'Calm down'

The front page of today's Express contained a response to the queues that had been seen at many petrol stations over the last few days:

The article by Macer Hall and Dana Gloger began:

Britain was last night urged to calm down and stop the petrol panic

Calm down and stop the panic. Wise words. If only it hadn't come after the paper had already written this:

And, particularly, this:

(Big hat-tip to Dan Hollinsworth)

Express clock-up (cont.)

Two-and-a-half months ago, the Express launched a 'crusade' to 'stop Britain being plunged into early evening darkness every autumn':

The Daily Express is calling on the Government to move UK time forward by an hour permanently, bringing the country into line with much of the rest of Europe.

Bring Britain into line with Europe? You don't hear that very often from the Express.

The campaign launched with a bit of a whimper when the most vocal media opposition came from the, err, Scottish Daily Express.

Well, tonight the clocks will be put back an hour. As the Express hasn't got its way, it's claiming the country is going to plunged into 'chaos':

Britons face a day of chaos tomorrow as the clocks turn back an hour, plunging the country into evening darkness.

A third of us will oversleep, 20 per cent will wake up to a cold house after forgetting to change the central heating timer and one in eight will arrive at work late over the coming days.

That's a few minor inconveniences for a minority of people. It's not 'chaos'.

But how come the Express hasn't go its way? After all, on Thursday they were claiming that '29 million people' supported their 'crusade':


As Atomic Spin observed:

Wait, 29 million? That sounds a bit much, surely? The turnout at the last general election was only 29.6 million – are you telling me as many people care about the Daily Express‘s “crusade” as care about national politics in general?

Well, no. Of course not. What the Express did was take a poll that found 58% of people supported their plan, worked out what 58% of the population (of England, it seems) is, and then claimed that many people therefore backed their cause.

The Express also claimed:

Concerns are also mounting about children walking home in the dark and the danger of personal injury, with one in four people saying they feel more at risk as evenings draw in.

In addition, some 36 per cent – 17.7 million people – believe there is an increased chance of road traffic accidents, and one in four also insist they feel more at risk from burglary.

Atomic Spin points out:

In other words, 3 in 4 do not feel more at risk, 64% of people did not say they believed there was an increased chance of road traffic accidents, and 3 in 4 do not feel at risk of burglary.

On Monday, the paper's editorial said:

Next week we’ll put back the clocks and plunge properly into winter.

It’s a gloomy prospect so no wonder support is growing for the Daily Express crusade to stop this wholly detrimental annual ritual.

Is support 'growing' for the Express' crusade? Well, the latest poll quoted by the paper shows support at 58%.

Alas, a poll conducted the day after the crusade was launched showed support at, err, 60%.

'No end in sight'

The Express has used one of their favourite words - 'chaos' - around 14 times in the last few days to describe the effects of the ash-cloud from the Eyjafjalljokull volcano in Iceland.

They put the word on the front of today's paper, which put both their predictive and scaremongering skills to the test:


'No end in sight'.

Yet before the day was out, the Express' website was reporting:


'No end in sight'?

More Express weather nonsense

Last Friday's Daily Express front page relied on three familiar features - weather, scaremongering and 'chaos':


Whether the dire predictions turn out to be true or not (and if it's the Express, the likelihood is they won't) it is a very silly headline.

After all, when was the old 'Arctic chaos'?

And secondly, surely 'Arctic chaos' can only happen in the Arctic?

[UPDATE: True or not? Not]

Global warming chaos at the Express

With tiresome predictability, the weather was back on the front page of the Express today. And it's not just any old weather story - that would never do. It's got to be weather 'chaos':


But let's ignore yet another airing of the word 'chaos' (and two days ago, there was more 'taxpayers' fury' - which actually meant TaxPayers' Alliance fury) as it's worth looking at the actual story.

Although it is being quite generous to call it that.

As the sub-head makes abundantly clear, the Express is actually suggesting that because it is snowing in Britain in winter, global warming can't possibly exist.

The article, written by Martyn Brown, begins:

As one of the worst winters in 100 years grips the country, climate experts are still trying to claim the world is growing warmer.

It appears the Express does not know the difference between weather and climate. That's possibly wilful, but probably just ignorance.

Furthermoe, as George Monbiot and Leo Hickman point out in their fisking of Brown's piece:

There's a clue as to where he might have gone wrong in that sentence: 'country' has a slightly different meaning to 'world'.

Quite. Mid-way through the article, Brown is generous enough to quote someone who thinks the Express is talking rubbish:

The Met Office’s Barry Gromett said December and January’s cold weather was 'within the bounds of variability' in a global trend of rising temperatures in which 2009 is set to be the fifth warmest year on record.

Ah. So last year was the fifth warmest year on record and that's still not enough for the Express. The Met Office backed this up with a press release highlighting that in the last week or so:

North-east America, Canada, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and south-west Asia have all seen temperatures above normal – in many places by more than 5°C, and in parts of northern Canada, by more than 10°C.

But look at that sniffy sub-head again: 'And they still claim it's global warming'. The Express clearly doesn't believe a word of it.

But who are 'they'? Who are the mysterious, not-to-be-trusted clique who claim that global warming exists?

Oh:


So three weeks ago, an article by Martyn Brown, on the front page of the Express, claimed that although global warming wasn't caused by human activity, it was definitely happening. Brown wrote:

climate change is natural

and mentioned

the warming we are now experiencing...

