To be sick of Southern Eastern bias in the media with regards to the weather?

[MintyChapstick]

We awoke this morning to news of torrential rain and storms in the South East, ok then, well you know it's not all that unusual to have electrical storms and heavy rain during the summer months but there you go.
The Daily Mail naturally has a headline enttiled, 'battered Britain'. Don't you mean battered South East? There also a story about Britains going to the polls in horrific weather, nope once again it's only in the bloody South East!

Earlier today someone started a thread expressing concern about voter turnout due to the bad weather and expressed genuine surprise when most other posters stated that it was glorious where they were. It's like the UK begins and ends in the South East in their minds.

It was the same during half term week, lots of stories about how terrible the weather was but it was baking hot in Wales and I even got very badly sunburned in Chester Zoo!

I know the South East has its head stuck up its arse a bit, but the UK is a very big place and just because the weather is bad/good in London it doesn't mean it's the same everywhere does it?

I live in Scotland. I get it completely, and it really does - irrationally - get right on my tits.

Someone posted, very rudely, on a thread the other day commenting that it was far too early to be thinking about teacher gifts. We break up next Friday - is it too early for us? Some people need to understand and respect that life exists outwith their own bubble of experience.

By the way, it's a gorgeous 21deg here today.

It was pouring with rain in London early this morning but it's not been raining for the rest of the day, at least in the City, so we're not being battered now. I agree, it's ridiculous.

I hear you. There is a SE bias to the weather... no rain in manchester today (for once).

I think the whole point is that it has been severe weather?

Not that it's been in the SE.

London has a population over 8 million, Scotland under 5.5 million. The likelihood is that London will be strongly Remain. So it could make a huge difference if voter turnout is low there.

I agree that the rest of the country is ignored and that's normally shit. But population size is important when you are talking about voter turnout.

More people live in London than in Scotland and Wales combined. Add in wider South East and the number affected is even higher.

And 'storms affect millions' is always going to be more newsworthy than 'storm affect thousands'.

Though I think all areas with closed polling stations are being mentioned.

That's a fair point but it's the lack of specificity in where they are talking about that grates, rather than the fact that voter turnout in a particular region is a issue.

Oh well if we're out and the U.K. breaks up and London becomes a city state at least this will be once less thing to worry about #sarcasm.

Been in my house 14 yrs. The weather we had last night and overnight, and the concomitant flooding, is the most extreme I have ever witnessed. So to me, it seems newsworthy.

My 15 min commute took over 2 hrs this morning.

Just because more people live in one place than another doesn't excuse lazy journalism.

YANBU. I was going to start a similar thread.

Lots of posts and comments about how the storms are going to affect the referendum withour any acknowledgment that it only affects a small area of the country albeit with a large population.

It's the same when there's a heatwave in the south east but it's still cold and rainy in various parts or all of the north and the media and a lot of people on here go on about the lovely weather, going to the park/beach etc and publish lots of pictures of people out enjoying the sunshine.

It's bad enough that our weather is worse, but when the vocal minority don't even acknowledge this, it gets a little wearing.

I thought this was going to be a thread about South Eastern (railway) (because I didn't read the title properly) and came on to have a proper rant about this morning's delays and cancellations.

However, I am in the South East and I agree with you - I had no idea it was nice in other bits of the country . Where are you with your secret sunshine? I want to be there. DD's Beavers has just been cancelled due to the weather - she will be gutted

The BBC is bad for this, and I stopped buying a daily paper mainly because 90 of the content focuses on London and the SE (of England). My work colleagues in London are unashamedly ignorant of anywhere else - recently one of them seriously said to me "I fort Swindon was some shitole ap norf till I ad to go there, then I thought it weren't that bad"

It's not that it's not newsworthy it's the use of terms like battered Britain to refer to a small region.

If you live in the West of the country you are properly stuffed as the presenter usually stands in front of that bit of the weather map so the viewer can't even look at the symbols to see what the forecast is.

I met a man once who had never been off Manhattan and never intended to. I do find that attitude odd.

I think it's because most people in the south East are supposedly voting remain so results would be skewed if less voted here since there is a large concentration of people.

AliceInUnderpants yes to this (only our school actually breaks tomorrow at lunchtime for summer holidays)

Its not just the bad weather that gets reported though. In forever seeing headlines like 'Britain set to be warmer than Spain this weekend' etc but in actual fact its just the SE England and the rest of the U.K. Could be under 6 ft of snow but it still wouldn't make the headlines.

I also have noticed that bad news gets reported as Scotland but good news as British. For example Andy Murry - when he is doing well the media calls him Britians Andy Murry but if he loses he is reported as Scotland's Andy Murray.

There was quite a lot of flooding in Birmingham last week but that wasn't reported in the same 'end of the world' style as today's rain in the SE has been.

NBU, fabulous in North Yorkshire today, yesterday too. Don't worry, will be back to normal soon.....

As others have pointed out it's to do with population numbers and voter turn out.

So no floods in Birmingham last week wouldn't have received the same exposure.

I normally walk, rain was so bad I was going to get the bus but when I left the office I actually had to get a cab!!! It was that bad. No way would I be going home via the polling station already done the postal vote

I understand (not in SE, quite) but come winter the north seems to be featured for snow which we rarely get.

What grates on me more is how overcrowded, pebbly Brighton beach is always used to represent sunny days - there are so many gorgeous, sandy, quiet-but-popular beaches around.

Sunny and dry here. I listened to a Radio 4 weather bulletin recently and the North West was not mentioned. It literally didn't exist.

YY thetemptationofchocolate

I know the South East has its head stuck up its arse a bit

recently one of them seriously said to me "I fort Swindon was some shitole ap norf till I ad to go there, then I thought it weren't that bad"

Do you generally like to make blanket judgements about large groups of people based on your own prejudices?

Do you normally think it's funny to laugh at regional accents?

Maybe it's not just people from the South East who are ignorant...