Covid 19 and the Media

[ramAnag]

Swale a victim of bullying? A bit like suggesting those Kray boys were hard done by!

Okay, my post apart, for the last 13 hours, since 12.20 last night, it’s been like ‘open season’ on Swale. Does he bring some of it on himself? Undoubtedly...his words are sometimes ill chosen, but three onto one for a sustained period of time is ‘bullying’ in my book and a complete disaster on this forum.

As for ‘reasoned arguments’, Ram...they’ve gone...disappeared. It’s just become let’s all gang up and take the piss out of Swale time.

So you don’t like mista likening you to Tricky and you ‘took offence’ at mista’s assertion. Big deal...take it up with him...use those ‘reasoned arguments’ you’re ‘up for’...don’t just have a strop and start talking about another ‘sabbatical’.

All that’s happening at the moment is that things are being polarised. We have, essentially - and very broadly speaking - somehow arrived at myself, Swale and mista on one side of a political divide with you, Tricky and (unbelievably) GP on the other and Andy not sure of whether to join in or try and prevent the site imploding, while the likes of mac and ‘Amster hold their heads in despair and think, I suspect, ‘what a waste of bloody time’.

I’m rapidly thinking those latter two are the only ones with any sense.

[Geoff Parkstone]

I always like to take the underdogs cause 😉

[ramAnag]

Ramanag, sorry (I mean it) I shouldn’t have injected levity into things. Edit, I think I started the rear gunner thing too, sorry again. I can take ten times the piss taking of anyone else I know and should sometimes sit in the other fellahs chair. Maybe we all should. I’m even going to refrain from the witty coda I just thought of to demonstrate my sincerity

It’s not about ‘levity’, Andy...Christ knows we need some of that at the moment, and please don’t abandon your ‘witty coda’, we need that too.

Like you, I can handle any amount of piss taking too...but what passes for that at the moment has just become, more often than not, and not to put too fine a point on it...repetitive, lame brained personalised **** stirring....imo.

[Ram59]

It’s not about ‘levity’, Andy...Christ knows we need some of that at the moment, and please don’t abandon your ‘witty coda’, we need that too.

Like you, I can handle any amount of piss taking too...but what passes for that at the moment has just become, more often than not, and not to put too fine a point on it...repetitive, lame brained personalised **** stirring....imo.

So someone can make any unfounded comment they like and then not answer for it, as long as they're not the chosen one.

All I've asked, is someone to justify what they've said to /about me, yes I admit that I've added a bit of sarcasm/humour, is that such a crime?

What have I said that's so offensive?

I'll apologise if someone could explain it to me.

[Ram59]

Meanwhile, back on topic, sort of. Have you seen the briefings are now allowing the public a question amongst the media.

The question is, is this just a publicity stunt? The minister claims not to know the question, but you have to put forward your question on the government website. Anyway, I've asked why people are dieing in care homes, when there's spare capacity in the hospitals and shouldn't they be treated there? I don't suppose they'll be brave enough to answer that one.

[ramAnag]

So someone can make any unfounded comment they like and then not answer for it, as long as they're not the chosen one.

All I've asked, is someone to justify what they've said to /about me, yes I admit that I've added a bit of sarcasm/humour, is that such a crime?

What have I said that's so offensive?

I'll apologise if someone could explain it to me.

Sorry I don’t follow that. Who is asking you to apologise?

What is there in the quote from me that relates to anything you’re asking? I’m just suggesting it’s time for people to collectively grow up and stop personalising everything, otherwise the forum will just die.

[ramAnag]

Meanwhile, back on topic, sort of. Have you seen the briefings are now allowing the public a question amongst the media.

The question is, is this just a publicity stunt? The minister claims not to know the question, but you have to put forward your question on the government website. Anyway, I've asked why people are dieing in care homes, when there's spare capacity in the hospitals and shouldn't they be treated there? I don't suppose they'll be brave enough to answer that one.

‘Back on topic’! Thank **** for that...and a damned good question too, imo.

I’ve realised (took a while) why I’m growing ever more mistrustful of the ‘Coronavirus Update’ programme and I’m honestly not making a (Party) political point here.

It’s because I find that each one is becoming more and more like a Party Political Broadcast...only read ‘Government’ for ‘Party’. Hancock in particular, but others are much the same, seems to be increasingly using the programmes to sell him/themselves, what they have done, and how well they’ve done it. Hancock actually said yesterday when talking about the handling of the pandemic, ‘...as I said so clearly at the beginning.’

That, imo, is really not for him to say. Nor is it what these things should be about, and I've long since learned not to believe most PPB’s - they fit into the same category as all advertising for me. So now I find myself not only mistrustful of the politician concerned but also of the two experts, who I started off believing, but now wonder if they would ever dare publicly challenge or correct the Minister concerned, least of all the Minister of Health.

[Ram59]

‘Back on topic’! Thank **** for that...and a damned good question too, imo.

