David Attenborough is something of a national treasure, but how has the veteran broadcaster managed to maintain his popularity? ‘It’s easy if you don’t have to do controversial things,’ according to Attenborough, who said in an interview in 2017 that if he does have controversial thoughts, he simply doesn’t share them.
That strategy seems to have been ditched. In an interview with Italian newspaper la Repubblica, Sir David has waded in on everyone’s favourite topic: Brexit. Here’s what he had to say:
‘I think that the irritation of the ways in which the European community has interfered with people’s lives on silly levels or silly issues has irritated a lot of people … They’re just fed up with somebody over there who doesn’t speak their language, telling him how much money they’ve got to charge for tomatoes or something silly … Maybe the European Union didn’t pay enough attention to what sort of things that members of Europe care about and has allowed themselves to do all sorts of things which irritate the members there at all.’
Asked whether he considered himself a Brexiteer or a Remainer, Attenborough replied:
‘I think there had to be a change, one way or another.
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