I came across this interesting piece by Peter Preston in the Observer on Sunday. A recent opinion poll by Ipsos-Mori showed that just 3% of Britons feel that the EU is the biggest political issue facing our country. It is not surprising that the vast majority of people are more concerned by the state of the NHS, education, pensions and the environment than in an EU treaty that makes some slight re-adjustments to the EU institutions.

Except if you read the Sun that is. Last Tuesday the Sun devoted a full six pages to a set of rabid and frequently factually inaccurate diatribes against the proposed Reform Treaty, with Gordon Brown mocked-up to look like Churchill adorning the front-page alongside the slogan "Never have so few decided so much for so many". The Sun has also published opinions polls claiming that Labour would be nearly 20 points ahead of the Tories (equivalent to a landslide election victory even bigger than in 1997!) if the Government holds a referendum on the treaty. The ferocity and single-minded determination of the Murdoch press has been considerable.

However, it does not appear to be shared by their readers. As the political jamboree of party conference season comes to an end, around 100,000 readers have signed an on-line petition calling for a referendum. According to the Newspaper Marketing Agency website the Sun's readership is just over 8 million readers, which amounts to less than 1.5%.

As Peter Preston very succinctly puts it, "never in Sun history, you might say, have so few rallied round after so many scarifying appeals".