Mail accused of distorting truth in “MAMIL madness” Regents Park cyclists story

kingleo wrote:

Notice the media never shows any photographs of these supposed groups of cyclists taken side-on with a wide-angle lens.

Of course not: that might draw attention to the fact of their "story" being a foetid pile of dingo's kidneys...

It must be tough for you all there. I'm sure we all feel your pain. 

Yes, we're lucky. We're also infuriated by those who keep demanding to ban outdoor exercise here. We don't know the effect it had on the virus in Spain, but the boffins here modelled the effect of our lockdown, and took into account the psychological effects of staying home for many weeks. They decided that it was better to allow daily exercise, because it would enable us to sustain the lockdown. I'm with the boffins. Follow the science. 

I had a rant at a Brit living in Spain who suggeted that we should ban outdoor exercise here, because Spain has (so it must be right, yeah?). There is little more annoying than an ex-pat telling us how to behave back home! I'm sure he is loving the Daily Mail article while eating his full English breakfast, talking loudly (in English) at the locals about what Boris should do! 

I'm sure your government had it's reasons for the ban, and maybe it helped there. I'm not sure we'll ever know. Let's hope you can get back out there soon. 

AS an amateur photographer with a couple of telephoto lenses, I cantell that these have been taken with a long lens, possibly a 400mm lens. The bokeh and perspective compresses the subjects. You can tell by looking at the distances between the cyclists that they are far enough away.

Hmmm. Vitamin D is involved in the immune system. At the end of winter, our vitamin D levels will benefit from a boost.
https://www.nhs.uk/news/lifestyle-and-exercise/vitamin-d-immune-system-b...

We take vitamin D for over 50s from Healthspan every year, all through winter into spring. I am convinced that it is the reason why we rarely get ill or colds, alongside eating fresh local produce. Having said that, we are quite confident we both had coronavirus in February, before it became non-stop headline news. We know a number of people who all feel that they had it too. All the symptoms, battered twice by it and knocked for six. It'd be interesting to have a test to see if we did have it, if and when they become available. 

Now I understand that sunbathing does not fall into the definition of exercise, but does sunbathing solo or within household groups spread the nasty virus to others in a particularly effective manner?

Some of us don't have large private gardens in our townhouses or indeed our second homes, let alone balconies in our city centre luxury pied de terre, so very little chance to spend time lazing in the sun.  The latest government infovert foregoes the term exercise for "health reasons", (whilst showing jogging), I can think that getting a few hours of sunshine for those in flats, often with very little daylight could come within the definition of "health reasons".

Anyone else feel less enthusiastic following the commands of those at the top, who while not being frontline treating patients or having to use public transport, could not come close to abiding by their own advice on social distancing, washing of hands and not touching the face and yet still succumbing the disease?

Let alone the constant broken promises...

I have a good deal of sympathy for those living in cramped apartments, especially in inner city areas. It'll be worse when it gets hotter too.

The problem is that the message can't be "it's fine just to lie around outside", because inevitably this increases human contact, and it increases the chances of it spreading. The main thing is to use sensible precautions and social distancing, avoid touching your mouth and don't take it for granted that anything you touch is"OK".

What gets my goat is the advice on group cycling seems to have been manufactured on the spot. It seems to be based on very floored principles about droplet transference  and I am highly sceptical of it, yet we seem to be treating it as gospel. It doesn't really seem to deal with issues such as aerodynamics and drag effects, which likely push most droplets to the side and downwards. So cleaning your hands and clothes after a ride, and not touching your mouth being important steps (as well as washing your kit). But I doubt the impact of breathing they make claims on. Plus, a full swing contagious person would not want to cycle!

Riding side by side should be perfectly fine and they don't address that - I'm not advocating we all go for a ride, just that the advice is overkill and does not appear to be by anyone who cycles.

Less touching mouth, more eyes, nose and even ears, upper respiritory infection, saliva doesn't go down the airways, much anyway, the eyes, nose and ears' mucas membranes are the succeptible bits, for formite transfer anyway.

You can breath in aerosols of course.

One thing I have noticed about people wearing masks is that they constantly touch the masks and their noses, thus removing the protection from breathing in aerosols and replacing it with transfer contamination.

Sadly "a full swing contagious person" may well want to cycle as they can be carrying the virus for at least 7 days before symptoms. The road.cc distance guide seems right to me.

Lying in the sun and group cycling seem pretty similar in terms of risk. We need to put up with this for some weeks or risk having to do it all again with far tighter conditions.

My wife just read out some comments off our village FB group, all ranting about plague riddled families of cyclists using the cycle path to bring the coronavirus to our village, and the why's the cycle path still open anyway? They seem to miss that its part of the NCN and nobody's closed the roads yet so why would they close the cycle path...

(Same person was ranting that they saw two people sitting on a bench together in our local green area. The same bench. And how it should be banned, I tells ya.  They didn't say how they knew that these two people weren't part of the same household...).

Shouldn't they be more worried about you with your daily work commute ? !

I won't tell if you won't 

It's all because of Brexit! 

Absolutely spot on. Headlines reporting what the Daily Mail, and other inflamatory media mouthpieces just gives them more attention. Ignore it, and move on.

I have thought the same. Whilst I would hope that people come out from this different, some may work from home, some may walk or cycle to the shops, to work etc, and fly less, I think that in reality people will rush to get back to normal. Which means driving 200 yards, getting a £30 return flight to Geneva or wherever. And generally not giving a fuck about anyone else. Has anyone noticed the two amazing things about cycling on near deserted roads? Apart from the obvious lack of cars, you can smell and taste the fresh air, and you hear a cacophony of birdsong, which lifts the spirit.

To be fair, he takes some pretty good photos. His best work, however, is with a wide angle lens. The shot of the cyclists, by making use of the foreshortening effect of a long focal length lens, misrepresents the essence of what is being reported. As a news photographer he should be ashamed to see his work used to misrepresent a situation, deliberately.

The thing is, a lot of the readership aren't thick. I occasionally have to pick up a copy of the Mail from the shop for my in-laws, hiding it inside something less embarrassing, like Razzle. They're not thick; in fact, they're really quite switched on. I remain baffled as to why they'd want to read it.