The newspapers have changed their tune this morning

[Ifeel1000yearsold]

Just that really. Headlines now saying lockdown until June. Very different from yesterday’s headlines.

Chillipeanuts, they might widen pavements by closing a lane of traffic, either temporarily or permanently. In my city, there is a plan to widen a lot of pavements in the city centre to increase walking/cycling and decrease vehicular traffic, with a view to a) decreasing pollution, b) making it more tourist-friendly and c) decreasing obesity. It’s not something you can do everywhere, depending on the size of the road, but some of the streets in the plan have 4 traffic lanes, so you could quite easily make it 2 (one in each direction) and widen the pavement. You don’t even have to do it properly - just put up fencing like they do for roadworks.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but newspapers get these stories from government. All the headlines yesterday about the imminent easing of lockdown were based on government briefings.

So don't blame the newspapers - blame government. Unless you think that newspapers should realise government is lying to them and refuse to print what they're told, which perhaps is a fair point.

"Somehow or other, businesses must be allowed to reopen soon or the whole country will be bankrupt"

Even if they reopen, a good chunk of customers will be going far less often or not at all
at least for "non-essentials" like entertainment & leisure - restaurants, cinemas, nail parlours etc

Think of the number of consumers who are shielded (1.5 million) or vulnerable (15 million)
and hence may be limiting exposure

The important Grey Pound staying home more

• as the young people keep telling them to do, to let the young get on with their lives

Some businesses will close down again - or even go bust - if they can't make a profit with significantly reduced customers

The government keeps leaking ideas to see how people will respond and then backtracking. Their communication strategy is one of deliberate leaks. All it's doing is creating confusion.
They need to stop approaching policy as though it's a popularity contest and start with clear and consistent messaging.
It's the problem with having a PM who has no principles and only wants power.

Boris flapping around at PMQ’s and panicked, saying he will get going with lifting restrictions from Monday. That led to the press field day we had

He is though, as he is starting to ease restrictions from Monday.
On what planet do you (as in the Press, not you personally) think "whoohoo, lockdown's over from Monday?"
It's just making shit up and trying to pass it off as fact (kind of like some of the MN threads lol)
That's not news, it's gossip dressed up as it.

Governments use newspapers to float ideas and gauge reaction,
sometimes to try to change opinion

Newspapers use government leaks or pure invention, because the goal for many is advertising revenue
and to push the views & financial interests of their billionaire proprietors

Legitimate media outlets aren’t reporting anything of the kind. Too many people reading the gutter press and taking it as gospel.

It is always going to be June for restrictions to come to an end. When the furlough scheme was introduced, it was set out to last around 3 months/ 12 weeks.

The newspapers are run by owners who want to dictate to the government how they should control the crisis.

Really not how day to day newspaper life works. Possibly an issue for major stuff like Brexit or elections, but not stuff like this.

The things causing this are:

• papers want exciting sounding stuff so they can sell more papers
• ministers/others briefing for political reasons
• competitive nature of journalism in general wanting a ‘scoop’

But RoyalCorgi why can't we have a paper that has the headline

"Highest death toll in Europe and still not slowing enough: why would we ease lockdown now?"

In an ideal world our journalists would be holding our politicians accountable. It's possible to report what the government are saying but question it. Sad your papers are just puppets.

** TooExtraImmatureCheddar

Excellent suggestions all.

My brain is on holiday. I need to get out more 😁

*sadly our papers are just puppets.

@impiz More statements, more interviews (exclusive to major news sources) better use of social media etc. Is this government still boycotting the today programme or have they realised now is not the time to be precious? There’s little news these days and the media are hungry to fill their headlines. Basically make more noise to drown out the rumours.

Again it’s the reluctance to make firm statements comes from having one eye on the polls and the next election imho. The popularity of the shiny career politician has well and truly bitten us on the arse.

but newspapers get these stories from government

Nope, not always. The Times ran a story that attributed a school opening “decision” to a discussion between the NAHT and the government. It simply wasn’t true 🤷🏻‍♀️

If the papers only wanted sensation, they could look into Johnson's private life and tell us how many children he (really) has.

Murdoch and his pals are pushing the end of lockdown in all their territories because they value their personal wealth and that of their billionaire chums more than human life itself.

This will continue so long as people keep buyng these lying shitrags.

Deaths won’t happen in weeks. There is a 1-2 week incubation period where a person is infectious but has no symptoms, and then it takes an average of three weeks for somebody to die of coronavirus. So anybody infected today will die in just after a month onwards...

Unless you think that newspapers should realise government is lying to them and refuse to print what they're told, which perhaps is a fair point

But this is the rhetoric we hear from journalists (that in fairness majority try to stick to) that their role is to question and research. The sensationalists hide behind the integrity of others.

I’ve just done the two minute silence and thinking back to what I was taught about WWII and the public mood encouraged by the media at that time the differences are stark.

My belief is that it’s calculated incompetence on the governments behalf. They want the public to mingle this week so they can see if there is a spike in the infection rate in two weeks time. This then gives them more data to work with when they review lockdown again in three weeks.

To add to @Redolent the number of people who survive but require hospital admittance are there for a long time. I understand a significant proportion of people can need between three to four weeks of hospital care (not icu) and even if you can manage at home this is not a short illness.

and yet my 80 year old next door neighbour who drives a (brand new) very expensive car has been going out daily for supermarket shops

I am not a troll

but I look at it and I know who the lockdown was for and it definitely was not for me... (full time worker tax payer vulnerable group WOULD LIKE to go back to work asap if only my employer made that possible)..

So they can see if there is a spike in the infection rate in two weeks time
Confused, that sounds like a plausible theory to me?

Please may I move to these mumsnet places where you just phone up universal credit you just access adult care you just live as a single parent on your phone reporting your neighbours to social services.

I would LOVE to live in a place like that in the UK right now (if it still exists?)

I know who the lockdown was for
Pardon my slowness to catch on but could you elaborate Bubble?

This is not the media's fault - they are just saying what they have been briefed to say by the government.

It will lead to a second wave of deaths (not as though our first is over yet) in a few weeks. Thus making the eugenicists in government very happy.

Meanwhile, they can blame both the media and the 'covidiot' public, both of whom were only doing what the government strongly implied they should.

So they get what they want but get to blame others for the highest death rates per capita quite possibly in the world by that point. (America has an equally crap government, but stronger local leaders with some power, plus people are spread out a lot further.)

Then the furloughing and mortgage breaks/rent evictions hold end and the shit really hits the fan. Dominic Cummings is in clover. The poor in the shit as well as the old and sick. Eugenicists' paradise.

"I know who the lockdown was for"

thank you B1

I am not going to fight with you.
I was a full time tax paying (always full time worker during both of my children's lives and so was and is my ex husband) .

Going on mumsnet all I have realised is that I never needed to do that! I never needed to actually go out to work and sweat my stuff off for that stuff - there are literally millions of mumsnetters (in the UK) who are basically claiming universal credit and do not need to work or earn stuff for the UK!

Hurrah!