24 November 2006

The Mini Daily Mails.

All across the country Britain has been taken over by mini Daily Mails. The Argus in Brighton is a prime example.

Here are their last few headlines which are almost universally negative headlines. I suppose good news is just not rare enough. Basically anything that makes the headlines has to be very rare indeed, people forget that. But bombarded with negative headlines day after day, week after week, no wonder people think things are bad.

Yesterdays headline is a good example of the Argus's disgusting lying brand of journalism.

Under the banner 'Sinning City' they said the following;

"Fines for yob behaviour have doubled since the introduction of late-night drinking.

"On-the-spot penalties for fighting, urinating or being sick in the street have been issued every 90 minutes on average in Sussex since licensing laws were relaxed a year ago today."

"Experts warned yesterday that binge drinking had reached epidemic levels among young people."

Using a typical Daily Mail tactic - later in the piece they actually print a more accurate picture of the truth (knowing most people only read the first few paragraphs).

"Last week Sussex Police said violent crime had fallen in the last year"

"We have doubled the number of officers on the street"

Which sort of gives a clue as to why the number of fixed penalty notices for low level disorder might have increased. There are more police around to issue them.

So the true picture is that violent crime has fallen and penalty notices due to more police being around have increased. Basically a pretty good success for the new licencing laws, but this is not the Argus verdict.

"Lets call time on drink yobs" screams their headline.

The Independent is more honest, pointing out that;

"Consumption of alcohol in pubs, clubs and restaurants has fallen by 2% in the year to September".

So we are actually drinking LESS since the new licensing laws were introduced.

"Of 24 forces that provided information, 13 said there have been no discernible rise in crime associated with alcohol such as common assault and threatening behaviour. Six said there had been a fall compared with five that reported a rise."

So overall nationally even low level disorder has fallen.

After pointing out improvements reported in Derbyshire, Manchester, Norfolk and the West Midlands, among others, the Independent continues;

"Sussex police pointed to improvements in Brighton".

So basically the Argus is being completely disingenious as it usually is most days with its continuous negative sensationalist headlines.

In short if you want to read something that resembles the truth don't buy the Argus, it is a rubbish paper and it tells porkies every day to suit it's right wing agenda, just like most of the rest of the press.

3 comments:

  1. An interesting view point but one that doesn't fully consider the issues.

    As for the Argus; I have no loyalty to or connection with or desire to defend that paper but perhaps it is merely reflecting peoples' concerns? The people of this country are spending much more time discussing the wrongs that are increasingly inflicted on them by the so called decision makers. Good people are being disenfranchised by the arrogant in society.

    As for the licensing law; most police forces have employed more resources to police the extended hours - they have had to. It could therefore be argued that had the hours NOT been extended and those extra resources HAD BEEN EMPLOYED ANYWAY, then public place violent crime would truly have fallen significantly.

    As it is it has remained much the same - as stated in this blog. But that has been achieved by doubling the number of police on the streets at the material time. And we know who pays for that - not the drinks industry.

    I also notice that you fail to mention that those residents who have trouble sleeping when these binge drinking yobs tumble onto the streets now suffer over a much greater period - through until 4 and 5am in some cases.

    I would also suggest caution when given statistics and performance figures by Sussex and other police forces. The Argus is not the only organisation that gets its facts wrong and massages the figures and its 'story'.

    Police routinely pick and choose the figures they release having compiled these figures themselves.

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  2. "The people of this country are spending much more time discussing the wrongs that are increasingly inflicted on them by the so called decision makers."

    The facts are that public services are generally much better and improving, the economy is enjoying record growth and crime has fallen. Generally this government has got it right, why is this hardly ever reported?

    Every day, I see the Argus headlines and almost without exception the main headline is negative. Surely the law of averages says this cannot be right?

    Why the focus on the negative all the time, even when the facts do not justify it?

    "It could therefore be argued that had the hours NOT been extended and those extra resources HAD BEEN EMPLOYED ANYWAY, then public place violent crime would truly have fallen significantly."

    Violent crime has fallen significantly anyway and generally more police on the streets have a minor impact on reducing crime. In fact it is much more likely that 'recorded crime' goes up when police are around to catch the perpertrators.

    "you fail to mention that those residents who have trouble sleeping when these binge drinking yobs tumble onto the streets now suffer over a much greater period - through until 4 and 5am in some cases."

    I live near the sea front near a number of pubs that are opening later and I can categorically state that noise levels have actually DROPPED. The biggest problem I get is the seagulls squawking at 4am.

    If you live on some streets in the centre of town, noise levels have always been bad at night, I doubt it has made much difference - nightclubs have always been open till 2am etc. It is always easy to find a few examples of people where things are worse, but generally I think most people have benefited from a drop in noise. Of course people who are content at the improvements are rarely heard in our media.

    As for binge drinking getting worse. Why then have alcohol sales dropped by 2%?

    "I would also suggest caution when given statistics and performance figures by Sussex and other police forces."

    If you remember the police were against the new laws initially. They have more of an incentive to exagerate the figures not play them down.

    Just from my own experience of walking around at night in Brighton, I am convinced things are much safer and quieter. Nobody would deny that the old flash points at 11pm and 2am have drastically improved.

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  3. Interesting to find out New Labour's view of the Argus.

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