Why say UK when they mean England?

[catchafallingstar]

Blaming the news for this.....UK in arctic conditions...bla bla bla....

So what they really mean is that the horrific weather that has been plaguing Scotland and Northern Ireland since mid November has finally reached London.
So now it is newsworthy, it warrants more than a tag line at the end of the main news. In fact there are even special one off news programmes about it.

This has been going on for a while. Most airports in Scotland have been closed but didn't get interview after interview with passengers moaning about it.

32 inches of snow fell in one night in the town where I live but 'down south' gets a dusting of 2 or 3 inches and people are attempting to ski to work!

With all the talk of how unprepared the UK is, I don't think this Kind of news mentality does not help. Yes we now the weather is awful but is has been for over a month now...get on with it! I'm sure there are some decent news worthy stories out there!


Rant over.

Disclaimer: I now fully expect numerous posts telling me how much snow you have in your area, how disabling it is, what relatives are stuck at the airport, how it's awful etc....... But this has been happening for over a month!!
The 'UK' may be expecting arctic conditions but places like Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales have just had to cope with it without it being glorified by the BBC news at every opportunity...

[fayc84]

I've stopped being surprised by London-centric news reporting now. They've started tagging on 'in England' or 'in England and Wales' to health or education stories that they present as all-encompassing, but when talking about 'the country' I have started to accept that will never be about my country but England. Still don't like it, but I look for my news from more local sources. And certainly not the BBC which in Scotland is just getting worse and worse.

[reallytired]

..............

[wonderstuff]

I hear you, but I think that heathrow closing is a more major event than Edinburgh closing, is one of the biggest airports in the world. Also with the snow there isn't much other news.

[hairyfairylights]

Wales is in arctic conditions. They mean the UK.

I find the opposite is true - people say 'England' when they mean the UK (or sometimes even mean Wales).

[theevildead2]

Don't even think the mean England. They mean London.


London is the be all end all. Actually in terms of money and population it probably is. But its not nice for everyone else in the UK

[catchafallingstar]

With the snow, there isn't much other news?????!!!!!




You are joking! Right? London is NOT the centre of the universe!

[tribpot]

I agree with you, although the weather has been utterly dreadful here in Yorkshire for a good few weeks as well. Fortunately for us the big snow melted and we now only have a dusting plus very cold weather. Again, it didn't make the news in anything like the same way.

[fayc84]

Actually, Scotland is still bad - the week before xmas - but you wouldn't know it because there's a few inches in London now too.

What I want to know is why, when roads are impassable and airports are closed, is the UK transport minister not being hounded out of office like Stewart Stevenson was the other week? Is it because actually you can't lay the blame on a single politician for a foot of snow falling over the course of a couple of hours? The BBC in Scotland is a disgrace!

[TheCrackFox]

I think what they mean to say is South East England because if this weather had happened in, say, Hull it would have been the last news item.

[FindingAManger]

well I'm in London but believe me I've been hearing constantly about the bad weather for a month now - and seeing pictures of snow covered UK for a month too. Felt very left out lucky not to be affected (until this week) but have certainly been getting daily updates on the state of the provinces snowy nation (and I'm not a big news watcher and even I can't avoid it). Seems it's all that has been on the news forever.

My family keep calling (from abroad) to see how dreadfully we have been afflicted and I have to keep telling them we haven't been affected.

The difference now isn't that London has been struck (although approx 12.5% of the UK's population do live in greater London) but now London & the regions not formerly affected by the snow are so the ENTIRE UK is now affected.

So YABU & take the chip off your shoulder - it throws you off balance & make you more likely to slip in the snow.

[GoldFrakkincenseAndMyrrh]

It annoys me more the other way when people talk about England to refer to the whole if the UK.

Whilst I see that Heathrow closing has a huge impact etc it's really misleading to say that it's just started when other places have been suffering for weeks.

[cakewench]

of course London is the centre of the universe. At least, that's how I understand things, having only lived in this country for 4 years. If you were plopped here from an alien planet and watched the news, you'd think so, too!

YANBU. I understand what you are saying. All of these far-reaching areas (NI, Scotland) have been going through the same thing for a while now, but it only warrants a television special ('Frozen Britain' for half an hour last night) when London and the surrounding region is involved.

