Hancock's Half Hour

[Terry - Somerset]

The media are hugely selective in the images and stories they publish to meet pre-conceived ideas of reality in order to sell newspapers, advertising etc etc.

It would be easy to assume that every beach was swarming with inconsiderate idiots spreading infection!

On Friday we went on a 40 minute drive to a local resort - something we often do for a few hours wandering along the promenade and maybe have lunch.

Clear bue skies, 24 degrees, delightful. Car park only 1/3 full compared to normal. Social distancing of 5m + easily achieved depsite half term when it would normally be teeming.

A neighbour who had taken a bike ride to some other higher profile local resorts reported almost no tourist traffic.

Read and watch media reporting with real scepticism - it is not to suggest inconsiderate stupidity does not exist, but people behaving responsibly and with restraint does not make a profitable news story.

 

[thetyreman]

The media are hugely selective in the images and stories they publish to meet pre-conceived ideas of reality in order to sell newspapers, advertising etc etc.

It would be easy to assume that every beach was swarming with inconsiderate idiots spreading infection!

On Friday we went on a 40 minute drive to a local resort - something we often do for a few hours wandering along the promenade and maybe have lunch.

Clear bue skies, 24 degrees, delightful. Car park only 1/3 full compared to normal. Social distancing of 5m + easily achieved depsite half term when it would normally be teeming.

A neighbour who had taken a bike ride to some other higher profile local resorts reported almost no tourist traffic.

Read and watch media reporting with real scepticism - it is not to suggest inconsiderate stupidity does not exist, but people behaving responsibly and with restraint does not make a profitable news story.

they use stock photography to sensationalise or exaggerate stories, e.g showing beaches packed but not even telling you it's from 4 years ago on the busiest day of the year.

 

[Rorschach]

they use stock photography to sensationalise or exaggerate stories, e.g showing beaches packed but not even telling you it's from 4 years ago on the busiest day of the year.

I caught someone on my facebook page doing that last week, using an image from a heatwave we had a few years ago and showing a really crowded beach, they claimed the picture was taken that day. I proved the picture was years old as did a few other friends, not only did they ignore our comments, they deleted them and kept on with the claim.

 

[Andy Kev.]

they use stock photography to sensationalise or exaggerate stories, e.g showing beaches packed but not even telling you it's from 4 years ago on the busiest day of the year.

I think that in general terms the media have on the whole been pretty disgraceful. Having decided that Corona was the only story on the planet, they inevitably came up against a vacuum of their own creating and presumably unimaginative editors demanded space fillers from their hacks.

I subscribe to the Telegraph and couldn't believe some of the rubbish that otherwise sensible journalists have produced. One or two have distinguished themselves by continuing to produce serious journalism but they seem mostly to have not been reporting directly on the crisis.

While I'm firmly against censorship of the press, I do think that it would be acceptable for standards to be imposed on them whether they like it or not i.e. they can say anything they want but in the case of publishing a stock photograph it should be compulsory for them to make it clear that it is such an indirectly related image. The compulsion could even go to the point of prescribing the type size they have to use to make such things clear.

I think that one of the curses of the media age is the 24 hrs rolling news cycle. If you think about it, all we need for Corona reporting is a half hour briefing (or one and a half sides of a newspaper) and the same again in the evening.

 

[RogerS]

......is almost sure to emerge as a result of a much needed enquiry.
.....

Too damn right. I'd start by looking at all the minutes of meetings, exchange of emails etc at PHE over the last few years because I bet that there will be some good people there who raised 'insignificant things' such as lack of enough PPE, no pandemic planning whatsoever, only being able to test 5 x a day or a week..but being shouted down, brushed off etc. Simple solution...put them in charge now and sack all those who brushed them off.

 

[RogerS]

...

too busy Roger, what is it?

Go find out. Might open those eyes.

to what

Watch it and find out for yourself. Oh...sorry..forgot. You're too busy.

 

[doctor Bob]

Go find out. Might open those eyes.

to what

Watch it and find out for yourself. Oh...sorry..forgot. You're too busy.

Yes unfortunately 7 day working weeks at present. As the business has been on it's buttocks for 10 weeks and the biggest recession / depression in history is looming. So excuse my shortness with you but I really haven't got time to watch a film (I presume) to pick up on your cryptic clue about what you think of me.

 

[Rorschach]

I really haven't got time to watch a film (I presume) to pick up on your cryptic clue about what you think of me.

I have seen the film and I have no idea what he is on about :duno:

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I really haven't got time to watch a film (I presume) to pick up on your cryptic clue about what you think of me.

I have seen the film and I have no idea what he is on about :duno:

"Ouch! My balls!"

Or "It has electrolytes"

One or t'other.

[youtube]CsJFNQd62Wk[/youtube]

 

[selectortone]

The media are hugely selective in the images and stories they publish to meet pre-conceived ideas of reality in order to sell newspapers, advertising etc etc.