And today?

climate experts are still trying to claim the world is growing warmer.

Who needs 'experts' when you have Martyn Brown and the Express?

More chaos at the Express (just not in the way they think)

On Sunday, this blog noted how the Express seems to think every problem is 'chaos' and every bit of criticism is 'fury'.

And, true to form, two days later, this:


And since Sunday, those hacks at the Express have been utterly, bewilderingly obsessed by weather 'chaos'.

Wintry weather brings travel chaos, Eurostar: more chaos could be ahead, Eurostar orders review after chaos, More travel chaos as snow freezes, Weather: Christmas getaway chaos, Travel chaos and accidents on icy roads, Man dies in fall at station as Arctic weather causes chaos and 14 killed in Britain snow chaos.

That's two weather chaos stories per day this week.

And to top it all off, a stunning exclusive on today's front page:


Of course, snowbound generally means shut in or blockaded by snow. Can anyone go on a shopping spree when they are literally snowbound?

But the real 'story' the Express thinks is front page news is that people go shopping on Christmas Eve.

Amazing.

The Express has anger and truth issues

Here's yet another stunning front page from a Richard Desmond paper.

Free stuff, Strictly Come Dancing and a news story with no evident news value.

Christmas TV Chaos: Fury as the freezing weather knocks out favourite channels is billed as an 'exclusive' and reveals:

Millions of digital viewers are having to retune their televisions, some of them daily, as the Arctic weather causes channels to break up or disappear. Angry viewers have deluged the BBC and Freeview with complaints as they suffer interference caused by high pressure accompanying the cold snap and snow.

Even if that were true, it's a pathetic thing to stick on the front page. But is it true?

The story continues:

As the icy conditions challenged digital providers, it emerged some homes 90 miles from Wales have been receiving Welsh language shows.

The second bit of that is true. It was reported a few days ago that there had been a problem of overlapping signals - but this was to do with the switchover process in general and was not related to the weather at all.

And, as usual, deep in the story, there's something which explains as much:

Digital UK, which is charged with rolling out the switchover, denied there was a problem: “We are not aware of any unusual issues regarding bad weather affecting digital signals.” However, the company has acknowledged a problem with “overlapping signals” following the switchover in the North-west and South-west after it received 6,000 complaints.

So a story about problems of overlapping signals which was reported by the BBC and Mail on Thursday and Friday last week, is turned into a front page Sunday Express article and padded out with a bit of irrelevant weather news to add a topical angle, just so we don't think the paper has cribbed it from other sources and reheated it several days later...

But quite apart from the fact the 'story' is crap, there is something so wearying about the language the Express uses, particularly 'fury' and 'chaos' which both appear on the front page. This is a story about some people not having all the television channels they want - 'annoyed' about an 'inconvenience' might be more appropriate than 'fury' about 'chaos'.

(A similar ridiculous over-reaction was reported in the Independent over the CBS adverts starring Frosty the Snowman, over-dubbed with dialogue from How I Met Your Mother. A Fox News commentator, John Tantillo, said after seeing the ads that he had 'never been as appalled, outraged and saddened.' Yes, apparently, 9/11 'appalled, outraged and saddened' him less than an animated snowman saying rude things.)

But what else has the Express newspapers said people are in a 'fury' about recently?

Union fury at cabin crew militants, Fury over Guy Ritchie's 'noisy' A-list pub, Investor fury over punch bonuses, Ministers faced fury last night after it was revealed Labour’s welfare benefits bonanza costs the average working household almost £1,000 a year, Hughes vents Clattenburg fury and Tiger Woods' wife's fury over sex in marital bed.

Goldman Sachs has scrapped cash bonuses for its top 30 executives this year amid public fury on both sides of the Atlantic..., Jack Straw sparked fury yesterday..., Northern Rock shareholders reacted with fury..., Licence fee payers reacted with fury last night after it was revealed this year’s Christmas television schedule will feature almost 600 hours of repeats...

Fury over 'secret' auction of Queen Mother's letters, Hell hath no fury like a woman transgressed, and Mitchells and Butlers shareholder 'takeover' fury.

And that's just since the start of December. That's a lot of 'fury' dreamed up by the Express.

In fact:

And what about 'chaos'? With the snow of the last few days there has been plenty. Apparently.

Snow causes Christmas TV chaos, Eurostar cancels service amid chaos, Martin O'Neill criticises Aston Villa fixture chaos, Chaos in snow and more on the way, Warning over travel chaos following heavy snowfall, Commuters were facing chaos travelling to and from work today..., Road chaos for holiday drivers, Passengers using the rail service, which connects London to Paris and Brussels, face travel chaos, Heavy snow sparks transport chaos as icy blast grips Britain, Britain braces itself for winter weather chaos.

And, before the snow:

Travel chaos ahead as 8in of snow to sweep Britain, Midwife chaos led to death, Crunch climate talks in Copenhagen were in chaos last night..., South Africa: World Cup chaos, America blamed for chaos post-war (surely 'post-war chaos'?), and Homes and businesses face telephone chaos when new dialling codes are introduced.

Also, all since the start of December.

In fact, there's even more 'chaos' on the Express website than 'fury':


Don't they realise that constantly over-stating these things makes them entirely ineffective, like the boy who cried wolf? Can't someone buy them a thesaurus for Christmas?

It's just poor and lazy journalism and it makes them look hysterical. But that's hardly surprising for the Express.