Government by opinion poll is probably not the best way to run a country: bye bye art, culture, education; hello football, soap operas and institutionalized bribery – no wait, that’s not what I was trying to suggest. Hang on…

But surely you can’t ignore the public all the time? For instance, this week’s Polityka reports that Poles, like most Europeans, are skeptical about GMOs. Over 70% of Poles don’t want to eat them, Marcin Rotkiewicz says sadly. And worse: politicians have been capitalizing on this ignorance, this downright wrongness. Politicians could earn “extra points in opinion polls” by appealing to this wrongheaded standpoint. Rotkiewicz doesn’t say it in as many words but that’s the clear implication of his piece: over 70% of people here don’t want GMO foods and it’s a damn shame that politicians are listening to them. At least they didn’t listen to anti-war sentiment before invading Iraq.