It would be easy to assume that every beach was swarming with inconsiderate idiots spreading infection!

On Friday we went on a 40 minute drive to a local resort - something we often do for a few hours wandering along the promenade and maybe have lunch.

Clear bue skies, 24 degrees, delightful. Car park only 1/3 full compared to normal. Social distancing of 5m + easily achieved depsite half term when it would normally be teeming.

A neighbour who had taken a bike ride to some other higher profile local resorts reported almost no tourist traffic.

Read and watch media reporting with real scepticism - it is not to suggest inconsiderate stupidity does not exist, but people behaving responsibly and with restraint does not make a profitable news story.

they use stock photography to sensationalise or exaggerate stories, e.g showing beaches packed but not even telling you it's from 4 years ago on the busiest day of the year.

I live in Bournemouth, about 10 minutes walk from Southbourne beach. My daughter has been down there for most of the day and she said it wasn't particularly busy and those that were there were able to keep their social distance. They would have been almost entirely locals. From all accounts it's entirely different just a mile or so to the west around Bournemouth Pier. We call them grockles. Mindless pale fat tattooed morons double parking and in people's drives, who leave still smouldering barbecue trays, beer cans and all manner of detritus behind after them. You can usually rely on a few of them to get caught in a rip tide, or get blown out to sea in some kind of flimsy blow-up canoe which necessitates the calling out of the RNLI boat. I wouldn't feel too upset if covid-19 culled a few of them. Put it down to natural selection.

 

[Lons]

I guess we both wear the same size then :lol:

Nope I think your's is a few sizes larger.

 

[Nigel Burden]

The media are hugely selective in the images and stories they publish to meet pre-conceived ideas of reality in order to sell newspapers, advertising etc etc.

It would be easy to assume that every beach was swarming with inconsiderate idiots spreading infection!

On Friday we went on a 40 minute drive to a local resort - something we often do for a few hours wandering along the promenade and maybe have lunch.

Clear bue skies, 24 degrees, delightful. Car park only 1/3 full compared to normal. Social distancing of 5m + easily achieved depsite half term when it would normally be teeming.

A neighbour who had taken a bike ride to some other higher profile local resorts reported almost no tourist traffic.

Read and watch media reporting with real scepticism - it is not to suggest inconsiderate stupidity does not exist, but people behaving responsibly and with restraint does not make a profitable news story.

they use stock photography to sensationalise or exaggerate stories, e.g showing beaches packed but not even telling you it's from 4 years ago on the busiest day of the year.

I live in Bournemouth, about 10 minutes walk from Southbourne beach. My daughter has been down there for most of the day and she said it wasn't particularly busy and those that were there were able to keep their social distance. They would have been almost entirely locals. From all accounts it's entirely different just a mile or so to the west around Bournemouth Pier. We call them grockles. Mindless pale fat tattooed morons double parking and in people's drives, who leave still smouldering barbecue trays, beer cans and all manner of detritus behind after them. I wouldn't feel too upset if covid-19 culled a few of them. Put it down to natural selection.

Yes, the wife showed me a photo taken today of Bournemouth beach, and it was busy. It looks as if Durdle Door was busy again, and there were morons on top of the arch again today. The reference to discarded smoldering barbeques reminds me that Dorset and Wilts Fire and Rescue Service had six appliances dealing with a flair up again at the fire in the Wareham Forest twelve or thirteen days after the initial blaze.

Nigel.

 

[Lons]

The media in general is atrocious and as said only interested in a story at all costs. There is little doubt that some use stock or doctored images and distortion of the truth however that certainly doesn't mean all the stories are fabricated.
I view comments from all politicians with scepticism, I don't subscribe to any newspapers and treat all stories especially on social media with suspicion until I can be reasonably sure they have some substance so what I said about id-iots gathering and ignoring distancing is from what I've witnessed personally along with the experiences of my immediate family.

We had visitors this afternoon (sitting apart in the garden of course) and they said that a journey that takes them usually 20 minutes took almost 45 due to volume of traffic. Some places are quiet others are as busy as they were before lockdown, as I said sheep and thick as pigsh*t.

 

[RogerS]

....as I said sheep and thick as pigsh*t.

Careful now otherwise you will get Boble all frothed up in a lather again.

We seem to have been besieged by townies looking for Crammel Linn, the waterfall. And because, to the best of my knowledge, it doesn't have a postcode then their wee smartphones are of little use. Of course, they don't have a proper map or if they did would hold it upside down as they don't know how to use it.

So, what do they do ? They stop and ask someone from the village where it is. The reply ?.. Onto the No Through road up where we and a few others live. I say No Through road..actually the road goes on up into the Western extremity of the Kielder Forest but they don't get very far as the gates are locked (unless you 'know' the way around them :wink: ). So they turn round and stop at the first place to ask directions. Us. So I tell them...

