of the following do you consider to be the most serious problem currently facing the world as a whole?" Note: you do not invite them to volunteer a choice, and you restrict answers to problems "currently facing the world as a whole", thus excluding local and national concerns.

And what do you think the answer will be?