To be fair, London's airports are far busier than the other airports around the UK, and if they can't manage to get flights in and out, there is a much bigger knock-on effect with transport all over Europe.

[FindingAManger]

plus the Heathrow closing debacle does effect the entire UK - it's pretty big news. Not just because of the snow but because of the piss poor management and response to it which has completely shamed BAA.

[fayc84]

I appreciate that there are more people living in London than in the whole of Scotland so, yes, what happens in London will be seen as more important to national media than elsewhere because it affects more people. But then the broadcasters/press should be honest and call themselves 'London news' rather than claiming to be 'national'.

I actually did a study into the lack of Scottish coverage in so-called UK national newspapers for my university dissertation and was shocked by the extent of it. I'm sure it would be a similar story for other regions (though Scotland is a nation, not a region, but anyway ... ) within England and the UK. My study was in 2005 and nothing seems to have changed - I don't think it ever will. Thus accepting and looking at local news sources.

[MsSparkle]

I'm in the south (even more south than London) and i have been hearing about the weather in North England, Scotland and Wales.

I don't think it's been a big secret. I think they are reporting in London more now is because it effects a very large portion of people if Heathrow is closed or disrupted.

[wonderstuff]

The reality is that London news doesn't just affect the millions of people living in London, it often affects millions of people across the country too. I'm in Hampshire, so yes just about in the SE, and I know 7 people directly affected by Heathrow closing, I know severl people who use the M25 several times a week, lots of people wh work in the capital, anything that affects people working in London has a direct affect on the whole of the SE where a massive proportion of the UK English population live, there just are more stories of national importance in London.

Anyway the snow in Scotland was a top news story for days

[fbear]

[catchafallingstar]

There are just more stories of national importance in London....?

I think that depends on who you are and where you live! And when you say National importance, do you mean English? Or Welsh? Perhaps Scottish importance?

[GentleOtter]

...And by Scotland they mean Glasgow with perhaps a mention of Edinburgh.

Anyone north of the Forth Road Bridge are flatearthers and have fallen off the edge.

Just saying...

[allnightlong]

YANBU I've been pmsl at some of the news reports from all these southern places 'battling' against the snow when it's about 2 inches thick on the ground, nothing compared where I am, east coast of Scotland.
Our village was COMPLETELY cut off for about 10 days: schools off (actually most of the schools have barely been on the whole of december)trains off, buses wouldn't come near village, village shop empty of food, roads compeltely blocked.
Not ONE news crew bothered to report it.

[bumperella]

Momnday last week there were loads of people stuck on various motorways in Scotland - basically from later morning rush hour onwards.
The BBC 6 o'clock (early evening) news didn't even feature the weather chaos (there may have been an "and finally" of kids sledging, I can't remember now though ). Yet it was the first item on the Chanel 4 early evening news. Crazy that it was given highest priority on one station yet not even mentioned on another.
I can understand that after a week of terrible weather people were sick hearing of it, but the level of chaos, timing, and the area (central Scotland being way more populated than other areas of Scotland) should have made it onto the BBC early evening news.

[allnightlong]

facyc84 I'n not surprised nothing has changed, oddly enough a good source of scottish news used to be one of the russian news stations on sky.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Well I suppose you kind of expect there to be shed loads of snow in Scotland. Its normal, I mean there are ski resorts there so its not as newsworthy. But its been years since England London got this much snow so it is newsworthy.

[allnightlong]

Bump I remember that our friend was stuch for about 12 hours it got a little mention on Scotish news but it mainly covered the fact the the private school Hamiltion Collage ended up with a couple of hundred pupils staying in the gym hall over night because their parents were either stuck on the motorway or counldn't get to the school due to the motorway conditions.

Funckysnow Granted heathrow is bigger but there was equal problems at Edinburgh (and other scottish airports) for many days at one point. You have also assumed the weather has improved here it hasn't at all we had a few days of no snow but due to the temp most of the snow stayed and froze. Then we got more snow and it's the week before Christmas too here to you know!.

[allnightlong]

Viva this amount of snow and disruption in Scotland isn't normal at all. The vast majority of Scotland has very little snow during the year.