Go back down to the village and turn left. Under the railway bridge. Keep going until you hit the next T-junction. Turn left and keep on going until you see the sign.

Lons and Sam will know it as the Military Road...totally wrong direction. :twisted:

I could understand the interest but don't they look at the weather FFS ? We've not had any rain for months. The Irving is a dribble. There IS no waterfall.

 

[Lons]

Go back down to the village and turn left. Under the railway bridge. Keep going until you hit the next T-junction. Turn left and keep on going until you see the sign.

Lons and Sam will know it as the Military Road...totally wrong direction. :twisted:

Hey I hope you said travel west on the military road so they head for the M6 rather than Newcastle.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

The ongoing search for pearls buried in all the detritus has led me to this: https://swprs.org/studies-on-covid-19-lethality/

I'm not going to make any claims about the accuracy and honesty of the data, but there are lots and lots of different studies collated here for all the fact checkers to get their teeth into. Important takeaways for me are that

1) the IFR is lower than reported, and only marginally higher than influenza (not my claim - it's an average of a series of different studies which comes to 0.278%)

2) the infection rate in the general population is much higher than reported,

3) the median age of death is over 80.

In their words, "Swiss Policy Research (SPR), founded in 2016, is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit research group investigating geopolitical propaganda in Swiss and international media. SPR is composed of independent academics and receives no external funding."

Please note that I have put this here to stimulate conversation, and see where it all ends up - food for thought, etc. It is not my specific intention to make Roger as angry as possible. Perhaps we could proceed on that basis?

 

[Rorschach]

The ongoing search for pearls buried in all the detritus has led me to this: https://swprs.org/studies-on-covid-19-lethality/

I'm not going to make any claims about the accuracy and honesty of the data, but there are lots and lots of different studies collated here for all the fact checkers to get their teeth into. Important takeaways for me are that

1) the IFR is lower than reported, and only marginally higher than influenza (not my claim - it's an average of a series of different studies which comes to 0.278%)

2) the infection rate in the general population is much higher than reported,

3) the median age of death is over 80.

In their words, "Swiss Policy Research (SPR), founded in 2016, is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit research group investigating geopolitical propaganda in Swiss and international media. SPR is composed of independent academics and receives no external funding."

Please note that I have put this here to stimulate conversation, and see where it all ends up - food for thought, etc. It is not my specific intention to make Roger as angry as possible. Perhaps we could proceed on that basis?

That IFR rate is nearly identical to that posted by the German virologist in one of the videos I posted.

 

[Andy Kev.]

TN,

I think that your last post above confirms the instincts I've had from the start of this to the effect that we won't be able to talk sensibly about it until it is all over or until the masses of data collected have been analysed.

There have been a lot of people in politics, the media and on here making firm pronouncements about it. I have the impression that few of them were qualified to make any sort of sensible pronouncement on the matter.

And then of course there are attempts to politicise it by attacking/supporting the govt. IMO it's really not a political matter. The country was caught unprepared because no govt. of any political colour is prepared to sink money into providing for something that might happen one day but hopefully not in this parliament and there are no votes in it anyway. That is now likely to change as making provision for the next pandemic will be politically sellable.

In short the politics seems to be a matter of the will to act which itself is dependent on circumstances but the actual provision is a matter of medical logistics, something which I think I'd rather trust to the medical services of the Armed Forces than the NHS. Give the money to the former. They will spend it more efficiently and solely for its intended purpose.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I think that your last post above confirms the instincts I've had from the start of this to the effect that we won't be able to talk sensibly about it until it is all over or until the masses of data collected have been analysed

Data is now coming in, lots and lots of it, so there is opportunity to consider whether assumptions are holding up, whether actions need to be taken, etc. Whilst all of that is above my pay grade, it is also important that someone pays attention to what the data is saying, as opposed to what the agreed-upon narrative is claiming the data is saying. Just getting to the data is hard, because of so many vested interests.

For example, our good friend Nial Ferguson has a bit of a history when it comes to apocalyptic scenario projecting: he seems to have learned early in his career that he gets much more funding if he extrapolates megadeaths and disaster. https://www.aier.org/article/how-wrong- ... s-and-why/ . Is anyone actually questioning the lack of correlation between the paper which caused the lockdown, and the reality we currently have? Is there good correlation? The stuff I linked to suggests not, but the shrieking, angry woman on the BBC at lunchtime seemed to be saying lockdown must continue, no kids back to school, we are all going to die! (Maybe I'm exaggerating with that last one, but she was very peeved about something.) As always, it's hard to know where the truth is, but I don't think we should stop looking.

 

[worn thumbs]

Lets not confuse Niall Ferguson the historian with Neil Ferguson the epidemiologist.