I’ve realised (took a while) why I’m growing ever more mistrustful of the ‘Coronavirus Update’ programme and I’m honestly not making a (Party) political point here.

It’s because I find that each one is becoming more and more like a Party Political Broadcast...only read ‘Government’ for ‘Party’. Hancock in particular, but others are much the same, seems to be increasingly using the programmes to sell him/themselves, what they have done, and how well they’ve done it. Hancock actually said yesterday when talking about the handling of the pandemic, ‘...as I said so clearly at the beginning.’

That, imo, is really not for him to say. Nor is it what these things should be about, and I've long since learned not to believe most PPB’s - they fit into the same category as all advertising for me. So now I find myself not only mistrustful of the politician concerned but also of the two experts, who I started off believing, but now wonder if they would ever dare publicly challenge or correct the Minister concerned, least of all the Minister of Health.

I agree with that, I ignore the minister's how well we are doing speech and start watching or taking notice when the statistics come out. As I've said before, I look at these figures so I can work it out for myself how progress is being made. I am very much a scientific based person.

I also ignore the question and answer bit, it's made up of journalists trying to bait the minister often repeating a previous question and then getting an evasive answer anyway.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Sheesh, at this rate, another two weeks of lockdown and you will be mistrusting yourself even!! But something in that post resonates with me nonetheless.

I have never believed a word that a politician says and haven't watched a party political broadcast of any colour for decades. I haven't watched the daily covid update programmes since the lockdowns began on the basis that no news is good news - sadly that hasn't exactly panned out. So I don't feel qualified to comment on the deterioration you note in the government commentary.

BUT what did you expect - them to come on and say they've ****ed up? Of course they will be self congratulatory. Like it or not, if we win the battle with covid the government is going to expect and take praise - after all they've been given enough **** for supposedly having got everything wrong so far (not a dig at you).

But more importantly these pronouncements have to try to give a feel good factor when they can, if people still thought things were just as bad now after 5 weeks of lockdown as they were when it started, the whole thing would start to collapse. So when giving good news (or less bad news perhaps) why would they not try to pat themselves on their backs. They set a policy that they feel is working.

Now the fact that its "working" (if it is) may be more down to the NHS staff and other key workers "on the coalface" and no little bit down to 90% of joe public being sensible, but government set policy. It may all be a bit self congratulatory and seem inappropriate and maybe too soon, but its good for morale I suggest. Including government morale where countless faceless "normal" civil servants will have been toiling behind the scenes to pull a plan together.

Anyway, if that's you making a non party political point, I'd hate to hear you making one! Oh, hang on.....

[Andy_Faber]

Sheesh, at this rate, another two weeks of lockdown and you will be mistrusting yourself even!! But something in that post resonates with me nonetheless.

I have never believed a word that a politician says and haven't watched a party political broadcast of any colour for decades. I haven't watched the daily covid update programmes since the lockdowns began on the basis that no news is good news - sadly that hasn't exactly panned out. So I don't feel qualified to comment on the deterioration you note in the government commentary.

BUT what did you expect - them to come on and say they've ****ed up? Of course they will be self congratulatory. Like it or not, if we win the battle with covid the government is going to expect and take praise - after all they've been given enough **** for supposedly having got everything wrong so far (not a dig at you).

But more importantly these pronouncements have to try to give a feel good factor when they can, if people still thought things were just as bad now after 5 weeks of lockdown as they were when it started, the whole thing would start to collapse. So when giving good news (or less bad news perhaps) why would they not try to pat themselves on their backs. They set a policy that they feel is working.

Now the fact that its "working" (if it is) may be more down to the NHS staff and other key workers "on the coalface" and no little bit down to 90% of joe public being sensible, but government set policy. It may all be a bit self congratulatory and seem inappropriate and maybe too soon, but its good for morale I suggest. Including government morale where countless faceless "normal" civil servants will have been toiling behind the scenes to pull a plan together.

Anyway, if that's you making a non party political point, I'd hate to hear you making one! Oh, hang on.....

I'll step back from my normal stance of slagging the broadcast media off for 'conditioning' Joe Public and praise the broadcast media instead for....conditioning Joe Public. I'm sure one way or another y'all have been enjoying the unseasonably warm and sunny weather which only broke today (be sure I did!), BUT its noticeable that the hyperbole usually heaped on any upward move in the temp has been subtly toned down, not just by the newscasters who have other things on their mind, but also the weather presenters themselves, who've backed right off doing anything too showbiz other than state reasonable facts - In any other year, 24 degrees forcast in London would have them creaming themselves, instead its a brief relay of the temp and move on. I (or rather Mrs F) has a contact in BBC weather but both she and her source are housebound so she can't check whether this is a formal policy or just something the weather folk have taken on themselves to do, but whatever if its fooled a few rivetheads not to drive to The Peak or whatever, then bravo for them