Daily Mail Encourages Covid-19 Transmission

It was something London Mayor Sadiq Khan could not stress enough this morning in his (remote) interview on The Andy Marr Show™: people should stay at home, and that included those who have been leaving the capital over the weekend for locations farther afield, like Cornwall, North Wales, and even northern parts of Scotland.

Sadly, this advice has not penetrated the Northcliffe House bunker, where alleged travel writer Rob Crossan has his name on the by-line of “Britain's brilliant boltholes: The best places to revel in splendid isolation, from the lonely Lancashire hills to the Welsh wilderness”, an article that goes on to tell “Now that self-isolation and social distancing have (so quickly) become buzzwords, a ‘getaway’ in the UK has taken on new meaning”.

Readers are also told “Yes, as ever, you get away from home - but now we are being advised to get away from other people, too”, and just to make sure everyone gets the point, further down the text we read “Deep in the heart of the Brecon Beacons you can feel a long way from all talk of coronavirus”. It’s all about escaping Coronavirus.

And just in case you didn’t get that, a Google search also brings up an earlier teaser for the same article telling of “The best places to revel in splendid isolation during [the] Coronavirus crisis, from Lancashire to Wales”. The Mail has also hedged its bets by pitching “When the Coronavirus crisis [is] over, there’s going to be a stampede of bookings - so get in early”. Nothing quite like shamelessly monetising a health emergency.

Some observers were unimpressed by the Mail’s shamelessness, and Tanja Bueltmann was one of them. “And here’s the Daily Mail actively facilitating the spread of #Covid_19 while directly putting people’s lives at risk. Take Jura: it is remote, has a large elderly population and no hospital. To encourage travel there now is not just irresponsible, it’s criminal. #StayAtHome”. Jura was one recommendation in Crossan’s article.

She wasn’t finished with the Mail. “And to be clear: they absolutely know the context - though there is no indication of Govt recommendations or a reflection of the seriousness of the situation. Apparently social distancing and self-isolation are little more than ‘buzzwords’”. Added to that was, for instance, the age profile of places like Jura.

“Yes, of course aware that Jura’s population itself isn’t large overall, but of them the proportion of older residents is. Median age of island residents across all Scottish islands generally higher to begin with, so this is a general concern”.

Eventually, Crossan responded, to claim it was someone else’s fault for misinterpreting his article. “In response to some abusive Tweets, my piece, just like most travel content in UK papers this weekend, is intended to provide inspiration for future trips when this is all over - and is not a recommendation to travel now. I’m shocked that I have to spell out something so obvious”. So obvious that the article specifically cited Coronavirus.

But not obvious enough for him to leave the Tweet up: it appears to have been deleted. Thus another Daily Mail money-generating wheeze ran out of road. What a shower.

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