The prurient headlines about Neil Ferguson are a huge distraction | Owen Jones

Britain ’s coronavirus death rate is the worst in Europe, yet the front pages of our rightwing media focus on a scientist’s sex life• Coronavirus latest updates• See all our coronavirus coverageWhen deciding today ’s front pages, newspapers had a choice: do they hold the government to account over Britain facing thehighest death toll in Europe, or do they take aim at a government scientist, who ignored his own advice to the public, and invited a partner to his home? Asyou might have seen, the Telegraph, Daily Mail, Metro and the Sun opted for the latter. In a healthy, functioning democracy, a genuinely free press would not have considered this a dilemma. Bad news, everyone, because that ’s not the country we live in.This story could be seen as a run-of-the-mill scoop, a classic tale of do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do hypocrisy, a staple of the British press. Or it could be perceived as a retaliatory hit by the political right who resent, to varying degrees of intensity, a lockdown that values human life over economic considerations.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Coronavirus outbreak UK news Politics Media Newspapers & magazines Science NHS Boris Johnson Conservatives Daily Mail Daily Telegraph Metro The Sun Source Type: news