OK mini thread on #SocialDistancing. The populist press (including TV news) want you to be disgusted & outraged at people breaking govt rules so they've been acquiring and broadcasting photos and footage of cyclists at traffic lights, ppl sunbathing in parks, etc. 1/

Some of this footage is plain lies (use of telephoto lenses to make joggers & cyclists seem closer together), some of it is just disingenous (3000 ppl in Brockwell Park is not a crowd) and some of it is probably accurate - there are a few idiots about. 2/

That Jeffrey-from-Hi-De-Di-lookalike Matt Hancock, possible the most dishonest rulebreaker in a cabinet full of dishonest rulebreakers, is now using these reports to threaten a total lockdown due to rulebreaking. Keir Starmer, has supported this threat. 3/

Already there are memes on Facebook blaming sunbathers for the spike in CV19 deaths. This is plainly nonsense. You are being distracted by a dead cat. 4/

The terrible UK rise in CV19 deaths is not because of sunbathers in Brockwell Park or cyclists waiting at traffic lights. It's because of the rapaciously callous policies of our government, who have consistently put economic and political dogma over and above our welfare. 5/

Right now there are people cycling and jogging in parks in Germany too, but their death rates dwarf ours. Once again for the people at the back, *people living in urban high-density housing trying to get a bit of exercise are not the problem*. 6/

Outrage and disgust are extremely powerful emotions and they stop us from thinking. They make us hate our neighbours rather than the politicians and their friends in finance who are profiting handsomely from our misery and death. 7/

So please do one thing - don't amplify the press reports of irresponsible working-class people going to the park. Don't spy on your neighbours and tweet your disapproval of their lifestyles? Because the only ones to profit from your disgust are hedge funds and their clients. /end